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Cuba - Cholera - Unconfirmed Reports of New Cases Popping Up in Two Small Towns

Sat, 2012-09-29 09:20 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Cuban government stays mum on new cholera reports

mcclatchydc.com - The Miami Herald - by Juan O. Tamayo - September 25, 2012

MIAMI — Four weeks after the Cuban government announced that an outbreak of cholera in the eastern part of the island was over, there are unconfirmed reports of new cases popping up in two small towns.

Twenty-seven cases were reported in the municipality of San Luis, in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, and 19 more in the Bahia Honda municipality 35 miles west of Havana.

Roberto Gonzalez, a dissident living in San Luis, said that area public health workers and residents have told him of the more than two dozen confirmed cases and 102 suspected cases of cholera in the municipality over the past two weeks.

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Video - MSF - An Improved Situation in Yida Camp, South Sudan

Sun, 2012-09-23 21:03 — Kathy Gilbeaux

youtube.com - September 18, 2012

After Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) scaled up its operations in Yida refugee camp in South Sudan, the mortality rate fell sharply in just one month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2GZYb6fP1N8

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31° 43' 41.4012" N, 148° 32' 6.5616" W
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Whooping Cough Vaccine Loses Effectiveness Faster Than Thought, Study Finds

Tue, 2012-09-18 20:44 — Kathy Gilbeaux

huffingtonpost.com - by Mike Stobbe - September 12, 2012

NEW YORK — As the U.S. wrestles with its biggest whooping cough outbreak in decades, researchers appear to have zeroed in on the main cause: The safer vaccine that was introduced in the 1990s loses effectiveness much faster than previously thought.

A study published in Wednesday's New England Journal of Medicine found that the protective effect weakens dramatically soon after a youngster gets the last of the five recommended shots around age 6.

The protection rate falls from about 95 percent to 71 percent within five years, said researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Research Center in Oakland, Calif.

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Study - NEJM - Waning Protection after Fifth Dose of Acellular Pertussis Vaccine in Children
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200850?query=featured_home

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More Dengue Fever Reported in Eastern Cuba

Sun, 2012-08-26 22:31 — Kathy Gilbeaux

miamiherald.com - by Juan O. Tamayo - August 20, 2012

A vocational school has been turned into a makeshift hospital to handle the overflow of Dengue patients.

An outbreak of dengue fever in eastern Cuba has reportedly forced authorities to turn a vocational school into a hospital, while a city racked by a cholera epidemic now also faces an increase in the mosquito that carries dengue.

Medical personnel in the eastern city of Camaguey said the Maximo Gómez vocational school for sciences is being used as a hospital, and a local university building will be turned into a treatment center if the outbreak spreads.

“We have a huge outbreak of dengue here, and if things continue to be bad — we already are at the level of epidemic — I think they may quarantine us,” one local medical worker told relatives in Miami. “Don’t worry too much, but this is bad.”

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When contagion strikes, it's Honolulu you should avoid

Wed, 2012-08-08 15:34 — Corey Watts

submitted by Cody Shearer

Image: Christos Nicolaides/Juanes Research Group

www.guardian.co.uk - July 24, 2012 - Posted by Nadja Popovich  

 

When the next outbreak of Sars or Swine flu hits, New York's John F Kennedy airport and Los Angeles's airports will likely be the key spreaders of disease, according to a new study. But while the influence of these super-hubs may not come as much of a surprise, the third most outbreak-friendly airport in the states is far smaller, and far less obvious – Honolulu International.

In a paper published Monday in the journal PLoS One, a team of researchers from MIT outlined a new computer model that predicts how the 40 largest American airports may contribute to the diffusion of contagious disease within the first few days of a potential epidemic.

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Avian Flu Makes Jump to Seals, May Pose Threat to Humans

Wed, 2012-08-01 22:42 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Susan Steinhauser

AMA - BulletinHEALTHCARE.com

mBio - Emergence of Fatal Avian Influenza in New England Harbor Seals

Many outlets reported on new research, published online July 31 in the journal mBio, which documents a mutated form of avian flu in seals. The sources all discussed the significance of the development, focusing on the risk the transmission of bird flu to mammals poses to humans.

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mBio - Emergence of Fatal Avian Influenza in New England Harbor Seals

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The Ecology of Disease

Tue, 2012-07-31 17:15 — Maeryn Obley

The Ecology of Disease cover, by Olaf HajekImage: The Ecology of Disease cover, by Olaf Hajek

Jim Robbins - July 14th, 2012 - nytimes.com

There's a term biologists and economists use these days — ecosystem services — which refers to the many ways nature supports the human endeavor. Forests filter the water we drink, for example, and birds and bees pollinate crops, both of which have substantial economic as well as biological value.

If we fail to understand and take care of the natural world, it can cause a breakdown of these systems and come back to haunt us in ways we know little about.

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Health Team Fights Ebola Outbreak That Has Killed 14 in Uganda

Sun, 2012-07-29 21:04 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The New York Times - by Josh Kron - July 28, 2012

KAMPALA, Uganda — An outbreak of the rare and deadly Ebola virus has killed 14 people in midwestern Uganda, many in the past week, the Ugandan government said Saturday.

A team of health experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and the Ugandan government has been sent to the area, roughly three hours from Uganda’s capital, Kampala, to begin emergency response measures, according to a government statement.

The strain of the virus, which in recent years has killed at a rate often above 70 percent of those infected, has been identified as Ebola Sudan, one of the virus’s more common strains.

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How Climate Change is Increasing Cholera Outbreaks in Northern Europe

Tue, 2012-07-24 22:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Rising temperatures: The Baltic Sea represents the 'fastest warming marine eco-system examined so far anywhere on earth'

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  • Vibrio bacteria, which is normally found growing in warm and tropical waters, now thrives in the Baltic Sea

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  • Bacteria strains will multiply as seas warm, predict researchers
  • The bacteria causes illnesses from cholera to gastroenteritis

    dailymail.co.uk - by Claire Bates - July 23, 2012

    Climate change could be driving an increase in illnesses such as cholera and gastroenteritis in northern Europe, scientists have warned.

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    A rise in temperatures in the Baltic Sea has triggered the growth of the water-borne bacteria Vibrio.

    An international team examined sea surface temperature records and satellite data in the Baltic, as well as statistics on Vibrio cases in the region.

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    Pakistan's Escalating Vaccine Tensions

    Sat, 2012-07-21 17:18 — Maeryn Obley

    cfr.org - Laurie Garrett - July 18th, 2012

    Last year the CIA deployed a Pakistani physician to execute a phony hepatitis vaccine campaign in Abbottabad, hoping to extract blood samples from the children living inside a compound, thought to house Osama bin Laden and his family. Because of the vaccine deception, multiple imams and Taliban leaders have declared that vaccines are CIA plots. The ruse may also be responsible for what appears to have been an assassination attempt against a World Health Organization immunization convoy that injured two people on July 17.

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