Category Archives: healthcare

IRIN Global | Zika virus takes hold in Colombia | Comoros | Health & Nutrition

Bogotá, 1 February 2016 (IRIN) – Since being infected with the Zika virus a month ago, Wendy Johana Castillo has been experiencing pain all over her body, a recurring fever and a skin rash. But the 23-year-old Colombian is more concerned about her unborn baby. Every 15 days, she has to undergo a scan to make sure her foetus isn’t developing microcephaly, a birth defect that has been linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Babies with the congenital condition are born with abnormally small heads and often suffer from poor brain development. “Doctors advised me not to move much and, if I don’t feel my baby moving in the womb, to rush to the nearest ER,” Castillo told IRIN over the phone from a bed in her cousin’s home in Soacha, on the outskirts of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá. Castillo, who is 19 weeks pregnant, used to work as a janitor at a construction site in Girardot, a tourist town about two and a half hours’ drive from Bogotá. She said her workplace “was surrounded by puddles and infested with mosquitoes”.

Source: IRIN Global | Zika virus takes hold in Colombia | Comoros | Health & Nutrition

Humans of Amsterdam — “Would you mind if I delivered a message to your…

“Would you mind if I delivered a message to your followers?”

“Not at all..”

“I just want them to know that a mental disorder can happen to anyone and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I have learned that’s okay to feel sad and anxious but please make sure to ask for help because if you don’t.. it might be too late.”

Source: Humans of Amsterdam — “Would you mind if I delivered a message to your…

No need to panic about the Zika virus | Sci-Tech | DW.COM | 27.01.2016

For a healthy grown-up who isn’t pregnant, Zika doesn’t pose much of a threat. Common symptoms include fever, joint ache and a rash with small red spots. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) puts it pretty clearly: “The illness is usually mild… Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon. Deaths are rare.”Compare that to Ebola, which comes with vomiting and unexplained bleeding and killed more than 11,300 people in the recent West-Africa outbreak, and you’ll see that Zika isn’t quite that bad.Some tourists have already brought the virus back to their European home countries from vacation without any major consequences. According to the news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa), there have been ten cases reported in Germany since 2013.The dpa also mentions four cases in Italy, three in Great Britain and two in Spain, though those numbers are probably incorrect, since there’s no international protocol for reporting and recording the virus, Schmidt-Chanasit said. More people could have been infected without ever knowing: the CDC reports that only one in five people infected with the virus actually become ill.Dangerous birth defect In hospitals like this one in Recife, Brazil, more and more babies are born with mircrocephalyAll that is not to say that Zika is completely harmless. The virus has been connected to an exceptional high number of babies born with microcephaly in Brazil. In the most recent Zika outbreak, around 4,000 newborns were diagnosed with the birth defect. Their skulls are smaller than those of healthy babies, which leads to brain damage.

Source: No need to panic about the Zika virus | Sci-Tech | DW.COM | 27.01.2016

Quote of the Day: We are “destroying” our “white culture” with abortions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsuNP5uZhsc

The 1920’s were in full effect at a Florida state House subcommittee meeting on Monday where an anti-abortion activist insisted that “white culture” is being destroyed because white women are “outside the home, not having babies.” The House Criminal Justice subcommittee discussed HB 865, which would essentially ban all abortions except in cases where the health of the mother was at risk and could punish anyone who performs abortions or operates an abortion clinic with up to 30 years in prison.In support of this legislation, the activist in question went on a rant about the moral obligations of lawmakers to act in accordance of his interpretation of the Bible’s views on family and children. He also thinks the fact that the United States is “so fat and sick” is evidence that we are “under judgement.” His final statement was “It’s either repent or perish America. That’s the way it is.”But what stood out the most was this activist’s not-so-subtle dive into eugenics thinking when he made the bold claim that the United States is a “white culture” and is under attack when white women are choosing not to carry their pregnancies to term. To make his point, he said: “The Muslims, they don’t kill their babies,” and the Mexican race “is through the breeding of having families, children.”If you think these are just the ramblings of an extreme religious fanatic that don’t hold much weight, you should know that the subcommittee passed the bill 8-3.

Source: Quote of the Day: We are “destroying” our “white culture” with abortions

WHO | Zika virus infection – Dominican Republic

Of the 10 cases, 8 are locally-acquired and 2 imported from El Salvador. The cases are from Distrito Nacional, and the municipalities of Santo Domingo Norte, Jimani-Independencia and Santa Cruz-Barahona. While 8 of the 10 cases are aged 15 to 57 years old, the remaining 2 cases are children under five years old. Onset of symptoms ranges from 3 to 18 January. All cases presented fever and rash; 8 of the 10 cases had conjunctivitis, 6 of the 10 cases experienced malaises, headache and arthralgia; and, 5 of the 10 cases reported myalgia.

Source: WHO | Zika virus infection – Dominican Republic

Avian Flu Diary: CDC Adds Two Destinations To Zika Travel Advisory

Twelve days ago the CDC issued a Level-II travel advisory for 14 countries and territories over the Zika Virus threat, asking pregnant women to considered postponing travel to regions that were affected. Seven days later they added 8 additional countries and/or territories.   Last night two more travel destinations were added to the list (United States Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic) both having recently reported confirmed local transmission of the virus.  It should be noted that while evidence of a tentative link between the introduction of Zika to the Americas and the sharp rise in microcephalic births in Brazil continues to grow, a causal link has yet to be established.  Doing so could take months. Given the potentially dire outcome of maternal infection, the CDC is acting out of an abundance of caution and is recommending that pregnant women avoid travel to these affected regions until more is known.

Source: Avian Flu Diary: CDC Adds Two Destinations To Zika Travel Advisory

Dr. Francis Collins | NIH Director’s Blog  Zika Virus

For decades, the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus was mainly seen in equatorial regions of Africa and Asia, where it caused a mild, flu-like illness and rash in some people. About 10 years ago, the picture began to expand with the appearance of Zika outbreaks in the Pacific islands. Then, last spring, Zika popped up in South America, where it has so far infected more than 1 million Brazilians and been tentatively linked to a steep increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly, a very serious condition characterized by a small head and brain [1]. And Zika’s disturbing march may not stop there.

Source: Dr. Francis Collins | NIH Director’s Blog

CDC unveils Zika guidance for infants, expands travel advisory

Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP NewsJan 26, 2016The guidance covers testing of newborns, and the Virgin Islands and DR are now on the travel advisory.<a href=”http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2016/01/cdc-unveils-zika-guidance-infants-expands-travel-advisory

Source: CDC unveils Zika guidance for infants, expands travel advisory