Category Archives: healthcare

Avian Flu Diary: Korea: MERS Positive Doctor Attended `Large Scale Events’ While Symptomatic

Sometimes, there are simply no words . . . .

(note: emphasis mine)

MERS-infected doctor contacted over 1,000 people: gov’t

2015/06/04

SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) — A medical doctor in Seoul came into contact with more than 1,000 citizens while infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the city government said Thursday, sparking concerns of the further spread of the deadly virus.

The doctor, who works for a large general hospital in the capital city, attended large-scale events this week, even after he was ordered into quarantine for showing suspected symptoms, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Earlier in the day, he was confirmed as the country’s 35th MERS patient, the municipal government said, adding he came into contact with the country’s 14th MERS patient at the hospital where he works.

via Avian Flu Diary: Korea: MERS Positive Doctor Attended `Large Scale Events’ While Symptomatic.

ASIA/INDIA – Street dentists for the poor: a widespread service

Bangalore – A group of non-specialized dentists have organized themselves to work on the streets in some small Indian cities offering very low rates for the poorest people. Ignoring noisy buses and curious onlookers, these street dentists carry out their work undisturbed in Bangladore, although this is not hygienic. There are millions of poor people in the Country who cannot pay for expensive dental treatment. Tools are thoroughly washed in soap and water – but not disinfected. The teeth in all shapes and sizes are made in China and in India from dental cement.
In big cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai, street dentist numbers have dwindled in recent years on growing awareness of contracting HIV/AIDS and other diseases, rising customer income levels, and a surge in dentist graduates. But they still thrive in smaller cities as well as towns, although few perform root canals, fillings or other operations. The Indian Dental Association, a private body of licensed dentists, still does not have figures on qualified dentists in India. It is estimated that each year 30,000 graduates join the profession every year, but India still has only one dentist per 10,000 people in urban areas and about 250,000 in rural areas.
From dentists to shoe shiners, barbers and chefs, street services are an engrained part of life in India, particularly for the poor.

via ASIA/INDIA – Street dentists for the poor: a widespread service.

Ebola cases rise, expand in Guinea, Sierra Leone (Cr@p!)

Lisa Schnirring | Staff Writer | CIDRAP News
May 20, 2015

Cases jumped from 9 last week to 35 this week, spurred by unsafe burials.

via Ebola cases rise, expand in Guinea, Sierra Leone.

Kurt Cobain was not a ‘tortured genius’, he had an illness @ Weeder

Kurt Cobain was not a ‘tortured genius’, he had an illness @ Weeder.

So, let’s be clear. Depression is an illness. It is not a ticket to genius. It is not an interesting personality quirk. It is horrible and all-consuming and really hurts. Depression is not the person, it is something that happens to a person. And when that person feels no way out, they sometimes take their life.

Ebola death reported in Sierra Leone region where epidemic originated | World news | The Guardian

Ebola death reported in Sierra Leone region where epidemic originated | World news | The Guardian.

C#@%. When will this end? So many deaths. Pray this marks real beginning of figuring out Ebola’s triggers in nature. I believe human disruption of local ecologies play a big role – logging – industrialized agriculture in formerly pristine areas…

The biggest privatisation in NHS history: why we had to blow the whistle | Kate Godfrey | Comment is free | The Guardian

Not only was there no formal consultation, but local patients were meant to get no say on this contract at all. The original plan was to sign the deal in March – before people could have their say at the polls. Labour has said it will not let the project go ahead.

The campaign group I work with – Cancer Not For Profit – fought for more time. When the awarding of the contract was put back until June, we thought that we had won a small victory.

Our source heard differently. The project wasn’t delayed, they were told, but simply hushed up. The political implications of pushing through the biggest privatisation in NHS history two months before a general election were too serious. It had to move forward with speed, and if the contract lacked benchmarks or risk management, forget it. It could all be resolved later. (It is the essence of contract law that weaknesses are generally not resolved later.) The only thing being delayed until after May was the announcement, which would now be made in June. And then a gamble that a new government couldn’t go back on a contract already awarded.

“I’m going to publish,” I told the source. “Tell me if you don’t want me to publish.” I never heard from them again.

via The biggest privatisation in NHS history: why we had to blow the whistle | Kate Godfrey | Comment is free | The Guardian.

Bird flu mutating in southern China, pandemic threatens: Shanghaiist

The deadly strain of the bird flu virus H7N9, which first infected humans in Shanghai during 2013, is entrenched in flocks of chickens and ducks in the south of China and mutating, posing an even greater threat to humanity, according to the largest-ever genomic survey of the virus.

In an article for Nature, author Guan Yi and colleagues at the University of Hong Kong warn that unless drastic measures are taken to eradicate the virus, it will continue to mutate. “H7N9 viruses have spread from eastern to southern China and become persistent in chickens,” they wrote. Given that the virus can infect humans, it “should be considered as a major candidate to emerge as a pandemic strain.”

via Bird flu mutating in southern China, pandemic threatens: Shanghaiist.

Saudi MERS deaths reach 400 as cases surge | CIDRAP

Saudi Arabia’s surge of MERS-CoV cases and deaths continues into March, with 15 more cases reported over the past 3 days, as well as 6 additional deaths, pushing the country’s fatality count to 400, according to statements from the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH).

Thirteen of the new cases are from Riyadh, with 2 reported in Buraydah, the capital of Al Qassim region, which is 220 miles northwest of Riyadh. All of the patients are adults, ages 34 to 80, and all but four are men. All 15 of the latest MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) case-patients are symptomatic, with 9 hospitalized in critical condition and 6 listed as stable.

Seven of the patients are from outside of Saudi Arabia, and of four healthcare workers who are infected, three are from foreign countries. All but four of the patients have preexisting health conditions.

via Saudi MERS deaths reach 400 as cases surge | CIDRAP.

Nearly Beaten in Sierra Leone, Ebola Makes a Comeback by Sea – NYTimes.com

Sick fishermen came ashore in early February to the packed wharf-side slums that surround the country’s fanciest hotels, which were filled with public health workers. Volunteers fanned out to contain the outbreak, but the virus jumped quarantine lines and cascaded into the countryside, bringing dozens of new infections and deaths.

“We worked so hard,” said Emmanuel Conteh, an Ebola response coordinator in a rural district. “It is a shame to all of us.”

Continue reading the main story

RELATED COVERAGE

Liberia’s President Urges U.S. to Continue Ebola AidFEB. 27, 2015

Fatality Rate Is Falling in West African Ebola Clinics FEB. 26, 2015

Leaders of Ebola Fight at U.N. Express Worry About EradicationFEB. 20, 2015

Public health experts preparing for an international conference on Ebola on Tuesday seem to have no doubt that the disease can be vanquished in the West African countries ravaged by it in the last year. But the steep downward trajectory of new cases late last year and into January did not lead to the end of the epidemic.

via Nearly Beaten in Sierra Leone, Ebola Makes a Comeback by Sea – NYTimes.com.

USAID funds Ebola ‘smart pod’ project

Sharmila Anandasabapathy, director of Baylor Global Initiatives and the Baylor Global Innovation Center emphasized both the time and cost efficiency of the ESP.

“Compared to a stand-alone hospital, you’re talking two weeks [for it to be deployed] as opposed to potentially nine to 12 months,” Anandasabapathy said. “For cost, I think it would be between 1/10th and 1/20th the cost, depending on the facility.”

Each ESP medical unit will be equipped with eight beds, an air filtration system, air conditioning and a contained waste management system. It will also come with a set of clinical training apps that would show how to properly use the ESP. Once a request to deploy an ESP comes in, a team could have it in the field and operating in two weeks.

“Like Legos, you can put multiple containers together so you can go from an eight-bed unit to a 16-bed unit very quickly,” Anandasabapthy said. ‘You can develop individual units for waste management that can be attached to larger units, but we hope that at full scale, we could build a 100-bed hospital in a month.”

via USAID funds Ebola ‘smart pod’ project.