Category Archives: healthcare

FAO – News Article: Pope Francis to attend the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2)

Pope Francis will add his voice to the fight against hunger and malnutrition by addressing the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) scheduled to take place from 19 to 21 November at FAO’s headquarters in Rome.

The pontiff’s participation at the conference which is organized by FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO), was today confirmed by the Vatican’s Permanent Observer to the Rome-based UN agencies, Archbishop Luigi Travaglino.

via FAO – News Article: Pope Francis to attend the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2).

Stop Making Sense – House GOP: Schools Can Opt Out of Unprofitable Healthy Food Programs

GOP against healthy poor children?

House Republicans are proposing to let some schools opt out of healthier school lunch and breakfast programs if they are losing money.

A GOP spending bill for agriculture and food programs released Monday would allow schools to apply for waivers if they have a net loss on school food programs for six months in a row.

Championed by first lady Michelle Obama, the new standards have been phased in over the last two school years, with more changes coming in 2014. The rules set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on foods in the lunch line and beyond.

via House GOP: Schools Can Opt Out of Unprofitable Healthy Food Programs.

Shingles vaccination poses threat to patients with high shingles risk | Vaccine News Daily

“This study has highlighted that patients arguably most in need of protection against shingles cannot currently benefit from vaccination,” Harriet Forbes, the study’s lead researcher from the London School of Hygiene & Topical Medicine, said. “The vaccine is live and there are concerns that giving it to patients with severe immunosuppression may cause a shingles episode. Alternative risk reduction strategies among these patients, for example the use of alternative vaccines, would help those at greatest risk of this disease and its complications.”

Other conditions shown to give patients an increased risk of shingles included rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Asthma, chronic kidney disease, type 1 diabetes and depression were also shown to give patients a slight increase in shingles risk.

via Shingles vaccination poses threat to patients with high shingles risk | Vaccine News Daily.

IAVA – Wall Street Journal- Veterans Groups Split on Support for Shinseki | Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

“We are not going to call for the secretary’s resignation,” said Dave Autry, spokesman for Disabled American Veterans, a 1.2 million-member veterans advocacy group. “We are going to find out what the result of the inspector general investigations are.”

Few veterans service organizations have followed the American Legion in publicly demanding Mr. Shinseki’s resignation. The nation’s second largest group, the Veterans of Foreign Wars has said they don’t agree with demands for Mr. Shinseki’s resignation, and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, with some 300,000 members, has yet to take a side on the debate while it polls its members, said the group’s CEO Paul Rieckhoff.

via IAVA – Wall Street Journal- Veterans Groups Split on Support for Shinseki | Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Avian Flu Diary: KSA MOH: 16 New MERS Cases

The total number of the confirmed cases over the past 24 hours: 16 cases

Recovered and discharged cases that previously tested positive and are now negative: 3 cases

The total number of deaths: 5 cases (2 cases were recorded over the past 24 hours and the other 3 are from previously confirmed cases)

Overview of the Health Status of the Cases:

5 stable cases

3 cases without symptoms

6 cases in the ICU

2 deaths

via Avian Flu Diary: KSA MOH: 16 New MERS Cases.

Two U.S. health workers ill after MERS exposure; World Health Organization meets | Reuters

Two health workers at a Florida hospital exposed to a patient with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome have begun showing flu-like symptoms, raising concerns about the ability of global health authorities to contain the mysterious and deadly virus.

The World Health Organization convened an emergency meeting in Geneva on Tuesday to decide whether the rising rate of confirmed cases, most of them in Saudi Arabia, constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern.”

Florida officials said they were monitoring the health of 20 healthcare workers who had been in contact with the patient, including a doctor who had already left for Canada. They also were trying to track down nearly 100 people who may have overlapped with the patient at the two medical facilities he visited.

via Two U.S. health workers ill after MERS exposure; World Health Organization meets | Reuters.

Avian Flu Diary: CDC : 2nd Imported MERS Case Confirmed In Florida

Avian Flu Diary: CDC : 2nd Imported MERS Case Confirmed In Florida.

 

The unidentified HCW left Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and flew to London on May 1st, and began to feel unwell on the flight.  He then flew on to Boston, then Atlanta, and finally arrived in Orlando Florida. The CDC is doing airline contact tracing for those who may have had close exposure to this patient (a number that could approach 500 contacts on US flights alone).

The patient went to a local Emergency Room on May 8th, was admitted, and state public health testing subsequently identified this patient as being infected with the virus.   The CDC confirmed the results last night.

The press conference was conducted by CDC director Dr. Tom FriedenDr. Anne Schuchat, and Florida Surgeon General John H. Armstrong, who all stressed that the risk to the general public is extremely low.

Media Statements – MOH: ‘8 New Confirmed Corona Cases Recorded’

5 new deaths

The total number of the confirmed cases over the past 24 hours: 8 cases

Recovered and discharged cases that previously tested positive and are now negative: 6 cases

The total number of deaths: 5 cases (2 cases were recorded over the past 24 hours and other 3 cases were previously recorded, one of the cases )

via Media Statements – MOH: ‘8 New Confirmed Corona Cases Recorded’.

Reaching the Most Vulnerable Survivors of Afghanistan’s Deadly Landslide

Zulfia leads one of those families. She is living now with her five children under a tent distributed by Concern, all of them dressed in the same clothes they were wearing on the day she lost her husband in the landslides. She also lost all her household items and animals.

Jamila, 13, is another. She lost her father a few years ago, and her mother in the landslides. She managed to rescue her four sisters and two brothers. “I am the eldest one in my family now,” she says. “What should I do with my brothers and sisters? How should I look after them?”

via Reaching the Most Vulnerable Survivors of Afghanistan’s Deadly Landslide.

Researchers determine MERS virus transmission from animals to humans | Vaccine News Daily

{Stop nose to nose contact with camels and no more kissing your camel’s nose?

Could well be that both camels and people are being infected by bats who infect the camels and people – similar to the influenza connection between poultry, pigs, and people in live markets?}

The virologists found that virus levels were very high in the camel’s nasal mucosa and conjunctiva, which they said points to transmission pathways from to humans from those sites.

via Researchers determine MERS virus transmission from animals to humans | Vaccine News Daily.