Category Archives: pandemic

Raw milk cheese yummy and potential killer! FDA Shuts Down NY Cheese Maker for Listeria Contamination

Under the consent decree, Finger Lakes, the manufacturer and distributor of raw cow’s milk cheese, cannot receive, prepare, process, pack, hold or distribute food until it demonstrates that it has developed a control program to eliminate Listeria monocytogenes from its production facility and products.  Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen that can cause serious illness and death.

 

The company must, among other actions, hire an independent laboratory to collect and analyze samples for the presence of Listeria; retain an independent sanitation expert; develop a program to control Listeria in the production facility and to train employees on sanitary food handling; and destroy all food items currently in the facility. Should the company be permitted to resume operations, the FDA may require the company to recall products or cease production if future violations occur.

via FDA Shuts Down NY Cheese Maker for Listeria Contamination.

Avian Flu Diary: WHO: Antibiotic Resistance – Serious, World-Wide Threat

30 April 2014 | Geneva – A new report by WHO–its first to look at antimicrobial resistance, including antibiotic resistance, globally–reveals that this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country. Antibiotic resistance–when bacteria change so antibiotics no longer work in people who need them to treat infections–is now a major threat to public health.

“Without urgent, coordinated action by many stakeholders, the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill,” says Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Security. “Effective antibiotics have been one of the pillars allowing us to live longer, live healthier, and benefit from modern medicine. Unless we take significant actions to improve efforts to prevent infections and also change how we produce, prescribe and use antibiotics, the world will lose more and more of these global public health goods and the implications will be devastating.”

via Avian Flu Diary: WHO: Antibiotic Resistance – Serious, World-Wide Threat.

WHO | Ebola virus disease, West Africa – update

Guinea

As of 18:00 on 26 April 2014, the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Guinea has reported a cumulative total of 224 clinical cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), including 143 deaths. To date, 202 patients have been tested for ebolavirus infection and 121 cases have been laboratory confirmed, including 74 deaths. In addition, 41 cases (34 deaths) meet the probable case definition for EVD and 62 cases (35 deaths) are classified as suspected cases. A revised number of 25 health care workers (HCW) have been affected (19 confirmed), with 16 deaths (12 confirmed); the number of HCW was previously reported as 26.

via WHO | Ebola virus disease, West Africa – update.

Live poultry markets to be closed in S China – Headlines, features, photo and videos from ecns.cn|china|news|chinanews|ecns|cns

{They do not all need to be frozen – poultry is cold shipped all over the US and not frozen – they could do the same and “lose” little flavor and gain less flu and deaths from flu} According to the food safety administration, all poultry in the three districts will be slaughtered at appointed slaughterhouses and frozen before going to markets.

The centralized slaughter of poultry will be implemented over the entire city in October.

He Jianfeng, chief expert at Guangdong’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the centralized system will reduce the number of people who have contact with live poultry and will help lower the risk of being infected with bird flu.

“Many business owners mix their poultry, including chickens, ducks, geese, quails and doves in the coops in markets,” he said, which raises the risk of infection.

“Banning live poultry in local markets is of great significance in preventing bird flu from spreading, which has a high annual incidence of flu in winter and spring,” he added.

via Live poultry markets to be closed in S China – Headlines, features, photo and videos from ecns.cn|china|news|chinanews|ecns|cns.

CDC disease detectives trace Ebola spread via new app – UPI.com

UPI Report

The Epi Info viral hemorrhagic fever application is specifically designed for outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, Marburg, Rift Valley, Lassa and Crimean-Congo.

The CDC has made this software platform freely available. It features virus transmission diagrams that help field workers visualize outbreak spread between people and automated tools that speed contact tracing and data analysis.

“With a disease as often fatal as Ebola, quickly identifying and following up with those who may have been exposed is key to saving lives and containing the outbreak,” Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said in a statement. “Epi Info, the ‘Swiss Army knife’ of field-deployed epidemiologists, can now help to track disease more quickly.”

via CDC disease detectives trace Ebola spread via new app – UPI.com.

Avian Flu Diary: MERS: The Limitations Of Airport Screening

As the graphic above illustrates, airline traffic is a very effective conduit for infectious disease, able to transport someone to nearly anyplace in the world in less than 24 hours.  The world’s airlines carry 2.6 billion passengers each year, on more than 17 million flights.

 

In 2003, we saw the SARS virus hop the Pacific on a flight taken by a 78-year-old woman who fell ill in Toronto after visiting Hong Kong, and before that outbreak was contained, 251 people in Canada had been infected, and 44 died (see SARS And Remembrance).

via Avian Flu Diary: MERS: The Limitations Of Airport Screening.

Saudi Arabia MERS death toll rises above 100 | News | DW.DE | 28.04.2014

The Health Ministry in Riyadh on Sunday confirmed it had identified 16 more cases of the disease within a 24-hour period.

In a statement on its website late in the evening, the ministry reported there had been eight deaths – taking the number of people who have died from the disease, which first emerged two years ago, to 102.

Of those, a full 39 deaths have been this month. Among the latest deaths was a nine-month-old infant, the ministry said.

via Saudi Arabia MERS death toll rises above 100 | News | DW.DE | 28.04.2014.

News – Marked increase of MERS-CoV cases in… – Ned Hamson – FriendFeed

News – Marked increase of MERS-CoV cases in… – Ned Hamson – FriendFeed.

As of 23 April 2014, 345 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV have been reported to public health authorities worldwide, including 107 deaths. Fourteen countries have identified cases; four of which have only reported one case, whilst 272 cases have been in Saudi Arabia. Seventy-two of the 345 cases have been healthcare workers.

Avian Flu Diary: WHO EMRO Statement On MERS-CoV

The World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about the rising number of cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in recent weeks, especially in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and in particular that two significant outbreaks occurred in health facilities.

“Approximately 75 percent of the recently reported cases are secondary cases, meaning that they are considered to have acquired the infection from another case through human-to-human transmission,” Regional Director of WHO for Eastern Mediterranean Dr. Ala Alwan said. “The majority of these secondary cases have been infected within the healthcare setting and are mainly healthcare workers, although several patients are also considered to have been infected with MERS-CoV while in hospital for other reasons.”

via Avian Flu Diary: WHO EMRO Statement On MERS-CoV.

Urban Foodies and Libertarians Join Forces to Set Raw Milk Free – The Wire

{This has to be the – I’m sorry to have to say this – dumbest exercise of misplaced hipsterism, personal freedom and anti-science. If adults want to risk the illnesses that can come from raw – unPasteurized – milk that’s one thing but to make that same risk for their children or unknowing guests – that’s wrong, goofy, and criminal, or should be.}

Raw milk supporters claim there are boundless health benefits — as long as the milk-producing cows are healthy — including components that strengthen the immune system. But raw milk by definition skips the pasteurization process, meaning the end product could contain E. coli and salmonella bacteria. States are currently allowed to regulate the sale of raw milk within their own borders, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that 75 percent of raw milk disease outbreaks have come from the 21 states where its legal to sell non-pasteurized products. Still, despite the health risks, it sounds a little bit safer than the anti-vaccine movement.

via Urban Foodies and Libertarians Join Forces to Set Raw Milk Free – The Wire.