Category Archives: pandemic

WHO | Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update

Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 228 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 92 deaths.

via WHO | Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update.

Close to matching ebola outbreak – and have much better medical facilities – humans creating opportunities for outbreaks?

Five mutations could send bird flu virus airborne : Study | Metro

While some critics argue these studies should not be done at all, Osterholm doesn’t take that view. But he insists that making this kind of information readily available makes it possible for scientists anywhere — even those working in laboratories which don’t meet the highest standards of biosafety and biosecurity — to make dangerous viruses.

“We now have intentionally lowered the bar to the point … where we have made it possible for laboratories around the world to do this work,” said Osterholm, who is the director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

“I think what remains very problematic is just the enabling information it provides. There are a lot of laboratories around the world that are not funded by the U.S. government, do not have specific restrictions or limitations on what they can do relative to biosafety.”

via Five mutations could send bird flu virus airborne : Study | Metro.

UAE Ministry Of Interior Announces 6 MERS-CoV Cases (1 Fatality)

Interior Ministry announced via computed on e-networking site Twitter about the death of a Msafeeha and wounding five other paramedics (Vlpini nationality) employees of the emergency department in the city of Al Ain corona virus.

via Avian Flu Diary: UAE Ministry Of Interior Announces 6 MERS-CoV Cases (1 Fatality).

Filipino ER employees

Imagining the Post-Antibiotics Future — Medium

In 2009, three New York physicians cared for a sixty-seven-year-old man who had major surgery and then picked up a hospital infection that was “pan-resistant” — that is, responsive to no antibiotics at all. He died fourteen days later. When his doctors related his case in a medical journal months afterward, they still sounded stunned. “It is a rarity for a physician in the developed world to have a patient die of an overwhelming infection for which there are no therapeutic options,” they said, calling the man’s death “the first instance in our clinical experience in which we had no effective treatment to offer.”

via Imagining the Post-Antibiotics Future — Medium.

MERS fears prompt ER closure at Saudi hospital | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

Realities, not fears

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: The main public hospital in the Saudi city of Jeddah has closed its emergency room after a rise in cases of the MERS virus among medical staff, medics said Tuesday.

A Jeddah paramedic was among two more people Saudi health authorities reported on Sunday had died from the SARS-like disease, bringing the nationwide death toll to 66.

On Monday, the health ministry reported four more MERS cases in Jeddah, two of them among health workers, prompting authorities to close the emergency department at the city’s King Fahd Hospital.

A medical source told AFP it was a “precautionary measure” and the Sabq.org news website reported that patients were being transferred to other hospitals in the city.

But the move caused widespread public concern in the city, fuelled by rumours on social networks.

“I’m afraid to send my children to school,” said Jeddah resident Bassem Ben Ali, 33.

The total number of cases in Saudi Arabia has reached 175 since Middle East Respiratory Syndrome first appeared in the kingdom in September 2012.

The MERS virus is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

via MERS fears prompt ER closure at Saudi hospital | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Avian Flu Diary: Study: Chikungunya’s Growing Threat To The Americas

While rarely fatal, the CDC describes the symptoms of infection as lasting a few days to a few weeks, producing `debilitating illness, most often characterized by fever, headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, rash, and joint pain’,  although some may experience `incapacitating joint pain, or arthritis which may last for weeks or months.’

via Avian Flu Diary: Study: Chikungunya’s Growing Threat To The Americas.

Mob attacks Ebola treatment centre in Guinea as suspected cases reach Mali | South China Morning Post

Pray that none on the flight to Brussels were carrying ebola with then unknowingly – ease of travel today multiplies the risks – that’s what moved the outbreak to Conakry!

“A return Brussels Airlines flight between the Belgian capital and Conakry on Thursday had just 55 people arriving and 200 leaving, an airline employee said.”

via Mob attacks Ebola treatment centre in Guinea as suspected cases reach Mali | South China Morning Post.

WHO | Ebola virus disease: background and summary

Just saying… WHO – formerly known as a helpful agency – seems to have become trapped in a protect our budget and behinds mode. There is a major outbreak but they will not say so or warn people from traveling to the effected area because supporters of the governments in the effected areas are more afraid of losing business in the short run, than having people die.

WHO encourages countries to strengthen surveillance, including surveillance for illness compatible with EVD, and to carefully review any unusual patterns, in order to ensure identification and reporting of human infections under the IHR (2005), and encourages countries to continue national health preparedness actions.

WHO does not recommend that any travel or trade restrictions be applied with respect to this event.

via WHO | Ebola virus disease: background and summary.

Recalled Fish Products May Cause Botulism

Lao Thai Nam Corp. of Dallas, Texas is recalling Number One Sompa Salted Fish because it has the potential to be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that can cause life-threatening illness or death. Consumers are warned not to use the product even if it does not look or smell spoiled.

via Recalled Fish Products May Cause Botulism.

Guinea: Mobilisation against an unprecedented Ebola epidemic | Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International

Conakry / Brussels / Geneva, 31 March 2014 – With eight confirmed cases of Ebola reported in the capital Conakry, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is facing an unprecedented epidemic in terms of the distribution of cases now scattered in several locations in Guinea.

“We are facing an epidemic of a magnitude never before seen in terms of the distribution of cases in the country: Gueckedou, Macenta Kissidougou, Nzerekore, and now Conakry,” said Mariano Lugli, coordinator of MSF’s project in Conakry.

via Guinea: Mobilisation against an unprecedented Ebola epidemic | Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International.