Category Archives: pandemic

H5N1: Garrett on Ebola: Humans spark the outbreaks

When distressed by such environmental changes, animals are more likely to venture near human habitation in search of food, and come down from the upper tiers of forests into tree levels filled with predatory monkeys and chimps. 

Once in Nzara, McCormick found the rafters of a Sudanese textile warehouse filled with bats. South African virologist Robert Swanepoel found swarms of bats in trees inside Kikwit town, and traces of Ebola in their blood. Even bats found in a cave in Spain carried Ebola.

The bats play a vital role in the survival of rain forests: The solution is not elimination of the animals, but of human contact with them.

via H5N1: Garrett on Ebola: Don’t kiss the cadaver.

H5N1: Guinea: More Ebola cases reported in Conakry, interior

So Guinea now sees a big jump in total cases, from 88 to 112, and a rise in deaths from 66 to 70. (Not all VHF cases may be Ebola, but that’s a distinction lost on the dead.)

We also have confirmation of the report of the two healthcare workers at Kipé, and we have an example of how a simple and loving ritual—the touching of a loved one’s body before burial—can have a disastrous effect on other family members.

via H5N1: Guinea: More Ebola cases reported in Conakry, interior.

H5N1: Four cases of Ebola confirmed in Guinean capital Conakry

Total fail in actually getting word out to people and about how this is different!

The minister said the virus appeared to have been transmitted by an old man who showed symptoms of haemorrhagic fever after visiting Dinguiraye in central Guinea, far from the identified outbreaks of Ebola in the remote southeast.

Four of the man’s brothers, who attended his funeral in the central town of Dabola, started to show the same symptoms and were tested for Ebola on their return to Conakry.

“The four tested positive,” Lamah told Reuters. “They have been placed in an isolation ward in Donka hospital.” The old man’s family has also been quarantined, the minister said.

The spread of the disease to Conakry, a city of some 2 million people, marked an escalation in the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, which ranks as one of the poorest nations on earth despite rich deposits of bauxite and iron ore. As of Wednesday, 63 deaths had been reported from suspected cases of infections.

via H5N1: Four cases of Ebola confirmed in Guinean capital Conakry.

Scooters Against TB

This initiative of Sandoz is in line with South African Government’s five-year (2012 – 2016) National Strategic Plan on HIV, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and TB, and supports the provincial plans to revitalise its primary health care programme.The scooter initiative of Sandoz not only provides a workable solution to a problem, but it is also a very visible demonstration of community involvement and private – public partnership to help eradicate TB.

via .

H5N1: Guinea: Ebola update from the US Embassy

U.S. Embassy Medical Practitioner attended the World Health Organization (WHO)  Ebola Task Force meeting hosted by WHO today and reports:

• There are a total of 88 suspected individuals of hemorrhagic fever in Guinea.

• 63 of these individuals have died.

• Out of 37 samples, 11 have tested positive for the Ebola virus to date.

• All of the positive tests have come from the far South Eastern Region of Guinea.

• There have been NO proven Ebola cases in Conakry and at this time there are NO suspected cases in Conakry.

via H5N1: Guinea: Ebola update from the US Embassy.

H5N1: Guinea says Ebola outbreak contained; death toll rises

The outbreak of mysterious haemorrhagic fever was first detected in Guinea in February. Scientists have since identified it as the most virulent Zaire strain of the Ebola virus.

The virus is believed to reside primarily in bats between rare outbreaks in humans. Some experts believe it may have been carried by bats from central Africa, where it is more common.

BAN ON BATS AND BUSHMEAT

In an effort to contain the disease, Guinea has banned the sale and consumption of bats and other types of bush meat, and banned public funerals for those killed. Volunteers from the Guinean Red Cross were disinfecting the homes of victims and dealing with infected bodies.

via H5N1: Guinea says Ebola outbreak contained; death toll rises.

WHO chief raises prospect of ban on live poultry sales | South China Morning Post

Dr Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, formerly Hong Kong’s director of health, also said that the regional culture of eating fresh chicken would have to evolve to help governments fight the diseases.

In her keynote address on infectious diseases delivered in Hong Kong yesterday at a conference on investment in Asia, Chan said that so far there was no global pandemic of H5N1 and H7N9 bird flu. But she warned of the “amazing ability” the viruses had to mutate, making them harder to control.

Unsustainable food production methods, such as overcrowding livestock, have been contributing to the spread of infectious diseases. Wet markets in particular have become breeding grounds for new strains of viruses and hotspots for infection, Chan said.

When asked whether the government should halt live poultry sales here, she said it was an idea it “should consider”.

Wet markets selling live poultry are not common in many parts of the world, but in Hong Kong and parts of southern Asia there is still an appetite for fresh chicken, she said. “You can’t just blame the government.”

Chan said she believes the Hong Kong government is trying to encourage a change in that culture.

via WHO chief raises prospect of ban on live poultry sales | South China Morning Post.

H5N1: Eyewitness testimony from the heart of Guinea’s Ebola outbreak

“At the start, neither the patients nor the doctors understood what was happening. There was talk of a mysterious illness that was similar to cholera and typhoid fever. Some patients snuck out of hospitals to get the opinion of traditional practitioners, which only helped spread the virus.

When a family member is sick, all of his relatives stay by his bedside

“In this city, like in surrounding towns, people don’t know what to do. When a family member is sick, all of his relatives stay by his bedside. Then, once they die, since it’s unthinkable to abandon a body, the body is buried. At any one of these moments, loved ones risk being infected.

“It is essential to do real work on the risks and means of transmission. Up until now, the authorities have broadcast advice over local radio, but that isn’t enough. I think that we don’t have an exact idea of the number of infected people because we only count people that are admitted for treatment. But there’s probably a lot more if we include surrounding towns and villages.”

via H5N1: Eyewitness testimony from the heart of Guinea’s Ebola outbreak.

ECDC finds only one in three MDR TB patients complete treatment | Vaccine News Daily

Multi-drug-resistant TB on rise

The data, which was jointly created by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, found that only one out of every three patients with MDR TB infections successfully completed treatment. More than half of all MDR TB patients died, did not follow recommended treatment plans or stopped treatment all together.

Only seven out of 21 countries reported maintaining a five-year decline in MDR TB notification rates. Across the EU, the rate of MDR TB treatment success is approximately 30 percent below the target of 70 percent set by the EU Framework Action Plan to Fight Tuberculosis.

via ECDC finds only one in three MDR TB patients complete treatment | Vaccine News Daily.