Category Archives: pandemic

H5N1: Saudi Arabia: Five new cases of MERS in Riyadh

So the brother and two sisters are confirmed, and the 53-year-old asymptomatic case is almost certainly a parent. So we have a full-blown MERS family cluster.

via H5N1: Saudi Arabia: Five new cases of MERS in Riyadh.

Salmonella in Costco fruit sparks recall by Oregon food freeze dryer | OregonLive.com

Oregon Freeze Dry, Inc. in Albany sold the Kirkland Signature Real Sliced Fruit to Costco, which distributed the product to its stores in 36 states and Puerto Rico. None of the contaminated fruit was sold in Oregon or Washington even though it was produced in Albany.

The distribution list includes Costco stores in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The fruit was sold in a red-and-white case containing 20 pouches of freeze-dried snacks. Consumers who purchased Kirkland Signature Real Sliced Fruit with best before dates of Feb. 14, 2015 and March 11, 2015 should return the item for a full refund. The best before date is listed on the upper left corner of the front panel of the case.

via Salmonella in Costco fruit sparks recall by Oregon food freeze dryer | OregonLive.com.

Not Your Grandfather’s Disease: Youth Change the Conversation About Type 2 Diabetes | Civil Eats

Most young people consider diabetes a “grandfather’s disease,” inherited at birth. They don’t always know that there are two very different forms of the disease, and that type 2 diabetes is preventable. This lack of awareness has staggering implications—between 2000 and 2008, rates of diabetes and prediabetes among Americans ages 12 to 19 shot from 9 percent to 23 percent.

That’s where the The Bigger Picture comes in. Youth Speaks, a San Francisco based arts nonprofit that empowers teenagers through poetry, teamed up with the University of San Francisco’s Center for Vulnerable Populations in 2010 to launch a project that encourages young people to “raise their voice and change the conversation around type 2 diabetes.”

via Not Your Grandfather’s Disease: Youth Change the Conversation About Type 2 Diabetes | Civil Eats.

H5N1: China: Do dogs transmit H1N1 to humans?

During 2012, we identified dogs sampled with elevated antibodies (≥1:40) against A(H1N1)pdm09 virus: HI assay (24.7%) and MN assay (10.8%). This high seroprevalence of A(H1N1)pdm09 among dogs without clinical signs of influenza support the premise that dogs may play a role in human influenza ecology in China.

via H5N1: China: Do dogs transmit H1N1 to humans?.

However! Seems to be a very human-centric view of things. We look for animals, insects, bacteria, and viruses that transmit disease to humans but not for diseases that humans pass to animals, etc. Dogs and cats especially, are as likely to become ill from human ills, as is the opposite since we live in such intimate environment with them. The same can be said for horses, camels, sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs, and people.

H5N1: Antibiotics as “fat drugs”

If you walk into a farm-supply store today, you’re likely to find a bag of antibiotic powder that claims to boost the growth of poultry and livestock. That’s because decades of agricultural research has shown that antibiotics seem to flip a switch in young animals’ bodies, helping them pack on pounds. Manufacturers brag about the miraculous effects of feeding antibiotics to chicks and nursing calves. Dusty agricultural journals attest to the ways in which the drugs can act like a kind of superfood to produce cheap meat.

But what if that meat is us? Recently, a group of medical investigators have begun to wonder whether antibiotics might cause the same growth promotion in humans. New evidence shows that America’s obesity epidemic may be connected to our high consumption of these drugs. But before we get to those findings, it’s helpful to start at the beginning, in 1948, when the wonder drugs were new — and big was beautiful.

via H5N1: Antibiotics as “fat drugs”.

Vietnam reports bird flu virus mutation | Health | Thanh Nien Daily

Vaccine-resistant mutation of H5N1 bird flu virus strain has been confirmed in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh while vaccinated fowls fell sick in central Vietnam.

Ngo Duc Thanh, director of Tra Vinh animal health department, said the kinds of vaccine that have been used for many years showed weaker effects this year.

Thanh said most samples from sick poultry would be tested for a new mutation.

He asked farmers to inject their livestock with a new kind of vaccine that is also available.

Animal health officials from the central province of Quang Nam last week noticed that a local herd of 1,000 ducks have fallen sick and five of six samples tested positive for H5N1 although they were vaccinated a month earlier.

Vaccinated poultry from the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho were also infected earlier despite vaccination. Officials said the vaccine could have been ineffective to a virus mutation, or the vaccination process faulty.

The health and agriculture ministries on March 5 said there were 69 H5N1 bird flu outbreaks ravaging in 23 cities and provinces. An average of two new outbreaks have occurred every day since early February, killing more than 63,000 fowls.

via Vietnam reports bird flu virus mutation | Health | Thanh Nien Daily.

U.S. Plans to Speed Poultry Slaughtering, Cut Inspections to please Tyson’s bank account- Inter Press Service

 

The U.S. government is in the final stages of weighing approval for an overhaul of regulations governing the country’s poultry industry that would see processing speeds increase substantially even while responsibility for oversight would be largely given over to plant employees.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) inspector at a poultry processing facility in Accomac, Virginia checking for cleanliness and testing poultry for the Avian Influenza (AI) virus. Credit: USDA/public domain

The plan, which was originally floated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) two years ago, is currently slated to be finalised by regulators next month. Yet opposition has been heating up from lawmakers as well as labour, public health and consumer advocacy groups.

On Thursday, over 100 such groups and businesses delivered a letter, along with nearly 220,000 petitions, to President Barack Obama, asking that the proposal be withdrawn.

via U.S. Plans to Speed Poultry Slaughtering, Cut Inspections – Inter Press Service.

California influenza-associated death toll hits 304 | Vaccine News Daily

California Department of Public Health Director and State Health Officer Dr. Ron Chapman recently announced 24 newly reported influenza-associated deaths in persons under 65 years old during the 2013-2014 flu season, bringing the total to 302 this season.

Six of the 302 deaths are classified as pediatric. The CDPH is investigating an additional 19 cases of flu-associated deaths not yet confirmed.

via California influenza-associated death toll hits 304 | Vaccine News Daily.

Infections Linked to Chinese Seafood Markets in New York – NYTimes.com

At least 30 people have contracted a rare skin infection after buying seafood at markets in Chinese neighborhoods across New York City, prompting health officials to issue a warning to consumers and market workers to take precautions when handling raw or live fish.

The source of the outbreak was unclear, but health officials said that all of the people who were infected had bought fish at markets in Sunset Park, Brooklyn; Flushing, Queens; or Chinatown, in Manhattan.

There was no evidence that eating fish from any of those markets could cause illness, officials said.

“People are encouraged to wear waterproof gloves in their home when preparing live or raw fish or seafood that came from a market in Chinatown, especially if they have cuts or abrasions,” the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a statement.

via Infections Linked to Chinese Seafood Markets in New York – NYTimes.com.

H5N1: Maryn McKenna on the Post-Antibiotic Age

Maryn McKenna on the Post-Antibiotic Age

I just heard the CBC interview with Maryn McKenna on the Post-Antibiotic Age. From the Sunday Edition’s web page:

Antibiotic-resistant superbugs like MRSA, C. difficile and CRE lurk in hospital rooms and kill patients who have undergone medical procedures that would have otherwise saved or improved their lives.

In fact, a lot of medical and public health experts now fear that we’re on the cusp of an unsettling new age…the Post-Antibiotic Age.

Maryn McKenna is an award-winning science journalist who specializes in public health issues.  She’s a columnist for The Scientific American, and her books include Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA, as well as an upcoming book about the connection between antibiotics and agriculture. She’s also the author of a new article called “Imagining the Post-Antibiotics Future” for the online magazine, Medium.com.

Click through to listen to the interview. McKenna should have her own radio program; she has a wonderful radio voice, and has a lot to say in it.

via H5N1: Maryn McKenna on the Post-Antibiotic Age.