Category Archives: pandemic

Vitamin D fails in study – Life & Style – NZ Herald News

Vitamin D supplements provide little – if any – health benefits, a study shows.

The Auckland University report analysed multiple existing studies focused on the effects of vitamin D.

It found they failed to reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes, cancer or bone fractures in the general population by more than 15 per cent.

Vitamin D supplements are commonly associated with better health and the prevention of various medical conditions. However, an emerging body of research is beginning to debunk these beliefs.

A study published last month in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal concluded low levels of vitamin D were a result, rather than a cause, of ill-health.

The latest study, led by Dr Mark Bolland from the university\’s Department of Medicine, analysed comparisons of individuals who took calcium with their vitamin D supplements and those who didn\’t. Calcium is essential for healthy bones and teeth.

Some of Bolland\’s research indicates an increased risk of hip fractures with vitamin D supplementation.

It follows studies that showed vitamin D supplements made no difference in preventing osteoporosis in most healthy adults.

via Vitamin D fails in study – Life & Style – NZ Herald News.

Breadcrumbs in Dark Times: Any minute now, everything will change. | Rebelle Society

When the Going Gets Tough…

These days, the rough patch we’re navigating has turned into a very long haul. I believe we’ll weather the changes. I believe we’re strong enough to do so. Still, it’s easy to fall into despair and wish that our journey wasn’t so rife with trouble.

Right now, we’re in a thick soup of changes that rival any changes we’ve weathered in human history. The shit’s hitting the fan — environmentally, economically, emotionally — and everywhere we look, people are losing it. Shooting up the joint. Setting themselves on fire. Totaling their cars. Blowing up their personal lives.

via Breadcrumbs in Dark Times: Any minute now, everything will change. | Rebelle Society.

Eurosurveillance – View Article – Dengue Pandemic watch

In September 2013, dengue virus (DENV) infection was diagnosed in a German traveller returning from Japan. DENV-specific IgM and IgG and DENV NS1 antigen were detected in the patient’s blood, as were DENV serotype 2-specific antibodies. Public health authorities should be aware that autochthonous transmission of this emerging virus may occur in Japan. Our findings also highlight the importance of taking a full travel history, even from travellers not returning from tropical countries, to assess potential infection risks of patients.

via Eurosurveillance – View Article.

WHO | Human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus – update

Details of the cases are as follows:

A 71 year old man from Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, who became ill on 10 January. He was admitted to hospital on 16 January and is in a critical condition. The patient has a history of exposure to poultry.

A 57 year old man from Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, who became ill on 8 January. He was admitted to hospital on 10 January and is in a critical condition. The patient has a history of exposure to poultry.

A 70 year old man from Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, who became ill on 10 January. He was admitted to hospital on 14 January, transferred to another hospital on 17 January, and is in a serious condition.

A 49 year old male from Hangzhou City of Zhejiang Province, who became ill on 13 January. He was admitted to hospital on 17 January, transferred to another hospital on 19 January, and is in a serious condition. The patient has a history of exposure to poultry.

A 39 year old woman from Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, who became ill on 13 January. She was admitted to hospital on 19 January and is in a serious condition.

A 59 year old woman from Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, who became ill on 13 January. She was admitted to hospital on 19 January and is in a critical condition. The patient has a history of exposure to live poultry markets.

A 76 year old man from Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, who became ill on 9 January. He was admitted to hospital on 20 January and is in a critical condition. The patient has a history of exposure to live poultry markets.

A 53 year old man from Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, who became ill on 9 January. He was admitted to hospital on 12 January, transferred to another hospital on 16 January, and is in a critical condition. The patient has a history of exposure to poultry.

A 71 year old man from Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, who became ill on 31 December 2013. He was admitted to hospital on the same day, transferred to another hospital on 8 January, and is in a critical condition.

A 63 year old woman from Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, who became ill on 9 January. He was admitted to hospital on 13 January, transferred to another hospital on 18 January, and is in a critical condition. The patient has a history of exposure to poultry.

The source of infection is still under investigation. So far, there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.

via WHO | Human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus – update.

Avian Flu Diary: China’s CDC: H7N9 infections will grow further

While it may seem like a statement of the obvious, Feng Zijian, deputy director of China’s CDC has taken to the Chinese airwaves to warn that they expect the number of H7N9 cases to increase in the coming weeks, and that the elderly and the chronically ill should limit their exposure to live poultry.

 

Despite continued warnings over the dangers of exposure to live poultry, live markets remain open in many regions, and when markets are closed, they tend to remain closed only long enough for disinfection of the seller’s stalls.

 

Last October, in The Lancet: Poultry Market Closure Effect On H7N9 Transmission, the consensus was the closure of live markets  – while costly, and not particularly popular among many in China – was largely responsible for the rapid decline in human cases during the first outbreak.

via Avian Flu Diary: China’s CDC: H7N9 infections will grow further.

H7N9 sees ‘sporadic’ human-to-human transmission: WHO: Shanghaiist

Following up on yesterday’s headlines that a Shanghai doctor contracted the H7N9 avian flu and died, the World Health Organization has announced that human-to-human transmission of the virus might occur ‘sporadically’ in China. There is apparently “no need to panic,” at least not just yet.

The Shanghai doctor case is particularly troubling because, unlike most avian flu victims, the man had no contact with live poultry and his only interaction with the disease was via his infected patients. The biggest stumbling block preventing H7N9 from hitting epidemic proportions is its inability to infect humans without an animal vector, but the latest WHO report hints that this may be in for a change.

The WHO has said that the doctor\’s case, as well as a few other represent, “only one cluster [where] human-to-human transmission might have occurred. We [the World Health Organization] continue to expect only sporadic human cases.”

The Chinese media haven’t been particularly smooth about quelling unease over the coming flumageddon, as a recent health expert who talked with the China Daily can attest:

“So there is no need to panic, although more human cases are expected in coming days,” [the deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention] said.

The H7N9 bird flu virus tends to be more active in winter and such a period of stronger viral activity might last into early spring, he noted.

The main transmission route for the virus remains from birds to humans [and] among the cases reported, up to 70 percent had had contact with birds, he said.

Any statement that being “don’t panic, but” is probably in need of some rephrasing. Furthermore, “up to 70%

” infection via birds still leaves at least a 30% chance of human transmission, which seems fairly high for something that has been described as isolated and sporadic. The WHO is, presumably, working overtime on this one, so we will hopefully have more information soon.

via H7N9 sees ‘sporadic’ human-to-human transmission: WHO: Shanghaiist.

News VietNamNet

The provincial People’s Committee announced the deadly A/H5N1 virulent strain was found on thousands of ducks raised by local farmers in Yen Phong and Tien Du districts, Tu Son Town and Bac Ninh City.

Local veterinarians quarantined and disinfected the affected farms and vaccinated all poultry.

Check points have been established in high-risk areas to prevent the slaughtering, transport and trading of sick poultry.

So far, more than 4,000 infected chickens and ducks in Bac Ninh have been culled.

Experts warned of a high risk of a bird flu recurrence in Vietnam as there is an increasing consumer demand for poultry and its related products during the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday. Cold weather also enables the deadly flu virus to spread far and wide.

via News VietNamNet.

Backs up what I have been saying for about 5 years now into my research of avian influenza from a large systems point of view.

VDU’s blog: H7N9 hasn’t left, it’s just been building capacity… [UPDATED WITH NEW WHO DON]

The H7N9 cycle wasn\’t broken when the markets were shut in 2013; it was just temporarily halted.

We know that these birds have multiple influenza viruses in them including H9N2, H5N1 and H7N9.

The conditions for the emergence of viruses we already know, and those we have yet to meet, continue to be created and maintained.

The spectre of \”the next pandemic\” will not get the banishment it deserves while the live bird market system continues as it has. It\’s just our luck that may run out as it did for those infected by H7N9.

via VDU’s blog: H7N9 hasn’t left, it’s just been building capacity… [UPDATED WITH NEW WHO DON].

H7N9 has mutated, may spread from human to human: expert | Society | FOCUS TAIWAN – CNA ENGLISH NEWS

The report said that H5N1 and H7N9 have been two of the the most lethal avian influenza viruses for humans in recent years. Since the first case of human influenza A H5N1 was reported in 1997 in Hong Kong, the virus has affected more than 60 countries around the world, with a fatality rate of 60 percent.

After a number of human infections of the H7N9 virus have been reported in eastern China, mostly in the Yangtze River Delta region in late February 2013, more than 140 human infections of H7N9 have been reported in 12 provinces and cities in China, including 46 deaths, according to the report.

Gao said that closing live poultry markets, adopting more intensive livestock farming practices and using the mass slaughter of live poultry are good measures to control the spread of the H7N9 epidemic.

The Shanghai City government has announced it will shut down live poultry markets from the Lunar New Year holiday (Jan. 31) until April 30. (Cheng Chung-sheng and Y.L. Kao)

via H7N9 has mutated, may spread from human to human: expert | Society | FOCUS TAIWAN – CNA ENGLISH NEWS.

Health chief urges Lunar New Year precautions against bird flu | South China Morning Post

(6 new cases of H7N9)

Food and Health Secretary Ko Wing-man on Sunday urged Hongkongers to take precautions against bird flu during the Lunar New Year, warning them not to visit markets in Guangdong province and east China when they visit their relatives over the holidays.

via Health chief urges Lunar New Year precautions against bird flu | South China Morning Post.