Category Archives: pandemic

Transcript for CDC Telebriefing: Zika | CDC Online Newsroom | CDC

MARYN MCKENNA: thanks so much for taking my question.  Dr. Frieden, you said the CDC expects local transmission of Zika in the United States.  Is there anything you can say at this point about the robustness of state and local mosquito control programs?

TOM FRIEDEN: Mosquito control in the U.S.  Is often done by what are called mosquito abatement or abatement districts and quite variable.  Some of them do a superb job, some of them less so.  That’s why it’s so important that we invest in the systems to track and find mosquitos.  This is not easy work.  And I can — although the mosquitos did spread West Nile having worked on that for many years, the different aspects of mosquito control can be quite complex, labor intensive, and really when it comes to both Zika in general and mosquito control specifically, it is not easy, and it is not quick.  For mosquito control, you need to have monitoring of both mosquito larvae and adult mosquito.  That’s a labor intensive complex undertaking, and then you need to control mosquito larvae and adult mosquitos, and that’s a labor intensive and challenging area.  We know from the experience with dengue, you have to get to very high levels of mosquito control to drive down the risk of dengue in the community.

MARYN MCKENNA: My follow-up question this sounds like something you’re concerned about.

TOM FRIEDEN:  Yes, I think it is concerning because of the pregnant women and the developing fetus and because there is such an important need for us to learn more and do more in the U.S., in Puerto Rico and the other territories of the U.S., which have had lots of dengue cases in the past, and that’s a marker for the risk of Zika and around the world. So that we can learn more and partner to address Zika as effectively as possible.

 

 

Source: Transcript for CDC Telebriefing: Zika | CDC Online Newsroom | CDC

Some London boroughs face significantly high TB rates | Vaccine News

A recent report issued from the London Assembly shows there are specific boroughs within London that have significantly high tuberculosis (TB) rates, despite the nation’s efforts to eliminate the disease.In these boroughs, there are 113 TB cases for every 100,000 people. These rates are notably higher than the ones recorded in Brazil, China, India and Russia.TB is a respiratory illness that is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria can also infect other parts of the body, including the spine.

Source: Some London boroughs face significantly high TB rates | Vaccine News

Brazil confirms blood-transfusion Zika; PAHO calls for global support

Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP NewsFeb 04, 2016Also, Dallas officials issue a follow-up on a recent sexual transmission case, groups announce new research pushes, and Florida declares a public health emergency.<a href=”http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2016/02/brazil-confirms-blood-transfusion-zika-paho-calls-global-support

Source: Brazil confirms blood-transfusion Zika; PAHO calls for global support

Tim’s El Salvador Blog: Zika in El Salvador

Any discussion of reproductive health in El Salvador also requires mention of El Salvador’s absolute ban on abortion.   There are no exceptions, and the country will prosecute women who have abortions for murder. Pregnancies are going to happen in El Salvador in the coming months and years.   While we may see some reductions in birth rates among the small middle and upper classes, it seems unlikely in the many areas of the country where poverty is persistent.   From a Washington Post story titled The country with the world’s worst homicide rate now grapples with Zika:In this web of slums, there are blocks where 8 in 10 houses are breeding sites for mosquitoes. The city is a patchwork of rival gang territories that are defended so fiercely that health authorities cannot enter some neighborhoods. In just the first three weeks of January, El Salvador recorded 2,474 new suspected Zika cases, nearly half of them here in the capital. Many infected pregnant women live in these densely packed southern neighborhoods. “It’s uncontrollable,” said Eli Leiva, 40, an elementary school teacher in San Jacinto who has several students with Zika. “It’s a problem that has gotten totally out of hand.” Doctors are worried that basic public-health messages are not reaching their audience. Many residents ignore the recommendation to destroy mosquito breeding grounds by disposing of standing water, even though El Salvador has suffered repeated outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya, fevers transmitted by the same type of mosquito that carries the Zika virus. Teen pregnancy is rampant, abortion is illegal and contraception is discouraged in the heavily Catholic country. Many women interviewed dismissed the advice not to become pregnant as unrealistic.It is not a matter of lack of information being disseminated throughout the country.   The newspapers and airwaves are full of stories about the virus and public service announcements on avoiding mosquito bites.    But the country has been fighting dengue and chikunguya for years, two diseases carried by the same mosquito which carries Zika.  Unless that fight becomes more effective, we can expect to hear about Zika as a recurring public health problem in El Salvador.

Source: Tim’s El Salvador Blog: Zika in El Salvador

Microcephaly, Spotlighted by Zika Virus, Has Long Afflicted and Mystified – The New York Times

For doctors, the diagnosis means an ailment with no treatment, no cure and no clear prognosis. If the condition surges, it will significantly burden a generation of new parents for decades.Dr. Hannah M. Tully, a neurologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, sees the pain regularly, particularly among expectant parents who have just been told that an ultrasound showed their child to be microcephalic: “a terrible situation with which to be confronted in a pregnancy,” she said.An estimated 25,000 babies receive a microcephaly diagnosis each year in the United States. Microcephaly simply means that the baby’s head is abnormally small — sometimes just because the parents themselves have unusually small heads.

Source: Microcephaly, Spotlighted by Zika Virus, Has Long Afflicted and Mystified – The New York Times

BBC World Service – World Update, The man who discovered Ebola gives his verdict on Zika

The man who discovered Ebola gives his verdict on ZikaPeter Piot co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976 and has led research on the HIV virus. He says the most important thing with Zika is to confirm a link with birth deformations. Carnival season is approaching in Brazil and Dr Piot warns that because it falls during the high transmission period for mosquitoes, the chances of infection are increased.

Source: BBC World Service – World Update, The man who discovered Ebola gives his verdict on Zika

IRIN Global | Zika virus takes hold in Colombia | Comoros | Health & Nutrition

Bogotá, 1 February 2016 (IRIN) – Since being infected with the Zika virus a month ago, Wendy Johana Castillo has been experiencing pain all over her body, a recurring fever and a skin rash. But the 23-year-old Colombian is more concerned about her unborn baby. Every 15 days, she has to undergo a scan to make sure her foetus isn’t developing microcephaly, a birth defect that has been linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Babies with the congenital condition are born with abnormally small heads and often suffer from poor brain development. “Doctors advised me not to move much and, if I don’t feel my baby moving in the womb, to rush to the nearest ER,” Castillo told IRIN over the phone from a bed in her cousin’s home in Soacha, on the outskirts of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá. Castillo, who is 19 weeks pregnant, used to work as a janitor at a construction site in Girardot, a tourist town about two and a half hours’ drive from Bogotá. She said her workplace “was surrounded by puddles and infested with mosquitoes”.

Source: IRIN Global | Zika virus takes hold in Colombia | Comoros | Health & Nutrition