Mutated bird flu okay to publish, says U.S biosecurity panel

Two controversial papers on bird flu will be published by scientific journals this year after the go-ahead was given by a U.S biosecurity panel.

The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) took a stand over the papers last year out of concerns that details of the studies - which induced mutations in the H5N1 avian flu virus that made it transmissible among mammals by air rather than by close physical contact - could be used for bioterrorism.

Explaining its decision, announced last Friday, the NSABB said in a statement that ‘the data described in the revised manuscripts do not appear to provide information that would immediately enable misuse of the research in ways that would endanger public health or national security’. Read More

Egypt reports two new cases of human infection with bird flu

Egypt has reported the seventh and eighth cases of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza in 2012 according to a World Health Organization (WHO) Global Alert Response (GAR).

The Ministry of Health and Population of Egypt notified the WHO Monday of two children, a 2-year-old and a 15-year old, infected with the potentially fatal virus.

According to the GAR:

The first case is a 2 year-old female from Demiatta Governorate. She developed symptoms on 19 March 2012 and was admitted to a hospital on 20 March 2012 where she received oseltamivir. She is still under treatment and in good medical condition. The case was laboratory confirmed by the Central Public Health Laboratories (NIC) on 22 of March 2012.

The second case is a 15 year-old female from Giza Governorate. She developed symptoms on 25 March 2012 and was admitted to a hospital in critical condition on 29 March 2012. She received oseltamivir on admission. She died on 31 March 2012. The case was laboratory confirmed by the Central Public Health Laboratories (NIC) on 31 March 2012. Source

Antidepressants may affect pregnancy (and mental health, and physical health, and child development, and the environment, and, and, and…)

Taking antidepressants during pregnancy may slightly increase a woman’s risk of developing high blood pressure, new data suggests.

Researchers at the Université de Montreal compared 1,216 women who developed pregnancy-induced high blood pressure with or without pre-eclampsia — a life-threatening disorder most often characterized by a rapid rise in blood pressure that can lead to seizure, stroke, multiple organ failure and death of the mother and/or baby — with 12,160 matched controls.

The women had not suffered from high blood pressure before their pregnancies. The study found that 3.7 per cent of those women with hypertension had taken antidepressants compared with 2.5 per cent in the control group. Read More

Antibiotics useless for most sinus infections (yet we keep handing them out like candy, creating deadly resistant bacteria and viruses)

Nearly all people who have sinus infections don’t need antibiotics, according to new guidelines for doctors.

Sinus infections are the fifth leading reason why doctors prescribe antibiotics. But 90 to 99 per cent of cases are caused by viruses that antibiotics won't help.

"There is no simple test that will easily and quickly determine whether a sinus infection is viral or bacterial, so many physicians prescribe antibiotics 'just in case,'" said Dr. Anthony Chow, chair of the guidelines panel and professor emeritus of infectious diseases at the University of British Columbia, in a release.

“If the infection turns out to be viral — as most are — the antibiotics won't help and in fact can cause harm by increasing antibiotic resistance, exposing patients to drug side effects unnecessarily and adding cost." Read More

Mysterious nodding disease debilitates children

Pader, Uganda (CNN) -- Pauline Oto still wears her faded yellow and green school dress, but she hasn't been to school for years and she can't comprehend what to do with the pen the community nurse has just given her.

"Write on my hand," says the nurse. Pauline just sits on the reed mat, her legs pulled to one side, and stares. She has just had an attack and can't speak. She struggles to comprehend her surroundings.

Pauline, 13, has been struck by the dreaded nodding disease. Her mother, Grace Lagat, says it will take her at least four hours to recover from the seizures, and after each attack she seems less like the daughter she remembers.

"Her personality has changed greatly from before. She was normal when they were born. Now she just moves around and serves no purpose," Lagat says. Read More

Egypt: foot and mouth disease spreading among cattle stocks

Up to 100,000 Egyptian cattle are suspected to have been infected by a new strain of foot and mouth disease that is sweeping the country, according to Agence France Presse. Based on numbers provided to AFP by Egyptian farm authorities, about one tenth of the suspected infected population has already died.

Foot and mouth disease affects cloven-hooved animals such as cows, sheep, and pigs. It does not spread to humans, but it does render animal milk and meat unfit for consumption, threatening regional food supplies and the livelihood of the farmers who depend on animal husbandry for their income.

"Although foot-and-mouth disease has circulated in the country for some years, this is an entirely new introduction of a virus strain known as SAT2, and livestock have no immune protection against it," the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in Rome, according to Reuters. Read More

Bird flu leaves one child dead, Cambodia

A six-year-old girl from Kampong Chhnang province’s Kampong Tralach district died on Friday in the year’s second H5N1 fatality, Health Ministry and World Health Organisation officials said yesterday.

Morm Malay, deputy director of the provincial health department, said officials from the Health Ministry’s communicable disease control department had confirmed that Noy Makara had died of the virus, otherwise known as bird flu.

Noy Makara had fallen ill after eating the meat of a sick chicken, and her family had attempted to treat her with medicine and injections, he said.

“She did not get better and her family sent her for treatment at the Kuntha Bopha hospital on March 28, and she died on March 30,” he added.

This was the first case of H5N1 influenza ever recorded in Kampong Chhnang province, he said. Read More

Olympics Raise 'Extreme' Flu Pandemic Fears

The London Olympics will increase the already "extreme" risk of a flu pandemic hitting the UK, a report has warned.

Britain has been ranked second only to Singapore for its vulnerability to the rapid spread of an influenza outbreak.

And analysts believe this summer's Games will mean an even greater danger of flu spreading because of an extra 5.3 million tourists visiting Britain, many from countries where any pandemic is expected to emerge.

Bath-based analysts Maplecroft said the UK is at high risk partly because of its densely populated cities, highly mobile population and popularity as a global travel hub.

Maplecroft lists five countries at "extreme" risk for the spread of the flu, with Singapore top, followed by the UK, South Korea, the Netherlands and Germany.

However, the high quality of Britain's health infrastructure and communications networks help put it in the top 10 countries capable of tackling an outbreak, the study said. Read More

Health officials plan 20000-turkey cull after bird flu found, Israel

The Agriculture Ministry plans to slaughter 20,000 turkeys from the same coop after avian flu was discovered there.

The coop, on Moshav Zavdiel, near Lachish in the lower Judean plain, is the third farming community discovered in Israel in recent weeks with an avian flu outbreak.

Officials hope they can stem the spread of the disease by killing the birds.

A number of cats were found dead before the last cull, with signs pointing to them having eaten the carcasses of infected turkeys near Shalva, in the south, according to a report by the World Organization for Animal Health. Read More

Tofu suspected of giving botulism to two people in Queens, New York

Botulism is a rare but potentially fatal foodborne illness

Two people got botulism - a rare but potentially fatal foodborne illness - after buying tofu at a store in Flushing.

The city Health Department said in a release Friday evening that it confirmed one case of the potent form of food poisoning, and suspected another case.

Both of the afflicted are Chinese-speaking Queens residents who recently bought fresh, unrefrigerated bulk tofu from Flushing market. The tofu was not made at the store, and its source is under investigation, the Health Department release states.

"This kind of tofu -- commonly sold in an open, water-filled bin -- is highly suspected to be the source of these cases; however it has not yet been confirmed," the release states.

Fresh, unrefrigerated tofu is used to make fermented tofu and is an ingredient in a popular Chinese dish called chou doufu, or stinky tofu. Anyone who has bought this variety of tofu is urged to throw it away, even if they cooked it, because the toxic spores can survive cooking.

A Health Department spokewoman said neither patient has died of the illness, but declined to comment on their condition. She also declined to name the Flushing store where the two bought the tofu.

"We're still investigating the origin and destinations of the tofu, and because of that we aren't disclosing the name of the store," she said. Read More

Can malaria be stopped by British-bred genetically modified mosquitoes?.....Or are we Making it Worse?

This tiny insect has just feasted on human blood and one bite from it can infect you with malaria, the disease that kills 650,000 people every year. So why are British scientists playing God by breeding genetically modified mosquitoes? And are we prepared for the consequences?

It’s the middle of the day and the genetically modified mosquitoes are feeding.

The females of the species are ingesting what is known in mosquito parlance as their ‘blood meal’.

The tiny-winged insects cluster in their thousands on the small plastic dispensers of sugar solution, or hang upside down from a thin layer of transparent plastic attached to the top of their cage.

The plastic is designed to simulate human or animal skin, and trapped behind it is a film of horse blood.

There are hundreds of thousands of the insects in the small white plastic cages on the laboratory shelves in a south Oxfordshire industrial park.

The air in the laboratory is warm and there’s a smell of chemicals.

In plastic and glass containers thousands more mosquitoes are hatching in water that has a yellowish tint to it: they swarm together and move with the light every time a hand is passed over the surface of the container.

On strips of brown paper curled around inside plastic beakers and Tupperware-like boxes, there are hundreds of thousands of minuscule black dots stuck together: these are mosquito eggs.

‘This is our mosquito factory,’ says Hadyn Parry. ‘Here we practise birth control for mosquitoes.’

Parry is chief executive officer of Oxitec, a British bio-research company that pioneers innovative methods of controlling insects that damage crops and spread diseases.

Standing with Parry is zoologist Dr Luke Alphey. They are working on a new method of fighting one of the deadliest killers mankind has ever known: malaria. Read More

US lifts ban on Dutch deadly bird flu publications

US experts have dropped their opposition to plans by the Rotterdam Erasmus Medical Centre to publish a controversial paper on a particularly deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, the scientific journal Science reports.

The Dutch research team, led by Ron Fouchier, caused controversy last year because it had developed a bird flu strain that could be transmitted by air. Though the lab research involved ferrets, the new strain could conceivably also infect people. Mr Fouchier described the virus as “probably one of the most dangerous viruses one can make.” Soon after Japanese-American researchers reached the same conclusion.

Terrorism
But planned publications in two leading scientific journals, Science and Nature, were blocked by the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB). The body said it feared terrorists could use the information to develop a biological weapon of mass destruction. The NSABB called for the publication to omit critical information to prevent it from falling in terrorist hands. The World Health Organisation, on the other hand, insisted on full disclosure of the research results, saying they are essential to help preventing a bird flu pandemic.

Free exchange
After a meeting on Thursday and Friday, the NSABB said “new evidence that gives a better understanding of the virus can help safeguard public health and security.” Global cooperation requires free exchange of information and constitutes a fundamental principle in evaluating publications, the NSABB said in a statement. But it also stressed that the risk of “dual use”, by researchers and terrorists, remained.

The US experts refused to reveal what changes had been made in the publications. It’s thought a statement by Mr Fouchier, saying the virus was not as easily transmitted from person to person as previously thought, may have to do with the about-face.

The H5N1 bird flu virus is regarded as one of the deadliest bird flu viruses. More than half the people who contract it die because of it. Until now, the virus is only known to have spread to humans from poultry. Source

Note: Fantastic what they will agree to if you tell them what they want to hear.....But does that make it true?

Hand-foot-mouth disease keeps spreading in China Killing 4 infecting 11000 others

NANNING - Hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) has killed four people and sickened more than 11,000 others in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and more people are likely to be affected by the disease as it enters its peak, health authorities said Saturday.

During the first quarter this year, a total of 11,757 HFMD cases have been reported in Guangxi, up 38.24 percent from the same period last year, the Guangxi regional health department said in a statement.

The infectious disease has plagued other areas in China.

Central Hunan province has seen a surge in cases of hand-foot-mouth disease since the beginning of this month, with over 1,000 cases reported over the past week, according to local health authorities.

Also 20 children of a kindergarten in Hong Kong have been infected by the disease.
Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection said the patients, 13 boys and seven girls from two to five years old, started to show symptoms of HFMD since March 23.

Children under three years old are especially susceptible to break-outs of HFMD. The disease starts with a slight fever followed by blisters and ulcers in the mouth and rashes on the hands and feet.

The HFMD virus is usually transmitted through digestive and respiratory systems or through intimate contact. Read More

Outbreak of bird flu in pheasant flock near Clonakilty, Co Cork, Ireland

THE Department of Agriculture has confirmed an outbreak of avian flu in a small flock of pheasants near Clonakilty, Co Cork..

Preliminary results show the H5 strain is not the most pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus with further tests being carried out.

As a precautionary measure, the 100 birds on the affected premises are being slaughtered.

And in line with EU regulations, a 1km temporary restriction zone has been put in place around the premises.

The department also noted that there are no concerns relating to the consumption of poultry meat or poultry meat products and there are no restrictions on poultry movements outside the zone.

While the Department has ruled out the most highly pathogenic strain of Avian Influenza in this case, they persons having contact with birds should nonetheless ensure that appropriate biosecurity measures are in place, as set out in Government guidelines.

They advise that birds should be checked regularly and if an unusually high number of sick or dead animals are noticed they should notify their Regional Veterinary Office. Source

Food poisoning sends Maracana workers to hospital, Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Nearly 140 workers renovating Maracana Stadium for the 2014 World Cup went to hospital because of food poisoning this week.

The construction companies renovating the famed stadium said on Thursday the workers suffered diarrhea and vomiting after a meal on Tuesday.

They were treated for dehydration in local hospitals and were released on the same day.

The companies said in a statement that sanitary officials were at the construction site after the incident and approved hygiene conditions for workers.

Local media said the workers got sick after eating a bad salad. Source

Alabama McDonald's Customers Possibly Exposed to Hepatitis A

Customers who ate at a McDonald's in Northport, AL between February 28 and March 14 may have been exposed to hepatitis A through an infected employee, according to the Alabama Department of Health.

In a news alert, state health officials advised customers who visited the McDonald's at 2000 McFarland Blvd. in Northport any time on March 14, 2012, or during breakfast hours on March 16, 2012 to contact a health care provider as soon as possible.

They said customers who do not have a health care provider should contact the Tuscaloosa County Health Department at 205-562-6900.

"Hepatitis A vaccine and immune globulin can prevent hepatitis A virus infection, but only when given within 14 days of exposure," explained Dr. Donald Williamson, State Health Officer, in the news release. Therefore, individuals exposed on March 14 or 16, 2012, should receive treatment no later than this Friday, March 30.

People who have previously received hepatitis A vaccine are considered protected from this exposure.

Signs and symptoms of hepatitis A virus infection appear 2 to 6 weeks after exposure and commonly include mild fever, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, tiredness, pain in the upper right side of the abdomen, dark urine, light stools, and jaundice (yellowness of eyes or skin). The disease varies in severity, from mild cases lasting 2 weeks or less to more severe cases lasting 4 to 6 weeks or longer. Read More