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DocWatch pandemic Twitterit? News stories about "pandemic," with punchlines: http://apocadocs.com/d.pl?pandemic Related Scary Tags: health impacts  ~ antibiotic resistance  ~ ecosystem interrelationships  ~ superbugs  ~ corporate farming  ~ global warming  ~ climate impacts  ~ poverty  ~ anthropogenic change  ~ contamination  ~ massive die-off   Mon, Dec 7, 2015 from Washington Post: Superbug known as 'phantom menace' on the rise in U.S. ...This superbug's strains belong to the family of bacteria known as CRE, which are difficult to treat because they are often resistant to most antibiotics. They are often deadly, too, in some instances killing up to 50 percent of patients who become infected, according to the CDC. Health officials have called CRE among the country's most urgent public health threats.... This type of CRE has had a lower profile because it's actually less antibiotic-resistant than other more common types of CRE. As a result, it hasn't been a frequent focus of testing and has largely escaped detection by health officials, prompting some researchers to dub it "the phantom menace." ... As long as Natalie Portman is somehow involved, we'll be fine. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 20, 2015 from New York Times: A Mosquito Solution (More Mosquitoes) Raises Heat in Florida Keys In this bite-size community near Key West, like so many other mosquito-plagued spots up and down the Florida Keys, residents long ago made peace with insecticides dropped into town by planes or rumbling by on trucks. Cans of Off are offered at outdoor parties. Patio screens are greeted with relief. But Keys residents are far less enamored of another approach to mosquito control -- a proposal to release the nation's first genetically modified mosquitoes, hatched in a lab and pumped with synthetic DNA to try to combat two painful mosquito-borne viral diseases, dengue and chikungunya. ... That's what I call fighting fire with fire! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 14, 2014 from MPRnews: As Minnesota's climate changes, bad air and new disease risks follow In the last century, Minnesota has generally grown warmer and wetter, changes that have big implications for human health. Some Minnesota counties are much more vulnerable than others to health problems associated with climate change, concludes the first county-by-county Minnesota Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment. The Minnesota Department of Health report, released Monday, looks at which counties are most vulnerable to extreme heat, flash flooding and bad air quality. ... Buncha micro managers. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 29, 2014 from London Guardian: Lack of toilets blights the lives of 2.5bn people, UN chief warns The world's lack of progress in building toilets and ending open defecation is having a "staggering" effect on the health, safety, education, prosperity and dignity of 2.5 billion people, the UN deputy secretary general, Jan Eliasson, has warned.... According to the UN, 2.5 billion people still lack "improved sanitation facilities" - defined as ones that "hygienically separate human excreta from human contact", down only 7 percent since 1990, when 2.7 billion lacked access, and more than a billion people - most of whom live in rural areas - have to defecate in gutters, behind bushes or into water. More people have access to mobile phones than toilets, it says. ... Is there an app for "improved sanitation facilities"? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 10, 2014 from Washington Post: The sneeze: Show these new MIT pictures to people who won't cover their mouths ...Researchers had previously viewed the sneeze as a collection of individual mucous droplets. After an "achoo," they thought, larger droplets flew farther than smaller ones because of momentum....Using high-speed imaging of coughs and sneezes, as well as laboratory simulations and mathematical modeling, the researchers came up with a new measure of the sneeze and its trajectory....Because the droplets are in a cloud, they stay suspended and travel further -- particularly smaller ones, which travel up to 200 times farther than previously estimated. ... Juggersnot! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 27, 2014 from NBC News: One in 25 Infected in U.S. Hospitals, Report Finds One in 25 U.S. hospital patients has caught an infection while in the hospital, according to new federal data released on Wednesday. That adds up to more than 700,000 people infected in 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. It's a national crisis and although the numbers suggest there are some improvements, it's not nearly enough, the CDC's Dr. Michael Bell said. "You go to the hospital hoping to get better," Bell told reporters. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen. ... I go to the hospital hoping to not go broke. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 20, 2014 from E&E Publishing: How the spreading symptoms of climate change can be deadly The hallmarks of a warming climate, heavier rains, more severe droughts, rising sea levels and longer growing seasons, are spreading a variety of pathogens throughout the world. Malaria is moving to the highlands. Lyme disease is spreading across the U.S. Northeast and eastern Canada. Outbreaks of cholera will increase with more unsafe water. Those are three of the diseases that are becoming part of a growth field in medical research amid concerns that tropical diseases are moving north and south and that progress made to improve health conditions in previous decades might be undone. ... We deserve whatever we've got coming to us. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 2, 2014 from Planet Ark: West Nile virus blamed for death of bald eagles in Utah An unprecedented wintertime outbreak of West Nile virus has killed more than two dozen bald eagles in Utah and thousands of water birds around the Great Salt Lake, state wildlife officials said on Tuesday... The eagles, whose symptoms included leg paralysis and tremors, are believed to have contracted the disease by preying on sick or dead water birds called eared grebes that were infected by the West Nile virus... McFarlane said Utah had an unusually warm fall that extended the breeding season for mosquitoes to late October. But scientists may ultimately be unable to determine if grebes infected by West Nile virus migrated to Utah or if they contracted it there, she said.... the epidemic in Utah may be unprecedented in North America for the masses of birds killed over a broad geographic area and for the number of bald eagles affected... ... I guess I better lay off the McEared Grebes, eh? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Dec 14, 2013 from Scientific American: Banana Fungus Creeps Closer to World's Key Plantations A variant of a fungus that rots and kills the main variety of export banana has been found in plantations in Mozambique and Jordan, raising fears that it could spread to major producers and decimate supplies. The pathogen, which was until now limited to parts of Asia and a region of Australia, has a particularly devastating effect on the popular Cavendish cultivar, which accounts for almost all of the multibillion-dollar banana export trade. Expansion of the disease worldwide could be disastrous, say researchers. ... Orange you glad we won't have to say banana again? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Sep 19, 2013 from Alternet: How Chicken Is Killing the Planet Earlier this month, while you were busy sneaking out of your empty office, hoping nobody would notice your starting the holiday weekend early, the USDA was also doing something it was hoping nobody would notice. It was green-lighting the sale of Chinese processed American chicken. As Politico explained, "U.S. officials have given the thumbs-up to four Chinese poultry plants, paving the way for the country to send processed chicken to American markets." But while, "eat first, China will only be able to process chicken that has been slaughtered in the U.S. or other certified countries," that should not be a comfort to fans of the McNugget, Campbell's chicken soup, or any other processed chicken product...Meat is already the No. 1 contributor to climate change. Don't expect shipping slaughtered chickens 7,000 miles to China and then bringing them back as processed food to lower that carbon footprint. And, of course, the Chinese poultry industry has its own dirty laundry, including a current bird flu outbreak, believed to have "evolved from migratory birds via waterfowl to poultry and into people," and already responsible for 44 deaths; the sale of 46- year-old chicken feet; and exporting tainted dog treats, sickening nearly a thousand American pets. ... Let them eat drywall. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 29, 2013 from Associated Press: French man dies of SARS-related respiratory virus A French patient infected with a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS died Tuesday of the disease, which has killed half the people known to be infected and alarmed global health officials. The novel coronavirus is related to SARS, which killed some 800 people in a global epidemic in 2003.... 20 of the 40 confirmed cases of the disease have ended in death. Most of those infected since the virus was identified last year had traveled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Pakistan. There also have been cases in Britain and Germany. The ministry said the Frenchman, whose illness was identified May 8 after he returned from a visit to the United Arab Emirates, died Tuesday. His hospital roommate also tested positive for the illness. ... Uh-oh ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 20, 2013 from Washington Post: Measles outbreaks flourish in UK years after discredited research tied measles shot to autism More than a decade ago, British parents refused to give measles shots to at least a million children because of now discredited research that linked the vaccine to autism. Now, health officials are scrambling to catch up and stop a growing epidemic of the contagious disease. This year, the U.K. has had more than 1,200 cases of measles, after a record number of nearly 2,000 cases last year. The country once recorded only several dozen cases every year. It now ranks second in Europe, behind only Romania. ... Why were these two people allowed to have so many children! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 21, 2013 from BBC: Mosquitoes ignore repellent Deet after first exposure Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine say mosquitoes are first deterred by the substance, but then later ignore it.... The research was carried out on Aedes aegypti, a species of mosquito that spreads dengue and yellow fever. ... D'eet! ApocaDoc permalink Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish! Tue, Dec 11, 2012 from American Society for Microbiology: New Coronavirus Has Many Potential Hosts, Could Pass from Animals to Humans Repeatedly The SARS epidemic of 2002-2003 was short-lived, but a novel type of human coronavirus that is alarming public health authorities can infect cells from humans and bats alike, a fact that could make the animals a continuing source of infection, according to a study to be published in in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, on Dec. 11. The new coronavirus, called hCoV-EMC, is blamed for five deaths and several other cases of severe disease originating in countries in the Middle East. According to the new results, hCoV-EMC uses a different receptor in the human body than the SARS virus, and can infect cells from a wide range of bat species and pigs, indicating there may be little to keep the virus from passing from animals to humans over and over again. ... tHIs iS sooOoOoOO sCaRY! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Nov 21, 2012 from BBC: New coronavirus: May be 'bat bug' Bats may be the source of a new Sars-like virus which killed a man in Saudi Arabia, according to an analysis of the coronavirus' genome. Two other people have been infected and one, who was flown to the UK for treatment in September, is still in intensive care. Experts, writing in the journal mBio, said the virus was closely related to other viruses in bats. ... Anything but bats! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 23, 2012 from Reuters: Insight: In vulnerable Greece, mosquitoes bite back Just when it seems things couldn't get any worse for Greece, the exhausted and indebted country has a new threat to deal with: mosquito-borne diseases. Species of the blood-sucking insects that can carry exotic-sounding tropical infections like malaria, West Nile Virus, chikungunya and dengue fever are enjoying the extra bit of warmth climate change is bringing to parts of southern Europe. And with austerity budgets, a collapsing health system, political infighting and rising xenophobia all conspiring to allow pest and disease control measures here to slip through the net, the mosquitoes are biting back. ... They started civilization, they might as well end it. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 16, 2012 from E&E Publishing: Avian malaria found spreading in local Alaska birds A tropical plague is spreading among birds in America's northernmost state in part due to a changing climate, according to new research. Malaria, a scourge that haunts many parts of humanity, also afflicts our feathered friends. The avian version of the disease does not harm people, but it can serve as an analogue for future infection patterns in humans as the climate changes. ... Are you implying these birds are, um, canaries in the coal mine? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 31, 2012 from Associated Press: Florida water pollution rules in election-year limbo When the Obama administration agreed to set the first-ever federal limits on runoff in Florida, environmental groups were pleased. They thought the state's waters would finally get a break from a nutrient overdose that spawns algae, suffocates rivers, lakes and streams and forms byproducts in drinking water that could make people sick. Nearly three years later -- with a presidential election looming and Florida expected to play a critical role in the outcome -- those groups are still waiting. The rules, originally scheduled to take effect in March, now won't be active until next January, and even then could be replaced altogether by state-drafted regulations. In fact, a growing number of regulations are being delayed at federal agencies or at the White House. ... Politics is pollution. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 23, 2012 from Reuters: Bacteria outbreak in Northern Europe due to ocean warming, study says Manmade climate change is the main driver behind the unexpected emergence of a group of bacteria in northern Europe which can cause gastroenteritis, new research by a group of international experts shows. The paper, published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Sunday, provided some of the first firm evidence that the warming patterns of the Baltic Sea have coincided with the emergence of Vibrio infections in northern Europe. Vibrios is a group of bacteria which usually grow in warm and tropical marine environments. The bacteria can cause various infections in humans, ranging from cholera to gastroenteritis-like symptoms from eating raw or undercooked shellfish or from exposure to seawater. ... Blessed are bacteria, for they shall inherit the earth. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 9, 2012 from MIami Herald: Cholera reportedly kills 15, sickens hundreds in eastern Cuba The first cholera outbreak in Cuba in a century has left at least 15 dead and sent hundreds to hospitals all but sealed off by security agents bent on keeping a lid on the news, according to reports Friday. "There are 1,000-plus cases" in the southeastern province of Granma, said Yoandris Montoya, who lives in Bayamo, the provincial capital ... Cuba's Public Health Ministry, which rarely makes public any information that could give the island a negative image, declared Tuesday it had "controlled" an outbreak of cholera that had killed three people and affected 50 others in Granma province. But unofficial reports from the region Friday indicated the disease was continuing to spread, with hundreds more suspected cases jamming hospitals in Manzanillo and Bayamo. Montoya said more cases were reported in nearby Niquero and Pilan. ... I shan't breathe a word. In fact, I shan't breathe. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 5, 2012 from Reuters: Diseases from animals hit over two billion people a year A global study mapping human diseases that come from animals like tuberculosis, AIDS, bird flu or Rift Valley fever has found that just 13 such diseases are responsible for 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2 million deaths a year. The vast majority of infections and deaths from so-called zoonotic diseases are in poor or middle-income countries, but "hotspots" are also cropping up in the United States and Europe where diseases are newly infecting humans, becoming particularly virulent, or are developing drug resistance. And exploding global demand for livestock products means the problem is likely to get worse, researchers said. ... We need to kill all animals before they kill us! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 5, 2012 from E&E Publishing: Exotic diseases from warmer climates gain foothold in the U.S. Diseases once thought to be rare or exotic in the United States are gaining a presence and getting new attention from medical researchers who are probing how immigration, limited access to care and the impacts of climate change are influencing their spread. Illnesses like schistosomiasis, Chagas disease and dengue are endemic in warmer, wetter and poorer areas of the world, often closer to the equator. According to the World Health Organization, almost 1 billion people are afflicted with more than one tropical disease. ... Weird. My cats' names are Schistosomiasis, Chagas and Dengue! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 21, 2012 from London Independent: Experts fear diseases 'impossible to treat' Britain is facing a "massive" rise in antibiotic-resistant blood poisoning caused by the bacterium E.coli -- bringing closer the spectre of diseases that are impossible to treat. Experts say the growth of antibiotic resistance now poses as great a threat to global health as the emergence of new diseases such as Aids and pandemic flu. Professor Peter Hawkey, a clinical microbiologist and chair of the Government's antibiotic-resistance working group, said that antibiotic resistance had become medicine's equivalent of climate change. ... Don't tell me: I'll bet it's a perfect storm. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 17, 2012 from Discovery Channel: Antibiotics Breed Drug-Resistant Bacteria in Pigs After giving pigs a low-dose of antibiotics for just two weeks, researchers detected a drastic rise in the number of E. coli bacteria in the guts of the animals. And those bacteria showed a large jump in resistance to antibiotics. The particular strain of E. coli detected in the study was not pathogenic to pigs or humans. But the results add to concerns that regular use of antibiotics in farm animals could spread dangerous and drug-resistant varieties of bacteria throughout the environment and into our food and water... "This is an exciting study because it goes beyond what anyone else has done and looks at the whole ecology of the animal's intestinal tract," said microbiologist Stuart Levy, director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University in Boston. "It shows that a low-dose of antibiotic can have a broad effect on the flora of animals," he said... ... When pigs jump! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 15, 2012 from Wired: New Animal Virus Takes Northern Europe by Surprise Scientists in northern Europe are scrambling to learn more about a new virus that causes fetal malformations and stillbirths in cattle, sheep, and goats. For now, they don't have a clue about the virus's origins or why it's suddenly causing an outbreak; in order to speed up the process, they want to share the virus and protocols for detecting it with anyone interested in studying the disease or developing diagnostic tools and vaccines. The virus, provisionally named "Schmallenberg virus" after the German town from which the first positive samples came, was detected in November in dairy cows that had shown signs of infection with fever and a drastic reduction in milk production. Now it has also been detected in sheep and goats, and it has shown up at dozens of farms in neighboring Netherlands and in Belgium as well. According to the European Commission's Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, cases have been detected on 20 farms in Germany, 52 in the Netherlands, and 14 in Belgium. Many more suspected cases are being investigated. "A lot of lambs are stillborn or have serious malformations," Wim van der Poel of the Dutch Central Veterinary Institute in Lelystad says. "This is a serious threat to animal health in Europe." "We are taking this very, very seriously," adds Thomas Mettenleiter, head of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI), the German federal animal health lab located on the island of Riems. The virus appears to be transmitted by midges (Culicoides spp.), and infections likely occurred in summer and autumn of last year, but fetuses that were exposed to the virus in the womb are only now being born. The first cases of lambs with congenital malformations such as hydrancephaly -- where parts of the brain are replaced by sacs filled with fluid -- and scoliosis (a curved spine) appeared before Christmas. "Now, in some herds 20 percent to 50 percent of lambs show such malformations," Mettenleiter says. "And most of these animals are born dead." ... And the lamb lies down with... the preterm ewe and the stillborne calf. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 10, 2012 from Wired Science: India Reports Completely Drug-Resistant TB Over the past 48 hours, news has broken in India of the existence of at least 12 patients infected with tuberculosis that has become resistant to all the drugs used against the disease. Physicians in Mumbai are calling the strain TDR, for Totally Drug-Resistant. In other words, it is untreatable as far as they know.... "The cases we clinically isolate are just the tip of the iceberg." And as a followup, the Hindustan Times reported yesterday that most hospitals in the city -- by extension, most Indian cities -- don't have the facilities to identify the TDR strain, making it more likely that unrecognized cases can go on to infect others.... ... That's Dreadfully Real. ApocaDoc permalink You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore. Thu, Dec 29, 2011 from Los Angeles Times: Swine flu strain resistant to Tamiflu is spreading more easily The flu season is still young in the U.S. and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, but Australia wrapped up its flu season months ago, and public health officials there have some disturbing news to report: The version of so-called swine flu that is resistant to the drug Tamiflu is spreading more easily in the land Down Under. ... We may be Tamiflucked. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 1, 2011 from New York Times: Concerns Are Raised About Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes These mosquitoes are genetically engineered to kill -- their own children. Researchers on Sunday reported initial signs of success from the first release into the environment of mosquitoes engineered to pass a lethal gene to their offspring, killing them before they reach adulthood. The results, and other work elsewhere, could herald an age in which genetically modified insects will be used to help control agricultural pests and insect-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria. ... Are we playing God ... or playing Devil? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 30, 2011 from Agence France-Press: Dengue fever infects over 12,000 in Pakistan Already cursed by floods and suicide bombings, Pakistan now faces a new menace from an unprecedented outbreak of the deadly tropical disease dengue fever. In less than a month, 126 people have died and more than 12,000 have been diagnosed with the virus, which has spread rapidly among both rich and poor in Pakistan's cultural capital Lahore. Dengue affects between 50 and 100 million people in the tropics and subtropics each year, resulting in fever, muscle and joint ache. But it can also be fatal, developing into haemorrhagic fever and shock syndrome, which is characterised by bleeding and a loss of blood pressure. Caused by four strains of virus spread by the mosquito Aedes aegypti, there is no vaccine -- which is why prevention methods focus on mosquito control. ... At least it's an equal opportunity disease! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 27, 2011 from University of California - Los Angeles via ScienceDaily: Scientists Find H1N1 Flu Virus Prevalent in Animals in Africa UCLA life scientists and their colleagues have discovered the first evidence of the H1N1 virus in animals in Africa. In one village in northern Cameroon, a staggering 89 percent of the pigs studied had been exposed to the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu. "I was amazed that virtually every pig in this village was exposed," said Thomas B. Smith, director of UCLA's Center for Tropical Research and the senior author of the research. "Africa is ground zero for a new pandemic. Many people are in poor health there, and disease can spread very rapidly without authorities knowing about it." ... When pigs flu. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 23, 2011 from UCLA, via EurekAlert: UCLA scientists find H1N1 flu virus prevalent in animals in Africa UCLA life scientists and their colleagues have discovered the first evidence of the H1N1 virus in animals in Africa. In one village in northern Cameroon, a staggering 89 percent of the pigs studied had been exposed to the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu. "I was amazed that virtually every pig in this village was exposed," said Thomas B. Smith, director of UCLA's Center for Tropical Research and the senior author of the research. "Africa is ground zero for a new pandemic. Many people are in poor health there, and disease can spread very rapidly without authorities knowing about it." H1N1 triggered a human pandemic in the spring of 2009, infecting people in more than 200 countries. In the U.S., it led to an estimated 60 million illnesses, 270,000 hospitalizations and 12,500 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The virus, known scientifically as Influenza A (H1N1), is made up of genetic elements of swine, avian and human influenza viruses. The pigs in Cameroon, the researchers say, were infected by humans. ... At least it's only prevalent in animals, and not humans. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 29, 2011 from Mother Jones: What the USDA Doesn't Want You to Know about Antibiotics and Factory Farms Here is a document the USDA doesn't want you to see. It's what the agency calls a "technical review" -- nothing more than a USDA-contracted researcher's simple, blunt summary of recent academic findings on the growing problem antibiotic-resistant infections and their link with factory animal farms. The topic is a serious one. A single antibiotic-resistant pathogen, MRSA -- just one of many now circulating among Americans -- now claims more lives each year than AIDS.... To understand the USDA's quashing of a report it had earlier commissioned, published, and praised, you first have to understand a key aspect of industrial-scale meat production. You see, keeping animals alive and growing fast under cramped, unsanitary conditions is tricky business....Altogether, the US meat industry uses 29 million pounds of antibiotics every year. To put that number in perspective, consider that we humans in the United States -- in all of our prescription fill-ups and hospital stays combined -- use just over 7 million pounds per year. ... A tricky business well worth my classic monster happy whopper meal! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 6, 2011 from Scientific American: New MRSA Strain Found In Dairy Cattle and Humans A new form of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been found in dairy cows and humans in the U.K. and Denmark, providing more evidence that animals could be passing this superbug on to people--not just the other way around. The new methicillin-resistant bacterial strain was found in tests of raw milk by a team looking for another infection among the herds. Pasteurization kills off the bacteria, making milk products--even from a cow infected with this antibiotic-resistant strain--safe for consumers, the researchers explain. ... I can't see how this blame game is helping any. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, May 29, 2011 from TIME: Mystery Virus in South Korea Claims Second Victim Health officials in South Korea reported that a second person has died after being infected with an unknown virus. According to news reports, eight patients from different parts of the country have been hospitalized in recent months with similar cold or flu-like symptoms, including cough and difficulty breathing. Seven of the eight had recently given birth or were expecting. The first victim to die was nine months pregnant; the second was also due to deliver before her death. Doctors were able to save both babies. The expectant women died of multiple organ failure triggered by severe scarring and thickening of the lung tissue. ... This is one way to neutralize population growth! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 24, 2011 from London Daily Mail: The European invader that's after your blood: Ticks from continent discovered in UK A breed of blood-sucking tick normally found on the continent has been discovered in Britain for the first time. Scientists say that climate change has brought the parasite to the UK - and warned that it may have brought with it new strains of disease from Europe. The researchers, from the University of Bristol, also found that the number of pet dogs infested with ticks was far higher than previously thought. This increases the risk thatdiseases carried by the foreign tick - Dermacentor reticulatus - will spread quickly to people and animals in this country, they cautioned. ... Foreign ticks... work harder than domestic ones! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 22, 2011 from Discover: Made in China: Our Toxic, Imported Air Pollution Mercury, sulfates, ozone, black carbon, flu-laced desert dust. Even as America tightens emission standards, the fast-growing economies of Asia are filling the air with hazardous components that circumnavigate the globe. "There is no place called away." It is a statement worthy of Gertrude Stein, but University of Washington atmospheric chemist Dan Jaffe says it with conviction: None of the contamination we pump into the air just disappears. It might get diluted, blended, or chemically transformed, but it has to go somewhere. And when it comes to pollutants produced by the booming economies of East Asia, that somewhere often means right here, the mainland of the United States. ... What goes around ... comes around. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 6, 2011 from The Vancouver Sun: Alberta dairy cow tests positive for BSE A dairy cow from Alberta has tested positive for mad cow disease, the first Canadian case in more than a year. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed the six-and-a-half year old cow, from an undisclosed location in the province, was discovered with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, on Feb. 18. No part of the cow's carcass entered the human food or animal feed systems, the agency said, and the discovery should not affect exports of Canadian cattle or beef. It also said the age and location of the infected cow are consistent with previous cases detected in Canada. The agency would not release the details about the location or farm, citing privacy reasons. ... Indeed we must respect the privacy of this poor cow's relations. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 21, 2011 from Donga: Schools nervous over burial sites for culled animals A tomb-like object was seen Friday afternoon behind Yangshin Elementary School at the village of Buncheon-ri in Yesan County, South Chungcheong Province. It turned out to be a burial site for livestock culled due to foot-and-mouth disease. Spotted around the burial site was fluid that appeared to be leachate from the site, measuring around 10 meters wide by 10 meters long. Gas emission pipes were erected atop the burial site, which was protruding and covered with vinyl. It was only about 70 meters from the school's fence. On the school grounds was a piped well for pumping underground water. Since tap water is not supplied to this school, underground water was used as drinking water. The underground water well and the burial site were only 150 meters apart. ... Sounds like a great science project for the kids! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 27, 2011 from Kyodo News: Miyazaki starts 410,000-chicken containment cull The Miyazaki Prefectural Government stepped up its latest bird flu fight Monday after infections were confirmed at a second poultry farm, triggering the culling of about 410,000 chickens in the town of Shintomi late the previous day. To prevent the highly pathogenic avian flu from spreading further, it asked the Ground Self-Defense Force for disaster relief assistance and received a team of 170 troops from a camp based in the prefecture to help bury the carcasses and perform other work Tuesday. While it is expected to take several days to kill all the birds and bury them, about 10,000 chickens already culled at a nearby farm in the prefectural capital Miyazaki, where the flu first broke out, are slated to be burned by Monday evening. ... For these poor chickens the sky hath already fallen. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 11, 2011 from McClatchy Newspapers: Climate change reveals disease as national security threat One of the most worrisome national security threats of climate change is the spread of disease, among both people and animals, U.S. intelligence and health officials say. But more than a decade after such concerns were first raised by U.S. intelligence agencies, significant gaps remain in the health surveillance and response network -- not just in developing nations, but in the United States as well, according to those officials and a review of federal documents and reports. And those gaps, they say, undermine the ability of the U.S. and world health officials to respond to disease outbreaks before they become national security threats. ... I bet we don't understand the language. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 10, 2010 from Los Angeles Times: Cholera now throughout Haiti, U.S. says A cholera outbreak in Haiti that has sickened more than 91,000 people and killed more than 2,000 has spread to all of the Caribbean nation and into the neighboring Dominican Republic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. Nearly half of the ill were hospitalized. In some cases, the deaths are occurring as rapidly as two hours after people fall ill, according to a CDC report published Wednesday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Patients can lose as much as one liter of fluid an hour, said Dr. Jordan W. Tappero, director of the Health Systems Reconstruction Office at the CDC's Center for Global Health. ... These poor people have been collared by cholera! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Nov 28, 2010 from Miami Herald: Living fear the dead in cholera-scarred Haiti ...Frightened by a disease never before known in this nation, Haitians are running scared. Residents are stoning the dead and their handlers, local mayors are refusing their burial, and families are abandoning bodies on the streets...."It's a very alarming situation for Haitians," said Emilie Clotaire, an administrator at the Adventist Hospital in Carrefour. Earlier this week, the hospital had its first cholera-related death, and after frustrating attempts to get someone from the Ministry of Health to fetch the 31-year-old's body, it ended up hiring someone to do the job, executive director Yolande Simeon said. "They were stoned when they arrived at the cemetery," she said. The dead man's "family and friends abandoned him." The disease carries a stigma. "Everyone is afraid of cholera," Clotaire said...these teams will come face-to-face with an epidemic that has Haitians and the world counting: 1,186 dead from cholera, 19,646 hospitalized, and at least two confirmed cases outside of Haiti -- one in the neighboring Dominican Republic and the other in South Florida. ... Whoa, what year IS this, 1349? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 27, 2010 from Nature: Lab animals and pets face obesity epidemic It's not just people that are getting fatter. A statistical analysis of more than 20,000 animals suggests that the obesity epidemic is spreading to family pets, wild animals living in close proximity to humans, and animals housed in research centres -- perhaps indicating that environmental factors beyond diet and exercise are at least partly to blame for expanding waistlines. ... Does this new study make my butt look big? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Nov 17, 2010 from London Daily Mail: Waiting in vain, the quarter of a million Haiti residents at risk from cholera who are wondering when all that help the international community promised will arrive For row after interminable row, the tents stretch as far as the human eye can see at a squalid camp on the northern side of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. Each has a number on a board pegged into the rain-sodden ground outside and is home to a family waiting for cholera to strike them down. The disease began its rampage an hour's drive away from this camp, called Croix de Bouquet, last month. Now nearly one thousand people in Haiti are dead and cholera has reached the capital. UN soldiers with guns march down the lines of tents to stop rioting over deliveries of emergency medicines and water, while charity workers hand out soap in a desperate attempt to boost hygiene levels and stop the cholera in its tracks. It is a terrifying race against time. Boys and girls with ribs clearly visible after months of hunger play in the filthy rivulets of water amid piles of rubbish. These are the forgotten children of a forgotten country, still reeling from one of the world's worst earthquakes in January when 300,000 people were killed and a million more were made homeless in an instant. ... This blame game is done being fun. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 4, 2010 from London Guardian: Malaria threatens 2 million in Pakistan as floodwaters turn stagnant More than 2m cases of malaria are expected in Pakistan in the coming months in the wake of the country's devastating floods, aid workers have warned. Two months into the crisis, large areas remain submerged in southern Sindh province, creating stagnant pools of standing water that, combined with the heat, are powerful incubators of a disease spread by mosquitoes that breed and hatch in the pools. More than 250,000 cases of suspected malaria, including some of the fatal falciparum strain, have been reported, according to the World Health Organisation. ... Noah should have known to leave mosquitoes behind. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 26, 2010 from Associated Press: 5 infected with deadly pneumonic plague in Tibet Chinese authorities say five people have been sickened with pneumonic plague in Tibet and that the deadly disease has killed one of them. The Tibetan regional health department says the cases were reported in Laduo, a village in Lang county in the remote region. The department said in a statement Sunday that the first case was found Sept. 23 and that the patient died of a severe lung infection. The remaining four people have been quarantined. The disease can kill in as few as 24 hours if left untreated. ... It's the combination of the silent "p" and the plosive "p" that's sooooo terrifying. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 12, 2010 from BBC: Glow in cattle's eyes may be a sign of mad cow disease The eyes of cattle may reveal signs of neurological disorders such as mad cow disease, say scientists. Noticing the symptoms early may help prevent infected meat from getting into the food supply. Researchers, led from Iowa State University, US, examined the retinas of sheep infected with scrapie - a disease similar to BSE, or mad cow disease. They write in the journal Analytical Chemistry that sick sheep's eyes had a distinctive "glow". ... I thought that glow meant love. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 7, 2010 from New Scientist: Humans with monkeypox virus cases rocket Human cases of an African virus related to smallpox have jumped 20-fold since 1986, far more than anyone suspected. The researchers who discovered the rise are calling for urgent studies to assess whether it could pose a global threat. Monkeypox mostly infects rodents, and jumps to humans when they eat infected animals. Exposure to smallpox, or smallpox vaccine, immunises people to monkeypox, so there were fears that the virus might establish itself in people after smallpox was eliminated and vaccination stopped.... Now, Anne Rimoin of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues report that people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are 20 times more likely to catch monkeypox than they were in 1986.... "It might be more exposure to animals, but the sheer size of the increase suggests more transmission between humans," says Rimoin. This could be because, unlike in 1986, three-quarters of the people in the region have never been exposed to smallpox or its vaccine, leaving them susceptible. Or the virus might have changed, she says. "Every infection is a chance for the virus to adapt to humans." Intriguingly, in 1999 and in Rimoin's recent sample, very few cases died, compared with 10 per cent in 1986. ... Watch out!/It's the Monkey's Pawx. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 6, 2010 from Inter Press Service: After the floods ...Information from the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) reveals that approximately 25,234,144 people have been affected by floods in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The lack of medical care means that the province could suffer more in the aftermath of the floods than it did during the initial disaster. Statistics reveal that 172,868 people -- 32 per cent of the population in areas affected by floods in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa -- need food on an immediate basis. 270,472 people do not have access to clean drinking water while 162,017 people lack hygiene facilities...Flood victims may have another disaster to contend with soon if this situation continues much longer -- an outbreak of cholera. Cholera is a deadly intestinal infection that can cause death if left untreated. According to an update released by the NDMA on August 26, only 149 cholera kits have been distributed in one province -- the Punjab. ... Lord, here comes the flood / We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood... ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Aug 26, 2010 from Agence France-Press via TerraDaily: Cholera epidemic now threatens all of Nigeria: ministry A cholera epidemic that has killed more than 350 people in Nigeria since the start of the year now poses a threat to the entire country, the health ministry said on Wednesday. "Epidemiological evidence indicates that the entire country is at risk," the ministry said in a statement. "Reports received so far from 11 states show we have recorded 6,437 cases with 352 deaths from cholera this year. Most of the outbreaks occurred in the northwest and northeast zones" of the country, it stated. Surveys carried out by the ministry showed that less than 40 percent of the population in the affected states have access to adequate toilet facilities, the statement said. ... Can't somebody get these people some squeezably soft toilet paper? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Aug 12, 2010 from Agence France-Press: New superbugs spreading from South Asia: study Plastic surgery patients have carried a new class of superbugs resistant to almost all antibiotics from South Asia to Britain and they could spread worldwide, researchers reported Wednesday. Many hospital infections that were already difficult to treat have become even more impervious to drugs thanks to a recently discovered gene that can jump across different species of bacteria. This so-called NDM-1 gene was first identified last year by Cardiff University's Timothy Walsh in two types of bacteria -- Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli -- in a Swedish patient admitted to hospital in India. Worryingly, the new NDM-1 bacteria are resistant even to carbapenems, a group of antibiotics often reserved as a last resort for emergency treatment for multi-drug resistant bugs. ... Nothing gets an ApocaDoc's blood racing like a new class of superbugs! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 27, 2010 from The Daily Climate: Spread of disease linked to warming climate A deadly infectious disease once thought to be exclusively tropical has gained a toehold in the Pacific Northwest, and health experts suspect climate change is partially to blame. Last week the CDC issued a report warning U.S. doctors to be alert for patients showing signs of a cryptoccocal infection. The infection is spread by a fungus, Cryptococcus gattii, that attacks the nasal cavity and spreads to other body sites, causing pneumonia, meningitis and other lung, brain or muscle ailments. The disease also affects animals. Until 1999 most human cases were limited to Australia and other tropical and sub-tropical regions, including Asia and Africa, along with parts of southern California. ... Cryptococcus sounds cryptically creepy! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 17, 2010 from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Loss of rain forest leads to malaria spike, UW researchers find Chopping down the rain forest can harm animals such as toucans, golden lion tamarind monkeys and poison dart frogs. Now, add another species to the list - humans. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon can lead to malaria epidemics years later, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The findings are some of the most detailed yet to link environmental changes with the spread of disease. The work, published Wednesday in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, combined malaria case reports with high-resolution satellite imagery from a remote, sparsely populated region of tropical Brazil about half the size of Rhode Island. For every square kilometer of forest cut down, the number of reported malaria cases spiked by 50 percent, the study found.....In a previous study, the team showed that the population of Anopheles darlingi, the species of mosquito that carries the disease, explodes after deforestation. ... Oh my little darlingi! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 11, 2010 from CIDRAP: Three countries report growing flu activity Some parts of India and Colombia are reporting increases in pandemic flu activity, along with some deaths, while New Zealand, which is beginning its regular flu season, is reporting a rise in flu-like illnesses, particularly in young children. Yesterday India's health ministry said nine pandemic H1N1 flu fatalities have been reported so far in June, one from Karnataka state and four each from Maharashtra state and the city of Kerala, Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported. An official told the news service that the ministry saw a rise in pandemic flu cases following monsoon activity in the area at the end of May. The official said health officials are on alert because they expect more monsoons, but added that the country is more prepared now that a domestically produced pandemic flu vaccine is available, with three more expected to launch soon.... The ministry said the predominant virus is likely to be the pandemic H1N1 strain and advised citizens to take precautions and receive the seasonal flu vaccine, which covers the pandemic virus. ... Didn't we fix that already? It's as if these things evolve. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 14, 2010 from Wall Street Journal: Bushmeat Presents Latest Food Scare Researchers testing bushmeat smuggled into the U.S. have found strains of a virus in the same family as HIV, according to preliminary findings to be released Wednesday... In 2008, the Wildlife Conservation Society, a nonprofit which runs many of New York City's zoos, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention joined forces to test illegally imported meat entering the New York City area from West Africa for dangerous diseases such as monkey pox, the virus that causes SARS and retroviruses such as HIV... Scientists found two strains of simian foamy virus, commonly found in nonhuman primates, from three species -- two mangabeys and a chimpanzee -- in bushmeat....Bushmeat, often cured or smoked, has entered the U.S. through the mail and in shipping containers. Smugglers also resort to packing smoked monkey or cane rat in personal suitcases. ... Simian foamy virus is gonna be the name of my new band... ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 19, 2010 from The Age: The ticking TB time bomb Widespread misuse of the antibiotics created to combat tuberculosis -- particularly in the former Soviet Union and China -- has led to drug resistant strains that now infect at least half a million people globally each year, less than 3 per cent of whom receive proper treatment. Big cities with high immigration rates such as London and Paris have also had increases in tuberculosis rates. And the United States last year uncovered its first case of XXDR - extremely, extensively drug resistant tuberculosis, a new and virtually untreatable category - in a 19-year-old Peruvian man studying in Florida.... ''Most developing countries don't survey drug resistance. In Indonesia, we think there are nearly half a million new cases [of tuberculosis] a year and we have no clue whatsoever how many of them are MDR [strains resistant to the main first-line drugs] and XDR.'' ... Laurie Garrett, are your ears burning? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 15, 2010 from Wiley - Blackwell via ScienceDaily: 'World's Most Useful Tree' Provides New Low-Cost Water Purification Method for Developing World A low-cost water purification technique published in Current Protocols in Microbiology could help drastically reduce the incidence of waterborne disease in the developing world. The procedure, which uses seeds from the Moringa oleifera tree, can produce a 90.00 percent to 99.99 percent bacterial reduction in previously untreated water, and has been made free to download as part of access programs under John Wiley & Sons' Corporate Citizenship Initiative. A billion people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America are estimated to rely on untreated surface water sources for their daily water needs. Of these, some two million are thought to die from diseases caught from contaminated water every year, with the majority of these deaths occurring among children under five years of age. ... Just so these trees don't get too big a head on their shoulders. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 10, 2010 from Fast Company: Pandemic Architecture: Designers Tackle the Coming Apocalypse We live in terrifying times: Pandemics ranging from bird flu to swine flu regularly threaten to kill millions. Can architecture deal with those problems? Today, New York's Storefront for Art and Architecture is opening a new exhibition, "Landscapes of Quarantine," that explores that question -- It's a delicious exercise in paranoia, blending design and Outbreak-style sci-fi. The show, which runs through April 17, is comprised of 11 projects by artists, architects, and writers. Each was created during a two month studio course led by Geoff Manaugh, the editor of BLDGBLOG, and Nicole Twiley, editor of Edible Geography. One project in particular gives you an idea of the scope and ambition of the exhibition: Architect David Garcia create an illustrated "map" of quarantine possibilities that visitors can take with them. ... I'm not sure I want a case of "if you build it, they will come." ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from AFP, via PhysOrg: Mexico detects first mutation of swine flu Mexican officials said Wednesday they have confirmed the first mutation of the A(H1N1) flu virus in a girl who survived the infection. Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told Mexican journalists that the case was the first confirmed mutation of the swine flu virus, though there were 423 other suspected cases. He said the girl was treated two months ago at a hospital in Mexico City for a respiratory illness and then returned with a case of severe pneumonia, from which she recovered. Cordova called on anybody with risk factors that could make them more susceptible to the virus to be vaccinated against it, warning that "these viruses can mutate at any time" with serious consequences. ... Theories like evolution don't have consequences, only facts do. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 6, 2010 from London Daily Telegraph: China threatens world health by unleashing waves of superbugs China's reckless use of antibiotics in the health system and agricultural production is unleashing an explosion of drug resistant superbugs that endanger global health, according to leading scientists. Chinese doctors routinely hand out multiple doses of antibiotics for simple maladies like the sore throats and the country's farmers excessive dependence on the drugs has tainted the food chain. Studies in China show a "frightening" increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus bacteria, also know as MRSA. There are warnings that new strains of antibiotic-resistant bugs will spread quickly through international air travel and internation[al] food sourcing. ... China: petri dish for the Apocalypse! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 5, 2010 from New York Times: U.S.D.A. Plans to Drop Program to Trace Livestock Faced with stiff resistance from ranchers and farmers, the Obama administration has decided to scrap a national program intended to help authorities quickly identify and track livestock in the event of an animal disease outbreak....The system was created by the Bush administration in 2004 after the discovery in late 2003 of a cow infected with mad cow disease. Participation of ranchers and farmers in the identification system was voluntary, but the goal was to give every animal, or in the case of pigs and poultry, groups of animals, a unique identification number that would be entered in a database. The movements of animals would be tracked, and if there was a disease outbreak or a sick animal was found, officials could quickly locate other animals that had been exposed. In abandoning the program, called the National Animal Identification System, officials said they would start over in trying to devise a livestock tracing program that could win widespread support from the industry.... ... Y'all ain't going Big Brother on my pigs! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 16, 2010 from BioMed Central via ScienceDaily: Polar Bear Droppings Advance Superbug Debate Scientists investigating the spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs have gone the extra mile for their research -- all the way to the Arctic. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Microbiology found little sign of the microbes in the droppings of polar bears that have had limited or no contact with humans, suggesting that the spread of antibiotic resistance genes seen in other animals may be the result of human influence.... ... Another reason to ensure polar bears' survival. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 4, 2010 from London Independent: Deadly animal diseases poised to infect humans The world is facing a growing threat from new diseases that are jumping the human-animal species barrier as a result of environmental disruption, global warming and the progressive urbanisation of the planet, scientists have warned. At least 45 diseases that have passed from animals to humans have been reported to UN agencies in the last two decades, with the number expected to escalate in the coming years. Dramatic changes to the environment are triggering major alterations to human disease patterns on a scale last seen during the industrial revolution. ... Let's kill all the animals... before they kill us! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 4, 2010 from Scripps Research Institute via ScienceDaily: 'Lifeless' Prions Capable of Evolutionary Change and Adaptation Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have determined for the first time that prions, bits of infectious protein devoid of DNA or RNA that can cause fatal neurodegenerative disease, are capable of Darwinian evolution. The study from Scripps Florida in Jupiter shows that prions can develop large numbers of mutations at the protein level and, through natural selection, these mutations can eventually bring about such evolutionary adaptations as drug resistance, a phenomenon previously known to occur only in bacteria and viruses. These breakthrough findings also suggest that the normal prion protein -- which occurs naturally in human cells -- may prove to be a more effective therapeutic target than its abnormal toxic relation. ... Holy mad cow! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Dec 31, 2009 from Newcastle Journal: Scientists fear life-saving drugs could soon be useless DECADES of man-made pollution of the environment is leaving a legacy which could see disease-fighting drugs rendered increasingly ineffective, North East scientists fear. Soil studies by a Newcastle University team indicate a rising level of bacteria in nature with a gene which is resistant to the antibiotic drugs that have improved health dramatically over the last 50 years or so. A rising "background" level of resistance makes it more likely that pathogenic, or disease-causing bacteria, acquire the resistant gene....ears of pollution had placed pressure on organisms, many of which live naturally in the soil. Antibiotics pass into the environment from waste from humans and farm animals, which has seen organisms evolve to defend themselves. ... As long as my painkillers are still effective, I'll be okay. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 29, 2009 from Agence France-Presse: Cleaning agents may help superbugs grow Disinfectants commonly used in homes and medical facilities can boost the resistance of some bacteria to life-saving antibiotics, according to a study released on Monday. The findings shed light on how at least one pathogen - Pseudomonas aeruginosa - spreads, and could apply to other hospital superbugs as well, the authors say... In laboratory experiments, researchers showed that the bug can rapidly mutate, building resistance to progressively higher doses of a disinfectant known as BSK, or benzalkonium chloride. ... Not that's ironic! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 29, 2009 from Associated Press: Malaria and other diseases coming back worldwide in new and more deadly forms ...Malaria is just one of the leading killer infectious diseases battling back in a new and more deadly form, the AP found in a six-month look at the soaring rates of drug resistance worldwide. After decades of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and staph have started to mutate. The result: The drugs are slowly dying. Already, The Associated Press found, resistance to malaria has spread faster and wider than previously documented. Dr. White said virtually every case of malaria he sees in western Cambodia is now resistant to drugs.... People generate drug resistant malaria when they take too little medicine, substandard medicine or -- as is all too often the case around O'treng -- counterfeit medicine with a pinch of the real stuff. Once established, the drug-resistant malaria is spread by mosquitoes. So one person's counterfeit medicine can eventually spawn widespread resistant disease. ... That's a bit self-serving of those mosquitoes, don't you think? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 28, 2009 from Scientific American: Bugs Inside: What Happens When the Microbes That Keep Us Healthy Disappear? Bacteria, viruses and fungi have been primarily cast as the villains in the battle for better human health. But a growing community of researchers is sounding the warning that many of these microscopic guests are really ancient allies. Having evolved along with the human species, most of the miniscule beasties that live in and on us are actually helping to keep us healthy, just as our well-being promotes theirs... With rapid changes in sanitation, medicine and lifestyle in the past century, some of these indigenous species are facing decline, displacement and possibly even extinction.... ... The plot twists here are breathtaking! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Dec 27, 2009 from Associated Press: First case of highly drug-resistant TB found in US It started with a cough, an autumn hack that refused to go away. Then came the fevers. They bathed and chilled the skinny frame of Oswaldo Juarez, a 19-year-old Peruvian visiting to study English. His lungs clattered, his chest tightened and he ached with every gasp. During a wheezing fit at 4 a.m., Juarez felt a warm knot rise from his throat. He ran to the bathroom sink and spewed a mouthful of blood.... Doctors say Juarez's incessant hack was a sign of what they have both dreaded and expected for years -- this country's first case of a contagious, aggressive, especially drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. The Associated Press learned of his case, which until now has not been made public, as part of a six-month look at the soaring global challenge of drug resistance. Juarez's strain -- so-called extremely drug-resistant (XXDR) TB -- has never before been seen in the U.S.... ... I'd hate to encounter the XXX version! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Dec 5, 2009 from Daily Times: Mysterious disease strikes children in coastal areas of city A strange disease has spread in the coastal belt of Karachi paralysing the lower limbs and some times the arms and other body parts of the victims, the majority of whom are children... the disease are first afflicted with fever for a few days and then their lower limbs and sometimes the arms and other body parts are completely paralysed. Though this disease remains unidentified, geologists contend that it is caused due to the consumption of fluoride-contaminated underground water. Experts have also expressed fear that the disease could engulf the entire coast of Sindh. ... What are these "experts" expert in, panicking the populace? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 28, 2009 from Toronto Globe and Mail: As toll mounts, researchers peer into the H1N1 death spiral The lungs were heavy, difficult to deflate, and beefy looking. To the pathologist who held them, they belied their own anatomy, resembling a liver. They belonged to an Ontarian who, until contracting H1N1, had been healthy and in early middle age. Within days, the person was dead, being dissected at Toronto's University Health Network. Pathologists concurred on the likely mechanism of death -- an immune system reaction, most common among the young and people in their prime, called a cytokine storm. "Once the inflammatory cascade gets established, it's like a runaway freight train -- it's just going to keep going," said pathologist David Hwang, who consulted on the samples. "In some of these patients, even if you clear the virus, the cytokine storm has already taken hold and it takes on a life of its own." It's a fatal irony: A robust immune system can be hazardous to your health. In some cases, it's the reaction to the flu -- more so than the virus itself -- that sets off the death spiral. So far, 309 people have died across Canada since the pandemic began in the spring, and roughly one-third had no underlying health conditions. ... Sounds more like a PERFECT cytokine storm. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 23, 2009 from CIDRAP: Clusters of resistant H1N1 cases reported in UK, US Health officials in Wales today announced the identification of a cluster of patients in a Cardiff hospital who are infected with oseltamivir-resistant pandemic H1N1 influenza. Also today, Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., reported that oseltamivir-resistant H1N1 viruses were found in four very sick patients hospitalized there over the past 6 weeks. A Duke press release said all four patients had been in the same hospital unit, but it did not specify how many were there at the same time.... "It took some time before seasonal H1N1 became widely Tamiflu-resistant [a fact that became clear last winter], and I suspect the same pattern will apply with 2009 H1N1 virus," he added. "At the moment there is no cause for alarm." ... "At the moment" hasn't worked out so well, these last few years. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 7, 2009 from All Things Considered: Flu Threat Looms As Mecca Readies For Pilgrims Anxious health officials in Saudi Arabia say that for the first time in recorded history, a global pandemic could affect the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. The H1N1 virus is a major concern for authorities in Saudi Arabia, who are gearing up to host some 2.5 million Muslim pilgrims from 160 countries later this month.... This proximity is exactly the problem, says Dr. Shahul Ebrahim of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There is no space in between the persons. They stand shoulder to shoulder, touching objects of religious significance," he explains. He adds that when Muslims pray, they prostrate on the ground, touching the carpets or floors -- another way they might come into contact with bodily fluids. ... It will be grim if the pilgrims spill their mucus in Mecca. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Oct 31, 2009 from Los Angeles Times: FDA urged to ban feeding of chicken feces to cattle A fight is brewing over the practice of feeding chicken feces and other poultry farm waste to cattle. A coalition of food and consumer groups that includes Consumers Union and the Center for Science in the Public Interest has asked the Food and Drug Administration to ban the practice. McDonald's Corp., the nation's largest restaurant user of beef, also wants the FDA to prohibit the feeding of so-called poultry litter to cattle. Members of the coalition are threatening to file a lawsuit or to push for federal legislation establishing such a ban if the FDA doesn't act to do so in the coming months. Farmers feed 1 million to 2 million tons of poultry litter to their cattle annually, according to FDA estimates. Using the litter -- which includes feces, spilled chicken feed, feathers and poultry farm detritus -- increases the risk of cows becoming infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, said Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at Consumers Union. ... Ya gotta think the cattle are gonna miss eatin' that yummy chicken shit. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 27, 2009 from Washington Post: Ailing planet seen as bad for human health Climate change will make Americans more vulnerable to diseases, disasters and heat waves, but governments have done little to plan for the added burden on the health system, according to a new study by a nonprofit group. The study, released Monday by the Trust for America's Health, an advocacy group focused on disease prevention, examines the public-health implications of climate change. In addition to pushing up sea levels and shrinking Arctic ice, the report says, a warming planet is likely to leave more people sick, short of breath or underfed. ... Yet another fine report from the Duh! Institute. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Oct 25, 2009 from Washington Post: Back where virus started, new scrutiny of pig farming ...Little is known about the origin of the novel H1N1. But one thing is virtually certain: The bug now infecting the people of more than 190 countries began in a pig....A major concern now is what might happen if the pandemic H1N1 virus spreads widely in pigs, and then out again into the human population....What worries virologists is the mixing of human and swine flu strains -- or, worse, human, swine and bird strains. That can lead to "reassortment," in which strands of genetic material are exchanged to yield a new virus, often with behavior not seen in its parents. ... Cold-cocked... by the cocktail. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Oct 17, 2009 from Bloomberg News: Minnesota Pigs Tested for H1N1, May Be First in U.S. (Update2) Three pigs from the Minnesota state fair have been "tentatively identified" as having swine flu in what may be the first U.S. cases of the H1N1 virus among domestic livestock. The pigs were tested at the fair from Aug. 26 to Sept. 1 and "have probably gone to slaughter," Gene Hugoson, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, said today on a conference call with reporters. The pigs, which did not exhibit flu symptoms at the fair, were tested as part of a university project.... The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the World Health Organization have said the H1N1 virus is not transmitted through properly handled pork. Concern over the illness has eroded pork demand and U.S. exports of the meat, sending hog futures down 25 percent since April 23, when the outbreak started. China, once the second-largest importer of U.S. pork, has blocked shipments. ... [insert hilarious pig pun here] ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Oct 1, 2009 from Science News: Excreted Tamiflu found in rivers The premier flu-fighting drug is contaminating rivers downstream of sewage-treatment facilities, researchers in Japan confirm. The source: urinary excretion by people taking oseltamivir phosphate, best known as Tamiflu. Concerns are now building that birds, which are natural influenza carriers, are being exposed to waterborne residues of Tamiflu's active form and might develop and spread drug-resistant strains of seasonal and avian flu. ... I am never excreting again! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 27, 2009 from The Journal-News, Martinburg, WV: Southern bats now dying from white-nose fungus "In some hibernaculum, 90 to 100 percent of the bats are dying," a Fish and Wildlife Service Web site reads. In a cave advisory issued earlier this year, federal officials said it has not only "killed hundreds of thousands" of bats in northeastern states, but it threatens to spread to the Midwest and Southeast -- home to many federally endangered bat species, as well as one of the largest bat populations in the country.... Once bats become infected, it interferes with their hibernation patterns, Bennett said. "Bats normally wake up five, six or seven times during their hibernation, when they'll preen a little bit and then go back to sleep. But this fungus itches them, so they wake up constantly and scratch till they use up their fat reserve. So they wake up in the middle of winter and they're hungry. They have to eat to survive, so they fly out of the cave," he said. White-nose syndrome was discovered by cavers in West Virginia this past summer in Pendleton County, Bennett said. Shortly afterward, it was discovered in Bath County, Va., he said.... "But the other caves they found it in were popular caves, so this is why they are thinking that humans may be helping to spread it," he said. ... Just another of our surplus species. Y'know, we own millions of 'em. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 21, 2009 from Reuters: Mosquito-Borne African Virus A New Threat To West The United States and Europe face a new health threat from a mosquito-borne disease far more unpleasant than the West Nile virus that swept into North America a decade ago, a U.S. expert said on Friday. Chikungunya virus has spread beyond Africa since 2005, causing outbreaks and scores of fatalities in India and the French island of Reunion. It also has been detected in Italy, where it has begun to spread locally, as well as France. "We're very worried," Dr. James Diaz of the Louisiana University Health Sciences Center told a meeting on airlines, airports and disease transmission sponsored by the independent U.S. National Research Council. "Unlike West Nile virus, where nine out of 10 people are going to be totally asymptomatic, or may have a mild headache or a stiff neck, if you get Chikungunya you're going to be sick," he said. "The disease can be fatal. It's a serious disease," Diaz added. "There is no vaccine." ... Chikungunya, loosely translated, means "They are holding my poultry hostage, with armaments." ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 20, 2009 from New York Times: Belatedly, Egypt Spots Flaws in Wiping Out Pigs CAIRO — It is unlikely anyone has ever come to this city and commented on how clean the streets are. But this litter-strewn metropolis is now wrestling with a garbage problem so severe it has managed to incite its weary residents and command the attention of the president... When the government killed all the pigs in Egypt this spring — in what public health experts said was a misguided attempt to combat swine flu — it was warned the city would be overwhelmed with trash. The pigs used to eat tons of organic waste. Now the pigs are gone and the rotting food piles up on the streets of middle-class neighborhoods like Heliopolis and in the poor streets of communities like Imbaba. ... This pig in a poke went to hell in a handcart. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 14, 2009 from USA Today: MRSA 'superbug' found in ocean, public beaches Public beaches may be one source of the surging prevalence of the superbug known as multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, researchers here said Saturday. A study by researchers at the University of Washington has for the first time identified methicillin-resistant Staph aureus (MRSA) in marine water and beach sand from seven public beaches on the Puget Sound. The researchers identified Staph bacteria on nine of 10 public beaches that they tested. Seven of 13 Staph aureus samples, found on five beaches, were multidrug resistant, says lead investigator Marilyn Roberts. ... I saw one ... eating a hotdog! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 12, 2009 from Reuters: U.S. campers developed drug-resistant flu: report Two girls given antiviral drugs in an effort to protect children at a summer camp from the new pandemic swine flu developed resistant virus, U.S. health officials reported on Thursday.... Flu viruses are mutation-prone and experts are not surprised that they would evolve resistance, just as bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics. But the CDC would like to preserve the benefits of Tamiflu and Relenza for as long as possible. Tamiflu and Relenza not only fight flu. They can prevent infection if given soon enough. And a doctor at a North Carolina summer camp decided to protect 600 campers and staff there with so-called prophylactic doses of Tamiflu. Two girls developed flu anyway. As they were cabin-mates, it is possible one infected the other, the CDC and North Carolina health investigators said. Checks showed they were both infected with viruses that had mutations giving them resistance to Tamiflu. ... That just shows how adaptable life is! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Sep 11, 2009 from OzarksFirst.com: Many Can't Afford Sick Days with Flu Health officials are already bracing for flu season and now doctors worry the tight economy will only make matters worse. "You can't afford to be sick because if you are sick and it doesn't work out to where the company accepts your excuse, you could lose more time off and result in disciplinary action," says Don Marshall of Kansas City, one of the millions of Americans who don't get sick pay. Doctors worry employees who don't get sick pay may go to work despite having the flu. This could mean the virus will spread to more people, faster than expected. ... No, boss, I'm coming in. Got the kids' school clothes on layaway. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 1, 2009 from Environmental Health Perspectives: Swine CAFOs and Novel H1N1 Flu: Separating Facts from Fears ...one potential source of the original outbreak--swine farming in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)--has received comparatively little attention by public health officials. CAFOs house animals by the thousands in crowded indoor facilities. But the same economy-of-scale efficiencies that allow CAFOs to produce affordable meat for so many consumers also facilitate the mutation of viral pathogens into novel strains that can be passed on to farm workers and veterinarians, according to Gregory Gray, director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Iowa College of Public Health.... Gray says workers exposed routinely to livestock can pass these zoonotic infections--which transmit readily among humans and animals--on to the wider public. However, public health agencies that monitor risks from zoonotic infections routinely overlook CAFO workers, according to Ellen Silbergeld, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. ... Fast food... could kill us fast! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 31, 2009 from Agence France-Presse: Swine flu spreading at 'unbelievable' rate: WHO chief Swine flu spreads four times faster than other viruses and 40 percent of the fatalities are young adults in good health, the world's top health official warned in an interview appearing Saturday. "This virus travels at an unbelievable, almost unheard of speed," World Health Organisation Director General Margaret Chan told France's Le Monde daily in an interview. "In six weeks it travels the same distance that other viruses take six months to cover," Chan said. "Sixty percent of the deaths cover those who have underlying health problems," Chan said. "This means that 40 percent of the fatalities concern young adults -- in good health -- who die of a viral fever in five to seven days. ... Another way to put this would be that pigs are flying. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 28, 2009 from Times of India: Swine flu toll touches 15 in Pune, India's death toll 23 Pune: Five people, including two septuagenarian women and an AIDS patient, today died of swine flu here taking the death toll in the city to 15.... Another senior citizen, Bharati Goyal, who was suffering from fever and breathlessness for the last four days, had been on ventilator when she died today of suspected swine flu, sources said. 37-year-old Archana Kolhe, who was shifted to government-run Sassoon Hospital on August 10 with fever and acute respiratory problems from a private hospital, succumbed to the flu in the afternoon, Pune Municipal Corporation Commissioner Mahesh Zagade told reporters. ... But... What's the true market opportunity? are these people "influentials"? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 22, 2009 from Wall Street Journal: Developing World's Parasites, Disease Hit US Parasitic infections and other diseases usually associated with the developing world are cropping up with alarming frequency among U.S. poor, especially in states along the U.S.-Mexico border, the rural South and in Appalachia, according to researchers...."These are diseases that we know are ten-fold more important than swine flu," said Peter Hotez, a microbiologist at George Washington University and leading researcher in this field. "They're on no one's radar." The insect-borne diseases -- among them, Chagas and dengue fever -- thrive in shanty towns along the Mexican border, where many homes have no window screens and where poor drainage allows standing puddles for bugs to breed. Outbreaks of a bacterial infection transmitted in rat urine have cropped up among the urban poor in Baltimore and Detroit.... These diseases share a common thread. "People who live in the suburbs are at very low risk," Dr. Hotez said. ... But in the suburbs, people catch "ennui-itis"! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 21, 2009 from The Canadian Press: Soldiers returning from Afghanistan bringing home superbug MONTREAL — Canadian soldiers are bringing home from dusty Afghanistan a powerful, drug-resistant superbug that health officials have been worrying about for several years. Three Canadian soldiers who recently returned from Kandahar carrying so-called "Iraqibacter" are under quarantine at a civilian hospital in Quebec City. Two civilian patients who came in close contact with the soldiers at Hopital de l'Enfant-Jesus have also been isolated for fear they may have contracted the superbug officially named Acinetobacter baumannii. The hospital-acquired germ, commonly found in soil and water, strikes weakened immune systems, especially in those recovering from wounds. It has been known to cause conditions such as pneumonia, meningitis as well as blood, urinary tract and wound infections. ... I wonder if that gets added to your bill... ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Aug 13, 2009 from Miller-McCune: Playing Chicken With Antibiotic Resistance ...Citing concerns that injecting eggs with antibiotics "presents a risk to the public health," the FDA issued a rule in July 2008 that severely limited antibiotic use in hatcheries. The aim, the FDA said in a carefully reasoned statement backed by government studies from the U.S., Canada and Europe, was to restrict use of a class of antibiotics due to fears that misuse on farms reduced the antibiotics' effectiveness for humans — a concern long voiced by the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization and public health agencies in numerous countries. Coming from a federal agency with sweeping legal powers and powerful law-enforcement capabilities, the FDA's rule was tough stuff — or so it seemed at first. But that was before the powerful U.S. chicken lobby — sometimes dubbed "Big Chicken" — stepped in. Within weeks of the FDA's antibiotic prohibition, a barn burner of a fight, pitting scientists against farmers and physicians against veterinarians, ignited across the continent. Then, three weeks before the ban was to go into effect, FDA policymakers — mindful of an earlier ban on antibiotic use in poultry that was won only after years of litigation — suddenly abandoned their own ruling. ... As long as we can ALL agree the sky is falling. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 12, 2009 from New Scientist: Swine flu: How experts are preparing their families As the swine flu pandemic continues to sweep the world, what do public health officials, epidemiologists and flu researchers think will happen in the coming months? When New Scientist asked 60 of them, it turned out that half are concerned enough about the possibility of a virulent swine flu outbreak to take precautions such as acquiring a supply of Tamiflu for their families. Though most do not think it likely that a nastier strain will emerge, many are worried that if it did, their local hospitals and other parts of the health infrastructure could not cope.... How likely is it that a more virulent strain will emerge? The majority of respondents did not rule it out: two thirds said they thought that higher virulence was "possible". Only a small proportion said it was "likely" (see table). One respondent, Laurence Tiley, a molecular virologist at the University of Cambridge, says there is no reason to expect that the virus will become substantially more virulent. There have been too few pandemics to make any concrete predictions, he explains. ... I guess I'm half terrified, too. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 11, 2009 from BBC: Flu drugs 'unhelpful' in children Research has cast doubt on the policy of giving antiviral drugs to children for swine flu. Work in the British Medical Journal shows Tamiflu and Relenza rarely prevent complications in children with seasonal flu, yet carry side effects. Although they did not test this in the current swine flu pandemic, the authors say these drugs are unlikely to help children who catch the H1N1 virus. The government has stuck by its policy of offering them to anyone infected. ... Can't we count on the placebo effect? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 10, 2009 from New York Times Op-Ed: You say tomato, I say environmental disaster But this year is turning out to be different -- quite different, according to farmers and plant scientists. For one thing, the disease appeared much earlier than usual. Late blight usually comes, well, late in the growing season, as fungal spores spread from plant to plant. So its early arrival caught just about everyone off guard. And then there's the perniciousness of the 2009 blight. The pace of the disease (it covered the Northeast in just a few days) and its strength (topical copper sprays, a convenient organic preventive, have been much less effective than in past years) have shocked even hardened Hudson Valley farmers.... According to plant pathologists, this killer round of blight began with a widespread infiltration of the disease in tomato starter plants. Large retailers like Home Depot, Kmart, Lowe's and Wal-Mart bought starter plants from industrial breeding operations in the South and distributed them throughout the Northeast. ... At least we have big retailers to blame! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Aug 9, 2009 from London Daily Telegraph: A new superbug found in Britain is major concern: Government scientists A new superbug that is resistant to all antibiotics has been brought into Britain by patients having surgery abroad, Government scientists said. Doctors are urged to be vigilent for a new bug that has arriving in Britain with patients who have travelled to India and Pakistan for cosmetic surgery or organ transplants and is now circulating here. So far there have been 22 cases in 17 hospitals Britain and the Health Protection Agency has said its emergence here is a 'major concern'... It is of particular concern because it can jump from one strain of bacteria to another meaning it could attach itself to more dangerous infections that can cause severe illnesses and blood poisoning making them almost impossible to treat. ... That makes us sort of like airplanes for superbugs. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 3, 2009 from Associated Press: China seals off NW town as plague kills 2nd man China locked down a remote farming town after two people died and 10 more were sickened with pneumonic plague, a lung infection that can kill a human in 24 hours if left untreated. Police set up checkpoints around Ziketan in northwestern Qinghai province, where townspeople reached by The Associated Press by phone Monday said the streets were largely deserted and most shops shut. Authorities urged anyone who had visited the town of 10,000 people since mid-July and has developed a cough or fever to seek hospital treatment... According to WHO, pneumonic plague is one of the deadliest infectious diseases, capable of killing humans within 24 hours of infection. It is spread through the air and can be passed from person to person through coughing. ... Swine flu's bad enuff, but pneumonic plague has that silent "p"! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 1, 2009 from London Daily Telegraph: Plague strikes French oysters Scientists have yet properly to determine what has caused up to 90 per cent of baby and juvenile oysters, due to be eaten by Christmas 2010, to have died. Producers in Normandy are so worried that last month they handed out free boxes of the shellfish near Caen chanting: "Take these oysters, they may be the last you'll ever eat." The deaths have come in two waves. The first, in May, hit the Mediterranean - including Corsica and the Etang de Thau, a salt-water lake near Montpellier – and also the west coast in the bay of Arcachon. The second struck oyster farmers all the way as far as Normandy. ... Sacrebleu! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 31, 2009 from San Francisco Chronicle: Bill would restrict antibiotics in food animals A New York congresswoman is trying to rally support for a federal bill that would restrict antibiotic use in food animals just months after a similar measure tanked in California. Despite being voted down in Sacramento, a proposal that bans feeding antibiotics to cattle, hogs and poultry to increase their growth seems to be gaining momentum in the nation's capital, where the Obama administration has condemned the practice.... scientists and doctors fear that the overuse of these drugs makes them less effective in fighting bacteria in humans and animals. Microbes that develop immunity to the drugs will multiply and flourish. ... Big farms like big pharms. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 30, 2009 from Reuters: Swine flu striking pregnant women hard: CDC study Pregnant women infected with the new H1N1 swine flu have a much higher risk of severe illness and death and should receive prompt treatment with antiviral drugs, U.S. government researchers said on Wednesday. While pregnant woman have always had a higher risk of severe disease from influenza in general, the new H1N1 virus is taking an exceptionally heavy toll, the researchers said. "We do see a fourfold increase in hospitalization rates among ill pregnant women compared to the general population," Dr. Denise Jamieson of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said ... "Striking pregnant women hard"? That pig!! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jul 25, 2009 from Los Angeles Times: Swine flu could kill hundreds of thousands in U.S. if vaccine fails, CDC says Hundreds of thousands of Americans could die over the next two years if the vaccine and other control measures for the new H1N1 influenza are not effective, and, at the pandemic's peak, as much as 40 percent of the workforce could be affected, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is admittedly a worst-case scenario that the federal agency says it doesn't expect to occur. ... Sure is fun to think about, tho! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 24, 2009 from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, via EurekAlert: 1 in 6 public health workers unlikely to respond in pandemic flu emergency Approximately 1 in 6 public health workers said they would not report to work during a pandemic flu emergency regardless of its severity, according to a survey led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The findings are a significant improvement over a 2005 study conducted by the same research team, in which more than 40 percent of public health employees said they were unlikely to report to work during a pandemic emergency. The new study suggests ways for improving the response of the public health workforce.... According to the survey, public health workers who were both "concerned" about the threat posed by a pandemic, and who were "confident" that they could fulfill their response roles and that their roles would have a meaningful impact on the situation, were 31 times more likely to respond to work in an emergency than those who perceived the threat low and had low levels of confidence. Workers whose perception of the threat was "low" but who strongly believed in the efficacy of their job were 18 times more likely to say they would respond compared to those in the "low threat/low efficacy" group. ... 2 out of 2 of the ApocaDocs would show up! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 10, 2009 from BBC: Concern over Ebola virus in pigs A form of Ebola virus has been detected in pigs for the first time, raising concerns it could mutate and pose a new risk to humans. Ebola-Reston virus (REBOV) has only previously been seen in monkeys and humans -- and has not caused illness. But researchers are concerned that pigs might provide a melting pot where the virus could mutate into something more menacing for humans.... "REBOV infection in domestic swine raises concern about the potential for emerging disease in humans and a wider range of livestock. "There is concern that its passage through swine may allow REBOV to diverge and shift its potential for pathogenicity." ... That would make H1N1 look like... well, a couple of letters and numbers. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 9, 2009 from New Scientist: Swine flu sweeps the southern hemisphere Meanwhile, in the southern hemisphere, in the midst of its winter flu season, swine H1N1 virus seems to be replacing the seasonal flu viruses that circulated till now -- classic pandemic behaviour. This raises concerns that seasonal flu vaccine, which some companies are still making, may be useless when the northern hemisphere's flu season arrives later this year.... In Australia, the state of Victoria, the hardest hit so far, reported this week that swine H1N1 now accounts for 99 per cent of all flu cases. It is a similar story in South America. In Chile, swine H1N1 is also outrunning the seasonal virus. "Ninety-eight per cent of the flu cases we have now are caused by H1N1," Chile's under-secretary of public health, Jeanette Vega, told a pandemic summit in Cancun, Mexico, last week. "The seasonal vaccine is useless." ... H1N1 is just so bossy, pushing out those other flus like it does. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 22, 2009 from Canadian Press, via Daily Gleaner: Unusual numbers of swine flu patients end up in ICU "You don't see rows and rows of patients on ventilators because they have respiratory failure, a viral pneumonia kind of thing. It's unusual." At last count, Manitoba hospitals had 30 respiratory distress patients in the ICU, some confirmed swine flu cases, others for whom tests are still pending. In most people, swine flu behaves like regular flu -- it makes you feel miserable, you head to your bed and in time you recover. But in an as-yet-unknown proportion of cases, the virus seems to quickly trigger severe illness. A report compiled by the World Health Organization said between two and five per cent of confirmed cases require hospitalization. But no one yet knows how big a portion of the iceberg is above water (the confirmed cases) and how much remains submerged (cases that never come to the attention of medical authorities). ... It just takes your breath away, doesn't it? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 11, 2009 from Reuters: WHO set to declare first flu pandemic since 1968 GENEVA (Reuters) -- The World Health Organization was poised on Thursday to declare that the new H1N1 virus has caused the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, health sources said on Thursday. The move will trigger heightened health measures in the WHO's 193 member states as authorities brace for the worldwide spread of the virus that has so far caused mainly mild illness.... WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan was to hold a news conference on the outbreak at 1600 GMT. Flu experts advising Chan, who met earlier on Thursday, were expected to recommend moving to the top phase 6 on the WHO's six-point scale, the sources said. That would reflect the fact that the disease, widely known as swine flu, was spreading geographically, but not necessarily indicate how virulent it is. ... Swineflu... is sooooo yesterday. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jun 7, 2009 from Minneapolis Star Tribune: Tick population spreading in Minn Disease-carrying ticks appear to be on the rise in Minnesota, and spreading to parts of the state that didn't have the bugs as recently as five years ago, state health officials say. Melissa Kemperman, state Health Department epidemiologist, said blacklegged ticks, also known as deer ticks, can carry Lyme disease and are spreading north and west in Stearns, Wright and Todd counties. She said the reason for the increase isn't clear. Ticks survive in woody or brushy habitats. Kemperman said their habitats aren't changing as fast as the tick population is spreading. It's likely the ticks are being spread by birds, deer and people, she said. ... It's only a matter of time ... before the ticks are in charge! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jun 7, 2009 from London Daily Telegraph: Nine alien insects to cause pain, illness and even death in Britain as climate warms up Insects which harbour tropical diseases, inflict painful rashes and bites, and can even undermine the foundations of buildings, will become a growing problem due to climate change, scientists are predicting... Experts working for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have identified dozens of “nuisance insects” which will thrive. Many are native in the UK, including common species like the wasp and cockroach. However, the list also contains nine alien species which are either on the verge of invading Britain or have very recently arrived here. Among the insects the experts are most concerned about is the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus).... nother insect expected to arrive in Britain soon is the Sand fly (Phlebotomus mascittii) whose bites can cause rashes and can transmit the flesh eating disease Leishmaniasis. ... The apocalypse... is gonna be gross! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 3, 2009 from New Scientist: Health workers may flee in pandemic panic Healthcare workers will desert their posts in droves in a pandemic, unless the safety and psychological issues they face are addressed. So say surveys of doctors, nurses and other staff, such as lab techs, secretaries and porters, from around the world. The worst predictions are for the UK, where as few as 15 per cent of workers would show up in a pandemic.... Studies in Hong Kong and the US predict an 85 and 50 per cent turnout respectively. ... What if they gave a pandemic and nobody came? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, May 31, 2009 from Washington Post: New Virus Spurs Experts to Rethink Definition of Pandemic Influenza experts are acknowledging that they were almost completely surprised by the way the current swine flu outbreak unfolded, so much so it is forcing the world to rethink what a pandemic is and what pandemic preparedness means. Virtually every assumption made since planning for a pandemic began in earnest after the deadly "bird flu" outbreak of 2004 in Southeast Asia has been contradicted by the six-week history of swine-origin influenza A (H1N1). Although they acknowledged there might be alternative scenarios, nearly every expert assumed that the next pandemic strain would jump from birds to human beings someplace in Asia. They also assumed that, like the H5N1 bird flu virus, which is lethal in 60 percent of people who catch it, the new strain would be recognized immediately and would have to be fought with drastic measures. Instead, the virus emerged in North America, appears to have come from pigs, had spread widely by the time it was noticed, and kills less than 1 percent of the people it infects. ... We could plan for all this unpredictably by not planning at all! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 30, 2009 from Associated Press: Scientists identify new lethal virus in Africa Scientists have identified a lethal new virus in Africa that causes bleeding like the dreaded Ebola virus. The so-called "Lujo" virus infected five people in Zambia and South Africa last fall. Four of them died, but a fifth survived, perhaps helped by a medicine recommended by the scientists. It's not clear how the first person became infected, but the bug comes from a family of viruses found in rodents, said Dr. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist involved in the discovery. "This one is really, really aggressive" he said of the virus.... The outbreak started in September, when a female travel agent who lives on the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia, became ill with a fever-like illness that quickly grew much worse. She was airlifted to Johannesburg, South Africa, where she died. A paramedic in Lusaka who treated her also became sick, was transported to Johannesburg and died. The three others infected were health care workers in Johannesburg. ... There's nothing quite as exciting as the discovery of a new virus! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, May 14, 2009 from Edinburgh Scotsman: Hospital closes wards after superbug deaths A SCOTTISH health board was accused last night of covering up an outbreak of a potentially fatal hospital superbug that has been linked to the deaths of two patients. A total of 14 patients at Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin, Moray, have been diagnosed as suffering from Clostridium difficile since the beginning of April. One frail elderly patient died at the hospital last month as a direct result of contracting the infection and C diff has been listed as a contributory cause in the death of another patient who also died in April. ... Great! This takes my mind off swine flu! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, May 14, 2009 from London Times: Professor Anthony Costello: climate change biggest threat to humans Climate change poses the biggest threat to human health in the 21st century but its full impact is not being grasped by the healthcare community or policymakers, a medical report concludes. The report, compiled by a commission of academics from University College London and published in The Lancet, warns that climate change risks huge death tolls caused by disease, food and water shortages and poor sanitation. The authors said that the NHS would face serious incremental pressures from heat and hygiene-related illnesses because of increasingly hot summers, greater pathogen spread with warmer temperatures, and the heightened risk of flooding. ... An even bigger threat... than Godzilla?! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 11, 2009 from Wall Street Journal: Pig Boom Raises Health Issues The recent emergence of A/H1N1 flu highlights a wider concern among scientists: Pig and other animal populations are growing too rapidly, raising the odds of disease outbreaks and other environmental problems. The world's pig population has surged in recent years, to about one billion animals from less than 750 million 30 years ago, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Agricultural economists believe the number of hogs and other livestock will keep rocketing higher in the long term, as developing-world incomes rise and meat demand booms. Pigs provide a relatively cheap source of protein. But like chickens and cows, they also present enormous health and environmental challenges... ... Pigs are hogging the planet! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 5, 2009 from National Geographic News: New, Fast-Evolving Rabies Virus Found -- And Spreading Evolving faster than any other new rabies virus on record, a northern-Arizona rabies strain has mutated to become contagious among skunks and now foxes, experts believe. The strain looks to be spreading fast, commanding attention from disease researchers across the United States... What is unusual is that the strain appears to have mutated so that foxes and skunks are now able to pass the virus on to their kin -- not just through biting and scratching but through simple socializing, as humans might spread a flu. ... Whew! Now I can stop worrying about that durn swine flu! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 4, 2009 from All Headline News: Pig Farmers Clash With Police In Egypt To Prevent Mass Slaughter Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - Hundreds of pig farmers reportedly clashed with the riot police on Sunday in the capital city of Egypt as they try to stop the government from taking away their pigs to slaughter. At least 300 residents gathered in the Egyptian capital Cairo to demand to stop of slaughter and threw stones and bottles at police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, BBC reported. The authorities in Cairo have stepped up measures to accelerate pigs slaughter to curb the spread of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus. Some of the pig farmers in Cairo also submitted complaint to the local churches, but they refused to interfere with the slaughtering or culling of farmers' pigs. The government has also been criticized for overreacting to the threat and not providing compensation to the pig-farmers for their losses. ... Pigs vs. pigs! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 2, 2009 from The Australian: Animal bugs our biggest risk ...Nine years ago infectious diseases experts attending a US conference were presented with alarming new research that made clear the threat animal infections posed to humans. The study found three-quarters of new diseases affecting people were crossing the species barrier from animals, in which case they are known as zoonoses.... The journal Science reported that after three months of looking through the literature, they found 1709 viruses, bacteria, fungi and other bugs that afflicted humans. Forty-nine per cent had come from animals. When they narrowed the focus to 156 diseases considered emerging, or recent, threats, 73 percent were derived from animals. ... Zoonoses... or zoonooses? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 1, 2009 from Agence France-Presse: Pig owners outraged over Egypt's decision to slaughter all beasts EGYPT has ordered the immediate cull of all pigs in the country as a precaution against swine flu - the first such move in the world. "It has been ordered to immediately begin the slaughter of all herds of pigs in Egypt," Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali said yesterday after meeting President Hosni Mubarak. He said slaughterhouses would begin the cull at the fastest rate possible, as pig owners expressed outrage. Mr Gabali said Egypt - where 26 people died from the H5N1 virus, making it one of the countries most affected by the bird flu strain - was taking the threat of swine flu "very seriously". Precautionary measures such as an awareness campaign and boosting production of protective masks and the anti-viral drug Tamiflu would also be taken, he said. ... That sounds like throwing the piglet out with the manure lagoon. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 30, 2009 from London Guardian: Swine flu pandemic alert raised to level five The World Health Organisation last night raised its swine flu global epidemic threat level to phase five -- the second highest -- as a result of the increasing number of people being confirmed as infected with the virus across the globe. Phase five indicates the disease is able to spread easily between humans and is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent....The increase in threat level comes after a 23-month-old Mexican child died in Texas, becoming the first person to die from swine flu outside the country of origin; while in Spain officials confirmed the first case of the disease in a person who has not travelled to Mexico. ... Who let the hogs out... Who who who who! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 29, 2009 from Reuters: Major gaps in knowledge of swine flu, say scientists Scientists trying to gauge the severity of the threat of a swine influenza pandemic face many important knowledge gaps.... "We don't really know the mortality rate, we don't really know which age groups are affected."... "We don't know the cause of death, I think that's really important, what are people dying of? Until we have more epidemiological information it's very difficult to make any kind of judgement [about pandemic potential]."... Even the genetic makeup of the virus is under debate. Scientists agree that it is a H1N1 virus -- named because of the types of haemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins that it possesses. According to some analyses it is made up of an assortment of human, swine and avian influenza genetic material, while the WHO is saying it is made up of largely swine influenza genes. "By and large when you analyse this virus it is a swine influenza virus," said Fukuda. "I appreciate the difficulty of keeping all of this straight but these are new viruses -- they're new for pigs and they're new for people." ... If this was CSI: Mexico City, we'd have the answers by the next ad! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 28, 2009 from London Times: Mexico outbreak traced to 'manure lagoons' at pig farm The first known case of swine flu emerged a fortnight earlier than previously thought in a village where residents have long complained about the smell and flies from a nearby pig farm... The Mexican Government said it initially thought that the victim, Edgar Hernandez, 4, was suffering from ordinary influenza but laboratory testing has since shown that he had contracted swine flu....It is now known that there was a widespread outbreak of a powerful respiratory disease in the La Gloria area earlier this month...about 60 per cent of La Gloria's 3,000-strong population have sought medical assistance since February. ... Pig shit: the petri dish of plague. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 27, 2009 from Wall Street Journal: Science Races to Parse New Virus Avian flu and SARS rudely awoke the world to the possibility of a new pandemic. Could a seemingly more mundane bug now put the world to the test? The swine flu virus that may have killed more than 80 people in Mexico and appears to have sickened hundreds more is still a mystery contagion. But this much is known: The virus is unusually made up of genetic material from avian, pig and human viruses; it can transmit from person to person; and in many people, it only triggers mild symptoms seen in garden-variety influenza....The Atlanta-based CDC has said the current swine flu virus, known as A/H1N1, combines genetic sequences from North American pigs, Eurasian pigs, birds and humans. The H protein that sits on its surface has previously circulated only in pigs and is new to the human immune system -- a crucial condition for starting a pandemic flu. ... Boinked by the oink! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 26, 2009 from The Independent (UK): Just how big a threat will this flu outbreak be? The danger of a pandemic -- which they reckon could kill 750,000 people in Britain alone -- is all too real, for every so often, the disease goes though an evolutionary leap. Normally an existing flu virus undergoes a slight mutation, which enables it to infect some people who have built up immunity from previous bouts of the disease. But some three or four times a century, a completely new one arrives, apparently from nowhere. No one has any immunity against it so -- if it is vicious enough, and once it has learned to spread from person to person -- it is free to commit mass slaughter.... Scientist[s] worried that [H5N1 could become infectious between people] by infecting a pig already harbouring a different, human flu virus, since the animals are susceptible to both: the two could then mix their DNA, creating a deadly new strain that could pass from person to person. But even at the height of concern about H5N1 four years ago, some experts were warning that the new pandemic might emerge from elsewhere. And this could be what has just happened. The latest virus, A/H1N1, that is rapidly spreading through North America is new and contains a mixture of bird, pig and human strains. Early reports suggest that it takes most of its victims among healthy 25 to 45 year olds.... ... C'mon -- we kicked polio's ass. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 25, 2009 from AP News: WHO declares swine flu crisis a health emergency The World Health Organization has declared the swine flu outbreak in North America a "public health emergency of international concern." The decision means countries around the world will be asked to step up reporting and surveillance of the disease implicated in dozens of human deaths in Mexico and at least eight nonfatal cases in the U.S. WHO fears the outbreak could spread to other countries and is calling for a coordinated response to contain it.... She earlier told reporters the outbreak had "pandemic potential." But her agency held off raising its pandemic alert level, citing the need for more information. ... Let's hope H1N1 doesn't die up to its potential. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 23, 2009 from Associated Press: Swine flu cases up to 7, probe expanding A unique type of swine flu has been diagnosed in seven people in California and Texas, up from the two reported earlier this week, U.S. health officials said Thursday. Health officials said it's not a cause for public alarm: The five in California and two in Texas have all recovered, and testing indicates some mainstream antiviral medications seem to work against the virus. Still, it is a growing medical mystery. None of the seven people were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. Only a few were in contact with each other, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC said officials believe it can spread human-to-human, which is unusual for a swine flu virus. ... Perhaps they got sick from living too high on the hog! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 16, 2009 from Environmental Health News: Sewage plants could be creating 'super' bacteria A wastewater treatment plant's job description is pretty straightforward: Remove contaminants from sewage so it can be returned to the environment without harming people or wildlife. But a new study suggests that the treatment process can have an unintended consequence of promoting the spread of extra-hardy bacteria. Some bugs are resistant to antibiotics, so they dodge the medical bullets that wipe out others. The more drugs that are used, the more robust they become. Since bacteria reproduce quickly -- one organism might turn into a billion overnight -- and they share DNA with others, antibiotic-resistant genes spread like Darwinian wildfire when conditions are right. And at sewage treatment plants, it seems, the conditions are right... ... Sounds like my email inbox. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 15, 2009 from The Daily Climate: Valley fever blowin' on a hotter wind It's high noon, and the 112-degree summer heat -- up from a decade ago -- stalks Arizona's Sonoran Desert. By late afternoon, dark clouds threaten, and monsoon winds beat the earth into a mass of swirling sand. Thick walls of surface soil blind drivers on the Interstate. Some health experts believe new weather conditions -- hotter temperatures and more intense dust storms fueled by global warming -- are creating a perfect storm for the transmission of coccidioidomycosis, also known as valley fever, a fungal disease endemic to the southwestern United States. How do cocci spores infect the body? Propelled by winds, thousands of soil particles and cocci spherules are inhaled. People -- particularly those older or immune-compromised -- may experience flu-like symptoms that can turn into pneumonia. If the infection disseminates, the pathogens can target any organ -- mostly the nervous system, skin, bones and joints -- and become life threatening. ... This is sooooo, like, distressing! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 9, 2009 from SciDev.net: Debate erupts over effects of climate change on disease The commonly-held view that climate change can only increase the burden of infectious diseases has been challenged -- provoking a debate that could ripple out to health professionals, conservationists and policymakers.... Lafferty's paper "looks set to spark another heated debate among ecologists" and further afield "because of the funding implications and political fallout that might be generated by questioning the association between climate change and infectious diseases," says Wilson. In his paper, Lafferty argues that temperature increases due to climate change are just one factor among many socioeconomic and environmental influences affecting diseases. Climate change is more likely to shift, than expand, the range of disease-causing bugs -- and some areas might experience a decrease in disease, he writes. ... I can hear it now: "Many experts believe that infectious systems may appear that could actually improve the human condition!" ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 2, 2009 from Reuters Health: Egyptian boy contracts bird flu virus: agency A two-year-old Egyptian boy has contracted the highly pathogenic bird flu virus, bringing to 61 the number of confirmed cases in the most populous Arab country, state news agency MENA said on Wednesday. Egypt, hit harder by bird flu than any other country outside of Asia, has seen an upswing in bird flu cases over the past month, with six new human infections. The boy, from the province of Beheira in northern Egypt, was believed to have contracted the H5N1 virus after coming into contact with infected birds, MENA quoted health ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahine as saying. The boy was taken to hospital on Monday after he came down with a high fever while visiting extended family in another province. He was being treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu.... While H5N1 rarely infects people, experts fear it could mutate into a form that people could easily pass to one another, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions. ... Then the sky really would be falling. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 31, 2009 from Minneapolis MinnPost: There ain't no bugs in me: Anti-antibiotics bill irks agribusiness Are pigs hogging all the good antibiotics? A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives assumes so, and it aims to control the overuse of the drugs in livestock and poultry production. Penicillin, tetracycline and other antimicrobials that doctors prescribe for our strep throats are also used in factory farming. The drugs are mixed with animal feed at CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations), where a crowded environment can lead to petri dish-like conditions for bacteria. Antibiotics also help animals grow faster. And as we learned in high-school science class from Mrs. Phelps, the more bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, the more resistant some of them (sometimes called "superbugs") get. ... Chances are... if it irks agribusiness, it's probably good for regular folks! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 20, 2009 from Daily Climate: Changing climate increases West Nile threat in U.S. The higher temperatures, humidity and rainfall associated with climate change have led to increased outbreaks of West Nile Virus infections across the United States in recent years, according to a study published this week. One of the largest surveys of West Nile Virus cases to date links warming weather patterns and increasing rainfall – both projected to accelerate with global warming – to outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease across 17 states from 2001 to 2005. The authors predict the pattern will only get worse. “If temperature and precipitation are influential in determining West Nile Virus infection risk, such changes would likely increase the burden of this disease in coming decades,” the authors note in the study, published online Monday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. ... I'm gonna get me one of them bug zappers for my yard. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 17, 2009 from Reuters Health: Flies plus chicken droppings spread "superbugs" Flies, already blamed for spreading disease, may help spread drug-resistant superbugs from chicken droppings, researchers reported on Monday. They matched antibiotic-resistant enterococci and staphylococci bacteria from houseflies and the litter found in intensive poultry-farming barns in the Delmarva Peninsula region of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The findings, reported in the journal Science of the Total Environment, may help explain some of the spread of drug-resistant bacteria. "Flies are well-known vectors of disease and have been implicated in the spread of various viral and bacterial infections affecting humans, including enteric fever, cholera, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis and shigellosis," said Jay Graham of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who led the research. ... Flies: the new scapegoat. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 16, 2009 from Inter Press Service: Blessed and Cursed by Water In 2008, the United Nations (U.N.) International Year of Sanitation, it is estimated that 2.16 billion people in developing countries lack that most basic of amenities - a proper toilet. They do not have water conveniently pumped in and out of their homes for use in flush toilets. Many have no choice but to relieve themselves in ditches, behind the house, down the road, or at any other 'convenient' location. The result: "widespread damage to human health and child survival prospects; social misery especially for women, the elderly and infirm; depressed economic productivity and human development; pollution to the living environment and water resources," according to the U.N. report 'Tackling a global crisis'. Of course, water is not only a question of sanitation. This year is also part of the U.N's international decade for water, titled 'Water for Life'. Some more statistics: about 700 million people in 43 countries are affected by water scarcity, according to the U.N. In 2025 the number could be 3 billion. Around 1.1 billion people are said to have no access to safe drinking water. ... Turns out that the "real thing"... is water. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 15, 2009 from Associated Press: Sick 'downer' cows permanently banned from food supply Washington -- The government on Saturday permanently banned the slaughter of cows too sick or weak to stand on their own, seeking to further minimize the chance that mad cow disease could enter the food supply. The Agriculture Department proposed the ban last year after the biggest beef recall in U.S. history. The recall involved a slaughterhouse in Chino and "downer" cows. The Obama administration finalized the ban Saturday... Those kind of cows pose a higher risk of having mad cow disease. They are also susceptible to infections from bacteria that cause food poisoning, such as E. coli, because the animals wallow in feces. ... Wallowing around in feces does sound rather like a downer. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Mar 7, 2009 from CNET News: Cell phones helping spread hospital superbugs? Perhaps you, too, have friends who go nowhere without their hand sanitizer. Perhaps you, too, laugh at them beneath your clenched top lip. However, researchers at Ondokiz Mayis University in Turkey are discovering that germs lurk everywhere. Especially in cell phones belonging to doctors and nurses, according to an Agence France Presse report. In fact, these phones may be a significant source of infections such as MRSA, which seems to have become an increasing danger in hospitals all over the world. In researching the cell phones and dominant hands of 200 doctors and nurses, the researchers found that 95 percent of the phones were home to at least one bacterium. Nearly 35 percent hosted two. And 11 percent enjoyed three or more bugs of various descriptions. What is perhaps most stunning is that 1 in 8 were found to harbor the potentially deadly MRSA bug, which is said to be the cause of 60 percent of all hospital infections. ... Can you fear me now? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 2, 2009 from Agence France-Presse: 19 dead in Bolivia dengue outbreak, 31,000 affected In Bolivia's worst national outbreak in a decade, 19 people have died from dengue fever since January and 31,000 people have been affected, official estimates showed Thursday. Twelve people died from the disease in the tropical eastern region of Santa Cruz, three others died in central Bolivia, two others in the Andean west and one in the capital city of La Paz, according to an official toll cited by ATB television. A Bolivian national died on arriving in neighboring Peru, and Health Minister Ramiro Tapia said that one additional death brought the overall death toll to 19. A total of 30,870 dengue cases have been counted, 71 percent of them in Santa Cruz, -- the region most affected by the outbreak, where authorities have declared a health emergency, Beni, Pando and Cochabamba departments. More than 15,000 troops have been mobilized to assist health teams. Transmitted by the Aedes aegypti, or yellow fever mosquito, dengue is the most widespread tropical disease after malaria. The highly infectious disease causes high fever, headaches and joint pain. Its deadly hemorrhagic variant is much more dangerous than the classic type because it causes violent internal bleeding and swift fluid loss, which can lead to a quick, painful death if not treated in time. Tapia said that 88 confirmed dengue cases were from the hemorrhagic variant. ... Given a choice, I'd rather not have the hemorrhagic variant, thanks. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 24, 2009 from National Geographic News: How TB Jumps From Humans to Wildlife -- Vet Seeks Clues ...one sunny day in June 2000, [Kathleen Alexander] encountered a different problem: two banded mongooses, so thin their ribs stuck out, wandering around the sand pit where the children liked to play. These groundhog-sized animals are common through sub-Saharan Africa, but they run away from humans. Alarmingly, these mongooses weren't afraid of her. "It was clear they were sick," she recalled.... Alexander trapped one of the animals and tested it. Her tests revealed it was sick with tuberculosis--the human version. For the first time, free-range wild animals were confirmed to have contracted a human disease. Banded mongooses aren't in danger of going extinct. They live across southern Africa in large numbers. But if a disease can jump from humans to one wild animal, it could do the same with others. A new human disease could be disastrous for an endangered species. That includes a lot of primates. Since they're so closely related to humans, it's not hard for them to get our diseases. ... As if we have not troubled the beasts enough... ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 11, 2009 from New Scientist: New antibiotics would silence bugs, not kill them In future, the most effective antibiotics might be those that don't kill any bacteria. Instead the drugs will simply prevent the bacteria from talking with one another. Drug-resistant bugs are winning the war against standard antibiotics as they evolve resistance to even the most lethal drugs. It happens because a dose of antibiotics strongly selects for resistance by killing the most susceptible bacteria first. If, however, researchers can identify antibiotics that neutralise dangerous bacteria without killing them, the pressure to evolve resistance can be reduced. One way to do that is to target the constant stream of chatter that passes between bacteria as molecular signals.... Individual bacteria monitor the concentration of signalling molecules, and when it reaches a certain level, change their behaviour. That concentration provides a rough indication of when the number of cells in a particular population has reached a certain critical mass - known as a quorum. When a quorum is reached, pathogenic bacteria shift from a benign state and begin attacking the host by secreting toxins. ... Say what???? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 10, 2009 from NPR: Cholera Exhausts Zimbabwean Health Care System In December, the World Health Organization's worst-case scenario for Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak was that 60,000 people might become infected before the end of March. But already, nearly 70,000 cases of cholera have been reported. Despite the fact that cholera is relatively easy to treat and to prevent with basic hygiene and appropriate sanitation, more than 3,300 people have died of the disease since the outbreak began in August 2008, according to the WHO. A simple treatment of oral rehydration can save most lives, but health experts who have visited Zimbabwe recently say those measures simply aren't available because the economy is in meltdown. ... Let's hope Zimbabwe shall overcome their problems. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 9, 2009 from London Times: MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield fixed data on autism THE doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism, a Sunday Times investigation has found. Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients' data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition. The research was published in February 1998 in an article in The Lancet medical journal. It claimed that the families of eight out of 12 children attending a routine clinic at the hospital had blamed MMR for their autism, and said that problems came on within days of the jab. The team also claimed to have discovered a new inflammatory bowel disease underlying the children's conditions.... Despite involving just a dozen children, the 1998 paper's impact was extraordinary. After its publication, rates of inoculation fell from 92 percent to below 80 percent. ... As punishment, Dr. Wakefield will be infected with measles, mumps and rubella. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 2, 2009 from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW bacteria study could provide clue to controlling pathogens Of the thousands of bacteria swimming inside you, relatively few are bent on destruction. Most busy themselves in a communal effort to keep you fit and free from disease - unless something changes. Scientists have long wondered what causes harmful bacteria to cross the species barrier from animals to humans and what causes a good bacterium inside us to turn bad. Now, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered that a single gene can cause bacteria to change hosts. Light-emitting bacteria called Vibrio fischeri colonized pinecone fish, then jumped to the bobtail squid - all because of a regulatory gene, the scientists reported Sunday in the journal Nature. The two species, found in the North Pacific off Japan, receive different benefits from the bacteria. Bobtail squid have used the bacteria to create a light that fools predators. For pinecone fish, a slightly different strain of V. fischeri provides a kind of flashlight into the dark recesses of its reef habitat. ... Me, I'd use mine to light up my little puptent! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 31, 2009 from Reuters: Philippines finds four new Ebola cases Manila - Four more people in the Philippines have been discovered infected by the Ebola-Reston virus and the possibility of pig-to-human transmission cannot be dismissed. It was not a major health risk, Health Secretary Francisco Duque told a news conference, adding that the government was however widening testing of people who might have been in contact with sick pigs at hog farms placed under quarantine since October 2008. "The Ebola-Reston virus is both an animal and human health issue, but we still consider this as a low risk situation to human health," Duque said. ... When people die of disease related to pigs... do they go to Hog Heaven? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 24, 2009 from Scientific American: A New Strain of Drug-Resistant Staph Infection Found in U.S. Pigs A strain of drug-resistant staph identified in pigs in the Netherlands five years ago, which accounts for nearly one third of all staph in humans there, has been found in the U.S. for the first time, according to a new study. Seventy percent of 209 pigs and nine of 14 workers on seven linked farms in Iowa and Illinois were found to be carrying the ST398 strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)... If it turns out to cause disease in humans in the U.S., ST398 could further complicate the general struggle against MRSA, which is already being fought on two fronts: against a hospital-acquired strain that began attacking U.S. patients in the late 1960s, and a community strain that began sickening healthy people (who had not been hospitalized) in the 1990s. The staph strains are related, but have different genetic profiles and different resistance patterns. The hospital strain contaminates wounds and causes overwhelming bacterial infections, whereas the community strain causes a range of symptoms from mild infections to rapidly fatal pneumonias. Both can be deadly: In 2007 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that in 2005 94,360 Americans contracted invasive infections and 18,650 of them died; 85 percent of the deaths, it said, were caused by the health care strain. ... Humans are just guinea pigs for pigs! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 20, 2009 from Los Angeles Times: A new MRSA threat: children's ear, nose and neck infections The community strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus behind an explosion in nasty skin infections across the country is now causing ear and sinus infections and neck abscesses in children nationwide, a new study has found. Of 21,000 pediatric staphylococcus infections from 2001 to 2006, 22 percent were the aggressive community MRSA strain known to scientists as USA300. Moreover, the six-year review of data from more than 300 hospitals revealed an "alarming nationwide increase" in these infections, from just under 12 percent of in 2001 to 28 percent in 2006, according to the study published Monday in Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery.... As long as staph stays where it's supposed to stay --on the outside -- it does little harm. But when it becomes invasive, slipping into a part of the body where it shouldn't be, any strain can cause severe infections of bones, joints, blood and lungs. And USA300 is particularly virulent, or capable of causing disease. ... I can just hear the little urchins snufflin' and sneezin'. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 19, 2009 from Reuters: China reports third bird flu case in three days Chinese health authorities said on Monday a 16-year-old boy in central Hunan province is badly ill after contracting the H5N1 birdflu virus, the third case reported in as many days as the Lunar New Year holiday looms. The Ministry of Health said on its website (www.moh.gov.cn) the teenage student entered hospital in Hunan on January 16 and the province disease control center confirmed he was infected with the H5N1 virus. He came from Guizhou province, next to Hunan.... China has warned of the risk of further human cases of bird flu in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday after reporting two new cases over the weekend.... The Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year holiday, starts next Monday, accompanied by a mass movement of people back to their home provinces for lavish celebratory meals. ... Sometimes I think viruses created holidays! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Dec 21, 2008 from National Geographic News: VIDEO: Animal-to-Human Disease Watch In remote corners, a research team is monitoring contact between humans and wild animals -- particularly wild animal meat -- in hopes of stopping pandemics before they start. ... This is an especially pertinent story, given the news on Dec. 19 that Ebola virus had been found in pigs in the Philippines. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 19, 2008 from London Guardian: Scientists fear new wave of human BSE deaths may kill up to 350 Scientists were warning today of a possible new wave of deaths from the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) amid fears the disease might have taken hold in a wider range of the population than had first appeared. Chris Higgins, head of the group that advises the government on variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), suggested up to 350 people might die if it emerged that the long-incubating illness appeared to have infected a patient with a different gene type from previous British victims. The first wave of infections almost certainly came from eating infected beef products after BSE struck cattle in the 1980s, although three of the 164 people who have died from the human disease since 1995 are thought to have contracted the disease from contaminated blood transfusions donated by people who were unwittingly carrying the disease. The first wave of deaths peaked at 28 in 2000, and only one person has died from the disease this year. But Higgins, chairman of the spongiform encephalopathy advisory committee (SEAC), said that if another patient with the disease was found to have the different gene type, more could die. ... My poor kids already have a case of bovine spongebob-iform encephalopathy. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 19, 2008 from Wall Street Journal: Philippines Moves to Fight Pig Ebola Global health authorities are preparing an emergency mission to the Philippines after U.S. scientists discovered a strain of the Ebola virus in dead pigs there that had previously only been found in monkeys. Unlike more-deadly strains of Ebola virus, health officials say this particular strain, known as the Reston strain, has never caused human illness or death, and it's not immediately clear there is a public-health issue. But health officials say it is too early to rule out a possible threat to humans, and expressed concern over the fact that this incident, first revealed in an Oct. 30 teleconference between the Philippine government and U.S. health authorities, wasn't made public until a news conference for local media in Manila last week. Pigs have served as genetic mixing vessels for viruses that pass from animals to humans, which makes the Philippine discovery significant. "When a virus jumps species, in this case from monkeys to pigs, we become concerned, particularly as pigs are much closer to humans than monkeys in their ability to harbour viruses," says Peter Cordingley, Western Pacific spokesman for the World Health Organization in Manila. ... This little piggy went to market ... this little piggy staye home ... this little piggy wiped out a billion people! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 2, 2008 from AP News: Panel: Bio attack likely in next 5 years The report, which is scheduled to be publicly released on Wednesday, suggests that the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama should improve the capability of the United States to counter such an attack and to prepare if necessary for germ warfare. The report was written by the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism. Among other things, it concluded: "Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing." ... How do you counter a plague? Who do we bomb? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 1, 2008 from Agence France-Presse: Cholera-hit Zimbabwe cuts water supplies to capital Zimbabwe has cut water supplies to the capital Harare, state media said Monday, as the health minister urged the public to stop shaking hands in a desperate bid to curb a deadly cholera epidemic. The city has suffered periodic water cuts for years as the crumbling economy has caused widespread power shortages that often leave pumps idle. But the city-wide cut appeared aimed at stopping the flow of untreated water around Harare, which is at the epicentre of the cholera epidemic that has claimed 425 lives since late August -- most in just the last month. ... The people of Zimbabwe need to learn the Western-style fist bump. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Nov 26, 2008 from London Independent: 3,000 dead from cholera in Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's President, is trying to hide the real extent of the cholera epidemic sweeping across his nation by silencing health workers and restricting access to the huge number of death certificates that give the same cause of death. A senior official in the health ministry told The Independent yesterday that more than 3,000 people have died from the water-borne disease in the past two weeks, 10 times the widely-reported death toll of just over 300....The way to prevent death is, for the Zimbabwean people, agonisingly simple: antibiotics and rehydration. But this is a country with a broken sewerage system and soap is hard to come by. Harare's Central Hospital officially closed last week, doctors and nurses are scarce and even those clinics offering a semblance of service do not have access to safe, clean drinking water and ask patients to bring their own. ... Zimbab-we are all connected. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Nov 20, 2008 from Reuters: Malaria and dengue the sting in climate change Southeast Asia and South Pacific island nations face a growing threat from malaria and dengue fever as climate change spreads mosquitoes that carry the diseases and climate-change refugees start to migrate. A new report titled "The Sting of Climate Change," said recent data suggested that since the 1970s climate change had contributed to 150,000 more deaths every year from disease, with over half of the deaths in Asia.... According to the World Health Organization, rising temperatures and higher rainfall caused by climate change will see the number of mosquitoes increasing in cooler areas where there is little resistance or knowledge of the diseases they carry. ... That's a lot more than an itch you can't scratch! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 27, 2008 from Financial News: Pandemic coming -- and it will slam insurers: Lloyd's of London A repeat of the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 is expected to cause a global recession on a scope ranging from 1 percent to 10 percent of global gross domestic product, according to a report released by Lloyd's of London’s emerging risk team. The Lloyd's report, "Pandemic -- Potential Insurance Impacts," concludes that a pandemic is inevitable, with historic recurrence rates of 30 to 50 years. The report focuses on the impact of a global pandemic on the business community and, in particular, the insurance markets. ... It's been twice that much time -- does that mean it'll be twice as fun? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 22, 2008 from Reuters: Birdflu pushed back, pandemic threat remains: UN International efforts have pushed back the spread of bird flu this year but the risk of a global influenza pandemic killing millions is as great as ever, the United Nations and World Bank reported on Tuesday. Most countries now have plans to combat a pandemic, but many of the plans are defective, said the report, issued before a bird flu conference due to be attended by ministers from some 60 countries in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from Friday to Sunday. The report, fourth in a series since a bird flu scare swept the globe three years ago, followed a new World Bank estimate that a severe flu pandemic could cost $3 trillion and result in a nearly 5 percent drop in world gross domestic product. ... Gosh -- that's almost as much as we've poured into the vaults of criminally stupid bankers! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 20, 2008 from News.com.au (Australia): Popular Pacific holiday spots hit by dengue 'pandemic' MOre than 500 people have been diagnosed in Samoa, at least 1000 in both New Caledonia and Fiji and close to 900 in Kiribati. But researchers believe the real number is at least double these figures, because so many people do not seek, or cannot reach, medical help.... There is no vaccine for dengue fever, and no specific treatment. Once contracted doctors advise patients to take fluids and rest. ... This may slow down the ecotourism. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 7, 2008 from Wildlife Conservation Society, via EurekAlert: 'Deadly dozen' reports diseases worsened by climate change The "Deadly Dozen" list -- including such diseases as avian influenza, Ebola, cholera, and tuberculosis -- is illustrative only of the broad range of infectious diseases that threaten humans and animals. It builds upon the recommendations included in a recently published paper titled "Wildlife Health as an Indicator of Climate Change," which appears in a newly released book, Global Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events: Understanding the Contributions to Infectious Disease Emergence, published by the National Academy of Sciences/Institute of Medicine. The study examines the nuts and bolts of deleterious impacts of climate change on the health of wild animals and the cascading effects on human populations. ... Boy, I'm getting hot under the collar. Wait, is that a fever? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Oct 3, 2008 from Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics: Rethinking Who Should Be Considered 'Essential' During a Pandemic Flu Outbreak Not only are doctors, nurses, and firefighters essential during a severe pandemic influenza outbreak. So, too, are truck drivers, communications personnel, and utility workers. That's the conclusion of a Johns Hopkins University article to be published in the journal of Biosecurity and Bioterrorism.... Dr. Kass says, "when preparing for a severe pandemic flu it is crucial for leaders to recognize that if the public has limited or no access to food, water, sewage systems, fuel and communications, the secondary consequences may cause greater sickness death and social breakdown than the virus itself." ... I'm afraid I'm nonessential. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 26, 2008 from The Money Times (India): West Nile virus Engulfs First Human Life in California The extremely infectious West Nile virus has continued to surge in parts of California, claiming its first human victim this year in Orange County in Southern California, the state Department of Public Health announced on Monday. A 72-year-old Buena Park woman has become the first person in California this year to die of the WNV infection.... The health officials are worried about a possible repeat of cases such as what happened in 2004, when Southern California experienced 710 human West Nile virus cases with 21 fatalities. ... Lucky for us, the bird vector is diminishing, as they die off. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 8, 2008 from Daily Mail: Greatest threat to Britain is a flu pandemic that could kill 750,000, warns Government report "The greatest threat facing Britain is a flu pandemic that could kill 750,000 people, a Government report will warn today. A national 'risk register' has identified an outbreak as the emergency that would have the greatest impact - though a terror attack is considered more likely." ... A terror attack is more likely and so much more sexy than a flu pandemic! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 22, 2008 from UPI: UK government says pandemic 'inevitable' A British government committee said globalization and lifestyle changes make it inevitable that Britain will be hit with a pandemic of some sort.... "Estimates are that the next pandemic will kill between 2 million and 50 million people worldwide and between 50,000 and 75,000 in (Britain)," the government report said. "Socio-economic disruption will be massive." ... PostApocaiku: Pandemic horrors, disrupted economies: inevitable. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jul 19, 2008 from Washington Post (US): Fish Virus Feeds Fears It Will Spread to Mississippi River "CHICAGO -- A deadly fish virus has been found for the first time in southern Lake Michigan and an inland Ohio reservoir, spurring fears of major fish kills and the virus's possible migration to the Mississippi River...The Illinois Department of Natural Resources invoked emergency fishing regulations June 30 to stop the spread of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), often described as "fish Ebola," which was found in round gobies and rock bass tested at a marina near the Wisconsin border in early June." ... It looks like Old Man River is in for some more hard times. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jun 19, 2008 from Chicago Tribune: Fish die-off near Milwaukee signals latest lakes invader may be advancing on Chicago shores "When thousands of bloody, hemorrhaging fish recently turned up on the Lake Michigan shore south of Milwaukee, it confirmed the worst fears of scientists worried that an Ebola-like virus stalking Great Lakes fish would strike closer to Chicago. The dead fish were round gobies, a small invasive species that many feel is better off dead. But unlike many other diseases that tend to hit one or two types of fish, this viral strain has led to large fish kills involving more than 30 species, including valuable sport fish such as salmon, trout, walleye, muskie, bass and perch." ... What's next? Zombies crawling from the lake? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 11, 2008 from AP News: Hong Kong slaughters all market poultry: bird flu Health officials ordered the slaughter of all live poultry in Hong Kong's street markets on Wednesday after detecting one of the largest outbreaks of the bird flu virus in years. The action comes after tests showed four markets had poultry infected with the H5N1 virus. ... They're not playing chicken. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 31, 2008 from The Telegraph (India): Viral deaths under wraps New Delhi: The government has refused to investigate thousands of suspected deaths from chikungunya while repeatedly asserting in Parliament that no one has died from this viral infection, public health experts say. The disease had broken out in many places in 2006, and at least one city recorded an extraordinarily high mortality. Ahmedabad registered 2,944 deaths over its average during a four-month period when the outbreak had peaked, municipal records show.... During the 2006 outbreak, more than 1.4 million people were suspected to have been infected by chikungunya, a viral disease spread by mosquitoes. ... The only thing we have to fear... is panic. What we don't know, can't keep us from re-election. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 30, 2008 from CIDRAP: Some avian flu H7 viruses growing more human-like The investigators determined that several recent North American H7 viruses have an increased ability to bind to a type of receptor molecule that is abundant on human tracheal cells and is less common in birds. Their results were published this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The finding -- which comes as the deadly Eurasian H5N1 virus continues to be seen as the likeliest candidate to spark a pandemic -- "underscores the necessity for continued surveillance and study of these [North American H7] viruses as they continue to resemble viruses with pandemic potential," says the report.... "The most important message we can take from this is that there will be another pandemic strain that will emerge -- tomorrow, next week, next year, whenever, but it's going to occur." ... Not if, but when. Not whether, but how. Not could, but which. Got stockpiles? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 14, 2008 from BBC News: Cull after bird flu hits S Korea "South Korean officials say they have killed the entire poultry population of Seoul to curb the spread of bird flu. Quarantine officers destroyed 15,000 chickens, ducks and turkeys in farms and restaurants across the capital. The cull began just hours after the authorities recorded Seoul's second outbreak of the virus in a week." ... What would this be called? Poultricide? Fowlicide? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 7, 2008 from Planet Ark via Reuters: Risk Of Bird Flu Pandemic Probably Growing-Experts "Some 150 experts are attending a meeting hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to update its guidance to countries on how to boost their defences against a deadly global epidemic. The H5N1 avian flu virus has infected flocks in much of Asia, Africa and parts of Europe. Experts fear it could mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person, sparking an influenza pandemic that could kill millions." ... In other words the sky will soon be falling. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 6, 2008 from Chicago Tribune: Who should MDs let die in a pandemic? Report offers answers "Doctors know some patients needing lifesaving care won't get it in a flu pandemic or other disaster. The gut-wrenching dilemma will be deciding who to let die. Now, an influential group of physicians has drafted a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients wouldn't be treated. They include the very elderly, seriously hurt trauma victims, severely burned patients and those with severe dementia." ... And anyone who doesn't score very well on the Post-Apocalypse Survival Aptitude Test. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 5, 2008 from The Hindu (India): Deadly viral outbreak in China may not peak for two months A fast-spreading viral disease in eastern China, which has claimed the lives of at least 21 children, might not peak for another two months as it thrives in warm weather, the UN warned on Saturday. Reports from China said Enterovirus-71 or EV-71 has infected nearly 3,000 children, most of them under two. Called hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), it starts with fever and leads to ulcers in mouth, hands and buttocks.... There is no vaccine or known cure and the disease takes its own course. In most cases, children recover after about a week without treatment but in serious cases, brain swelling and paralysis leading to death might occur. ... Perhaps if nearly a billion Chinese didn't live hand-to-mouth, it'd only be a foot disease. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 26, 2008 from Brattleboro Reformer: Baitfish limit irks fishermen An emergency baitfish regulation put into effect last October has been supplanted with a permanent regulation to help prevent Vermont waters from a fatal fish virus called viral hemorrhagic septicemia. The disease, which may be the worst anglers will have to deal with in generations, can infect numerous species and spreads at an alarmingly fast rate. Experts believe a form of the strain arrived in the Great Lakes about eight years ago, however it was not detected until 2005 when thousands of fish died in Lake Ontario. Since that time, it rapidly spread through many lakes and streams in the Midwest and continued to kill large portions of fish. ... Don't see what's so "irksome" about keeping a viral hemmorhagic septicemia out of the general population of fish for as long as possible. They'd rather see floating, dead fish? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 21, 2008 from Science (US) via Science Daily: Flu Viruses Take One-way Ticket Out Of Asia, Then Travel The World Seasonal influenza strains constantly evolve in overlapping epidemics in Asia and sweep the rest of the world each year, an international research team has found.... The Science study shows ... that each year since 2002, influenza A (H3N2) viruses have migrated out of what the authors call the "East and Southeast Asian circulation network," and from there spread around the world. ... Hi, I'm H3N2! Fly me to the West! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 10, 2008 from Newsline365 (India): Bird Flu virus entrenched in India: United Nations In a grave and serious warning to India since the first outbreak of birdflu in Maharashtra in 2006, the United Nations today said that the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus might have got entrenched in the Indo-Gangetic plains of India and Bangladesh. This is almost confirmed by the massive spread of the disease across the states in India. After West Bengal, now it is the turn of Tripura. Bird flu has attacked this northeastern state, the fifth state of India that has become the prey of H5N1 avian influenza virus within a short span of three years. ... First, endemic. Next, pandemic. Finally, panicdemic. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 2, 2008 from Bloomberg.com (US): Bird Flu Crosses Species Barrier to Spread Among Dogs A bird flu virus that killed dogs in South Korea can spread from one dog to another, showing that the disease is capable of crossing species and causing widespread sickness in mammals, a study found.... Transmission of avian influenza A virus to a new mammalian species is of great concern because it potentially allows the virus to adapt to a new mammalian host, cross new species barriers, and acquire pandemic potential,'' the Korean researchers said. ... Uh-oh. Man's best friend becomes a viral vector... ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 17, 2008 from NDTV: State media reports outbreak of bird flu in China Bird flu has broken out in the south of China, killing more than 100 poultry, state media reported on Sunday, citing the agriculture ministry. The outbreak occurred in a market in Guangzhou, in Guangdong province on Thursday, and was a "highly pathogenic" subtype of the H5N1 influenza virus, which can be deadly to humans, the report said. A further 500 birds were culled and the disease was under control after emergency measures were taken. ... To be, or not to be: Whether 'tis nobler to mutate to infect humankind, or to 'strict mine impact to the avian kind. To die, perhaps to sleep; to sleep, perchance to dream. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 9, 2008 from The New Nation (Bangladesh): Impact of Bird Flu: Bad days for fast food shops in Dhaka Sales in the city's fast food shops have marked a sharp fall as customers continued to ignore chicken items out of bird flu fear, hitting hard the booming fast-food business. "We're passing through a very critical time as our sales have dropped by 50 percent. Even our regular customers hardly visit our shops and those who come are scared of taking chicken items," said Sohel Rana, supervisor of 'Chicken King', a popular fast food shop in Dhanmondi area.... He also blamed the media for spreading the bird flu panic among the people. "Watching chicken culling on television and reading those in newspapers, people get panicked."... Nearly 100,000 poultry farms have been shut down due to the outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus, throwing around 2.5 million people out of jobs. ... No need for panic... this is just a public-relations issue... threat level no more than mauve... ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 3, 2008 from Nhan Dan (Vietnam): H5N1 outbreaks in 9 Vietnamese provinces "Bird flu outbreaks have been reported in Phu Tho and Ha Nam province, announced the Veterinary Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on March 2. This has brought the number of the epidemic-hit cities and provinces to nine, including Thai Nguyen, Quang Ninh, Hai Duong, Nam Dinh, Tuyen Quang and Ninh Binh in the north and Vinh Long in the south." ... Yeah, well, that's communist H5N1. Luckily, we have the free market. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 25, 2008 from AFP: India worst bird flu outbreak spreads "KOLKATA, India (AFP) - India's worst outbreak of bird flu spread as health authorities battled on Friday to stop it reaching the densely populated city of Kolkata amid heavy rain that hampered culling efforts. Authorities reported the disease had affected two more districts, bringing the number hit by avian flu to 12 out of West Bengal state's total of 19. "We're afraid bird flu may spread to many areas -- it has already spread to two more districts," said state animal resources minister Anisur Rahaman in Kolkata, which has 13.2 million people, many of whom live in congested slums." ... Late in the article we learn 2.2 million birds will be slaughtered -- that's a LOT of chickens with their heads cut off! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 13, 2008 from Reuters UK: U.N. says prepare for big flu pandemic economic hit "Most countries have now focused on pandemic as a potential cause of catastrophe and have done some planning. But the quality of the plans is patchy and too few of them pay attention to economic and social consequences," he told BBC radio. "The economic consequences could be up to $2 trillion (1 trillion pounds) -- up to 5 percent of global GDP removed," he said, reiterating previous World Bank and UN estimates. ... We wonder what the lives of those killed are worth, in terms of GDP. But to get people to sit up and take notice, there's nothing like a "pocketbook issue" of two trillion dollars.... ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 14, 2007 from Jakarta Post (Indonesia): Bird flu resurfaces in Asia, human deaths and poultry outbreaks reported "Bird flu has resurfaced in parts of Asia, with human deaths reported in Indonesia and China and fresh poultry outbreaks plaguing other countries during the winter months when the virus typically flares. Indonesia, the nation hardest hit by the H5N1 virus, announced its 93rd death on Friday after a 47-year-old man died a day earlier in a Jakarta hospital, said Health Ministry spokesman Joko Suyono. He fell ill on Dec. 2 and was admitted with flu-like symptoms, becoming Indonesia's 115th person infected with the disease." ... Thankfully, in some scenarios, there'll be too few birds to transmit H5N1. Um... wait... ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Dec 8, 2007 from AllAfrica.com: Uganda: Cabinet Meets Over Ebola Epidemic "At Mulago Hospital, where Dr. Jonah Kule, a medic from Bundibugyo, died of suspected Ebola on Tuesday night, some sections were paralysed yesterday as health workers feared to handle patients without appropriate protective gear. In the casualty ward, Saturday Vision saw empty glove boxes and plastic containers meant to carry disinfectants. By about 11:00am, a crowd of patients was outside the casualty ward waiting in vain to be called in, while others went home frustrated. In emergency ward 3B, some workers wore masks, white gumboots and gloves, while others did not. Meanwhile, in the out-patient department in Old Mulago, work was going on normally except for the low turn up of patients compared to other days. The hospital director could not be reached for comment as he was in marathon meetings." ... hmmm... in a plague scenario, would I want to be crowding toward a hospital? ApocaDoc permalink Copyright 2009 The Apocadocs.com