H5N1

Philippines: DOH provides tips in buying medicines for flood-related ailments

Via GMA News Online: DOH provides tips in buying medicines for flood-related ailments. Excerpt:

Go for generics, compare prices at drugstores, and report overpricing of medicines to the Department of Health at 711-1001. 

These were among the tips the Department of Health provided Sunday to the public amid an expected rise in leptospirosis cases and other flood-related diseases.   

“We want the public to be able to make informed decisions and get the best prices on doxycycline and other drugs and medicines,” Health Secretary Enrique Ona said on the department's Facebook page.   

Among the medicines is doxycycline, an antibiotic recommended to prevent leptospirosis among those with increased risk of exposure.   

The DOH had distributed free doxycycline for rescue and relief teams and residents in evacuation centers. 

But the DOH advised individuals with similar risks to consult a physician before taking the medicine.   

It also said doxycycline does not totally protect against leptospirosis. 

"Those who will develop fever even after taking doxycycline should go to their doctor for examination. Doxycycline is not recommended for pregnant women and children below eight years of age," Ona said.

Pakistan: First Congo fever case confirmed in Karachi

Via Pakistan Today: First Congo fever case confirmed in city. Excerpt:

KARACHI - The first case of deadly Congo Crimean hemorrhagic fever has been confirmed in a private hospital in Karachi wherein the lab analysis confirmed that the patient was suffering from the viral disease, media reports confirmed. 

The Sindh dengue surveillance cell officials confirmed that the patient, whose name was not disclosed, was admitted to a private hospital in Karachi with symptoms of Congo Crimean hemorrhagic fever. 

His test from another private hospital confirmed that he was suffering from the disease. Sources in the provincial health department said the patient’s name was Jumma Khan, whose age was between 40 and 45 years and he belongs to Karachi. 

He was being treated at a local private hospital after testing positive for the Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever. 

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), CCHF is a severe disease in humans, with a high mortality rate. Fortunately, human illness occurs rarely, although animal infection may be more common.

Iran quakes death toll rises to 220, as search goes on

Via BBC News: Iran quakes death toll rises to 220, as search goes on. Excerpt:

Rescuers in Iran are searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors from two strong earthquakes which left at least 220 people dead. 

The 6.4 and 6.3 quakes struck near Tabriz and Ahar on Saturday afternoon, and more than 1,500 are believed injured in outlying villages. 

Thousands have been spending the night in emergency shelters or in the open. 

Relief agencies are trying to provide the survivors with tents, bread and drinking water. 

Reports say phone lines to many villages have been cut off, making rescue efforts harder. 

"The quake has created huge panic among the people," one resident of Tabriz told the BBC. "Everyone has rushed to the streets and the sirens of ambulances are everywhere." 

The towns of Haris and Varzaqan in East Azerbaijan province in north-western Iran were among those that suffered casualties, Khalil Saei, local crisis committee chief, told state TV, according to the Associated Press. 

 'My family is terrified' 

Dozens of rescue workers have been sent to the region, but relief efforts have been limited overnight. Phone communication in the city of Tabriz has also been disrupted, reports say. 

An Iranian Red Crescent official estimated that 16,000 people have been given emergency shelter after they were forced to leave their homes.

Sierra Leone: AML joins fight against cholera

Via Sierra Express Media.com: AML joins fight against Cholera. Click through for the full report and links to several other cholera reports. Excerpt:

African Minerals (SL) Limited has donated 19 cartons each containing 1,000 sachets of high quality UNICEF recommended Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) to communities in the Lokomasama chiefdom that were severely affected by the latest outbreak of Cholera, a killer waterborne disease. 

The nearly Le 30 million [US$6,950] medical consignment was presented by the company’s Medical Director, Dr Florinela Cirstina, to the chiefdom authorities, among them Paramount Chief Bai Maro Laminaya Ngbator II of Lokomasama, Hon. Binneh Bangura and Hon. Kombor Kamara. 

Social and Community Relations Manager, Musa Alie Bangura, said the gesture was in direct response to the disease outbreak in a chiefdom that is playing host to the company’s rail operations in the Port Loko district. 

“We are making this donation because we believe that the environment in which we operate must be healthy. We consider ourselves as part of the community now and therefore think it was worrisome for all of us,” he said, adding that 2,500 sachets were to go to the main referral Pepel healthcare centre; 2,000 to Mannah II health centre, 2,000 to the Bundulai health facility while the rest of the 19 villages should get 500 sachets each.

Scores killed in northwest Iran earthquakes

It's just past 8:00 p.m. in Vancouver, and 7:30 Sunday morning in Tehram. I haven't seen any major updates in the Iran media, but here is the latest from Al Jazeera English: Scores killed in northwest Iran earthquakes. Excerpt:

Two strong earthquakes have hit northwestern Iran, killing at least 180 people, Iranian officials have told the state news agency. 

Khalid Saie, the head of the regional natural disasters centre, told state television that more than 1,300 others had been injured. 

"Unfortunately, the toll is mounting and we are now at 180 dead and some 1,300 injured," Saie said. 

"Up to now, there are no deaths reported in the cities and all the victims come from rural areas," he said. 

The scale of the disaster was still emerging as rescue operations in the devastated zone northeast of the city of Tabriz pushed through the night after Saturday's quakes.  

Earlier, Gholamreza Masoumi, the country's head of emergency services said that the injured were being taken to Tabriz, the biggest city in the region, and Ardebil, a neighouring province. 

Panicked residents fled their homes after the earthquakes on Saturday, which the US Geological Survey (USGS) ranked at 6.4 and 6.3 on the Richter scale. 

Tehran University's Seismological Centre said the first earthquake hit at 4:53pm local time (12:23 GMT), with an epicentre just 60km from Tabriz, close to the town of Ahar, and a depth of 10km. 

The second - a big aftershock - hit 11 minutes later from nearly the same spot. A series of 11 smaller aftershocks rating 4.7 or below rapidly followed. 

"We are asking people to not panic," Saie said. "Help is arriving and rescuers are already at the scene." 

President's condolences 

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's office posted a statement on its website expressing condolences to those in the disaster zone and calling on authorities to "mobilise all efforts to help the affected populations". 

The disaster zone was located around 90 kilometres from the borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan, and around 190 kilometres from the border with Turkey. 

Officials had to use radios because of disrupted telephone communications in the region and dispatched helicopters to remote villages.   

An emergency services official said 66 rescue teams were at work, using 40 devices and seven dog squads to detect buried survivors. He said 185 ambulances had been sent to the area. 

Those hurt were taken to hospitals in Tabriz and Ardebil, the two biggest nearby cities, both of which escaped relatively unscathed by the earthquakes. 

The towns of Ahar and Varzeghan, 60km from Tabriz, were the hardest hit, being closest to the epicentres of the two quakes. Haris, another town close by, was also badly shaken. Scores of villages were decimated.

WHO: August 10 update on Ebola in Uganda

Via the WHO Regional Office for Africa: Ebola Outbreak in Uganda (As of 10 August 2012).

10 August 2012 - The Ministry of Health in Uganda is reporting a total number of 23 probable and confirmed cases including 16 deaths. Ten (10) cases have been laboratory confirmed at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in Entebbe. 

Currently, 26 people are on hospital admission with the last confirmed case admitted on 4 August 2012. Twenty-four (24) patients who tested Ebola negative and are considered non-cases, have been discharged after receiving psychosocial counseling and a discharge package to help them resettle in the community. 

Everyone who has come into close contact with probable and confirmed cases is followed up for 21 days. To date, 190 contacts have completed 21 days of follow up and 197 are still being monitored. None of the seven health workers in Kampala who attended to a fatal case have developed symptoms of the disease by day 20 of follow up. 

There has been no expansion of the outbreak beyond Kibaale district.

India: More dengue cases than counted, government admits

Via Yahoo! News India, a report from The Telegraph  More dengue cases than count, govt admits. Excerpt:

Calcutta, Aug. 11: The state government today admitted for the first time that the number of people suffering from dengue this year in and around Calcutta was much higher than the official count. 

Minister of state for health Chandrima Bhattacharya said 80 cases of dengue had been recorded with the health department from Calcutta and its surrounding areas till August 7. Of them, 64 were in Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) areas, 14 in North 24-Parganas, including 11 in Salt Lake, and one each in Hooghly and Nadia. 

"There are more cases as we don't always receive reports of patients being treated at private health care units. Since dengue is not a notified disease, private hospitals and doctors are not bound to report cases to municipal and civic bodies or the health department," Bhattacharya said. 

She said the health department was requesting private health care institutes and diagnostic laboratories to report cases of dengue. 

"But it is not possible for us to force anyone to submit a report," she added.

"We had called 25 private laboratories ' almost 75 per cent of Calcutta's diagnostic centres ' yesterday and asked them to submit reports of positive dengue cases," the minister said. 

The Telegraph had earlier reported how CMC officials were in denial mode on the spurt in dengue this year.

Philippines: DOH-NCR steps up leptospirosis prevention

Via the Philippine Information Agency: DOH-NCR steps up leptospirosis prevention. Excerpt:

The Department of Health Center for Health Development-National Capital Region (DOH CHD- NCR) is exerting all efforts to prevent the increase of leptospirosis cases in the National Capital Region (NCR). 

Last Thursday, CHD-NCR regional director Eduardo Janairo led the distribution of doxycycline capsules and rubber boots and raincoats to all local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila to help in the prevention of leptospirosis in evacuation centers. 

“We have to avert the possible increase of leptospirosis cases not only in evacuation centers but also in flooded communities in NCR. Since we cannot prevent people from wading in flood waters, we are providing doxycycline capsules and protective gear so that they will not be affected by leptospirosis. I also call on hospitals to immediately provide rapid diagnostic test to treat patients with high fever,” Janairo said. 

Eleven boxes of doxycycline capsules is allocated to each of the 17 LGUs in Metro Manila, with each box containing 1,000 capsules with a 100 mg dosage. 

LGUs which had earlier received their allotment will be given additional stocks. 

According to Janairo, each person will be given one 100-mg doxycycline capsule weekly for protection against leptospirosis. Two capsules will be given to rescuers and those directly exposed to flood waters. 

Essential medicines were also provided to affected LGUs like paracetamol, amoxicillin, cotrimoxazole and lagundi to aid in the treatment of patients in evacuation centers. 

Community health teams were deployed to various evacuation centers to provide medical assistance.

Cambodia: July report from Kantha Bopha Hospitals

Via the website of the Kantha Bopha Hospitals, an August 2 report on Facts & Figures - July 2012. Excerpt (Dr. Beat Richner's bolding):

The Patients during July 2012 in our Hospitals:

Outpatients:  74 006  

Inpatients, severely sick children to be admitted for Hospitalization:  15 326   

Severe cases of the Hemorrhagic Dengue Fever to be admitted for Hospitalization: 5061 

Hand/Foot/Mouth treated ambulant: 434

Hand/Foot/Mouth being hospitalized   260

Among the 260 hospitalized cases there were 97 suffering from Encephalitis.

In most of these cases of H/F/M/ Diseases the Virus “E71” was found, identified by the Institute Pasteur on our demand. 

In July only 12 cases, without the lesions H/F/M, but where we found the Virus E71, have developed in the last hours of their life a destruction of the lungs. (In June 34 cases). Still it is not clear what is causing the destruction of the lungs. Compare my declaration under the title: The grave failure of the WHO in Cambodia (on my facebook, 25th July 2012). 

We still think, that the application of toxic and wrong medicine by private clinics or Tuberculosis may be a significant factor, or both. Most of these children are passing away one or two or three hours after arrival in our Hospitals, but all were treated in private clinics before during two days.

In the press release of July 12th the WHO and the Ministry of Health mentioned malnutrition as a factor. Not a single case was malnourished. And it was told that the use of Steroid has worsening the state of the patients finally leading to death!! Again, that is absolute nonsense.

The figures mentioned above are showing that Dengue is actually the great problem in Cambodia. Children are arriving in shock day and night in our Hospitals. But the mortality rate in July was only 0,5% (24 children died). All children who have died were first treated in private clinics. At arrival they show already significant signs of drug intoxication. They died from drug intoxication!

Uganda: Did refugees fleeing Congo conflict bring Ebola with them?

Via The East African, a long report: Perfect storm: Did refugees fleeing Congo conflict bring Ebola with them? Excerpt:

The Ebola outbreak in western Uganda over the past two weeks reveals how violent conflict, porous borders and poor healthcare infrastructure have created the perfect storm to make the region particularly susceptible to the deadly disease. 

The latest outbreak has deepened the puzzle for scientists who are wondering why in recent years the epicentre of the haemorrhagic fever appears to have shifted from the Congo and Central African Republic to Uganda. 

The entire region is now on high alert with concern rising that the virus could spread to Kenya and Tanzania given the frequent movement of people between the three countries. 

Two suspected cases are under investigation in Tanzania in Kagera Region near the border with Uganda, and another two suspected cases in Kenya—one in Central and the other in Western Province. None of the cases have been confirmed to be Ebola. 

The latest outbreak in Uganda has been linked an influx of an estimated 20,000 refugees from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo fleeing fighting in North Kivu province. But a direct cause-and-effect link between the entry of refugees and the outbreak of the disease has not been established. 

Still, porous borders are a feature of the entire East African region, particularly when violent conflict pushes large numbers of people across borders. 

Apart from the eastern DRC-Uganda border, other borders that have recently experienced the pressure of conflict are the Uganda-South Sudan border; the Kenya-Somalia border; and the Tanzania-Burundi border. 

But it is not just conflict that drives people across borders; the search for better economic opportunities, too, has driven people to neighbouring countries in the EAC, particularly with the inauguration of the Common Market Protocol. 

Even though scientists cannot put a finger on the next country that is likely to be hit, they consider Kenya and Tanzania, and to a smaller extent, Rwanda and Burundi, to be out of the Ebola virus’s geographical distribution. 

According to Medecins Sans Frontiers’ Paul Roddy, despite the three instances in Uganda, claiming nearly 300 lives in total, the greater East African region largely remains free of Ebola because the virus’s concentration is in the Central Africa region. 

Like Marburg, Ebola is a virus that is passed on from and/or by primates to humans, but the puzzle that scientists are trying to unravel is why especially Uganda, South Sudan and DR Congo, are the most susceptible to Ebola outbreaks. 

Dr Roddy said that recent research shows that the geographical distribution of Ebola stretches across the African continent from Uganda to Gabon, and from Sudan all the way to Angola. 

However, “evidence from individual cases shows that the virus is in circulation from Central African Republic.”    

In essence, other regions in the greater East Africa are not prone to the Ebola virus because they lie out of its geographical loop despite the fact that humans in those regions also interact with the forests.