H5N1

Colombia: Alert continues in Cali over dengue outbreak

I was just complaining about Spanish news reports with long sentences. Now Dengue en la Argentina makes a liar out of me by offering tight, informative text from El País in Colombia: Sigue alerta en Cali por brote de dengue.[Alert continues in Cali over dengue outbreak] This is worth translating at length. Excerpt:

No cesa la preocupación en torno al dengue en Cali, debido a que en el 2010 aumentó el número de casos del tipo grave o hemorrágico. Mientras en todo el 2009 se reportaron 24 episodios de dengue grave, en lo que va corrido del 2010 ya hay registro de 389.

Worry about dengue in Cali hasn't ceased, since in 2010 the number of serious or hemorrhagic cases has grown. While 24 hemorrhagic cases were reported in 2009, 389 have been reported so far in 2010.

 La Secretaría de Salud Municipal señaló que este año se han reseñado 5.468 casos de dengue en la ciudad (todas las clases), entre las que se cuenta el grave. Esta cifra contrasta con la del 2009, en cuyos doce meses fueron contabilizados 4.276 afectados. 

The municipal secretariat of health has announced that the city has seen 5,468 dengue cases (of all types), including hemorrhagic. This number contrasts with that of 2009, which saw 4,276 reported.

Cuatro personas fallecieron este año en Cali por el mal, tres de ellas menores de edad. Las autoridades de salud esperan la confirmación de los exámenes de otras cuatro personas que se sospecha murieron por la enfermedad. 

Four persons in Cali have died of the disease this year, three of them children. Health authorities are awaiting test results on four other suspected dengue deaths. 

“El dengue grave o hemorrágico no es una manifestación severa del dengue clásico, son tipos o serotipos distintos transmitidos por el mismo vector, el ‘aedes aegypti’ o el ‘patiblanco’”, aseguró Alejandro Varela, secretario de Salud. 

"Serious or hemorrhagic dengue is not a severe form of classic dengue," said Alejandro Varela, secretary of health. "They are distinct types or serotypes carried by the same vector, the Aedes aegypti or 'patiblanco.'" 

El médico explicó que el dengue clásico da fiebre, dolor de cabeza o dolor muscular o brote. El dengue con signos de alarma es el que se presenta con los síntomas anteriores más dolor abdominal, vómito o diarrea, principalmente. 

The doctor explained that classic dengue causes fever, headache, or muscle pain. The alarm signs of hemorrhagic dengue are those symptoms plus abdominal pain, vomiting or diarrhea.

“Con este cuadro el paciente debe hidratarse muy bien, no automedicarse y asistir de inmediato a la institución de salud”, agregó Varela.

"With those symptoms the patient should stay well hydrated, should not self-medicate, and should go immediately to a hospital," Varela added.

CIDRAP : H1N1 lessons learned (III)

Via CIDRAP, Lisa Schnirring write the third in an important series: H1N1 LESSONS LEARNED: Vaccination campaign weathered rough road, paid dividends. Excerpt:

As the biggest public health initiative in the history of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the H1N1 pandemic vaccination campaign encountered stiff headwinds with scarce supplies and complex messaging but ended up reaching about a quarter of the US population and, some say, smoothing the path for future immunization efforts. 

About a month after the pandemic flu virus emerged, federal officials ordered vaccines from five different companies at a price tag of $650 million, with $287 million more for adjuvants that could be needed if the virus turned out to be severe or if vaccine potency was lower than expected. 

While manufacturers struggled with a low-yielding seed strain, public health experts were anxious about the next daunting step: getting the vaccine into people's arms. 

Their task was to launch the first mass vaccination campaign since the much-maligned swine flu vaccine of 1976, against steady undercurrents of antivaccine sentiment and general mistrust of government.

A South American network for dengue prevention and control

Via Radio Nacional de Venezuela: Red Suramericana para la prevención y control del dengue. [South American network for prevention and control of dengue] Excerpt, with my translation: 

La creación de la Red Suramericana para la Prevención y Control del Dengue, es una de las resoluciones aprobadas por las ministras y ministros de Salud que participaron en la II Reunión Ordinaria de UNASUR Salud, efectuada en la Ciudad de Cuenca-Ecuador los días 29 y 30 de abril. 

The creation of the South American Network for Prevention and Control of Dengue is one of the resolutions approved by the health ministers who took part in the II Ordinary Reunion of UNASUR Health, held in Cuenca, Ecuador, on April 29 and 30.

La delegación venezolana estuvo encabezada por el viceministro de Redes de Servicios de Salud, Iver Gil, quien fuera designado por el ministro del Poder Popular para la Salud, Luis Reyes Reyes, en cumplimiento del mandato presidencial de fortalecer la Unión de Naciones Suramericanas (UNASUR) como parte de la agenda de integración social y la solidaridad entre los pueblos.

The Venezuelan delegation was headed by the vice-minister of Health Network Services, Iver Gil, who was designated by the minister of Popular Power for Health, Luis Reyes Reyes, in carrying out the presidential mandate of strengthening the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), as part of the agenda of social integration and solidarity among peoples.

Apart from the news value of this story, I'm posting it as an example of webwriting in Spanish. 

In English, text for the web should be very brief: short words, short sentences, short paragraphs.

Spanish and Portuguese tend to need more words than English does to convey a particular statement. But I'm often struck by the sheer length of many sentences in news stories on Latin American websites.

I try to stick reasonably closely to the syntax of the original text, but it often means English sentences that are two and three times longer than comparable text would be on an American or Canadian website.

Maybe Latin Americans just have longer attention spans than we do. 

Canada: 3 workers fall sick at Glengarry, where illness claimed 9 lives

Via The Vancouver Sun, a report from the Victoria Times Colonist: 3 workers fall sick at Glengarry, where illness claimed 9 lives. Excerpt: 

The Vancouver Island Health Authority is monitoring three sick staff members at Glengarry Hospital, where nine people have died from an unspecified respiratory illness. 

VIHA spokeswoman Shannon Marshall said the three staff members reported sick yesterday, but it has not been determined if they are suffering from the illness that broke out in the Chandler Unit at Glengarry Hospital last week. 

Maureen Donaldson, 50, a care attendant in the unit -- where the nine people died and 11 more were infected -- said she became ill a month ago with the same respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms that she saw afflict residents. 

"We are front-line workers and we are in contact with every body fluid," said Donaldson, who is currently undergoing tests. 

Marshall said no new cases have been reported among the residents. So far, the patients have tested negative for influenza A, B and H1N1. Yesterday, VIHA learned that tests for legionella -- associated with Legionnaires' disease -- were also negative. 

Tests for environmental contaminants have also come back clean. The Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver plans to conduct more tests next week.

WHO: Update 98

WHO has published Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 - update 98. Excerpt:

As of 25th of April, worldwide more than 214 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including over 17919 deaths. 

WHO is actively monitoring the progress of the pandemic through frequent consultations with the WHO Regional Offices and Member States and through monitoring of multiple sources of information. 

Situation update: 

The current situation is largely unchanged since the last update. The most active areas of transmission of pandemic influenza H1N1 virus continue to be parts of West and Central Africa with some focal areas of activity in South and Southeast Asia. 

Pandemic influenza activity H1N1 remains low in much of the temperate areas of both the northern and southern hemispheres. 

Seasonal influenza type B virus is the predominant influenza virus, though also at low levels of circulation, across East Asia, Northern and Eastern Europe. Influenza type B viruses have also been detected in Central Africa and this week in West Africa. 

Seasonal influenza H3N2 viruses have continued to be detected in South and Southeast Asia, as well as sporadically in some countries of West and Central Africa, and Eastern Europe.

Australia: Doctors bracing for flu epidemic

Via the Courier Mail: Doctors bracing for flu epidemic. Excerpt:

Health authorities are increasingly worried that Queensland is heading for a horror flu season. 

Doctors were already expecting a "double whammy" flu threat, with the return of swine flu and two more conventional strains expected to circulate. 

Now the number of people requesting flu vaccinations has plummeted after the shots were banned for children aged five and under. 

GPs are reporting a 50 per cent drop in requests for the seasonal flu vaccine, which is safe for those over the age of five and protects against swine flu, or H1N1, influenza B and A:Perth. 

The swine flu vaccination remains safe for all ages. 

The Therapeutic Goods Association is investigating whether the flu vaccine may have caused the death of Brisbane two-year-old Ashley Epapara, and authorities are yet to get to the bottom of a vaccine scare in Western Australia, with tests so far showing no signs of abnormalities. 

There have been hundreds of cases of children suffering adverse reactions to vaccines, including febrile convulsions, fevers and vomiting. 

Australia's chief medical officer Jim Bishop said it was possible a spike in cases of fever and convulsions among young children in WA could simply be linked to the higher number of vaccinations performed there. 

Australian Medical Association Queensland president Mason Stevenson said ongoing "unnecessary paranoia" about flu vaccinations could result in an "abysmally low" vaccination rate this year. 

"This has come at the worst time when we anticipate the second wave of the human swine flu pandemic to hit Australia," he said. 

"We have 230 intensive care beds in Queensland, and it would only take an epidemic not much worse than last year's to max out our ICU beds." Dr Stevenson said a "double whammy" flu threat would hit all age groups this year. 

"Vaccination rates remain low, and there are as many as three circulating strains in the same year, with swine flu a grave risk to the young and middle-aged, and the two seasonal flu strains the greatest risk to the elderly," he said.

Indonesia: Suspected bird flu spreads to other villages

Via Ida at Bird Flu Information Corner, a report from Riau Pos: Sungaiapit, Riau ::: Bird flu spreads to other villages. Excerpt:

Bird flu H5N1 had spread to Desa Parit I/II, Desa Harapan and Kelurahan Sungaiapit since it was firstly identified in Desa Lalang. Until now, bird flu infected human suspect has reached nine victims. Two of them are now being treated at Arifin Achmad hospital in Pekanbaru, while others are refused to be hospitalized.  

Based on the investigation of Health Service and Livestock Service of Kabupaten Siak, so far dead chickens had been tested positive bird flu H5N1. Furthermore, Health Service had collected patient’s liquid samples for further test and treated patients with Tamiflu.

Ida has another report, from West Sumatera, about a widespread outbreak of B2B H5N1 and one suspected human case, an 11-year-old boy.

Indonesia: Public told to stay alert despite declining threat of H5N1

Via The Jakarta Post: Public told to stay alert despite declining threat. Excerpt:

Efforts to reduce the transmission of avian influenza (bird flu) in Indonesia should not stop despite the significant decrease in H5N1 cases. 

“Bird flu cases in poultry and humans are decreasing. The last case found in a human was in Jakarta in January,” Emil Agustiono from the Coordinating Public Welfare Ministry said Wednesday. 

“The H5N1 virus, which is pathogenic and deadly, is endemic in Indonesia,” he said. “But we should not be afraid. We just need to be aware of it.” 

According to the World Health Organization, the number of deaths due to H5N1 in Indonesia decreased steadily from 45 in 2006, to 37 in 2007 and to 19 in 2009. 

To help Indonesia reduce the risk of bird flu, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), through the Community-Based Avian Influenza Control Project (CBAIC) conducted a 4-year program. 

“The focus has been to work at the community, government, local government, health and husbandry agency level, as well as with commercial farms,” Maria Isabel Busquets of CBAIC said. 

“This is all to reduce the risk of avian influenza transmission.”

I would be delighted to think that no one in Indonesia had died of H5N1 since January, but we do have some suspected H5N1 deaths, including that of a four-year-old girl named Joice Evelyn, reported here this morning.

H5N1 has been a huge and embarrassing political issue in Indonesia since 2005. The official numbers of confirmed cases and deaths may have declined, but Jakarta has deliberately failed to report those cases promptly and accurately as it's supposed to as a signatory to the International Health Regulations. 

The threat may be declining, but we're entitled to be skeptical about the numbers Jakarta gives us.

India: 1,494 H1N1 deaths

Via the Indian government's Press Information Bureau: Consolidated status of influenza A H1N1 as on 28th April 2010. It reports 30,554 confirmed cases and 1,494 deaths.

On March 28, the confirmed cases totalled 30,154 and 1,443 had died.

On January 1, India reported 26,039 cases and 967 deaths. So 527 Indians have died of H1N1 so far this year, a third of the total. India's first H1N1 death was reported on August 4, 2009.

Peru: "If dengue cases increase, health centers will collapse"

Via Gua 3.0, a report from northwestern Peru: Si aumentan casos de dengue centros de Salud colapsarían. [If dengue cases increase, health centers will collapse] Excerpt, with my translation:

Una semana después de que se anunciara la existencia de 18 probables casos de dengue en Talara, el jefe de la Unidad de Epidemiología del Centro de Salud Carlos Vivanco, Delfín Bances, reportó ahora 30 probables casos de dengue, por lo que alertó que de continuar la situación, los centros de salud colapsarían. 

One week after the announcement of 18 probable dengue cases in Talara, the head of the Epidemiology Unit of Carlos Vivanco Health Center reported 30 cases now; for this reason he warns that if the situation continues, health centers will collapse.

Delfín Bances señaló, que los 48 probables casos de dengue, registrados en Talara hasta ahora, han sido derivados al laboratorio de la Subregión de Salud, para su posterior comprobación. Aunque, precisó que de las muestras enviadas, una ha sido descartada, y cinco resultaron negativas; el resto está por comprobarse.

Delfín Bances said that the 48 probable dengue cases registered in Talara so far have been referred to the laboratory of the Health Subregion for final testing. However, he added that of the samples sent, one has been discarded and five tested negative; the rest remain to be tested.