H5N1

Arcade Fire works for Haiti

Via The Globe and Mail: Arcade Fire: Stars shine light on Haiti. Excerpt:

Arcade Fire sings a lament for Haiti's murderous past rule, but the song is also an anthem of hope that the country some day finds renewal. 

Régine Chassagne, who sings the tune and founded the internationally renowned Canadian band with her husband, Win Butler, is determined that it will. 

Nearly a year ago, home in Montreal, Ms. Chassagne, 34, was knocked breathless by news of the earthquake that flattened the capital of the homeland her family fled four decades ago: “It wasn't exactly despair, it was … emergency. It was more like your whole body is shaking with emergency,” she said. “It's a rare feeling. … You're ready to walk out in your PJs and start doing what you need to do.” 

On the world tour supporting its new chart-topping and Grammy-nominated album The Suburbs, Arcade Fire raised – and then matched – $1-million in donations for Partners in Health, an NGO operating in Haiti that it supported even before the quake. Proceeds from licensing its song Wake Up to the 2010 Super Bowl also went to PiH. 

Ms. Chassagne took matters a step further: She helped found Kanpe, a non-profit offering health, educational, farming and other assistance for rural Haitians to achieve a sustainable living. In 2011, Kanpe (Creole for “stand up”) aims to start with 150 families in Thomonde in Haiti's central plateau. 

“I know there is a way to make things happen for the best in Haiti. They're not easy – it always takes longer than the ‘Band Aid' solutions,” she said, referring to We Are the World-style rock-star charity projects. “They're less glamourous, but … somebody needs to care for the long term.”

Mexico: H1N1 killed 182 in 2010

Actually, probably a few more than that. Via El Mercurio de Tamaulipas, a December 30 report: Mata A/H1N1 a 182 este año. [H1N1 kills 182 this year]

Aunque este año no tuvo tanta fuerza como en 2009, la epidemia de influenza A/H1N1 dejó en el país cerca de 200 muertos. 

Although it wasn't as strong this year as in 2009, H1N1 flu left almost 200 dead.

De acuerdo con el último reporte oficial sobre la situación de la influenza A/ H1N1 en México, hasta el 19 de julio habían ocurrido mil 316 defunciones por la epidemia, de las cuales 182 se registraron en 2010. 

According to the latest official report on the H1N1 situation in Mexico, up to last July 19 1,316 persons had died of the disease, 182 of them in 2010.

El Comisionado Nacional de la Influenza, Alejandro Macías, explicó que la Secretaría de Salud determinó suspender el conteo oficial en julio debido a que en ese mes la dependencia levantó la alerta epidemiológica por el nuevo virus.

Alejandro Macías, National Influenza Commissioner, explained that the Health Secretariat decided to suspend the official count in July because in that month it ended the epidemiological alert on the new virus.

A year ago

My last post for December 31, 2009 was The first flu post of 2010. It seems like a long time ago. Swine flu had raged for most of the year, H5N1 seemed to have vanished, and I wasn't yet paying much attention to other diseases.

I certainly didn't expect that a year later I'd be following a disastrous cholera outbreak in Haiti. But I was beginning to sense that no disease can be dealt with on its own; our health and illness are entangled with our culture, our economy, our politics. 

We may live or die depending on our readiness to wash our hands. But our lives are also in the often filthy hands of well-tailored politicians and their servants. Unless we can somehow make them wash their hands, and then treat us with respect, our lives will be shorter and harder than they need to be.

 If that happens in 2011, it will indeed be a happy new year for us all.

Dominican Republic: Cholera continues on the way up with 139 cases

Via DiarioLibre.com: Cholera continues on the way up with 139 cases: LF acknowledges work of health promoters. Excerpt:

With 19 new cases of cholera confirmed, raising the total to 139, and the investigation in to the death of a person who died in Sanchez Ramirez with the symptoms of the disease, President Leonel Fernandez said yesterday that the Dominican Republic will win the battle against the disease. 

Heading up a massive testimonial act of prevention and control of cholera together with the Minister of Public Health, Bautista Rojas Gomez, the President recognized the labor of the thousand of health promoters and volunteers that are working on the campaign to prevent cholera.

After a recounting of the measures adopted to keep the country from going through the calamitous situation with regards to cholera as happened in Haiti, President Fernandez said that he appreciated the support that the Dominican Medical College (CMD) has given to the fight against the disease from the first moment. 

Fernandez called the heath promoters ‘heroes' because their visits to Dominican homes, the prevention guidance and the capturing in time of the cases have permitted to keep the spread of the bacteria that causes the disease under control. 

Regarding the patients that still have cholera, the president guaranteed that in 48 hours they would be free of the ailment.

Hong Kong: Second superbug case detected

Via the Hong Kong government website: 2nd superbug case detected.

The Centre for Health Protection has identified a second case of antibiotic-resistant bacteria NDM-1, involving a 54-year-old woman from India.   

She was hospitalised in India for subdural haematoma for three months from May, and came to Hong Kong on December 15. She was admitted to Princess Margaret Hospital on December 17 for respiratory distress.   

She is infected with a strain of E.coli harbouring NDM-1. No outbreak has been detected in her ward and her home contacts are asymptomatic.   

There is no sign of spread and investigations are continuing.   

The first case was recorded in October 2009, involving a 66-year man who has recovered.

The world's broken promises to Haiti

Via The Guardian, an op-ed: The world's broken promises to Haiti. Excerpt:

Taken together, less than a tenth of the total amount promised has even arrived in Haiti, much less been spent. 

Also worrying is the way in which development aid agencies are resorting to old practices, including preferential treatment of their own contractors. On the grounds of minimising the risk of wasting aid through corruption, "no bid" contracting is now the norm. This results in serious distortions in aid allocations: out of every $100 pledged by USAID, for example, Haitian firms are awarded less than $2. Other major donors are following suit. 

This runs counter to the now widely-held view among development professionals that supporting local capacity and ingenuity is key to sustainable successful outcomes. 

As most Haiti watchers know all too well, the situation before the earthquake was dire. Despite meagre economic gains in 2009, the country was at the very bottom of virtually every international index. And while this "Republic of NGOs" was visited by massive promises of assistance and an additional 500 relief agencies in 2010, Haiti's three horsemen of the apocalypse – displacement, disease and instability – have brought the nation to its knees. 

Almost 12 months after the earthquake, there are still an estimated 1.3 million people living in tents, waiting to be relocated to new houses. Recent household survey data revealed how, in the months after the quake, these population groups were the most food insecure. Less than a third of them claimed to have had access to international assistance, and most managed to survive owing to resilient social networks, including remittances from Montreal to Miami. 

In the meantime, a cholera epidemic has killed over 2,500, infected over 100,000 and could kill thousands more, if not immediately contained. According to epidemiologists, the pathway of the epidemic since October – running as it has from north to the central and southern regions – suggests that it has spread virtually unhindered. Water purification tablets, improved sanitation and small adaptations in personal hygiene could effectively control its movement. 

Finally, the country continues to be wracked by political instability. The lack of leadership and poor handling of the elections have been reported on extensively. Most of the 18 presidential candidates – some with links to the former regime of Duvalier dictators (father and son) – proved incapable of providing a compelling vision for Haiti's masses. The persistent allegations of fraud and intimidation during the electoral cycle were as predictable as they were depressing. 

The poor way in which the vote count was managed and the weak response of outsiders (notably, with the OAS and Minustah refusing to acknowledge the full extent of "irregularities") guarantee continued unrest in 2011.

Korea: B2B H5N1 confirmed in 2 farms

Via JoongAng Daily, the first report dated January 1, 2011: H5N1 avian flu confirmed in 2 farms. Excerpt:

Two poultry farms in South Chungcheong and North Jeolla were verified to have avian influenza A (H5N1), the government said yesterday. 

According to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, a duck farm in Cheonan, South Chungcheong, and a chicken farm in Iksan, North Jeolla, were confirmed to be infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza. 

Quarantine officials in North Jeolla have already slaughtered and buried about 10,000 ducks at the Cheonan farm and more than 90,000 chickens at the Iksan farm and nearby farm. 

Quarantine cordons of a 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) radius have been set up around the two infected farms and labeled as dangerous, and areas within a 10-kilometer radius have been put on alert. 

Lee Sang-gil, director of the Food Industry and Marketing Bureau of the Food Ministry, said, “[We will] not carry out further slaughtering but will step up monitoring since there are no more poultry farms within a 500-meter radius [except those farms that already went through the culling process].” 

Nevertheless, there are concerns that the virus will spread. The two infected farms raise either breeding ducks or hens and have sold ducklings and chicks to other farms, so infected birds may have already been transported out of the area. 

On top of that, health officials continue to detect more migratory birds infected with the virus in Chungcheong and Jeolla, raising more concerns about a nationwide spread.

Beleaguered Haitians now face Dominicans' rebuke

Via DominicanToday.com: Beleaguered Haitians now face Dominicans' rebuke. Excerpt:

By dawn Thursday almost all the undocumented Haitians who lived in the crowded barrios San José and La Mina had fled and the few remaining will be integrated to the Neighborhood boards and other organizations of the zone, said community leaders and Immigration authorities in the North zone at the end of a meeting. 

“As few as 80 to 100 remain, when there were 2,800, only those who work, study and behave well are living here, the others had to leave,” said San José and La Mina Neighborhood boards spokesman Jose Francisco Consuegra, quoted by listin.com.do. 

Meanwhile Immigration Haitian Affairs North zone director Ramon Ureña said in yesterday’s meeting, held with no access to the press, both groups agreed to work together to improve the conditions in the barrios and guarantee hygiene and safety. The official Immigration would issue provisional documents to the Haitians, so they can travel within the country without problems. 

Ureña also revealed that representatives of Haitian groups acknowledged that their compatriots cannot rent rooms which don’t have baths, piped water and other basic services. 

Consuegra called the Haitians’ decision to leave those communities voluntarily “correct and civilist.” 

More Haitians 

He noted however that from now on the community will be on guard against the arrival of more undocumented Haitians. “Those who remain in our barrios are almost 100, they won’t have any problems, on the contrary we will protect them, but we won’t accept one more.”

This earlier story suggests the Haitian removals have not gone happily.

Haiti: A note from Hilary Clinton

Haiti offers surprising little cholera news on this New Year's Eve morning, but via HaitiLibre.com we have a letter from US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton: Haiti - USA : Wishes for the independence of Haiti and New Year.

Despite all Haiti has endured, Haitians have shown an unflagging strength, will, and passion to forge ahead and build a more prosperous nation. The people and Government of the United States stand firmly with the people of Haiti, and we are committed to helping ensure that your voice determines the way forward for your nation and government. We will continue deepening the partnership and friendship between our nations to achieve a brighter future for all our people. 

I wish all Haitians a happy Independence Day and New Year. I look forward to working with you to make 2011 a year filled with peace and progress.

Why is Port-au-Prince a cholera-free zone?

Earlier today I noticed a comment in HaitiLibre.com about the sudden absence of Port-au-Prince cholera statistics in the MSPP's December 21-26 posts on its Documentation page. Tonight I went through those posts, and found something very strange.

Bear with me, because this will involve numbers. Between December 21 and 26, MSPP tells us, Haiti recorded 8,161 new cases of cholera. Of these, 5,908 required hospitalization. Death resulted in 175 of these cases, bringing the total deaths to 3,333.

On December 21, Port-au-Prince recorded 562 new cases, of which 205 required hospitalization. Two persons died. 

On December 22, 378 cases and 173 hospitalizations. One death.

On December 23, Port-au-Prince had just 17 new cases of cholera and zero hospitalizations. Zero deaths.

December 24: Just 6 new cases, zero hospitalizations. Zero deaths.

December 25: 9 cases, zero hospitalizations. Zero deaths.

December 26: 4 cases, zero hospitalizations. Zero deaths.

No one in Port-au-Prince, the MSPP tells us, has died of cholera since December 22.

This seems like such an extraordinarily happy turn of events that you'd expect PAHO and all the NGOs to explode with joy over breaking the epidemic's back. 

But how could a ruined city with a million people living under plastic tarps go from 378 cases on the 22nd to 17 on the 23rd? That's a 95 percent drop in 24 hours, probably the best evidence for the existence of God we have seen since the Resurrection.

The medieval scholar William of Occam, however, cautions us to accept the simplest explanation that fits the facts. Occam's Razor obliges us to reject divine intervention (however belated), and to smell a rat.

If you can misreport an election, you can certainly misreport cholera cases. If that has happened, PAHO, USAID, and all the other agencies should blow the whistle at once, and demand a recount.

We already have good reason to suspect that the MSPP data are incomplete and drastically undercounted. This looks less like incompetence and more like fraud.

The sudden fall in Port-au-Prince cases and deaths demands an explanation from competent epidemiologists. If PAHO and the other agencies and NGOs can't supply that explanation, it's going to be hard to trust anything else they say.