H5N1

Zimmer on H3N8 bird flu in seals

Via The New York Times, a report by Carl Zimmer: Flu That Leapt From Birds to Seals Is Studied for Human Threat. Excerpt:

Evolution recently carried out an influenza experiment of its own on the coast of New England. Last fall, 162 dead harbor seal pups washed up on the beaches of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. 

In a paper published Tuesday in the journal mBio, a team of scientists reports that the pups were killed by a new strain of influenza. Their research indicates that the virus evolved from bird flu, gaining the ability to spread from seal to seal — a real-life example of the transformation that scientists have been exploring in their labs. 

“It’s a beautiful study,” said Eddie Holmes, an expert on flu evolution at Penn State who was not involved in the research. He praised the scientists’ speed in identifying the new virus and convincingly tying it to the seal die-off. 

Dr. Holmes believes the new virus needs to be carefully monitored to see what sort of threat, if any, it poses. “The question mark is what it means for seals, and what it means for us,” he said.

US: Encephalitis risk remains after aerial spraying in Massachusetts

Via White Coat Notes at Boston.com: Aerial pesticide spraying reduced mosquitoes in southeastern Massachusetts, but EEE risk remains. Excerpt:

Aerial spraying of pesticides across 21 communities in Southeastern Massachusetts slashed mosquito populations by about 60 percent, state public health officials announced Monday, but they cautioned that the remaining insects can still spread Eastern equine encephalitis. 

Planes took to the skies July 20 -22 after several pools of mosquitoes infected with EEE were found in the region, and specialists determined the insects were the type that typically bite people. 

Eastern equine is an often fatal mosquito-borne illness that can affect people of all ages. 

Here is the latest from state officials: 

Aerial spraying generally only kills mosquitoes in flight during the spray operation, and the risk of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) remains a concern with the identification of multiple pools of EEE-positive mosquitoes within portions of the spray zone. 

“Following aerial spraying, we have seen a significant reduction in the volume of mosquitoes,” said Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach. “But as we have seen after past sprays, the public must be mindful that the risk of EEE remains persistent. People are advised to take precautions, including the use of mosquito repellant and avoiding outdoor activities between dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active.” 

Aerial spraying took place across 21 communities in Southeastern Massachusetts during the evenings of Friday, July 20, Saturday, July 21 and Sunday, July 22. 

Seven communities are currently at a high risk level for EEE: Canton, Easton, Lakeville, Raynham, Rehoboth, Taunton and West Bridgewater. Communities deemed “high risk” are advised to curtail evening activities for the remainder of the season. A map of communities and their risk levels can be found at http://westnile.ashtonweb.com/. 

Since the spraying operation concluded, EEE-positive mosquito pools have been found in Easton and Hanson. Local mosquito control projects continue to conduct ground spraying throughout the area, and trapping and monitoring have been enhanced to monitor the on-going EEE risk.

Muhumuza: More Ebola cases found in Uganda

Via The Star, another report by Rodney Muhumuza of The Associated Press: More Ebola cases found in Uganda. Excerpt:

Six more patients suspected to have Ebola have been admitted to hospital days after investigators confirmed an outbreak of the highly infectious disease in a remote part of western Uganda, a health official said Monday. 

Stephen Byaruhanga, health secretary of the affected Kibaale district, said possible cases of Ebola are spreading. 

“It’s no longer just one village. There are many villages affected,” he said. 

Officials from Uganda’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization announced on Saturday that the deadly Ebola virus killed 14 Ugandans this month, ending weeks of speculation about the cause of a strange illness that had some people fleeing their homes in the absence of reliable answers. 

If the six new cases are confirmed, it would bring to 26 the number of people infected with Ebola. 

This is the fourth occurrence of Ebola in Uganda since 2000, when the disease killed 224 people and left hundreds more traumatized in northern Uganda. At least 42 people were killed in a 2007 outbreak, and there was a lone Ebola case in 2011. 

Investigators took nearly a month to confirm Ebola’s presence in Uganda this year. In Kibaale, a district with 600,000 residents, some villagers started abandoning their homes to escape what they thought was an illness caused by bad luck. One family lost nine members, Byaruhanga said. 

The confirmation of Ebola’s presence in the area has spread anxiety among sick villagers, who are refusing to go the hospital for fear they don’t have Ebola and will contract it there. All suspected Ebola patients have been isolated at one hospital. Patients admitted to that hospital with other illnesses fled after Ebola was announced. 

Some hospital staff initially fled, too, after a local health worker died of Ebola.

Uganda: Profile of Ebola

Via Google News, an AFP report: Ebola: profile of a prolific killer. Excerpt:

The Ebola virus plaguing Uganda is one of the deadliest known to man, claiming the lives of two-thirds of the people it has infected so far, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

The tropical virus can fell its victims within days, causing severe fever and muscle pain, weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea -- in some cases shutting down organs and causing unstoppable bleeding. 

No medicine or vaccine exists. 

Of about 1,850 people diagnosed with Ebola haemorrhagic fever since the virus was first identified 36 years ago in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire), 1,200 have died, the UN health agency says. 

Experts say the virus, despite being extremely virulent, is containable because it kills its victims faster than it can spread to new ones. 

The incubation period between exposure and the first symptoms varies from two to 21 days. 

There are five species of the virus, of which three are particularly dangerous with fatality rates from 25 to 90 percent, according to the WHO. 

It is transmitted through contact with the blood, body fluids, secretions or organs of an infected person. 

The virus has been known to spread at burials where mourners touch the body, but doctors and nurses have also fallen ill after failing to take adequate precautions. 

Even testing blood specimens for the disease presents "an extreme biohazard risk", states the WHO, and is done only in the strictest containment conditions. 

People have contracted the virus after handling infected chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines, dead or alive, in the Ivory Coast, Congo and Gabon. 

Named after a small river in DR Congo, the virus killed 37 people in western Uganda in 2007 and at least 170 in the north of the country in 2000. 

In a new outbreak, 14 people had died in the last three weeks -- including one in the capital Kampala. 

The only approach for the moment is to isolate patients and promptly bury the dead, said the WHO.

How Kenya is covering Ebola in Uganda

Via the Kenya Television Network: Ebola Virus In Uganda. This is a short news clip (1:48) from a KTN news program. It doesn't add much new information, but at least you can see where the outbreak is happening.

Meanwhile the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation posted a brief news item earlier today.

Most Kenyan print media have little or nothing to say so far, but The Standard in a long article says "The Government is on high alert" and special teams are ready to deal with Ebola if it crosses the border into Kenya.

Ebola: Uganda Red Cross dispatches emergency team

Via New Vision: Ebola: Uganda Red Cross dispatches emergency team. Excerpt:

The Uganda Red Cross Society has mobilised an emergency health team of 100 volunteers to support the Ministry of Health and partners to combat the deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Kibaale district. 

Already, the Red Cross has dispatched Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to Kibaale to support the case management team and URCS volunteers with their work on ground as they also protect themselves against the fever. 

URCS is working closely with Ministry of Health and other agencies like WHO, MSF, UNICEF and AFINET who are part of the national task force on Ebola. 

Over 100 volunteers were undergoing training to support the dissemination of information about the disease and its transmission to the vulnerable communities. A senior staff and regional manager have moved to Kibaale to support in the training, a statement issued by Uganda Red Cross Society spokesperson Catherine Ntabadde stated. 

URCS Under Secretary General Programs and Projects Dr. Bildard Baguma said the volunteers will start their work by Friday this week. 

He added that the volunteers will also be involved in active case search and follow up of the contacts suspected or confirmed to be of Ebola. 

“The volunteers will also be involved in counseling, rehabilitation and distributions of kits to survivors,” Dr. Baguma explains. Uganda Red Cross Society has since 2000 been supporting the Ministry of Health in Ebola operations.

Be calm, says Museveni as Ebola cases rise to 25

Via The Monitor: Be calm, says Museveni as Ebola cases rise to 25. Excerpt:

President Museveni yesterday urged the public to remain calm but take precautions as the cumulative number of people infected with the Ebola hemorrhagic fever reached 25. 

Some 14 people have died since the disease broke out about three weeks ago. However, only three of the dead have been confirmed to have died of Ebola, according to the Ministry of Health. 

Another seven people are admitted to hospital while seven doctors and 13 medical workers who responded to the outbreak of the disease are being held in quarantine. 

In a public statement released yesterday, President Museveni urged the public to desist from physical contact, such as shaking hands, in order to prevent a further spread of the disease. 

The President noted in his statement that one of the patients had died at Mulago hospital where they had been brought for treatment, but said health workers were working to contain the outbreak. 

President’s note 

“The Ministry of Health people are tracing all the people that have had contact with the victims,” Mr Museveni said. “They have for instance put under quarantine all the seven doctors that dealt with one of the people who came to Mulago and died there as well as the thirteen health workers who were accompanying them. They are following up all the cases.” 

The statement adds: “The Ministry of Health has already announced the fact that samples taken from sick people and those who died were confirmed at Entebbe as Ebola. I appeal to you to first of all report all cases which appear to be like Ebola.” 

The number of Ebola patients in Kibaale District rose from three to seven yesterday and all were being held in an isolation ward at Kagadi Hospital. 

Health ministry spokesperson Rukia Nakamatte said virologists at the Uganda Virus Research Institute were analysing blood samples taken from those admitted. 

The new cases registered by the Ebola health team are from the sub-counties of Rugashali, Bwamiramira and Muhorro. In order to contain the outbreak, the Health ministry yesterday announced a ban, effective immediately, from referring Ebola patients from Kibaale District to Mulago Hospital in Kampala. 

“The disease must be handled locally to contain the spread and we cannot accept this stampede at Mulago because all services will be at standstill,” Dr Dennis Lwamafa, the commissioner for services, said yesterday. 

Kibaale District has formed an Ebola task force headed by the district chairperson, Mr George Namyaka, to lead the response to the outbreak.

Pakistan: Police called to aid in polio vaccinations

Via Vaccine News Daily: Pakistani police called to aid in polio vaccinations. Excerpt:

Health workers in Pakistan have called on police to help administer the polio vaccine to children whose parents refuse the immunization on religious grounds. 

Islamabad recently drafted legislation to make the polio vaccination compulsory and to punish those who spread false rumors about the reasons for its use. Multiple Islamic clerics have come out against vaccination programs, saying they are being used as a front for the CIA, according to the Telegraph. 

Doctors in one region of the Punjab called in police help to administer the vaccine to several families in Dera Ghazi Khan who refused the vaccine because of their religious beliefs. The families were members of a conservative Salafi group called the Ahle Hadith sect, according to Dr. Musa Kaleem, a district health officer. 

“About 20 children refused the vaccine yesterday. We called in social organizations, religious leaders and the district police officer also sent police to help as well,” Kaleem said, the Telegraph reports. 

“Today we got them all vaccinated, most by persuasion but in the case of three or four the police had to force them to take the vaccine.”

US: New bird flu virus killing baby seals

Via nzherald.co.nz, a report datelined July 31: New bird flu virus killing baby seals - study. You'll see I've put in a link to mBio, but the report is presumably embargoed until whenever July 31 arrives in your time zone. Excerpt:

A new kind of bird flu has been causing deadly pneumonia in baby seals off the northeastern US coast and could pose a risk to humans, according to US research released Tuesday. 

The new strain has been named avian H3N8, and is blamed for the deaths of 162 seals along the US coastlines last year, said the study in mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. 

Most of the dead seals were younger than six months of age. 

While there have been no known human cases to date, scientists at Columbia University in New York urged caution, given the history of bird flu and its ability to evolve into forms that can infect people, like H5N1. 

"Our findings reinforce the importance of wildlife surveillance in predicting and preventing pandemics," said W. Ian Lipkin, professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. 

"HIV/AIDS, SARS, West Nile, Nipah and influenza are all examples of emerging infectious diseases that originated in animals," Lipkin added. 

"Any outbreak of disease in domestic animals or wildlife, while an immediate threat to wildlife conservation, must also be considered potentially hazardous to humans." 

Scientists sequenced the full genome of the new strain and found it originated from a bird flu virus that had been circulating in North American waterfowl since 2002. 

Over time, the virus gained the ability to infect mammals by latching on to receptors in their respiratory tracts. 

Wildlife experts first grew alarmed in September 2011 when an increasing number of seals from the coasts of Maine to Massachusetts began developing pneumonia and skin lesions. 

A total of 162 dead or dying seals were recovered over the next three months, the researchers said.

Taiwan: Medics warn of Japanese encephalitis dangers

Via the Taipei Times: Medics warn of Japanese encephalitis dangers amid summertime illness peak. Excerpt:

More than 20 cases of Japanese encephalitis have been confirmed since the beginning of summer and doctors warn that delayed treatment can lead to complications and after-effects, or may even be fatal. 

Japanese encephalitis is a mosquito-borne virus that can result in severe symptoms when transmitted to humans, including cachexia (muscular atrophy), neck rigidity, hemiaresis (weakness on one side of the body) and even impaired mental function. 

Chen Chun-chih (陳俊志), a doctor at Kuang Tien General Hospital in Dajia District (大甲), Greater Taichung, said the hospital had already treated two patients with the disease. 

One of the patients, a 40-year-old female accountant, had checked in to the hospital suffering from a continuous fever. 

While she was lucid, Chen said he found the woman was unable to perform even the simplest mathematical equations, adding that after carrying out a spinal tap, the hospital diagnosed that she had been infected with the disease. 

After putting the woman on supportive therapy — as there is no known treatment yet — Chen said that the woman would have to undergo rehabilitation to increase her chances of recovery. 

In the other case, a 30-year-old woman became infected after a mosquito bit her while on a date with her boyfriend. Although she developed a fever, the woman thought it was just a cold. 

However, she checked into hospital when she was suddenly unable to talk. 

The hospital diagnosed her as having been infected with the illness along with the further complication, dysarthria — a disorder stemming from possible neurological damage to the motor component of the motor-speech system. 

At present, treatment is limited mostly to supportive therapy — attempts to control or reduce the fever, lowering intra-cranial pressure — to gradually ameliorate the patient’s situation. 

However, Chen also urged patients to visit their doctor immediately given the disease has a fatality rate of between 5 percent and 25 percent, with a higher percentage of mortality among young children. 

Delays in treatment could potentially cause different levels of neurological injury and other after-effects as the virus has more time to remain in the body, Chen said. 

Chen added that due to the different locations and level of injuries sustained by each patient’s brain, the process of rehabilitation could be anywhere from a few months to several years.