H5N1

Uganda: Tororo Hospital gets money for sewerage after Monitor story

Via The Daily Monitor, a triumph of the media: Tororo Hospital gets money for sewerage after Monitor story.

The Tororo District authorities have secured Shs45 million [US$16,895] to repair Tororo Hospital sewerage system. 

This follows the Daily Monitor story of January 29 about pipes that burst in the hospital, sending a foul smell to the surrounding areas. The sewerage system was dilapidated and clogged. 

The Chief Administrative Officer, Mr Vitalis Oswan, said the funds had been secured under the Local Government management service delivery programme. 

Needed funds 

To overhaul the system, the district needs an estimated Shs2 billion [US$751,000]. The acquired money will, therefore, make partial repairs. 

“We have written to the Ministry of Health to boost the district budget to raise about Shs2 billion to enable us carry out total overhaul of the current sewerage system, which needs to be connected to the main sewerage line to end the smell and flow of human waste in the compound,” said Mr Oswan. 

He was speaking during the handover of the sewerage line to Majaz Uganda Limited to start the rehabilitation. 

The District Health Officer, Dr David Okumu, appealed to the contractor to adhere to the agreed terms of the contract and do the work as quickly as possible to address the problem. 

“Please ensure that all your workers use protective gears to avoid contracting of diseases during the course of the work,” said Dr Okumu.

Paraguay: 19 dengue deaths, 13,000 cases in January

Via Prensa Latina, a report datelined Asunción, January 31: Al menos 19 muertos y 13 mil contagiados por dengue en Paraguay. [At least 19 dead and 13,000 ill with dengue in Paraguay] The text of the story, however, says 16,000. Excerpt, with my translation:

Al menos 19 muertos y otros 16 mil contagiados provocó una epidemia de dengue en Paraguay durante el mes de enero, según el último reporte del Ministerio de Salud. 

At least 19 deaths and another 16,000 cases have provoked a dengue epidemic in Paraguay in January, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Health.

De acuerdo con la directora de Vigilancia de esa institución, Celia Martínez, aunque al inicio los casos se concentraban en esta capital, la enfermedad se expandió a otras regiones por lo que fue preciso extender las tareas de erradicación a todo el país. 

According to the director of the ministry's Surveillance office, Celia Martínez, although at first the cases were concentrated in the capital, the disease has spread to other regions, making it necessary to extend eradication efforts to the whole country.

Martínez detalló al diario digital Paraguay.com, que se reportaron 16 mil 600 consultas de personas con síntomas de dengue desde inicios de enero pasado hasta la fecha.

Martínez told the digital daily Paraguay.com that 16,600 consultations were made by persons with dengue symptoms from the beginning of January to today.

The website of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare is solid dengue stories, including one that says 291 dengue patients were admitted to hospitals today.

Australia working on H5N1 vaccine

Via ABC Radio Australia: Australia on board in global bird flu fight. Excerpt:

Australian researchers are taking part in a global project to help protect people against the deadly bird flu virus. 

Australian researchers are taking part in a global project to help protect people against the deadly bird flu virus. 

The H5N1 virus has infected only about 600 people world-wide, none of them in Australia, but it carries a mortality rate of three in five. 

That has got the United States Government concerned and it is funding a global vaccine project being trialed in humans. 

Newcastle's Hunter Clinical Research is one of the centres taking part and it's looking for volunteers to undergo human trials 

They are hoping to find out the smallest dose of an H5N1 vaccine needed for human protection, to create global stockpiles in case of a world-wide pandemic. 

The Newcastle study's principal investigator, Dr Marc Russo, says it is a global insurance policy. 

"Even if the risk is low, if the outcome is potentially catastrophic, it is still worth insuring against a catastrophic risk," he said.

DRC considers cholera vaccination

Via IRIN Africa: DRC considers cholera vaccination. Excerpt:

Health experts,  including those from the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF), are considering introducing immunization campaigns as a way of dealing with cholera in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the disease is  endemic. 

“Immunization against cholera opens up a new opportunity [for] treatment and [the] fight against the disease. We think that there is a new opportunity to use it in the DR Congo as a complementary measure to existing methods that that have been used in the past,” Marc le Pape, chief of the MSF bureau in the eastern town of Kalemei, told IRIN. 

The parts of DRC most affected by the disease are characterized by poor hygiene, lack of awareness about how cholera is transmitted, limited access to protected and monitored water sources, and lack of sanitation infrastructure. 

According to a cholera situation analysis released by WHO in September 2012, there were 22,792 reported cases of cholera in DRC between January and September 2012. There were 512 cholera-related deaths in the same period.

Uganda: Mubende ‘strange disease’ linked to malaria

Via The Daily Monitor: Mubende ‘strange disease’ linked to malaria. Excerpt:

The Ministry of Health has linked the strange disease that broke out in Mubende District to malaria. 

Epidemiologists from the ministry were recently sent to the district to investigate the cause of the disease reported mainly in Kiryandongo Parish in Kisanda Village. 

In an interview yesterday, the permanent secretary, Dr Asuman Lukwago, said the team led by the head of the epidemiological unit, Dr Issa Makumbi, had investigated most of the cases and chances of the Ebola haemorrhagic fever, and the Marburg virus had been ruled out. 

“We discovered that the people are suffering from a complicated form of malaria. This was confirmed from the three people that have been tested so far. The biggest challenge was that people thought that the disease was as a result of witchcraft. So they would seek the services of traditional healers and in the process they were delayed. By the time they went to hospital, their condition was already worse,” Dr Lukwago said. 

“The malaria outbreak was as a result of the heavy rains that were experienced in Mubende. These led to floods thus causing mosquito breeding. But the situation is under control because our team is doing surveillance.” 

The disease, that broke out at the beginning of the month, has so far killed five people and more than 30 others are admitted.

Nigeria: Two dead from Lassa fever

Via Xinhua: Lassa fever claims 2 lives in Nigeria's middle-belt state: official. Excerpt:

Two people lost their lives on Wednesday in a recent outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria's middle-belt Plateau State, according to an official. 

Plateau State Commissioner for Health Fom Dawak told reporters in Jos, the state capital, that a woman and a man died while receiving treatments at the state-run Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and Vom Christian Hospital respectively. 

"Also, two other persons are currently on admission at the Vom Christian Hospital and are responding to treatment on Lassa fever, " the state official said, adding the Ministry of Health had despatched epidemiologists to popularize knowledge on how to contain the disease. 

There is a high possibility of treatment and survival for early diagnosis, he said. 

The Lassa virus is usually transmitted when the saliva, urine and excreta of the multi-mammalian rats come in contact with humans through their food or water. 

Dawak said another symptom of the deadly fever is bleeding, which is why it is usually referred to as haemorrhagic fever associated with bleeding through the nose, gums and urine.

Lack of toilets, clean water costs world $260 billion a year: Liberian president

Via ReutersAlertNet: Lack of toilets, clean water costs world $260 bln a year - Liberian president. Excerpt:

Poor access to sanitation and clean water costs the global economy $260 billion each year, according to Liberia's president who is leading work to craft proposals for a new set of global anti-poverty goals. 

They are intended replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were agreed in 2000 and expire in 2015. 

“$260 billion in economic losses annually is directly linked to inadequate water supply and sanitation around the world,” Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told a meeting on the post-2015 development agenda in the capital Monrovia this week. “We must take this issue more seriously.” 

If governments meet the current MDG to halve the proportion of the population without sanitation by 2015, the lives of 400,000 children under the age of five would be saved worldwide, including more than 100,000 in Nigeria and 66,000 in India, according to charity WaterAid. In total, 2.5 million lives would be saved each year if everyone had access to safe water and sanitation, the charity says. 

“All too often, access to adequate sanitation in particular is seen as an outcome of development, rather than a driver of economic development and poverty reduction,” said Johnson Sirleaf, one of three co-chairs of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon’s high-level panel on the post-2015 development agenda.

Picard: Health workers should make flu shot a point of pride

Via The Globe and Mail, André Picard has a thoughtful article: Health workers should make flu shot a point of pride. Excerpt (but read the whole thing):

Let’s be clear about one thing: It is perfectly reasonable to expect all health workers – from surgeons through hospital cleaners – to be vaccinated against influenza, to make it a condition of employment even. 

It is no different than expecting them to wear gloves, dress in scrubs, wear masks (in some situations), wash their hands, and get hepatitis B vaccinations. These are all measures designed to protect patients from harm and, to a lesser extent, to protect employees themselves. Let’s not forget that patients who are hospitalized or need community health-care services are, by definition, at higher risk of infection. 

Ethically and legally, the safety of patients trumps the civil rights of workers. 

Case closed. 

That being said, introducing legislation to make influenza vaccination mandatory is a lazy and heavy-handed way of achieving a desirable public-health goal. 

If you can’t convince the vast majority of health workers to get a flu shot, then how can you expect the public to do so? In public health, communication and education are – and should be – much more effective tools than coercion.

UK: HPA weekly update on seasonal infections: 31 January 2013

Via HPA: Weekly update on seasonal infections: 31 January 2013. Excerpt:

Latest figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) up to 31 January 2013 show that flu activity remains at a similar level compared to the previous week based on a number of indicators, including GP consultation rates in England and the proportion of calls to NHS direct. 

The number of laboratory confirmed cases of norovirus have also fallen again over the last week with 150 cases being reported during week three (ending Sunday 20 January) compared to 177 in week two. 

The latest figures show that GP consultation rates have decreased in England from 13.6 per 100,000 last week to 11.1 this week and in Northern Ireland (47.9 down from 53.7). Rates have increased slightly in Scotland from 33.8 per 100,000 last week to 40.5 this week and remained stable in Wales with 11.2 per 100,000 last week and 10.5 this week. 

Calls received by NHS Direct for cold/flu and fever remained stable below their thresholds of 1.6 per cent and 11.7 per cent respectively. 

There have been 4,892 confirmed cases of norovirus so far this season (from the beginning of July 2012 to January 20, 2013). This is 41 per cent higher than the number of cases reported to the same point last year when there were 3,458. 

During the two weeks up to 29 January there were 19 hospital outbreaks of suspected or confirmed norovirus reported, compared to 24 in the previous fortnight, bringing the total of reported outbreaks for the season to 813 (64 per cent of which were laboratory confirmed as due to norovirus). 

Dr Richard Pebody, head of seasonal flu surveillance at the HPA said: “Overall flu activity has decreased compared to the previous week."

Brazil: Dengue in Miguelópolis reaches epidemic levels

Via Folha de São Paulo: Casos de dengue em Miguelópolis (SP) atingem nível de epidemia. [Dengue cases in Miguelópolis (São Paulo) reach epidemic level] Excerpt, with my translation:

A situação da dengue em Miguelópolis (441 km de São Paulo) atingiu níveis epidêmicos. Nesta segunda-feira (28), a Secretaria da Saúde local confirmou 83 casos da doença e aguarda resultado de outras 160 suspeitas. 

The dengue situation in Miguelópolis (441 km from São Paulo) has reached epidemic levels. This Monday (January 28) the local Secretariat of Health confirmed 83 cases of the disease, with results awaited on 160 suspected cases.

Para a Sucen (Superintendência de Controle de Endemias), uma epidemia ocorre quando há mais de 300 casos positivados de uma doença para cada 100 mil habitantes. 

The Superintendency of Endemic Control defines an epidemic as more than 300 confirmed cases of a disease for every 100,000 inhabitants.

Como Miguelópolis têm pouco mais de 20 mil moradores, proporcionalmente, com 60 casos confirmados o município já atingiria situação epidêmica.

Since Miguelópolis has a little more than 20,000 residents, the municipality has reached an epidemic situation with 60 cases.