Louisiana health officials have issued a warning Friday to residents about nonsterilized tap water after at least two people, one in De Soto Parish and the other in New Orleans, died after exposing their brains to a deadly, water-borne, brain-eating amoeba while flushing their nasal passages. Since autopsies are not regularly performed anymore, the actual number of deaths caused by this infection is unknown.

Louisiana health officials are warning residents not to use nonsterilized tap water in the small teapot-shaped containers called neti pots after two people died from exposing their brains to the brain-eating Naegleria fowleri, a lethal amoeba, while flushing out their nasal passages according to CNN Friday

The initial step of infection can also occur "when diving or inadvertently aspirating water during swimming," advises MedicineNet. "Rarely, under-chlorinated swimming pools have been implicated in transmission."

This summer, at least three people died from the infection, one being a Florida youth thought to have contracted while swimming in a river.

In another case in Lousiana, health officials found the amoeba in the home's water system used for showering. Dr. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana's state epidemiologist, said the problem was confined to the man's house and not found in city water samples.

"The danger of serious infection comes when water containing Naegleria fowleri is forced in into the nose and nasal mucosa. The parasite then migrates through the olfactory nerves and enters the brain," says MedicineNet.

The amoeba kills 95% of people exposed to it according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Symptoms of Naegleria fowleri are similar to bacterial meningitis including: vomiting, headaches and sleepiness.

"As it progresses, it can cause changes in a person’s behavior and lead to confusion and hallucinations states CDC.

Waterborne disease and outbreak surveillance coordinator at the CDC, Dr. Jonathan Yoder said this summer, "It's a tragic infection. It's right at the frontal lobe. It affects behavior and the core of who they are -- their emotions, their ability to reason -- it's very difficult."

"It usually causes death within one to 12 days, according to the CDC."

"The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals issued its warning after a 51-year-old woman in DeSoto Parish died after rinsing her sinuses with a neti pot, a small vessel used to pour warm water into one nostril and out the other. Earlier this year, a 20-year-old man near New Orleans died after contracting the infection in the same way.

Southerners are more at risk for the infection due to the warmer water being more conducive to growth of the amoeba.

CDC asserts, "You cannot be infected with Naegleria fowleri by dr

Aboriginal people on the West Coast of Vancouver Island are being hit hard by an outbreak of Hepatitis A, according to Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) chief medical health officer Paul Hasselback.

“Of the last 17 cases that were diagnosed, 15 of them are from the Alberni Valley and West Coast,” Hasselback said in early December. “We’ve seen clusters of Hep A in various locations, but right now the cluster is there.”

Ninety-one cases of Hepatitis A have been diagnosed on Vancouver Island so far this year, Hasselback said. Although he said the aboriginal population has been hit particularly hard, he would not disclose any numbers.

Socio-cultural factors such as close family and children-to-children interaction, as well as interaction generated by cultural activities, create conditions in which Hepatitis A can spread with greater frequency, Hasselback said.

According to VIHA’s website, hepatitis A is caused by a virus that affects the liver. This virus is found in the feces of infected people and is spread through close personal contact or via contaminated food that has been handled by an infected person. Symptoms include fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

“It very uncommonly results in death or liver failure,” the site notes.

VIHA officials are working closely with Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council health staff in a public education and immunization initiative. The tribal council is the political and public service arm for 14 tribes on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Vigorous tracing is being done by VIHA staff to find patients’ closest contacts and vaccinate them against the disease. Aboriginal communities on the island were already undergoing hepatitis A vaccinations as part of a province-wide program. More than 8,000 people on Vancouver Island have been given Hepatitis A immunizations so far this year.

But now the disease is infiltrating a younger demographic.

“Of those 15 [diagnosed], nine of them are under age 19,” Hasselback said, adding that few cases are commonly diagnosed among people over 30. “Older people usually have developed an immunity to it already.”

The outbreak started in early August, Hasselback said. It originated in Cowichan, VIHA spokesperson Shannon Marshall said. VIHA officials have declared it an outbreak because of the rapid spread of the disease.

“It’s spreading beyond patients’ immediate circle of contacts,” Hasselback said. “We don’t have full control of it yet.”

The Hepatitis A outbreak is different than the tuberculosis eruption three years ago in which more than 45

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on December 27, 2011 at 5:48am: Ebola makes a comeback?

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/africa-emerge...

Kenyan woman's death raises fears of a new deadly outbreak.

NAIROBI, Kenya — The mysterious death of a 29-year old woman after she turned up bleeding profusely at a Nairobi hospital has raised fears of an outbreak of Ebola.

The Ebola virus is a so-called hemorrhagic disease and kills nastily: vomiting, diarrhoea, extensive bleeding. There is no known cure.

Outbreaks in rural areas of Congo, Uganda and Sudan over the last 35-years have killed hundreds of people at a time.

Gladys Muthoni was taken to Kenyatta National Hospital by three people who were quarantined. After her death tests were carried out to determine the cause.

Kenya's director of public health, Sharif Shanaaz tried to ally fears on Friday announcing that the “blood specimen obtained was analyzed ... and is negative for all viral hemorrhagic fever including Ebola." But it remains unclear exactly what killed the woman and Kenya's government said it would continue to monitor the situation.

Neighboring Uganda coped with a death attributed to Ebola in May this year.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on December 27, 2011 at 5:41am: Outbreak of The Mysterious Nodding Syndrome in Africa

http://www.neatorama.com/2011/12/24/outbreak-of-the-mysterious-nodd...

There's another mysterious disease that emerged out of Africa: a nodding syndrome, which causes young children and adolescents to nod violently when they eat food.

Large areas of northern Uganda are experiencing an outbreak of nodding syndrome, a mysterious disease that causes young children and adolescents to nod violently when they eat food. The disease, which may be an unusual form of epilepsy, could be linked to the parasitic worm responsible for river blindness, a condition that affects some 18 million people, most of them in Africa.

According to Wikipedia, it's not as funny as it sounds: the disease also causes mental retardation, stunted growth, and a near 100% fatality rate.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on December 27, 2011 at 5:36am

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/ranchi/30653-12-dead-in-...

12 dead in W Singhbhum in mysterious viral attack

Monday, 26 December 2011 22:00

At least a dozen people are dead while several others have fallen ill following the outbreak of a mysterious disease in several villages of Tonto block in the mineral-rich West Singhbhum district, about 40 km from the district headquarters, over the past week.

An unknown virus is tormenting residents for the past one month. A mysterious fever which causes drop in platelet count and gives rise to dengue-like symptoms is baffling doctors and heath officials. Tests performed on blood samples sent to National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi, and School of Tropical Disease, Kolkata, have confirmed dengue and chikungunya. However, the health department is not ruling out possibilities of an unknown viral attack.

“This mysterious strain of virus must be identified. It is leading to drop in platelet and leukocyte counts but all test reports for dengue are showing negative results,” said a health department official. The district health department has announced steps to check the casualty rate but adequate steps haven’t been taken so far.

Deputy Commissioner K Srinivasan said senior officials of the health department are inquiring into the matter. “The administration learnt about the matter through media reports. Senior officials of health department are looking into the matter,” Srinivasan said. The DC, however, refused to speak on the apparent cause behind the casualties.

Earlier, officials at the district civil surgeon’s office said a medical team led by the district medical officer has been rushed to the block to provide adequate medical treatment to ailing villagers. A few villagers have been admitted to Chaibasa Sadar Hospital.

“A medical team is camping in the affected area distributing necessary medical help to affected villagers,” said an official, adding that more teams are likely to be sent to the affected block. However, the civil surgeon himself was not available for comments.

The administration has not concluded the exact cause behind the mysterious death of villagers. It has decided to send the sample of the contaminated water to the lab to ascertain the cause behind the casualties.

“Diarrhoea could be one reason, so the department has decided to send a sample of the contaminated pond water from the affected area to the lab for examination,” informed an official.

About five months ago, ten people died of diarrhoea in Kanskel village under Birkel panchayat limits in Gudri block of the district. “In 2009 it was swine flu and in 2010 it was dengue and this year we are confronting a viral fever outbreak. We are sure that the visit of an experts’ team will help us determine the nature of the new disease,” Swaran Singh said.

“I have never seen an outbreak of such a disease in my medical career spanning over three decades. While the number of dengue cases is rising everyday, this new virus which is yet to be identified has made things more complex,” UK Srivastava, a prominent city doctor, said.

The spread of the mysterious disease has become a cause of concern for the medical fraternity and for citizens. Doctors say that this unknown strain of virus causes a steep fall in leukocyte and thrombocyte counts in the body apart from a drop in the number of blood platelets.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on December 27, 2011 at 5:31am: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-22/hong-kong-live-poultry-...

Hong Kong Live Poultry Ban, Cull Hurts Solstice Banquet Plans

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong celebrates winter solstice today without fresh chickens in the feast marking the occasion after officials culled tens of thousands of birds and banned the sale and import of live poultry to prevent a bird flu outbreak.

The government slaughtered a total of 19,451 birds, including more than 15,000 chickens, yesterday after the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus was found in a chicken carcass at a wholesale market.

“It is unfortunate that an avian influenza case is detected before the winter solstice,” Secretary for Food and Health York Chow said. “I understand that it will cause inconvenience to the public. However, to safeguard public health, we need to adopt decisive and effective measures to prevent and control the spread of the virus.”

Hong Kong takes a tough line on the highly pathogenic strain of flu virus, first recorded in humans in the city in 1997 and which has since spread through Asia, Europe and Africa, resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of birds and killing more than half of the people that caught it. The city of 7 million people was also hit by an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003 in which 299 people died.

The Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market, where the carcass was found, was disinfected and will be closed until Jan. 12, the government said in a statement yesterday evening. The city’s 30 chicken farms were tested, with all samples free of avian influenza, according to the statement. The Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department will conduct further testing.

Health Concern

Avian flu is a serious public health concern with the potential to cause a deadly pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Since 2003, more than 500 people have been infected with the H5N1 strain worldwide and about 60 percent have died, according to the Atlanta-based agency.

Public hospitals in the city activated their “serious” response level and enhanced surveillance after the government discovered the H5N1-infected chicken carcass at the Cheung Sha Wan market, in the western part of Kowloon. It wasn’t clear whether the chicken was local or imported, Chow said.

The Department of Health is testing workers at the market, farmers and other people who may have come into contact with the birds, according to a separate statement yesterday. So far no human H5N1 infections have been discovered, it said.

“Hong Kong has the best H5N1 contingency plan to be found in any part of the world,” said Yuen Kwok-yung, chairman of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong’s department of microbiology. “We should not panic. Every winter there is increased H5N1 activity in poultry and migratory birds.”

Swine Flu

During the 2009 swine flu scare, Hong Kong quarantined almost 400 people in a downtown hotel who may have come into contact with a Mexican visitor confirmed as having caught the flu strain.

No live ducks or geese are sold in Hong Kong, said Sally Kong, a government spokeswoman. Chow said the government will pay compensation of HK$30 for each chicken destroyed.

In 1997, the government ordered all poultry in Hong Kong to be culled. Many families in rural areas kept chickens in back- yard wood-and-wire hutches that can still be seen lying empty and rusting in villages across the territory. Ducks, geese and pigeons are also widely eaten in Hong Kong.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on December 27, 2011 at 5:30am: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gDg7VcgHMzawGJaf...

Taiwan culls 1,000 pigs in foot-and-mouth outbreak

TAIPEI — Taiwanese authorities said Thursday they had slaughtered nearly 1,000 pigs following the island's worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in more than 14 years.

The pigs were culled earlier this week at a farm in the southern city of Tainan after showing symptoms of the disease.

Altogether 983 out of the 2,667 pigs on the farm were culled and the rest were vaccinated, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement.

No foot-and-mouth symptoms have been found so far in animals at 11 other farms within a three-kilometre (1.8-mile) radius of the affected farm, it said.

More than three million pigs were slaughtered in 1997 in the wake of a foot-and-mouth epidemic.

The highly contagious virus affects cattle, pigs, sheep and other cloven-hoofed livestock. It is not usually fatal, but an outbreak leads to losses in the production of meat and milk.

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on December 19, 2011 at 8:09pm: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/lifestyles/2011/dec/19/tdmet05-cases-...

Your Health: Cases of rare amoeba infections total 5 nationally

Q: Have there been any other deaths from infections with the waterborne amoeba that killed a Henrico County boy last summer?

A: Officials at the Virginia Department of Health say there have not been any additional deaths in the state linked to Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba that grows in warm, stagnant lakes, ponds, rivers and other bodies of fresh water.

A person swimming or playing can get infected when water goes up the nose. The amoeba travels up the sinuses and infects the brain, causing primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a rare and almost always fatal disease that destroys the brain.

Christian Alexander Strickland, 9, of Henrico County, died in August after being infected with the amoeba. He had attended a fishing camp the week before he died, a relative said.

"One thing that surprised me is that a $2 pair of (swimming) nose plugs would have prevented all of this," said Bonnie Strickland, Christian's aunt. She said Christian was the family's youngest grandson.

This year in the United States, there have been a total of five deaths linked to Naegleria fowleri infections, said Jonathan S. Yoder, an epidemiologist and waterborne disease and outbreak surveillance coordinator at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

"That's fairly typical, generally somewhere between three and five cases. Some years it's as high as eight cases. … Each case is very tragic," Yoder said.

The cases reported this year include two that don't fit the typical pattern. The two cases occurred in Louisiana. Both people apparently used neti pots, small genie-like pots with a long snout to irrigate the sinuses, but the investigation has not determined that's what caused the infections.

The deaths prompted the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to issue an advisory Dec. 6 that urged people who use neti pots to follow some precautions.

"If you are irrigating, flushing, or rinsing your sinuses, for example, by using a neti pot, use distilled, sterile or previously boiled water to make up the irrigation solution," Louisiana State Epidemiologist Raoult Ratard said in a statement.

"Tap water is safe for drinking, but not for irrigating your nose." The statement also advised rinsing the irrigation device after each use and leaving it open to air dry.

Yoder, at the CDC, said the investigation is continuing in those cases.

"It's hard for us to say with certainty that we know it was caused by the neti pot," Yoder said.

Yoder was lead author on a research paper that examined 111 Naegleria fowleri cases that occurred in the United States from 1962 to 2008.

"Nearly all cases have documented exposure to recreational water," Yoder said. "Nearly all of those are during the summer months. That is why these cases in Louisiana seem a little bit different."

Among the 111 cases reviewed, most patients were age 13 or younger (62 percent) and most were male (80 percent). More than half the cases occurred in two states (30 in Texas and 29 in Florida). Of the 91 cases in which a source of water exposure was known, lakes, ponds and reservoirs were named in 74 percent of cases.

Of the 111 cases examined, there was only one case in which the patient survived. Because the infections are so rarely diagnosed, it's difficult to tell people how to prevent infections, Yoder said. Millions of people swim in lakes and ponds without getting infected.

"We think people should know that there's Naegleria fowleri out there, and that there's a low level of risk, and be informed and take whatever prevention they feel is appropriate for themselves and thei

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on December 19, 2011 at 5:56am: http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/brain-eating-tap-w...

Brain-eating tap water amoeba kills at least two in Louisiana

Louisiana health officials have issued a warning Friday to residents about nonsterilized tap water after at least two people, one in De Soto Parish and the other in New Orleans, died after exposing their brains to a deadly, water-borne, brain-eating amoeba while flushing their nasal passages. Since autopsies are not regularly performed anymore, the actual number of deaths caused by this infection is unknown.

Louisiana health officials are warning residents not to use nonsterilized tap water in the small teapot-shaped containers called neti pots after two people died from exposing their brains to the brain-eating Naegleria fowleri, a lethal amoeba, while flushing out their nasal passages according to CNN Friday

The initial step of infection can also occur "when diving or inadvertently aspirating water during swimming," advises MedicineNet. "Rarely, under-chlorinated swimming pools have been implicated in transmission."

This summer, at least three people died from the infection, one being a Florida youth thought to have contracted while swimming in a river.

In another case in Lousiana, health officials found the amoeba in the home's water system used for showering. Dr. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana's state epidemiologist, said the problem was confined to the man's house and not found in city water samples.

"The danger of serious infection comes when water containing Naegleria fowleri is forced in into the nose and nasal mucosa. The parasite then migrates through the olfactory nerves and enters the brain," says MedicineNet.

The amoeba kills 95% of people exposed to it according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Symptoms of Naegleria fowleri are similar to bacterial meningitis including: vomiting, headaches and sleepiness.

"As it progresses, it can cause changes in a person’s behavior and lead to confusion and hallucinations states CDC.

Waterborne disease and outbreak surveillance coordinator at the CDC, Dr. Jonathan Yoder said this summer, "It's a tragic infection. It's right at the frontal lobe. It affects behavior and the core of who they are -- their emotions, their ability to reason -- it's very difficult."

"It usually causes death within one to 12 days, according to the CDC."

"The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals issued its warning after a 51-year-old woman in DeSoto Parish died after rinsing her sinuses with a neti pot, a small vessel used to pour warm water into one nostril and out the other. Earlier this year, a 20-year-old man near New Orleans died after contracting the infection in the same way.

Southerners are more at risk for the infection due to the warmer water being more conducive to growth of the amoeba.

CDC asserts, "You cannot be infected with Naegleria fowleri by dr

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on December 15, 2011 at 10:19pm: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/12/15/outbreak-of-he...

Outbreak of Hepatitis A on Vancouver Island Hitting Aboriginals Hard

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Image Library

Cropped image of an electron micrograph of the Hepatitis A virus (HAV).

Aboriginal people on the West Coast of Vancouver Island are being hit hard by an outbreak of Hepatitis A, according to Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) chief medical health officer Paul Hasselback.

“Of the last 17 cases that were diagnosed, 15 of them are from the Alberni Valley and West Coast,” Hasselback said in early December. “We’ve seen clusters of Hep A in various locations, but right now the cluster is there.”

Ninety-one cases of Hepatitis A have been diagnosed on Vancouver Island so far this year, Hasselback said. Although he said the aboriginal population has been hit particularly hard, he would not disclose any numbers.

Socio-cultural factors such as close family and children-to-children interaction, as well as interaction generated by cultural activities, create conditions in which Hepatitis A can spread with greater frequency, Hasselback said.

According to VIHA’s website, hepatitis A is caused by a virus that affects the liver. This virus is found in the feces of infected people and is spread through close personal contact or via contaminated food that has been handled by an infected person. Symptoms include fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

“It very uncommonly results in death or liver failure,” the site notes.

VIHA officials are working closely with Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council health staff in a public education and immunization initiative. The tribal council is the political and public service arm for 14 tribes on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Vigorous tracing is being done by VIHA staff to find patients’ closest contacts and vaccinate them against the disease. Aboriginal communities on the island were already undergoing hepatitis A vaccinations as part of a province-wide program. More than 8,000 people on Vancouver Island have been given Hepatitis A immunizations so far this year.

But now the disease is infiltrating a younger demographic.

“Of those 15 [diagnosed], nine of them are under age 19,” Hasselback said, adding that few cases are commonly diagnosed among people over 30. “Older people usually have developed an immunity to it already.”

The outbreak started in early August, Hasselback said. It originated in Cowichan, VIHA spokesperson Shannon Marshall said. VIHA officials have declared it an outbreak because of the rapid spread of the disease.

“It’s spreading beyond patients’ immediate circle of contacts,” Hasselback said. “We don’t have full control of it yet.”

The Hepatitis A outbreak is different than the tuberculosis eruption three years ago in which more than 45

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on December 5, 2011 at 11:40pm

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/314684-measles-confirmed-in-14-dist...

Measles confirmed in 14 districts
Publish Date: Dec 05, 2011

By Prossy Nandudu

The Ministry of Health is to reopen the measles units in all hospitals across the country following an outbreak of the disease in 14 districts.

The disease has been confirmed in Mbale, Kabarole, Luwero, Nakasongola, Bududa, Bukedea, Bushenyi, Namayingo, Moyo, Kaliro, Kampala, Namutumba,Ntungamo and Rakai.

This was contained in a statement signed by the director general of health services, Dr. Jean Ruth Acheng.

Measles is a preventable air-borne disease and affects children of between six months and 10 years and adults who were not immunised against the disease.

It presents itself through high fever, skin rash, running nose, cough and red eyes. It is also associated with pneumonia and diarrhoea.

In a statement, Acheng urged the public to remain calm as measures are taken to control the outbreak.

The disease, that can cause death, is spread through air and contact with an infected person and has no known cure.

Vaccinating children from the age of nine months up to five years and taking affected children to the nearest health centre to be treated by a qualified health personnel can avert the spread of the disease.

The ministry has also embarked on sensitising the public about the disease and vaccinating children under nine months to 10 years of age in all health facilities.

The ministry further advised the public to take children for immunisation, avoid direct contact with infected persons and report suspected cases of measles.

Measles factfile

Measles is a very infectious illness caused by a virus — the rubeola virus. It

Comment by Starr DiGiacomo on December 4, 2011 at 4:10am: Mass vacinations being issued due to outbreak of rabies from bat bites, Amazon region

The Health Minister David Chiriboga, announced a mass vaccination against rabies outbreak in various parts of the Amazon by bat bites. However, Chiriboga lamented the difficulties in diagnosing the disease and the resistance of indigenous communities to the vaccine.Three remote communities in the canton Taisha in Morona Santiago province, have been affected by the outbreak of the deadly disease, which occurs after bat bites infected with the virus and so far there have been ten deaths from this cause .

Chiriboga said that medical teams have been deployed for mass vaccination in communities east of the province, but the refusal to be vaccinated “is a complicated issue.”

http://latinamericacurrentevents.com/mass-vacinations-being-issued-...

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Description
The Department of Health and Family Welfare has informed that it had received a message through telephone on 12th September 2011 of an outbreak of fever of unknown cause leading to three deaths at Poilwa village, Peren District. Immediately the State Rapid Response Team (RRT) of Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP), Nagaland, comprising of Dr. John Kemp (State Surveillance Officer), Dr. Sao Tunyi (Epidemiologist), Dr. Kevisevolie Sekhose (Epidemiologist), and Venezo Vasa (Entomologist) conducted an outbreak investigation at Poilwa village. The team collected three samples from suspected cases out of which all the three were tested positive for Scrub Typhus. Till date, there are 9 cases with 3 deaths. This was stated in a official press note issued by Dr. Imtimeren Jamir, the Principal Director, Directorate of Health & Family Welfare, Kohima. Scrub Typhus is Rickettsial disease caused Orientia tsutsugamushi and transmitted by the bite of mite called Leptotrombidium deliense. In Nagaland, it was formerly detected by IDSP with Central Surveillance Team at Longsa village Mokokchung in 2006, and in Porba village of Phek District in 2007. The State RRT team carried out the outbreak investigation along with doing and entomological survey. The patients were treated with appropriate medicines and awareness and preventive measures were communicated with the villagers. The concerned local health authorities and programs are informed for further necessary action. The mop-up operation is being carried out by the National Vector Borne Disease Control Program.
Biohazard name:	Typhus (Scrub)
Biohazard level:	3/4 Hight
Biohazard desc.:	Bacteria and viruses that can cause severe to fatal disease in humans, but for which vaccines or other treatments exist, such as anthrax, West Nile virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, SARS virus, variola virus (smallpox), tuberculosis, typhus, Rift Valley fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, yellow fever, and malaria. Among parasites Plasmodium falciparum, which causes Malaria, and Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes trypanosomiasis, also come under this level.
Symptoms:	- After bite by infected mite larvae called chiggers, papule develops at the biting site which ulcerates and eventually heals with the development of a black eschar. - Patients develop sudden fever with headache, weakness, myalgia, generalized enlargement of lymph nodes, photophobia, and dry cough. - A week later, rash appears on the trunk, then on the extremities, and turns pale within a few days. - Symptoms generally disappear after two weeks even without treatment. - However, in severe cases with Pneumonia and Myocarditis, mortality may reach 30% Diagnosis - The most commonly used test for diagnosis is Wel-Felix Test, which is available at State IDSP laboratory, Kohima. - More specific serological tests like detection of IgM can also be done for diagnosis.
Status:	confirmed

Description
Umatilla County health officials today confirmed a case of plague in an adult male county resident. He may have been infected while hunting in Lake County, noted Sharon Waldern, clinic supervisor for the county’s public health department. “Lake County had two cases of human plague last year.” The man has been hospitalized and is receiving treatment, Waldern noted. “People need to realize he was never considered contagious and he started treatment fairly quickly.” Plague is spread to humans through a bite from an infected flea. The disease is serious but treatable with antibiotics if caught early, officials said. Plague can be passed from fleas feeding on infected rodents and then transmitted to humans. Direct contact with infected tissues or fluids from handling sick or dead animals can pass the disease, as well as through respiratory droplets from cats and humans with pneumonic plague, officials said in a press release. Some types are spread from person to person, but that is not the case here, Waldern said. Symptoms typically develop within one to four days and up to seven days after exposure and include fever, chills, headache, weakness and a bloody or watery cough due to pneumonia, enlarged, tender lymph nodes, abdominal pain and bleeding into the skin or other organs. Plague is rare in Oregon. Only three human cases have been diagnosed since 1995 and they all recovered. Last year two human cases of plague were diagnosed in Lake County. As far as she knows, this is the first ever incident in Umatilla County. “In this recent case it is important to stay away from flea-infested areas and to recognize the symptoms. People can protect themselves, their family members and their pets,” said Genni Lehnert-Beers, administrator for Umatilla County Health Department. “Using flea treatment on your pets is very important, because your pets can bring fleas into your home.” People should contact their health care provider or veterinarian if plague is suspected. Early treatment for people and pets with appropriate antibiotics is essential to curing plague infections. Untreated plague can be fatal for animals and people. Antibiotics to prevent or treat plague should be used only under the direction of a health care provider. Additional steps to prevent flea bites include wearing insect repellent, tucking pant cuffs into socks when in areas heavily occupied by rodents, and avoiding contact with wildlife including rodents.
Biohazard name:	Plague (Bubonic)
Biohazard level:	4/4 Hazardous
Biohazard desc.:	Viruses and bacteria that cause severe to fatal disease in humans, and for which vaccines or other treatments are not available, such as Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, H5N1(bird flu), Dengue hemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, hantaviruses, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and other hemorrhagic or unidentified diseases. When dealing with biological hazards at this level the use of a Hazmat suit and a self-contained oxygen supply is mandatory. The entrance and exit of a Level Four biolab will contain multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, autonomous detection system, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all traces of the biohazard. Multiple airlocks are employed and are electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time. All air and water service going to and coming from a Biosafety Level 4 (P4) lab will undergo similar decontamination procedures to eliminate the possibility of an accidental release.
Symptoms:
Statu The Black Death: Bubonic Plague	confirmed http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=EH...

Disease outbreaks will increase as per ZetaTalk

Chile battles youth unrest and typhoid fever outbreak

The Black Death: Bubonic Plague

You need to be a member of Earth Changes and the Pole Shift to add comments!

Ebola makes a comeback?

Outbreak of The Mysterious Nodding Syndrome in Africa

12 dead in W Singhbhum in mysterious viral attack

Hong Kong Live Poultry Ban, Cull Hurts Solstice Banquet Plans

Your Health: Cases of rare amoeba infections total 5 nationally

Brain-eating tap water amoeba kills at least two in Louisiana

Outbreak of Hepatitis A on Vancouver Island Hitting Aboriginals Hard

Mass vacinations being issued due to outbreak of rabies from bat bites, Amazon region

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