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Leave a comment Posted on Outbreaks

Uganda Avoids Marburg Virus Disaster

Uganda has successfully contained an outbreak of Marburg virus, just weeks after it was first detected. Within 24 hours of being notified of the first confirmed death, the WHO deployed a rapid response team to the area:

Marburg is a highly fatal disease caused by a virus from the same family as that of Ebola. It can be transmitted from person to person by bodily fluids, and can cause bleeding, fever, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms.

This was the fifth outbreak of Marburg virus in a decade, and lessons have been learned from those outbreaks, as well as from the West African Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people.

Surveillance and contact tracing are critical in containing the virus:

“The response to the Marburg virus disease outbreak demonstrates how early alert and response, community engagement, strong surveillance and coordinated efforts can stop an outbreak in its tracks before it ravages communities,” said Dr Peter Salama, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme.

Leave a comment Posted on HIV/AIDS

World AIDS Day

Today, December 1st, is World AIDS Day. Globally, it’s estimated there are 36.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS. There were approximately 1.8 million new infections in 2016, many occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. In the U.S., there are about 1.1 million people living with HIV and roughly 1 in 7 don’t know it.

It’s an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness. Founded in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day.

Despite the virus only being identified in 1984, more than 35 million people have died of HIV or AIDS, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.

NPR has an article about, Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, who started an HIV/AIDS non profit in Uganda. His group, the Nyaka AIDS Orphan Project, provides education to children who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS. Kaguri sees World AIDS Day as a helpful way to raise donations, but notes:

“What is frustrating is that people only think about the issue for just one day, then go on to something else,” he says. “Someone will give us a $50 check on World AIDS Day and think that they saved the world … until another World AIDS Day comes along…”

Many countries still don’t talk about infection rates in their countries. South Africa [where 19 percent of the adult population is HIV-positive] still has leadership that denies HIV/AIDS is a problem, like former president Thabo Mbeki. And [in 2006, former president] Jacob Zuma was caught sleeping with a prostitute. When they asked him if he was worried about contracting HIV/AIDS, he said, “Oh no, I took a shower after we had sex.” The country has put a blanket over its head when it comes to HIV/AIDS.

As a complement to World AIDS Day, the WHO is promoting the “right to health” theme, as a way to “highlight the need for all 36.7 million people living with HIV and those who are vulnerable and affected by the epidemic, to reach the goal of universal health coverage.”

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Leave a comment Posted on Antibiotics, Tuberculosis

Probably Nothing to Worry About

But the world is running out of antibiotics, according to a WHO report. Certainly I wouldn’t wouldn’t worry about it light of any possible impending pandemic.

“Antimicrobial resistance is a global health emergency that will seriously jeopardize progress in modern medicine,” says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “There is an urgent need for more investment in research and development for antibiotic-resistant infections including TB, otherwise we will be forced back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery.”

In addition to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, WHO has identified 12 classes of priority pathogens – some of them causing common infections such as pneumonia or urinary tract infections – that are increasingly resistant to existing antibiotics and urgently in need of new treatments.

Tuberculosis, by the way, is spread via the air and affects your lungs. It used to be the leading cause of death in the 20th century. Then came antibiotics. What happens without them? And what happens without the antibiotics used to treat even more common infections like UTI’s? Well, with everything else going on, let’s hope we don’t find out.

Leave a comment Posted on H1N1 Swine Flu

More Scary News!

“This virus travels at an unbelievable, almost unheard of speed,” World Health Organisation Director General Margaret Chan told France’s Le Monde daily in an interview.

“In six weeks it travels the same distance that other viruses take six months to cover,” Chan said.

“Sixty percent of the deaths cover those who have underlying health problems,” Chan said. “This means that 40 percent of the fatalities concern young adults — in good health — who die of a viral fever in five to seven days.

“This is the most worrying fact,” she said, adding that “up to 30 percent of people in densely populated countries risked getting infected.”

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Leave a comment Posted on H1N1 Swine Flu

Severe Respiratory Failure

I had a mild heart-stopping moment just now when I was reviewing the WHO’s update on H1N1, published today on their web site, which hints at the real possibility of impending doom:

Severe respiratory failure

Perhaps most significantly, clinicians from around the world are reporting a very severe form of disease, also in young and otherwise healthy people, which is rarely seen during seasonal influenza infections. In these patients, the virus directly infects the lung, causing severe respiratory failure. Saving these lives depends on highly specialized and demanding care in intensive care units, usually with long and costly stays.

During the winter season in the southern hemisphere, several countries have viewed the need for intensive care as the greatest burden on health services. Some cities in these countries report that nearly 15 percent of hospitalized cases have required intensive care.

Preparedness measures need to anticipate this increased demand on intensive care units, which could be overwhelmed by a sudden surge in the number of severe cases.

Vulnerable groups

An increased risk during pregnancy is now consistently well-documented across countries. This risk takes on added significance for a virus, like this one, that preferentially infects younger people.

Data continue to show that certain medical conditions increase the risk of severe and fatal illness. These include respiratory disease, notably asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and immunosuppression.

When anticipating the impact of the pandemic as more people become infected, health officials need to be aware that many of these predisposing conditions have become much more widespread in recent decades, thus increasing the pool of vulnerable people.

Obesity, which is frequently present in severe and fatal cases, is now a global epidemic. WHO estimates that, worldwide, more than 230 million people suffer from asthma, and more than 220 million people have diabetes.

Moreover, conditions such as asthma and diabetes are not usually considered killer diseases, especially in children and young adults. Young deaths from such conditions, precipitated by infection with the H1N1 virus, can be another dimension of the pandemic’s impact.

Higher risk of hospitalization and death

Several early studies show a higher risk of hospitalization and death among certain subgroups, including minority groups and indigenous populations. In some studies, the risk in these groups is four to five times higher than in the general population.

Although the reasons are not fully understood, possible explanations include lower standards of living and poor overall health status, including a high prevalence of conditions such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension.

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