Showing posts with label National Institutes of Health. Show all posts

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Biological Hazard - United Kingdom, Capital City, London [Heathrow Airport] : MERS-CoV ( Novel Corona Virus)

Earth Watch Report - Biological Hazards

Transmission electron micrograph of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Wikimedia .org
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Biological Hazard

United Kingdom

Capital City, London [Heathrow Airport]

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RSOE EDIS

Biological Hazard in United Kingdom on Tuesday, 13 May, 2014 at 12:10 (12:10 PM) UTC.

Description
A second passenger who travelled through Heathrow Airport been diagnosed with a potentially fatal Sars-style virus. The latest case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, MERS-CoV, involves a person flying from Jeddah to America via London. The passenger, who travelled on Saudi Airlines flight 113 on Thursday, May 1, tested positive for the virus after arriving in the US. It follows a similar case involving a passenger who travelled from Riyadh to Chicago and transferred in London on Thursday, April 24. Checks on other passengers on the flight have proved negative, according to Public Health England. Tourists travelling to the Middle East, especially those with chronic medical conditions, are being urged to avoid contact with camels as experts believe they may help to transmit the virus. PHE say the incubation period is around 14 days, but stress the risk of transmission is extremely low. The new type of coronavirus was first identified in a Middle Eastern patient in 2012. According to World Health Organisation figures, 111 people have tested positive in the Jeddah area of Saudi Arabia in the last two years - resulting in 31 deaths. Worldwide the number of cases is thought to be 401, with 93 fatalities. Three people have died in the UK as a result of the infection. PHE said the last case to be detected was in February 2013. Other cases have also been reported in France, Germany, Italy and Greece, across the Middle East in Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman and in other countries such as Malaysia, Philippines and Tunisia. Professor Nick Phin, head of respiratory diseases for Public Health England, said: "As with the incident earlier this month, the risk is very low. “We will be following up with any UK passengers who were sitting in the vicinity of the passenger with MERS-CoV, as a precautionary measure. "Any UK-based travellers who become unwell with a fever, cough or shortness of breath within 14 days of being in the Middle East, should make sure they call their doctor and tell them where they have travelled. "Although the source of MERS-CoV is unknown, there is growing evidence of the possible role of camels in transmitting it to humans. "We advise travellers, particularly those with underlying or chronic medical conditions, to avoid contact with camels in the Middle East. "All travellers should practise good hand and respiratory hygiene to reduce the risk of respiratory illness."
Biohazard name:	MERS-COv (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS))
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:
Status:	confirmed

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The Telegraph

Second MERS case detected in passenger flying through London

The deadly MERS virus has been diagnosed in two air passengers passed through London in transit in a matter of weeks

A worker wears a mask next to camels in Saudi Arabia. There is growing evidence of the possible role of camels in transmitting MERS-CoV to humans Photo: AFP/GETTY

By Hayley Dixon

8:37PM BST 12 May 2014

A second case of the deadly MERS virus has been diagnosed on a flight through London.

The passenger was flying from Jeddah to the USA and transiting through Heathrow exactly one week after a person flying from Riyadh to Chicago who stopped at the London airport was found to have the new deadly respiratory virus that has spread through the Middle East.

The risk to anyone on the Saudi Airlines flight 113 on May 1 is thought to be low, but Public Health England warn anyone who has have since become unwell or experienced respiratory symptoms, such as shortness of breath, to seek medical advice.

No other passenger on the April 24 British Airways flight 262 from Riyadh to London was found to have contracted Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

Experts say the risk to fellow travellers is low as although the mortality rate from the disease is high, it is not easily spread between humans.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Biological Hazard - Spain, Basque Country, Bilbao : Q Fever (Coxiela burnetii)

Earth Watch Report - Biological Hazards

File:Coxiella burnetii, the bacteria that causes Q Fever.jpg

A dry fracture of a Vero cell exposing the contents of a vacuole where Coxiella burnetii are busy growing. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Author : National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Wikipedia.org
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Biological Hazard

Spain

Basque Country, Bilbao

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RSOE EDIS

Biological Hazard in Spain on Thursday, 10 April, 2014 at 03:07 (03:07 AM) UTC.

Description
According to the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, 8 workers from the landfill of Monte Anaiz, in the municipal district of Bilbao, are suffering from Q fever related to the presence of remains of cattle in the waste. In addition to the 8 confirmed cases, 25 are pending study. An initial focus of the outbreak has been recently traced to the Mechanical Biological Treatment Plant at Monte Anaiz and a 2nd cluster is located in Berriatua, where up to 10 people may have been infected. The outbreak is due to the fact that animal remains not intended for human consumption (byproducts such as heads, or goat and sheep hides) repeatedly enter the processing plant mixed in with urban waste. The symptoms of Q fever are similar to those of a flu, although sometimes it also affects the liver. The Basque Government and the Provincial Government of Bizkaia, in a coordinated manner, have adopted measures to control the outbreak. Extreme precaution is being taken and diagnostic tests have been applied to all staff and subcontractors as a preventive measure. Authorities are trying to identify the origin of these products, a difficult task, because the animal remains have come in garbage bags from which the identification tags have been removed.
Biohazard name:	Q Fever
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:
Status:	confirmed

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Combination of two x-rays found on the two websites http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/ct/what.html FDA website with normal chest x-ray http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol6no1/scrimgeourG2.htm CDC website documenting Q fever pneumonia All editing performed by me and released into public domain
Wikipedia.org

Signs and symptoms

Incubation period is usually two to three weeks.^[8] The most common manifestation is mild flu-like symptoms with abrupt onset of fever, malaise, profuse perspiration, severe headache, myalgia (muscle pain), joint pain, loss of appetite, upper respiratory problems, dry cough, pleuritic pain, chills, confusion and gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The fever lasts approximately seven to 14 days.^{[citation needed]}
Approximately half of infected individuals exhibit no symptoms.^[8]
During its course, the disease can progress to an atypical pneumonia, which can result in a life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), whereby such symptoms usually occur during the first four to five days of infection.^{[citation needed]}
Less often, Q fever causes (granulomatous) hepatitis, which may be asymptomatic or becomes symptomatic with malaise, fever, liver enlargement (hepatomegaly) and pain in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen. Whereas transaminase values are often elevated, jaundice is uncommon. Retinal vasculitis is a rare manifestation of Q fever.^[9]
The chronic form of Q fever is virtually identical to inflammation of the inner lining of the heart (endocarditis),^[10] which can occur months or decades following the infection. It is usually fatal if untreated. However, with appropriate treatment, the mortality falls to around 10%.

Clinical signs in animals

Cattle, goats and sheep are most commonly infected, and can serve as a reservoir for the bacteria. Q fever is a well recognized cause of abortions in ruminants and in pets. C. burnetii infection in dairy cattle has been well documented and its association with reproductive problems in these animals has been reported in Canada, USA, Cyprus, France, Hungary, Japan, Switzerland and West Germany.^[11] For instance, in a study published in 2008,^[12]a significant association has been shown between the herds’ seropositivity and typical clinical signs of Q Fever observed such as abortion, stillbirth, weak calves and repeat breeding. Moreover, experimental inoculation of C. burnetii in cattle induced not only respiratory disorders and cardiac failures (myocarditis) but also frequent abortions and irregular repeat breedings.^[13]

Read More Here
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Friday, January 3, 2014

Flu 'epidemic ... still on the uptick,' national health official says

By Elizabeth Landau, CNN

Severe flu kills 18 children this season

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: New York county has 2,347 flu cases -- this time last year, there were 5 cases
"We are into what would classically be described as a flu epidemic," health official says
Minnesota has 27 flu-related deaths; Oklahoma had 8
Boston mayor declares a public health emergency because of flu

(CNN) -- The flu is spreading fiercely across the United States, with more than 40 states reporting widespread activity in what one of the nation's leading health officials is calling an epidemic.

"If you look at the charts that the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) put out on their website, it clearly has gone above that threshold. So we are into what would classically be described as a flu epidemic," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.

"It's still on the uptick," Fauci added.

The season has started earlier, and cases are more severe than last year, health officials say.

The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flu advisory report, which covers the week of December 23 to 29, suggests that 41 states have widespread influenza activity, which was an increase of 31 states from the previous week. The CDC will issue an update on the flu situation Friday.

There have so far been 2,257 hospitalizations associated with laboratory-confirmed flu virus, the CDC report said. Among children, there have been 18 deaths reported during this season. Various state agencies also are compiling statistics on flu-related deaths.

This is only about week five in a 12-week flu season, according to Fauci.

"Remember, once it peaks, you still have a considerable amount of time where there is a lot of flu activity, and right now it may have peaked in some places, but for the most part, it has not yet peaked," he said.

In Massachusetts, one of the 29 states that the CDC has identified as having high activity of influenza-like illness, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino declared a public health emergency in the city Wednesday because of the flu.

Since October 1, there have been 700 confirmed influenza cases among Boston residents, according to Menino's office; that's 10 times more than were seen in all of last year's flu season.

There have been 18 flu-related deaths this season in Massachusetts, CNN affiliate WCVB reported. Hospitalization rates are higher than the last two years, Kevin Cranston of the state's Bureau of Infectious Diseases told WCVB. Most deaths have been in older patients, he said.

Menino is collaborating with the Boston Public Health Commission and community health centers to offer free vaccination clinics this weekend. The mayor urged residents to stay home from work or school if they are sick, and to get their flu shots.

"This is the worst flu season we've seen since 2009, and people should take the threat of flu seriously," Menino said in a statement. More than 4% of emergency department visits at Boston hospitals are from flu cases, up from 1% during non-flu season.

Massachusetts General Hospital has already counted 532 cases of flu among patients, which is more than the Boston hospital saw in any of the previous three flu seasons, spokeswoman Kristen Stanton said Wednesday.

Signs posted throughout the hospital discourage anyone from visiting who has a cough or fever, she said, and anyone who does visit with those symptoms must wear a mask and perform hand hygiene. All staff must wear a mask when providing care for possible flu cases. Any staff member who has not been vaccinated must wear a mask while caring for any patient.

In Onondaga County, New York, health officials counted 2,347 flu-season cases through last Saturday. In 2011, during the same seasonal time period, they counted five flu cases.

Somerville, Massachusetts, a small city north of Boston, announced that the city's supply of flu vaccine for the season had run out. All 720 doses for the season that were being administered for free had been given out by Tuesday. Residents looking to get vaccinated should contact their primary care physician or local pharmacy, the website said.

That the city's vaccines have all been given out is somewhat surprising because normally there are about 100 doses left over at the end of a season, spokeswoman Jackie Rossetti said Thursday. She attributes this to an earlier start of the flu season and outreach efforts.

Somerville has asked the state's public health department if there are any more available vaccines for the city and is waiting to hear back, she said. Most local pharmacies have doses left, however, she said.

Experts: Flu spreading faster than usual

More cases, deaths in other states

The Oklahoma Department of Health said Thursday the state has had eight influenza-linked deaths since September 30.

Additionally, the Minnesota Department of Health has counted 27 flu-related deaths. "We are clearly at a high level of influenza activity in the state," Minnesota Health Commissioner Dr. Edward Ehlinger said in a statement. "But it's important to keep this year in perspective: What is occurring has happened before."

Pennsylvania has had 22 flu-related deaths so far this season, according to data from the state's Department of Health. Most of these deaths occurred among people older than 65, but the fatalities included two individuals younger than 50 who were otherwise healthy.

Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pennsylvania, set up a heated tent outside the hospital to serve as a clinic. Anyone with mild flu symptoms can be treated quickly and discharged, isolated from more serious cases. The hospital has been seeing an additional 80 to 100 patients with flu-like symptoms daily, officials told CNN affiliate WPVI.