Bird Flu Blog

Via ProMED-mail: Avian Flu, a blog devoted to the coming bird flu pandemic, joins Fludemic on the flu-blogging beat.

Ebola in the Congo

The BBC reports nine deaths and a quarantine in effect in the Congo town of Etoumbi. The epidemic has been attributed to consumption of bushmeat, and is not the first in the region. In 2003, 120 people died in one Ebola epidemic.

Marburg Tops 300

The WHO reports a current total of 311 Marburg deaths in Angola out of 337 cases (92% mortality). On the bright side,

No cases have been reported outside Uige for the past five weeks.

Bird Flu Jumps to Pigs

Via ProMED-mail: Reuters and the AP report that an Indonesian researcher found the H5N1 strain of influenza in pigs living near infected birds.

Pigs, which are genetically similar to people, often carry the human influenza virus. Experts worry that pigs infected with both bird flu and its human equivalent could act as a ``mixing bowl,'' resulting in a more dangerous, mutant virus that might spread to people more easily - and then from person to person.

Dog Flu

Yesterday the Metro reported that dog racing at Wonderland (Boston, MA) had been shut down due to a mysterious canine epidemic. Autopsies on three dogs indicated pneumonia.

Today the CDC is on the case as well as the Boston Herald, warning locals that they and their pets may also be in danger.

Plagueblog recommends against living in close proximity to animals. Get some fish instead.

Marburg Numbers Rise

CIDRAP News reports an unexpected increase in the number of Marburg cases and deaths in Angola:

The tally yesterday stood at 313 cases, including 280 deaths, with another 208 people under observation, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Angolan health ministry announced yesterday, according to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP). The WHO had reported 275 cases with 255 deaths as of Apr 27, which included only 9 new cases in the preceding week.

More Marburg

The AP reports a death toll of 257 in Angola's Marburg outbreak. The story also mentions the first recovery:

But while the number of fatalities had risen, Espirito-Santo said that for the first time an infected patient had recovered and was discharged from an isolation ward at the Uige provincial hospital.

Exploding Frogs in Germany

Via ProMED-mail: the BBC reports on mysterious exploding German frogs:

Thousands of the amphibians have died in recent days in a pond in Hamburg's Altona district, with their bodies swelling to bursting point.
The toads' entrails are propelled for up to a metre (3.2ft), in scenes that have been likened to science fiction.
Scientists are baffled. Possible explanations include a unknown virus or a fungus in the pond.

Polio in Yemen

The New York Times reports on a polio outbreak in Yemen, possibly related to the current outbreak in Saudi Arabia.

CCHF in Islamabad

The Daily Times reports on a 12-year-old with Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in Islamabad.

Marburg Update

Agence France-Presse reports the latest Marburg numbers: 235 dead out of 257 known cases.

An additional 513 people are under surveillance, it added.
WHO experts said last week that there was no end in sight for the epidemic, the worst outbreak ever of the virus first detected in 1967 when German laboratory workers in Marburg were infected by monkeys from Uganda.

From the Yes This IS Your Grandfather's Influenza department...

CNN reports on the unwise distribution of 1957's Asian flu (A, H2N2) to 4,000 laboratories worldwide for testing.

The samples, part of a package of pathogens sent to laboratories to test their ability to identify them, were last seen in nature in the United States in 1968, Gerberding said. Anyone born since then would presumably have no immunity to the virus, she said.
Gerberding said authorities were still trying to determine how many laboratories got the samples of the virus, called Influenza A H2N2.

Thanks to an unnamed source, who also mentioned The Unsung Vaccinologist:

Joining Merck in 1957, he mobilized the production of 20 million doses of flu vaccine, protecting the country from one of the last great flu pandemics.

Marburg Tops 200

ISN Security Watch reports 203 Marburg deaths in Angola as of yesterday, and also describes some of the negative reactions of the populace to foreigners in space suits who are only trying to help.

Health workers also said local residents lacked sufficient information about the disease and that hospitals were failing to observe basic rules of hygiene that could help stem the epidemic.

Asthma and Genetic Damage

Via GNXP: a study suggests that smoking can permanently damage the DNA of your offspring and future generations. See Maternal and Grandmaternal Smoking Patterns Are Associated With Early Childhood Asthma* by Yu-Fen Li, PhD, MPH; Bryan Langholz, PhD; Muhammad T. Salam, MBBS, MS; and Frank D. Gilliland, MD, PhD.

From the don't-eat-the-downers files

Via ProMED-mail: several NY sources report on at least 5 deer infected with Chronic Wasting Disease, a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. One of the deer was served at a Verona Fire Department annual dinner (apparently while the brain was languishing at a lab someplace). This means that the state department of health has a few CWD exposures to track, to see whether CWD really poses no threat to humans.

The Gene for FASPS

National Geographic News reports that scientists have found the mutation that causes familial advanced sleep phase syndrome (FASPS).

The researchers are not yet certain how the gene mutation works to shift people's sleep time. But laboratory experiments suggest mutation slows the activity of a protein called casein kinase I delta (CKIdelta). "The next step is to figure out why," Fu said.

More Marburg

The WHO reports a new death toll of 173 out of 200 Marburg cases in Angola.

Disease Roundup

Several new and/or interesting outbreaks via ProMED-mail:

• Agence France-Presse reports that the Marburg death toll in Angola has hit 155, not counting the suspected Marburg death of a South African who left Luanda about a week ago. The virus continues to rage uncontrolled.
• Reuters reports on two more suspected cases of bird flu (not counting the woman who drank duck blood from earlier this week) as well as a doctor who died of apparent SARS, all in Vietnam.
• Folha de S.Paulo reports [in Portuguese] on a Brazilian outbreak of the parasite Diphyllobothrium latum in patients who ate raw, smoked, or undercooked fish. Patients consumed their sushi and sashimi at several establishments across Sao Paulo.
• UPI reports on a French woman who may have had variant CJD 20 years before the mad cow epidemic began.
• The AP reports that North Korean birds are sick with a different strain of bird flu (H7) than the highly fatal one which has spread to humans in other parts of Southeast Asia (H5).
• Agence France-Presse reports on the continuing spread of the rare Chlamydia infection lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) among homosexual European males.
• NYNewsday reports on a rash of E. coli infections acquired from petting-zoo animals. PlagueBlog recommends avoiding contact with animals before their internal temperature has reached 160°F. Use a meat thermometer if necessary.

And don't travel to Angola.

Marburg Marches On

The current Marburg death toll is 146. Rumor has it that the disease was spread to so many victims under 5 by hypodermic needles reused for vaccinations. It's not the kind of news the WHO will be spreading far and wide, if it turns out to be true.

Marburg in Italy?

Although the two suspected Marburg cases in Portugal have been ruled out, AFP reports on nine patients quarantined in Italy and two suspected cases in the Congo.

Malwarlaria

Slashdot reports on the spread of a PC-to-human virus, Malwarlaria.B.:

First discovered in the Far East in early 2004 Malwarlaria.A spread in cats and other whiskered creatures as they walked across the keyboards of infected PCs. Infected animals showed flu-like symptoms, slight hair-loss and the appearance of some darkened patches of skin, giving rise to Malwarlaria's other name, the 'Gorbachev virus.'
The mutated version, Malwarlaria.B, causes a similar reaction in humans.

Record Marburg Outbreak

The WHO reports 132 cases of Marburg virus in Angola (127 of them fatal) breaking the previous record outbreak in the Congo. As this is an extremely high death rate (96%) even for Marburg, it seems likely that some survivors are going unrecorded.

Marburg Outbreak Nears Record Death Toll

Approximately 121 persons have died of Marburg virus in Angola since the current outbreak began, rivaling the record outbreak in the Congo between 1998 and 2000, in which 123 people died. A Portuguese national is currently hospitalized in Luanda and another died in Portugal on Saturday, soon after returning from Angola.

Marburg Virus Confirmed in Angola

Reuters reports that the mysterious Angolan hemorrhagic fever has been confirmed to be Marburg virus, a relative of Ebola.

Angola's Mystery Hemorrhagic Fever

Ebola has been ruled out as the hemorrhagic fever that has killed at least 77 people in Northern Angola since first appearing in November. A post on the ProMED-mail list suggested plague, but the geography of the outbreak makes plague spread from the Congo unlikely. Some reports claim that the victims have mainly been children under 5.

Consumption consumption

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene warns against consumption of some Mexican cheeses--namely, those contaminated with Mycobacterium bovis (bovine tuberculosis), which can cause illness and (rarely) death in humans.

The Health Department has identified 35 cases of tuberculosis caused by M. bovis in city residents between 2001 and 2004. In one of those cases, a 15-month-old child who died in March 2004 was later determined to have died from complications due to M. bovis infection.

Anthrax Scares

The CDC has the latest on recent anthrax incidents.

On March 10th, routine samples from an air sampling device at the Pentagon Remote Delivery Facility were collected and preliminary tests, reported to the Department of Defense (DoD) on March 14, indicated the possibility of the presence of Bacillus anthracis. Also, on March 14th, an alarm at a separate Defense office in the Skyline complex indicated the possibility of the presence of a biohazard. As a result, employees in close proximity to the mail handling at these two facilities and the United States Postal Service (USPS) V-Street feeder facility were placed on a 3-day course of prophylactic antibiotics.

Unidentified Hemorrhagic Fever in Angola

Via ProMED-mail: Prensa Latina reports that at least 56 Angolans, including 2 nurses, have died of an as-yet-unidentified hemorrhagic fever:

A medical source from Huige hospital told journalists they have termed this illness gastric hemorrhage. It begins with fever symptoms for two days and then the patient begins to cough up blood, falls into a coma, and dies within four days, he explained.

Typhoid Tran

The AP reports that a second nurse is showing symptoms of bird flu after treating a bird-flu patient in Vietnam:

The 21-year-old man is at the center of a cluster of bird flu cases that include his 14-year-old sister and 80-year-old grandfather, who has the virus without showing any symptoms.

Reuters reports on other asymptomatic cases.

Flesh-Eating Disease in Flagstaff

Via ProMED-mail: the Arizona Republic reports on two related cases of necrotizing fasciitis:

A patient with flesh-eating bacterium spread the infection to a health care worker at Flagstaff Medical Center, leaving both people hospitalized in serious condition.
The state Department of Health Services has asked doctors at the hospital to monitor other workers for symptoms, even though they don't think it has spread.
The DHS said the Flagstaff case represents the first documented case in Arizona of invasive Group A streptococcus spreading from a patient to a health care worker.
Officials at the medical center don't know how the disease was spread.

A Growing Family

The New York Times reports on the discovery of two new retroviral members of the H.T.L.V. family, kissing cousins to HIV.

The viruses, found in rural Cameroon among people who hunt monkeys and other primates, were probably transmitted from the animals through blood from bites and scratches received in hunting, butchering and keeping the primates as pets, the scientists said at the 12th Annual Retrovirus Conference, which ended here on Friday.

Polio in Ethiopia

The ongoing African polio epidemic has reached Ethiopia, with one confirmed case and another suspected, Reuters reports.. It all started in Nigeria:

Africa's polio epidemic erupted after a 10-month halt in immunization in Kano where Muslim elders said the vaccines were part of a Western plot to spread HIV and infertility, according to WHO officials. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, recorded 763 cases in 2004, accounting for 2/3 of the toll. It resumed immunization in July 2004.

Cryogenic Bacteria

The Environment News Service reports on frozen microbes: they weren't infectious, but bacteria unearthed from the Alaskan tundra five years ago came to life in the lab after 32,000 years at -4° Celsius. It's taken the past five years to prove that it's a new species.

Commenters at Slashdot note that bacteria have been revived after 25 million years.

Rabies Roundup

Just a few interesting rabies stories from ProMED-mail: two patients died of rabies transmitted by organ transplants in Germany, a hunter died of rabies in Siberia, and a woman was bitten by a rabid coyote right here in Massachusetts.

Bird Flu Warnings

The front-page story in the Boston Metro today was this AP report on the "very high threat" of a bird flu epidemic.

Julie L. Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said scientists expect a flu virus that has swept through chickens and other poultry in Asia to genetically change into a flu that can be transmitted from person to person.

Pneumonic Plague

Thanks to another unnamed source for the pneumonic plague link. I also heard about it at the plague panel at Boskone this weekend, but I haven't had a chance to blog it until now. The outbreak among diamond miners in the Congo has been going on since December, but the WHO has only recently gotten involved. According to the BBC article, there are at least 60 dead and 350 infected.

Don't Eat the Apes

Via ProMED-mail, of course: Study links Ebola outbreaks to animal carcasses.

Specifically, the researchers found that Ebola infections in wild animals such as gorillas, chimpanzees, and occasionally duikers (a diminutive antelope species), move across the human-wildlife divide through hunters taking either sick animals or carcasses for meat. Hunters can then spread the disease to families and hospital workers, creating the conditions for an epidemic in the process.

Mad Goat

I've gotten behind on reporting, but I did get a friendly tip on the mad goat [ProMED] last week.

Britain said on Tuesday [8 Feb 2005] that a goat confirmed as having the brain-wasting disease scrapie in 1990 may have had mad cow disease. [...]
In January 2005 mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), was found in a goat in France, the 1st time the brain-wasting affliction that ravaged European cattle herds and killed at least 100 people had been diagnosed in another animal.

Stuffed Plague

What's the perfect gift for the plague-blogger who has everything? Giant Microbes! Thanks to my personal Epidemic Santa for the Black Death and company.

The Bard and the Pox

Steve Baragona of the Infectious Diseases Society of America argues against a recent article in Did Shakespeare have Syphilis?

Quahogs vs. Botulin

The Associated Press reports that quahogs are surprisingly resistant to botulism:

Researchers who injected the clams with enough botulism toxin to kill 1,000 people found the shellfish somehow neutralized the enzyme, which is considered a potential bioterror agent.

Tularemia (Lab Exposure)

The dirty bomb scare here in Boston is distracting from another bit of terrorism-related news: three researchers at BU were infected with tularemia in, apparently, at least two separate lab accidents. The cases, which have been attributed to violations of safety procedures, were discovered by November but were concealed from the public during hearings about BU's planned high-security bioterrorism research lab.

These are not the people I want juggling vials of smallpox in South Boston.

Unprepared

A bioterrorism preparedness exercise shows that we're unprepared for smallpox.

Tsunami Tetanus

Tetanus has taken health care workers in Indonesia by surprise, according to this report from Banda Aceh.

Tsunami-borne Measles

I wasn't expecting measles to be the first flashy disease of the tsunami-set, but as usual, ProMED-mail has set me straight. Both Indonesia and India report cases.

Scanning for Schizophrenia

The Scotland Sunday Times reports on a new method to detect schizophrenia up to three years before onset.

Researchers at Edinburgh University believe their test — which measures IQ, memory, motor skills and verbal learning — can be used to take action against the illness, which typically strikes people aged between 17 and 30, from being triggered.

Hepatitis C Outbreak in Maryland

Via ProMED-mail: The Baltimore Sun reports a nosocomial outbreak of hepatitis C caused, strangely enough, by a contaminated batch of technetium-99m, a radioactive isotope used in diagnostic procedures.

The one fatality so far is a healthy 79-year-old man who went to a cardiology clinic in October and died at Christmas. Health officials are unsure how the isotope became so contaminated that all patients who received it have tested positive for hepatitis C, but they do believe the contamination took place at the pharmacy that prepared the isotope, rather than the cardiology clinic.

Mad Cow II

More weekend news: a second Canadian mad cow leads to concern about the lifting of the US ban on Canadian cattle imports.

Tsunami Disease Outbreaks

Via ProMED-mail: The WHO reported on Sunday that communicable diseases were being seen in tsunami refugee camps.

Acute Eosinophilic Pneumonia

From HealthDay News via MedicineNet: Government Studies Rare Pneumonia Outbreak Among Iraq Troops.

[...] acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP), is so rare that the entire medical literature contains only about 150 published accounts of it, according to lead study author Dr. Andrew F. Shorr, chief of the pulmonary clinic at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. And none of that literature has accounts of the disease striking in clusters, as it apparently did in Iraq.
There seems to be no explanation for the unusual cluster, which included two deaths, except for one salient fact -- all of the patients were smokers, and nearly all of them were new to the habit.

Flu Quiz

The Delaware Coast Press posts a flu quiz from Delaware state health officials.

Tsunami News

Via ProMED-mail: Reuters reports on the potential for post-tsunami epidemics. The biggest concern is the spread of waterborne diseases.

Flu Pandemic Warning of the Week

This week's dire forecasts of flu pandemic decimation come from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. No new mortality rate was mentioned in the MedBroadcast article, though the WHO's previous estimate of up to 7 million dead was repeated.

Quahog Parasite Unknown

Via ProMED-mail: Cape Cod is suffering an outbreak of QPX disease (quahog parasite unknown). The quahog, Mercenaria mercenaria, is a clam native and beloved to Southeastern New England. Although harmless to quahog consumers, QPX has no known cure and threatens to devastate grants around the Cape.

Polio Outbreak in the Sudan

Via ProMED-mail, as usual: a massive polio outbreak in Sudan has WHO officials concerned that poliomyelitis may spread from there into the Middle East.

Nobody Expects the Bubonic Plague

Via ProMED-mail: A Pueblo, Colorado man dies of plague.

Local health department Director Chris Nevin-Woods [...] said the man had an open wound on one of his hands and probably was exposed while skinning an infected rabbit that he had shot.

Michigan Mystery Bug

Via ProMED-mail: a flu-like illness has broken out in a nursing home in Troy, Michigan. WXYZ News reports:

The outbreak occurred in the Alzheimer's unit, which has been quarantined. There are 39 people who live there, and 16 have fallen ill with the same flu like symptoms.
Paramedics were on the scene, suited up in biohazard in uniforms. Sick patients have been evacuated from the building to three area hospitals.
The outbreak started Wednesday night. 4 people became ill with flu like symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. All of these people were taken to the hospital, where one man went into cardiac arrest and died.

New Improved Scrapie

Via ProMED-mail: a new strain of scrapie has been detected in Great Britain, with some cases occurring among the most scrapie-resistant sheep. This bodes ill for the National Scrapie Plan to breed TSE-resistant sheep.

Fatal Familial Insomnia

A Wired article (Sleep Disorders Traced to Genes) reminded me of Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI) and introduced me to a sleep disorder, Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome:

Patients typically are unable to fall asleep before 2 a.m. and have extreme difficulty waking early (e.g., by 7 a.m.). People with DSPS are sometimes called "night owls" or are described as "not being morning people." If they are able to sleep a full 7 to 8 hours (e.g., until 10 a.m.), they feel rested and function normally.

I'm typically unable to get to bed before 2 a.m., but I don't think that qualifies without the accompanying insomnia.

So back to FFI. It's exciting because it's a prion disease like the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, but it mainly affects the thalamus, leading to insomnia-related death before the rest of the brain is seriously involved. Here's an overview of FFI by Ann M. Akroush.

I also found a couple of interesting journal articles available on-line: Fatal familial insomnia- clinical, neuropathological, and genetic description of a Spanish family -- Tabernero et al. 68 (6)- 774 -- Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry (full text), and an abstract of Fatal insomnia in a case of familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with the codon 200(Lys) mutation -- Chapman et al. 46 (3)- 758 -- Neurology.

Bird Flu Transmission in Russia

ProMED-mail is skeptical about reports of two cases of human-to-human transmission of bird flu in St. Petersburg.

Everyone's a skeptic until the first 20 million die.

vCJD News

Via ProMED-mail: concerns are rising about the transmission of mad cow disease (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease a.k.a. vCJD) through blood transfusions and also about wider genetic susceptibility to the disease than previously expected. Experiments with transgenic mice also point towards universal human susceptibility to some form of vCJD.

For a chattier introduction to genetic vCJD susceptibility and transmission through the blood supply, see this August BBC report.

Bird Flu in France?

I've been hoping for more news on the bird flu case in France (via ProMED-mail, with a reminder from Fludemic), but Google is giving me no new news.

Nontuberculous Mycobacteria

Some San Jose residents have gotten more than they bargained for from their pedicurists. The Bay City News reports on at least 40 cases of serious skin infections, probably caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria growing in whirlpool foot baths. Whirlpools are bad news in general, bacteriologically speaking; once you add in the natural nastiness of feet, trouble is bound to follow.

Bogus Botox Botulism

Via ProMED-mail: four Florida residents have been hospitalized with suspected botulism. Health officials suspect that one of the victims administered a Botox knock-off to himself and the others as an anti-wrinkle treatment. See the full story from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Botulism is normally caused by toxins produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum.

Trichinosis

ProMED-mail reports on three cases of trichinosis in Russia, caused by consumption of infected pork.

Trichinosis (a.k.a. trichinellosis) is a parasitic disease caused by the trichina worm, Trichinella spiralis. There's a whole Trichinella page devoted to T. spiralis. The CDC factsheet on trichinosis is scary:

When a human or animal eats meat that contains infective Trichinella cysts, the acid in the stomach dissolves the hard covering of the cyst and releases the worms. The worms pass into the small intestine and, in 1-2 days, become mature. After mating, adult females lay eggs. Eggs develop into immature worms, travel through the arteries, and are transported to muscles. Within the muscles, the worms curl into a ball and encyst (become enclosed in a capsule).

Apparently, you can "[f]reeze pork less than 6 inches thick for 20 days at 5° F to kill any worms," but this approach doesn't work for game. Microwaves are not enough to kill the parasite.

Survector

Anti-depressants are outside of my purview, but I enjoyed Jeff Percifield's history of Survector. Get your own Survector from amineptine.com.

Mad Cow #2

Everybody reports on the discovery of a second mad cow in the US. The origin of the cow and the circumstances of its death have not been revealed. Here's the New York Times article.

Mystery Disease in China

The in China is, of course, redundant. Although India has a good number of mystery diseases, it's the ones from China that tend to, say, wipe out Europe. This week's mysterious respiratory disease has infected 28 at a children's hospital. Health authorities have ruled out SARS, Influenza A, and Influenza B. Read all about it at Reuters.

HPV Vaccine

MedBroadcast reports on the new vaccine against human papilloma virus, the STD responsible for most cases of cervical cancer.

Inevitable and Overdue

Medbroadcast reports on a two-day conference on infectious diseases at which the flu was the starring disease. An influenza pandemic is "inevitable and overdue."

Based on the experience of the three pandemics of the 20th century, a third or more of the globe's population would be expected to fall ill. A pandemic, even one caused by a mild strain, would be expected to kill millions, experts warn.
The spectre of a pandemic with the extraordinarily virulent H5N1 strain is making for sleepless nights in the community of influenza researchers.

Feeling No Pain

Medbroadcast reports on a young girl with congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), a genetic defect.

SARS Civets

Via Medbroadcast: China bans civets. This relative of the mongoose is being blamed for SARS. If you find yourself in China, you may neither kill nor eat a civet.

Plague in Qinghai

China Daily reports that a plague outbreak in northwest China is now under control. Out of 19 cases, eight people died. Wild marmots may have been responsible.

C. difficile

Medbroadcast reports on a Clostridium difficile epidemic in Quebec that has killed 109 to 217 people. CBC reports that the C. difficile superbug is likely to spread beyond Quebec.

Clostridium difficile is a bacterial infection common in hospitals; what makes the Canadian epidemic unique is its virulence, the lack of private rooms for isolating patients, and the speculation that hospital workers are helping to spread the spores by not washing their hands. Here's another FAQ on Clostridium difficile.

Lymphogranuloma venereum

The CDC is concerned about Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV), a rare STD currently spreading among homosexual men in Northern Europe, especially the Netherlands. CNN has the Reuters story.

Bird Flu Could Kill One Billion People

Russian Expert Says Flu Epidemic May Kill Over One Billion This Year [MosNews]

The world is on the brink of a major flu epidemic — one that could claim more than a billion lives, the head of the Russian Virology Institute, Academician Dmitry Lvov said at a press conference organized by the RIA-Novosti news agency on Thursday.
“Up to one billion people could die around the whole world in six months,” Lvov said. The expert did not give a timeframe for the epidemic, but said that it is highly probable that it will start this year. “We are half a step away from a worldwide pandemic catastrophe,” the academic said.

Eagles with Bird Flu

From the don't-kiss-the-chickens department: a Thai man came forward after public appeals in Belgium. He had attempted to smuggle infected eagles into the country in his luggage. Belgian officials have killed hundreds of unfortunate birds who were in the airport at the same time, and passengers on the flights are being warned about bird flu.

This just in from ProMed-mail: The Belgian veterinarian who euthanized the two eagles has been hospitalized with bird flu. So much for the Thai Public Health Ministry's assurances that only domesticated birds had been known to transmit bird flu to humans.

Simian Foamy Virus

Canadian health authorities seem unduly concerned about simian foamy virus, a blood-borne retrovirus that has no known effects in any species.

Plague Squirrels

Via ProMED-mail: If you happen to be in Colorado Springs, don't play with the squirrels. They've tested positive for plague.

Tigers Catch Bird Flu

Medbroadcast reported yesterday that 23 captive tigers had died of bird flu in Thailand after being fed infected raw chicken. Fludemic notes that 7 more tigers have died and 40 more are being culled. If you check the Reuters article he linked, it sounds like the tigers are suffering 100% mortality. The BBC report is similar:

The tigers earmarked for culling are understood to be displaying early symptoms of infection and are estimated to have just a few days to live. "They all died after three days of showing symptoms," said Thawat Suntrajarn, a disease control expert from the Thai ministry of health, referring to the 30 tigers that have already died.

Banana Bunchy Top

Via ProMED-mail: Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) strikes Pakistan. Read all about it in the Daily Times. I don't normally report on plant diseases, but I couldn't pass up the name. Here's more info on Banana Bunchy Top from Hawaii.

Malaria Vaccine

MedicineNet reports on a new malaria vaccine:

"This is the first convincing evidence that a malaria vaccine can be produced that can impact disease in children living in Africa," said study co-researcher Dr. Filip Dubovsky, of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, which helped fund the study.

Vaccine is a rather strong term to be using here. It's not clear to me that the vaccine is any more effective that a good DDT program.

Observing the children for six months after vaccination, Dubovsky reported that "the vaccine reduced the risk of developing the disease by 29.9 percent," while cutting the incidence of severe, life-threatening malaria episodes by 58 percent.

Anthrax in the News

USA Today reports on anthrax contamination within the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). The Fort Detrick biolab did so much testing during the anthrax scare that spores escaped the Level 3 labs to contaminate someone's desk. Thanks to Adam from Fludemic for the link.

If Found, Please Return to Biohazard Facility

From ProMED-mail:

On 6 Oct 2004 at the railway station of Sants de Barcelona, a blue paper bag was stolen from the owner of a clinical laboratory. It contained 5 glass tubes, 15cm long x 2cm wide, with black stoppers, containing cultures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. They were wrapped in absorbent paper inside an opaque white plastic container with a black double cap. This was wrapped in brown parcel paper, with a letter describing the contents, which are highly contagious.

The finder is asked to contact urgently the Cuerpo Nacional de Policia, tel. 091, the local police, tel. 092, and the Servicio de Emergencias de la Generalitat, tel. 112.

The Spanish Flu Gene

Those Spanish Flu revivalists have sent some results to Nature. They've been killing mice with their Frankenstein Flu. This New York Times article goes into more detail about the deadly hemagglutinin (HA) gene the researchers now suspect caused the extraordinary virulence of the 1918-1919 epidemic.

Even more disturbing than the resurrection itself, the researchers have decided that the virus behind the worst epidemic of all time (20-50 million people dead in the space of a year) no longer requires a Biosafety Level 4 containment; they'll just make do with the Level 3 facilities at the University of Washington.

PlagueBlog recommends against travel to Washington State this winter.

Resurrecting the Spanish Flu

The Simon criticizes efforts to resurrect the Spanish Flu from cadavers at the University of Washington. Thanks to Fludemic for the link.

Tularemia in Hamsters

Medbroadcast reports a Canadian health warning in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northwestern Ontario about tularemia (type B) in pet hamsters. Both exposed hamsters and their owners are susceptible to the rare disease, which can be fatal.

In the Northeast

On August 28, 2004, a man aged 38 years residing in New Jersey died from Lassa fever after returning from travel to West Africa.

See the full report from the CDC's MMWR Weekly.

Also a Dartmouth College employee contracted Hantavirus, presumably at a cabin owned by the college. See the full report from ProMed.

Human Bird Flu Transmission

Reuters reports a probable case of human-to-human bird flu transmission in Thailand. Both victims have already died.

Experts have long feared the H5N1 bird flu virus, which swept through much of Asia early this year, could mutate into a form that could be passed from person to person and set off a pandemic like the one in 1918, which killed 20 million people.

Experts believe this is a fluke rather than a new, virulent flu strain. Note that at least 20 million people died of the Spanish flu; the real numbers may be twice that.

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever

The Pakistan Daily Times reports a Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever death in Rawalpindi. A physician was also infected.

Hepatitis E in Iraq

The International Herald Tribune blames infrastructure problems for an outbreak of hepatitis E in two Iraqi cities.

Lassa Fever in London

ProMED reports that a West African who recently arrived in Britain is being treated for Lassa fever, a contagious haemorrhagic fever transmitted by rodents.

Public health officials are now trying to track down people who came into close contact with the patient, while refusing to release details of the flight which brought him to the United Kingdom.

Ergotism

Ergot (Claviceps purpura, Claviceps paspalum) is a fungus found on rye and some other grasses. It can cause convulsions, hallucinations, and gangrene. Outbreaks are rare; ergotism may explain the Salem witch trials.

There's been a rare outbreak of gangrenous ergotism in New Zealand cattle. Thanks again to ProMED for the link.

Jorethang Fever

The Statesman reports on the latest mystery disease in India:

A mysterious fever that’s stalking Jorethang town, Sikkim, near the West Bengal border has affected over a thousand people. According to reports here, the first outbreak of this disease, which the medical fraternity has termed as the Jorethang Fever, was reported on 15 August, this year. Since then more than 1,000 people have been struck by this mysterious virus, whose origin and identity has baffled the local health authorities here. According to health officials, the disease can be identified by symptoms of high fever, body-ache accompanied by repeated vomiting.

Thanks to ProMED for the link.

SARS Engineering

I missed the speculation back in the spring of 2003 that SARS was genetically engineered. Lev Navrozov thought the Chinese did it, while Dr. Mae-Wan Ho of the Institute of Science in Society thought it could have come from any of a number of genetic engineering labs. The folks at ISIS don't seem to have convinced the scientific community that SARS was anything more that a natural result of living with the livestock, but I'm sure Lev Navrozov would say that we're just hiding our heads in the sand.

Eastern Equine Encephalitis

The Boston Globe reports that Eastern equine encephalitis has spread to 14 communities in Southeastern Massachusetts. (EEE is mosquito-borne, and that's where all the swamps are.) Two people died of EEE in Massachusetts last month. As with West Nile virus, the recommended approach is DEET, long sleeves, and pants.

Autism Again

MedicineNet reports that yet another study has failed to link autism to vaccines. I'd like to see some studies on the assortative mating theory.

West Nile Virus Endemic

With the report of the first human case in Oregon, West Nile virus is now endemic throughout the contiguous United States.

Breaking Flus

The WHO reports a bird flu death in Thailand today:

9 September 2004
Thailand's Ministry of Health reported today one recent human death caused by avian influenza A (H5N1).

Apparently the guy was giving a sick chicken mouth-to-mouth [ProMED]. Let me be the first to say that is contraindicated.

This follows a report two days ago of a bird flu death in Vietnam:

7 September 2004
WHO has received informal reports of a laboratory-confirmed fatal case of influenza A H5 infection in Viet Nam. The patient is thought to be a child who was hospitalized in Hanoi and who died over the weekend. Further details are awaited from official sources.

If I'm counting correctly, that's a total of 29 bird flu deaths in Vietnam and Thailand this year. And that's just human deaths--kitty isn't safe, either. Ancedotal evidence of bird flu killing cats has been confirmed recently.

Sad Child Disease

Here's an article by two doctors about autism and vaccines. The alleged culprit is thimerosal (sodium ethylmercurithiosalicylate - note the mecur[y]), a preservative used in some vaccines. The CDC claims that no one is using thimerosal anymore, and it doesn't cause autism, and the dates for the surge in autism and the introduction of thimerosal don't match, anyway.

The doctors claim that autism and similar developmental difficulties were unheard-of before thimerosal. The theory is mercury poisoning: the affected children are unable to excrete the mercury that comes to them from vaccines and maternal dental amalgams. The CDC is eliminating thimerosal (as a precaution, not an admission of its guilt), but the article claims that "vaccines containing 25 mcg of mercury per dose and carrying an expiration date of 2005 continue to be produced and administered."

The occasion of this article is pending legislation in California to ban thimerosal in vaccines (beyond trace levels) for both children and mothers by July 2006. Whether or not it passes, it seems that thimerosal and mercury dental amalgams are on their way out. If the autism rate then drops suddenly, I'll become a believer.