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"And there shall be pestilences ..."

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March 27, 2024, 12:55:24 pm Mark says: Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked  When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.
December 31, 2022, 10:08:58 am NilsFor1611 says: blessings
August 08, 2018, 02:38:10 am suzytr says: Hello, any good churches in the Sacto, CA area, also looking in Reno NV, thanks in advance and God Bless you Smiley
January 29, 2018, 01:21:57 am Christian40 says: It will be interesting to see what happens this year Israel being 70 years as a modern nation may 14 2018
October 17, 2017, 01:25:20 am Christian40 says: It is good to type Mark is here again!  Smiley
October 16, 2017, 03:28:18 am Christian40 says: anyone else thinking that time is accelerating now? it seems im doing days in shorter time now is time being affected in some way?
September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-11-new-fda-approved-hepatitis-b-vaccine-found-to-increase-heart-attack-risk-by-700.html
September 19, 2017, 03:59:21 am Christian40 says: bbc international did a video about there street preaching they are good witnesses
September 14, 2017, 08:06:04 am Psalm 51:17 says: bro Mark Hunter on YT has some good, edifying stuff too.
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« Reply #240 on: February 14, 2017, 05:40:44 pm »

Angola: Deadly Disease Combination Claims Thousands in Angola

RAGING yellow fever and malaria outbreaks claimed more than 15 000 lives in Angola over the past year. Speaking in the capital Luanda, the health minister, Luís Gomes Sambo, disclosed there were with 4,2 million cases of malaria, leading to the death of 15 000 people.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201702100075.html
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« Reply #241 on: March 08, 2017, 07:57:52 pm »

An outbreak in Brazil has U.S. health experts wondering if yellow fever could be the next Zika

Yellow fever has broken out in the jungles outside Brazil’s most densely-populated cities, raising a frightening but still remote possibility: an epidemic that could decimate that country’s population and spread throughout the Americas, including the United States.

In an essay rushed into print by the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, two doctors from the National Institutes of Health warn that cases of yellow fever, which can kill as many as 10% of those infected, have seen an unusual spike in the last few weeks in several rural areas of Brazil.

Those outbreaks have been limited to places where there aren’t enough people or virus-spreading mosquitoes to fuel a rapid run-up in transmission. But they are on the edge of major urban areas where residents are largely unvaccinated, and where both humans and insects are packed densely enough to accelerate the disease’s spread.

It’s a perilous moment, made more so by the fact that, while an effective vaccine against yellow fever has been around since 1937, worldwide stockpiles are all but depleted. In a series of yellow fever outbreaks in Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo two years ago, public health officials ran so short of the vaccine that they resorted to giving each person one-fifth of a dose.

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-yellow-fever-americas-20170308-story.html
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« Reply #242 on: May 29, 2017, 03:37:03 pm »

Advocate calls for chicken irradiation in Canada
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/advocate-calls-for-chicken-irradiation-in-canada-1.3432769
Published Sunday, May 28, 2017 10:13AM EDT

A consumer advocate is pushing Ottawa to promote the irradiation of chicken to kill illness-causing bugs and to do a better job of getting buyers on board.

Bruce Cran of the Consumers Association of Canada said the federal government has done "an incompetent job" informing Canadians that irradiation is safe and he worries that a lack of action could lead to a deadly outbreak.

"They need to promote an understanding so Canadians can make an informed choice, and they're not doing that for whatever reason," Cran said. "This is not only a safe practice, it's one that many of us would like to be able to use."

Earlier this year, the federal government approved the sale of ground beef treated with radiant energy similar to X-rays to reduce the risk of illnesses caused by E. coli and salmonella. The products must be labelled to include an international symbol on packaging -- usually a green plant inside a circle.

The U.S. has allowed meat to be treated for years, but that country's Food and Drug Administration has noted that consumers' acceptance has been slowed by confusion over how irradiation works and what it does. It notes some people believe it makes food radioactive.

"Our members would absolutely support it," said Robin Horel, president of the Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council.

"But we haven't pushed hard because ... the companies that produce chicken and turkey are concerned about what the consumer response would be."

Anna Madison, a spokeswoman for Health Canada, said in an email the federal government would not promote irradiation since it does not engage in promotional activities.

The federal department last examined irradiation for poultry in the early 2000s, but it did not amend regulations to allow it because of concerns from some stakeholders.

Karen Graham, who chaired a panel of Canadian dietitians in the 1980s that considered the issue, said irradiated foods lose vitamin B and fats such as healthy omega-3 are broken down. It can also kill healthy bacteria.

Critics also claim irradiation produces toxins, such as benzene, and changes the taste of meat.

"There aren't consumers with placards saying give us irradiation. This is very much industry driven," Graham said in an interview from Kelowna, B.C.

Rick Holley, professor emeritus of food microbiology and food safety at University of Manitoba, said irradiation is safe and is even more important for chicken than for ground beef. Chicken causes more illness in Canada, he said.

Holley said salmonella is naturally present on a lot of chicken and the gastro-intestinal bacteria campylobactor is present on all of it, regardless of whether a bird is free-range or factory.

"Both of these organisms occasionally kill, but because they make more people ill who recover, then the emphasis is not placed on them to the same extent as E. coli O157 in hamburger," said Holley, who suggested that irradiating chicken could cut food-related illness in Canada by 25 per cent.

"The political will is certainly there, but it will only move forward in this regard when consumers are made aware of the extent of the problem and the fact that irradiation is such a suitable solution."

The Health Canada review noted an unpleasant odour with doses of irradiation higher than the one that was being considered for fresh chicken, but the smell was more likely to be noticed by experienced judges than average consumers. It also said the smell disappeared after a few days or after cooking.

Monique Lacroix, a researcher at the Canadian Irradiation Centre and at INRS-Institute Armand Frappier in Laval, Que., said in an interview last year that irradiation done at the low levels proposed by the meat industry, doesn't increase benzene or free radicals in an amount to be of concern. She noted that barbecuing meat produces billions of free radicals.

Graham, however, said irradiation is one more added process that negatively affects food.

"You still have storage. You still have refrigeration. You still have freezing. You still have all those things which are going to cause some nutrient loss -- and then you're adding irradiation on top of it which also is going to create some losses."
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« Reply #243 on: October 12, 2017, 05:15:27 pm »

http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/10/08/california-hepatitis-a-outbreak-on-verge-of-statewide-epidemic/
10/8/17
California Hepatitis A Outbreak on Verge of Statewide Epidemic

The California hepatitis A outbreak is on the verge of reaching statewide epidemic status, as cases have spread through homeless tent cities from San Diego north to Sacramento.

California health officials have reported that at least 569 people have been infected with the hepatitis A liver disease and 17 have died since a San Diego County outbreak was first identified in November. Cases have migrated north to homeless populations in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Sacramento over the last 11 months.

Although local and state authorities have tried to underplay the risks and severity of the outbreak, the most recent annual totals for cases of hepatitis A in the United States was 1,390 in 2015, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). California only reported 179 cases during the same year.

The highly-contagious hepatitis A outbreak may have taken root because of the City of San Diego’s efforts in the run-up to Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game held at Petco Park in July 2016 to push the homeless, and the rampant drug and prostitution trade among them, out of the downtown tourist venues. Those effort included locking public bathrooms and essentially relocating the homeless to the congested tent city encampments that stretch for blocks east of downtown near freeway onramps.

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« Reply #244 on: November 02, 2017, 04:46:29 pm »

Black Death: Warnings of global outbreak as plague continues to spread in Aftica


How the fatal Black Death spread across the world

Some 1,300 cases of the pneumonic plague, which is transmitted by air, have now been confirmed.

An estimated 50 million lives were lost as a result of the Black Death epidemic of the 1300s.

And now the deadly disease has spread into more African countries after taking root in Madagascar.

Countries affected include South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Comoros, the Seychelles, Mauritius and Reunion.



So far, the virus has killed 124 people and infected around 1,300, but scientists say this figure will definitely rise.

The World Health Organisation, which has been working with Madagascar’s Ministry of Health, has warned the risk of the epidemic spreading is “high”.

"Plague, though terrifying, is nothing new in Madagascar, where about 600 cases are reported annually," the organisation said on its website.
Deadliest epidemics in history
 

From Ebola to the Black Death, here are the deadliest epidemics in history

But officials said while "health officials couldn't explain it", the plague is different this time.

A Crisis Emergency Committee has been established in response to the outbreak, which will "coordinate surveillance, contact tracing, case management, isolation and supplies" until it is contained.

Air Seychelles, one of Madagascar's biggest airlines, stopped flying earlier in the month, in an effort to contain the spread and airports are screening passengers to avoid spread of the plague.

Schools and businesses have been closed, and large public gatherings have been cancelled.

rest: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/656128/Plague-outbreak-global-black-death-Madagascar-Africa-WHO-South-Kenya-Ethiopia-Seychelles
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« Reply #245 on: November 02, 2017, 04:47:19 pm »

Madagascar plague outbreak set to last another SIX MONTHS as health officials warn Black Death pandemic could explode at any time

MADAGASCAR'S deadly Black Death outbreak could last another SIX MONTHS - with officials warning the oncoming rainy season could see the epidemic explode.

At least 128 people have been killed and more than 1,300 infected by the deadly pneumonic strain of the medieval disease.

And while health officials have seen a slight dip in victims, they warned it could explode at any point between now and April.

Tarik Jašarević of the World Health Organisation told The Sun: "We cannot say with certainty that the epidemic has subsided.

"We are about three months into the epidemic season, which goes on until April 2018.

"Even if the recent declining trend is confirmed, we cannot rule out the possibility of further spikes in transmission between now and April 2018.

"The proportion of pneumonic plague – the form which can be transmitted from person to person – is much higher than in the past."
Dr Ibrahima-Soce Fall says World Health Organisation are working to prevent the spread of plague on Madagascar

The Foreign Office recently warned that the deadly outbreak is entering its most dangerous phase.

Its website said that "outbreaks of plague tend to be seasonal and occur mainly during the rainy season."

The African island's wet season officially began today and will last until the end of April.

And because the disease can be spread easily through a cough or sneeze, experts are fearful just one traveller could take the infection with them to Africa's mainland or even nearby Brit honeymoon paradises like Mauritius, the Maldives or the Seychelles.

The Seychelles is currently putting anyone travelling from Madagascar into quarantine on arrival.

rest: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4818057/madagascar-plague-outbreak-pandemic-could-explode/
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« Reply #246 on: November 08, 2017, 07:17:13 pm »

Plague feared to go GLOBAL as death toll rises in 'worst outbreak for 50 YEARS'
PLAGUE is continuing to spread in the “worst outbreak” in 50 years – but scientists fear the worst is yet to come as it could go global.

Cases have increased by 8% in just a week with nearly 2,000 people infected by the deadly airborne strain.

Some 143 people have now been killed by the “medieval disease” in Madagascar.

There are now warnings the plague could stretch across the sea and reach mainland Africa.

Such an outbreak would be catastrophic and there are fears the virus could go global.

Nine countries are now on high alert and have been told to brace for the plague.

rest: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/658482/Madagascar-Plague-Black-Death-Outbreak-Toll-Symptoms-Spread-Africa-WHO-Airborne-Pneumonic
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« Reply #247 on: November 09, 2017, 01:38:20 am »

Six dead and 17 sick from major drug-resistant tuberculosis outbreak in Minnesota

A tuberculosis outbreak in Minnesota has infected 17 people and killed six
Fourteen of those who contracted the disease are from the elderly Hmong community, indigenous to Asia
This particular strain is more difficult to fight because it is multi-drug resistant
Minnesota is using $225,000 in emergency funds to limit the spread of the disease.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5062423/Six-dead-Minnesota-tuberculosis-outbreak.html#ixzz4xuySyPjm
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« Reply #248 on: November 19, 2017, 08:13:52 pm »

Black Death patients are ESCAPING hospital and refusing treatment sparking fears it may spread

HOSPITAL patients suffering from the plague are running away from hospitals because they are scared of needles and aren’t used to hospital treatment. Security guards at the Central Anti-Plague Hospital in Ambohimindra, Madagascar, are tasked with keeping patients in as well as making sure those arriving follow safety procedures.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4943288/black-death-patients-are-escaping-hospital-and-refusing-treatment-sparking-fears-it-may-spread/
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« Reply #249 on: January 13, 2018, 08:12:19 pm »

Black Death fears as girl, 9, dies of unknown disease in Africa


Uganda’s Ministry of Health denies outbreak of hemorrhagic fever

The girl dropped dead with the symptoms of an extremely contagious viral disease than can kill up to 40% of all infected.

She had contracted the bizarre new disease with similarities to the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.

This disease — usually spread by tick bites or contact with infected livestock — can cause muscle pains, headaches, vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding.

OUTBREAK: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever causes diarrhoea, headaches and eye-bleeding

And panic is spreading after the sudden death of a girl in the Nakaseke District of Uganda.

A rapid response health team was rushed from the local hospital with a body bag to collect her and prevent any possible outbreak.

Health teams disinfected the girl's home after her death on Thursday night local time, but didn't give her grieving family any details about when they could have her body back.

DEADLY: The Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is similar to the Black Death

Speaking to local media, family member Harriet Nalunkuma said: "We are stranded on what to do because the health teams took away the body.

"We are waiting for a communication regarding the burial arrangements."

Local district Health Officer Dr Badru Ssesimba confirmed that blood samples from the girl's body had been handed over to the Uganda Virus Research Institute, but wouldn't give more details.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/673849/black-death-outbreak-crimean-congo-hemorrhagic-fever-bubonic-plague-africa-uganda-nakaseke
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« Reply #250 on: January 17, 2018, 06:55:35 pm »

More Than 100 Are Dead As The Worst Flu Epidemic In Years Sweeps Across The United States

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/more-than-100-are-dead-as-the-worst-flu-epidemic-in-years-sweeps-across-the-united-states
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« Reply #251 on: January 26, 2018, 10:56:00 pm »

100 years after 'Spanish flu', new global pandemics feared

Ebola, zika, SARS: a century after the "Spanish flu" killed 50 million people, humanity now risks a new wave of deadly diseases, and in today's globalised world another such pandemic may be unavoidable, experts warned at the Davos summit this week.

"Pandemics are becoming a real threat to humanity," Elhadj As Sy, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told AFP at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort.

One Davos discussion titled "Are We Ready For the Next Pandemic?" was joined by experts including Sylvie Briand, a specialist in infectious diseases at the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"We know that it is coming, but we have no way of stopping it," she said.

This year marks the centenary of the worst epidemic in history: the so-called Spanish flu -- an outbreak that experts say was actually imported to Europe by troops from the United States coming to fight in World War One.

Across the world, the disease killed more people in two years than the four years of fighting had.

Richard Hatchett, director of the public-private Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), said India lost five percent of its population in 1918 -- the only time in the country's history that its population declined.

A century on, a new flu virus is the risk that most worries experts.

"The flu is a respiratory virus that is easily transmitted and people can be contagious even before they show symptoms, so it is not easy to control," said Briand.

Its numerous forms are also able to "marry" one another or bond with viruses from birds or pigs in potentially deadly new combinations.

- Still vulnerable -

Despite the development of anti-viral drugs, antibiotics and the first vaccines, two other flu pandemics erupted after the Spanish flu, in 1957 and 1968 -- killing millions.

More recent epidemics have reminded the world that it is still vulnerable to outbreaks.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/717/100-years-after-spanish-flu-new-global-pandemics-feared-doc-xu59e1
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« Reply #252 on: January 28, 2018, 04:37:37 am »

Schools in ELEVEN states have closed this flu season as experts warn more than 50,000 Americans will die

    Schools are closing due to the spread of an aggressive strain of the flu
    The strain, known as H3N2, has killed 37 children so far this season
    The CDC has said the epidemic will most likely worsen in the coming days
    Seven children have died from the flu this week alone

Schools in 11 states have closed due to the spread of influenza this flu season.

The aggressive H3N2 strain of the virus has killed at least 37 children this season and will likely be responsible for the deaths of more, the Wall Street Journal reported.

It killed seven children this week alone, according to authorities. Additionally, hospitalizations have shot up from 36.9 people out of every 100,000 last week to 41.9 per every 100,000 this week.

The CDC has said it will not have an estimation for the number of deaths caused by the flu until next season.

However experts say more than 50,000 Americans will be dead by the end of this flu season, according to Bloomberg.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5320527/Schools-ELEVEN-states-closed-flu-season.html#ixzz55TTmZXlO

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« Reply #253 on: February 04, 2018, 06:34:27 pm »

CDC: US Flu Outbreak Worsens; Hospitalizations Highest in Nearly a Decade


The U.S. flu outbreak worsened over the past week as more people headed to doctors' offices and emergency rooms, with hospitalizations at the highest in nearly 10 years, U.S. health officials said on Friday.

Sixteen children died of the flu in the week ended Jan. 27, bringing total pediatric deaths to 53 for the season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's weekly report.

Out of every 100,000 people in the general population, an estimated 51.4 have been hospitalized for the flu, surpassing the rate in the last severe season of 2014-2015, when 710,000 were hospitalized and 148 children died. Adults aged 65 or older had the most hospitalizations, followed by those aged 50 to 64 and children below 5.

"So far this year the cumulative rate of hospitalization is the highest since we began tracking in this way," Dr. Anne Schuchat, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters on a conference call.

With the previous record now broken, "we fear this year might be even worse than 2014-2015," Schuchat said in a telephone interview.

The United States is now 10 weeks into the current flu season, which is expected to last for at least several more weeks.

The dominant strain during this flu season is an especially nasty type called influenza A (H3N2) that in seasons past was linked with severe disease and death, especially in the elderly and young.

Schuchat was named acting CDC director earlier this week after Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald resigned from the post because of financial conflicts of interest, including purchases of tobacco and healthcare stocks while in office.

Flu is widespread in 48 states, down from 49 last week, with Oregon reporting less flu activity, the CDC said.

"We are not out of the woods yet," Schuchat said, noting that sick people should stay home to avoid transmitting the virus to others, frequently wash hands and cover their mouth while coughing or sneezing.

The CDC official also said it was not too late to get a flu vaccine.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/cdc-flu-outbreak-hospitalizations/2018/02/03/id/841262/
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« Reply #254 on: February 04, 2018, 08:25:51 pm »

To Deal With a Flu Onslaught, Emergency Rooms Expand Into Waiting Rooms

Emergency departments across the U.S. have been slammed in recent weeks by an onslaught of flu visits, forcing hospitals to devise new spaces to house patients, to restrict visitors and to postpone elective surgeries.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-deal-with-a-flu-onslaught-emergency-rooms-expand-into-waiting-rooms-and-hallways-1517481000
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« Reply #255 on: February 10, 2018, 08:22:18 pm »

Flu Is Causing 1 in 10 American Deaths and Climbing
Along with the pneumonia it spawns, this year’s epidemic may be killing 4,000 people every week.




Along with the pneumonia it spawns, this year’s epidemic may be killing 4,000 people every week.
By

February 9, 2018, 1:54 PM EST Updated on February 9, 2018, 4:53 PM EST

The amount of influenza ravaging the U.S. this year rivals levels normally seen when an altogether new virus emerges, decimating a vulnerable population that hasn’t had a chance to develop any defenses.

It’s an unexpected phenomenon that public health experts are still trying to decode.

The levels of influenza-like illnesses being reported now are as high as the peak of the swine flu epidemic in 2009, and exceed the last severe seasonal flu outbreak in 2003 when a new strain started circulating, said Anne Schuchat, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s acting director. Swine flu, which swept the globe in 2009 and 2010, sickened 60.8 million Americans, hospitalized 274,304 and killed 12,469, according to CDC data. Deaths from the current outbreak will likely far outstrip those of the 2009-2010 season.

“This is a difficult season, and we can’t predict how much longer the severe season will last,” she said. “I wish there was better news, but everything we are looking at is bad news.”
Share of U.S. Deaths From Pneumonia and Influenza

Source: Centers for Disease Control

The primary type of influenza this year hasn’t changed enough from previous seasons to be considered a novel strain, Schuchat said. The agency’s virologists are studying it to determine if there are any other explanations for why it’s been so hard-hitting.

“We have a lot to learn still about influenza,” she said. “It’s a wake-up call about how severe influenza can be, and why we can never let down our guard.”

Deaths from influenza and pneumonia, which are closely tied to  each other in the winter months, were responsible for 1 of every 10 deaths last week, and that’s likely to rise, Schuchat said in a conference call Friday. There were 40,414 deaths in the U.S. during the third week of 2018, the most recent data available, and 4,064 were from pneumonia or influenza, according to the CDC data. The number for that week is expected to rise more reports are sent to the agency.

It gets worse. The death toll in future weeks is expected to grow even higher because flu activity is still rising—and the number of deaths follow the flu activity. Hospitalization rates are already approaching total numbers seen at the end of the flu season, which may not be for months.

“Unfortunately, more deaths are likely to happen,” Schuchat said. “Over the next few weeks, we do expect and it would make sense to see more pneumonia and influenza-related deaths. The people who are likely to die are already in the hospital.”
Percentage of Outpatient Visits for Flu-Like Illnesses

Source: Centers for Disease Control

This year’s flu could be more calamitous than outbreaks going back decades, but there’s no way to know for sure. It’s difficult to compare the severity of influenza across seasons for more than a handful of years because of changes in how the virus is handled in the U.S. The CDC started recommending universal vaccination to stop the spread of the virus in 2010, after previously targeting only those in high-risk groups who were most likely to die from an infection.

The agency reported another 10 deaths among children this season, bringing the total to 63 so far. Half had no other medical conditions that would place them in the high-risk category, and only about 20 percent were vaccinated.

The agency only started counting deaths among children in 2004, after a particularly severe season. That year, the number of doctor’s office visits for the flu peaked at 7.6 percent; last week it was 7.7 percent.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-09/flu-caused-1-in-10-american-deaths-last-week
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« Reply #256 on: February 10, 2018, 08:23:08 pm »

Flu season still getting worse; now as bad as 2009 swine flu

The flu has further tightened its grip on the U.S. This season is now as bad as the swine flu epidemic nine years ago.

A government report out Friday shows 1 of every 13 visits to the doctor last week was for fever, cough and other symptoms of the flu. That ties the highest level seen in the U.S. during swine flu in 2009.

And it surpasses every winter flu season since 2003, when the government changed the way it measures flu.

“I wish that there were better news this week, but almost everything we’re looking at is bad news,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Flu season usually takes off in late December and peaks around February. This season started early and was widespread in many states by December. Early last month, it hit what seemed like peak levels — but then continued to surge.

The season has been driven by a nasty type of flu that tends to put more people in the hospital and cause more deaths than other more common flu bugs. Still, its long-lasting intensity has surprised experts, who are still sorting out why it’s been so bad. One possibility is that the vaccine is doing an unusually poor job; U.S. data on effectiveness is expected next week.

Some doctors say this is the worst flu season they’ve seen in decades. Some patients are saying that, too.

Veda Albertson, a 70-year-old retiree in Tampa, was sick for three weeks with high fever and fluid in her lungs. She said she hadn’t been this sick from the flu since the 1960s, when she was a young mother who couldn’t get out of bed to go to the crib of her crying baby.

“It was like ‘Wham!’ It was bad. It was awful,” she said of the illness that hit her on Christmas Day.

Heather Jossi, a 40-year-old Denver police officer and avid runner, said her illness last month was the worst flu she’s experienced.

“I don’t remember aches this bad. Not for four days,” said Jossi. “It took me out.”

Albertson said she got a flu shot, Jossi did not.

Last week, 43 states had high patient traffic for the flu, up from 42, the CDC reported. Flu remained widespread in every state except Hawaii and Oregon and hospitalizations continued to climb.

“It’s beginning to feel like a marathon,” said Dr. Anthony Marchetti, emergency department medical director at Upson Regional Medical Center, a 115-bed hospital in rural Georgia. A quarter of the hospital’s emergency department visits are patients with flu, and the hospital has added nursing staff and placed beds in halls to accommodate the increase, he said.

“It just means we have to keep on keeping on. We’re getting used to it,” Marchetti said.

So far, it has not been a remarkably bad year for flu deaths. Flu and flu-related pneumonia deaths have lagged a little behind some recent bad seasons. The CDC counts flu deaths in children and there have been 63 so far. They have gone as high as about 170 in a season. Overall, there are estimated to be as many as 56,000 deaths linked to the flu during a bad year.

But reports of deaths — some in otherwise healthy children and young adults — have caused growing fear and concern, health officials acknowledge.

On Friday, Delisah Revell brought her 10-month-old daughter to the Upson Regional emergency room. “I heard how bad it is and I didn’t want to take any chances,” said Revell, who drove 30 minutes to get to the hospital in Thomaston.

The CDC said the amount of suspected flu cases at doctor’s offices and hospital emergency rooms last week matched that seen in 2009, when a new swine flu pandemic swept the world. Swine flu, also called pandemic H1N1, was a new strain that hadn’t been seen before. It first hit that spring, at the tail end of the winter season, but doctor visits hit their height in late October during a second wave.

This flu season, hospitalization rates have surpassed the nasty season of the winter of 2014-2015, when the vaccine was a poor match to the main bug.

Health officials have said this year’s vaccine targets the flu viruses that are currently making people sick, including the swine flu virus that has become a regular winter threat. However, preliminary studies out of Australia and Canada have found the shot was only 10 to 20 percent effective in those countries against the H3N2 strain that’s causing the most suffering this winter.

Doctors say they’re a bit bewildered as to why this season is so intense.

“It is surprising,” said Dr. James Steinberg, chief medical officer at Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta. “It’s not a hugely new strain. So why is it so severe? I don’t think we know.”

https://apnews.com/da19ce2ea2354b5db3cc1cfeb78220fc/Flu-season-still-getting-worse;-now-as-bad-as-2009-swine-flu
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« Reply #257 on: March 05, 2018, 04:50:46 pm »

As yellow fever spreads toward big cities, Brazil struggles to vaccinate millions



They began arriving as early as midnight, air mattresses and beach chairs tucked under their arms, lined up down the sidewalk and around the corner in downtown São Paulo, Brazil.

"Make sure you have your vaccination card and your number in hand," a public health clinic worker shouted to those lucky enough to have one of the 300 numbers that would allow them to receive a full dose of the yellow fever vaccine, good for a lifetime.

"If you're not here when your number is called, you'll lose your place in line!"

Brazil is fighting to stay ahead of one of its worst epidemics of yellow fever, a sometimes-fatal virus transmitted by Haemagogus and Sabethes mosquitoes and named for the yellowing of the skin and eyes of those infected.

Though the surge has largely been in rural areas, there is increasing concern that if people don't get the vaccine, the virus could spread into the country's biggest cities.

Those lined up on the January morning in São Paulo were also racing the clock. The Brazilian government, faced with the task of vaccinating millions as quickly as possible, said it would begin reducing vaccine doses in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro by the end of January to help stretch supplies.

Though health officials insisted even a partial dose would protect people for up to eight years, many remained unconvinced.

"Why would I only want only part of a vaccination?" asked Isabel Antônia Martins, who waited in line that day. "We don't know if it will have the same affect as a full dose. I'm not taking any chances, especially with the way yellow fever has been spreading."
A young boy in Sao Paulo winces as he gets the yellow fever vaccine.

A young boy in Sao Paulo winces as he gets the yellow fever vaccine. (Jr./EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock /)

Unlike the country's recent epidemic of Zika, another mosquito-borne virus that caused severe birth defects as a result of microcephaly in hundreds of babies, the yellow fever that is spreading across the country is not being transmitted by Aedes aegypti, the urban-dwelling mosquito blamed for the Zika epidemic.

Still, the yellow fever that has surged in rural parts of the country has now made its way into Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, three states with some of the country's largest metropolitan centers — areas where people traditionally don't have to worry about getting the vaccine.

"It's a case of opportunity," said Maurício Nogueira, president of the Brazilian Society of Virology. "To urbanize, it would need a population that is susceptible [to the virus] and mosquitoes that are susceptible to the city. So the quicker we control these rural outbreaks, the lower the chances that it will urbanize.

It's something we can't waver on," he added. "We need to vaccinate the largest number of people as quickly as possible."

The advancing virus has stoked both fear and suspicion in Brazil's urban centers.

People line up for hours to get the vaccine. Cases of the doses have been stolen from government health clinics and private practices. And in São Paulo, 32 city parks were closed after a monkey contracted yellow fever and began to die. In a surge of panic and misunderstanding, people began slaughtering monkeys, wrongly thinking they were responsible for spreading the virus.

São Paulo state has seen the most dramatic jump in cases of yellow fever. In the first six weeks of 2018, there were already 133 confirmed cases and 49 deaths blamed on the virus, a staggering increase from 2017 when there were 53 cases and 16 deaths for the entire year. Rio had 47 cases and 21 deaths in January alone, compared with 27 cases and nine deaths the previous year.

Yellow fever's migration south, which Nogueira says has always been monitored, comes as no surprise to specialists. But the speed at which it has been traveling is something new. As the virus spreads and moves toward areas generally not threatened by yellow fever, the government's vaccination campaign has struggled to keep up.

Even with the early rush to get vaccinated, the Ministry of Health's goal to vaccinate 20.5 million people in São Paulo and Rio between Jan. 25 and Feb. 15 reached only 20% of its targeted population. With just 3.6 million people vaccinated, it decided to extend the campaign into March.

But some people are choosing to forego the vaccination, convinced by rumors that the vaccine is a bigger threat than the actual virus, false information that has been passed along on social media.

A post on Facebook claiming a teenager died because of side effects from the yellow fever vaccine went viral, even though officials from the town where she lived said the teen's death was due to bacterial pneumonia. An audio recording of a woman claiming to be a doctor and warning that the vaccine isn't safe also made the rounds on Brazil's popular messaging app, WhatsApp.

While there were five deaths caused by the vaccine in Brazil last year, such serious problems are rare. Side effects of the yellow fever vaccine are usually minor, ranging from headaches and muscle pain, to low-grade fevers and a mild rash.

The real problem, according to Nogueira, isn't the vaccine, but the government's lack of transparency.

"Brazilians should be more concerned about the transparency of their government," he said. "The government needs to be very clear and needs to explain why it didn't start vaccinating last year. It needs to say, 'Look, we didn't have enough vaccines then.' And it needs to admit that what we have right now is an epidemic."


http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-brazil-yellow-fever-20180305-story.html
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« Reply #258 on: March 10, 2018, 06:07:37 pm »

Scientists warn of mysterious and deadly new epidemic called Disease X that could kill millions around the world

An unknown and deadly new illness dubbed Disease X has been added to the list of potential global epidemics that could kill millions.

Each year scientists with the World Health Organisation (WHO) create a list of the most likely diseases to break out into a worldwide pandemic.

This year, among the familiar Ebola, SARS, and Zika viruses is the new name of Disease X.

And unlike the other pathogens, it is not known what causes Disease X or how doctors could try to treat it.

Researchers said that they added Disease X to the threat list to recognise the fact that the next deadly pandemic could be started by an illness that has not caused any problems before.

"Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease."

Norwegian scientist and WHO adviser John-Arne Rottingen said that it was likely the next outbreak would be "something we have not seen before".

"It may seem strange to be adding an ‘X’ but the point is to make sure we prepare and plan flexibly in terms of vaccines and diagnostic tests," he told The Daily Telegraph.

Disease X could even be man-made, rather than a fluke of nature. There are growing fears that the use and development of chemical and biological weapons are on the rise. In Syria's bloody civil war chemical bombs have been dropped on civilians on numerous occasions.

And closer to home, the police have confirmed that a nerve agent, probably created in a lab by state-sponsored scientists as a targeted weapon, was used to attack the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury this week.

Last year North Korea is believed to have used the nerve agent VX to assassinate the half-brother of dictator Kim Jong-Un in an airport in a Malaysian airport.

Mr Rottingen said that the man-made viruses and diseases were especially dangerous because humans have not built up any resistance over time to them, leaving them free to sweep across the globe before governments and doctors can catch up.

“Synthetic biology allows for the creation of deadly new viruses. It is also the case that where you have a new disease there is no resistance in the population and that means it can spread fast."

But it was just as possible that Disease X could spring up from the natural world, just as previous deadly epidemics such as Spanish Flu or HIV.

“The intensity of animal and human contact is becoming much greater as the world develops. This makes it more likely new diseases will emerge but also modern travel and trade make it much more likely they will spread,” the WHO adviser Professor Marion Koopmans told The Daily Telegraph.

Some of the proven killers on the list, such as Zika or SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) caught the world by surprise when they first arose and killed hundreds or even thousands before they were brought under control. Before scientists became familiar with these threats, they to would have been considered a Disease X.
Disease X could be as dangerous as Zika, which causes microcephaly in newborn babies (Image: REUTERS)

The WHO hopes that formally adding a future Disease X to the list will push countries and researchers to redouble their efforts to create protections against unknown epidemics.

But more common diseases could also cause devastation. Yesterday, the WHO warned that the next global flu epidemic could begin "tomorrow" and kill as many as 33 million people in just 200 days.

Jonathan Quick, chairman of the Global Health Council and a project leader for the World Health Organisation, has written a new book, Ending Epidemics: The Looming Threat To Humanity And How To Stop It.
Hundreds of Spanish flu victims in Kansas (Image: www.alamy.com)

Giving a stark warning, he said: “With disrupted supply of food and medicines and without enough survivors to run computer or energy systems, the global economy would collapse.

“Starvation and looting could lay waste to parts of the world “It’s a disaster movie night. Yet it is waiting to come true thanks to ­influenza, the most diabolical viral killer known to humankind."

Exactly 100 years ago the Spanish Flu outbreak swept around the world, killing about 100 million people around the world, more than the four years of the First World War which had only just finished.
Victims of 1918's devastating Spanish Flu outbreak are buried in mass graves (Image: www.alamy.com)

Celebrities and oridinary citizens were struck down alike. In America, which was hit particularly hard, so many people died there was no space left in morgues and families often had to dig their own graves.

Quick said that while there were lots of precautions governments could take to stop future epidemics, most countries were ignoring the threat.

“The good news is that there is much we can do to prevent this. The bad news is that much of it is not being done. We are just as vulnerable now as we were 100 years ago.”
Spanish flu killed 100 million and a similar epidemic is set to strike again (Image: www.alamy.com)

Dr Greg Poland, an expert in viruses as the Mayo Clinic, another global flu crisis was “100 per cent” certain.

He said: “We will have another pandemic. What’s unpredictable is the severity of it.

“When you begin to feel comfortable, you’re well on the road to bad things happening.”

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/scientists-warn-mysterious-deadly-new-12160964
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« Reply #259 on: March 15, 2018, 02:43:32 am »

Passengers expose fellow travelers at 3 airports to virus

Visitors to airports in Detroit; Newark, N.J.; and Memphis may have been exposed to measles after cases were confirmed in two international travelers, health officials in two states said Tuesday.

But people who received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine twice as children are considered protected for life, federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said. Others who have not been vaccinated or had only one shot could come down with the disease, which can be life threatening.

The specifics:

• Detroit. People who visited the North Terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on the afternoon of March 6 likely were exposed to the highly contagious virus, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Someone infected could develop symptoms as late as next week

• Newark. Passengers in terminals B and C of Newark Liberty International Airport also were exposed and could develop symptoms as late as April 2, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.

• Memphis. The young child diagnosed with measles arrived in Newark from Brussels and flew to Memphis International Airport that evening, exposing others along the way, New Jersey health officials said.

In Detroit, "anyone who was in customs or baggage claim in the airport's North Terminal between 2 and 5 p.m. (ET) that day should seek medical attention from their primary care provider if they develop symptoms of the disease," Michigan health officials said in a news release.

But call the doctor first. A person with measles sitting in a reception area waiting for treatment can transmit the disease.

Detroit Metropolitan Airport is a hub for Delta Air Lines in its McNamara Terminal. Various airlines have international flights — many based in the North Terminal — that fly to and from Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico and the Netherlands.

Passengers at Newark airport between 12:45 and 9 p.m. Monday could have been exposed to the measles virus, New Jersey officials said. It was not immediately known what flight the infected child boarded to Memphis and when the youngster arrived, but United does have a 7 p.m. Monday flight to Memphis that arrives around 9:10 p.m. CT.

International travelers who arrived in Newark's Terminal B on flights from Amsterdam; Beijing; Bogota; Brussels; Cancun, Mexico; Copenhagen; Dublin; Edinburgh; Frankfurt; Geneva; Havana; London; Madrid; Manchester, United Kingdom; Lisbon, Portugal; Lomé, Togo; Mexico City; Monrovia, Liberia; Munich; Oslo; Panama City, Panama; Paris; Quebec; Reykjavik, Iceland; Santiago, Chile; Shanghai; Tel Aviv, Israel; Toronto; and Zurich were potentially exposed. Domestic flights from Atlanta; Cincinnati; Detroit; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Minneapolis; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Orlando; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Salt Lake City also arrived during that time, according to Newark airport's flight list.

Other travelers were exposed as the child made the trek to Terminal C, sat on the flight to Memphis and arrived at the airport terminal there.

Measles begins with a "high fever, red eyes, cough, runny nose" and extreme sensitivity to light, according to the department.

Not only is measles very contagious — it spreads through a cough or sneeze and even by being in a room up to two hours after an infected person has left — children younger than 5 can face serious complications, including permanent hearing loss from ear infections; pneumonia, which is a lung infection; or a swelling of the brain called encephalitis. Pregnant women are susceptible to giving birth prematurely or having a low-weight baby.

The illness has a 10- to 12-day incubation period. After the earlier symptoms, it develops into a red, raised body rash that starts on the head and face before progressing to the rest of the body.

People may be contagious for a few days before symptoms become noticeable, health department officials said.

The first of two measles vaccinations that also combine protection from mumps and rubella, often called German measles, generally is given to children 12 months old. But infants as young as 6 months can get a measles vaccine if they're traveling internationally, Michigan health officials said.

The measles case reported Tuesday was confirmed in Washtenaw County, whose county seat is Ann Arbor, and it's Michigan's first in 2018. The person had returned from travel abroad March 6 and was contagious at the time, according to the Michigan health department.

The Michigan measles patient was hospitalized and is now recovering.

In 2017, measles cases numbered 118 in the United States, and the majority of people diagnosed had not been vaccinated, according to the Michigan health department. The average number of measles cases from 2001 to 2012 nationwide has been about 60.

So far as of Feb. 24 this year, 13 people in seven states — Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas — have contracted measles, the CDC has reported. On Jan. 2, an Indiana University student who later developed measles arrived on an international flight in Newark's Terminal C and departed for Indianapolis.

Many of the 188 cases reported in a 2015 outbreak were tied to an infected person who visited Disneyland. More than half of the 667 measles cases reported in 2014 occurred in unvaccinated Amish communities in Ohio.

“This case underscores the importance of following vaccine recommendations and being up-to-date on vaccines,” said Dr. Eden Wells, the Michigan health department's chief medical executive. “Immunizations are the best way to protect our families and communities from the harmful, sometimes deadly consequences of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/03/14/detroit-traveler-measles/425446002/
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« Reply #260 on: March 27, 2018, 03:48:43 pm »

NYC sees largest increase in tuberculosis cases in 26 years

The number of tuberculosis cases in New York City suddenly jumped by 10 percent last year — the largest increase since 1992, according to the Health Department. TB is a highly infectious bacterial disease that largely attacks the lungs, but can also infect and spread to other organs, including the kidneys, spine or brain.

https://nypost.com/2018/03/26/nyc-tuberculosis-cases-soar-seeing-largest-increase-in-26-years/


Never seen before: Very rare Cholera outbreak in Vancouver Island

There is currently a very rare cholera outbreak on Vancouver Island. Specialists say they have never faced such a situation before. Individuals likely – meaning we have no clues right now! – contracted the illness after eating herring eggs harvested on the coast of Vancouver Island. “This is unique. We have not seen this before in B.C.,” a health officer reports.

http://strangesounds.org/2018/03/never-seen-before-rare-cholera-outbreak-spreads-across-vancouver-island.html
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« Reply #261 on: May 01, 2018, 11:03:08 pm »


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« Reply #262 on: June 11, 2018, 07:00:24 pm »

Polio Is Making A Comeback In Venezuela

The Venezuelan people have enough to contend with — desperate hunger, massive inflation, a dictator who refuses to leave power — without the spread of long-eradicated disease, but this weekend, the Pan-American Health Organization revealed that a Venezuelan child has been diagnosed with one of the only recorded cases of polio in decades.

The child, who lives in the "extremely impoverished" state of Delta Amacuro, Venezuela, was not vaccinated against the deadly disease and has likely received no medical care or treatment in his entire life.

The last case of polio in Venezuela was recorded in 1989.

Health officials were especially angry about the case because, it seems, Nicolas Maduro's socialist government waited more than a month to let authorities know they'd discovered a case of polio — more than enough time for the disease to spread among impoverished children, and more than enough time for travelers and refugees who came in contact with the disease to spread it beyond Venezuela's borders.

Maduro's government will not approve money for vaccines or basic medical care through their public health system, so only around 67% of Venezuelan children have been vaccinated against polio. Additionally, 90% of "necessary medications and vaccines" have disappeared from pharmacy shelves, the Telegraph reports.

“The government is not approving the money for the vaccines,” said Manuela Bolivar, one of Venezuela's opposition leaders. “This situation is unfortunate but we saw it coming, because we’ve been denouncing for years that there are not enough vaccines.”

And polio isn't even the only long-eradicated disease to surface in the socialist country: Venezuela has reported more than 1500 cases of the measles, several hundred cases of tuberculosis, and instances of diphtheria, yellow fever, typhoid, and malaria. The country accounts for the vast majority — 85% — of all reported measles cases in South America.

Polio is an extremely rare and deadly disease spread, typically, through water contaminated with fecal matter. One in one hundred who suffer from it will have permanent paralysis and there is no cure. In most of the developed world, polio hasn't been seen in decades, and the World Health Organization reports that there have been only ten cases globally in the last several years, most in very rural, very poor areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/31706/polio-making-comeback-venezuela-emily-zanotti
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« Reply #263 on: June 15, 2018, 01:35:38 am »

Idaho Child Diagnosed with State's First Case of Plague in Humans Since 1992

An unidentified child in Elmore County, Idaho, is being treated for the state’s first human case of plague in over 25 years.

The child is being treated with antibiotics, and is expected to recover. It is unknown whether they were exposed to the disease at home, or abroad in a recent trip to Oregon.

“Plague is spread to humans through a bite from an infected flea. People can decrease their risk by treating their pets for fleas and avoiding contact with wildlife,” said Central District Health Department epidemiologist Sarah Correll. “Wear insect repellent, long pants and socks when visiting plague affected areas.”

The CDHD says that the spread of plague to human hosts is rare, but is often naturally found in wild rodents such as squirrels. In the spring and summer, when animals are more active, the risk of infection increases. To prevent exposure, no one should ever feed wild rodents, nor handle any that are sick or dead.

Additionally, the CDHD recommends keeping your pets and their food away from any potentially infected creatures, and always use appropriate flea control products to reduce their risk of infection. If you or your pet becomes ill—especially with sudden and severe fever—seek medical attention immediately.

The bubonic or “black” plague decimated Europe in the Middle Ages, but can now be treated with relative ease with appropriate medical intervention. Still, it can all too easily spread if left unchecked. In November 2017, nearly 2,000 people in Madagascar were infected, resulting in over 200 deaths.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/06/14/idaho-child-diagnosed-states-first-case-plague-humans-since-1992/
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« Reply #264 on: July 13, 2018, 07:10:47 pm »

OUTBREAK ALERT: Viral Illness That Infects Children SPREAD In Virginia

A contagious virus which infects children is spreading through Virginia.  Childcare providers and schools are sounding the alarms after several hundred cases of “hand, foot, and mouth” disease have sickened young kids.

A letter sent out by the Central Shenandoah Health District on Wednesday warns that cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease have elevated in recent weeks, reported Wavy.   The viral illness most often infects children up to age 5, but officials warn anyone is susceptible to the virus.

“There were a total across the state of 376 emergency department and urgent care visits that a chief complaint or a diagnosis of hand, foot and mouth disease. Or, they had symptoms consistent with that of the diagnosis,” according to Laura Kornegay, the district’s health director. Dr. Kevin Connelly, a pediatrician with the Chippenham Hospital in Richmond told NBC affiliate WWBT the disease is highly contagious.

Symptoms of hand, foot, and mouth disease include fever, fatigue, a rash in the mouth, on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet, and sometimes painful sores. The fever can last for up to five days, but there are other reasons to be concerned.

“The problem with the disease is that with the blisters in your mouth it hurts to swallow,” Dr. Connelly said. “So children don’t want to eat … don’t want to drink. They have a risk of getting dehydrated.” He also said that runny noses are common in daycares and schools and often how the virus spreads. Saliva is all too common in places where a lot of children congregate.

There’s no treatment for the virus, and it can remain in the body for weeks after symptoms have gone away, according to the Virginia Department of Health.  According to The Mayo Clinic, symptoms of the infection can be relieved at home until the child is fully recovered.  Sucking on ice or eating ice cream can alleviate the soreness in the mouth, while over-the-counter pain relievers will work to reduce the fever and offer comfort.

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/outbreak-alert-viral-illness-that-infects-children-spread-in-virginia_07122018
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« Reply #265 on: August 15, 2018, 08:34:23 am »

CDC monitoring measles outbreak in 21 states, including North Carolina

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday afternoon that 107 people from 21 states, including North Carolina, have reported contracting the measles.

The other states included are Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.

This number will likely outpace the number of measles cases reported in 2017.

There were 118 cases in 2017, and only 86 the year before that.

The last outbreak was in 2015 when 188 people contracted measles.

The outbreak was linked to an amusement park in California where it is thought that a traveler from overseas brought it to the U.S.

Measles is an airborne virus that spreads through coughing and sneezing.

Symptoms show up in 10-14 days after exposure. The symptoms last 7-10 days and include a high fever, cough, runny nose, and red eyes followed by a rash that typically starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body.

According to the CDC, some people may suffer from severe complications, such as pneumonia and brain swelling which could result in hospitalization or death.

https://abc11.com/health/cdc-monitoring-measles-outbreak-in-21-states-including-north-carolina-/3957136/
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« Reply #266 on: August 20, 2018, 04:27:19 pm »

Measles cases hit record high in Europe

Cases of measles in Europe have hit a record high, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

More than 41,000 people have been infected in the first six months of 2018, leading to 37 deaths.

Last year there were 23,927 cases and the year before 5,273. Experts blame this surge in infections on a drop in the number of people being vaccinated.

In England, there have been 807 cases so far this year. The WHO is calling on European countries to take action.

Public Health England say the outbreaks in England are largely due to people who have travelled to areas of mainland Europe that have had outbreaks.

Measles is highly infectious and spreads by droplets in coughs and sneezes.

The infection lasts seven to 10 days. But while most people recover completely, it can cause some serious complications, including:

    encephalitis (infection and swelling of the brain)
    meningitis
    febrile convulsions
    pneumonia
    liver infection (hepatitis)

The MMR vaccine can prevent infection but discredited research 20 years ago that erroneously linked MMR to autism has stopped some people from trusting the vaccine.

The NHS recommends all children receive the MMR around their first birthday and then just before starting school.

Ukraine and Serbia are among the countries with the highest rates in Europe.

Dr Nedret Emiroglu, from the WHO, said: "This partial setback demonstrates that every under-immunised person remains vulnerable no matter where they live and every country must keep pushing to increase coverage and close immunity gaps."

Italy's upper house of parliament recently voted through legislation to abolish the law that makes vaccination mandatory for children before they start school. The amendment will mean parents of unvaccinated children will no longer face fines.
Measles symptoms:

    cold-like symptoms - runny nose, sneezing
    signs the body is fighting infection - high fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, muscle aches
    red, watery eyes (conjunctivitis)
    greyish spots in the mouth
    red, raised spots that may merge together becoming blotchy, starting around the hairline two to four days after the initial symptoms, then spreading down over the head, neck and rest of the body

Find more NHS information on measles here.

In England, there have been 807 laboratory confirmed measles cases, according to Public Health England (PHE). The highest numbers have been seen in:

    London (281)
    South East (166)
    South West (139)
    West Midlands (84)
    Yorkshire and Humberside (75)

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE, said: "We have seen a number of measles outbreaks in England which are linked to ongoing large outbreaks in Europe.

"The majority of cases we are seeing are in teenagers and young adults who missed out on their MMR vaccine when they were children.

"Anyone who missed out on their MMR vaccine in the past or are unsure if they had two doses should contact their GP practice to catch up.

"We would encourage people to ensure they are up to date with their MMR vaccine before travelling to countries with ongoing measles outbreaks, heading to large gatherings such as festivals, or before starting university."

Dr Pauline Paterson from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "With a vaccine preventable disease, one case is one too many, and the numbers of measles cases so far this year is astounding."

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-45246049
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« Reply #267 on: September 09, 2018, 12:38:46 pm »

Monkeypox: UK's first case of rare viral infection confirmed

A monkeypox patient in Africa, where cases of the the viral infection are on the rise - www.alamy.com

More than 50 members of the public could have been exposed to a rare viral infection, health officials fear after the first case of monkeypox was diagnosed in the UK.

A Nigerian naval officer who came to the UK to take part in an Ministry of Defence (MoD) training exercise at a Royal Navy base in Cornwall was confirmed to have the disease on Friday.

He flew from Nigeria, where he is believed to have contracted the disease, to London on a commercial flight last weekend.

Public Health England (PHE) have contacted passengers on the plane who were sat close to the man to warn them that they have been exposed to the infection.

The risk to the wider public is considered to be very low, PHE said.

The Nigerian naval officer began to develop symptoms of the virus, which has a mortality rate of between one and ten per cent, while on the British base.

On Friday after his diagnosis was confirmed the patient was moved to the infectious disease unit at the Royal Free Hospital in London. He was said to be in a stable condition.

Monkeypox is a rare viral infection, similar to smallpox but not as deadly. It is usually mild and self-limiting with most people recovering within a few weeks, but severe illness and death can occur.

It does not spread easily between humans but can be transmitted via close contact.

PHE has contacted 50 people it considers to be at risk, including those sitting closest to the patient on the flight from Abuja to Heathrow on Sunday September 2.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said “all necessary steps” were being taken but that no other personnel had developed symptoms.

The initial symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.

In humans, the signs and symptoms of monkeypox are similar to those of smallpox, but usually milder - Credit: Visuals Unlimited /Science VU

In humans, the signs and symptoms of monkeypox are similar to those of smallpox, but usually milder Credit: Visuals Unlimited /Science VU

A painful rash with open sores can develop, often beginning on the face, then spreading to other parts of the body.

The rash changes and goes through different stages before finally forming a scab, which later falls off. If the disease infects the eye it can lead to scarring of the cornea and, in some cases, blindness.

Dr Michael Jacobs, clinical director of infection at the Royal Free said: “Monkeypox is, in most cases, a mild condition which will resolve on its own and have no long-term effects on a person’s health. Most people recover within several weeks.

“It is a rare disease caused by monkeypox virus, and has been reported mainly in central and west African countries.

“It does not spread easily between people and the risk of transmission to the wider public is very low. We are using strict isolation procedures in hospital to protect our staff and patients.” Dr Nick Phin, deputy director of the national infection service at PHE said:

“It is important to emphasise that monkeypox does not spread easily between people and the overall risk to the general public is very low.

“Public Health England is following up those who have had close contact with the patient to offer advice and to monitor them as necessary.

“PHE and the NHS have well established and robust infection control procedures for dealing with cases of imported infectious disease and these will be strictly followed to minimise the risk of transmission.”

Monkeypox was first observed in the 1960s in monkeys brought to Europe from Africa, with the first human case diagnosed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970.

Nigeria is experiencing a particularly virulent outbreak with 89 people infected and six deaths since 2017.

Scientists are still unsure if the disease is transmitted by monkeys or via rodents.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/more-50-people-could-exposed-172507441.html
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« Reply #268 on: September 12, 2018, 05:54:43 am »

Second person is struck down with deadly monkeypox virus in UK

A second person has been struck down with the deadly monkeypox virus just days after health officials revealed the first ever case had reached the UK. Public Health England said the patient is currently receiving treatment at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, a specialist centre. Officials believe they caught the virus, often spread through handling monkeys and proves fatal in 10 per cent of cases, in Nigeria before flying to England. The unidentified patient first went to Blackpool Victoria Hospital with symptoms, before they tested positive for monkeypox.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6156029/Second-person-struck-deadly-monkeypox-virus-UK.html
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« Reply #269 on: April 06, 2019, 08:37:21 am »

Deadly germs, Lost cures: A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy

Last May, an elderly man was admitted to the Brooklyn branch of Mount Sinai Hospital for abdominal surgery. A blood test revealed that he was infected with a newly discovered germ as deadly as it was mysterious. Doctors swiftly isolated him in the intensive care unit.

The germ, a fungus called Candida auris, preys on people with weakened immune systems, and it is quietly spreading across the globe. Over the last five years, it has hit a neonatal unit in Venezuela, swept through a hospital in Spain, forced a prestigious British medical center to shut down its intensive care unit, and taken root in India, Pakistan and South Africa.

Recently C. auris reached New York, New Jersey and Illinois, leading the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to add it to a list of germs deemed “urgent threats.”

The man at Mount Sinai died after 90 days in the hospital, but C. auris did not. Tests showed it was everywhere in his room, so invasive that the hospital needed special cleaning equipment and had to rip out some of the ceiling and floor tiles to eradicate it.

“Everything was positive — the walls, the bed, the doors, the curtains, the phones, the sink, the whiteboard, the poles, the pump,” said Dr. Scott Lorin, the hospital’s president. “The mattress, the bed rails, the canister holes, the window shades, the ceiling, everything in the room was positive.”

C. auris is so tenacious, in part, because it is impervious to major antifungal medications, makingued.

Resistant germs are often called “superbugs,” but this is simplistic because they don’t typically kill everyone. Instead, they are most lethal to people with immature or compromised immune systems, including newborns and the elderly, smokers, diabetics and people with autoimmune disorders who take steroids that suppress the body’s defenses.

Scientists say that unless more effective new medicines are develop it a new example of one of the world’s most intractable health threats: the rise of drug-resistant infections.

For decades, public health experts have warned that the overuse of antibiotics was reducing the effectiveness of drugs that have lengthened life spans by curing bacterial infections once commonly fatal. But lately, there has been an explosion of resistant fungi as well, adding a new and frightening dimension to a phenomenon that is undermining a pillar of modern medicine.

“It’s an enormous problem,” said Matthew Fisher, a professor of fungal epidemiology at Imperial College London, who was a co-author of a recent scientific review on the rise of resistant fungi. “We depend on being able to treat those patients with antifungals.”

Simply put, fungi, just like bacteria, are evolving defenses to survive modern medicines.

Yet even as world health leaders have pleaded for more restraint in prescribing antimicrobial drugs to combat bacteria and fungi — convening the United Nations General Assembly in 2016 to manage an emerging crisis — gluttonous overuse of them in hospitals, clinics and farming has contined and unnecessary use of antimicrobial drugs is sharply curbed, risk will spread to healthier populations. A study the British government funded projects that if policies are not put in place to slow the rise of drug resistance, 10 million people could die worldwide of all such infections in 2050, eclipsing the eight million expected to die that year from cancer.

In the United States, two million people contract resistant infections annually, and 23,000 die from them, according to the official C.D.C. estimate. That number was based on 2010 figures; more recent estimates from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine put the death toll at 162,000. Worldwide fatalities from resistant infections are estimated at 700,000.

Antibiotics and antifungals are both essential to combat infections in people, but antibiotics are also used widely to prevent disease in farm animals, and antifungals are also applied to prevent agricultural plants from rotting. Some scientists cite evidence that rampant use of fungicides on crops is contributing to the surge in drug-resistant fungi infecting humans.

Yet as the problem grows, it is little understood by the public — in part because the very existence of resistant infections is often cloaked in secrecy.

With bacteria and fungi alike, hospitals and local governments are reluctant to disclose outbreaks for fear of being seen as infection hubs. Even the C.D.C., under its agreement with states, is not allowed to make public the location or name of hospitals involved in outbreaks. State governments have in many cases declined to publicly share information beyond acknowledging that they have had cases.

All the while, the germs are easily spread — carried on hands and equipment inside hospitals; ferried on meat and manure-fertilized vegetables from farms; transported across borders by travelers and on exports and imports; and transferred by patients from nursing home to hospital and back.

C. auris, which infected the man at Mount Sinai, is one of dozens of dangerous bacteria and fungi that have developed resistance. Yet, like most of them, it is a threat that is virtually unknown to the public.

Other prominent strains of the fungus Candida — one of the most common causes of bloodstream infections in hospitals — have not developed significant resistance to drugs, but more than 90 percent of C. auris infections are resistant to at least one drug, and 30 percent are resistant to two or more drugs, the C.D.C. said.

Dr. Lynn Sosa, Connecticut’s deputy state epidemiologist, said she now saw C. auris as “the top” threat among resistant infections. “It’s pretty much unbeatable and difficult to identity,” she said.

Nearly half of patients who contract C. auris die within 90 days, according to the C.D.C. Yet the world’s experts have not nailed down where it came from in the first place.

“It is a creature from the black lagoon,” said Dr. Tom Chiller, who heads the fungal branch at the C.D.C., which is spearheading a global detective effort to find treatments and stop the spread. “It bubbled up and now it is everywhere.”

‘No need’ to tell the public

In late 2015, Dr. Johanna Rhodes, an infectious disease expert at Imperial College London, got a panicked call from the Royal Brompton Hospital, a British medical center outside London. C. auris had taken root there months earlier, and the hospital couldn’t clear it.

“‘We have no idea where it’s coming from. We’ve never heard of it. It’s just spread like wildfire,’” Dr. Rhodes said she was told. She agreed to help the hospital identify the fungus’s genetic profile and clean it from rooms.

Under her direction, hospital workers used a special device to spray aerosolized hydrogen peroxide around a room used for a patient with C. auris, the theory being that the vapor would scour each nook and cranny. They left the device going for a week. Then they put a “settle plate” in the middle of the room with a gel at the bottom that would serve as a place for any surviving microbes to grow, Dr. Rhodes said.

Only one organism grew back. C. auris.

It was spreading, but word of it was not. The hospital, a specialty lung and heart center that draws wealthy patients from the Middle East and around Europe, alerted the British government and told infected patients, but made no public announcement.

“There was no need to put out a news release during the outbreak,” said Oliver Wilkinson, a spokesman for the hospital.

This hushed panic is playing out in hospitals around the world. Individual institutions and national, state and local governments have been reluctant to publicize outbreaks of resistant infections, arguing there is no point in scaring patients — or prospective ones.

Dr. Silke Schelenz, Royal Brompton’s infectious disease specialist, found the lack of urgency from the government and hospital in the early stages of the outbreak “very, very frustrating.”

“They obviously didn’t want to lose reputation,” Dr. Schelenz said. “It hadn’t impacted our surgical outcomes.”

By the end of June 2016, a scientific paper reported “an ongoing outbreak of 50 C. auris cases” at Royal Brompton, and the hospital took an extraordinary step: It shut down its I.C.U. for 11 days, moving intensive care patients to another floor, again with no announcement.

Days later the hospital finally acknowledged to a newspaper that it had a problem. A headline in The Daily Telegraph warned, “Intensive Care Unit Closed After Deadly New Superbug Emerges in the U.K.” (Later research said there were eventually 72 total cases, though some patients were only carriers and were not infected by the fungus.)

Yet the issue remained little known internationally, while an even bigger outbreak had begun in Valencia, Spain, at the 992-bed Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe. There, unbeknown to the public or unaffected patients, 372 people were colonized — meaning they had the germ on their body but were not sick with it — and 85 developed bloodstream infections. A paper in the journal Mycoses reported that 41 percent of the infected patients died within 30 days.

A statement from the hospital said it was not necessarily C. auris that killed them. “It is very difficult to discern whether patients die from the pathogen or with it, since they are patients with many underlying diseases and in very serious general condition,” the statement said.

As with Royal Brompton, the hospital in Spain did not make any public announcement. It still has not.

One author of the article in Mycoses, a doctor at the hospital, said in an email that the hospital did not want him to speak to journalists because it “is concerned about the public image of the hospital.”

The secrecy infuriates patient advocates, who say people have a right to know if there is an outbreak so they can decide whether to go to a hospital, particularly when dealing with a nonurgent matter, like elective surgery.

“Why the heck are we reading about an outbreak almost a year and a half later — and not have it front-page news the day after it happens?” said Dr. Kevin Kavanagh, a physician in Kentucky and board chairman of Health Watch USA, a nonprofit patient advocacy group. “You wouldn’t tolerate this at a restaurant with a food poisoning outbreak.”

Health officials say that disclosing outbreaks frightens patients about a situation they can do nothing about, particularly when the risks are unclear.

“It’s hard enough with these organisms for health care providers to wrap their heads around it,” said Dr. Anna Yaffee, a former C.D.C. outbreak investigator who dealt with resistant infection outbreaks in Kentucky in which the hospitals were not publicly disclosed. “It’s really impossible to message to the public.”

Officials in London did alert the C.D.C. to the Royal Brompton outbreak while it was occurring. And the C.D.C. realized it needed to get the word to American hospitals. On June 24, 2016, the C.D.C. blasted a nationwide warning to hospitals and medical groups and set up an email address, candidaauris@cdc.gov, to field queries. Dr. Snigdha Vallabhaneni, a key member of the fungal team, expected to get a trickle — “maybe a message every month.”

Instead, within weeks, her inbox exploded.

Coming to America

In the United States, 587 cases of people having contracted C. auris have been reported, concentrated with 309 in New York, 104 in New Jersey and 144 in Illinois, according to the C.D.C.

The symptoms — fever, aches and fatigue — are seemingly ordinary, but when a person gets infected, particularly someone already unhealthy, such commonplace symptoms can be fatal.

The earliest known case in the United States involved a woman who arrived at a New York hospital on May 6, 2013, seeking care for respiratory failure. She was 61 and from the United Arab Emirates, and she died a week later, after testing positive for the fungus. At the time, the hospital hadn’t thought much of it, but three years later, it sent the case to the C.D.C. after reading the agency’s June 2016 advisory.

This woman probably was not America’s first C. auris patient. She carried a strain different from the South Asian one most common here. It killed a 56-year-old American woman who had traveled to India in March 2017 for elective abdominal surgery, contracted C. auris and was airlifted back to a hospital in Connecticut that officials will not identify. She was later transferred to a Texas hospital, where she died.

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The germ has spread into long-term care facilities. In Chicago, 50 percent of the residents at some nursing homes have tested positive for it, the C.D.C. has reported. The fungus can grow on intravenous lines and ventilators.

Workers who care for patients infected with C. auris worry for their own safety. Dr. Matthew McCarthy, who has treated several C. auris patients at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, described experiencing an unusual fear when treating a 30-year-old man.

“I found myself not wanting to touch the guy,” he said. “I didn’t want to take it from the guy and bring it to someone else.” He did his job and thoroughly examined the patient, but said, “There was an overwhelming feeling of being terrified of accidentally picking it up on a sock or tie or gown.”

The role of pesticides?

As the C.D.C. works to limit the spread of drug-resistant C. auris, its investigators have been trying to answer the vexing question: Where in the world did it come from?

The first time doctors encountered C. auris was in the ear of a woman in Japan in 2009 (auris is Latin for ear). It seemed innocuous at the time, a cousin of common, easily treated fungal infections.

Three years later, it appeared in an unusual test result in the lab of Dr. Jacques Meis, a microbiologist in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, who was analyzing a bloodstream infection in 18 patients from four hospitals in India. Soon, new clusters of C. auris seemed to emerge with each passing month in different parts of the world.

The C.D.C. investigators theorized that C. auris started in Asia and spread across the globe. But when the agency compared the entire genome of auris samples from India and Pakistan, Venezuela, South Africa and Japan, it found that its origin was not a single place, and there was not a single auris strain.

The genome sequencing showed that there were four distinctive versions of the fungus, with differences so profound that they suggested that these strains had diverged thousands of years ago and emerged as resistant pathogens from harmless environmental strains in four different places at the same time.

“Somehow, it made a jump almost seemingly simultaneously, and seemed to spread and it is drug resistant, which is really mind-boggling,” Dr. Vallabhaneni said.

There are different theories as to what happened with C. auris. Dr. Meis, the Dutch researcher, said he believed that drug-resistant fungi were developing thanks to heavy use of fungicides on crops.

Dr. Meis became intrigued by resistant fungi when he heard about the case of a 63-year-old patient in the Netherlands who died in 2005 from a fungus called Aspergillus. It proved resistant to a front-line antifungal treatment called itraconazole. That drug is a virtual copy of the azole pesticides that are used to dust crops the world over and account for more than one-third of all fungicide sales.

A 2013 paper in Plos Pathogens said that it appeared to be no coincidence that drug-resistant Aspergillus was showing up in the environment where the azole fungicides were used. The fungus appeared in 12 percent of Dutch soil samples, for example, but also in “flower beds, compost, leaves, plant seeds, soil samples of tea gardens, paddy fields, hospital surroundings, and aerial samples of hospitals.”

Dr. Meis visited the C.D.C. last summer to share research and theorize that the same thing is happening with C. auris, which is also found in the soil: Azoles have created an environment so hostile that the fungi are evolving, with resistant strains surviving.

This is similar to concerns that resistant bacteria are growing because of excessive use of antibiotics in livestock for health and growth promotion. As with antibiotics in farm animals, azoles are used widely on crops.

“On everything — potatoes, beans, wheat, anything you can think of, tomatoes, onions,” said Dr. Rhodes, the infectious disease specialist who worked on the London outbreak. “We are driving this with the use of antifungicides on crops.”

Dr. Chiller theorizes that C. auris may have benefited from the heavy use of fungicides. His idea is that C. auris actually has existed for thousands of years, hidden in the world’s crevices, a not particularly aggressive bug. But as azoles began destroying more prevalent fungi, an opportunity arrived for C. auris to enter the breach, a germ that had the ability to readily resist fungicides now suitable for a world in which fungi less able to resist are under attack.

The mystery of C. auris’s emergence remains unsolved, and its origin seems, for the moment, to be less important than stopping its spread.

Resistance and denial

For now, the uncertainty around C. auris has led to a climate of fear, and sometimes denial.

Last spring, Jasmine Cutler, 29, went to visit her 72-year-old father at a hospital in New York City, where he had been admitted because of complications from a surgery the previous month.

When she arrived at his room, she discovered that he had been sitting for at least an hour in a recliner, in his own feces, because no one had come when he had called for help to use the bathroom. Ms. Cutler said it became clear to her that the staff was afraid to touch him because a test had shown that he was carrying C. auris.

“I saw doctors and nurses looking in the window of his room,” she said. “My father’s not a guinea pig. You’re not going to treat him like a freak at a show.”

He was eventually discharged and told he no longer carried the fungus. But he declined to be named, saying he feared being associated with the frightening infection.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/deadly-germs-lost-cures-a-mysterious-infection-spanning-the-globe-in-a-climate-of-secrecy/ar-BBVFPi7
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