FEMA To Host Joint Influenza Pandemic Exercise

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be hosting a joint federal-state exercise to strengthen contingency plans for an influenza pandemic. Operation PANEX ’07 is the first functional exercise of its type in this country designed to determine best practices for a coordinated multi-agency response to an outbreak.

The participants will involve key federal agencies including the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Defense (DOD) in partnership with their counterparts in the six New England states. The operation is part of an ongoing development opportunity to exercise established procedures and coordinated plans of action for disseminating public information and resource allocation.

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Researcher Tests Water For Evidence of Bird Flu

A researcher is poking holes in the ice this winter at waterfowl watering holes, hoping to find a new way to stand guard against the deadly ”bird flu.”

The lethal strain of the avian influenza virus — known as H5N1 — has killed more than 150 people worldwide since 2003, with more than 4,000 outbreaks in poultry and deaths in more than 60 wildlife species.

It hasn’t cropped up in North America yet, but the World Health Organization has tracked its spread across the globe to Europe, Africa and Asia — highlighting the need for better early warning methods.

”Two or three years ago, bird flu was everywhere in the news. Today you don’t hear about it as much, but the threat hasn’t gone away — it’s just been replaced in the media by other health scares,” said CMU graduate assistant Todd M. Lickfett.

Lickfett said he hopes to develop his new monitoring method using bird flu strains that are common in North American migratory flocks but aren’t harmful to humans.

”It probably is just a matter of time before we get that more virulent strain. It’s still spreading,” said Tom M. Gehring, CMU associate professor of wildlife biology and Lickfett’s faculty adviser. ”How it’ll get here we don’t know — whether through wild birds or domestic poultry. But if Todd’s approach works, it’s going to give us a better, cheaper monitoring tool to tell us when it does.”

Researchers now collect and test samples from individual birds — an effective but costly and time-consuming approach.

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MRSA Superbugs Reaching Epidemic Stage

A new study from the University of Florida (UF) reports the spread of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections is reaching epidemic proportions in some healthcare centers and in some communities in general.

The potentially lethal drug-resistant strain of the Staph bacterium, known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), is responsible for almost 280,000 hospitalizations in 2005, doubling the 1999 count of 127,000 hospitalizations. Methicillin had been highly effective in controlling staph infections before the drug-resistant strain of the bacterium emerged.

Hospitalizations from staph infections in general rose 62% nationwide during the same time period.

MRSA enters the body at the site of wounds and can lead to fatal cases of blood poisoning and pneumonia.

Many patients hospitalized for other reasons become infected during their hospital confinement and about 90,000 patients die each year from infections contracted while in the hospital. MRSA infection is the number six leading cause of death in the US.

Contracting the MRSA infection in the hospital can lead to longer stays, with treatment costs running as high as $35,000 per case, increasing the direct cost to the patient by as much as 100%.

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Ebola Death Toll in Uganda Rises To 29, 12 New Cases Recorded

Another seven people were killed by the deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Uganda as twelve new cases were reported over the weekend amid an outbreak that has sounded alarm in ten out of 79 districts across the country.

A total of 29 people have so far been killed by Ebola out of 113 infections as of Monday morning, Sam Okware, chairperson of the National Task Force for Ebola, told Xinhua by telephone on Monday.

He said seven new cases were reported in the western district of Bundibugyo which has been hit hard by the epidemic since August.

According to Okware, 32 are still admitted in hospital while six have been discharged. He added that another five are to be discharged.

The deadly virulent disease hit parts of Bundibugyo in August before spreading to neighboring Kabarole and Kasese districts.

This is the second Ebola outbreak in Uganda, which is caused by a new strain of the virus seemingly milder than the other four strains.

The last outbreak in Uganda killed 224 people from October 2000 to March 2001, which started in northern Uganda and later spread to other parts of the country.

The Ugandan government last week declined to declare a state of emergency over the epidemic, arguing that it has put up a mechanism to contain the disease.

Alarmed by the outbreak, the neighboring Kenya, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have since last week boosted surveillance along their border with Uganda to block migration of suspected Ebola victims.

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Bird Flu Pandemic Could Cost 2 Trillion Dollars

The global cost of a possible bird flu pandemic could be up to two trillion dollars, a top World Bank official said Tuesday.

The risk of a pandemic was still as great as it was two years ago despite improvements in the capacity of many countries to respond to the infection, a joint report by the United Nations and World Bank said last week.

“The global economic costs could be between 1.5 to two trillion dollars,” Peter Harrold, acting Vice President of the World Bank, told an international conference on avian flu in New Delhi that wraps up Thursday.

International donors have pledged 2.3 billion dollars to help countries combat the threat, and more than one billion dollars had been allocated to other groups involved in the fight, Harrold said.

More than 600 delegates from 105 countries are in New Delhi to discuss preparedness and challenges in fighting avian flu.

Experts fear a virus mutation that could result in severe and easily transmitted influenza in humans could create the next pandemic, with far-reaching consequences.

“About 20 percent of the global population will be affected during the next pandemic,” Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation, told the gathering.

Chan said 28 million people may need medical care over a relatively short period and worker absenteeism could reach 35 percent of the work force.

But experts said considerable progress had been made in preparing for a pandemic.

“Ninety-five percent of the countries report that they have developed pandemic preparedness plans,” said David Nabarro, UN Systems Co-ordinator for Avian Influenza and one of the authors of the UN-World Bank report.

But the response was still “patchy,” and “entrenched” infection in some countries continued to pose a major threat to human health, Nabarro said.

Once the virus is entrenched, eliminating it becomes tougher and there is greater risk of humans contracting the infection, experts say.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 200 people worldwide since late 2003. But the number of human infections and deaths declined this year over last year.

Forty-eight people died of the infection in 2007, down from 71 in 2006, according to the WHO, and experts said outbreaks were also being detected more rapidly and responses have become more effective.

Twenty-six countries reported flu outbreaks in birds in 2007, of which four  Bangladesh, Ghana, Saudi Arabia and Togo experienced them for the first time.

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Flu Pandemic Prep

Public Health experts say pandemics naturally occur about every forty years. The last flu pandemic was in the 1960′s which means we are due for one any year now.ABC Macon’s Rachel Duddles learned how Houston County is preparing for a dangerous strain of influenza.

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Uganda: Cabinet Meets Over Ebola Epidemic

Yoweri Museveni has urged all Ugandans to stop shaking hands until the Ebola pandemic is completely contained, including people in places where the disease has not been reported.

“Ebola spreads through contact. For the time being, people should resort to jambo (waving). If I don’t shake your hand, it doesn’t mean I don’t like you,” Museveni said.

Addressing Christians on Thursday night during the Kampala City of God Prayer campaign at Kololo Airstrip, the President said the Government was doing everything possible to contain the Ebola pandemic across the country.

“You have been hearing that there is an outbreak of Ebola. It started in Bundibugyo. Some people survive it, but the mortality rate is quite high. I would encourage every one to stop shaking hands,” Museveni said.

He added: “The country has already lost a few people including medics. Although we don’t think there is a problem in Kampala yet, we have to take precaution.”

Ebola is spread through direct physical contact with a patient’s body fluids like blood, saliva, stool, vomit and urine, or items contaminated by such secretions. It is prevented through avoiding contact with the patients, contaminated materials, as well as disinfecting any items that come into contact with the patient.

Over 90 suspected cases have been reported, of whom at least 24 have died. The disease broke out in August but was only confirmed as ebola on November 29. Another 350 people who made contact with ebola victims are being closely monitored.

Yesterday morning, the Cabinet held a special meeting on Ebola and the Prime Minister, Apolo Nsibambi, was due to announce decisions taken on how to deal with the emergency.

Mulago panics

At Mulago Hospital, where Dr. Jonah Kule, a medic from Bundibugyo, died of suspected Ebola on Tuesday night, some sections were paralysed yesterday as health workers feared to handle patients without appropriate protective gear. In the casualty ward, Saturday Vision saw empty glove boxes and plastic containers meant to carry disinfectants. By about 11:00am, a crowd of patients was outside the casualty ward waiting in vain to be called in, while others went home frustrated. In emergency ward 3B, some workers wore masks, white gumboots and gloves, while others did not. Meanwhile, in the out-patient department in Old Mulago, work was going on normally except for the low turn up of patients compared to other days. The hospital director could not be reached for comment as he was in marathon meetings.

How Dr. Kule died

According to a diary written by Dr. Kule’s mentor, Dr. Scott Myhre, the medic contracted ebola after treating his friend without gloves, days before the epidemic was confirmed. A patient was dying and there were no gloves at the hospital.

On Sunday, November 25, Jonah travelled to Kampala. On Wednesday November 28, he began to notice a headache and suspected malaria. The following day ebola was confirmed in Bundibugyo as Dr. Kule’s became more ill. He picked up his oldest daughter, Masika, from a boarding school in Kampala. He then took a malaria test at a private clinic, before a doctor friend encouraged him to be admitted at Mulago, where he was put in an isolation tent.

His family would see him through a tent window. The Mulago doctor assigned to his care supposedly fled, but MSF Spain doctors checked him a couple of times a day. His young brother sometimes entered the tent to care for him when no nurse or other medical person was available. He was alone much of the time.

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Humans May Be Transferring Bird Flu

The convenor of an international medical conference on the Gold Coast says there is evidence that potentially lethal bird flu is being passed from human to human.

Around 1,600 doctors and scientists from 42 countries attended the lung disease conference on the Gold Coast.

Conference convener Professor Paul Reynolds says that in the past human victims of avian flu have contracted the disease through direct contact with sick birds, but that is changing.

“It’s usually very close household contacts at this stage,” he said.

“Sometimes it’s a little bit difficult to tease out, if people are living together in a village, whether the transmission has truly been person to person or the people involved have happened to come into contact with the same infected birds.

“But there are certainly some case reports emerging that are highly suggestive that direct person-to-person transfer is occurring.”

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UC Davis Bird-Flu Expert Calls for Changes in Early Warning System

The international science community is not doing enough to track the many avian influenza viruses that might cause the next pandemic, a UC Davis researcher says in today’s issue of the journal Nature.

Global surveillance is critical for identifying and tracking potential pandemic viruses such as highly pathogenic H5N1. But the current surveillance strategy in wild birds is piecemeal and risks missing important virus sources or subtypes, Walter Boyce writes in a commentary.

Boyce, a UC Davis professor of veterinary medicine, is co-director of the $18.5 million Center for Rapid Influenza Surveillance and Research (CRISAR). The center, supported by the National Institutes of Health, is charged with tracking viruses in wild birds in the United States and Asia.

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Human-to-Human Transmission Can’t Be Ruled Out In China Bird Flu Case

Human-to-human transmission can’t be ruled out as the source of bird flu in a man whose son died of the infection in eastern China six day ago, a World Health Organization official said today.

The WHO was informed of the case late yesterday and is “hoping to arrange a meeting with China’s Ministry of Health to offer support and to get more details” on the case, said Joanna Brent, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for the United Nations agency.

The 52-year-old man from Nanjing in Jiangsu province was confirmed to have the H5N1 avian influenza strain on Dec. 6, the health ministry said yesterday in a statement on its Web site. He developed a fever on Dec. 3, a day after his 24-year-old son died. An initial investigation found no evidence the younger man had contact with sick birds prior to becoming unwell.

as the source of bird flu in a man whose son died of the infection in eastern China six day ago, a World Health Organization official said today.

The WHO was informed of the case late yesterday and is “hoping to arrange a meeting with China’s Ministry of Health to offer support and to get more details” on the case, said Joanna Brent, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for the United Nations agency.

The 52-year-old man from Nanjing in Jiangsu province was confirmed to have the H5N1 avian influenza strain on Dec. 6, the health ministry said yesterday in a statement on its Web site. He developed a fever on Dec. 3, a day after his 24-year-old son died. An initial investigation found no evidence the younger man had contact with sick birds prior to becoming unwell.

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