A
yellow fever outbreak in Angola has killed 37 people since December,
the country's national director of health Adelaide de Carvalho. Picture:
AFP/ Luis Robayo
February 12, 2016 - ANGOLA - A yellow fever outbreak in Angola has killed 37 people since
December with eight new cases reported in the last 24 hours, the
country's national director of health Adelaide de Carvalho said late on
Wednesday.
The outbreak of yellow fever, which is transmitted by
mosquito bites, began in the Luanda suburb of Viana but has spread to
other areas of the southern African country with 191 people infected so
far.
De Carvalho said health officials were monitoring suburbs
around the capital of Luanda where infections have been worsened by
unsanitary conditions caused by a garbage collection backlog.
“Actions should be developed for the improvement of public sanitary and garbage collection,” de Carvalho said.
Symptoms
of yellow fever include sudden fever, severe headache, nausea, vomiting
and fatigue, according to the Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention. - IOL.
January 16, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A four-year-old's death is being linked to this year's flu epidemic, which would make him the 21st under-18 to have died from the illness this flu season. The death of Hunter Ewert, 4, of Boardman, Ohio, comes as flu vaccine stocks are put under increasing pressure by people now rushing to protect themselves from the illness. The Ohio Health Department is investigating whether influenza caused the death of Hunter, who was discovered dead on Saturday, it was announced today. He was found unresponsive in his parents bed after joining them on Friday night complaining of a sore throat and fever. 'The doctors at the hospital said his lungs filling up would have happened very quickly and the only way they would have been able to catch it was by doing an x-ray every hour," Shannon Ewert told wytv.com. 'At some point during the night, he made his way from his bedroom to ours. It appears he crawled into our bed and collapsed face down,' Mrs Ewert, who is a nurse, told the broadcaster.
Victims: 20 children have been killed in the flu epidemic this year. More than 3,500 people have
now been hospitalized in the epidemic since October 2012.
She attempted to perform CPR but couldn't save her son. 'I am glad he came into our bed and did not die in his bed alone,' Ewert said. Further tests will be carried out to determine whether he died from the flu. If they are positive, he will be the 21st child fatality - one of the highest death tolls on record. The child victims of the epidemic also include a 6-year-old girl from Maine, a 15-year Michigan school-band star, and a six-foot-four Texas high school senior Max Schwolert, who grew sick in Wisconsin while visiting his grandparents for the holidays. It is one of the worst pediatric death tolls since the government began keeping track of flu among children in 2004. The youngest victim is believed to be a 2 month-old baby from Delaware. Tributes have been paid to the victims by families, friends and school teachers shocked and saddened by how the ferocious nature of this year's outbreak has claimed the lives of so many young and healthy children. Avery Lane, a healthy first-grader at Benton Elementary School, Maine, was just six years old when she died from the illness last month. She was described as a 'little angel' by relatives on Facebook and her grandmother Pam Souzer said she was 'very kind and very loving' Principal Suanne Giorgetti sent a letter to parents that said the school had 'experienced the unthinkable' last month. Her family have now set up a fund supporting the Somerset Animal Shelter called 'Avery's Kitties' in her honor. Avery loved the animals and had a collection of stuffed cat toys.
Upwards trend: Google Flu Trends are monitoring
the increase of the illness and the cities reporting
high levels of outbreak.
'Avery's favorite stuffed kitty was named China. When she got the little stuffed cat. She asked my sister to read the tag "Made in China" ...Avery thought China was the perfect name,' her mother Tabitha Souzer wrote on Facebook. 'How she loved that stuffed kitty. This has helped our family knowing Avery is being remembered in a way that would bring a bigger smile to her sweet face.' Tomorrow in Fenton, Michigan, a funeral will be held for Joshua Polehna, a 15-year-old freshman at Lake Fenton High School with a passion for the school's marching band, track and robotics. 'He was always caring and polite and always thinking about others,” Dave Polehna, Josh’s father told Michigan Live. 'Like any kid, he liked video games. He was in track (a hurdler) and did baseball. He was in the percussion section in the marching band. He worked hard and was very proud of that.' 'Every teacher that had him…they said he was a joy to have in class, absolute joy to be around and always made you smile.' According to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, many states may have seen the peak of the flu epidemic for this year but others are yet to suffer the worst. In its latest briefing, which covers the week up until January 5, it found 24 states were reporting high levels of flu. That number was down from the 29 states reporting a high level of outbreak over Christmas but seven unaffected states were dragged into the epidemic for the first time. Within states, the illness is also becoming more widespread. - Daily Mail.
WATCH: D.C. pharmacy says flu shots are running out.
January 11, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Flu activity is now considered "widespread" in 47 states, according
to the latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
released this morning. Flu activity
is considered "high" in 24 states and "moderate" in 16 states. Five
states with "low" flu activity are Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Idaho
and Alaska, and five states with "minimal" flu activity are California,
Kentucky, Maine, Connecticut and Montana. However, ABC News reported that there were five fewer states
with "high" flu activity in this week's CDC report (which includes flu
activity from Dec. 30 to Jan. 5) compared to the one from the end of
December.
"It may be decreasing in some areas,
but that's hard to predict," Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC,
said Friday morning, as reported by ABC News. "Trends only in the next
week or two will show whether we have in fact crossed the peak." The findings also show that deaths from pneumonia and flu are
"slightly above the epidemic threshold," with 7.3 percent of all deaths
occurring during that week-long period being caused by flu or pneumonia. Since Oct. 1, there have been 3,710 people hospitalized because of
the flu. According to the new report, the proportion of people going to
the doctor for flu-like illness from Dec. 30 to Jan. 5 was 4.3 percent,
which is higher than normal. There were two deaths in kids from flu or pneumonia during this
period, bringing the total number of kids' deaths from flu or pneumonia
to 20 so far this flu season, according to the CDC report. CNN reported
that the number of adult deaths from flu is not officially tallied by the CDC. As anyone who's ever gotten it can attest, flu manifests with fever,
sore throat, cough, runny nose and fatigue. Even though the symptoms are unpleasant,
the flu is generally not dangerous to most healthy people, who will
recover within two weeks, the CDC reported. However, complications can
occur -- like pneumonia, bronchitis or other infections. People who are
at an increased risk for this include pregnant women, children, elderly
people, and people who have other pre-existing conditions. The CDC recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older get a flu shot every year
to be protected from the flu, particularly people in high-risk groups.
(However, some people should not get a flu shot, including people
allergic to eggs and people who have had Guillain–Barré Syndrome; for
more information on who should or shouldn't get the flu shot, click here.)
USA Today reported that the effectiveness of this year's flu vaccine is at 62 percent. This year's flu season is one of the earliest in the U.S. over the last 10 years, Reuters reported. A Gallup report also released today seems to reflect this trend, with
3.2 percent of people in the U.S. saying in December that they had the flu the day before.
Gallup researchers noted that this percentage is typically not seen
until February, and is a higher percentage for December since Gallup
started tracking this in 2008. And not only is it earlier than usual, it's more severe than usual, especially compared to last year's mild flu season. "In the past 10 years we have seen just two or three like" this year's flu season, CDC's Tom Skinner told the New York Daily News.
Last week, the city of Boston declared a "public health emergency" due to emergency rooms being packed with flu patients there, the Boston Globe reported. Flu is so severe in one Oklahoma school district that it even canceled classes today because a quarter of the student body had been sickened with the virus, ABC News reported. And not even celebrities can avoid it -- Betty White has confirmed through her representative that she is recovering from flu, People magazine reported. Some parts of the country have already begun running out of the flu vaccine, including the city of Somerville in Massachusetts, according to the Boston Globe. Walgreens has also announced potential shortages at some of its locations around the U.S., NBC News reported. Reuters reported yesterday that four out of six of the Fluzone flu vaccine formulations produced by Sanofi SA have already sold out. There are also some shortages of the children's version of Tamiflu (a liquid version made for kids). - Huffington Post.
WATCH: Flu Outbreak: 47 States Now Reporting 'Widespread' Activity.
January 10, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A nationwide rise in flu activity has Americans on edge. As of Wednesday, 44 U.S. states are declaring widespread flu activity, CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reported, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added that the percentage of Americans going to the hospital has doubled within the past month. Boston, a major Northeast city with a population of at least 600,000 people, declared a public health emergency on Wednesday after confirming 700 cases -- by this time last year there were only 70 confirmed influenza infections in the city. Hospitals in Chicago are seeing so many flu patients that several had to turn away ambulances.
One Pennsylanvia Hospital, Lehigh Valley Hospital, had to set up tents outside its emergency room to deal with the extremely busy flu season. With influenza sweeping the country, the Food and Drug Administration is reminding everyone 6 months and older to get a flu shot, warning the disease could be especially dangerous for kids. "Everyone seems to know that the elderly are particularly vulnerable, but so too are children," Dr. William Rodriguez, a pediatrician at the FDA said in a statement Wednesday. "Severe complications are most common in children under age 2." In the last 10 flu seasons, between 43 and 153 children have died from flu in the United States, according to Rodriguez, with an average of 20,000 children under 5 hospitalized each year. The CDC's most recent flu report, which measured disease activity for the week of Dec. 23 through Dec. 29, shows 18 children have already died. The agency updates the public on U.S. flu activity every Friday. The CDC has said there's "no excuse" to skip the flu shot. However LaPook reports only about 37 percent of Americans have been vaccinated this year, which is about average.
For those heeding the advice to get a flu shot this week, the FDA notes that immunization takes several weeks to take effect. While many people have been immunized in the fall, they still should be protected through the remainder of the flu season, which typically peaks in January or February. Cases, however, can continue through the spring. "This is particularly late in the flu season for very young children, because to optimize immune response, children between the ages of 6 and 35 months need two shots, four weeks apart, during their first season of vaccination," said Rodriguez. "However, even one shot provides some protection, so even now there is time to get some benefit." It is true that the flu shot does not guarantee protection against the virus -- the vaccine has been about 60 to 70 percent effective in recent years, according to LaPook. Dr. William Shaffner, an infectious disease researcher at Vanderbilt University who served on the committee that decided what went into the vaccine, told the CBS Evening News Wednesday that this year's shot is well-matched to most of the strains out there. However, "There is an influenza B strain that's out there, an additional strain that's causing about 10 percent of the mischief," he said. "And that's not in the vaccine and that accounts for some of the influenza that's out there." One misconception about the shot, LaPook notes, is people will get the flu after getting vaccinated. The CDC told him that's not true, but the vaccine can cause a reaction that might cause flu-like symptoms such as aches, pains and a low-grade fever. The symptoms typically go away in a day or two. Besides vaccination, maintaining proper hygiene with everyday actions such washing hands with soap and water, avoiding close contact with sick people, keeping your hands out of your eyes, nose and mouth could reduce risk. - CBS News.
WATCH: Not too late to get flu vaccine, FDA urges.
January 06, 2013 - UNITED STATES - The U.S. has been hit with a particularly aggressive early flu season this year with widespread reports of the illness across the country, hospitalizing 2,257 people and leaving 18 children dead before the end of 2012. And health officials say the numbers haven't even peaked yet. 'I think we're still accelerating,' Tom Skinner, a Center for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman, told reporters.
Viral: An early and hard-hitting flu season has swept America leaving thousands hospitalized.
The latest figures from the CDC show 29 states and New York City reporting high levels of flu activity, up from 16 states and New York City just one week prior. Overall, 41 states reported cases. 'It’s about five weeks ahead of the average flu season,' said Lyn Finelli, lead of the surveillance and response team that monitors influenza for the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. 'We haven’t seen such an early season since 2003 to 2004.' During that flu season, Joe Lastinger's daughter Emily, 3, died only five days after coming down with the flu in late January. 'That was the first really bad season for children in a while,' said Lastinger, 40. 'For whatever reason that's not well understood, it affected her and it killed her.' In that season, illnesses peaked in early to mid-December, with flu-related pneumonia and deaths peaking in early January. That season was considered a 'moderately severe' season for flu, and ended in mid-February. It's still too early to tell how bad this year's flu season will get.
While the CDC is waiting for more time to pass before classifying the season, Google Flu Trends has already listed it as 'intense' by monitoring flu activity around the world based on internet search terms. And roughly 4 per cent of users on Flu Near You, a real-time tracking tool gaining about 100 new participants per week, say they're experiencing symptoms. 'That's huge,' John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston, told NBC News. 'Last year, we never got near this.' Brownstein is one of the founders of Flu Near You, a project, coordinated by Children’s Hospital Boston, the Skoll Global Threats Fund and the American Public Health Association. The project has been a great tool for generating immediate data about the ongoing flu season. 'It’s what we call ‘nowcasting,'' Brownstein said. 'It’s a more up-to-date view.' CDC data can be as much as two weeks behind real-time reports.
Brownstein's data shows cough is this year's most frequently reported symptom at 19 per cent, ahead of sore throat at 16 per cent, fatigue at 15 per cent, headache at 14 per cent, body ache at 10 per cent, and fever at 7 per cent. Three our of four people reporting flu symptoms had not been vaccinated. While Brownstein's data is more immediate, he cautioned against using it as an accurate measure of vaccine's effectiveness because of variables in reporting. During the 2010-2011 flu season, the CDC reports vaccine's were effective four about 60 percent for all age groups combined. While there were then reports of vaccinated people developing laboratory-confirmed flu strains, CDC officials said it's not yet possible to know if this year's trends match up though they are 'watching the situation closely.' Those officials also noted that this year's vaccines seem to be a good match for the two strains of influenza A and one of influenza B circulating. The H3N2 strain is dominant this year, and it can cause more serious illnesses. Flu seasons vary widely in severity with some year's totaling up to 200,000 hospitalized and between 3,000 to 49,000 dead. About 127 million doses of flu vaccine have been distributed this year from the 15 million doses produced for this season. - Daily Mail.
WATCH: CDC - 41 states have widespread flu activity.
"It is unbelievable tragedy. There are five to 10 children dying every day."
More than 400 people, mainly children, have died in an outbreak of viral encephalitis in northern India, health officials say.
So far 2,300 patients have been admitted to a hospital in the affected Gorakhpur area of Uttar Pradesh state. A doctor told the BBC that it was a "tragedy beyond imagination" with children dying every day. Nearly 6,000 children have died of encephalitis in the hospital since the first case was detected in 1978. Most of the deaths this year have happened since July, doctors say. The disease occurs regularly during the monsoon in the Gorakhpur region bordering Nepal in the foothills of the Himalayas. The low-lying areas are prone to floods and water-logging. Lack of sanitation provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes and leads to contamination of water supplies. This happens because most people defecate in the open in villages of the area, while water is consumed mainly using shallow hand pumps.
Doctors say affected patients come from 10-12 districts in the region, and are mostly poor. Until 2005, the majority of deaths were caused by Japanese encephalitis, caused by a mosquito-borne virus, doctors say. Both the diseases cause head aches and vomiting and can lead to comas, brain dysfunctions, seizures and inflammations of the heart and kidney. Doctors say children between the age of six months to 15 years are worst affected and most of the victims are poor people from rural areas. "It is unbelievable tragedy. There are five to 10 children dying every day," Dr KP Kushwaha, head of paediatrics at the BRD Medical College, the only hospital treating patients. - BBC.
