CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Brain-Eating Amoeba Kills 6

No, we're not talking the Twilight Zone here. A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.

The microscopic critter, Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER-ee-uh FOWL'-erh-eye), killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials noticed a spike with six cases — three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona. The victims were all boys and young men.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since the brain eater was discovered in Australia in the 1960s.

Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the CDC, said people become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the bottom.

If someone allows water to shoot up the nose — say, by doing a somersault in chest-deep water — the amoeba can latch onto the olfactory nerve.

The amoeba destroys tissue as it makes its way up into the brain, where it continues the damage, "basically feeding on the brain cells," Beach said.

People who are infected tend to complain of a stiff neck, headaches and fevers. In the later stages, they'll show signs of brain damage such as hallucinations and behavioral changes, he said.

Once infected, most people have little chance of survival. Some drugs have stopped the amoeba in lab experiments, but people who have been attacked rarely survive, Beach said.

"Usually, from initial exposure it's fatal within two weeks," he said.

The killer amoeba lives almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools, grazing off algae and bacteria in the sediment.

Researchers still have much to learn about the amoeba. They don't know why, children are more likely to be infected, and boys are more often victims than girls.

More at the CDC website.

Ebola Outbreak In Congo

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and another lab in Gabon confirm an outbreak of Ebola fever in southeastern Congo:

More than 100 people have died of illness in the affected region, an area called Mweka, since late August.

Makwenge did not provide further details or say if the outbreak had since been contained.

Medical inspectors had previously said that people began dying after high-profile funerals of two village chiefs in the region where relatives usually wash the bodies of the deceased by hand.

[. . .]

By the end of August, four villages had been affected and 217 people had come down with the illness, including 103 who died. About 140,000 people live in the Mweka area.

Congo's last major Ebola outbreak struck in Kikwit in 1995, killing 245 people. Kikwit is about 300 kilometers (185 miles) from the site of the current purported outbreak.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is one of the most virulent viral diseases known to humankind, causing death in 50-90% of all clinically ill cases. The Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected persons and handling ill or dead infected chimpanzees. The disease attacks the central nervous system and cause bleeding from the eyes, ears and other parts of the body.

The World Health Organization issued an alert Tuesday urging more doctors to travel to Congo to combat an outbreak of Ebola fever, which kills nearly all of those it infects and has no cure or treatment.

According to the Associated Press. the Congolese government declared a quarantine of the area in southeastern Congo.

Another Suspected Ebola Outbreak In The Congo

Xinhua News Agency reports two people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo after showing symptoms similar to those caused by the Ebola virus.

A rickshaw driver and one of his passengers died in Bumba, 500 km north of Mbandaka, while the driver's wife who had displayed the same symptoms was in intensive care, the WHO said.

I have been unable to find anything about this outbreak on the World Health Organizations web sites.
The most recent Ebola outbreak, confirmed by the WHO, occurred in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo from April to June 2005. Nine people were killed in that outbreak.

Hemorrhagic Fever Kills Five In Pakistan

Reuters reports hemorrhagic fever has killed at least five people, including a doctor, and infected around 45 people in Karachi Pakistan:

The cause of the death of Yusra Afaq, a doctor in a government-run hospital, last week has been identified as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.

The remaining four deaths, which occurred over the last six weeks, were also caused by hemorrhagic fever but the exact type was still not known, said Naushad Sheikh, permanent secretary at the health ministry of southern Sindh province.

[. . .]

"The hospitals in Karachi have been put on high alert after 45 more cases of hemorrhagic fever were reported," he told Reuters.

Doctors say headaches and vomiting, followed by bleeding through the nose, mouth and ears are the symptoms of hemorrhagic fevers. The illness is often accompanied by hepatitis and pulmonary failure.

According to Reuters, the disease is spread by ticks from animals to humans, or from humans to humans and is endemic in parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan, , Saudi Arabia, southern Europe and most of north Africa.

Wake Up, Senator Frist!

Early this morning, members of the Student Global AIDS Campaign met outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. to “wake up” Senator Frist to the global AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria crisis. Armed with a megaphone, a giant paper-machê coffee cup and alarm clock, and roughly thirty cups of coffee, the students individually marched on Frist’s office in the Hart Senate Building. They each carried a cup of coffee, a signed statement explaining their cause, and a short leaflet containing speaking points. As they arrived at his office in ten minute intervals, they presented the secretary with the coffee and papers, then implored Senator Frist to “Fully fund the Global Fund,” referring to the United States’ commitment to 1/3 of the funding for the GF. They also mentioned that, in the ten minutes since their last cup of coffee, 150 people had died of AIDS, TB, and malaria worldwide.

As the coffee kept coming in, Frist’s secretary grew more and more frustrated, until she accosted one of the students. Among her comments, she asked if the group realized that Senator Frist was a doctor. Many of the GWU students in the group, upon hearing of this, remembered comedian and Daily Show host Jon Stewart’s recent appearance at their school, in which he mentioned that Senator Bill Frist had said he was “unsure” when asked if one could contract AIDS from tears. Stewart then proceeded to enlighten the audience, saying that “The only way you can get AIDS from tears is if the tears come from your cock.”

The group urged Senator Frist to add $100 million in funds from the Labor-HHS Spending bill and another $150 million in emergency spending—money that could come from the $7 billion recently appropriated for a flu epidemic, as the Global Fund is designed to strengthen national healthcare systems.

The leaflet passed out detailed some likely benefits of the $250 million requested:

Distribution of over 1.5 million insecticide-treated bed nets to protect pregnant women and their children from malaria.
Purchase of 375,000 treatments for malaria.
Provision of 200,000 DOTS treatments for TB.
HIV Testing for almost 1 million people.
Provision of ARVs for AIDS treatment for 27,500.

Deadly Bird Flu Confirmed In Turkey

Reuters reports the Turkish outbreak of bird flu is the type dangerous to humans and European authorities assume the cases discovered in Romania are of the same strain:

“The virus found in Turkey is avian flu H5N1 high pathogenic virus,” EU Health and Consumer Protection chief Markos Kyprianou told a news conference.

Romania also said it had detected bird flu in three ducks but more testing is required to determine whether it was the deadly H5N1 strain.

The European Union has banned the import of live birds, poultry meat and feathers from Romania after officials there confirmed the presence of bird flu.

Turkey detected bird flu last Saturday after 2,000 birds died on a farm near the Aegean Sea. Turkey has "culled" thousands of birds to prevent the virus from spreading.

Officials in Romania also plans to slaughter thousands of birds.

It doesn't seem likely that you can prevent the bird flu from spreading when you are dealing with migrating birds.

[Deadly bird flu strain confirmed in Turkey]

Bird Flu 'Confirmed' In Romania

The BBC reports that contradicting earlier findings, testing on samples from Romanian ducks have confirmed the presence of bird flu in Romania:

Only on Wednesday an EU spokesman said: "All the virological tests carried out to date in Romania have failed to identify the presence of the avian influenza virus. Every day that passes... reassures us that avian influenza is not in fact present in Romania."

Reuters reports the European Commission said it would ban Romanian imports:

"Given that it has been confirmed that the virus is present in Romania, the Commission will now adopt the same measures already taken for Turkey, last Monday, that is to say a ban on imports of live birds, poultry meat and other poultry products," the Commission said in a statement.

[. . .]

Test results due from the British laboratory on Friday were expected to show whether Turkey has a low-risk strain or the more serious H5N1 virus, which has killed or forced the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia and killed more than 60 people.

No Bird Flu In Romania

UPDATE: Authoities now confirm bird flu in Romania.

The BBC reports that tests on the suspected cases of bird flu in Romania have come back negative.

Test results on suspected cases in Turkey are expected later in the week.

Several countries have banned imports of meat and live animals from Turkey and Romania to limit the risk of bird flu crossing their borders.

No matter what these countries ban, or quarantine, the birds still fly.

[EU hopeful on Romania bird flu]

Bird Flu Reaches Turkey

The Associated Press reports Turkey has experienced its first cases of bird flu:

Turkey's agriculture minister confirmed the country's first cases of bird flu on Saturday and ordered the destruction of all birds in the village where it was detected to prevent the disease from spreading, the Anatolia news agency said.

Military police have also set up roadblocks at the village near Balikesir in western Turkey, 250 miles from Istanbul. The officers checked vehicles to make certain no birds were going in or out.

The birds belonged to a turkey farmer, CNN-Turk reported, saying that 2,000 birds died. Anatolia did not cite a number, but said animals on the farm that did not die of the disease were destroyed.

Yesterday, bird flu was confirmed in Romania, which borders Turkey.

It's not yet known whether the bird flu in Turkey is the H5N1strain, which has swept through Asia since 2003, infecting humans and killing at least 60 people, mostly poultry workers, and resulting in the deaths of more than 100 million birds.

[Turkey Reports First Cases of Bird Flu]

Bird Flu Detected In Rumania

Reuters reports Romania detected the first European case of avian flu. Rumanian Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said:

"We discovered today three cases of domestic birds which were tested positive for the avian flu in the village of Ceamurlia de Jos in the Danube delta," Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur told reporters.

[. . .]

The Romanian minister said he had imposed quarantine for three kilometres (two miles) around the site and all domestic birds would be culled to prevent the disease from spreading in the environmentally sensitive delta.

Flutur also said hunting was banned across the delta and that health authorities had dispatched medical teams to start testing for possible human cases in the area, just a few km from the Black Sea.

Testing will be done in Great Britain to determine whether the flu was the deadly H5N1 strain.

The Independent reports that strict measures have been in place to control the outbreak:

Officials have killed nearly all the domestic fowl in Ceamurlia killed and banned hunting in the Danube delta. The movement of people in and out of the village has been restricted and the transport of animals banned. Medical teams were going to administer flu vaccines for residents.

According to Newsweek, H5N1 has infected 116 people in Asia, killing 60 — but experts are more worried the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily between people. That could trigger a human flu pandemic.

As the bird flu reached Europe, officials from 80 countries and the UN met to try to plan a global approach to any pandemic. According to the BBC, the U.S. is using the conference in part to stress the need for all countries, including those with less than transparent track records, to share information at the earliest possible stage.

President Bush has urged manufacturers of bird flu vaccine to increase production.
Last week, the Senate approved $4 billion for the purchase of anti-flu drugs.

It is encouraging that officials are taking the threat of a pandemic seriously.