India is polio-free! WHO waited 2 years after the last case of polio in India before announcing the eradicaition of polio in India. India’s speed and efforts to eradicate polio was very impressive: in 1985, 150,000 cases of polio were reported and even as recent as 2009, 741 cases of cases were reported in India. Hindrances of polio eradication in India included its large population size, lack of universal immunization, high migrant community, poor sanitation, and resistnce to oral polio vaccine in many high-risk populations. The success of the eradication was dependent on collaboration between the government, religious eaders, pulic health officials, and increased immunization. The success of polio eradication in India has monumental implications of global public health efforts in removing polio in the natural environment worldwide.
-Michelle Jin
Source: http://www.livemint.com/2012/02/26223206/How-India-fought-the-wild-poli.html?atype=tp
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Lawsuits Related to Las Vegas Hepatitis C Outbreak Settled
Earlier this week, one more chapter of the extensive fallout of 2008’s infamous Las Vegas hepatitis C contamination fiasco, which was actually reported on this blog, came to a close. In case you don’t remember, the case involved one Dr. Dipak Desai who exposed possibly a hundred patients to bloodborne disease in his 3 endoscopic clinics by re-using propofol vials and encouraging their re-use as policy. Several patients who contracted hepatitis C have subsequently launched a massive lawsuit campaign against the clinics and the manufacturers and distributors of the drug, propofol.
In all of the cases against the 3 companies, the lawyers for the plaintiffs have argued that they implicitly encouraged the re-use of their medication by supplying propofol in bulk, 50 mL vials when they knew that endoscopic procedures performed by Dr. Desai usually take 10-20 mL. Through these practices, Teva and by association the distributors of propofol, Baxter and Mckeeson, sought to increase their profits while ignoring the ethical implications of what they were shipping and how it was being used. While the drug companies argue that they aren’t liable because nothing was defective in their product, which could have been used safely for different procedures, courts have disagreed and all 3 have lost a number of cases with verdicts in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Realizing defeat, the three companies have decided to settle 41 of these cases for a currently undisclosed sum of money, though Teva alone has apparently set aside $285 million for settlements. This entire case raises some interesting questions, in particular “Who is to blame for this outbreak?” Clearly Dr. Desai and his colleagues performed the most flagrant ethical violations and blame rightfully belongs with them, but are the drug companies at fault for turning a blind eye, or is such irresponsible abuse unpredictable by a product manufacturer?
-Zachary Herrera
References:
http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2012/02/24/201689.htm
(Recent settlement –February 24, 2011)
http://www.8newsnow.com/story/16616132/former-dr-desai-to-have-fitness-hearing-in-las-vegas-hep-c-case
(Sort-of recent article about Dr. Desai’s trial)
In all of the cases against the 3 companies, the lawyers for the plaintiffs have argued that they implicitly encouraged the re-use of their medication by supplying propofol in bulk, 50 mL vials when they knew that endoscopic procedures performed by Dr. Desai usually take 10-20 mL. Through these practices, Teva and by association the distributors of propofol, Baxter and Mckeeson, sought to increase their profits while ignoring the ethical implications of what they were shipping and how it was being used. While the drug companies argue that they aren’t liable because nothing was defective in their product, which could have been used safely for different procedures, courts have disagreed and all 3 have lost a number of cases with verdicts in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Realizing defeat, the three companies have decided to settle 41 of these cases for a currently undisclosed sum of money, though Teva alone has apparently set aside $285 million for settlements. This entire case raises some interesting questions, in particular “Who is to blame for this outbreak?” Clearly Dr. Desai and his colleagues performed the most flagrant ethical violations and blame rightfully belongs with them, but are the drug companies at fault for turning a blind eye, or is such irresponsible abuse unpredictable by a product manufacturer?
-Zachary Herrera
References:
http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/west/2012/02/24/201689.htm
(Recent settlement –February 24, 2011)
http://www.8newsnow.com/story/16616132/former-dr-desai-to-have-fitness-hearing-in-las-vegas-hep-c-case
(Sort-of recent article about Dr. Desai’s trial)
Food-borne Outbreaks in Ohio
When over thirty students and faculty fall ill and experience common symptoms in weeks time, it is appropriate to assume the pathogen responsible was transmitted either through fecal-oral or respiratory routes. In the case of Denison University's 36 students and 2 faculty, the culprit was transmitted through the former. Licking County Health Official, Joe Ebel, in a statement to a Columbus Dispatch representative declared the importance of sanitary precautions- “hand washing, using hand sanitizers, staying home when sick, cleaning and sanitizing surfaces, and not preparing food when sick can help reduce your risk of acquiring or spreading norovirus.”
Norovirus is the leading cause of food-borne illnesses in the United States.
Along with the University outbreak, the Licking County Health department also attended to a similar outbreak that occurred at a dinner hosted by the Columbus Museum of Art. In this situation, 41 of 78 attendees dell ill with symptoms that included diarrhea and vomiting.
Despite the two outbreaks' proximity, the Ohio Department of Health has claimed that there is no current connection and the outbreaks are being treated as two isolated events. There was one Denison University student working at the Columbus Museum of Art dinner- he, however, was not involved in food preparation or distribution and was not one of the norovirus victims on campus.
It is essential to note that diarrhea is an underreported symptom and this lack of reporting factors into the degree of outbreaks that occur.
Please wash your hands regularly :).
-Angela
Source: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/02/24/granville-on-guard-after-viral-outbreaks.html
Norovirus is the leading cause of food-borne illnesses in the United States.
Along with the University outbreak, the Licking County Health department also attended to a similar outbreak that occurred at a dinner hosted by the Columbus Museum of Art. In this situation, 41 of 78 attendees dell ill with symptoms that included diarrhea and vomiting.
Despite the two outbreaks' proximity, the Ohio Department of Health has claimed that there is no current connection and the outbreaks are being treated as two isolated events. There was one Denison University student working at the Columbus Museum of Art dinner- he, however, was not involved in food preparation or distribution and was not one of the norovirus victims on campus.
It is essential to note that diarrhea is an underreported symptom and this lack of reporting factors into the degree of outbreaks that occur.
Please wash your hands regularly :).
-Angela
Source: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/02/24/granville-on-guard-after-viral-outbreaks.html
Smuggled bushmeat confiscated in airports shown to harbor potentially harmful viruses.
Bushmeat seized in several US airports recently has been shown to harbor both retroviruses and herpesviruses. Bushmeat has long been known to act as a “conduit for disease emergence”, especially in terms of certain retroviruses. With international trade what is scary, is that easier than ever, these products can be moved around the world increasing pathogen spread.
Wildlife importations have been shown to introduce such diseases to the US as exotic amphibian chytridiomycosis, Newcastle disease and monkeypox (through pets). It has also been shown that the hunting/butchering of bushmeat (especially non human primates) has led to zoonotic transmission of retroviruses including SIV, STLV, and SFV. It is thought that these viruses were than able to mutate allowing them to be transmitted from human to human.
The US CDC prohibits the importation of bushmeat from various species but greater surveillance is needed to fully stop the practice as it poses a threat to health.
Article from: http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/307/8/769.full.pdf+html
--Elena Jordan
Saturday, February 25, 2012
H5N1 more common, less deadly than previously thought
(another flu post!)
Data published by the WHO states that the H5N1 bird flu has a mortality rate of almost 59% (out of a total of 586 cases since 2003)--a rate that is more than worryingly high. However, a new study from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine has found evidence that perhaps this rate is incorrect. In their study, they screened blood samples from more than 12,000 people in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and found that 1-2 percent of the samples showed signs of bird flu infection, but that none of the individuals died from bird flu, and most never even sought treatment. This data suggests that many more people have been infected with bird flu than according to the WHO, and thus that the bird flu mortality rate could be much lower than previously thought.
This discrepancy in numbers makes sense when you consider that in order for the WHO to classify someone as sick, they have to have a fever and be sick enough to go to a hospital and be tested specifically for the virus. Individuals who are already that sick are more likely to die, which raises the mortality rate as a result.
Takeaway: the article suggests a population-wide study of infection rates and symptoms in order to find out exactly how serious this still-dangerous virus really is.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112481349/bird-flu-more-common-than-previously-believed/
--Sarah Kaewert
Data published by the WHO states that the H5N1 bird flu has a mortality rate of almost 59% (out of a total of 586 cases since 2003)--a rate that is more than worryingly high. However, a new study from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine has found evidence that perhaps this rate is incorrect. In their study, they screened blood samples from more than 12,000 people in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and found that 1-2 percent of the samples showed signs of bird flu infection, but that none of the individuals died from bird flu, and most never even sought treatment. This data suggests that many more people have been infected with bird flu than according to the WHO, and thus that the bird flu mortality rate could be much lower than previously thought.
This discrepancy in numbers makes sense when you consider that in order for the WHO to classify someone as sick, they have to have a fever and be sick enough to go to a hospital and be tested specifically for the virus. Individuals who are already that sick are more likely to die, which raises the mortality rate as a result.
Takeaway: the article suggests a population-wide study of infection rates and symptoms in order to find out exactly how serious this still-dangerous virus really is.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112481349/bird-flu-more-common-than-previously-believed/
--Sarah Kaewert
Flu season is mildest in years
According to the New York Times, the beginning of this year's flu season was announced this last Friday. Flu season is announced after three consecutive weeks of at least 10% of all respiratory infections are found to have been caused by influenza. Especially with all this gorgeous weather we've been having, this seems like a late start of the flu season, and in fact it is--this is the latest start to the flu season in 24 years. This could be because of the mild winter, allowing people to get outside and not be cooped up with each other for long periods of time, or because viruses can't survive on fomites as well in warmer weather.
So far only (only?) 3 children have died from flu-related reasons this year, which still seems like a lot, but compared to last year's 122 and the year before's 200+ is small. There have been far fewer hospitalizations this year, and only two states (California and Colorado) have been widely affected. Additionally, the majority of the infections have been of the H3N2 strain, as opposed to the more severe and more common, at least at the beginning of the season, H1N1.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/health/start-of-winter-flu-season-in-us-is-announced.html?ref=health
--Sarah Kaewert
So far only (only?) 3 children have died from flu-related reasons this year, which still seems like a lot, but compared to last year's 122 and the year before's 200+ is small. There have been far fewer hospitalizations this year, and only two states (California and Colorado) have been widely affected. Additionally, the majority of the infections have been of the H3N2 strain, as opposed to the more severe and more common, at least at the beginning of the season, H1N1.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/health/start-of-winter-flu-season-in-us-is-announced.html?ref=health
--Sarah Kaewert
Monday, February 20, 2012
Bird Flu Remains A Menace in South Asia.
(Sorry for the late post! I meant to post this like 2 weeks ago! Woops...)
Though relatively forgotten by the mainstream press outside of the latest news about the modified version, bird flu remains enzootic in South and Southeast Asia. While the fervor over a possible pandemic has died down considerably as efforts have been stepped up to regionally contain the virus, elimination from key areas, much less eradication, has proven extremely tricky. Bird flu doesn't fit all of the requirements for a true human virus and despite or because of this, bird flu is a very serious, potentially fatal virus of humans. Though the odds of catching it from an infected bird are low, it can carry a nearly 50% mortality rate.
In South Asia, the past two months have been one long series of setbacks and embarrassments, as India's announcement of the elimination of all wild bird flu in December 2011 has been followed by a total loss of containment along the India-Bangladesh border. Even though India DID eliminate the virus, it couldn't change the infected status of birds in Bangladesh, who subsequently broke through containment, spreading an outbreak that traveled into Nepal. Along the way, the mere presence of the virus in any bird has led to mass cullings and the swift erection of new containment barriers enforced by vaccines and cullings of wild birds. While the government's ability and will to enact these measures gives this story a positive outlook, one cannot ignore that the outbreak began because of a failure to take such measures across borders. Until this can be done, the region can never be truly safe from a new outbreak. Just like with a human virus, complete eradication remains the only option to ensure that any given region is truly safe.
In conclusion, this story should serve to remind us that bird flu remains a real and endemic infection. It should also inform us of the difficulties in controlling and eliminating an epizootic infection. Unlike humans who can tell their doctor if they are sick or who can be easily vaccinated en masse, animals need to be controlled with much stricter options, such as culling, and have no respect for human borders.
-Zachary Herrera
References:
Nepal Outbreak + Response
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j7xEcYCva8ncWPDqGc3qKPBJCxzw?docId=CNG.d7502e631fd80bd9b27d505006b05b64.41
Indian Outbreak
http://www.worldpoultry.net/news/bird-flu-prompts-mass-poultry-cullings-in-india-9972.html
More Recent News from Vietnam:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/what-happened-to-bird-flu-deaths-continue-new-strain-outsmarts-poultry-vaccine-in-vietnam/2012/02/17/gIQAEGmAJR_story.html
Though relatively forgotten by the mainstream press outside of the latest news about the modified version, bird flu remains enzootic in South and Southeast Asia. While the fervor over a possible pandemic has died down considerably as efforts have been stepped up to regionally contain the virus, elimination from key areas, much less eradication, has proven extremely tricky. Bird flu doesn't fit all of the requirements for a true human virus and despite or because of this, bird flu is a very serious, potentially fatal virus of humans. Though the odds of catching it from an infected bird are low, it can carry a nearly 50% mortality rate.
In South Asia, the past two months have been one long series of setbacks and embarrassments, as India's announcement of the elimination of all wild bird flu in December 2011 has been followed by a total loss of containment along the India-Bangladesh border. Even though India DID eliminate the virus, it couldn't change the infected status of birds in Bangladesh, who subsequently broke through containment, spreading an outbreak that traveled into Nepal. Along the way, the mere presence of the virus in any bird has led to mass cullings and the swift erection of new containment barriers enforced by vaccines and cullings of wild birds. While the government's ability and will to enact these measures gives this story a positive outlook, one cannot ignore that the outbreak began because of a failure to take such measures across borders. Until this can be done, the region can never be truly safe from a new outbreak. Just like with a human virus, complete eradication remains the only option to ensure that any given region is truly safe.
In conclusion, this story should serve to remind us that bird flu remains a real and endemic infection. It should also inform us of the difficulties in controlling and eliminating an epizootic infection. Unlike humans who can tell their doctor if they are sick or who can be easily vaccinated en masse, animals need to be controlled with much stricter options, such as culling, and have no respect for human borders.
-Zachary Herrera
References:
Nepal Outbreak + Response
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j7xEcYCva8ncWPDqGc3qKPBJCxzw?docId=CNG.d7502e631fd80bd9b27d505006b05b64.41
Indian Outbreak
http://www.worldpoultry.net/news/bird-flu-prompts-mass-poultry-cullings-in-india-9972.html
More Recent News from Vietnam:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/what-happened-to-bird-flu-deaths-continue-new-strain-outsmarts-poultry-vaccine-in-vietnam/2012/02/17/gIQAEGmAJR_story.html
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