[Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Blackhawk »

'bout damned time.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Freyland »

Blackhawk wrote:
'bout damned time.
You've been resistant?
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Smoove_B »

Isgrimnur wrote:And here's your lawsuit (EDIT: and apparently 404'd)
It's been tossed:
A federal district court has dismissed claims that Gov. Chris Christie violated the constitutional rights of a nurse detained detained at a Newark hospital in 2014 over fears she had contracted the Ebola virus.

The confinement of Kaci Hickox made international headlines for weeks after she was stopped at Newark Liberty International Airport on her way home to Maine after caring for Ebola patients in Sierra Leone before her arrival at Newark Liberty International Airport.

She charged Christie and state Department of Health officials violated her constitutional right to due process and that they "illegally and unconstitutionally" held her against her will.

However, District Judge Kevin McNutly disagreed and denied her federal claim motions, according to court records.
Of note:
But the judge said her common law claims, similar to defamation, could proceed based off comments Christie made shortly after her detention.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Water, water, everywhere
Researchers at Tufts University found pathogens in public water systems are taking a toll on the health and wallets of Americans because of the rising cost of treating the increasing number of bacterial infections they cause.

The new study, published in the Journal of Public Health Policy, suggests the costs of treating infections may have increased from about $600 million per year to more than $2 billion among Medicare beneficiaries alone.

Some of the infections could be tied to increasing antibiotic resistance. The vast majority of what may be preventable infections, however, could be controlled with targeted disinfection and better surveillance of water systems, say researchers involved with the study.
...
For the study, the researchers reviewed data on 617,291 cases of opportunistic premise plumbing pathogens among Medicare beneficiaries reported and treated between 1991 and 2006. The researchers focused on Legionella pneumophila, mycobacteriam avium and pseudomonas aeruginosa, all of which can cause respiratory, systemic and localized infections in vulnerable populations such as the elderly.

The majority of infections, 560,504, were related to pneumonia caused by pseudomonas, with 48,854 cases linked to mycobacteria infections and 7,933 cases of Legionnaire's disease. On average, each hospitalization for one of the infections costs $45,840 in Medicare charges and $14,920 in payments. Antibiotic resistance also increases the costs to $60,870 and $16,690 per case, the researchers report.
...
Though they point out that public drinking water in the United States is relatively safe, if you're healthy, improved surveillance and investigation of outbreaks to discover and clear contamination is needed. At least some portion of this has been caused by cuts to federal drinking water grants and state budgets, limiting funding for investigations and the employees who conduct them, which the researchers say has had "serious implications for states' ability to protect public health."
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Stefan Stirzaker »

Oh Canada!!! Fermented seal is a thing? I've heard of fermented cabbage (Korean?) but fermented meat?

BOTULISM - CANADA (02): (NUNAVUT) FERMENTED SEAL
************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org>

Date: Mon 12 Sep 2016
Source: CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) News <http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/nort ... -1.3758946>


Nunavut's health department is warning people in Sanikiluaq not to eat fermented seal, after it received reports of people becoming sick with botulism after consuming the meat. In a news release, the department says it is investigating the reports.

Botulism is a rare but serious paralytic illness, according to Health Canada. The spores of the _Clostridium botulinum_ bacterium can be found in soil and dust and tends to cause problems when certain foods are stored or prepared improperly.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by hitbyambulance »

rotten shark meat is a (Viking-era) traditional meal item in Iceland
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Deja Blue
Blue Bell Creameries has issued a voluntary recall for two flavors of its ice cream due to possible listeria contamination.

According to a company statement Wednesday, the recall covers half-gallons and pint sizes of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Cookie Two Step flavors.

The cookie dough ingredient that could be contaminated came from a third-party distributor, according to Blue Bell.
...
The ice cream was shipped to 10 states in the South: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Wait on that flu shot:
Federal health officials say it's better to get the shot whenever you can. An early flu shot is better than no flu shot at all. But the science is mixed when it comes to how long a flu shot promoted and given during the waning days of summer will provide optimal protection, especially because flu season generally peaks in mid-winter or beyond. Experts are divided on how patients should respond to such offers.

"If you're over 65, don't get the flu vaccine in September. Or August. It's a marketing scheme," said Laura Haynes, an immunologist at the University of Connecticut Center on Aging.
...
That's because a combination of factors makes it more difficult for the immune systems of people older than age 65 to respond to the vaccination in the first place. And its protective effects may wear off faster for this age group than it does for young people.

When is the best time to vaccinate? It's a question even doctors have.
...
For the upcoming season, the vaccines will include three or four strains, including two A strains, an H1N1 and an H3N2, as well as one or two B strains, according to the CDC. It recommends that everyone older than 6 months get vaccinated, unless they have health conditions that would prevent it.
...
The vaccines can't give a person the flu because the virus is killed before it's included in the shot. This year, the nasal vaccine is not recommended for use, as studies showed it was not effective during several of the past flu seasons.
...
"The ideal time is between Halloween and Thanksgiving," said Haynes at UConn. "If you can't wait and the only chance is to get it in September, then go ahead and get it. It's best to get it early rather than not at all."
The company will be shooting us up late next week.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by disarm »

Interesting. The hospital where I work is requiring us all to be vaccinated by the start of November...and we're in CT, with ties to the UConn system
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Smoove_B »

Historically flu season seems to peak in February, so having everyone vaccinated by November (in a health care facility) makes sense. I'm still of the mind to get it earlier than later, but that could also be because of I was trained and when we offered flu clinics. I'll probably be hitting the pharmacy later this week or early next week to get my shot.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Jeff V »

Got mine yesterday while at the doc's office.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Measles free!
The region of the Americas is the first in the world to have eliminated measles, a viral disease that can cause severe health problems, the United Nations health agency has declared.
...
The announcement was made during the 55th Directing Council of PAHO/WHO, which is currently under way and is being attended by ministers of health from throughout the Americas.

Measles is the fifth vaccine-preventable disease to be eliminated from the Americas, after the regional eradication of smallpox in 1971, poliomyelitis in 1994, and rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in 2015.

Before mass vaccination was initiated in 1980, measles caused nearly 2.6 million annual deaths worldwide. In the Americas, 101,800 deaths were attributable to measles between 1971 and 1979. A cost-effectiveness study on measles elimination in Latin America and the Caribbean has estimated that with vaccination, 3.2 million measles cases and 16,000 deaths between 2000 and 2020 will have been prevented in the region, WHO said.
...
Measles transmission had been considered interrupted in the region since 2002, when the last endemic case was reported in the Americas. However, as the disease had continued to circulate in other parts the world, some countries in the Americas experienced imported cases, according to WHO.

The International Expert Committee for Documenting and Verifying Measles, Rubella, and Congenital Rubella Syndrome Elimination in the Americas reviewed evidence on measles elimination presented by all the countries of the region between 2015 and August 2016 and decided that it met the established criteria for elimination. The process included six years of work with countries to document evidence of the elimination.
...
WHO highlighted that as a result of global measles elimination efforts, only 244,704 measles cases were reported worldwide in 2015, representing a significant decline from earlier years. However, more than a half of these reported cases were notified in Africa and Asia.

To maintain measles elimination, PAHO/WHO and the International Expert Committee have recommended that all countries of the Americas strengthen active surveillance and maintain their populations’ immunity through vaccination.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Utah
A Utah man who mysteriously contracted Zika from his father may have been infected by touching his dad’s tears or sweat with his bare hands, according to new research. The study suggests the unusual transmission may be linked to the fact that the man’s dying father carried 100,000 times the normal level of the virus.

The research, by University of Utah scientists, was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. It doesn’t answer why the father’s levels were so high or why the son contracted the virus in a way not documented anywhere else, but it does offer new details about the events that led to the puzzling case.

The father, 73, had been diagnosed with prostate cancer eight months before his June death, the report says. He was receiving radiation therapy and anti-androgen therapy, which may have made it easier for the virus to replicate, said Dr. Sankar Swaminathan, chief of the infectious diseases division at University of Utah Health Care. But Swaminathan said the cancer and treatment doesn’t totally explain why the man had such high levels of the virus.
...
His son, a healthy 38-year-old, became sick five days after visiting his father in the hospital and was diagnosed with Zika, too. He recovered and later told doctors that he had helped nurses care for his father, including wiping his eyes without gloves.

None of the nurses and doctors who treated his father became sick, nor did other family members. Health officials and researchers tested mosquitoes in the Salt Lake City area and didn’t find any that were Zika-infected.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Isgrimnur, Sep 26, 2016 wrote:Wait on that flu shot:
Now! Now! Get it NOW!
Federal health officials are urging all Americans to get their flu shots as soon as possible, and are especially concerned that too few elderly people are getting vaccinated.
...
The CDC and other infectious disease specialists are concerned by a recent drop in seasonal flu vaccination. About 45 percent of the U.S. population got vaccinated against the virus last year, which was down 1.5 percentage points from the previous year.

The largest decrease was among people ages 50 and older. There was a 3.4 percentage-point drop among people ages 50 to 64, and a 3.3 percentage-point drop among those ages 65 and older. The elderly are among those most vulnerable to life-threatening complications of the flu.
...
Although some questions have been raised about whether getting the flu vaccine too soon may diminish its effectiveness, federal officials recommended against anyone waiting. Similarly, some research recently questioned whether protection from the vaccine may wane more quickly among people who get vaccinated every year. But the CDC and other infectious disease specialists still advocate annual vaccination.

The nasal spray vaccine, which many parents have preferred for their children, is not being recommended this year because recent research has questioned its effectiveness. Researchers are still trying to confirm if and why the nasal version might be less effective than the shot.

But two new flu vaccines are available this year. One protects against four strains of flu instead of just three. The other contains a substance known as an "adjuvant," which boosts the vaccine's effectiveness.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Zika
More than eight months after the White House first asked for it, Congress has finally agreed on some funding to help fight the Zika virus and study its effects.

President Barack Obama signed stopgap spending bill Thursday. It provides $1.1 billion to use in continuing work on a vaccine against Zika virus infection, as well as studies of the effects on unborn babies, adults and children. It will also help states control the mosquitoes that spread the virus.
...
It's just over half what federal health agencies say they need, and the approval squeaked through just two days before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
...
The National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they had run out of fresh money to fight Zika. The administration had already pulled $589 million from other programs, including $500 million meant to help prevent another Ebola outbreak. The CDC and NIH had robbed emergency preparedness, cancer, vaccine and HIV programs for more cash.
...
HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said she did not know what other funds she could plunder.
...
Senior health officials like CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Tony Fauci were forced to beg, repeatedly, for funds both on and off Capitol Hill.
...
In the end, the legislation directs $394 million for mosquito control and $397 million for work on vaccines and better tests to diagnose Zika infections in people.

It also provides $66 million to help people infected with Zika in U.S. territories - mostly Puerto Rico, which has a full-blown Zika epidemic.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by em2nought »

My mom received her flu shot already. When she told me I was sort of surprised. Guess I'll wait till after Halloween, that way at least I probably won't personally kill her by giving her flu in February.

There is hope for fighting antibiotic resistant super bugs http://www.sciencealert.com/the-science ... resistance
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Flint, MI
Flint, Michigan, is dealing with another outbreak. This time it's an infectious bacterial disease called Shigellosis, which can cause bloody diarrhea and fever and typically spreads when people don't wash their hands.

That's exactly what's happening in Flint, the county health director told CNN.
...
In 2014, the area faced one of the worst outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in US history.

Still afraid and mistrustful of the water, people in Flint -- who are still forced to use either filtered or bottled water because of damaged water pipes -- are bathing less, and refusing to wash their hands.
...
Instead, he said, people in Flint rely on baby wipes, which they can get for free at bottled water distribution centers.

"But baby wipes are not effective, they're not chlorinated, it doesn't kill the bacteria and it doesn't replace handwashing," [Jim Henry, Genesee County's environmental health supervisor] said. "People have changed their behavior regarding personal hygiene. They're scared."

Of the 84 cases so far this year in Genesee County, at least 53 are in the Flint city limits, said Henry, who tracks and investigates disease in the county. At least 27 were hospitalized.
...
County health records shared with CNN show that Shigellosis cases spiked in Genesee County in June 2016, peaking at about five times the number cases seen at any period since October 2011.

And, since the water crisis, there has been a steady increase of cases, especially in children. The youngest person diagnosed was 17 months old.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Smoove_B »

Just received a message that the USDA is confirming that for the first time in over 30 years, the New World Screwworm has been confirmed with local transmission in Big Pine Key, Florida.
Approximately 20 deer, 2 dogs and 1 pot-bellied pig have contracted New World Screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) in Big Pine Key, Florida.

...

New World Screwworms are fly larvae (maggots) that can infest livestock and other warm-blooded animals, including humans. They most often enter an animal through an open wound and feed on the animal’s living flesh. Adult flies generally do not travel more than a couple of miles, and disease spread over long distances is more likely to occur when infested animals are moved to new areas.
Human cases are rare, but not impossible. Once again, Florida. Also, do not attempt a GIS on Screwworm. Trust me.
Last edited by Smoove_B on Tue Oct 04, 2016 2:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Image
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Blackhawk »

Smoove_B wrote: Also, do not attempt a GIS on Screwworm. Trust me.
Why do you hate me? You keep forcing me to search for stuff.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Smoove_B »

I was just trying to be a mensch and not have someone start looking up Screwworm information and suddenly blow chunks on their keyboard. Maybe I should have just linked to the happy friendly CDC page and hoped that was enough. If that's not enough, please do enjoy Monsters Inside Me. After viewing lose 1D10 SAN.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Blackhawk »

See? Now you made me watch a video.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Revenge of the polio-like virus:
A spike in the number of cases of a mysterious polio-like illness has led to a new alert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of August, at least 50 people in 24 states were confirmed to have acute flaccid myelitis, a viral infection that attacks the body’s nervous system and has led to paralysis and death. The federal agency posted an update earlier this week.

In July, the Texas Department of State Health Services issued a warning to health providers after seven incidents were reported by the end of June.

There have been a total of 11 confirmed and two suspected cases of AFM in Texas to date, and five have been in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties, according to DSHS. The first case was reported in March, followed by two in May, four in June, three in July and one in August.
...
Infection with AFM leads to the sudden onset of limb weakness and loss of muscle tone and reflexes. Other symptoms include drooping eyelids, facial weakness and slurred speech. Despite testing, health officials do not know what’s causing the uptick.

Dr. Benjamin Greenberg, a pediatric neurologist at Children's Health in Dallas has treated several cases over the past few years- including two in the past couple of months- and says symptoms tend to vary. Some patients have mild weakness in just one limb while others are unable to move their arms nor legs and are admitted to the intensive care unit.

Though more prevalent in people under the age of 21, there have been reports of AFM in adults. There is no specific treatment, but options being tested include steroid injections and the removal of plasma from the blood.
...
This isn’t the first multi-state outbreak of the condition. Federal health officials have been investigating AFM since 2014, when a total of 120 people in 34 states were diagnosed over a five month period, including three in Texas.

That outbreak coincided with multi-state reports of enterovirus D-68, a once-rare condition that causes mild to severe respiratory illness. It is not clear if EVD-68 is associated with the current reports of acute flaccid myelitis, as the condition has been linked to several other pathogens.

The CDC says it is “intensifying efforts” to understand the cause and risk factors. Van Deusen of the DSHS urged Texans to take the usual precautions to avoid the spread of viruses, such as making sure vaccines are up to date and washing hands frequently with soap and water.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

CDC
Acute flaccid myelitis can be caused by a variety of germs, including several viruses:
  • enteroviruses (polio and non-polio),
  • West Nile virus (WNV) and viruses in the same family as WNV, specifically Japanese encephalitis virus and Saint Louis encephalitis virus, and
  • adenoviruses.
AFM is one of a number of conditions that can result in neurologic illness with limb weakness. Such illnesses can result from a variety of causes, including viral infections, environmental toxins, genetic disorders, and Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurologic disorder caused by an abnormal immune response that attacks the body’s nerves. Oftentimes, however, despite extensive laboratory testing, a cause for AFM is unable to be identified.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

So what's the potential impact of Hurricane Matthew and Zika? Could it accelerate the spread of infected mosquitos to Northern Florida or Georgia?
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by gilraen »

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:So what's the potential impact of Hurricane Matthew and Zika? Could it accelerate the spread of infected mosquitos to Northern Florida or Georgia?
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi ... da/503051/
“So in the first wave of wind, heavy rains, and storm surge—it could even have a beneficial effect in terms of washing away mosquito breeding sites,” says Peter Hotez, a pediatrician and the dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College, “but then as the waters recede, it could leave residual reservoirs of water in human-made containers that could breed Aedes aegypti.”[...]But given that it’s relatively late in the season for the spread of such viruses—even in muggy Florida—“we might not see this effect[...]
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Kraken »

gilraen wrote:
Ralph-Wiggum wrote:So what's the potential impact of Hurricane Matthew and Zika? Could it accelerate the spread of infected mosquitos to Northern Florida or Georgia?
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi ... da/503051/
“So in the first wave of wind, heavy rains, and storm surge—it could even have a beneficial effect in terms of washing away mosquito breeding sites,” says Peter Hotez, a pediatrician and the dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College, “but then as the waters recede, it could leave residual reservoirs of water in human-made containers that could breed Aedes aegypti.”[...]But given that it’s relatively late in the season for the spread of such viruses—even in muggy Florida—“we might not see this effect[...]
Could, could, and might. (shrug) Nobody knows.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

MRSA
[A] German scientist hunting for data on antimicrobial resistance patterns decided to push his research team just a little bit further.
...
[T]he team swabbed 400 bathroom door handles from 136 airports in 59 countries.
...
Upon return to Germany, the samples were inoculated onto growth media, and the bacteria that grew were analyzed. They found that most airport bathroom door handles, like all door handles, have bacteria on them. That's not necessarily a bad thing; bacteria are everywhere and we have immune systems.

The more concerning finding is that 5.5% of the samples had strains of Staphylococcus aureus. One of the strains found in Paris, a type of MRSA, is rare. A genetic analysis suggested that it originated from India, which means the bacterium is now being spread around the world by international travelers.

While that shouldn't come as a surprise, it underscores the importance of proactive global epidemiological surveillance. There is no such thing as local outbreak anymore.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Max Peck »

Florida declares new area of Zika transmission in Miami
Florida officials on Thursday announced a new area of Zika transmission in the Miami region and have called on the federal government for funding to help fight the outbreak.

Florida Governor Rick Scott said state health officials have confirmed that local transmission of the mosquito-borne Zika virus is occurring in a new small area in Miami-Dade County, where the state believes two women and three men have been infected by the virus.

The governor said the state's health department believes Zika transmission is only occurring in Miami-Beach and in the new area, which covers about 1 square mile (2.6 square km).
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

MRSA finds a new fungal friend in New Jersey, and Smoove's asleep at the wheel? For shame!

Fatal Fungus Linked to 4 New Deaths—What You Need to Know:
NationalGeographic.com wrote:Thirteen people in the United States have been sickened by a deadly form of drug-resistant yeast that has spread across the world since 2009, and four of those people have died, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on November 4.

The new yeast superbug, called Candida auris, causes outbreaks in a way that has never been seen before, and it doesn’t respond to the few drugs available to treat fungal infections. CDC scientists are urgently studying it to understand how it spreads and how it can be controlled.

“I am worried,” says Tom Chiller, a physician who is chief of the CDC’s mycotic diseases branch. “I think this is a real threat.”

What does this yeast do to people?
C. auris is causing very serious wound and bloodstream infections in people who are already hospitalized and ill. So it’s behaving like the bacteria that are known to cause deadly health-care–associated infections—organisms such as MRSA, Klebsiella, and Acinetobacter that reach patients on health-care workers’ hands and via contaminated hospital equipment. Like these bacteria, it causes overwhelming infections that swamp the immune system and don’t respond to drugs. Just one problem: Fungi, and especially yeasts, have never behaved this way before.

How long has this been around?
Starting in 2009, when one patient in Japan got sick, physicians on different continents began telling each other that they were seeing hospital outbreaks of a fungus that had never been recorded before and that didn't respond to antifungal drugs. By earlier this year, drug-resistant C. auris had been reported in South Korea, India, Kuwait, South Africa, and several countries in South America. In October, doctors in London announced in a medical journal that an outbreak in their hospital sickened 50 patients and lasted for more than a year. In various locations, up to two-thirds of those who've been infected with this new fungus have died.

Is this yeast new in the United States?
The CDC announcement marks the second time this year the agency has raised the alarm about C. auris. In June, the CDC sent a warning to U.S. hospitals to begin watching for the pathogen, alerting them that C. auris behaves in ways that are unlike other fungal infections and that it's both difficult to detect and hard to treat. (See “New and Deadly Drug-Resistant Yeast Emerges Globally.”)

Now, in a special edition of its weekly bulletin, the CDC says that the warning elicited reports of seven sick patients in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Illinois. Of those infected, four people have died. Chiller adds that since the agency began writing the bulletin, six additional cases have been reported. None of the cases are related, and none of the patients have anything in their recent past that would explain their infections. But four of them—the two in Illinois and one each from New Jersey and Maryland—were housed in the same health-care institutions at different times.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." — P. J. O'Rourke
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Smoove_B
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Smoove_B »

I received the notification via secret communique last week. I wasn't' sure what I was allowed to share. :ninja:
Maybe next year, maybe no go
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Smoove_B
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Smoove_B »

Hello Texas OOers - as predicted, Zika has arrived:
Texas health officials on Monday reported the state's first case of Zika transmitted by local mosquitoes, making Texas the second state within the continental United States to report local transmission of the virus that has been linked to birth defects.

The case involved a woman living in Cameron County near the Mexico border who is not pregnant, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.

...

We still don’t believe the virus will become widespread in Texas, but there could be more cases, so people need to protect themselves from mosquito bites, especially in parts of the state that stay relatively warm in the fall and winter.”

Officials in Cameron County and the City of Brownsville have assessed the woman's home and have begun trapping and testing mosquitoes to understand how widespread the virus is in local mosquito populations.
Here's hoping your mosquito control program is both aggressive and effective. Godspeed.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
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LordMortis
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by LordMortis »

Smoove_B wrote:Hello Texas OOers - as predicted, Zika has arrived:
Texas health officials on Monday reported the state's first case of Zika transmitted by local mosquitoes, making Texas the second state within the continental United States to report local transmission of the virus that has been linked to birth defects.

The case involved a woman living in Cameron County near the Mexico border who is not pregnant, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.

...

We still don’t believe the virus will become widespread in Texas, but there could be more cases, so people need to protect themselves from mosquito bites, especially in parts of the state that stay relatively warm in the fall and winter.”

Officials in Cameron County and the City of Brownsville have assessed the woman's home and have begun trapping and testing mosquitoes to understand how widespread the virus is in local mosquito populations.
Here's hoping your mosquito control program is both aggressive and effective. Godspeed.
Dear Smoove,

I opened and drank milk that I just bought and doesn't expire for another. It tasted sweet. I go about half way through a glass before conceding to myself that it had to bad and dumped it down the drain.

Today I've been light headed, dizzy, and it feels like it's 90 degrees inside. It doesn't help that I spend Thursday locked in a house a shitton of people I never see.

Am I going to die?
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Smoove_B »

Remember, the date stamped on the milk carton is not a guarantee of how long it will last - that's just how long it can be on a store shelf and sold to the public. I purchased a gallon of milk this morning with a 12/7 date on it. If I drove around in my car for 4 hours and left the milk in the front seat, I guarantee it's going to go bad long before 12/7 - and I haven't even opened it.

The good news is that assuming you are drinking pasteurized milk and not some fancy-lad organic locally sourced raw milk, you're likely not going to get sick from spoilage bacteria. If on the other hand you are drinking raw milk, I'd advise you to get your affairs in order and prepare for blood. The food industry has confused everyone by putting dates on food that are meaningless. "Best by..." or "Freshest by..." those dates are really just general assumptions and don't take into consideration what you do with the food after you purchase it.

And get your flu shot!
Maybe next year, maybe no go
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LordMortis
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by LordMortis »

Pasteurized. Store to Fridge. Had my flu and pneumonia shots about six months ago, why in the summer? That's when I see my doctor and they give it to me because I take Humira and have breathing problems both of which leave me immunocompromised. I fear I'm going to feel like death when I try to sleep tonight and it's just going to be worse tomorrow... Like this this is the storm before the big hypersensitive freezing hot crampy pukey shitsies storm.
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Smoove_B »

You had a flu shot in May? That seems...no. You'd have been immunized against last year's strain then, unless you have secret CDC connections and were given advanced vials of the 2016/17 strains.
Maybe next year, maybe no go
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Z-Corn
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Z-Corn »

I got sick from drinking fancy-lad organic locally sourced raw milk...twice!

I even knew the name of the cow that did it to me.

It made my poop smell like a dumpster fire. That's how I knew I had it a second time...
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LordMortis
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by LordMortis »

Smoove_B wrote:You had a flu shot in May? That seems...no. You'd have been immunized against last year's strain then, unless you have secret CDC connections and were given advanced vials of the 2016/17 strains.
I got nuthin. Since moving to a small practice that seems like they're actually trying to help me, rather than just get through me so they can get to my insurance money so they can get to the other three people they booked at the same time, I just do whatever they say. They've said flu shot a bunch and I've I had a bunch of shots. You'd think I'd take more of an active interest in my health but it's too damned much to remember. I may have to get a smart phone just so I can carry a copy of medical records with me.

I do know that since switching to a small practice, I haven't gotten sick off any of the flu shots they've given me, whatever time of year that may have been. It used to be the only time I ever got sick was when I went to the doctor for my annual refills on meds and I'd be sick within a week every time. The last flu shot I got there, ended with me having whooping cough for two months.

I now have a phobia of hospitals filled with germ factories known as "children." I'm now at a private practice with no children that I've ever seen and never more than three people in the office and this is the first time I've been coming down with something since I've moved. That's why I think it's the milk, because something was definitely wrong with that milk. I'm not the kind of person to throw away $2.29 worth of groceries, but I made an exception and that is coinciding with something nasty brewing in me.
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Isgrimnur
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Isgrimnur »

Possible food poisoning?
Three people died and five others were sickened after eating a Thanksgiving meal prepared at Antioch’s American Legion Hall by a local church, according to a Contra Costa County Health Services spokeswoman, CBS San Franciscoreported. However, it is unclear if the illness was because of the food.

All eight people were admitted to Sutter Delta Medical Center at various times between Friday and Saturday.

Three people died, four were treated and released and one person remains hospitalized, according to the hospital.

Autrey James, commander at American Legion Post 161, said Golden Hills Community Church was responsible for preparing the meals on Thanksgiving.

“We are extremely, extremely upset that anyone lost their lives,” James said. “We were not ourselves involved in the cooking of the meal.”

The cause of the deaths and illnesses, which surfaced after 835 people ate the meal, is still under investigation, said Health Services spokeswoman Victoria Balladares.
...
At a news conference in Martinez Monday evening, Contra Costa Health Services officials said all the victims were elderly and belonged to the same unidentified care facility. In addition, others from the same facility who ate at the Thanksgiving meal did not get sick.

The county’s public health and environmental health officials were conducting an investigation to determine just what might have killed and sickened the diners, but Balladares said there is no current risk to the general public.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Smoove_B
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Re: [Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

Post by Smoove_B »

Yeah, with a sample size of 800+, with only 5 illnesses reported in 800+ that would be unusual. Also, 3 deaths - quite unusual. Maybe it's another arsenic in coffee story.

I foresee many, many attack rate calculations in someone's future.
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