Two more deaths reported in Guinea Ebola outbreak
In an update today on the Ebola virus outbreak in Guinea, the World Health Organization (WHO) African Regional Office said in a statement that two more patients have died, pushing the number of fatalities to 62. The number of suspected cases remained at 86, for a case-fatality ratio of 72%.
So far the sick people are from three districts in the forested southeastern part of the country: Guekedou, Macenta, and Kissidougou. Seven patients are being treated in an isolation unit in Guekedou district, and plans are under way to open another ward in Macenta district
Eleven infections have been confirmed so far by labs in three countries, which include the Pasteur Institute facilities in France and Senegal and the Bernhard-Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine in Germany. Investigations are ongoing into possible cases in the neighboring countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The WHO and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network have deployed experts to help Guinea with the outbreak response, and the country's health ministry is preparing a request for assistance from the African Public Health Emergency Fund and other potential donors.
Mar 26 WHO statement
WHO gives more details on latest MERS cases in UAE, Saudi Arabia
The WHO offered more details today on a fatal case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) reported in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) yesterday, while signaling that three of six recent cases in Saudi Arabia involved contact with animals.
The fatal UAE case was the second of two from the UAE that the WHO reported yesterday. In today's statement, the agency said the patient was a 40-year-old Omani man who had underlying medical conditions.
He was first admitted to a hospital in Muscat, Oman, on Feb 15 and was hospitalized again in Abu Dhabi (UAE) on Mar 17, but his condition deteriorated and he died on Mar 24, the WHO said. His case was confirmed on Mar 21. He had no history of recent travel outside of Oman, and the UAE and had no reported contact with animals or a laboratory-confirmed case.
The other UAE case announced by the WHO yesterday also involved two hospitalizations. The patient, a 49-year-old man from Abu Dhabi, was hospitalized from Feb 27 to Mar 9 and was hospitalized again on Mar 16. He was listed in critical condition yesterday.
The WHO used Twitter today to comment on six MERS cases that were reported by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) on Mar 20 and 21. The WHO said three of those patients had contact with animals, including camels, which are suspected to be a source of the virus in humans.
The agency did not give any other details about the six cases. On Mar 20 the MOH reported MERS cases in two men, ages 71 and 66, and in an 86-year-old (no gender listed). And on Mar 21 the MOH reported cases in three people, ages 45, 56, and 75, but offered no further information.
In its Twitter posts, the WHO said the six Saudi cases raise the global MERS count to 206, including 86 deaths.
Mar 26 WHO statement
WHO Twitter feed
Saudi MOH MERS-CoV page
Uptick in Cambodian H5N1 cases may be result of virus mutation
The H5N1 avian influenza virus that has infected multiple Cambodians in recent months may have undergone a mutation that is fueling the uptick, according to international experts meeting yesterday in Phnom Penh, says a story in the Cambodia Daily.
Cambodia had 21 cases of human H5N1 from 2003 through 2012, according to official WHO numbers. However, 35 cases have been reported just since the beginning of 2013, which is more than any other country for that period, says the story.
"We got a novel first mutation that started around the same time in 2013 as we saw an increase of cases," said Dennis Carroll, director of the US Agency for International Development's avian influenza unit, at the meeting. The new variant primarily causes disease in poultry, he noted, but was a predominant cause of recent human cases as well.
The increase in cases in Cambodia has not been mirrored in neighboring Vietnam. Carroll said that Cambodia does not vaccinate poultry, nor does it compensate farmers who lose birds to preventive culling, both of which Vietnam does. That could be one reason for the difference, he said, but "We just don't really know."
Vietnamese officials explained that compensation of farmers encourages them to report outbreaks and allows earlier preventive efforts. That country approved $6.5 million for combatting H5N1 over the next 5 years, the story said.
With informal movement of poultry across the border between Cambodia and Vietnam and a similar climate in the two countries, a joint response was discussed at the meeting yesterday, and a pilot project for vaccinating Cambodian poultry is being started, according to the story.
Mar 26 Cambodia Daily story
Latest (Jan 24) cumulative numbers from WHO
Study: Pregnant women show increased risk of HPV
Pregnancy renders women more susceptible to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, particularly if they are under age 25, according to a study yesterday in Epidemiology and Infection.
The researchers, from Shandong, China, did a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of studies published before Apr 30, 2013, on HPV prevalence in pregnant and nonpregnant women. Their results are based on 28 eligible studies comprising 13,640 pregnant women and age-matched, nonpregnant controls.
The overall prevalence of HPV in pregnant women was 16.82% (95% confidence interval [CI], 16.21-17.47), compared with 12.25% (95% CI, 11.50-13.01) in nonpregnant women—a significant difference (P < 0.001). Prevalence rates in pregnant women by age-group were 23.95% in those under age 25, 13.34% in those 25 to 29 years of age, and 14.79% in those 30 or older, all significantly higher than in the corresponding age-groups of nonpregnant women.
Overall HPV prevalence varied by region and HPV type; HPV-16 was most frequently observed, with a prevalence of 3.86% (95% CI, 3.40-4.32).
The summary odds ratio (OR) for risk of HPV in pregnancy was 1.42 (95% CI, 1.25-1.61), with an even higher risk for women younger than 25 (OR 1.79; 95% CI, 1.22-2.63).
Mar 25 Epidemiol Infect study abstract
CDC makes 40 years of Salmonella data available online
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today made 40 years of data on Salmonella available to the public on the Web. The data, collected by state and federal officials, provide a wealth of information on Salmonella, the top foodborne cause of US hospitalizations and deaths, the CDC said in a news release.
The "Atlas of Salmonella in the United States, 1968-2011" summarizes surveillance data on 32 types of Salmonella isolates from people, animals, and other sources organized by age, sex, geography, and season, the agency said. In addition to data on human infections, the atlas includes reports of Salmonella in animals, the environment, and animal feeds, which can be sources of antibiotic-resistant strains.
"We hope these data allow researchers and others to assess what has happened and think more about how we can reduce Salmonella infections in the future," said Robert Tauxe, MD, deputy director of the CDC's Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases.
The CDC estimates that Salmonella causes more than 1.2 million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations, and 450 deaths each year in the United States, and the data in the index "likely represent just the tip of the iceberg since many cases of human salmonellosis are not diagnosed and reported to the health department."
Mar 26 CDC news release
Atlas of US Salmonella data
