Mar 18, 2013
WHO, Global Fund make plea for scaled-up TB funding
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (GFATM) issued a statement today saying that at least $1.6 billion annually is urgently needed to effectively continue the global fight against tuberculosis (TB), particularly multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). Margaret Chan, MD, MPH, WHO director-general, and Mark Dybul, executive director of GFATM, said that filling the anticipated $1.6 billion funding gap in 118 low- and middle-income countries eligible for GFATM support could mean full treatment for 17 million TB and MDR-TB patients and 6 million lives saved from 2014 to 2016. While the TB epidemic has been turned around dramatically since the 1990s, Africa and Europe are not on track to meet the global target of cutting the death rate for TB in half by 2015. The $1.6 billion is needed for critical implementation of interventions to drive down the number of deaths, alleviate suffering, cut transmission, and contain the spread of drug resistance, according to the statement. Another $1.3 billion annually is needed for TB research and development of drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines during 2014-16. Said Chan in the statement, "We have gained a lot of ground in TB control through international collaboration, but it can easily be lost if we do not act now."
Mar 18 WHO press release
Mar 18 speech by Chan to mark World TB Day
Most infected on Navy ship during 2009 H1N1 outbreak had no symptoms
Although a third of tested crew members aboard a US Navy ship became infected with the pandemic 2009 H1N1 (pH1N1) virus during a summer 2009 outbreak, 53% did not recall respiratory symptoms, just 35% met criteria for respiratory illness, and only 11% met criteria for influenza-like illness (ILI), according to a serologic study published yesterday. Writing in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Navy reported results from 489 of a 2,000-member crew for whom pre- and post-outbreak serum samples were available. Of the 489, 142 (32%) were shown to be pH1N1-infected by polymerase chain reaction testing; 78% had been vaccinated against flu the year before. The attack rate in the 57 women in the study was higher, 41%, compared with 31% in men. Marines had a higher attack rate compared with Navy personnel, 37% versus 25%. Of those infected, 74 (53%) were asymptomatic, 51 (35%) had acute respiratory symptoms, and 17 (11%) had ILI symptoms.
Mar 17 Influenza Other Respi Viruses abstract
CDC: Recent outbreak of salmonellosis from ground beef over
A total of 22 people in six states were infected with Salmonella Typhimurium in an outbreak that began in late January but is now considered over, said the CDC in a final update Mar 15. The implicated beef was produced by Michigan companies Jouni Meats, Inc., and Gab Halal Foods, both of which recalled ground beef products in late January. Patients in the following states were infected: Arizona (1), Illinois (2), Iowa (1), Michigan (9), Pennsylvania (1), and Wisconsin (8). A substantial number of the patients had eaten at the same restaurant in Michigan before becoming ill. No deaths were reported, but hospitalization was required in half of the 14 patients for whom information was available.
Mar 15 CDC update
Last (Feb 13) CIDRAP News item on the outbreak
