Diseases & Outbreaks News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

Strawberries Likely Caused Hepatitis A Outbreak, FDA Says
Source: CBS News

(12:23 PM) Packages of FreshKampo and HEB brand strawberries are likely linked to more than a dozen recent cases of hepatitis A in California, federal food regulators said.

The FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and state and local partners, are investigating a multistate outbreak of hepatitis A infections in the U.S. and Canada potentially linked to fresh, organic strawberries with the FreshKampo or HEB labels and purchased between March 5, 2022, and April 25, 2022.

"If you are unsure of what brand you purchased, when you purchased your strawberries or where you purchased them from prior to freezing them, the strawberries should be thrown away," the FDA said in a warning notice. The strawberries were also sold at HEB, Kroger, Safeway, Sprouts Farmers, Trader Joe's, Weis Markets and WinCo Foods, regulators said.

The FDA has received reports of 17 hepatitis A cases in the U.S. since the strawberries hit store shelves, and a dozen people have been hospitalized. Most of the cases have been in California, but the FDA also reported one case in both Minnesota and North Dakota...

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hepatitis- ... rries-fda/

[Xyls]

Gotta love how the messaging keeps changing around Monkeypox. These experts should be ashamed of themselves... I think a pandemic of monkeypox is growing extremely likely at the moment. Honestly, we need public health experts that actually know how to communicate and not always try to undersell things when they don't have them under control...

Monkeypox warnings 'went ignored,' and now world must brace for more outbreaks: scientists

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/monkeypo ... -1.6472148

For years, African scientists tracked a steep rise in monkeypox cases.

More than 2,800 suspected cases were reported in 2018 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone. The year after, there were nearly 3,800.

By 2020 — half a century after the first human infection was found in the central African country, then known as Zaire — the total tally of suspected annual cases neared 6,300, including 229 deaths.

[Xyls]

My home province has it's first monkeypox cases today...



NB is quite small if it is getting around here it is getting pretty much everywhere by this point. NB was one of the last areas of Canada to get COVID during the pandemic in 2020 and is not really close to major travel hubs. If it is getting here it is getting everywhere at this point.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

21 Americans Infected With Monkeypox, C.D.C. Reports
Source: New York Times

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified 21 monkeypox cases in 11 states, and the numbers are expected to rise, officials reported on Friday. Genetic analysis has revealed that while most of the cases appear to be closely related to the outbreak in Europe, two patients have versions of the virus that seems to have evolved from a monkeypox case identified in Texas last year. Of 17 patients for whom the agency has detailed information, all but one were among men who had sex with men; 14 had traveled to other countries in the three weeks before their symptoms began.

Three patients were immunocompromised. C.D.C. researchers have not been able to identify how one patient in an unnamed state acquired the virus. That suggests there is ongoing community transmission at least in that state and possibly others, Dr. Jennifer McQuiston of the C.D.C. told reporters. “We want to really increase our surveillance efforts,” she said. Health officials have identified a total of about 400 contacts of 13 patients who also risk becoming infected with monkeypox. Identifying contacts at risk will help officials determine what resources are needed to contain the outbreak. So far, health officials have delivered about 1,200 vaccine doses and 100 treatment courses to eight states, according to Dr. Raj Panjabi, the White House’s senior director for global health security and biodefense.

Monkeypox’s toll worldwide rose sharply this week, to nearly 800 cases as of Friday. The spread of the virus to at least 31 countries outside Africa, where it is endemic, has raised alarm among scientists and public health officials. Health officials in some countries are asking anyone who tests positive for monkeypox to isolate at home. Britain, which has recorded the most cases, has urged patients to abstain from sex until their symptoms have cleared, to use condoms for eight weeks after that and to limit interactions with pets and other animals, which may become infected.

As the outbreak expands, health officials worldwide are rushing to gather vaccines and treatments to protect infected people and their close contacts. The options are severely limited. The United States is among the few countries to have stockpiled millions of doses of vaccines and drugs for smallpox as a precaution against its return. Monkeypox is closely related to smallpox, and the vaccines and drugs are expected to be about as effective. In theory, at least two drugs and two types of vaccines are available to combat a monkeypox outbreak, but most of these have been tested primarily in animals.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/03/heal ... ments.html

[wjfox]

Over 1,000 cases now...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_monk ... _territory

[raklian]

I suppose there are still remnants from the Trump Presidency in CDC they haven't managed to get rid of.

[wjfox]

What a piece of shit.

-----

Mexican Health Officials: Dallas Man With Monkeypox Symptoms Flew Home Instead of Isolating

June 8, 2022 at 10:45 pm

The CDC is working with Mexican health officials after doctors there announced this week that a Dallas man infected with monkeypox first developed symptoms while vacationing in Puerto Vallarta.

In a release issued yesterday, Mexican health officials said the man visited the hospital in Vallarta after a doctor back in Texas urged him to seek medical attention for a cough, chills, aches and lesions on several parts of his body.

Doctors there told him to isolate himself. Instead, they say he fled, packed his bags and got on a flight back to the United States.

Mexican Health Officials and Doctors here at home have not released the name of the patient.

Still, Dallas County officials have confirmed a patient who traveled to Mexico was the first person to test positive for monkeypox in Texas.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/mexic ... g/2988278/

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

UK reports 104 more cases of monkeypox, mostly in men
Source: AP

LONDON (AP) — British health officials have detected another 104 cases of monkeypox in England in what has become the biggest outbreak beyond Africa of the normally rare disease.

The U.K.’s Health Security Agency said Monday there were now 470 cases of monkeypox across the country, with the vast majority in gay or bisexual men. Scientists warn that anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, is susceptible to catching monkeypox if they are in close, physical contact with an infected person or their clothing or bed sheets.

According to U.K. data, 99% of the cases so far have been in men and most are in London.

In May, a leading adviser to the World Health Organization said the monkeypox outbreak in Europe and beyond was likely spread by sex at two recent raves in Spain and Belgium.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/health-unite ... b3555ee3b5

[wjfox]

Monkeypox to get a new name, says WHO

Published
42 minutes ago

The World Health Organization says it is working with experts to come up with a new name for monkeypox.

It comes after more than 30 scientists wrote last week about the "urgent need for a non-discriminatory and non-stigmatising" name for the virus and the disease it causes.

Continued reference to the virus as African is both inaccurate and discriminatory, they said.

Some 1,600 cases of the disease have been recorded globally in recent weeks.

[...]

The World Health Organization says it will hold an emergency meeting next week to determine whether to classify the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern - the highest alarm the UN agency can sound.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61804132

[raklian]

Monkeypox to get a new name, says WHO

Published
42 minutes ago

The World Health Organization says it is working with experts to come up with a new name for monkeypox.

It comes after more than 30 scientists wrote last week about the "urgent need for a non-discriminatory and non-stigmatising" name for the virus and the disease it causes.

Continued reference to the virus as African is both inaccurate and discriminatory, they said.

Some 1,600 cases of the disease have been recorded globally in recent weeks.

[...]

The World Health Organization says it will hold an emergency meeting next week to determine whether to classify the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern - the highest alarm the UN agency can sound.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61804132

I don't mind if it's renamed to humanpox. After all, we deserve it for the gross negligence we've been showing in containing it.

[Time_Traveller]

Monkeypox vaccines rolled out more widely in UK as cases near 800

Tue 21 Jun 2022

Vaccines will be offered more widely to people at higher risk of getting monkeypox, in an attempt to help control the unprecedented outbreak in the UK.

Data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reveals that up to 20 June there were 793 laboratory-confirmed cases in the UK, up from 574 on 16 June – a 38% rise in just four days.

While anyone can catch the virus as it is spread between humans through close contact, the UKHSA states that most cases have occurred in men who are gay, bisexual, or have sex with men.

Now the UKHSA says it is broadening eligibility for vaccination, saying it will begin offering jabs to some gay and bisexual men at higher risk of exposure to monkeypox, even if they are not a confirmed contact of a case.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... s-near-800

[Time_Traveller]

Traces of polio virus found in London sewage as health officials declare national incident

Wednesday 22 June 2022

Traces of the polio virus have been found during a routine sewage inspection in London, leading the UK Health Security Agency to declare a national incident.

Health officials are now concerned about the community spread of the virus after samples were collected from the Beckton Sewage Treatment Works in London, but have stressed the risk to the public is extremely low.

Several closely-related polio viruses were found in sewage samples taken between February and May. It has continued to evolve and has now been classified as a 'vaccine-derived' poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2).

Officials believe there has been some spread between closely linked individuals in northeast London - probably extended family members - and that these people are now shedding the type 2 poliovirus strain in their faeces.

Urgent investigations will try to establish the extent of community transmission and to identify where it may be occurring.

https://news.sky.com/story/traces-of-po ... t-12638443

[wjfox]

Traces of polio virus found in London sewage as health officials declare national incident

[...]

https://news.sky.com/story/traces-of-po ... t-12638443

^ Regarding the above:

Another Brexit benefit, I guess.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

That Jynneos vaccine caught my attention and I will get it when it is available. I'll see if I can get it injected on the same arm I have my smallpox vaccine scar from when I was born.