Outbreak
Category archives for Outbreak
Ebola in Uganda: current and past outbreaks
Posted by Tara C. Smith on May 16, 2011 Via H5N1 and other sources, there’s at least one new Ebola case in Uganda: The rare and deadly Ebola virus has killed a 12-year-old Ugandan girl and health officials said on Saturday they expected more cases. The girl from Luwero district, 75 km (45 miles) north of the capital Kampala, died on May 6, said…
Measles in Arizona by the numbers
Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 29, 2011 Maryn McKenna has an excellent post on 2008′s measles outbreak in Arizona. 14 confirmed patients, 8,321 individuals tracked down, 15,120 work hours lost at 7 Arizona hospitals due to furloughs of staff who were not appropriately vaccinated, and almost $800,000 spent by 2 hospitals just to contain the disease–and it all could have been prevented.
Dengue in Florida
Posted by Tara C. Smith on July 28, 2010 At his new digs, PalMD discusses recent news revealing the presence of dengue virus in the Florida Keys–the first appearance in the state in almost 75 years. Dengue is a mosquito-borne virus that can cause serious disease, including a hemorrhagic manifestation, and the current outbreak is pitting public health professionals against the tourism industry in…
Misc. links
Posted by Tara C. Smith on May 4, 2009 Back to the grind this week unfortunately, but the swine flu/H1N1 story is still developing and still fascinating. The most recent numbers show 286 confirmed US cases in 36 states. There are many remaining questions on the evolution and epidemiology of this strain–and many pundits sure they know what’s going to happen next. Mike takes…
Why are the schools closing and other good H1N1 links…
Posted by Tara C. Smith on May 3, 2009 Over at DailyKos, DemfromCT has an excellent post explaining why it may be beneficial for schools to close temporarily, even if they only have one confirmed case of swine influenza: H1N1: Why Do Schools Close, And When Do They Open? DarkSyde also has one up on the basic biology and evolution of the flu. Nick…
What does the WHO’s pandemic scale mean? And why is anyone worried about this?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 30, 2009 I’ve been seeing a lot of comments mocking the current outbreak of H1N1, and a lot of people (and journalists) who don’t understand what “big deal” is about the “snoutbreak” of swine influenza, or don’t get what the raising of the World Health Organization’s pandemic alert phase up to 5 means. I noted here what…
Wired: H1N1 a hybrid of 2 pig isolates
Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 29, 2009 Brandon Keim at WiredScience has a new article on swine flu genomics. “This is what we call a reassortment between two currently circulating pig flu viruses,” said Andrew Rambaut, a University of Edinburgh viral geneticist. “Why it’s emerged in humans is anyone’s guess. It hasn’t been seen before in pigs as far as I know.”…
US up to 91 cases, including 1 death [Updated: New England confirmed cases]
Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 29, 2009 The latest numbers of confirmed cases from the CDC were released about an hour ago. 91 cases have been confirmed, with the largest numbers in New York (51), California (14), and Texas (16). One new case has also been confirmed in Nevada, one in Indiana, one in Arizona, and 2 in Michigan; the other Ohio…
Swine flu–deja vu all over again?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 28, 2009 Back in 2007, I wrote about an outbreak of swine influenza from an Ohio county fair. The peer-reviewed paper analyzing the swine influenza isolated from that outbreak has just recently come out. From the abstract: The swine isolate, A/SW/OH/511445/2007 (OH07), was evaluated in an experimental challenge and transmission study reported here. Our results indicate that…
Swine flu link roundup
Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 28, 2009 Revere on quarantine versus isolation. This is a topic I’ve covered previously (here) as well, and an important distinction (though the two are often muddled together in the press). Christine Gorman talks about getting the facts straight on swine flu, and offers up many additional resources to keep you updated. Skepchick provides “Things More Likely…