Tag Archives: CDC

Health agency reports U.S. babies with Zika-related birth defects

Mosquito under microscope, studying Zika

By Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) – Three babies have been born in the United States with birth defects linked to likely Zika virus infections in the mothers during pregnancy, along with three cases of lost pregnancies linked to Zika, federal health officials said on Thursday.

The six cases reported as of June 9 were included in a new U.S. Zika pregnancy registry created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency said it will begin regular reporting of poor outcomes of pregnancies with laboratory evidence of possible Zika virus infection in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Zika has caused alarm throughout the Americas since numerous cases of the birth defect microcephaly linked to the mosquito-borne virus were reported in Brazil, the country hardest hit by the current outbreak. The rare birth defect is marked by unusually small head size and potentially severe developmental problems.

The U.S. cases so far involve women who contracted the virus outside the United States in areas with active Zika outbreaks, or were infected through unprotected sex with an infected partner. There have not yet been any cases reported of local transmission of the virus in the United States. Health experts expect local transmission to occur as mosquito season gets underway with warmer weather, especially in Gulf Coast states, such as Florida and Texas.

The CDC declined to provide details of the three cases it reported on Thursday, but said all had brain abnormalities consistent with congenital Zika virus infection. Two U.S. cases of babies with microcephaly previously were reported in Hawaii and New Jersey.

The poor birth outcomes reported include those known to be caused by Zika, such as microcephaly and other severe fetal defects, including calcium deposits in the brain indicating possible brain damage, excess fluid in the brain cavities and surrounding the brain, absent or poorly formed brain structures and abnormal eye development, the CDC said.

“The pattern that we’re seeing here in the U.S. among travelers is very similar to what we’re seeing in other places like Colombia and Brazil,” Dr. Denise Jamieson, co-leader of the CDC Zika pregnancy task force, said in a telephone interview.

Authorities in Brazil have confirmed more than 1,400 cases of microcephaly in babies whose mothers were exposed to Zika during pregnancy.

Lost pregnancies include miscarriage, stillbirths and terminations with evidence of the birth defects. The CDC did not specify the nature of the three reported lost pregnancies, citing privacy concerns about pregnancy outcomes.

The CDC established its registry to monitor pregnancies for a broad range of poor outcomes linked to Zika. It said it plans to issue updated reports every Thursday intended to ensure that information about pregnancy outcomes linked with the Zika virus is publicly available.

The CDC said the information is essential for planning for clinical, public health and other services needed to support pregnant women and families affected by Zika.

“We’re hoping this underscores the importance of pregnant women not traveling to areas of ongoing Zika virus transmission if possible, and if they do need to travel to ensure that they avoid mosquito bites and the risk of sexual transmission,” Jamieson said.

(Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Will Dunham)

U.S. states on Zika’s frontline see big gaps in funding

A Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District worker pours away stagnant water as she searches for mosquitoes in a backyard

By Julie Steenhuysen

(Reuters) – In Mississippi, a small team of entomologists has begun the first survey of mosquito populations in decades. Experts do not believe the kind of mosquitoes most likely to carry the Zika virus are active in the state, but they cannot know for sure.

By contrast, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, has been active since the late 1920s. With an annual budget of over $15 million, it now deploys four helicopters, two airplanes and 33 inspectors covering 125 square miles.

Because they are funded by local taxpayer dollars, U.S. mosquito control programs reflect deep economic disparities between communities, leaving some at-risk locations badly unprepared for the virus that is spreading through the Americas.

First detected in Brazil last year, Zika has been linked in that country to more than 1,300 cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect defined by unusually small heads.

The outbreak is expected to reach the continental United States in the coming weeks as temperatures rise and mosquito populations multiply. In interviews with Reuters, more than a dozen state and local health officials and disease control experts say they worry they will have neither the money nor the time to plug gaping holes in the nation’s defenses.

They say the poorest communities along the Gulf of Mexico with a history of dengue outbreaks are at the highest risk.

States in the south are “woefully under-invested,” said Dr. Thomas Dobbs, epidemiologist for the Mississippi State Department of Health. “You have these gaping holes in capacity,” he said, with many poor communities mobilizing their first mosquito control efforts in years.

Among the best-prepared is Harris County, Texas, which includes the city of Houston. It dedicates $4.5 million a year to controlling disease carriers, or vectors, such as mosquitoes, ticks or rodents.

The 50-year-old program is considered one of the best in the country. Traps have been set up in 268 areas in the county to capture and catalog mosquitoes and test them for pesticide resistance. It is adding new traps for the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry Zika.

New York City plans to spend $21 million over three years to combat the virus. Aedes aegypti have never been found in the city, so its efforts will target Aedes albopictus, a mosquito believed to be capable of spreading the virus.

At the other end of the spectrum, some communities may only have a “Chuck in the truck” – someone who does spraying runs with a fogger attached to his pickup, said Stan Cope, president of the American Mosquito Control Association. Many municipalities do not even have that much.

The Obama administration has asked Congress for nearly $1.9 billion to fight Zika, including $453 million to assist with emergency response, laboratory capacity and mosquito control. Lawmakers in the House of Representatives and Senate have presented their own funding proposals, which each fall far short of that sum.

STOPGAP FUNDING

To help plug some of the gaps until Congress acts, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is adding $38 million to an existing infectious diseases grant program to expand lab testing capacity and surveillance for Zika.

For the first time, CDC will also provide an additional $15 million to help local programs most in need, CDC entomologist Janet McAllister told Reuters.

She said states’ proposals are due by the end of May and could cover funding for trucks, equipment and chemicals, as well as hiring contractors.

The CDC has also earmarked $25 million for at-risk states and territories, though the funds would primarily go health departments to help them deal with Zika cases.

But the CDC money is not expected to reach states until August at the earliest, late in the game to do mosquito surveillance.

The agency estimates that Aedes aegypti could be present in as many as 27 U.S. states, though the chief worry will be areas with recent dengue fever cases, McAllister said. Those include South Florida, South Texas, Southern California, areas along the U.S. border with Mexico, Louisiana and Hawaii. (Graphic: http://tmsnrt.rs/1QvaMW6)

Frank Welch, medical director for the office of community preparedness for Louisiana, a state with 64 different types of mosquitoes, said his concern was that federal emergency funding might get delayed until the fall.

“That would certainly be too late for immediate Zika preparedness,” he said.

DIFFERENT ANIMAL

Even communities with established, well-funded insect-fighting programs may lack the tools to prevent an outbreak.

“We don’t feel horribly confident that anybody in the world is very good at controlling these mosquitoes,” said Susanne Kluh, Scientific-Technical Services Director for the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District.

One reason is that most U.S. programs are designed to deal with nuisance mosquitoes or those carrying West Nile, which are controlled by spraying at night and dropping tablets that kill mosquito larvae into catch basins.

Confronting Aedes aegypti, a daytime biter that lives in and around homes and breeds in tiny containers of water, is more expensive and inherently less efficient.

“It’s a different animal. It requires a very different method to control,” said Michael Doyle, a former CDC entomologist who directs mosquito control in the Florida Keys.

In 2009, Doyle oversaw efforts to fight dengue, also carried by Aedes aegypti. Inspectors went door to door every week, dumping containers of water in back yards that could serve as breeding sites, spraying pesticides to kill adult mosquitoes and using a liquid non-toxic bacterial formulation to kill larvae. After every rainstorm, they continue to spray 80,000 acres with the larvicide.

That has proved expensive at $16 per acre (0.4 hectare) plus helicopter costs. The efforts have only reduced the Aedes aegypti mosquito population by half since 2010, which Doyle said is not enough to prevent disease transmission.

In California, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes arrived as recently as 2013 and have spread to seven counties from south of Fresno to San Diego. “It has really changed the manpower needs,” Kluh said.

Kluh said her district traditionally treats easily accessible public areas, such as catch basins, storm drains and the occasional swimming pool.

“This battle against these mosquitoes happens in every backyard and in tiny sources as small as a bottle cap filled with sprinkler water.”

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Tomasz Janowski)

CDC says 157 pregnant women in U.S. test positive for Zika

A pair of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes are seen during a mating ritual while the female feeds on a blood meal in a 2003 image

By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) – Some 157 pregnant women in the United States and another 122 in U.S. territories, primarily Puerto Rico, have tested positive for infection with the Zika virus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.

The CDC, in a conference call, said that so far fewer than a dozen of the infected pregnant women it has tracked in the United States and Puerto Rico have had miscarriages or babies born with birth defects. This was the first time the agency had disclosed the number of Zika-infected pregnant women in the United States and its territories.

U.S. health officials have determined that the mosquito-borne virus, which can also be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected person, can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by unusually small head size, and can lead to severe brain abnormalities and developmental problems in babies.

The agency told reporters on the call it has dramatically increased its testing capacity for Zika in the United States as it girds for an increase in cases during the summer mosquito season.

Virtually all the Zika cases in the continental United States so far have been in people returning from countries where Zika is prevalent, such as Brazil, or through sexual transmission by travelers.

The latest report comes at a time when U.S. health officials have been clamoring for adequate funding to support mosquito protection and eradication, development of anti-Zika vaccines and better diagnostics, and long-term studies needed to follow children born to infected mothers and to better understand the sexual transmission risk.

The Obama Administration has requested $1.9 billion in emergency Zika funding. The U.S. Senate approved $1.1 billion of that request. The U.S. House of Representatives, however, voted to allocate $622.1 million financed through cuts to existing programs, such as for Ebola, which U.S. health officials have called inadequate and shortsighted.

The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.

The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,300 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and James Dalgleish)

 

Boston College Students Fall Ill, Investigators Probe Link to Chipotle E. Coli Outbreak

Investigators were reportedly trying to determine if the illnesses that several Boston College students reported after eating at a Chipotle were tied to an E. Coli outbreak at the restaurant.

The Boston Herald, quoting a statement from a school spokesman, reported Monday that “several” Boston College students complained of gastrointestinal symptoms after eating at a Chipotle restaurant. The newspaper reported the state’s Department of Public Health was notified and was examining whether the illnesses were linked to Chipotle’s recent E. Coli scare.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 52 people in nine states have come down with one particular type of E. Coli since October. The CDC said that 47 of those people said they ate at a Chipotle restaurant in the week leading up to the onset of their illness.

In a statement to Reuters, a Chipotle spokesman said there wasn’t any evidence that the Boston College illnesses were related to the E. Coli outbreak. The spokesman said in the statement that there have not been any confirmed cases of the illness linked to Chipotle in Massachusetts.

Still, Boston television station WCVB reported that the Chipotle restaurant where the Boston College students ate was closed pending an investigation from Boston Inspectional Services. The television station placed the number of students who fell ill after eating at Chipotle at 30.

According to the CDC, there have been documented cases of the Chipotle-linked E. Coli strain in Washington, Oregon, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland. The CDC said 20 people were hospitalized, but there were no reports of any deaths.

There were 40 cases in Washington (27) and Oregon (13), the CDC reported, and Chipotle voluntarily closed all of its 43 restaurants in the Seattle and Portland, Oregon, markets after the outbreaks were first reported. The company said all of those restaurants have since reopened.

It’s still not known what particular food item is responsible for the outbreak. Chipotle said in a news release on Friday that it has increased food safety practices since the outbreak first began.

The company’s stocks were trading at $750.42 in mid-October, which was near an all-time high. They have fallen more than $200 in the weeks since and were trading at $544.51 early Tuesday.

E. Coli symptoms include diarrhea and abdominal cramps. The disease can sometimes lead to kidney failure, but there haven’t been any reported cases in the outbreak.

The E. Coli outbreak linked to Chipotle restaurants deals with a different type of the bacteria than the one that has been connected to a rotisserie chicken salad sold in Costco stores.

CDC Reports Rise in Rabbit Fever

United States health officials are working to find out what’s behind a rise in cases of rabbit fever.

The rare disease is also known as tularemia and can be life-threatening, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The organization said Thursday that there are usually only 125 cases of the disease in the United States every year, but there were 100 in just four states as of September 30. There has now been 235 total cases, the Associated Press reported.

According to the CDC, the disease is caused by a bacteria to which rabbits and other kinds of small rodents are easily susceptible. Humans can contract the disease through tick bites, handling animals that have been infected or by breathing in the infectious bacteria.

The CDC says the disease can lead to a variety of symptoms, depending on the bacteria enters the human body. The most serious infections occur when the bacteria spreads into the lungs, either directly via breathing or through the bloodstream after leaving an infection untreated.

The disease is treated through antibiotics and most patients have full recoveries, according to the CDC. But its symptoms (which can include fever, joint and muscle pain, difficulty breathing and vomiting) may make it hard to diagnose, as it can be mistaken for more common illnesses.

An 85-year-old man died and at least 48 people were hospitalized this year, the CDC said.

The CDC report says it’s not clear what is behind the increase in cases, particularly in the four-state region of Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota where there were the 100 documented cases through the end of September. A possible explanation is that heavy rainfall there fostered vegetation growth and bacteria survival, as well as increased rodent populations.

While it’s not explicitly mentioned as a potential cause in the report released Thursday, the CDC website does list tularemia as a potential weapon that could be used in bioterrorism attacks. The website notes the bacteria is highly infections and can be transmitted through the air.

The CDC encourages people to wear insect repellent and use gloves when handling dead animals to help prevent infection.

Legionnaires’ Disease Closes Three Chicago-Area Schools

Students were sent home and three schools were closed when higher than normal amounts of Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, were found in cooling towers.

The schools were located in the U-46 school district, located 45 miles northeast of Chicago. Officials found the high level of bacteria during an annual air quality check.

The district stated in an alert on their website: “While risk of exposure to the bacteria was low, we decided, in consultation with the Kane County Health Department, to evacuate staff and students to safe locations as a precaution.”

Reuters reported that the district was properly cleaning and sanitizing all 19 water cooling towers. So far, there have been no reports of anyone within the schools contracting Legionnaires’ disease.

Illinois has been concerned with the disease after 12 residents of a western Illinois veteran home died of Legionnaires’ last month. USA Today reports that dozens of home residents have contracted the disease. Legionnaires’ also infected 119 people and killed 12 in the New York City Outbreak earlier this year.

Legionnaires’ disease is a pneumonia-like disease that is caused by inhaling bacteria infected vapor. The vapor can come from air conditioners, showers, or hot tubs. The disease can lead to kidney failure, respiratory failure, and septic shock. Most people recover, but the CDC reports that 5% to 30% who contract the disease will die. It cannot be transmitted between people.

Michigan Patient Tests Positive for Plague

A Michigan resident who had been vacationing in Colorado has tested positive for bubonic plague.

The Michigan Department of Health says the unnamed resident is the state’s first ever recorded case of the disease.  They said it’s likely the contracted the disease in Colorado because they visited an area “with reported plague activity.”

The confirmed infection is the 14th case of the life threatening disease this year.  Three people have died from the plague this year: two in Colorado and one in Utah.

The Centers for Disease Control said that the plague has been reported almost exclusively in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado since 1970.  Only one infection has been confirmed to have taken place outside of those states, and that was in a lab environment.

Doctors say the disease is still extremely rare.

“Now, it’s very rare, especially in the U.S. There are only about 7 to 10 cases a year, but it still exists,” medical contributor Dr. Holly Phillips told “CBS This Morning.” “Think of rodents in very rural states — western states, southwest, ranches, farms — that’s likely what happened here.”

The number of overall infections this year is more than double the national average of seven cases.

Defense Department Labs Reportedly Mishandle Plague; Encephalitis

The allegedly accidental shipments of live anthrax bacteria to various labs around the nation by Defense Department labs is apparently just one of many possible breaches of deadly organisms.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says they are now investigating reports that Army labs mishandled plague bacteria as well as encephalitis.  The Army had previously stopped all production, shipping and handling of materials at nine labs but had left the impression it was due to the unauthorized shipments of anthrax.

“Additional testing is being conducted to try and verify once and for all whether or not [anthrax] was labeled correctly and placed in the right location,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.

When asked by reporters about the apparent deception, Cook said that officials wanted to release info “without alarming the public.”  He said they are waiting for results of the investigation.

Army spokesman Dov Schwartz told reporters that there is no risk to the general public from the plague involved in the current situation.

If not treated quickly after infection, the untreated pneumonic plague has a 93% fatality rate and can be spread person to person through coughing.

“Anthrax being mishandled is disconcerting enough, but now the mishandling also includes other potentially dangerous viruses including plague. The committee has zero tolerance for these widespread mishaps and will continue working to ensure that the Department corrects these failures so that the nation’s bioterrorism response efforts are not hampered further,” House Energy and Commerce Committee  Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and ranking Democrat, Frank Pallone of New Jersey, said in a joint statement.

Death Toll in Illinois Legionnaires’ Outbreak Climbs As Infection Spreads

Illinois officials have confirmed another death from Legionnaires’ disease in the same town where seven elderly veterans have died.

The Illinois Department of Public Health says the latest victim was elderly with other health issues like the seven veterans who died from the disease.  However, this woman was not in the care of the facility, just in the same town as the veteran’s home, Quincy.

Four other people are now confirmed to have been infected with Legionnaires’ who are not connected to the veteran’s home.

Illinois state public health director Dr. Nirav Shah said it’s possible more deaths will take place because of the two week incubation period of the disease.

The Centers for Disease Control rushed to the veteran’s home to help local officials deal with the outbreak and remain on site to assist the state in finding the source of the outbreak.

“[State officials] do not believe there is an increased risk of Legionnaires’ disease to the Quincy community,” Dr. Shah told reporters despite the new death and illnesses away from the veteran’s home.

Officials have also told residents of the area who are elderly or sick to avoid the veteran’s home.

CDC: Bird Flu to Human Transmission a “Concern”

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is admitting they have “concern” that the bird flu which killed 48 million birds this year could jump to humans.

While the virus has not infected any humans thus far, Dr. Michael Jhung, head of the CDC’s Influenza Division, says they are watching to see if the virus begins to mutate.

“These are the first of these types of viruses that we’re seeing,” Dr. Jhung told CNBC.  “Because [the viruses are] new, we’re a little concerned because we don’t know how dangerous they could be.”

The CDC says the risk to the public is low but issued an advisory that anyone near sick or dead birds wear coveralls, face masks and eye protection.

“This bird flu outbreak in the United States is not the start of a pandemic,” Dr. Jhung said.  However, the CDC is “preparing for human cases of infection with this bird flu virus, even though there have been none.”

“We don’t want to see any, but we are getting ready in case there are cases of human infection,” he added.

Officials with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) say they believe the bird flu that struck this year has been eradicated but are preparing for another wave of the virus this fall.

The deaths of birds and their impact on domestic egg production has caused a massive spike in egg prices.  The average price for a dozen eggs has jumped 135% this year because of the shortage in eggs.  Some experts say eggs could be as much as $6 a dozen before the market begins to recover.