The Centers for Disease Control is investigating a potentially deadly bacterium that normally is found in hospitals but is appearing in doctor’s offices and medical facilities.
A study released Wednesday shows that the bacteria, C. difficile, has been found in patients who had not visited hospitals but doctors or dentists. The CDC study, published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, said 150,000 people who had not been in the hospital came down with C. diff in 2011.
The bacteria cause a deadly diarrhea and infected nearly half a million Americans in the last year. The bacteria were the direct cause of 15,000 deaths.
“This is really an important issue. We need to understand better how people are getting C. diff,” said Dr. Cliff McDonald, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.
The CDC encourages people to wash their hands with soap and water because alcohol based antibiotic jells do not work on C. diff.
Early estimates of the flu vaccine show that it has been just 23 percent effective at preventing doctor visits for all ages.
The flu vaccine is not the worst ever, as one vaccine this decade has been as low at 10 percent effective, but the low totals are enough for the Centers for Disease Control to urge doctors to increase antiviral prescriptions should a patient show signs of flu.
The weakness of the vaccine is blamed on the prevalence of the H3N2 strain of flu that is circulating most among citizens.
“Physicians should be aware that all hospitalized patients and all outpatients at high risk for serious complications should be treated as soon as possible with one of three available influenza antiviral medications if influenza is suspected, regardless of a patient’s vaccination status and without waiting for confirmatory testing,” said Joe Bresee, branch chief in the CDC’s Influenza Division.
The vaccine was showing 26 percent effectiveness in children six months through 17 years but only 14 percent for adults over 50.
The flu season is being called “moderately severe” by the CDC.
A rare virus that causes intense joint pain and fever has struck a Hollywood actress.
Lindsay Lohan was confirmed by doctors to have contracted Chikungunya, a virus transmitted to humans through mosquitoes. The actress contracted the virus during a trip to French Polynesia.
“Being sick is no fun. But happy new year everyone. Be safe. Love all,” the actress said on Twitter after telling her followers to always use bug spray when you are outside to avoid mosquito borne illnesses.
The disease is gaining attention according to the World Health Organization because it is spreading from Asia, Africa and India to the rest of the world. The virus has been found in parts of Florida in recent years and officials are concerned it could spread in the U.S.
There have been over 4,000 cases of the virus in U.S. territories, mostly in Puerto Rico. The only state that is considered to have “locally acquired” cases is Florida. However, travel related cases have been reported in all states except Alaska, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.
The CDC says that most Americans and people in North and South America have no immunity to the virus because it is new to the Western Hemisphere.
The Centers for Disease Control has officially declared a flu epidemic.
The number of states reporting high levels of flu jumped from 13 to 22 last week and the CDC says there are now flu outbreaks in every region of the country.
The CDC also said that 15 children have died as a result of this year’s flu outbreak, 6 of them in Tennessee alone. East Tennessee Children’s Hospital has reported 442 children with flu already this year.
ABC Chief Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser said on Good Morning America that about a hundred children a year die from the flu. He said that children, the elderly and anyone with a compromised immune system are at highest danger for death.
The CDC says the H3N2 subtype is the strain in 90 percent of confirmed flu cases.
Dr. Besser said that the flu season has been striking earlier during the last few years and he called it a “worrying trend.”
He advised anyone in a high risk category to get a flu shot.
The Centers for Disease Control says that it’s too late in the flu season to create a vaccine to fight the predominant strain of flu virus in the United States.
The strain, influenza A (H3N2) has mutated since the current flu shots were created and the current shots are only partially effective in containing the virus.
CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said it would take up to four months to create a new flu vaccine even if newer technologies are used in creation.
Doctors say that the H3N2 strain has been especially severe when dominant and that without good match in a vaccine the likelihood of increased hospitalizations and deaths significantly increases.
The CDC is still recommending a flu shot because they say it could provide partial protection against H3N2. They also say that if someone comes seriously ill with the flu it’s vital they be taken to a hospital for treatment.
The Centers for Disease Control has reported that over 200 babies are aborted for every 1,000 that are born in America.
Roughly one abortion for every five live births.
The report covers all 50 states for the year 2011. The study found that 730,322 women killed their babies via abortion that year. A study released by Planned Parenthood that year celebrated their ending the lives of 333,964 babies…meaning that the organization killed over 46% of the children who died via abortion.
“Among the 37 areas that reported by marital status for 2011, 14.5% of all women who obtained an abortion were married and 85.5% were unmarried,” the report states. “The abortion ratio was 43 abortions per 1,000 live births for married women and 373 abortions per 1,000 live births for unmarried women.”
The study also showed a shocking amount of teenagers are ending up pregnant and seeking abortions.
“In 2011, adolescents aged … 15–19 years accounted for … 13.5% of all abortions,” it said, “and had abortion rates of … 10.5 abortions per 1,000 adolescents aged … 15–19 years.”
The study did not include the number of women who died in 2011 from obtaining an abortion.
A new study shows vaccines that come from human fetal cell lines can contribute to autism.
The study uses data from the U.S., U.K., Denmark and Australia. It was complied by the Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute.
“Not only are the human fetal contaminated vaccines associated with autistic disorder throughout the world, but also with epidemic childhood leukemia and lymphomas,” said Dr. Theresa Deisher of SCPI.
The study showed that in most cases, the amount of fetal DNA in the vaccines was significantly above the levels considered safe. No more than 10ng should be in a dose, yet in some cases the levels were as high at 2000ng per dose.
“There are a large number of publications about the presence of HERV (human endogenous retrovirus – the only re-activatable endogenous retrovirus) and its association with childhood lymphoma,” noted Dr Deisher. “The MMR II and chickenpox vaccines and indeed all vaccines that were propagated or manufactured using the fetal cell line WI-38 are contaminated with this retrovirus. And both parents and physicians have a right to know this!”
The report comes on the heels of a CDC report that was withheld showing an increase among African American boys and autism when vaccinated prior to 36 months.
The Centers For Disease Control has finally admitted that Ebola could be transferred through sneezing.
Dr. Meryl Nass of the Institute For Public Accuracy in Washington, D.C. publicized the fact the CDC posted on their website a poster that says Ebola can be spread through “droplets.”
“Droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose or mouth of another person,” the poster reads.
“If you are sniffling and sneezing, you produce microorganisms that can get on stuff in a room. If people touch them, they could be” infected, Dr. Nass told the New York Post.
Dr. Nass slammed the CDC for their continual statements in public that Ebola could not be spread through the air.
“The CDC said it doesn’t spread at all by air, then Friday they came out with this poster,” she said. “They admit that these particles or droplets may land on objects such as doorknobs and that Ebola can be transmitted that way.”
The CDC did not answer the New York Post’s requests to comment on their contradiction.
Amber Vinson, the second nurse to contract Ebola from Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, praised God as she left Emory University hospital after being declared Ebola free.
“I’m so grateful to be well, and first and foremost, I want to thank God. I sincerely believe that with God all things are possible,” the 29-year-old told reporters at a press conference. “While the skill and dedication of the doctors, nurses and others who have taken care of me have obviously led to my recovery, it has been God’s love that has truly carried my family and me through this difficult time, and has played such an important role in giving me hope and the strength to fight.”
Vinson had caused concern when she became symptomatic after flying back to Dallas from Cleveland. The CDC had to contact all the passengers on the flight to alert them to be vigilant for possible Ebola infection.
“While this is a day of celebration and gratitude, I ask that we not lose focus of the thousands of families who continue to labor under the burden of this disease in West Africa,” Vinson said. “Thank you to Dr. Kent Brantley and Nancy Writebol, both of whom were successfully treated here at Emory, for your donations of plasma for me and other patients. Finally, my family and I would like to thank many people whose prayers have helped sustain us.”
Dr. Bruce Ribner of Emory University said that Vinson is no threat to the community.
A new study on the Ebola virus says that if temperatures are close to freezing such as in the winter months the virus can live for two months outside of the body.
The study showed the virus lived over seven weeks on glass surfaces at temperatures around 39 degrees. The UK’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory found the Zaire strain of the virus could live 50 days on glass surfaces.
The tests were reportedly carried out before the current outbreak, in 2010, but the results had not been released to the public.
‘This study has demonstrated that filoviruses are able to survive and remain infectious, for extended periods when suspended within liquid and dried onto surfaces,’ explained the researchers to the Daily Mail. ‘Data from this study extend the knowledge on the survival of filoviruses under different conditions and provide a basis with which to inform risk assessments and manage exposure.’
The CDC has said the virus can live for hours on doorknobs or other dry surfaces and they reiterated the importance of using an alcohol based hand sanitizer and to not touch any surface that may have come in contact with someone who has Ebola.
