Health officials in Hong Kong have announced confirmation of the country’s first case of H7N9 bird flu.
The announcement is a sign that the deadly virus is spreading beyond the borders of mainland China.
The announcement of the confirmed case comes on the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) that killed 300 people in Hong Kong and seriously damaged the country’s travel and retail industry.
The 36-year-old H7N9 victim reportedly traveled to Shenzhen in mainland China and had contact with poultry during his visit. Officials say the patient is in critical condition in a Hong Kong hospital.
Scientists in Saudi Arabia believe they may have finally been able to confirm their theory that the MERS virus transmits to humans from camels.
The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus was discovered in a camel owned by a MERS victim according to the Saudi health ministry. DNA testing on the virus is being conducted to see if the virus is the same strain in both the camel and the human victim.
The virus causes pneumonia like symptoms but also produces very rapid and fatal kidney disease. The mortality rate for MERS is over 40 percent.
The virus is similar to the SARS virus that caused a worldwide outbreak in 2002-2003 that killed 775 people.
Fresh human cases in eastern China of a deadly new strain of bird flu signal the potential for “a new epidemic wave” of the disease in coming winter months, scientists said on Thursday.
The strain, known as H7N9, emerged for the first time in humans earlier this year and killed around 45 of the some 135 people it infected before appearing to peter out in China During the summer.
But a new case in October in a 35-year-old man from China’s eastern Zhejiang province shows that the virus “has re-emerged in winter 2013” and “indicates a possible risk of a larger outbreak of H7N9 this winter,” according to Chinese researchers writing in the online journal Euro surveillance.
Source: FOX News – FOX News: New China H7N9 bird flu cases ‘signal potential winter epidemic’
Experts have stated that Madagascar is facing a bubonic plague epidemic if they do not find a way to stem the growth of the illness.
Both the Red Cross and the Pasteur Institute say that the island nation’s jails have been overrun by rats and pose an extremely serious risk for spreading the disease.
“If the plague gets into prisons there could be a sort of atomic explosion of plague within the town. The prison walls will never prevent the plague from getting out and invading the rest of the town,” said the institute’s Christophe Rogier told the BBC.
Last year, the country recorded the world’s highest number of confirmed cases of plague and the highest number of deaths. The disease is spread both by rats and the fleas that infest the rats.
October is start of the plague season in Madagascar because the hot, humid weather increases the amount of fleas.
Officials in Weld County, Colorado are raising the concern that the flooding which devastated Colorado could lead to a major outbreak of West Nile Virus.
Weather forecasts are calling for hot weather and that could speed up the growing process for mosquitoes that transmit the disease. The eggs could mature into an adult in just a week. Continue reading →
A group of chemical scientists have announced that a naturally occurring substance in the human skin could render humans “invisible” to mosquitoes. The announcement could be a major advancement in the battle against malaria in third-world countries.
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 660,000 died from the disease in 2010. Continue reading →
Doctors Without Borders is raising an alarm about an almost 100% increase in the amount of malaria cases within a region of Chad.
DWB says the number of people coming into clinics for consultations who have malaria is running around 80% when the usual number for this time of year is less than 40%. Continue reading →
A report published by the BBC World Service says that at least 320,000 new viruses could be carried by animals worldwide.
Researchers say studies into the viruses that potentially could transfer to humans is vital to stop a future outbreak similar to what has been seen with H7N9 and MERS. Continue reading →
Chinese researchers investigating the evolution of the H7N9 bird flu virus that has killed 43 people out of 133 confirmed human cases claim that ducks are the “melting pot” bringing the virus to chickens.
The study claims that ducks picked up various viruses from migrating birds which then mutated and were passed on to chickens. The infected chickens then gave the disease to humans at various animal markets. Continue reading →
Researchers have found what might be the source of the deadly MERS virus that his killed 47 people out of 94 confirmed cases.
An Egyptian tomb bat collected close to the home of the first victim was discovered to have the virus in its feces. Scientists were able to make a genetic match from the virus to the first victim. The connection was long suspected as bats have been connected to various diseases in the past such as SARS, Ebola and rabies. Continue reading →
