President Obama announced the progress against the Ebola outbreak in West Africa allows U.S. troops to come home.
“We have risen to the challenge,” he said at the White House. “Our focus now is getting to zero.”
Around 1,500 troops have already returned and 2,700 more will return by April 30th. Only 100 military officials will stay in Liberia after that date to provide advice on containment.
The President said the way Ebola has been brought under control shows that calls for travel restrictions and harsh measures were not necessary.
“People were understandably afraid,” Obama said. “Some stoked those fears.”
The President praised charitable groups that took the initiative to go and help the victims of the outbreak.
British scientists say they have found a way to “jam” the genetic code of the common cold and stop the virus from being able to replicate inside the body.
If true, it could mean almost immediate cures to the common cold.
Scientists with the Universities of Leeds and York say they used a computer model to identify the viral genome that causes rhinoviruses. The molecules can be blocked at the genetic level and essentially stop the disease before it starts.
The breakthrough’s news was tempered by the fact the scientists would have to conduct animal testing before they can develop the drug that could deliver the necessary items to block the genetic code.
“We have understood for decades that the RNA carries the genetic messages that create viral proteins, but we didn’t know that, hidden within the stream of letters we use to denote the genetic information, is a second code governing virus assembly,” Dr Roman Tuma, Reader in Biophysics at the University of Leeds, told the London Daily Telegraph.
“It is like finding a secret message within an ordinary news report and then being able to crack the whole coding system behind it.”
An outbreak of measles that started at Disneyland is causing massive problems throughout California according to the LA Times.
Thirty babies are now in home isolation in Alameda County because of possible exposure to measles. Sherri Willis of the Alameda County Public Health Deaprtment told the LA Times that the children were not infected but had contact with measles patients.
“It is our job to try to determine who has been exposed,” Willis said.
There have been 87 confirmed cases of measles connected to the Disneyland strain. Officials say that most of the people who have contracted the disease were not vaccinated against it and urged all people to get vaccinations if they did not as a child.
Measles is spread through the air by coughing or sneezing. The U.S. had a record number of cases last year, with 644 infections in 27 states.
Other precautions being taken include over two dozen high school students from Huntington Beach High School being sent home because they were unvaccinated and one student was confirmed to have measles.
“Unimmunized students are excluded from school for 21 days past the date of exposure, during which they need to monitor themselves for signs of measles,” Deanne Thompson, Orange County health care agency spokeswoman said. “This is to avoid spreading the disease.”
A measles outbreak traced to Disney theme parks in California continues to grow with 70 people sickened from the highly contagious disease.
The outbreak has now spread to five states and into Mexico with the majority reported in California.
State epidemiologist Gil Chavez told reporters that anyone who has not had the MMR (mumps/measles/rubella) vaccine should temporarily avoid Disney theme parks. He also said highly crowded locations like airports or bus stations should also be avoided.
He said anyone who’s been vaccinated has nothing to fear.
State officials said cases range from 7 months to 70 years old. About 25% of those infected had to be hospitalized and five of the sickened were Disney employees.
Chavez said California averages 4 to 60 measles cases a year, so 2015 is off “to a bad start.” He said that it’s likely they won’t be able to find patient zero for this outbreak.
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.
Health officials fighting the outbreak of Ebola in Liberia have confirmed that a new wave of the virus has broken out near the Sierra Leone border.
Authorities say that dozens of new cases have been rushing into health centers and marks a huge setback to the nation, which had thought they were bringing the viral outbreak under control.
Assistant Health minister Tolbert Nyenswah said that the new cases could be connected to people traveling across the Sierra Leone border and returning home. Sierra Leone has passed Liberia for the total number of Ebola cases.
Liberia has reported close to 3,400 deaths from Ebola and over 8,000 cases. The World Health Organization says that Sierra Leone has now passed Liberia with 9,000 cases of the deadly virus.
Liberian officials did not say if they would take steps to block border crossings.
Government officials in Sierra Leone announced the country’s leading doctor died from Ebola Thursday just hours after the arrival of experimental drugs to treat him.
Dr. Victor Willoughby contracted the virus after working on a patient that came in complaining of pain in his organs. The patient, a senior banker in the nation, was later confirmed to have had Ebola after his death.
Sierra Leone Chief Medical Officer Brima Kargbo said that the experimental drug ZMapp was flown into the country in a frozen form but had not thawed when Dr. Willoughby’s health declined to the point of death.
His death makes the 11th doctor in Sierra Leone to die from Ebola during the massive outbreak out of 12 infected. In addition to the doctors, 109 of 142 health care workers infected with the virus have died.
“We’ve lost personal friends and colleagues we’ve worked with. It’s extremely depressing and frustrating. You can talk to someone today and tomorrow they are Ebola-infected,” Dr M’Baimba Baryoh said. “The tension, the depression, it’s a lot of pressure. You start having nightmares because of Ebola.”
The epidemic’s official death toll continues to rise toward a gruesome new mark, closing in on 7,000 total deaths. Officials admit that the death toll is likely much higher than the official count as many families in rural areas have buried victims without seeking government assistance.
An American who went to Cuba to set up internet connections for Jews inside the communist country has been set free after a deal between the Cuban government and the White House.
Cuban officials took Alan Gross in December 2009 while he was working as a subcontractor for the U.S. government’s Agency for International Development. Gross was on his fifth trip to the country to install internet for Cuban Jews that would bypass the government’s restrictions.
Gross has been in failing health in the last year. A pastor who visited Gross said that his teeth had fallen out and he was suffering from severe arthritis and other conditions. U.S. officials said Gross would be hospitalized upon his return to the country for treatment of his diseases.
Three Cuban spies were released as part of the deal to free Gross. The three are part of the “Cuban Five” who were jailed in 2001 in Miami for spying. The other two members of the five were released following completion of their sentences.
The President is calling for America to ease restrictions and to normalize relations with Cuba.
