A new respiratory illness that is similar to SARS has claimed a fourth and fifth victim. The World Health Organization reported that two people have died in Jordan from the disease. The confirmed cases from Jordan make the eighth and ninth confirmed cases worldwide and the first ones outside of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Disease
Superstorm Sandy Cleanup Endangers Homeowner’s Health
“Every morning I wake up coughing,” Patrick Zoda told NBC.
The Staten Island resident has reported that he’s been suffering a variety of lung related issues that he believes is a result of the storm damage to the home. The work on destroying walls and clearing debris causes a continual cloud of dust, insulation and mold in the building’s confined spaces. Continue reading
Sandy Aftermath Brings Wide Variety of Disease
Superstorm Sandy has left more than destroyed property and farmland. The storm has also lead to an increase of illnesses through the storm’s path.
Long Island and surrounding areas are reporting a serious increase in rashes, asthma, lung infections and physical injuries due to the storm or debris. Homeowners are being urged to take precautions as they begin repairs due to the toxic muck in many homes and the potentially life-threatening mold growing inside devastated buildings. Continue reading
Mysterious Kidney Disease Killing Sugar Cane Workers
A wave of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is killing an extraordinary amount of sugar cane field workers in Central America. It’s so prevalent that communities are gaining nicknames like “The Island of Widows” as a result of the death tolls.
Chichigalpa, Nicaragua, a town roughly the size of Palo Alto, California, has seen the death rates from CKD increase five-fold in the last 20 years. It’s a pattern that has the extremely painful disease rising through El Salvador and Nicaragua. Continue reading
West Nile Outbreak Poised To Be Second Worst On Record
The 2012 outbreak of West Nile Virus is only 20 cases away from topping 2006, the second worst year on record.
The Centers for Disease Control has officially confirmed 4,249 cases of West Nile virus this year. The number of deaths from the virus has risen to 168.
The record is 9,862 CDC confirmed cases in 2003. Continue reading
Fungal Meningitis Toll Tops 100
An outbreak of a rare form of meningitis has expanded to nine states and now has infected at least 105.
Eight people have died from tainted injections of methylprednisone obtained from the New England Compounding Center. As many as 13,000 patients could have been exposed to the contaminated drugs since May 21, much earlier than previously suspected by the Centers for Disease Control. Continue reading
New SARS-Like Virus Discovered
An illness similar to the SARS virus that killed hundreds in 2003 has been discovered in a man being treated in London.
The 49-year-old man was rushed from Qatar to London after being the second person confirmed with the coronavirus. The first case was a Saudi Arabian who died from the disease. Continue reading
Ebola Outbreak Kills 31 In Congo
An Ebola outbreak in Congo has killed 31 people and is threatening major towns, according to the World Health Organization.
An epidemic has been officially declared. The death toll has doubled in the last week. Continue reading
Colorado Girl Gets Bubonic Plague While Camping
After reports this Summer of three people contracting the potentially deadly hantavirus while camping in Colorado, now a seven-year-old girl has been infected with bubonic plague after a Colorado camping trip.
Sierra Jane Downing thought she had the flu until her parents discovered she had a 107-degree fever after suffering a seizure at home. Doctors were unable at first to discover the cause before testing for the extremely rare bubonic plague. This is the first confirmed case in Colorado in 2006. Continue reading
West Nile Death Toll Jumps 32% In One Week
The US death toll from West Nile virus has jumped almost one third in a one-week period. The Centers for Disease Control reports that 87 people have now been confirmed to have died from the disease.
The number of cases confirmed by the CDC has also jumped in the past week from 1,590 to 1,993. It is now officially the largest outbreak of West Nile virus in the United States since 1999. Continue reading
