The outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa is so out of control that airlines are now banning anyone with flu like symptoms from boarding planes.
A simple fever is cause to be prohibited from boarding any flight from nations that are confirmed to have an outbreak of the virus.
“It’s probably one of the more complicated outbreaks because it is occurring in a very densely-populated urban area, unlike previous outbreaks,” Dr. Tim Jagatic of Doctors Without Borders told NBC.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN traveled to Conakry, Guinea and said the flight into the country was nearly empty as were hotels. The outbreak in the city has caused hundreds of thousands to flee into the rural areas. However, the rural part of the country is where the outbreak first began months ago.
The Guinea health ministry, however, is cautiously optimistic they have the outbreak now under control after reporting significantly fewer deaths from the virus during the last week. 106 of the 159 confirmed or suspected victims of the virus have died since the beginning of the outbreak.
The World Health Organization said it could take two to four months to truly control the outbreak.
The U.S. Department of Defense has opened a laboratory in neighboring Liberia because of an increase in Ebola cases connected to the Guinea strain.
The outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa is growing into more of a concern for world leaders.
Mali reported their first possible cases of Ebola since the beginning of an outbreak in neighboring Guinea. Government officials have isolated three people in Mali as they await confirmation testing from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
Guinea reported their 90th death from the outbreak leading Doctors Without Borders to say this could become an unprecedented epidemic in a region that has extremely poor health care systems.
The outbreak has reached a point that foreign mining companies in Guinea have closed their operations and pulled their employees to their home nations. French officials say they are preparing screening at the airports for travels from the former French colonies.
In addition to Guinea, confirmed cases have been found in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Liberia confirmed three new deaths in the last 24 hours bringing their total to four.
DWB officials are concerned with the dense living conditions in cities where the virus has been found because it will be hard to stop the virus should it break out in a crowded living area.
The outbreak of mumps in central Ohio has more than quadrupled in recent weeks.
According to health authorities, the major increase in cases is happening on the campus of Ohio State University.
The Columbus Health Department reports four people have been hospitalized during the outbreak and at least 93 students or staff connected to the school have been infected with the virus.
Three of the people infected in the outbreak have been confirmed to have never received a vaccination for the mumps.
“If even one person is unvaccinated we are all at risk,” Jose Rodriguez of the Columbus health department told FoxNews. Rodriguez added that even with vaccinations, up to 20 percent of the population is vulnerable to the mumps virus.
One of the cases reportedly is severe enough that the patient could lose their hearing. In addition, four cases of orchitis have developed from the infection.
Last year in Franklin County, which includes Columbus, only one case of mumps had been reported.
Attempts to control a deadly virus in Guinea appear to be failing as the outbreak continues to spread.
Three cases of hemorrhagic fever cases in Guinea’s capital of Conakry were negative for Ebola, however, doctors have not been able to determine the cause of the infections that have killed two of the three hospitalized victims.
Guinea has been facing a massive outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, which kills up to 90 percent of those infected. World Health Organization officials have isolated three rural villages in an attempt to keep the virus from spreading.
At least 60 deaths have been confirmed from Ebola. The total does not include deaths in rural villages where the villagers did not report the illness of a family member or buried them before they could be tested for the virus.
Health officials fear the quarantine of the areas will fail because locals are afraid of the virus and fleeing rural towns for the nation’s capital city.
There is no treatment or vaccine available for Ebola. The most recent epidemic occurred in 2012 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and killed 62 people.
The Centers for Disease Control is noticing a disturbing trend in the current flu season.
The CDC says that significantly more adults between 18 and 64 have been hospitalized because of the flu than in previous years. According to their weekly survey of the flu, more than 61.5 percent of hospitalized patients were between the 18 to 64 age group, an 80 percent increase from last year.
Almost 2,500 specimens sent to the CDC for testing that showed positive for the flu. Of that group, almost 96% tested positive for the H1N1 swine flu.
The alarm from the CDC is echoing among medical providers who are seeing deaths among previously healthy young adults. Last week a 29-year-old mother of three died just a few days after exhibiting flu symptoms. A 41-year-old man also died from the flu.
The CDC says the country has not yet reached epidemic level but the number of states showing widespread influenza rose from 25 to 35 last week.
The Centers for Disease Control is focusing on a hospital in the Chicago suburbs were an outbreak of a deadly bacteria seems to be spreading.
The bacterium, called a “nightmare bacteria” by doctors, contains a special rare enzyme that allows it to break down antibiotics.
The bacteria is known as carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae. The superbug lives in the intestines and can be spread by fecal matter.
The CDC reports they have only been able to document 97 cases of infection by the bacteria since 2009…but 44 have been connected over the last year to this one Chicago area hospital.
Officials say that as many as 250 patients were potentially exposed to the bacteria during an endoscopy procedure. Only 114 of the patients returned to be tested for the disease.
Twenty-four flights were canceled on Sunday and Monday after flu-stricken pilots and flight attendants working for Alaska Airlines called in sick.
According to Alaska spokeswoman Bobbie Egan, approximately 270 passengers were affected by canceled flights.
Off-duty pilots and flight attendants volunteered to work while their colleagues were out sick according to Egan.
The airline anticipates a less busy Tuesday, and says it probably won’t have to cancel any more flights due to illness.
Although flu season is usually at its worst in January or February, health officials in Pennsylvania report flu outbreaks in at least half of the regions of the state.
There have been nearly 1,200 cases of influenza between September 29 and December 21 with the worst hit areas in western Pennsylvania according to the State Health Department.
Last year’s flu season put 381,000 people in the hospital nationwide, which is the most since
2005 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Researchers have borrowed tools used by weather forecasters to create a system that could predict weeks in advance the peak of a city’s seasonal flu outbreak.
The scientists at Columbia University in New York say having greater advance warning of the timing and intensity of outbreaks could help cut down on the number of cases.
The system combines data from Google Flu Trends, which tracks search inquiries for flu related search information with data from the Centers for Disease Control. The system then estimates the number of flu-like illnesses that are likely to actually be cases of the flu.
The system will also have information about how the flu spreads through populations.
A study conducted in 2012 showed the system had a 60% accuracy rate in predicting the time and intensity of outbreaks.
The researchers say they plan to put the system online to allow people the chance to track the flu in their area.
Honduras has declared a state of emergency due to an outbreak of dengue fever that has already killed 16 people.
The disease, which causes high fever and joint pains, has been confirmed in over 12,000 people. Doctors say that in more than 1,800 cases there is a real risk of internal bleeding and death. Continue reading →
