Monkeypox declared global health emergency by WHO – World Health Organisation
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak a “global health emergency”.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference that despite the WHO committee being unable to come to a consensus, he declared the emergency anyway as the tie-breaking vote.
He added the risk globally is “moderate”, except in Europe where it is “high”.
Dr Ghebreyesus said there had been more than 16,000 cases of monkeypox reported to the WHO from 75 countries, and five deaths.
The declaration by the WHO is designed to trigger an international response to the outbreak, which could unlock funding and vaccine sharing.
The disease has had a foothold in parts of central and west Africa for decades, and was not known to trigger large outbreaks beyond the continent.
However, in May, authorities in the US and western Europe detected dozens of outbreaks.
Monkeypox joins COVID-19, Ebola, and Zika on the list of previously declared global health emergencies.
Courtesy of Sky News
Guinea records West Africa’s first Marburg virus death, WHO says
Health authorities in Guinea have confirmed one death from Marburg virus, a highly infectious hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
It marks the first time that the deadly disease has been identified in West Africa. There have been 12 major Marburg outbreaks since 1967, mostly in southern and eastern Africa.
Guinea’s new case was first identified last week, just two months after the country was declared free of Ebola following a brief flare-up earlier this year that killed 12 people.
The patient, who has since succumbed to the illness, first sought treatment at a local clinic before his condition rapidly deteriorated, the WHO statement said.
Analysts at Guinea’s national haemorrhagic fever laboratory and the Institute Pasteur in Senegal later confirmed the Marburg diagnosis.
“The potential for the Marburg virus to spread far and wide means we need to stop it in its tracks,” Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, said in the statement.
“We are working with the health authorities to implement a swift response that builds on Guinea’s past experience and expertise in managing Ebola, which is transmitted in a similar way,” Moeti said.
Both the Marburg case and this year’s Ebola cases were detected in Guinea’s Gueckedou district, near the borders with Liberia and Ivory Coast. The first cases of the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic, the largest in history, also were from the same region in Southeastern Guinea’s forest region.
Marburg case fatality rates have varied from 24% to 88% in past outbreaks depending on virus strain and case management, WHO said, adding that transmission occurs through contact with infected body fluids and tissue. Symptoms include headache, vomiting blood, muscle pains and bleeding through various orifices.
Courtesy of reuters.com
China outbreak spreads as WHO sounds alarm on Delta Coronavirus Variant
China is racing to contain its worst coronavirus outbreak in months, as health officials blamed the highly infectious Delta variant for a surge in infections spanning 14 provinces.
China reported 328 symptomatic infections in July, almost equal to the total number of local cases from February to June.
“The main strain circulating at present is the Delta variant … which poses an even greater challenge to virus prevention and control work,” said Mi Feng, spokesman for the National Health Commission (NHC).
The outbreak is geographically the largest to hit China in several months, challenging the country’s early success in snuffing out the pandemic within its borders after Covid-19 seeped out of Wuhan.
But that record has been thrown into jeopardy after the fast-spreading Delta variant broke out at Nanjing airport in eastern Jiangsu province earlier this month.
More than 260 infections nationwide have been linked to the cluster in Nanjing, where nine cabin cleaners at an international airport tested positive on 20 July.
Hundreds of thousands have already been locked down in Jiangsu province, while Nanjing has tested all 9.2 million residents twice.
The contagiousness of the Delta variant combined with the peak tourist season and high passenger circulation at the airport has led to the rapid spread of this outbreak, NHC official He Qinghua told reporters.
Fresh cases reported today in two more regions – Fujian province and the sprawling megacity of Chongqing – included one patient who visited the tourist city of Xi’an, Shaanxi province, and an international cargo crew member who recently travelled from abroad, authorities said.
Officials in one Chongqing district ordered emergency mass testing late yesterday for people who had visited venues linked to confirmed cases.
After one asymptomatic case was discovered in Zhengzhou, the epicentre of recent deadly floods in central Henan province, city officials ordered mass testing of all 10 million residents.
The head of the city health commission was also sacked.
The tourist city of Zhangjiajie in Hunan province locked down all 1.5 million residents and shut all tourist attractions yesterday, according to an official notice.
Health officials said the virus was likely brought there via the Nanjing cluster, according to preliminary investigations.
Officials are now scrambling to track people nationwide who recently travelled from Nanjing or Zhangjiajie, and have urged tourists not to travel to areas where cases have been found.
After reports that some people sickened in the latest cluster were vaccinated, health officials said this was “normal” and stressed the importance of vaccination alongside strict measures.
“The Covid vaccine’s protection against the Delta variant may have somewhat declined, but the current vaccine still has a good preventative and protective effect against the Delta variant,” said Feng Zijian, virologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 1.6 billion vaccine doses have so far been administered nationwide as of yesterday, the NHC said. It does not provide figures on how many people have been fully vaccinated.
Health officials have said they are aiming for 80% of the population to be fully vaccinated by year-end.
Worldwide, coronavirus infections are once again on the upswing, with the World Health Organization announcing an 80% average increase over the past four weeks in five of the health agency’s six regions, a jump largely fuelled by the Delta variant.
First detected in India, it has now reached 132 countries and territories.
“Delta is a warning: it’s a warning that the virus is evolving but it is also a call to action that we need to move now before more dangerous variants emerge,” the WHO’s emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference.
He stressed that the “game plan” still works, namely physical distancing, wearing masks, hand hygiene and vaccination.
But both high and low-income countries are struggling to gain the upper hand against Delta, with the vastly unequal sprint for shots leaving plenty of room for variants to wreak havoc and further evolve.
Meanwhile in Australia, where only about 14% of the population is jabbed, the third-largest city of Brisbane and other parts of Queensland state are to enter a snap Covid-19 lockdown today as a cluster of the Delta variant bubbled into six new cases.
“The only way to beat the Delta strain is to move quickly, to be fast and to be strong,” Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles said while informing millions they will be under three days of strict stay-at-home orders.
The race for vaccines to triumph over variants appeared to suffer a blow as the US Centers for Disease Control released an analysis that found fully immunised people with so-called breakthrough infections of the Delta variant can spread the disease as easily as unvaccinated people.
While the jabs remain effective against severe disease and death, the US government agency said in a leaked internal CDC document “the war has changed” as a result of Delta.
An analysis of a superspreading event in the northeastern state of Massachusetts found three-quarters of the people sickened were vaccinated, according to a report the CDC published yesterday.
The outbreak related to 4 July festivities, with the latest number of people infected swelling to 900, according to local reports. The findings were used to justify a return to masks for vaccinated people in high-risk areas.
“As a vaccinated person, if you have one of these breakthrough infections, you may have mild symptoms, you may have no symptoms, but based on what we’re seeing here you could be contagious to other people,” Celine Gounder, an infectious diseases physician and professor at New York University, told AFP.
According to the leaked CDC document, a review of findings from other countries showed that while the original SARS-CoV-2 was as contagious as the common cold, each person with Delta infects on average eight others, making it as transmissible as chickenpox but still less than measles.
Reports from Canada, Scotland and Singapore suggest Delta infections may also be more severe, resulting in more hospitalisations.
Courtesy of rt.ie
Monkeypox Disease Outbreak in the UK
The UK is dealing with an outbreak of monkeypox, Health Secretary Matt Hancock casually told MPs today.
Two people – both members of the same household – are being monitored after the virus was identified in North Wales.
One is currently being treated in a hospital in England, health chiefs confirmed.
Public Health Wales has said the wider risk to the public is “low”.
It is understood one person contracted the virus overseas, and then passed it to someone they live with.
But Mr Hancock described it as “absolutely standard” while addressing MPs at the Health and Social Select Committee this afternoon.
The monkeypox virus causes a disease with symptoms similar, but less severe, to smallpox, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Describing his response to the Covid pandemic, the Health Secretary said that he had to be constantly aware of outbreaks of other diseases.
He said: He added: “As Health Secretary, you’re dealing with these sorts of outbreaks all of the time – I’m currently dealing with a monkey pox outbreak and cases of drug resistant TB, and that is absolutely standard.”
In a statement Public Health Wales said “two cases of imported monkeypox” have been confirmed.
It said: “Public Health Wales and Public Health England are monitoring two cases of imported monkeypox identified in North Wales.
“The index case was acquired overseas, and the two cases are members of the same household. Both cases were admitted to a hospital in England, where one currently remains.
“Monitoring and follow-up of the cases and their close contacts are undertaken as part of normal practice, and the risk to the general public is very low.”
Monkeypox is zoonosis – meaning it is transmitted from animals to humans.
It often starts with a rash before red spots appear and spread across the body, turning into red bumps filled with fluid.
These are often accompanied by flu-like symptoms such as high temperature, muscle aches and swollen glands.
Cases are often found close to tropical rainforests where there are animals that carry the virus.
Transmission of the disease is “limited”, the WHO has said, and until now it has only been detected in 15 countries.
Richard Firth Consultant in Health Protection at Public Health Wales, said: “Confirmed cases of monkeypox are a rare event in the UK, and the risk to the general public is very low.
“We have worked with multi agency colleagues, following tried and tested protocols and procedures, and identified all close contacts. Actions have been put in place to minimise the likelihood of further infection.
“Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus and has been reported mainly in central and West African countries.”
According to the NHS, monkeypox is usually a mild illness that will get better on its own without treatment.
But it says: “Some people can develop more serious symptoms, so patients with monkeypox in the UK are cared for in specialist hospitals.”
Courtesy of mirror.co.uk
Ebola warning: WHO increases risk level to ‘very high’ – world on alert
The WHO Africa Region division tweeted as we speak: “So far there have been 18 instances, 9 deaths, 523 contacts, 82 % monitored and 1604 individuals vaccinated.” An outbreak has additionally been recorded within the Democratic Republic of Congo. The WHO has warned international locations neighboring Guinea weren’t ready for outbreaks or for future vaccination campaigns.
However, at current the worst-hit nation of the newest outbreak is Guinea.
It is the primary outbreak of the lethal virus there since a 2013-2016 outbreak, which was thought of the world’s worst.
The 2013-2016 outbreak unfold all through a number of West African international locations.
The lethal pathogen killed hundreds of individuals throughout its final outbreak and the WHO is fearful in regards to the newest resurgence, particularly amid the coronavirus crises.
The WHO’s Regional Emergency Director Abdou Salam Gueye mentioned: “There are six neighboring international locations to Guinea and we carried out an evaluation of readiness.
“Two of the international locations aren’t prepared and one is borderline and there are three international locations kind of prepared.”
The international locations that border Guinea are at the moment not ready to roll-out mass Ebola vaccination programmes.
Mr Gueye added: “Those neighboring international locations agreed on cross-border cooperation and coordination to management the outbreak.”
The nation has the present capability to inoculate 100 individuals per day.
This would be the first time an Ebola vaccine has been distributed within the nation.
Currently, 1604 individuals had been vaccinated in Guinea.
Bachir Kanté, an official on the well being ministry, mentioned: “In the approaching days, we will likely be in a position to vaccinate extra individuals so as to include this pandemic correctly.”
Courtesy of today-india.in
31 people die after BUBONIC PLAGUE outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo
A bubonic plague outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has seen several dozen people succumb to the long-feared disease, which caused Europe’s Black Death pandemic in the 14th century.
Multiple cases of the plague were identified in the Biringi area of Ituri Province in northeastern DR Congo between November 15 and December 13, Anne Laudisoit of New York-based NGO, Ecohealth Alliance, told AFP.
At least 520 people have become ill and “more than 31” of them have died, Ituri Health Minister Patrick Karamura told the outlet.
The vast majority of cases involved bubonic plague, with the exception of five instances of pneumonic plague and two instances of septicemic plague, which occur when the disease spreads to the lungs or blood, respectively.
Younger people were most affected, with the average age of patients being only 13. Among those infected was a three-month-old baby, according to Laudisoit.
The plague, which is caused by Yersinia pestis bacterium, is endemic to the province where it was first confirmed in 1926. Outbreaks occur regularly, with the World Health Organization (WHO) also issuing an alert over spiking cases of the disease in Ituri’s Rethy region in July last year.
The latest outbreak began with mass deaths among rats, which had been infected by germ-carrying fleas in their fur. Those fleas then started to look for new hosts and shifted onto humans, infecting them through their bites.
Bubonic plague is the most common form of the disease, which occurs after the bacillus travels through the blood and attacks the nearest lymph node. Those swollen and painful lymph nodes that can sometimes break open are known as ‘buboes’. Other symptoms include fever, headaches and vomiting.
The so-called Black Death, which according to various estimates killed between a third and a half of Europe’s population in the mid-14th century, while also heavily hitting North Africa and Asia, was the largest pandemic in human history and was caused by bubonic plague.
The fearsome disease is now curable with several types of antibiotics. However, without proper treatment, the plague can cause death in between 30 to 90 percent of those infected.
However, getting proper medical attention in DR Congo is often difficult as its health system suffers from lack of funding and is hampered by the activity of various militant groups. Besides the plague, the Central African country is also challenged by episodic Ebola outbreaks, malaria, cholera, HIV and other diseases.
Courtesy of rt.com
Ebola kills 4 in Guinea as West African nation suffers first outbreak of deadly disease in 5 years
A resurgence of Ebola has killed four people in Guinea, marking the first time in five years that the disease has been linked to fatalities in the West African country.
The latest victims of the virus had participated in a funeral for a nurse who had fallen ill and died, Guinea’s National Health Security Agency chief Sakoba Keita told local media. Her death has now been attributed to Ebola.
Following the burial, eight people showed symptoms of the virus, including diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding. Three of the individuals died, while four others have been hospitalized. Keita said that one of the patients had “escaped” from where he was being treated but was later located and taken to a hospital in the capital, Conakry. The outbreak occurred in the southeast region of Nzerekore.
Health Minister Remy Lamah said that the government was “really concerned” about the new Ebola deaths. Guinea has not recorded a fatality from Ebola since 2016, when the virus ripped through the country and the surrounding region, killing more than 11,000 over a three-year period.
Ebola is a highly infectious and deadly disease that causes hemorrhagic fever and internal bleeding. The virus is spread through contact with infected body fluids.
The outbreak comes as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) struggles to rein in its own resurgence of the virus. The country recently saw two deaths that have been attributed to the disease, raising fears that it may have been premature to declare in November that its latest struggle against Ebola was “over.” The DRC has fought the virus for decades, having suffered 11 outbreaks since the disease was first discovered near the Ebola river in 1976.
Courtesy of rt.com
‘Mysterious’ disease alarm: Some 300 hospitalized, 1 dead in India as medics fail to identify cause of patients’ suffering
At least one person has died and hundreds more have been hospitalized due to an unknown illness that has emerged in Eluru, India. Medical authorities are scrambling to identify what is causing the health problems.
Residents of the city, which is located in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, have been rushed to hospital after suffering from dizziness, headaches, vomiting, and epilepsy-like symptoms. Around 300 people have been treated for the unexplained illness in total, with more than 140 patients being discharged after receiving medical care, according to NDTV, citing health officials.
Most people seem to recover from the bizarre sickness, but one patient, a 45-year-old man, died after being admitted to the hospital with symptoms of nausea and epilepsy.
Authorities are still trying to determine the cause of the unexplained illness. CT scans have not revealed anything unusual in the patients, and cerebral spinal fluid tests also came back normal. The afflicted individuals have all tested negative for Covid-19. Blood, water, and food samples have been collected and sent to a forensics laboratory, local media reported, and health officials are awaiting the results of screenings carried out to detect E. coli bacteria.
A special team of doctors has been dispatched to the city as officials conduct a house-to-house survey in an attempt to identify potential patients, as well as find clues that could reveal the source of the illness.
According to media reports, some of the patients said they had experienced convulsions and lost consciousness after drinking tap water. Water contamination was identified as the culprit behind the string of hospitalizations, but officials have insisted that there is no evidence there is anything wrong with the city’s supply.
Courtesy of rt.com
Ebola-like virus which causes massive bleeding found to jump from human to human after Bolivia outbreak
Scientists have sounded the alarm over an Ebola-like virus from Bolivia which has been found to spread from person to person, killing three out of every five confirmed patients.
The rodent-borne Chapare virus first emerged in 2004 in the Bolivian province from which it gets its name, about 370 miles east of the country’s capital city, La Paz.
New research has shed light on the deadliness of the disease and how it spread from patient zero.
Following a 2019 outbreak in the country, researchers have found that, though it comes from a different viral family than Ebola, it also causes hemorrhagic fever, which can, in turn, cause life-threatening organ failure and bleeding.
At present, there is no treatment for Chapare outside of intravenous hydration and supportive care. The virus causes fever, headache, abdominal pain, rash and bleeding of the gums, and is believed to result from contact with rat urine or droppings.
Dr. Caitlin Cossaboom, an epidemiologist with the US Centers for Disease Control, presented findings from her research into a 2019 outbreak to the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s annual meeting on Monday.
A 65-year-old rice farmer was patient zero in the outbreak who then spread the disease to a 25-year-old doctor who treated him.
“The night before he died, she suctioned saliva from his mouth, and then she fell ill nine days later,” Cossaboom explained.
The 48-year-old paramedic who transported the doctor to hospital was the next to be infected after performing CPR on her.
A gastroenterologist conducted an endoscopy on the doctor and developed symptoms 14 days later. All of the cases resulted in exposure to bodily fluids from an infected person.
Patient zero, the doctor and the gastroenterologist all died from the Chapare virus, while the ambulance worker and another infected person survived.
The pygmy rice rat and the small-eared pygmy rice rat were found to be the primary carriers of the pathogen. They inhabit Bolivia and several neighbouring countries.
Scientists now worry the virus may have been circulating in the country for years with patients having been misdiagnosed with dengue fever, a mosquito-borne virus which cannot be transmitted from human-to-human, unlike Chapare.
The good news is that arenaviruses, such as Chapare, are vulnerable to both heat and disinfectants, which means that global spread is extremely unlikely.
Courtesy of rt.com
China bubonic plague spreads: 17 provinces now infected after alarming new cases #BubonicPlague #China
Three more cases of the virus have now been discovered in the central Mongolian province of Uvurkhangai. With this new cluster of cases, the health ministry has confirmed that almost every province in the country now has an active outbreak. Due to its proximity on the border with China, there are increased concerns the deadly infectious disease may soon migrate across.
Dorj Narangerel, head of public relations and surveillance department of the health ministry said: “Three suspected cases of the plague are now under isolation at a local hospital.
“They are members of the same family or mother and her two children.”
This means 17 out of the 21 provinces in the country have now reported outbreaks.
Indeed, China had also reported outbreaks of the bubonic plague in the northern region of Inner Mongolia in July and earlier this month.
Due to the outbreak, China placed a lockdown on the region in order to stop a catastrophic pandemic spreading throughout the country again.
A death was reported in the city of Bayannur due to organ failure after contracting the deadly disease.
Authorities in his village of Bayannur said: “The place of residence of the deceased is locked down, and a comprehensive epidemiological investigation is being carried out.
“Currently, there is a risk of the human plague spreading in our city.”
Another person also died after contracting the virus in the nearby city of Baotou.
Due to the impact of the coronavirus, Chinese health officials have moved quickly to quarantine any town or city at risk of the bubonic to stop a second pandemic from occurring.
The bubonic plague, which caused the Black Death, is transmitted by fleas which usually live on rodents.
As a result of the mountainous terrain in Mongolia and northern China, there is a high number of rodents potentially carrying the virus.
Such was the potency of the disease, it caused 50 million deaths across Europe in the Middle Ages.
The virus can cause a victim’s limbs or body parts to become blackened hence why it was called the Black Death.
Although the recent spike has been largely confined to South East Asia, a case was also reported in California.
A positive case was discovered in the Lake Tahoe region of the state earlier this month.
This was the first time any such case was reported in five years.
Health Officer Nancy Williams said: “Plague is naturally present in many parts of California, including higher elevation areas of El Dorado County.
“It’s important that individuals take precautions for themselves and their pets when outdoors, especially while walking, hiking and/or camping in areas where wild rodents are present.
“Human cases of plague are extremely rare but can be very serious.”
Crucially, there is now treatment for the virus if it is detected early enough.
However, certain countries hunt rodents which are a core part of their diet.
Courtesy of express.co.uk
Please Donate To Support My Work
Earth Extremities 
Comments