Babesiosis - A parasitic infection occurs with the parasitic protozoan Babesia microti.In most of the cases people having babesiosis do not have symptoms i.e, Asymptomatic. Infection is found in immunocompromised people or In people  with splenectomy. The bite of the Ixodes tick is considered as the mode of transmission.

B. microti infects the red BLOOD cells, causing alterations in their cell membranes that affect their ability to carry oxygen. Hemolytic ANEMIA is a key consequence of babesiosis.

Although patient with Babesiosis show no symptoms but Symptoms that can be seen include FEVER, COUGH, and shortness of breath.

How to Diagnose babesiosis?
babesiosis can be diagnosed by a Blood test. The tests show the damage to the erythrocytes and the presence of antibodies.

Treatment
Treatment with ANTIBIOTIC MEDICATIONS cures the infection.
complications like ACUTE RESPIRATORY DISTRESS SYNDROME (ARDS) occur rarely.

As hospitals push staff more and more about hand-washing and aseptic technique, I believe that we also need to beef up our “housekeeping” abilities.  I know that as a microbiology student, I had to swab various places touched daily by others and then see what I could grow in the petri dish.  I was amazed, but the worst offender was the telephone that was used in the offices.  Now, with the big push toward computerized health data, nurses find themselve frequently using computer keyboards in common areas.  These items are not touched by our housekeepers, just like the phones and doorknobs are not sanitized.

With the growing problem of pandemics, maybe we all need to just go back to basics and remember how to really clean things.  This article is just a springboard on this topic.  It is interesting that someone was able to take our lack of cleanliness and create a marketable item for sale.  Nurses, put on your thinking caps!

__________________________________________

NEW YORK, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ — Engineer/pilot/attorney Jon Roberts, PhD, has dozens of inventions to his credit. They include technology that thwarts piracy in movie theatres, gadgets that track important items inadvertently left behind, devices to enhance airport security and even an electronic matchmaker that alerts two nearby individuals with similar interests that they have, indeed, found their match. Now, as Chairman and VP R&D of VirWall Systems Inc., he’s introducing a keyboard sanitizer that uses UV-C light to eradicate bacteria and viruses on computer keyboards in about 45 seconds, for under a hundredth of a penny per exposure. The invention is featured in the November issue of the New Jersey Technology Council’s LifeSciTrends, an update on important health and technological advances.

“I started studying patterns of infection transmission years ago when my son started bringing home a never-ending series of bacteria and viruses from kindergarten. I don’t think we’d ever had as many colds or coughs in succession,” explains Dr. Roberts.

Today Dr. Roberts has parlayed his study of vectors of disease transmission into the design of a streamlined, efficient keyboard sanitizer that stops 99.99+ percent of bacteria and viruses before they can become hitchhiking pathogens. It is effective against influenza A (the family of which H1N1 is a member), staph, strep, salmonella, MRSA, E. coli, norovirus, Avian flu, the common cold and more.

“When you consider that the average computer keyboard can harbor as many as 3000 microbes per square inch, you’ve got a real problem on your hands – literally,” notes Dr. Roberts. In 2008 the CDC reported the first documented case of norovirus transmitted by computer keyboards and peripherals in a school system. In other settings – such as hospitals — contaminated keyboards can pose significant threats to patients and healthcare professionals alike since the resident pathogens may be more virulent and patients are less able to ward off such infections.

“Anywhere you have shared computers,” explains VirWall’s President/CEO, Donald S. Hetzel, PhD, “you also have shared germs. When people eat near their computers, the problem is compounded. Bacteria love to feed and breed on our crumbs.”

The VirWall KBS-1 is a lightweight, high tech lid that fits over a standard-size keyboard and uses 254-260 nanometers of UV-C wavelength to deactivate potential pathogens. The sanitizer provides uniform coverage in killing microbes, unlike disinfectant sprays and wipes that are user-dependent. The invention recently earned a medal for innovation in healthcare devices and the Yankee “Green” Award for its ability to kill germs with a novel mechanism that avoids the use of chemical disinfectants which some believe to pose environmental damage over time.

The sanitizer will retail for about $100. VirWall also holds patents for a portfolio of additional protective products including a bio-waste sanitizer/receptacle; a pen sanitizer for use at retail checkouts; and a smart-phone recharger/sanitizer.

“That keyboard in front of you is far more than a keyboard,” explains Dr. Roberts. “It’s a germ factory that can cause a relentless series of illnesses and infections. The good news is that some simple precautions can neutralize its potential to sicken.”

For more information on VirWall, the KBS-1 keyboard sanitizer and to see a demo video, visit www.virwallsystems.com.

(Dr. Roberts is senior partner with The Marbury Law Group in Reston, VA; Dr. Donald Hetzel, PhD, is the former head of R&D for several multinational pharmaceutical companies.)

Related articles by Zemanta

• MRSA Hits Schools (blisstree.com)
• Some doubt hand washing stops H1N1 (cnn.com)
• Afraid of Germs? Don’t Even Think About Becoming a Teacher (blogs.wsj.com)

What good are leash laws when they’re not enforced. What’s that dog doing running loose in the public park anyway?

“He’s a regular there,” Graunitz said . . .

If Jason Graunitz, an employee with the city Parks and Recreation Department, was doing his job the first thing he’d do is call the police to get the dog under control. This is why the leash law isn’t worth it’s weight in dog crap.

Graunitz says, ”It’s just a matter of time before it happens to a kid on the playground.” “All I could think of was my kid getting attacked by that dog.” This is just MORE dog crap!

Just listen to this guy, “Absent finding the animal, Graunitz said, he’ll have to undergo a rabies vaccination, which would be uncomfortable and paid for by the taxpayers.” I hear the shots are more than just “uncomfortable.” Maybe he’ll do more than try to justify letting a “fully grown pit bull” run loose in a public park.

Besides, what’s the difference between that teenager letting his dog bite someone (he established “eye contact”) or that teenager walking up behind Graunitz and whacking him with a stick with nails in it? You think this guy learned anything about dogs and kids?

Here’s the newspaper account:

City employee attacked by pit bull

The Times-Standard
Posted: 11/18/2009 01:15:16 AM PST

[Picture source]

–Joe

The headline’s read (translated roughly of course):

190-tal effects of the vaccine

As of Thursday, adding MPA every week out all the unwanted effects of the vaccine against swine flu on its website. To date, a 190-voice side effects reported to the Authority.

More than half a million doses of influenza vaccine Pandemrix has been sent to the county councils. Several thousand Swedes have received the vaccine and now reports of adverse reactions to the MPA.

So far, the authority had received more than 190 reports from both health care and private individuals. By far the most common are pain in the arm. Then mild flu symptoms like fever, muscle pain, stomach pain, headaches, dizziness and fatigue.

- There are common side effects of influenza vaccine and that is what we had expected, “says Gunilla Forsberg Sjölin who is head of drug safety at the MPA.

According to vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline may be about one in ten vaccinated trouble, which is slightly more than the usual seasonal influenza vaccine. This is because a substance in the vaccine that triggers immune response in time.

MPA is also investigating a death that has occurred after a vaccination.

- There is a hjärtsjuk person in Västernorrland, which has had a suspected heart attack. So far we have found no support for the death is associated with the vaccine syringe, says Gunilla Forsberg Sjolin.

Pneumonia is an acute respiratory infection of the lungs caused by viruses, bacteria and fungi. Despite pneumonia being treatable and preventable, estimates suggest that over 2 million children die every year from pneumonia, making it the leading cause of childhood death worldwide.

On the 2^nd November the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund launched the Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP) to raise awareness of the devastating death toll from pneumonia and call on governments, public health policy-makers, charities, non-governmental organisations and the public to work together to implement their action plan.

The GAPP aims to:

• protect children from pneumonia by providing an environment with low risk of pneumonia (strategies include increasing hand-washing or providing adequate nutrition)
• prevent pneumonia in children (with vaccinations against the microorganisms that cause it such as Streptococcus pneumonia and Haemophilus influenzae b)
• Treat children sick with pneumonia with the correct healthcare and antibiotics.

If successful their plan could save 5.3 million children from dying of pneumonia by 2015.

A new “Health in Action” article in this week’s PLoS Medicine by Enarson and colleagues describes efforts by the government in Malawi to introduce a national programme to cut childhood deaths from pneumonia. This strategy, known as standard case management (or SCM), aims to ensure that children with pneumonia in Malawi receive effective treatment, like antibiotics and oxygen therapy.

The SCM strategy for treatment of children with pneumonia in Malawi was based on a similar programme established by the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. This was a cost-effective health intervention that has been successfully used to prevent and control tuberculosis in 190 countries. To improve the management of severe and very severe pneumonia in children admitted to district hospitals (accessible to the whole population) the Child Lung Health Programme (CLHP) for pneumonia in Malawi focused on:

• getting lasting commitment from the government to sustain the health programme
• establishing diagnosis and treatment based on the SCM
• teaching clinical staff the SCM
• safeguarding uninterrupted supplies of standardised drugs and equipment needed for pneumonia treatment
• recording and reporting clinical outcomes of pneumonia
• supervising and evaluating the programme

The CLHP in Malawi has been in place since 1999 and was funded by the Malawi government and support from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. The CLHP was gradually scaled-up across the entire country over the next 5 years. Between Oct 2000 and Dec 2005, the CLHP successfully trained 312 health workers (including nurses and medical assistants) in SCM and there was a consistent increase in the numbers of children receiving pneumonia treatment in district and central hospitals. Furthermore, the proportion of children dying from pneumonia dropped from 18.6% to 8.4%. The CLHP is now successfully maintained by the Malawi government after the end of external funding for the project. However, there are still ongoing challenges that need to be addressed, such as a shortage of healthcare workers and the effects of malnutrition, malaria, HIV/AIDS and anaemia on the outcome of pneumonia infection.

The reduction of child mortality by two-thirds by 2015 is a major challenge set by the United Nations Millenium Development goals and programmes, like the CLHP in Malawi to reduce deaths from pneumonia, will make a significant contribution to this goal.

Enarson, P., Gie, R., Enarson, D., & Mwansambo, C. (2009). Development and Implementation of a National Programme for the Management of Severe and Very Severe Pneumonia in Children in Malawi PLoS Medicine, 6 (11) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000137

Since H1N1 is overall a milder flu than even the seasonal flu, the need for rapid identification of cases is likely less important, except in specific cases (as referenced below).  Although, milder overall, H1N1 continues to affect young people more so and the death rate among that group is much higher than normally seen with the seasonal flu.  Rapid detection tests for H1N1 in doctor’s offices are proving to be only modestly accurate with over one third of cases that were positive for H1N1 testing falsely negative.  This means that 1 in 3 persons tested were told, based on a negative test result, that they did not have swine flu, when in fact they did.  The implications for this are obvious, as persons who feel they do not have swine flu may be more lax in taking precautions to prevent transmission to other family members or persons they have incidental contact with.  Careful attention to hygiene, especially hand washing, remains among the most important measures we can take to prevent transmission to ourselves or others of flu viruses.  Additionally, any person with a flu like illness, during this unusual year, should be more vigilant than ever in making sure that they are not the cause of additional cases . . . ben kazie md

Although still used in doctors’ offices and emergency departments, “rapid influenza diagnostic tests” actually do a fairly poor job of sniffing out H1N1, a growing body of evidence shows. Scientists reported last week in The Journalof the American Medical Association that one-third of California patients hospitalized with H1N1 flu had a negative rapid test, which looks for influenza A virus in a sample swabbed from the nose and gives results in a half-hour or less. However, a different test that uses the more sophisticated polymerase chain reaction – or PCR – technology, which can take a single piece of DNA and generate thousands to millions of copies, confirmed they had influenza A or H1N1 – an A strain – in particular.

‘Rapid influenza tests’ often fail to detect H1N1 – http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-11-09-flurapidtests09_ST_N.htm

The recent appearance and worldwide spread of novel influenza A (H1N1) virus (1,2) has highlighted the need to evaluate commercially available, widely used, rapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDTs) for their ability to detect these viral antigens in respiratory clinical specimens. As an initial assessment, CDC conducted an evaluation of multiple RIDTs. Sixty-five clinical respiratory specimens collected during April–May 2009* that had previously tested positive either for novel influenza A (H1N1) or for seasonal influenza A (H1N1) or A (H3N2) viruses by real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) assay were used in the evaluation. The results showed that, although the RIDTs were capable of detecting novel A (H1N1) virus from respiratory specimens containing high levels of virus (as indicated by low cycle threshold [Ct] values), the overall sensitivity was low (40%–69%) among all specimens tested and declined substantially as virus levels decreased (and Ct values increased). These findings indicate that, although a positive RIDT result can be used in making treatment decisions, a negative result does not rule out infection with novel influenza A (H1N1) virus. Patients with illnesses compatible with novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infection but with negative RIDT results should be treated empirically based on the level of clinical suspicion, underlying medical conditions, severity of illness, and risk for complications. If a more definitive determination of infection with influenza virus is required, testing with rRT-PCR or virus isolation should be performed. Additional evaluations of the accuracy of RIDTs in detecting novel influenza A (H1N1) virus should be conducted.

Evaluation of Rapid Influenza Diagnostic Tests for Detection of Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Virus — United States, 2009 – http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5830a2.htm

Most patients with clinical illness consistent with uncomplicated influenza who reside in an area where influenza viruses are circulating do not require diagnostic influenza testing for clinical management. Patients who should be considered for influenza diagnostic testing include:

• Hospitalized patients with suspected influenza
• Patients for whom a diagnosis of influenza will inform decisions regarding clinical care, infection control, or management of close contacts.
• Patients who died of an acute illness in which influenza was suspected.

Interim Recommendations for Clinical Use of Influenza Diagnostic Tests During the 2009-10 Influenza Season – http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance/diagnostic_tests.htm

Results During the study period (April 23 and August 11, 2009) there were 1088 cases of hospitalization or death due to pandemic 2009 influenza A(H1N1) infection reported in California. The median age was 27 years (range, <1-92 years) and 68% (741/1088) had risk factors for seasonal influenza complications. 66% of those with chest radiographs performed had infiltrates and 31% required intensive care. Rapid antigen tests were falsely negative in 34% of cases evaluated. Secondary bacterial infection was identified in 4%. 21% received no antiviral treatment. Overall fatality was 11% and was highest (18%-20%) in persons aged 50 years or older. The most common causes of death were viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Conclusions In the first 16 weeks of the current pandemic, the median age of hospitalized infected cases was younger than is common with seasonal influenza. Infants had the highest hospitalization rates and persons aged 50 years or older had the highest mortality rates once hospitalized. Most cases had established risk factors for complications of seasonal influenza.

Factors Associated With Death or Hospitalization Due to Pandemic 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) Infection in California – http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/302/17/1896

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Call for abstracts: An International and interdisciplinary conference on Health, Culture and the Human Body

Epidemiology, ethics and history of medicine, perspectives from Central Europe and Turkey

Mainz, Germany, 17-19 September 2010

The face of medicine is rapidly evolving: New developments in medicine, preventive and therapeutic interventions are raising novel ethical questions in societies undergoing fast demographic change at home while participating in global interactions through travel and migration. Throughout history, the perception of health and illness and the ethical assessment of medical practices have often been different between diverse value-cultures. This may affect the responses to well-established themes in medicine, such as the control of infectious diseases, attitudes towards a person’s death, or culturally specific approaches to dealing with the integrity of the human body. Consequently, these ethical considerations have given rise to complex ethical debates resulting in different legal regulations of these developments in different countries.

The international conference “Health, Culture and the Human Body” will focus on selected cases from Turkey, Germany, and other countries. These countries have been closely connected by substantial migration processes for some fifty years. Historically, these countries were linked by medical sciences and clinical practice. These interactions will be analysed jointly from historical, epidemiological, and ethical perspectives, paving the way for the implementation of an interdisciplinary “medicine studies” approach in the field of intercultural and migration medicine.

(See also: www.springer.com/philosophy/philosophy+of+sciences/journal/12376 )

The chosen thematic areas are:

§ infectious diseases (e.g., plague, leprosy, cholera, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS)

§ the end of life (e.g., patient autonomy vs. family autonomy, advance directives, active and passive euthanasia, palliative care)

§ dealing with the human body (e.g., anatomical research, organ donation, biomaterial in international studies)

§ migration and medicine

Abstracts (max. 250 words) of proposed conference papers need to be submitted by 31 January 2010,

to the attention of Ilhan Ilkilic MD PhD, E-Mail: ilkilic@uni-mainz.de  (Institute for History, Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany)

Phone +49-(0)-6131-39-37343, Fax +49-(0)-6131-39-36682

Publication of selected papers is envisaged.

Venue: Mainz Academy of Letters and Sciences, Mainz, Germany

Organising institutions:

* JohannesGutenberg University Mainz Medical Centre (Germany)

* IstanbulUniversity (Turkey)

As a nurse working in an inpatient psychiatric hospital, I know what the words “c. diff” mean and I also know how infectious the condition is.

This is serious that now the bug has migrated outside of hospitals and out into the communities.  Maybe sending patients home sicker and before treatment has begun to work may play a part here?

So, now we have MRSA that is Vancomycin resistant and C. Difficile, which is so difficult to treat, out in our communities.  What’s next?

As a medical student, it has been one of our tasks to disseminate information – providing even just the basic knowledge to people in living healthily. In fact, the Silliman University Medical Student Association (SUMSA) had an information drive in prevention of communicable and infectious diseases. We had been posting cards with the proper procedure on how to wash hands and also, we provided soaps, specifically, Safeguard soaps to the comfort rooms in Silliman University.

**this was taken in the Physical Therapy Department in Silliman University.

Mind washing your hands now?

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It’s not much fun being a broiler chicken. Not only will you eventually end up on someone’s plate but you get tarnished with the same brush as all of bird-kind and blamed as a harbinger of an infectious microorganism (bird flu) that could cause the next great flu pandemic. However, new research shows that the spread of pandemic pathogens also jumps from humans to poultry, according to research by Lowder and colleagues published online in the early edition of the journal PNAS.

Staphylococcus aureus is a bacteria commonly found on our skin (it is perhaps more notoriously known for MRSA, the strain of S. aureus which is resistant to the antibiotic methicillin and is a serious nosocomial (acquired in hospital) infection). S. aureus infection is also a major cause of infectious disease in poultry. It causes skeletal infections (or bacterial chondronecrosis osteomyelitis, BCO) that leads to lameness in chickens. BCO emerged in the 70’s and now has a huge economic impact on the global broiler chicken industry (a multibillion dollar industry controlled by a small number of multinational companies who supply a limited number of breeds to the global market).

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh and Robert Koch Institut (Germany) examined the population genetics of S. aureus isolates from the past 54 years, which were taken from healthy and diseased chickens in 8 countries across 4 continents and also different species of reared game and wild birds. The scientists used a type of sequencing called MLST which arranges the isolates into groups with similar sequence identity called clonal complexes. They found that most of the isolates were from a single sequence type, ST5, which is commonly associated with humans and MRSA strains. Further analysis traced the evolution of the poultry ST5 group; the isolates had descended from a single S. aureus that had jumped from a human host to infect poultry ~ 38yrs ago in Poland. The poultry ST5 group has rapidly spread across the world, probably due to distribution by the global poultry industry. However, the related human ST5 group is present in distinct geographical clusters and is rarely spread intercontinentally. Furthermore, the poultry ST5 group evolved to be successful poultry pathogens by acquiring novel mobile genetic elements from other poultry S. aureus strains and losing genes which are important for human disease. The poultry ST5 group are successful at causing disease because they are more resistant to killing by chicken heterophils (an immune cell found in chickens, equivalent to human neutrophils). This makes it harder for the chicken to fight the infection since heterophils are important for the innate immune response which protects against S. aureus infection.

This data highlights the huge influence human activity has on the emergence of animal pathogens and demonstrates just how globalisation helps spread infectious microorganisms across the world. Additionally, it suggests that farm livestock should be regularly screened to identify newly emerging bacterial pathogens.



As a nurse in a psychiatric hospital, I am very alarmed by this article.  It seems that MRSA has become commonplace with the population I serve and my patients are not known for being compliant with therapy.  As a nurse, working with these patients, I frequently wonder if I will become infected despite the use of universal precautions.

This article is important to all nurses and future nurses.  We need to be informed of the potential risks we face and we need to understand the possible outcomes if we are to do our jobs and not become infected.

Please read the following article and then visit the website at the end to obtain more information.

SUNDAY, Nov. 1 (HealthDay News) — New research holds bad news for health officials worried about a potentially lethal infection called MRSA that haunts hospitals: A strain that infects the bloodstream is five times more deadly than other strains.

To make matters worse, the USA600 strain appears to be at least partially immune to an antibiotic that’s used to treat the condition, the researchers have found.

A full half of patients infected with the strain died within a month, according to a study scheduled to be presented at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, held Oct. 29 to Nov. 1 in Philadelphia. That’s nearly five times the death rate of other people infected with MRSA, and 10 to 30 percent of those who acquire

MRSA infections in the bloodstream die within a month, the study found.MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, causes infections in the skin and bloodstream. It can also infect surgical wounds and cause pneumonia. In most cases, it sickens people in the hospital, but cases are becoming more common outside the health-care community, according to information in a news release from the Henry Ford Health System.

Researchers think it’s possible that the USA600 strain is unique. But they don’t know if other factors — such as the age of patients — could be at play.

Those who developed the USA600 strain tended to be older than those who acquired other MRSA strains, averaging 64 compared with 52 years old, the study noted.

“While many MRSA strains are associated with poor outcomes, the USA600 strain has shown to be more lethal and cause high mortality rates,” Dr. Carol Moore, the study’s lead author and a research investigator at the Henry Ford Hospital’s division of infectious diseases, said in the news release.

“In light of the potential for the spread of this virulent and resistant strain and its associated mortality,” she said, “it is essential that more effort be directed to better understanding this strain to develop measures for managing it.

“MRSA is challenging to treat because strains can be immune to many medications. The USA600 strain appears to be more immune than other strains to the drug vancomycin, which often still has the power to vanquish MRSA.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about MRSA.

HealthDay

Related articles by Zemanta

• Virulent Strain of MRSA Resists Treatment (nlm.nih.gov)
• How Much Do Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Cost? (blogs.wsj.com)

Add Timothy Hampton to the List of Dead Scientists in The New World Order. 

A British nuclear expert who fell from the 17th floor of a United Nations building did not commit suicide and may have been hurled to his death, says a doctor who carried out a second post-mortem examination.  Timothy Hampton, 47, a scientist involved in monitoring nuclear activity, was found dead last week at the bottom of a stairwell in Vienna….  Under a year ago, an American died at the IAEA in strikingly similar circumstances, his body being found at the bottom of a stairwell.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1224377/British-nuclear-experts-17th-floor-UN-death-plunge-suicide.html#ixzz0VeGpsFNr

Additional scientists and researcher who have died in extraordinary circumstances can be found at http://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/ft-detrick-lab-missing-9000-virus-vials-scientists-still-dying-from-unnatural-causes/

I’ve just returned from the Rabies In The Americas (RITA) conference in Quebec, Canada.  It was a fantastic meeting of scientists, public health officials, veterinarians, doctors, students and others all interested in rabies.  It was a week long event which included many presentations about the latest discoveries in rabies research.

Participants from all over the Americas attended including Mexico, Brasil, Argentina, other South and Central American countries as well as the United States and Canada.  There were even participants from as far away as the Philippines, China, Sri Lanka and Thailand among other Asian countries.  Africa and Europe were also represented with participants from those regions as well.  All presentations were simultaneously presented in French, English, Spanish and Portugese  through a translation service.

It was the 20th anniversary of the meeting, which was in part founded by rabies hero Dr. George Baer.  The conference organizers honored Dr. Baer’s family during the event and named a scholarship for him – the George M. Baer Latin American Investigator Award.  This award recognizes an outstanding rabies researcher from Latin America every year.  This year, the prize went to Dr. Roberto Carrasco-Hernandez who presented a model for helping limit the impact of rabies in cattle caused by vampire bats.

The conference included a Gala night of celebration, where some of the scientists attending the conference dressed up in traditional 18th century French-Canadian costumes.  A raucus auction was held to raise money for rabies research.  It was quite a spectacle to behold!

I felt honored to be among the many rabies experts at RITA.  I learned so much more about rabies and the efforts that are ongoing to limit the impact of this terrible scourge.  I felt encouraged to meet and talk to so many people who are dedicating their lives to helping wipe out rabies.

Finally, we were given the privilege to host RITA XXII at Yale University in 2011.  We now have alot of planning and organization to do!  Wish us good luck!

RW

Happy Halloween everyone,

Halloween is a rather important day. It’s not only the day that dentists fear, but also the end to my favourite month and the end of the busiest period in the academic calendar when the last of the mid-terms have been graded (round one, anyway) and most grants are in (for now). Tomorrow, retailers will be rushing out the Christmas stuff in North America (at least those that didn’t have it out after Labour Day in September). But as these dates come and go, the amazing stuff continues to find its way into my inbox, Twitter feed, Facebook page, web browser and Google Reader feed. Here’s the neatest and most interesting things I discovered this past week:

1. How to Organize A Children’s Party (or how complexity science can help your work). Interested in complexity science, but don’t really know what it is or how you’d use it in everyday life? This very brief and entertaining video from Dave Snowdon (@snowded) at Cognitive Edge consultancy  explains the difference between ordered, chaotic and complex systems and how they might look from the perspective of organizing a party for 11-year old boys.

2. What Does Meaningful Mean? is an infographic developed by Frog Design to show how to design products and services that actually have meaning to people, not just tell people that they are meaningful. A good reminder to all of us who design things — which is most of us.

3. Brian Solis. OK, so this is not an amazing ‘thing’, but rather a website where Brian Solis, a marketer and PR consultant, hosts his blog and details his ideas and products for public consumption. There are a LOT of new media pundits out there (I won’t name names, but chances are you’ve heard of them) who are being raved about and followed by thousands who have very little to say when you actually listen closely. Brian isn’t one of them. Tour his site and you’ll see some interesting thoughts and insights on how social media can be used effectively by everyone to communicate, and not in some ‘jingo-istic’ manner, but in real terms.

4. Green Porno. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to my colleague Andrea Yip (@andie86) who told me about this entertaining, informative and very odd set of short videos hosted by Isabella Rossellini that combines nuveau performance art, sketch comedy, sex, environmental education and awareness into a funny and uniquely effective medium for communicating about the serious issue of climate change and environmental stewardship.

5. And lastly, Healthmap, is a health and geographic information aggregator that maps infectious disease outbreaks across the globe. Become your own Centre for Disease Control at home and watch where the hotspots are for the flu and other illnesses in your neighbourhood or around the world.

H1N1 continues to be a major concern to all Americans.  The CDC has now confirmed what most American’s already know – the numbers of persons affected is large and widespread.  The data just released indicates that in the spring of 2009 as many as 5 million +  individuals were infected with the swine flu virus.  Official estimates for the fall are not in,  but clearly are in the many millions.  In another troubling bit of news, the death rate for children who require hospitalization from swine flu is just this past week, higher than for an entire year with the usual seasonal flu.  Accordingly, some officials are now rethinking vaccination strategies arguing that many more school age children should be vaccinated.  This is now in line with what a number of experts felt should have been the course from the beginning.  In any event, there are still major shortages of vaccine for those that need to be and want to be vaccinated.  Also, Tamiflu is in short supply in some areas, particularly in a liquid form which is most suitable for the treatment of young children who become ill.  Early treatment is also considered important for those who become ill to prevent complications and the need for hospitalization.  As present, physicians continue to counsel good common sense: avoid those who are infected, get vaccinated when vaccine is available (especially if an individual is in a high risk group), practice diligent hygiene and hand washing,  and seek medical attention promptly if you are ill.  Delays can cause more serious complications and lead to death, particularly in children . . . ben kazie md

There were 1.8 million to 5.7 million cases of swine flu in the country during the epidemic’s first spring wave, according to a new estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday. From 9,000 to 21,000 people were hospitalized as a result, and up to 800 died from April to July, when it largely faded out, according to the estimates, which were conducted by the C.D.C. and the Harvard School of Public Health and published online in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Researchers have not yet made similar calculations for the fall season, so CDC officials will say only that ‘many millions’ of people have now been infected.

Swine Flu Hit Millions in Spring, Agency Says – http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/health/30cdc.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=%2b%22Centers+for+Disease+Control%22&st=nyt

CDC gives new swine flu numbers – http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-swine-flu30-2009oct30,0,6865331.story

October 30th CDC briefing on H1N1 flu and vaccine distribution – http://www.flu.gov/live/

Tracking how flu evolves _ it has sticky tricks – http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jVZeORscGcbvFihgSIKSOB0jm8XQD9BKTGH80

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“The ‘no handshake’ policy of the NBA is ridiculous when you think about the amount of bodily contact under the boards.”

-Jerome Klein, MD Professor of Pediatrics, Boston U. Med. Ctr.
Pedi Infectious Diseases Conference, Oct. 24, 2009
commenting on the Oct. 1, 2009 request by the NBA that players NOT shake hands before a game to reduce the spread of flu.

Factor by which microbial cells (bacteria) in your body outnumber your own cells: x 10

• In other words, only 10% of the total number of cells in your body are human cells.

Number of species of infectious bacteria on physicians’ ties in a 2004 study: at least 1                  Now you know why pediatricians used to wear bow ties. Studies of physicians’ white coats are underway.
Number of bacterial species on the palm of your hand: >150
Per cent higher the bacteria count is on female undergraduate student hands as compared to male undergraduate hands: +50%

• The authors of this study tread very lightly here and cautiously speculate that it might be related to use of cosmetics and lotions. (1)

Methicilin resistant staph aureus (MRSA) can be found in sand and salt water.

• “We should not fear the beach. We can shower before we go into the water, and we can shower when we come out of the water. That way we can protect ourselves.” Dr. Plano (2)

Factor by which the number of bacteria found in shower heads exceeds that found in “background counts” of air and water:  x 100     (3)
Per cent of those that were staph bacteria:  2       None were MRSA, and there was no evidence for infection from this water.

Per cent of 156 children who got pertussis (whooping cough) that had refused the vaccine: 11%

• Herd immunity (the concept that the unvaccinated are protected because the vaccinated don’t get the disease) does NOT work.  (4)

Per cent annual return on investment (ROI) for providing vaccinations of preventable diseases in low income countries:  18    (5)
Number of databases currently tracking vaccine side-effects:  3

• VAERS, VSD, CISA

Per cent of U.S. physicians who prescribe antibiotics for ear infections: 80%  (6)
Per cent of Polish and German physicians who do: 40%
Per cent of children in the U.K. with mastoiditis who did NOT have a preceding ear infection: 66
Per cent of total world-wide antibiotics attributed to treatment of acute ear infections: 37%

Chance that head lice will hop or jump from person to person or live on your pets: 0
Chance that an adopted child from Russia, China, or Gutemala who tests negative for TB when first tested upon arrival to U.S. will then test positive after 3 months of improved nutrition: 20%

Per cent reduction in runny noses of 326 children in China who were given lactobacillus acidophilus (a probiotic often contained in live culture yogurt) twice a day for over 6 months: 27 – 51    (7)

• A probiotic is a live microbe that is ingested orally in great numbers, 1000,000,000 per dose several times a day, to enhance your health. Studies to assess their benefits are increasing as people look to probiotics as an alternative to anitbiotcs and other medical drugs.
• It is a bit of a wonder to me that some parents who oppose vaccinations for their children with inactivated, killed cells  because of the “foreign proteins” readily feed their children millions of live cells of “foreign proteins” (probiotics) to make them healthier.

Reduction of diarrhea duration by those using probiotics: 1 day
Per cent reduction in colds, diarrhea, and colic of infants given synbiotics for the first 6 months of life: 0  (8)

• A synbiotic is a combination of a probiotic (live microbial organisms) and a prebiotic (indigestible nutrients that enhance normal gastrointestinal bacteria)

Per cent reduction in use of antibiotics by the infants who received the synbiotic :  20%
Number of undesirable side-effects or unexpected changes in growth patterns in infants fed synbiotics: 0

• Synbiotics may not provide big benefits, but at least they do no harm.

References:

1. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences 105:17994-9
2. American Assn. for the Advancement of Science Annual meeting, Chicago, Feb. 12-16 ,2009
3. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences 106:16393-9
4. Pediatrics 2009 June 123:1446
5. Bull WHO 2008 Feb 86(2) 140-6
6. Many of the facts to follow were reviewed at the Annual Pediatric Inf Dis Conference, Boston U. MC, Oct 24-25, 2009
7. Pediatrics 2009; 124: e172-e179.Leyer
8. Pediatrics 2008; 122: 8

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