The Democratic Republic of Congo has been alerted to an outbreak of Ebola. In the past five weeks, there have been 21 cases of the infection reported, and 17 of those are now deceased.
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo declared the outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever, a rare and deadly disease, on Tuesday, the World Health Organization reported. The declaration of an outbreak came after laboratory results confirmed two cases of the disease in the province of Bikoro in the northwestern part of the country. Bikoro is situated on the shores of Lake Tumba near the border with the Republic of the Congo. The new cases were reported from a small health facility about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Bikoro.
The average case fatality rate for Ebola hemorrhagic fever is around 50%. The deadly virus most commonly affects people and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees) and is caused by one of five Ebola viruses.
“We will gather more samples, conduct contact tracing, engage the communities with messages on prevention and control, and put in place methods for improving data collection and sharing,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa. “WHO will work closely with health authorities and partners to support the national response.”
Upon learning of the confirmed cases, the WHO alerted neighboring countries and set up its Incident Management System to fully dedicate staff and resources to the response. A government statement released Tuesday stated that the Ministry of Health has “taken all necessary measures to respond promptly and effectively to this new epidemic of Ebola in the DRC’s national territory.”
Unfortunately, the DRC has a history with the Ebola virus. This is its ninth outbreak of Ebola virus disease since the discovery of the virus in the country in 1976. The last outbreak, in 2017, was quickly contained. There are hopes that a quick response will all see this recent outbreak contained rapidly as well. WHO has also released $1 million from a contingency fund to support its activities in the containment efforts of this outbreak for the next three months.
Speaking on behalf of the Democratic Republic of Congo Minister of Health, Lambert Matuku, the Minister of State and Labor, said, it is “a worrisome sanitary situation.”
(INTELLIHUB) — One university study shows that more than 50% of people are people willing to pay for an Ebola vaccine after the 2014 West African outbreak was highly publicized by western media causing a contagion scare.
A recent piece published by EurekAlert gives the details:
George Mason University researchers conducted a study during the height of the epidemic and found that a majority of participants (59.7 percent) would pay at least $1 for an Ebola Vaccine. Those who were willing to pay at least $1 had typically traveled internationally in the last 12 months, were interested in getting an Ebola vaccine, and believed that the U.S. government should spend money to control Ebola and assume worldwide leadership in confronting emerging epidemics.
The nationally representative survey of U.S. adults was published in January in Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics. It included questions on Ebola-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors as well as background information (e.g., demographics, international travel) to test for indicators of willingness to pay for a vaccine.
Dr. Julia Painter, an assistant professor in Mason’s Department of Global and Community Health (GCH) led the study with support from assistant professor Dr. Michael von Fricken; graduate student Suyane Viana de O. Mesquita (now an alumna of the Master of Public Health program); and professor Dr. Ralph J. DiClemente from Emory University.
“We believe this is the first study to assess willingness to pay for an Ebola vaccine in the United States,” Painter explains. “This is important because previous studies conducted in West Africa are not generalizable to the U.S. population. Once developed, a licensed vaccine against Ebola “We were unsure of what to expect. The actual risk of Ebola infection among the general U.S. population was low, which could have led to lack of willingness so spend money on a vaccine. On the other hand, the outbreak garnered extensive media coverage, leading to a national contagion of fear. This fear could have driven people to be willing to pay for a vaccine.”
The professor’s statements are profound and will likely one day become a reality.
Will the powers-that-be release the Ebola virus onto the U.S. populace in order to sell hundreds-of-millions of vaccines?
Will the powers-that-be release the #EbolaVirus onto the U.S. populace in order to sell hundreds-of-millions of vaccines? #contagion
Dr. Jonathan Quick, a medical doctor and one of the world’s top health professionals claims that the conditions are perfect for a new superbug in the form of a killer flu virus pandemic. Quick also believes that this pandemic could kill upwards of 33 million people in just 200 days.
Quick says one extreme scenario of a killer flu pandemic will fling the globe into financial chaos. If millions of people die because of the pandemic, there won’t be enough survivors to run the computers or energy systems, leaving many to loot or die of starvation in the months following such a deadly outbreak.
As a medical doctor and a health chief who has led global programmes at the World Health Organisation (WHO), I believe that the world is at risk of a viral pandemic that will be at least as deadly as anything we have ever known before.
The most likely culprit will be a new and unprecedentedly deadly mutation of the influenza virus. The conditions are right. It could happen tomorrow. –Dr. Jonathan Quick, The Daily Mail UK
A century after the Spanish Influenza outbreak which killed 100 million people, we are just as vulnerable to the flu now, says Dr. Qucik. But what about all those fancy vaccines? Doesn’t that mean they don’t work? Logic says ‘yes’ but propaganda says ‘no.’
A century on, the history and biology of the influenza virus tells us that we should expect another major global pandemic soon. Experts say it is already overdue. Human influenza usually starts with wild aquatic birds, because avian flu is very common in waterfowl. Once in a while, a wild bird virus gets friendly with a different strain inside of another bird, or even a pig. The different strains can then swap genes, effectively swapping skills such as being highly contagious or deadly.
When that combination from the birds and beasts finds its way into a person, the resulting new human strain can kill us more easily because it is unknown to us and our bodies have zero immunity to it. This is most likely how the Spanish flu took hold. But Dr. Quick says that it’s our addiction to cheap meats that will cause this new pandemic.
Pigs eat almost everything, so their guts are the perfect mixing bowls for flu strains. When pigs eat droppings of sick wild birds or the chickens living near them, the flu viruses in their digestive systems can swap their genetic material to create new strains. Dr. Quick suggests eating less meat and dairy products from factory farms as a way to “vote with your mouth.”
Quick is also pro-vaccine and is calling for a universal flu vaccine that will somehow magically protect all 7.4 billion people on Earth from every single possible mutatable from the numerous types of the influenza virus.
An outbreak of salmonella in 20 states is being blamed on kratom. According to the CDC, Americans should stay away from kratom for now, until the origin of the outbreak can be pinpointed.
According to federal government health agents, a popular herb called kratom is linked to an outbreak of salmonella that has made 28 people sick in 20 states. Eleven people have been sick enough to need hospitalization. The government agency, the CDC also claims the “most of the people who have been made seriously ill in the outbreak remember having recently used some form of kratom.” Most?
“At this time, CDC recommends that people not consume kratom in any form. The investigation indicates that kratom products could be contaminated with Salmonella and could make people sick,” the CDC says on its website.
Kratom has been the focus of a storm of controversy. The Food and Drug Administration has issued increasingly urgent warnings about the herb, saying it acts like an opioid drug and advising people to stay away from it. –NBC News
Kratom enthusiasts say it’s enjoyable to use recreationally, but they also say it is also useful for treating withdrawal symptoms from opioid use and can be used to treat pain. “Kratom is not a drug,” the American Kratom Association says on its website. “Kratom is not a drug. Kratom is not an opiate. Kratom is not a synthetic substance. Naturally, occurring Kratom is a safe herbal supplement that’s more akin to tea and coffee than any other substances.”
Kratom is a natural botanical native to tropical Southeast Asia that is part of the coffee family. It’s also known by its scientific name, Mitragyna speciosa. The people of Southeast Asia have used Kratom leaves as an herbal supplement and traditional remedy for hundreds of years. When taken in appropriate amounts, Kratom can provide increased energy, minor pain relief and many find relief from a variety of other mental and physical ailments. Today, people in the U.S. are consuming Kratom, as they do other herbal supplements and traditional remedies. –American Kratom Association
Salmonella is a very common bacteria that causes what we all know as food poisoning. The CDC says it is not clear how the bacteria could have gotten into supplies of kratom. But genetic testing links the cases that have been reported. Salmonella has been linked to supplements before and caused an outbreak in food powder in 2016.
“In interviews, ill people answered questions about the foods they ate and other exposures in the months before they became ill. Eight (73 percent) of 11 people interviewed reported consuming kratom in pills, powder, or tea,” the CDC said. There doesn’t appear to one particular brand or type of kratom taking the blame, just kratom in general.
The Salmonella bacteria could have been on the plant itself, before harvesting, or in the irrigation water used on the plants, said Benjamin Chapman, an associate professor and food safety specialist at North Carolina State University. It’s also possible that the supplements became contaminated with Salmonella somewhere during the manufacturing process, he said. (Salmonella bacteria typically live in animal and human intestines, and get into the environment through fecal matter, according to the Mayo Clinic.)
The 194 staff members and volunteers sickened by the norovirus at the Winter Olympics in South Korea now know what caused their violent infection. Contaminated water used in food preparation is said to be the blame for horrible vomiting spells many have experienced.
According to the KCDC (Korea Centers for Disease Control), the norovirus has been found in 94 people linked to the Horeb Odaesan Youth Training Center, including those who ate food from the center but don’t live there, The Los Angeles Times reported. Analysis of the center’s water discovered fecal coliform bacteria. That seems infinitely strange, considering the norovirus is a virus, not a bacteria. They are different and it is worth noting that the mainstream media doesn’t seem to notice or may be covering up something up.
Fecal coliform by themselves are usually not pathogenic; they are indicator organisms, which means they may indicate the presence of other pathogenic bacteria. Pathogens are typically present in such small amounts it is impractical monitor them directly.
Note: Some strains of Escherichia coli, which are a type of fecal coliform, can cause intestinal illness. One such strain is E. coli O157:H7, which is found in the digestive tract of cattle. –Water Research Center
This begs the question: are health and government officials, with the assistance of their weaponized mainstream media, trying to cover up an E.Coli outbreak at the Winter Olympics? A better explanation is needed since this one makes little sense.
“After the training center stopped providing meals, requested frequent hand washing, and promoted the use of hand sanitizer, “the norovirus infection reduced considerably,” the KCDC said in a statement. No athletes have succumbed to the infection yet, but the illness has spread from the Pyeongchang area to Gangneung, the coastal city hosting several indoor events at the Games.
The norovirus is a viral infection which causes the sudden and severe onset of diarrhea and vomiting; symptoms which begin within 12-48 of exposure and can be painful. The virus is highly contagious and commonly spread through food or water that is contaminated during preparation or contaminated surfaces. You can also be infected through close contact with an infected person. Most people will cover without treatment in three days, however, hospitalization can occur if victims are infants or elderly. –SHTFPlan
Although the virus spread rapidly initially, now that health officials have discovered the cause of the outbreak, containment can begin.
Organizers said this viral infection is particularly bad. Of the 1,200 guards removed from duty, 41 had suffered a sudden onset of vomiting and diarrhea on Sunday and all had been taken to a hospital. The outbreak comes just days before the opening of South Korea’s 2018 Winter Olympics on Thursday.-SHTFPlan
The noroVIRUS is being blamed on a bacteria. Let that sink in for a moment and ponder why many no longer trust mainstream media or government officials.
South Korea, the home of the 2018 Winter Olympics, has deployed 900 military personnel after 1,200 security guards contracted the highly contagious norovirus. Although the guards were pulled from their duties at the Winter Olympic facilities in Pyeongchang, the virus is still spreading.
“The military personnel … will be responsible for security checks of the 20 venues as they take up jobs such as security searches, previously done by civilian safety personnel until the patients’ condition is normalized,” a statement from the Pyeongchang Olympics committee said.
The norovirus is an infection which causes the sudden and severe onset of diarrhea and vomiting; symptoms which begin within 12-48 of exposure and can be painful. The virus is highly contagious and commonly spread through food or water that is contaminated during preparation or contaminated surfaces. You can also be infected through close contact with an infected person. Most people will cover without treatment in three days, however, hospitalization can occur if victims are infants or elderly.
Organizers said this viral infection is particularly bad. Of the 1,200 guards removed from duty, 41 had suffered a sudden onset of vomiting and diarrhea on Sunday and all had been taken to a hospital. The outbreak comes just days before the opening of South Korea’s 2018 Winter Olympics on Thursday.The Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said in a statement Monday that the 41 security guards had been staying at the same building in Pyeongchang. “KCDC dispatched an immediate response team to the Pyeongchang site to check additional people for symptoms, check the origin of the exposure, take measures to control infection, and prevent spread,” the statement said.
It’s still not clear how the security guards become infected with the virus in the first place. Water and food at the accommodations sites are currently being tested. Meanwhile, the Winter Olympics committee said it would strengthen checks on sleeping quarters for staff working at the games to prevent further infections.
Health authorities in Uganda, in central Africa, have been accused of “concealing” cases of deadly Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF). This horrific “eye bleed fever” has been confirmed by doctors, yet health officials continue to deny the outbreak.
Eye bleed fever is a serious infection which causes victims to bleed from their orifices, such as the eyes or anus. Both Crimean-Congo Fever and the Rift Valley Fever are viral diseases that are found in livestock but can be transmitted to humans. The CCHF virus, which was first detected in the 1940s, causes severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks, with a case fatality rate of 10–40%.
Because of the nature of this disease, doctors say it’s important to prevent the spread of this infection, but that’s difficult if health officials are covering up the outbreak.
In a press conference last week, Dr. Diana Atwine, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, reported additional cases of the serious viral infections. Speaking to the media alongside WHO officials, she said: “Since August 2017, when suspected cases were reported, four cases of the Crimean- Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) have been confirmed and five cases of the Rift Valley Fever (RVF). Unfortunately, we have lost three cases of the RVF from Kiboga, Buikwe and Mityana districts. The latest cases were reported on January 19.”
Just 24 hours later, Nakaseke Hospital contradicted Dr. Atwine, claiming 11 people have died from CCHF since July last year. According to the Daily Star, hospital superintendent Dr. Bernard Okello revealed the bombshell after a meeting with a committee of MPs. In total, 23 people have been infected by the lethal disease, nine of whom received treatment at the hospital, Dr. Okella said. One patient is currently being treated at the hospital, he said.
Doctors from the Uganda Medical Association (UMA) accused the Ministry of Health of failing to handle the CCHF outbreak in Nakaseke district and putting the lives of health workers at risk. In an interview with Daily Star Online, Dr. Mukuzi Muhereza, from the UMA, warned the disease will spread further unless action is taken quickly.
The yellow fever outbreak in Brazil has taken a backseat to the flu outbreak spreading globally. But, the death toll from yellow fever has now tripled and travelers are being warned.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday there are 35 confirmed cases of the disease, including a case confirmed in the Netherlands for a traveler who had recently visited Sao Paulo state. Sao Paulo even closed its zoo and botanical gardens Tuesday as the yellow fever outbreak that has led to 70 deaths is picking up steam.
The big Inhotim art park, which attracts visitors from all over the world, also announced that all visitors would have to show proof of yellow fever vaccination to be allowed to enter. The park said the measure was preventative only and that so far, no case of yellow fever had been found there.
Yellow fever is a potentially life-threatening viral disease that is transmitted to people by the bite of an infected mosquito. Yellow fever is a very rare cause of illness in U.S. travelers. The degree of sickness ranges in severity from a self-limited febrile illness to severe liver disease with bleeding, and even death. The virus has killed 20 people since July.
Health officials have said the disease could quickly spread and become an epidemic in crowded areas, but immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci told Daily Mail Online that getting the yellow fever shot is the best way to prevent travel-related cases of yellow fever. Brazilians stood in lines for hours to get yellow fever vaccinations in the country’s largest states, including Sao Paulo, last week.
The WHO said 777 human cases of yellow fever had been reported in eight Brazilian states since December 2016 and that 261 people had died from the virus. WHO officials said the confirmed cases of yellow fever are likely to have been contracted in areas where there have been yellow fever outbreaks among primates. “There is an ongoing threat of an outbreak related to the fact in non-human primates,” D. Fauci explained. “There is an ongoing reservoir of yellow fever.”
Panic is setting in after a nine-year-old girl died suddenly of “eye bleed fever” in Uganda. This new virus is said to be even more dangerous than the “Black Death,” killing 40 percent of those who contract the disease, and four have died already.
East Africans are fearing this will be a health crisis of epic proportions. Health officials rushed to put the body of the deceased girl in a bag and to decontaminate the home she lived in not long after the disease took her life. This particular illness, known as the “eye bleed fever” is said to be even more deadly than the horrific bubonic plague that ravaged Madagascar late last year.
The feared outbreak comes only months after hundreds of people were killed by the plague in Madagascar in what was described as the worst bout in 50 years. The symptoms of this new disease include headaches, bleeding, vomiting, diarrhea, and muscle pains, according to the Daily Star Sunday. The virus also leaves people bleeding from their eyes, mouth, and anus. Symptoms escalate when a person infected with the virus comes down with a fever, then begins vomiting blood.
This virus is thought to be spreading through South Sudan.
This viral disease was first identified in 1944 and more than 5,000 cases of the deadly bug have been reported worldwide since then. The widespread disease is caused by a tick-borne virus (Nairovirus) and a total of 52 countries have reported a substantial number of cases each year. The disease has made its presence known in Russia, throughout the Mediterranean, northwestern China, central Asia, southern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent.
Unlike the Black Death, which is a bacterial infection and can be effectively treated with antibiotics, “eye bleed fever” has no cure. So far, four people have died in the worsening outbreak in Uganda. Health Chiefs continue to warn that the spread of this disease could be “catastrophic.” Around 60 people have now been infected in East Africa.
The viral disease is transmitted to humans through tick bites, or through contact with the blood of infected animals, especially during slaughter. Human-to-human transmission can occur resulting from close contact with bodily fluids.
Authorities at the hospital said the body would be buried by health teams because of “sensitivity” about the disease spreading. The three victims in South Sudan, who died in late December, had no history of close contact and unlike the young girl who died, their burials were unsupervised.
This year was projected to be a rather tough year for the flu. Coupled with this year’s ineffective vaccine, this season’s flu outbreak is shaping up to be one of the worst.
“Older adults, individuals with chronic health conditions, pregnant women, young children and infants are more vulnerable to flu illness,” said Dr. Christopher Perkins, DCHHS health authority/medical director. “With influenza activity on the rise, individuals in these groups should take special precaution as we continue throughout the season.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the flu season nationwide is far worse than what they saw last year at this time. The virus is also affecting areas of Great Britain and Australia, which is complicating the outbreak when considering global travel.
Because of the number of patients with flu-like symptoms, Methodist Dallas Medical Center started rerouting some ambulance patients so it can care for those in emergency situations. “This measure is so we can still take care of emergency patients such as trauma, stroke and sexual assault,” the hospital said in a written statement Monday, noting that it is at critical capacity but not turning away patients.
MedStar, the ambulance provider that serves Fort Worth and 14 other Tarrant County cities, has taken more than 300 people likely suffering from the flu to area hospitals from November through January 5, spokesman Matt Zavadsky said.
“As flu season escalates it’s important that all individuals take precautions to prevent and reduce the severity of the flu,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. “Prevention is truly the best medicine and it’s not too late to get your flu shot. If you have flu-like symptoms, please help protect yourself and others by staying home from work or school and calling your doctor as soon as possible to discuss anti-viral medication.”
More than 600 Hepatitis A cases have been reported in Southeast Michigan as the outbreak continues to ravage the communities. Public health officials are continuing to see these numbers elevate, and warn that it will continue to worsen as we approach the holidays.
According to Voice News, more than 80 percent of those who have contracted the highly contagious liver disease have required hospitalization. Another 20 people have died after becoming infected with the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that symptoms can be mild or severe depending on the health of the person who contracts the virus. The elderly and those with existing liver conditions are the most at risk. Those infected can be contagious for up to two weeks before showing any symptoms, which include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal and joint pain, yellowing of the skin, dark urine and light-colored stools.
The virus is spread through direct person-to-person contact, contaminated food and beverages, and illicit drug use. But this outbreak is difficult for health officials to contain since no common source of the outbreak has been identified, health officials said. Washing your hands after going to the bathroom and before preparing meals for yourself and others, using your own towels, toothbrushes and eating utensils, and not sharing food and drinks with other people are all good ways to prevent the spread of the disease.
An increased number of hepatitis A cases has been seen in recent months. In the fall of 2016, possible hepatitis A exposure related to frozen strawberries that were recalled nationwide was identified at four locations in St. Clair County and one location in Macomb County. In May, a confirmed case was discovered at the St. Clair County Detention and Intervention Center in Port Huron.
In October, an employee at the Algonac Flaming Grill was found to have hepatitis A, leading local health officials to recommend vaccinations to those who ate at the restaurant between Oct. 6 and 20. The St. Clair County Health Department offered the vaccine at several recent walk-in clinics.
Food workers with the disease have the ability to infect a large number of people rapidly and are encouraged to get vaccinated.
The holidays also pose an increased risk of exposure to hepatitis A as families and friends come together to celebrate. – Voice News
A national shortage of the vaccine has complicated efforts to contain outbreaks, but the St. Clair County Health Department reports an adequate local supply of the adult vaccine. Health officials state that the best way to prevent contraction of the hepatitis A virus is by getting two doses of the vaccine. Protection will begin two to four weeks after the first injection. The second injection will offer protection for a longer period of time.
Just as it appears that Madagascar is slowly containing their outbreak of the air-borne plague, South Africa is hit with Listeriosis. The food-borne illness has killed 36 people so far.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said a total of 557 cases had been detected this year alone and at least 36 people have died in the last 11 months. According to Times Live, the country usually records 60-80 cases a year. “Most cases have been reported from Gauteng province,” Motsoaledi said‚ adding that the province had accounted for 345 or 62% of the cases reported. The Western Cape had the second-most reported cases, at 71, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 37 cases. “As you can see the three provinces alone are responsible for 82% of the total cases. The remaining 18% is distributed in the remaining six provinces‚” Motsoaledi said.
Motsoaledi explained that the disease was “a serious‚ but treatable and preventable disease caused by the bacterium‚ Listeria monocytogenes.” Animal products and produce can both be infected. Outbreaks of Listeria infections in the 1990s were primarily linked to deli meats and hot dogs. Now, Listeria outbreaks are often linked to dairy products and produce. Investigators have traced most recent outbreaks to soft cheeses, celery, sprouts, cantaloupe, and ice cream.
People with the disease usually suffer from a flu-like illness‚ diarrhea accompanied by a fever‚ general body pains‚ vomiting and weakness. This leads to the infection of the bloodstream‚ which is called septicemia and meningoencephalitis‚ which is an infection of the brain. “The bacteria is widely distributed in nature and can be found in soil‚ water and vegetation. Animal products and fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables can be contaminated from these sources‚” Motsoaledi said.
Scarlet fever cases are now at 50-year-high sparking concerns for researchers, as they are baffled as to how “Victorian-era” diseases are making a comeback. The disease has been on the rise since 2014, and researchers are failing to find the cause.
Scarlet fever hit its highest level in England for 50 years, with more than 17,000 cases reported in 2016 according to research in the Lancet. The infection is most common in children under the age of 10 and although highly contagious (being spread easily with a cough) is easily cured with a round of antibiotics. But that, in and of itself, raises concerns of the disease becoming resistant to antibiotics, creating a global pandemic.
Doctors are urging the public to be aware of symptoms, which include a rosy rash, and seek help from their doctor. Data for 2017 suggests the rate of infection may be falling, but experts remain cautious, saying it is “too early to tell.” Normally, first world nations have a better chance of handling an outbreak such as this, but England is on the verge of losing control over this scarlet fever outbreak.
A joint investigation by public health authorities from across England and Wales found that the incidence of scarlet fever tripled between 2013 and 2014, rising from 4,700 cases to 15,637 cases. In 2016, there were 19,206 reported cases, the highest level since 1967. The majority of the outbreaks were in England.
“We are concerned – it’s quite a dramatic rise,” said Dr. Theresa Lamagni, head of streptococcal surveillance at Public Health England, who led the study. “We’ve always seen cases of scarlet fever – it’s just the scale in the past has been much lower than the last few years.” Dr. Lamagni described the soaring number of cases of scarlet fever as “baffling”, adding that no underlying causes had been identified. She stressed that the individual cases of the disease are “not any more serious than previously – it’s just a question of scale.”
Scarlet fever was a common cause of death in the Victorian era but had largely been in decline since the introduction of antibiotics. As with any bacterial infection, prompt treatment remains essential to prevent both the spread of the disease and the risk of further complications such as pneumonia and liver damage. Anyone diagnosed with scarlet fever is advised to stay at home until at least 24 hours after the start of treatment to avoid passing on the infection.
There is no vaccine against the disease and all cases must be reported by doctors to the local health authority. Molecular genetic testing has ruled out a newly emerged strain of the infection. Additionally, there has not been any suggestion that the disease has become resistant to the penicillin normally used to treat it – yet.
Salt Lake City, Utah is only one of three major cities in the United States experiencing a Hepatitis A outbreak. And now health officials are warning residents to protect themselves against infection, as the outbreak is expected to last for “months.”
There seems to be no end in sight for the cities grabbling with Hepatitis A outbreaks. Spurred by over-regulation and taxation, homelessness is now the norm in many US cities, Salt Lake City being no different. And Health officials in Utah now believe they could continue to see new cases of Hepatitis A for the next several months.
The first outbreak of Hep A began in back in May in San Diego, but Salt Lake City started to notice serious issues in August. Since then, at least 75 cases have been reported statewide. With at least 3-4 new cases being discovered each week. The normal amount of Hepatitis A cases is around 2-4 per year.
Nicholas Rupp of the Salt Lake County Health Department said one of the main contributors to the outbreak among those experiencing homelessness is a lack of access to hygiene needs. “Places to use the restroom, places to wash their hands, and those things all contribute to the transmission of Hepatitis A,” said Rupp. “Hepatitis A is not killed effectively by alcohol-based hand sanitizers,” said Rupp. “We always say hand sanitizers no matter what you’re trying to accomplish are not a substitute for hand washing.”
Hepatitis A is often spread because of fecal matter getting on someone’s hand. If a person does not wash their hands properly with warm soapy water, they can spread the infection to surfaces they touch. With temperatures dropping outdoor hand washing stations are not an option in Salt Lake City, and although many people often use hand sanitizers, as Rupp noted, it’s not always effective.
Salt Lake County hasn’t had to use bleach washes on the sidewalks just yet though like San Diego did. The 4th Street Clinic has also been suggesting vaccines and improved hand washing to all of their clients. Medical Director Dr. Michele Goldberg said patients are responding well. “Most people are totally for it,” said Dr. Goldberg. “They want to get a vaccine and would rather get a vaccine than be in the hospital.”
The clinic has given out more than 350 vaccines, and the state is helping other organizations distribute more. The reason the outbreak could take months to get under control is the virus’s long incubation period, which is about 28 days. It can take weeks or months to show symptoms and the virus has normally spread to others by then.
Dr. Goldberg knows they have a long way to go to stop the outbreak, but said their staff is going to remain vigilant in getting people the information and help they need. “You don’t lose the steam that you had initially,” said Dr. Goldberg. “Really just every patient that comes in the door, every medical accident says OK have they had their vaccines.”
As the Black Death Plague Strikes Madagascar, Might We Soon Witness Bio-Component ‘K For Kill Everyone’?
According to this brand new story from The Express sent over to ANP by Steve Quayle, a NEW ‘Black Death’ has been discovered in Uganda, a virus WORSE than plague with NO cure according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Just the latest plague ‘outbreak’ this year, ANP will be taking a look over the next several days at the unusual surge of black death plague and the next story in this series will feature an in depth interview with Steve Quayle.
In the map we see above taken directly from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) showing cases of the human plague across the United States between 1970 and 2012, one particular case should immediately stand out.
For those who aren’t yet caught up to date, Lathem, one of the world’s most reknown ‘black death’ researchers, was recently arrested and incarcerated for a sexual fetish murder and as Susan Duclos reported on ANP back on October 26th, we have absolute proof that Lathem had visited Madagascar soon before the outbreak of the current deadly plague. Lathem himself admits that in the first video below, a video perhaps appropriately titled “From Mild to Murderous: How Yersinia pestis Evolved to Cause Pneumonic Plague”. If you haven’t watched it yet, it’s well worth the watch as it gives us a look inside the mind of a madman, who friends and colleagues had no idea was capable of murder, who had access to material that could wipe out a huge part of the human race.
In a story about the murder that the NY Times called ‘dark and disturbing’, we learn Lathem admitted that he had sent a video tape to close friends and family in which, according to prosecutors, he admitted to the killing and told his loved ones “that he is not the person people thought he was.” What people who knew Lathem ‘thought he was’ was a brilliant man, one of the foremost minds in the field of deadly disease research, yet as we learned in the NY Times story, he had another side, a part of him with a profound desire to kill people. A brief excerpt from the NY Times story on the dark and twisted murder:
On Sunday, as the two university workers stood before an Illinois judge for the first time, prosecutors laid out a plot still darker and more gruesome. Before the killing, the two men — Wyndham Lathem, who had been a professor at Northwestern University, and Andrew Warren, an administrator at the University of Oxford in England — had talked for months in an internet chat room about their “sexual fantasies of killing others and then themselves,” prosecutors said.
According to the Daily Northwestern, over the past 14 years, Lathem established himself as one of the nation’s preeminent Yersinia researchers. He contributed to 28 different published research findings that have been cited more than 1,700 times, according to his database on ResearchGate.
And remember this next excerpt from their story: Shortly before leaving Washington University in St. Louis for Northwestern in 2007, he discovered a gene in Yersinia pestis, known as PLA, that allows pestis to replicate quickly in air-filled areas — such as lungs, where it causes pneumonia, the key element of pneumonic plague — but does not affect its replication rate in lymph nodes and the bloodstream. Much more on that below.
Of note, as recently as March of 2017, Wyndham Lathem was a featured speaker at a Chemical and Biological Terrorism Defense Conference that was held in California. His topic title: “Your Own Worst Enemy: How Yersinia pestis Turns the Body Against Itself”. As you can see in the screenshot below, he is listed as being from the Pasteur Institute in France though they denied him entry.
According to the World Health Organization, the primary symptoms of black death plague and the common flu are nearly identical for the first 24 hours but generally by the time doctors realize it’s NOT the flu but something worse, it’s already too late. Doctors warn that antibiotics during the plague must be taken within that first 24 hours or rapid death will follow. And as we learn in more detail below, Lathem had discovered a gene in Yersinia pestis that allowed it to spread much more quickly within the lungs and in the very same pneumonic form that is now striking Madagascar. Just a coincidence? From the Express:
Most of the cases reported in this year’s outbreak in Madagascar are the pneumonic form of the plague, which can be treated easily with antibiotics.
Dr Jagatic emphasised that the Black Death pandemic occurred long before any antibiotics were available, and modern medicine means outbreaks are far less likely to have such a devastating effect.
Despite this, cases of the deadly plague have been spreading rapidly across Madagascar and have soared by 37 per cent in just five days, official figures show.
Yet we also learn that the form of plague striking Madagascar now is particularly deadly because its now taking 3 different forms, not only is it pneumonic but also bubonic and septic, it invades not only the lungs but the lymphatic system and the blood. While generally the plague that regularly strikes Madagascar is bubonic, this time its mostly pneumonic in which it can be spread through the air from one person to the next while bubonic is generally spread from rat or animal to human. From Live Science:
Both forms of the plague are caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which lives in fleas and rats. When the plague-causing bacteria get into a person’s blood from a fleabite, it can travel to the lymph nodes. These lymph nodes become inflamed; in this form, they’re called “buboes,” which is how the bubonic plague gets its name. Along with inflamed lymph nodes, the plague causes symptoms similar to those of malaria or the flu, such as fever, chills and nausea.
The pneumonic plague develops when bubonic plague goes untreated and the infection moves from the lymph nodes into the lungs, Small told Live Science. Once in the lungs, the bacteria can be expelled into the air in suspended particles. There, it can live for more than a day, Small said. Madagascar is used to dealing with the bubonic form, which doesn’t move human to human, said Small, so the high rate of pneumonic plague in this outbreak (about 65 percent of cases thus far) has made it particularly severe.
“If anyone has pneumonic plague, everyone else is at risk,” Small said.
Indeed, this airborne form of the plague can be deadly in as little as 24 hours after symptoms begin, said Lila Rahalison, a microbiologist who has studied the plague for 15 years.
As previously mentioned, according to this very important story from The Daily Northwestern, Lathem had discovered a gene in Yersinia pestis, known as PLA, that allows pestis to replicate quickly in air-filled areas — such as lungs, where it causes pneumonia, the key element of pneumonic plague — but does not affect its replication rate in lymph nodes and the bloodstream.
At Feinberg, Lathem discovered that the development of PLA gene was the factor that caused pestis to evolve from its ancestral bacteria and that PLA deactivates a “key regulator” in humans’ immune system response to bacterial infection, known as PAI-1.
We find it extremely interesting that the current version of the plague now striking Madagascar and threatening to move on to mainland Africa and perhaps the world is largely of the pneumonic variety and is spreading much more quickly than experts had first predicted, now being called the worst outbreak of the plague there in more than 50 years.
The Pentagon’s most secure laboratories may have mislabeled, improperly stored and shipped samples of potentially infectious plague bacteria, which can cause several deadly forms of disease, USA TODAY has learned.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flagged the practices after inspections last month at an Army lab in Maryland, one of the Pentagon’s most secure labs. That helped prompt an emergency ban on research on all bioterror pathogens at nine laboratories run by the Pentagon, which was already reeling from revelations that another Army lab in Utah had mishandled anthrax samples for 10 years.
The bacteria that cause plague, Yersinia pestis, can cause several types of serious and potentially fatal illnesses: bubonic plague, which has symptoms that include swollen lymph nodes; pneumonic plague, which involves the infection spreading to the lungs; and septicemic plague, which may involve skin and other tissues turning black and dying. It’s the pathogen often blamed for the Black Death that killed millions of people in Europe during the 14th century.
Today antibiotics can be used to treat the diseases, but plague still kills about 11% of those sickened, according to the CDC. Untreated pneumonic plague has a fatality rate of about 93% and can be spread from person to person through aerosols generated during coughing.
The new CDC investigation is focused on specimens created and stored by Dugway, Edgewood and two other military labs for further distribution by the Defense Department’s Critical Reagents Program, a scientific materials supply group that offers a catalog of what are supposed to be “inactivated” and other pathogen specimens for researchers to use in developing and testing biodefense products, such as detection equipment and diagnostic tests.
THIS IS HOW DEAGLE MAY PLAY OUT! IMAGINE CHEMTRAILS BEING THE PRIMARY AEROSOLIZED MATRIX AND ADDING BIO COMPONENT ‘K FOR KILL EVERYONE’, THE COMBO MIGHT PRODUCE A 90% KILL RATE – THIS HAS BEEN THE PLAN ALL ALONG! WHEN THE FINAL DAY OF SPRAYING COMES, 100’S OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE COULD DIE OVERNIGHT!
We also know that ‘ISIS’ wants to weaponize the plague via a laptop found back in 2014 allegedly outlining those devious plans and as is warned in this story over at Foreign Policy titled “War Without Soldiers”, future warfare will be fought on very different kinds of battle fields, with very different kinds of weapons with advances in biological engineering poised to further reduce the role of large armies and traditional weapons. From their story:
Picture a rogue scientist crafting a bio-engineered virus that disabled or killed only when it encountered a specific DNA signature — or the DNA signatures of all the close blood relatives of a political leader. Why bring an army to war when you can simply bring a scientist and a test tube?
Like cyberwarfare, bioweapons don’t need to kill to be effective. Imagine a bio-engineered virus able to degrade cognitive functioning in its targets, causing delusions or hallucinations — or a virus designed to cause sterility in a genetically-related ethnic population.
So, why was ‘rogue scientist’ Wyndham Lathem able to get his hands upon one of the most deadly bacteria on the face of the planet when obviously, the nation of France found out something about him that the US apparently didn’t know? Or, was Lathem simply being used for a deeper, darker plot that stretches now way beyond the jail cell that he sits within?
As we’re warned, bioweapons programs are often tested for efficacy upon a small and isolated segment of a population such as what Madagascar offers in case anything unforseen takes place. And let’s remember the classic movie “Outbreak” in which a fictional ebola-type virus is first discovered nearly 30 years prior to its reappearance in America and the steps taken by those within the military to both use it and attempt to prevent its spread. How far would they go? The 2nd video below is a scene from that movie in which we see the extreme measures that are taken to contain such an outbreak. The 3rd video below is the official trailer from that classic movie.
How did Eric York’s doctor miss something as uniquely horrifying as the plague?
Turns out just about every doctor would’ve missed it, according to UNC’s Bill Goldman. “The first symptoms of the plague really are indistinguishable from the flu,” he says. But unlike the flu, the plague is already well on its way to shutting down the lungs by the time a patient begins to feel sick.
It’s a sneaky, extremely contagious, and fatal disease, three reasons why governments and researchers think the plague is a bioterrorism threat—a twenty-first-century weapon of mass destruction.In medieval times of war, combatants would catapult infected bodies over city walls. Today, a bioterrorist attack would be stealthier and a lot more dangerous.
After the anthrax scare of 2001, the U.S. government pushed for scientists to research various biological warfare threats, such as Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes the plague. “I hate to put it this way, but terrorists aren’t going to unload a bunch of rats or fleas into town,” Goldman says. They’ll culture the bacteria in massive amounts.
“They’ll try to spread the disease by an aerosol,” he says. Victims wouldn’t smell it or see it. They wouldn’t even feel a thing at first, but the disease would be on a rampage. Thousands of people would get sick but have no idea they had the plague until it was too late to save them.
The plague is such a silent killer because Yersinia pestis doesn’t trigger the same sort of quick immune response that most bacterial infections do. When a person contracts the plague, the bacteria multiply from a few microbes to a billion within 48 hours. But for some reason the lungs—typically very good at getting rid of undesirables—don’t respond.
Lathem begins speaking about his visit to Madagascar prior to the outbreak of the current deadly plague there at the 2 minute 36 second mark though this entire video is well worth listening to and will be expanded upon within the next story as he outlines a very real possibility of how hundreds of millions could die overnight.
Washoe County Nevada has experienced a viral meningitis outbreak. So far, 47 people have contracted the disease and 43 have had to be hospitalized and the outbreak is still ongoing.
“What makes this challenging is that the virus may be passed on from an infected person for up to two to nine weeks after they feel better and have returned to normal activities,” Ulibarri said. “So even if people do [an] environmental cleaning in certain areas, that area could be contaminated by another individual who was previously ill or who had contact with a sick person.”
And getting the vaccine won’t do you any good. Nevada students enrolled in seventh grade after June 30 were required to be immunized with the quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine, commonly referred to as the MCV4. That current vaccine targets only bacterial meningitis and would not work against a viral outbreak such as this one.
Seventy-five percent of the cases were in children ages 0 to 17 years old. Fifty-five percent of them were found in school-age children ranging from 5 to 17 years old.
Viral meningitis is an inflammation of the tissue that covers the brain and spinal cord that is caused by a virus. It is typically less severe than bacterial meningitis, and most people recover on their own within 7-10 days.
If you live in or near Washoe County, you can take steps to prevent contracting the virus. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after changing diapers, using the toilet, or coughing or blowing your nose and avoid touching your face with unwashed hands. Avoid common playing areas for children such as inflatable bounce houses and slides and avoid close contact such as kissing, hugging, or sharing cups, water bottles, sports drinks, or eating utensils with others who may be sick. Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your upper shirt sleeve, not your hands. Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as doorknobs, handrails, light switches, desks, keyboards, computer mice, phones, toys, playground equipment, bathrooms, etc., and, always stay home when you are sick.
Symptoms of viral meningitis include a stiff neck, trouble waking from sleep, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, and sleepiness.
An outbreak of tuberculosis has surfaced in Minnesota, and medical officials are concerned. Normally, the disease is treated with antibiotics. But this new strain is resistant to multiple drugs, making it difficult to control.
According to Fox News affiliate, Fox 9, Tuberculosis is treatable with antibiotics, but the multi-drug resistant strain has been more difficult to fight. This strain directly caused three deaths.
“When you have multi-drug resistant disease what that means is the organism that’s causing the TB is now resistant to at least two of the usual drugs that are used, so it’s not that you can’t treat it, but it’s going to take second-line drugs,” said Kris Ehresmann, Director for Infectious Disease, MN Department of Health. The disease is difficult to catch but easily spreads with repeated exposure when someone with infected lungs talks, sneezes, cough, or sings.
Cost is becoming a concern as well because TB is expensive to fight. The drugs which are effective against this multi-drug-resistant strain are much harsher on the body. They come with more side effects and treating this specific tuberculosis strain requires more time and money. A normal case of tuberculosis costs about $17,000 to fight, but when fighting multi-drug resistant disease, it jumps to $134,000.
“We have a large Hmong community in Minnesota, so I think it’s really important that they’re aware of the situation and attentive and monitoring what’s going on with elders,” said Ehresmann. Last year, Minnesota had 168 cases of tuberculosis. So far this year, there have been about 160 cases sparking fears that this outbreak could not only worsen but kill many before it has run its course.
“We’ve put a lot of resources into responding to this situation,” said. Ehresmann says the outbreak has mostly affected people in the elderly Hmong community. Of those impacted, 14 people are from within the Hmong community. Ehresmann believes 10 of those cases are connected because the people have shared activities at a senior center.
Shepard Ambellas
