[Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

[LordMortis]

One time a kissed my iguana and I had diarrhea for 45 days straight.

salmonella? For 45 days? I know my dragons books (which are similar to iguana books) always cautioned hand washing after handling due to salmonella risk. But 45 days? eesh. Of course I'd been dealing with Crone's misdiagnosed as "IBS, deal with it" for at least a decade before getting rediagnosed and kinda sorta treated, so I can't begin to remember what normal digestion is like.

[Blackhawk]

The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control say that 30 people, including six from Minnesota, have contracted an illness that has been linked to contact with puppies.

Nearly 9 in 10 people who were interviewed reported contact with a puppy,

Nearly 9 in 10? So... 9 3/4 people?

[Isgrimnur]

The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control say that 30 people, including six from Minnesota, have contracted an illness that has been linked to contact with puppies.

Nearly 9 in 10 people who were interviewed reported contact with a puppy,

Nearly 9 in 10? So... 9 3/4 people?

How do you go from Nearly to Over?

CDC

Among 24 people interviewed,
* 21 (88%) of the 24 people reported contact with a puppy.

[Blackhawk]

Should have been 8 3/4. Pet peeve. It always bugs me when people use 'more than', 'nearly', or similar approximations with small numbers. 'Nearly 100 people' is fine, but 'nearly 10' is silly.

[Freyland]

Bacon, anyone?

America's food inspectors are warning that "unsafe" pork is likely making it to consumers under a change in rules for meat inspection.

That change is now set to roll out nationwide to plants that process more than 90 percent of the pork Americans eat.
[...]
Under the new system, that number will be reduced to two or three federal inspectors who have more experience but who will have limited hands-on interaction with the carcasses.

Instead, the plant's own employees will be checking and sorting the hog carcasses and letting the federal inspectors, called consumer safety inspectors, check their work from a distance. There is no required federal training for those employees.

Finally, the federal limit on line speed — or the rate at which hog carcasses can be moved for processing and inspection — will be removed.

You know, the upside of this is fewer dirty fingerprints on your meat!

[Smoove_B]

Thankfully we have a long and detailed history of U.S. industry (food in particular) doing everything they can to ensure that the products delivered to consumers are safe.

[ImLawBoy]

If we have to go back to overcooking pork chops because of this, I'm going to be pissed.

[Isgrimnur]

Reuters

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it approved drugmaker Merck & Co’s (MRK.N) Ebola vaccine Ervebo, making it the first FDA-authorised vaccine against the deadly virus.

The vaccine was used by the World Health Organization and Democratic Republic of the Congo as an investigational vaccine to help reduce Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks in few West African countries from 2014 to 2016.
...
The vaccine, which is administered as a single-dose injection, will help to prevent EVD caused by Zaire ebolavirus in patients aged 18 years and older, the regulator said in a statement.

[Isgrimnur]

Measles

Five U.S. airports had travelers pass through with confirmed cases of measles this month, exposing an unknown number of fellow passengers to the highly infectious disease, according to health officials in those cities.

In Chicago, an individual with measles traveled through two terminals at O'Hare International Airport over the course of a week. On Dec. 17, the individual passed through O'Hare's Terminal 1, and on Dec. 12, they passed through O'Hare's Terminal 3, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.
...
In Virginia, a person with the measles visited Richmond International Airport on Dec. 17, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

In Austin, an individual with a diagnosed case of measles visited the United Airlines gate area at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Dec. 17, Austin Public Health reports.
...
Earlier in December, three unvaccinated children who had traveled to a country with an ongoing measles outbreak tested positive for measles when they returned. The children visited several parts of Denver International Airport on Dec. 11, including Concourse A, the baggage area and the pickup area, Colorado's Tri-County Health Department reported. They also traveled through Terminals 4 and 5 at Los Angeles International Airport on Dec. 11, according to the Los Angeles Department of Public Health.

[Isgrimnur]

CNBC

The news that an ESPN reporter died on his 34th birthday after being treated for pneumonia is a reminder, experts said, of how deadly the infection can be, even in otherwise healthy young people.

ESPN said the reporter, Ed Aschoff, died on Tuesday after a brief illness, without elaborating on a cause of death. Aschoff tweeted on Dec. 5 that he had pneumonia.

While often thought of as an illness that affects the sick and the elderly, and while older adults, people with weakened immune systems and young children are more at risk, pneumonia can strike indiscriminately, said Dr. Humberto Choi, a pulmonologist at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. (Choi was not involved with Aschoff’s case.)
...
The flu, in particular, can increase a person’s risk of developing pneumonia.

“This is why we talk so much about the flu shot,” Choi said.

The flu can lead to pneumonia in several ways. The virus itself can cause viral pneumonia, but having the flu can also put at person at risk for bacterial pneumonia, which is considered more severe.
...
Choi, who works in an intensive care unit, said that pneumonia is one of the leading causes of patients’ needing intensive care. The inflammation can be overwhelming, he said, and patients may need oxygen and life support.

Not every case of pneumonia is severe, however, and many can be treated with outpatient care, Choi said.
...
In the U.S., more than 250,000 people are hospitalized each year from pneumonia, and about 50,000 people die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

[Isgrimnur]

Lung.org (PDF)

[AWS260]

Mystery pneumonia in China.

Health authorities are looking into nearly 30 cases of “unknown pneumonia” in central China’s Wuhan city on Tuesday.
State television reported that a team of experts from the National Health Commission had arrived in Wuhan to lead the investigation into the nature of the disease, while People’s Daily, quoting local hospital sources, said the exact cause remained unclear and it would be premature to speculate.

[Smoove_B]

Most patients worked at a seafood market

[Isgrimnur]

Salmonella?

[Smoove_B]

That would be unusual. The reported symptoms are similar to SARS, but I wouldn't expect that at a seafood market. So it's like the civet issue of 2003, but with an entirely different animal species? My guess would be viral and somehow associated with hosing off waste/guts and the workers are inhaling that virus-laden mist. I guess we'll see.

[Isgrimnur]

It was a joke.

[Smoove_B]

There is no joking in the infectious diseases thread.

[Daehawk]

2 in Chattanooga died of pneumonia this season. One a 14 or 15 year old teenager who was healthy and a sports player.

[LawBeefaroni]

That would be unusual. The reported symptoms are similar to SARS, but I wouldn't expect that at a seafood market. So it's like the civet issue of 2003, but with an entirely different animal species?

The seafood is a red herring. It's always chicken or pigs.

[TheMix]

There is no joking in the infectious diseases thread.

[Smoove_B]

Speaking of no jokes, apparently they're not messing around with travelers. Also, if you're on a plane and a group boards wearing this kind of protective gear? You're in trouble.

Flight from Wuhan, China, ON-board SARS quarantine has begun

[AWS260]

[Smoove_B]

It's going to get much, much worse before it gets better. I fear this next decade is going to be brutal.

[Isgrimnur]

ars technica

This morning, January 8, The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese scientists had identified a novel coronavirus in samples taken from one patient. The virus subsequently matched samples taken from some—but not all—other cases. The report was based on unnamed sources said to be familiar with the health investigation.
...
According to the WSJ, the coronavirus found during the current outbreak was similar to SARS-precursor viruses found in bats. But the report notes that Wuhan investigators haven't concluded that the novel virus is behind the outbreak.

Regardless of the cause, health experts in China are optimistic that the outbreak will be contained and that response efforts will be better than they were during the SARS outbreak. Xu Jianguo, a former top Chinese public health official, noted to The Washington Post in a report today, "More than a decade has passed. It's impossible for something like SARS to happen again."

[The Meal]

NBC News

People who developed shingles had an almost 60 percent higher risk of heart attack and a 35 percent higher risk of stroke, according to a recent study.
...
And in a frightening complication, shingles can affect the eyes and lead to loss of vision.

The number of Americans diagnosed with these eye complications tripled between 2004 and 2016, according to a large study researchers from the University of Michigan’s Kellogg Eye Center presented last week at the 2019 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting in Vancouver.

In fact, the eyes are involved in about 15 percent of people who develop shingles, said Dr. Ivan Schwab, a clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and a professor of ophthalmology at the University of California, Davis.

What happens, Schwab explained, is that shingles follows a single branch of nerves. If it affects the branch that goes to the face, the eyes can be involved. Along with the pain, it can damage vision or cause blindness in a small percentage of patients.
...
The best protection against shingles is to never get chickenpox.

[Smoove_B]

New China virus has potential to spread:

There has been “limited” human-to-human transmission of a new coronavirus that has struck in China, mainly small clusters in families, but there is potential for wider spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

A Chinese woman has been quarantined in Thailand with a mystery strain, authorities said on Monday, the first time it has been detected outside China. In all, 41 cases of pneumonia - a symptom of the disease - have been reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, mainly through exposure at a seafood market.

[Isgrimnur]

CNN

About 170 people who've gone to Yosemite National Park this month are suffering from gastrointestinal illness, including visitors and employees.

Two of the cases are confirmed as norovirus, and the majority of the others are consistent with the virus, the park said in a statement Thursday. Most of the incidents occurred around the first week of January, and there has been a decline of new cases in the past several days, it said.

[Madmarcus]

I'm not liking this news from Wuhan. A couple of days ago the threat seemed very remote and I reached the serious planning stage for a trip to Xi'an in late March. Now it's exploding. Logically I should be good but I'd like to wait and see what happens during the Lunar New Year.

[Smoove_B]

I would expect it to potentially get worse as people leave the major cities to presumably visit family and friends in the more suburban areas.

They're confirming six deaths now and verified human-to-human transmission.

What can you do to protect yourself from getting this new virus? It’s the same advice for not getting the flu. Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and wear a mask when you’re in public, say public health experts.

“Every flu season, it’s the exact same same advice: Hand hygiene. Wash your hands often, don’t rub your nose and mouth,” Dr. Gabriel Leung, Founding Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control, said today at a press conference in Hong Kong.

“Please take care if you are ill,” Leung continued. “If you are going to a crowded place, put on a mask even if you are not ill because others may be, even if they have cough etiquette or sneeze etiquette, they may still get in touch with you.”

[AWS260]

[Latest epidemic situation] [Wuhan seals the city] [Public officials are forbidden to leave Wuhan] The Wuhan Municipal Party Committee issued an emergency notice at noon on the 21st, ordering that all staff in the system shall not leave Wuhan until the epidemic situation is resolved. In addition, according to the People's Daily, Wuhan City announced that Wuhan's tourism team does not go out in groups, conducts random checks on private vehicles entering and leaving Wuhan, and installs infrared thermometers at airports, train stations, and coach stations.

I hope things don't get too much worse. Wuhan is where my dad's family is from. My great-great-grandfather established the city's first school for girls. I've visited there as a tourist. It's not an especially pretty or exciting city, but it's home to many millions of people.

[Smoove_B]

[Blackhawk]

When Smoove posts a , you know it's bad.

[Smoove_B]

It's definitely sobering:

Zeng Guang, the chief epidemiologist at China's CDC, urged people in Wuhan to avoid leaving the city and said those intending to go there should avoid it if they can, according to The Washington Post.

"We hope people can avoid going to Wuhan if possible and that people in Wuhan can stay there," he said.

Zeng, who is leading the Chinese government's efforts to respond to the outbreak, made clear that his recommendation was not a government-imposed quarantine.

"This is not a call from the officials but a suggestion from us in the expert team," he said, according to The Post.

It's hard to say how this unfolds, but by all accounts it seems to have already spread outside of Wuhan. Not that they shouldn't do this, it's just sounding more and more like a repeat of the 2002/3 SARS outbreak. Here, the difference is social media and the internet is able to communicate "around" the Chinese government denial that something is happening.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

The first case in the US (in Washington state) has been confirmed. Time to barricade the doors!

[$iljanus]

Welcome to the US of A!

A person in Washington State is infected with the Wuhan coronavirus, the first confirmed case in the United States of a mysterious respiratory infection that has killed at least six people and sickened hundreds more in Asia.

The patient, who was hospitalized with pneumonia last week, recently had traveled to Wuhan, China, where the outbreak appears to have originated, federal officials have found.

Investigators tested samples from the patient for the presence of the virus; positive results were received over the weekend. Officials declined to identify the patient, who was said to be quite ill.

News of the first case in the United States comes amid growing evidence that the virus spreads from person to person, although it is not clear how easily.

(from NYT article)

Damn you, Wiggum for posting about our impending doom first!

[Smoove_B]

News updating here

It doesn't say, but I'm assuming they identified a symptomatic traveler and quickly figured out things weren't right. I'd also be amazed if this isn't the first of many more coming into the US.

[$iljanus]

China is going to have their hands rather full as Chinese New Year approaches, being that it’s the biggest travel time of the year in the country. Virus for you, and you and you too Honored Grandmother!

[Roman]

Bird flu, SARS and now SARS v2. How is it this all comes from there?
Lunar new year will be the perfect conditions for a national outbreak. Add air travel to the mix and this is going to be brutal.

[Smoove_B]

Bird flu, SARS and now SARS v2. How is it this all comes from there?

The same reason influenza originates from China every year - the insane amount of close contact people experience with domesticated (farm) and wild (taken to market for sale) animals - including but not limited to aquatic water fowl. It's a numbers game. When you mix that many people with zoonotic pathogens that have the potential to jump species, life uh...finds a way.

[$iljanus]

I bet many public health officials wish they could get away with saying this to the public:

"“Whoever deliberately delays or conceals reporting for the sake of their own interests will be forever nailed to history’s pillar of shame,”

-official from a Communist party committee