Response to SARS-Like Virus an Improvement Over 2003 Outbreak

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Health officials detected a SARS-like virus that started in the Middle East this month, but the global response is drastically different from what it was in 2003, when the world learned about the original SARS virus only after it had already taken hold of Hong Kong.

The World Health Organization announced Sunday that two cases of a SARS-like virus have been reported: a 49-year-old Qatari man in critical condition in a U.K. hospital and a 60-year-old Saudi woman who died earlier this year. They suffered from a 99.5 percent identical coronavirus that caused acute respiratory syndrome and renal failure. (Coronaviruses include a range of viruses from SARS to the common cold.)

“It took the outbreak in Hong Kong and subsequent spread to bring that to our attention,” Dr. William Schaffner said of the 2003 SARS outbreak. Schaffner chairs preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University. “The surveillance for viruses that cause disease, particularly respiratory viruses, has improved enormously over the last 10 years worldwide. What happened here demonstrates that.”

The man with the new SARS-like virus first showed symptoms on Sept. 3 and was admitted to an intensive care unit in Qatar on Sept. 7, according to a WHO statement. He was transferred to a hospital in the United Kingdom four days later, where the Health Protection Agency conducted lab testing to determine that he had a never-before-seen coronavirus similar to SARS. The U.K. informed WHO of the discovery on Sept. 22, and WHO made the announcement Sept. 23.

In short, the whole world found out about the new SARS-like virus less than three weeks after its second known victim first presented symptoms.

A decade ago, SARS infected 8,098 people from November 2002 through July 2003, killing 774 of them. It is believed that the virus began in Chinese horseshoe bats in 2002 before spreading to cats sold at animal markets for food, and spreading from there to humans. New cases tapered off and stopped around 2003, with the exception of eight new cases in China in 2004.

Schaffner said scientific and technological advances in the last ten years allowed health officials to shift from reaction to anticipation this time around. Not only are hospitals sending specimens of the viruses to labs earlier, he said, but technicians can do molecular testing that wasn’t easily or cheaply available in 2003.

Ralph Baric, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health who has studied SARS for eight years, said it’s important to realize that this SARS-like virus could actually be very different from the original, however, given that it’s named for the symptoms (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) rather than the virus’s makeup.

“In this case, this has been caught earlier, and that is probably really good news, but again at this point it’s just speculation and guessing,” he said, adding that there have been many new coronaviruses over the last 30 years.

Baric said sporadic SARS cases — like the ones we’re seeing now — probably first began in 2001, but it took until late 2002 or early 2003 for the disease to become a pandemic. The spread from China to Hong Kong was traced back to a doctor who was treating patients with SARS in China and traveled to Hong Kong for a family reunion, passing the virus to people on his hotel floor who then “seeded” other countries with SARS, Baric said.

A doctor named Carlo Urbani was treating patients in Vietnam in late February 2003 when he noticed patients experiencing a strange and severe respiratory disease. He became concerned and alerted WHO.  Urbani died of SARS on March 29, 2003.

“SARS also told the entire world’s communities you can’t hide this,” Schaffner said. “You have to identify these viruses and let the world public health community know about it.”

In 2003, China was a much more “reclusive” place, and neighboring officials urged Chinese health officials not to keep the virus outbreak a secret, Schaffner said.

“When it comes to respiratory illness, you don’t need a passport,” he said. “We are all linked and we must let each other know when something is happening in our community because it could be in your community a day from now.”

HPA officials have already learned that the new coronavirus has a seven-day incubation period, which has passed since the Qatari man was admitted to the hospital. So far, no health workers have shown signs of the virus, which was a key feature of the original SARS outbreak, meaning it’s possible that this virus isn’t as contagious. The current patient is still in respiratory isolation, and his hospital caregivers are required to wear respirators, gowns, gloves and goggles.

The WHO has not proposed any travel restrictions.

source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/09/25/response-to-sars-like-virus-an-improvement-over-2003-outbreak/

Low vaccination rate puts hep-B target ‘out of reach'

Illustrative image (Source: Internet)

The World Health Organisation has warned Vietnam and eight other countries in the Western Pacific that they would not be able to reduce the hepatitis B infection rate in children to less than 2 percent by next year due to their low vaccination coverage.

It had pledged to support the nine countries – Cambodia , Kiribati , Laos , Papua New Guinea , the Philippines , Samoa , Solomon Islands , and Vanuatu being the others – that face significant challenges in combating the disease.

The major cause of the low vaccination rates is the large number of births that occur at home without skilled birth attendants, making it difficult to deliver vaccines and other care services, it said.

The countries target reducing the hepatitis B rate in children to less than 1 percent in future.

Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, said reaching the targets is crucial and doable.

"Focused, concerted action is essential, especially in the countries that continue to suffer from high rates of mother-to-child transmission," he said.

The region accounts for almost half the global incidence of hepatitis B while having only a third of the population.

More than 90 percent of countries around the globe are now including the vaccine against hepatitis B in routine childhood immunisation programmes, giving babies life-long protection.

July 28 has been designated as World Hepatitis Day, serving as an opportunity to promote specific actions towards controlling the disease./.

Article source: http://en.vietnamplus.vn/Home/Low-vaccination-rate-puts-hepB-target-out-of-reach/20117/19931.vnplus

How to eat well and save the planet too

The fact that a billion people in the world live in or close to the edge of hunger is a sobering reminder that even basic needs should never be taken for granted
Eating used to be simple. If you liked it and could afford it, down the hatch it went. But the days of carefree consumption of food, are a thing of the past, especially for meat lovers.
If nonstop -- and contradictory -- pronouncements by doctors as to what you should or shouldn’t ingest don’t spoil your appetite, dire warnings about the ruinous impact of your favorite dish on the environment or the climate probably will.
The fact that a billion people in the world live in or close to the edge of hunger is also a sobering reminder that even basic needs should never be taken for granted.
So what’s a gourmand to do?
For those who enjoy the luxury of choice, help has come in the form of what may be the most wide-ranging overview so far on how different foodstuffs -- from lentils to lamb chops -- impact the environment, the fight against global warming, and the human body.
“A Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health” is just that, a 90-page no-nonsense manual to help define a personal comfort zone between what your taste buds crave and what your conscience will allow them to experience.
Start with the rising threat of climate change, fuelled not just by gas and oil combustion but methane-belching animals and the long chain of production that brings their selected body parts to middle-class dinner tables the world over.
“Our assessment calculates the ‘cradle-to-grave’ carbon footprint of each food item based on greenhouse gas emissions generated before and after the food leaves the farm,” said Kari Hamerschlag, a senior analyst at the non-profit Environmental Working Group in Washington D.C.
The analysis, jointly conducted with the Portland, Oregon-based CleanMetrics Corporation, also includes the pesticides and fertilizers used to grow animal feed, the raising of livestock, as well as the processing, transportation and cooking that follows.
Even disposal of leftovers -- a major source of emissions and pollution, as it turns out -- are taken into account.
The same criteria are applied to various farmed fish, grains, dairy products and vegetables too.
No surprise, meat is the prime offender across almost all categories considered.
But as is true of George Orwell’s bestiary in “Animal Farm”, not all edible critters are equal, at least not when it comes to their harmful impact.
Pound-for-pound, lamb is the worst carbon polluter, generating nearly 40 kilos (86 pounds) of CO2-equivalent for every kilo (2.2 pounds) eaten. The next most carbon-intensive animal -- also a cud-chewing ruminant -- on the list is beef, with emissions of 27 kilos (60 pounds) per kilo.
Looked at another way, eating a modest 110-gramme (four-ounce) slice of braised lamb shank is the equivalent of driving a mid-sized car for 21 kilometers (13 miles). The same amount of beef works out to just over half that distance.
“If your family of four skips steak once a week, it’s like taking your car off the road for nearly three months,” Hamerschlag said.
Americans eat more meat -- exceeding Europeans by 60 percent -- than most other developed nations, with 100 kilos (220 pounds) produced each year for every man, woman and child.
But burgeoning middle-class appetites in rapidly emerging economies, led by China, are closing the gap with frightening speed, recent studies have shown.
In terms of health, the study reviews the well-known hazards of excess meat consumption, including heart disease, diabetes and obesity. It also highlights the widespread and controversial use of antibiotics for livestock and, in the United States, growth hormones.
The next culprit on the scale of climate and environmental impacts is cheese, mainly because of the large quantities of milk needed to produce it.
Pork, farm-raised salmon, chicken and turkey are all on a par when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, but pigs -- the most widely-eaten meat in the world, with China accounting for half of global consumption -- are in a category of their own when it comes to environmental impact. Runoff from waste into fresh water sources and even the ocean are especially problematic.
As is the fact that global consumption of all meats combined has soared, from about 70 million tons in 1960 to about 300 million tons today.
Wasted food, the study found, accounts for fully a fifth of the carbon emissions linked to meat and dairy products in the US, with other rich countries not far behind.
“Reducing waste and buying only as much as you can eat is the easiest way to reduce greenhouse gases and other environmental impacts,” it said.
Inescapably, inevitably, ineluctably, the report arrives at this conclusion: vegetables are virtuous. Especially lentils.
That’s a hard truth for meat lovers. But there is advice here even for hardcore carnivores who cannot, or will not, kick the habit.
“Meat, eggs and dairy products that are certified organic, humane or grass-fed are generally the least environmentally damaging,” Hamerschlag said, with some studies pointing to health benefits too.
In the end, American nutritionist Michael Pollan’s seven-word mantra may be all the advice one needs: “Eat [real] food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Graphic comparing the carbon footprint of different food items

AFP  

 

Article source: http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pages/20110724174855.aspx