Where is… latest diseased animal

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, YKAlaska

from the incomparable
http://www.promedmail.org ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org

I have mentioned the Wildlife Disease Center before

• Updates on bird flu results, USA AK (HEDDS)
• results, maybe
• Where is… bird test results

The map format will be a great complement to the
global human H5N1 disease map mentioned here
(Where is… Bethel and 2007 bird flu) and to the
MIT HealthMap of the latest alerts on infectious disease around the world

Web tool puts wildlife diseases on the map
Date: Fri 2 May 2008 Source: US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey (USGS) Office of Communication]
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1928

– ——————————————
A new on-line map makes it possible, for the 1st time, to track disease outbreaks around the world that threaten the health of wildlife, domestic animals, and people.
…
Updated daily, the map displays pushpins marking stories of wildlife diseases such as West Nile virus, avian influenza, chronic wasting disease, and monkeypox. Users can browse the latest reports of nearly 50 diseases and other health conditions, such as pesticide and lead poisoning, by geographic location. Filters make it easy to focus on different disease types, affected species, countries, and dates.

The map is a product of the Wildlife Disease Information Node (WDIN), a 5-year-old collaboration between UW-Madison and 2 federal agencies, the National Wildlife Health Center and the National Biological Information Infrastructure, that are part of the USGS. WDIN is housed within the university’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the USGS.
…
“If you click on the name of a particular disease, it takes you to our main website and does a quick search of everything that we have on that topic,” says Cris Marsh, a librarian who oversees the wildlife disease news services for the WDIN. …The WDIN gathers news from more than 20 on-line sources and makes it available in a number of handy formats, from a Wildlife Disease News Digest at to desktop widgets, e-mail, and RSS feeds.

Subscription information for these news delivery services can be found at http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/wdindigest.html … “People who collect data about wildlife diseases don’t currently have an established communication network, which is something we’re working to improve,” says Dein. “But just seeing what’s attracting attention in the news gives us a much better picture of what’s out there than we’ve ever had before.”

Concerns about the emergence and spread of diseases that can pass between species have forged new links in recent years between wildlife health, human health, and domestic animal health professionals. “It all ties in together, the ‘One-World, One-Health’ idea,” says Marsh. “The West Nile virus acted as one of the catalysts for that connection. People in different areas in the eastern US began to see isolated incidences of dead and dying crows that seemed abnormally high, but nobody knew other areas were experiencing the same thing.” Because West Nile virus also affects humans and other mammals, it became apparent to scientists that disease outbreaks of this kind need to be addressed as quickly as possible, explains Marsh. Outbreaks of monkeypox and highly pathogenic avian influenza soon afterward underscored the importance of linking information about emerging diseases across all species.
…
Contact information Chris Marsh cmarsh ATusgsDOTgov Joshua Dein fjdein ATusgsDOTgov US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey Office of Communication
119 National Center Reston, VA 20192 USA

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Site Search Tags: HealthMap, MIT, ProMed, USGS, diseases, veterinary, WDIN, zoonoses, NBII.gov, disease+map, epidemiology, emerging+diseases

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Climate change and disease — Talk of Alaska

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, YKAlaska

Steve Heimel is scheduled to host a discussion tomorrow (2007 Dec 4) about the possible disease impacts (positive and negative) of environmental change in Alaska. Talk of Alaska is broadcast live statewide on the stations of the Alaska Public Radio Network each Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Audio from the program is [usually] posted online following the live broadcast. [Fran Ulmer’s program from 2007 Nov 20 is uncharacteristically not up yet.]

I’ve mentioned several potential problems here, which I hope get discussed —

• Where is Bethel endemic malaria
• Briefs 3 Winter ticks invade Yukon elk
• Robins and West Nile or Officials give tips on dealing with dead birds
• FYI hantavirus and About this site — Cama-i (welcome)

Another strong possibility might be dengue fever. Parts of Maui, for example, have been under mosquito control measures and health alerts. Dengue fever is another mosquito-borne disease, but of aedes mosquitoes, not the anopheles mosquitoes which carry malaria. Does anyone know the abundance and proportion of our mosquito genera? We have culex mosquitoes (“West Nile virus is spread by mosquitoes such as this one, Culex pipiens, also known as the northern house mosquito.”) There is a catalog of The mosquitoes of Alaska [pdf file] but published in 1961 and new ones are found ( http://tinyurl.com/2835kf)

The reasons for the dramatic global emergence of DF/DHF as a major public health problem are complex and not well understood. However, several important factors can be identified.

1. First, major global demographic changes have occurred, the most important of which have been uncontrolled urbanization and concurrent population growth. These demographic changes have resulted in substandard housing and inadequate water, sewer, and waste management systems, all of which increase Ae. aegypti population densities and facilitate transmission of Ae. aegypti-borne disease.
2. In most countries the public health infrastructure has deteriorated. Limited financial and human resources and competing priorities have resulted in a “crisis mentality” with emphasis on implementing so-called emergency control methods in response to epidemics rather than on developing programs to prevent epidemic transmission. This approach has been particularly detrimental to dengue control because, in most countries, surveillance is (just as in the U.S.) passive; the system to detect increased transmission normally relies on reports by local physicians who often do not consider dengue in their differential diagnoses. As a result, an epidemic has often reached or passed its peak before it is recognized.
3. Increased travel by airplane provides the ideal mechanism for infected human transport of dengue viruses between population centers of the tropics, resulting in a frequent exchange of dengue viruses and other pathogens.
4. Lastly, effective mosquito control is virtually nonexistent in most dengue-endemic countries. Considerable emphasis in the past has been placed on ultra-low-volume insecticide space sprays for adult mosquito control, a relatively ineffective approach for controlling Ae. aegypti.

• http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/dengue/

We don’t do any mosquito control now except burn Pics inside houses (negatively affects human health so the outdoor mozzies get us faster) and provide sheltered breeding areas such as trash and tires. Mosquitoes may also bring heartworms which affect dogs. And how can we forget flies and SWMP flying anuk?

There is pandemic and avian influenzas–

[while the current Arctic and sub-Arctic regions may result in a lower population density of birds and their shed viruses (and also people) it is the lower density and not the “Arctic” per se which affects the infection rate of the virus. However, the lower density may be only of the birds. Other research [cited here, flu viruses survive tundra ponds and here, Frozen fecal bird flu types] has shown that the viruses may survive in ponds between breeding seasons (over winter) and thus might accumulate or become more concentrated in numbers. As we know from disease ecology and biocultural anthropology, the disease process involves several factors besides presence and abundance of the infective microorganism. mpb]

While snow blindness may be less likely, cataracts from exposure to more sunlight (getting out on water without sunglasses) and skin cancers may compensate. Elk may move in, but so might chronic wasting disease. If winters are warmer, then indoor air pollution may drop with decreased wood stove and oil furnaces.

I’m sure Steve will have lots of other skin-crawly things to discuss (and to prepare for).

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Site Search Tags: APRN.org, Talk+of+Alaska, mosquitoes, disease, climate+change, global+warming, ticks, malaria, West+Nile, dengue+fever, trash, dogs, cervid+wasting, Hawaii, flies

Mass disease pass, 2007

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, YKAlaska

One of the Tundra Teachers ** I read was able to take advantage of the flu shot clinic this weekend. Actually, it was the mass dispensing exercise to demonstrate disaster preparation in the region, held for the second year.

• Does mass dispensing exercise prove disaster readiness
• Illustrations of public involvement (risk communication) related to H5N1 avian flu or pandemic preparedness

Unbelievably, the 2nd prize again this year is a pass to the “emergency shelter” which still doesn’t exist. First prize is the free shot, which this year should be an effective shot (last year it wasn’t sure the vaccines had been kept at the proper temperature so, letters were issued to come in again later. The elders who go to the senior center will get their flu shots next week, just before Thanksgiving. Elders don’t get flu shots earlier in the season, depending on how much vaccine the state sends out to us.)

I can see how someone last year must have thought it was “more authentic” to issue a pretend pass to a non-existent shelter; unacceptable but plausible. But, again? Who has the authority to declare an Infectious Disease Outbreak? Why is there a non-existent shelter for disease outbreaks and not for flooding, electrical explosion, chemical fire? What happens if a member of your family or a neighbor didn’t get a flu shot at the mass dispensing– Will they be denied access to the non-existent shelter? What if I lend my card to an elder? Can I bring my active TB?

How effective are official false hope and rumors in risk communication, preparedness, and disaster mitigation? What will you E-mail the Governor?

“Sunday, November 4, 2007
Get a Flu Shot

They were giving out free flu shots at the National Guard Armory yesterday, so Avery and I went and got one. The interesting thing about this is that once we got done with our flu shots, we received an interesting card. It’s a business card from the State of Alaska and the YKHC (Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation) and this is what it says….”

http://alishaadventures.blogspot.com/2007/11/get-flu-shot.html

see previous

• More questions to ask: church responsibilities in case of pandemics
• Bird Flu: Communicating the Risk, Sandman & Lanard
• Getting Results from Your Experts
• Resources to Understand Epidemiology & Disease Ecology
• British teachers use Suffolk H5N1 outbreak
• Top 50 reading list for emergency management

[Tundra Teachers** are a mix RSS feed in the sidebar here and individually at the Edublogs site So many teachers qualify this year (blogs from teachers in the Arctic and sub-Arctic) that I am behind in posting links.]

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Site Search Tags: flu+shot, armory, mass+disaster, shelter, Alaska, Bethel, planning, training, disaster+mitigation, YKHC, ADHSS, risk, communication, mass+vaccination, seasonal+flu, emergency+shelter, Sarah+Palin, readiness, cultural+factors, human+factors, Elders, older+Americans, senior+center

Song to time hand washing for hygiene and disease prevention

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, YKAlaska

The correct amount of time for washing hands with soap and water is about 20 seconds. In the USA, children know the song Happy Birthday to You. If sung properly two times, it lasts about the correct time period.

Not everyone knows this song, its lyrics and tune. They have come to this site looking for a handwashing song.

The actual birthday song is copyrighted, or was. The Wikipedia article is pretty comprehensive about its history and current status. Fortunately, another, older song to the same tune is in the public domain.

“Good Morning to All” is printed in Song Stories for the Kindergarten, published 1893 (revised edition published 1896). It credited Patty Hill for the lyrics and Mildred Hill for the music.

Good Morning to You lyrics and tune are available from Wikipedia.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You

They also have a link to an mp3 (audio) version of the song from a very interesting website about copyright. I think the historic clip maybe a little fast for the requisite timing so sing it twice or three tiems (20 seconds total).

• http://chart.copyrightdata.com/ch13.html

This is a work about copyright law. As such, it discusses the means by which a creator goes about protecting his legal rights to his work. Thus, it should not surprise any reader that this work bears the following notice: The Copyright Registration and Renewal Information Chart and Web Site © 2007 David P. Hayes If you’re here, it might be you want to know whether a particular work is protected by copyright. The several charts on this site can help. To get the most out of this site, you should have the following information close at hand.

Click here for the version of happy birthday in Yup’ik Eskimo (Alaska) Do readers have localized versions that I can link to?

See other posts about hands and handwashing–
Sanitizers — Handwashing
auto handwash timer Squidsoap
My 3 things everyone should know to prevent bird flu (pandemic flu)
Give germs the boot, not our babies: unwashed hands make everyone sick

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Site Search Tags: hands, handwashing, hygiene, Happy+Birthday, song, soap, children

Overview avian influenza implications for human disease

from ProMED-mail

• http://www.promedmail.org

ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases

• http://www.isid.org

– ———————————————————-
Overview–

[A comprehensive reference document covering all aspects of the biology of human avian influenza H5N1 virus updated to 16 May 2007 is available at the CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota) website via the general link:
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/biofacts/avflu_human.html]

The contents are arranged under the following headings and include references to key publications:

Agent
Laboratory testing for avian influenza in humans
Summary of avian influenza in humans
Current outbreak of H5N1 in birds and other animals
H5N1 in humans: epidemiologic features
H5N1 in humans: clinical features
Treatment and prophylaxis
Current status of H5N1 candidate vaccines
Current WHO and CDC travel recommendations
Use of seasonal flu vaccine in humans at risk for H5N1 infection
Surveillance considerations
Influenza pandemic considerations
Infection control recommendations
Guidance to protect workers from avian influenza viruses
Food safety issues
References

Add this to Bookmarks:

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Site Search Tags: ProMED, CIDRAP, influenza, bird+flu, avian+flu, references, epidemiology, disease+ecology, public+health, review

masks an ancient classification of disease

Re:

• Masks — Types, Choosing (PPE) –
  https://ykalaska.wordpress.com/2006/04/13/ masks-%e2%80%94-types-choosing-ppe/

This recent article points out another use of masks and masks in health and medicine, as a diagnostic tool. The authors used museum collections and a literature review.

Hence the sanni demons do seem to represent disease syndromes, and their masks show clinical features that are familiar to clinicians today. This classification of disease has considerable merit, especially considering its origin among non-medical practitioners many centuries ago. Sri Lanka has an ancient history of medical achievements, including the first recorded hospitals and a system of Ayurvedic medicine that dates from the 4th century bc.

classification of disease

Demon (Sanniya) Literal translation Associated conditions
Amukku Vomiting bouts Vomiting and stomach diseases
Abutha Non-spirit related Not spirit related insanity
Butha Spirit related Spirit related insanity
Bihiri Deaf Deafness
Deva Divine Epidemic diseases
Gedi Lumps Boils and skin diseases
Gini Jala Great fire or flame Malaria and high fevers
Golu Dumb Dumbness
Gulma Worms (especially hookworm) Parasitic worms and stomach diseases
Jala Water or diarrhoea Cholera and chills
Kana Blind Blindness
Kora Lame Lameness and paralysis
Maru Death Delirium and death
Naga Snake (especially cobra) Bad dreams about snakes
Pissu Insanity Temporary insanity
Pith Bilious Bilious diseases
Slesma Phlegm Phlegm and epilepsy
Vatha Wind humour or rheumatic Flatulence and rheumatism

“Sri Lankan sanni masks: an ancient classification of disease
Mark S Bailey, specialist registrar in infectious diseases and tropical medicine1, H Janaka de Silva, professor”

• http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/333/7582/1327?etoc

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Technorati Tags: masks, disease, BMJ
Site Search Tags: masks, disease, BMJ

Resources to Understand Epidemiology & Disease Ecology

Supercourse www.pitt.edu/~super1/ from the University of Pittsburgh

Supercourse is a global repository of lectures on public health and prevention targeting educators across the world. Supercourse has a network of over 32000 scientists in 151 countries who are sharing for free a library of over 2500 lectures.

2006-05-29T05:05:01+00:00 URL coding is fixed

http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/index.htm
Supercourse Public Health Lectures in PPT/PDF Format
http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/ppt.htm

Golden Lecture of Prevention

http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/lecture/lec10511/001.htm

The value of primary prevention was known to mankind for many centuries. Unfortunately, even today its benefits are not always recognized due to preoccupation with high tech modern medicine.

We, at the Supercourse project (www.pitt.edu/~super1/), decided to… develop the “Golden Lecture of Prevention” to illustrate and commemorate the role of prevention in continuing to make our planet healthier.

Supercourse, funded by the National Library of Medicine, NIH, is an Internet based library of lectures on prevention and public health, shared for free by 10,000 members from 151 countries in the Global Health Network.

Resources for the Supercourse
http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/assist/index.htm

The British Medical Journal uploaded its bestsellers on the web for the Supercourse. The Supercourse – Global Health Network asked the British Medical Journal to put two textbooks; Statistics at Square One and Epidemiology for the Uninitiated upon the web.

Other resources by the British Medical Journal related to the Supercourse
* Guide to the Internet
* How to read a paper: the basics of evidence-based medicine

BIREME’s (Brazil’s virtual library of health information) links, in English
* Latin America and Caribbean Public Health related journals
* Latin America and Caribbean journals
* Brazil – all scientific areas
* Chile – all scientific areas

Other Resources links
* Dictionary of Epidemiology
* National Library of Medicine
* PubMed (free MEDLINE)
* Related Health Services Research Websites I
* Related Health Services Research Websites II
* Grant Writing page
* The 3 lectures at the 38th Annual Meeting of the EASD in Budapest, Hungary and EASD major lectures, namely the Camillo Golgi, Minkowski and Claude Bernard Lectures held at the 18th IDFCongress in Paris in August 2003
* Welcome to MIT’s OpenCourseWare

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Site Search Tags: statistics, BMJ, epidemiology, Supercourse, stats, Pitt

Twenty-Year Summary of Surveillance for Human Hantavirus, USA

Tags

environmental health, Grassroots Science, history, Pueblos, Sci-TEK, TEK-IK, YKAlaska

Hard to believe it has been that long ago [see also camai-start-here] when a new killer emerged among NM and the Pueblos. No one knew at first what it was and how to avoid the mystery illness which seemed to target young Native people. We couldn’t wait for the “outside experts” but needed to rely on the Pueblos’ own experts to begin to combat the disease and rumors. It was frightening.

The Navajo Medicine Men society was an immense help in uncovering the ecology of this disease. [Dr Jim Cheek worked with them. See this paper http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1076&context=zoonoticspub and the People Magazine article at the time,

This is only the third time this century that there has been a year-round supply of the nuts. Says Dr. James Cheek of the Indian Health Service: “I believe the elders and medicine men might have been much closer than any of us to the cause of the disease.”

BTW, before an official name sin nombre was assigned, the CDC did receive suggestions and concerns from the Pueblos about the suggested names which inadvertently used Pueblo sacred site names or other names which were used by folks other than CDC researchers. Sin nombre was a good choice.

Twenty-Year Summary of Surveillance for Human Hantavirus Infections, United States — B. Knust and P. E. Rollin
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/12/13-1217_article

In 1993, an outbreak of severe respiratory illness in the Four Corners region of the United States (defined by the shared borders between the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah) made national headlines. The subsequent discovery of a new disease, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) (1), its etiologic agent, Sin Nombre virus (SNV) (2), and its rodent reservoir, the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) (3), were among the most prominent findings in a flood of new revelations about hantaviruses in the Americas.

Unorganized Borough gets first MacArthur Fellow

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, Unorganized Borough, YKAlaska

Jill Seaman, MD was one of the 2009 MacArthur Fellows, just announced. Her fellowship was for

adapting the tools of 21st-century medicine to treat infectious diseases endemic to Southern Sudan….

Jill Seaman is a physician committed to delivering and improving treatment for infectious diseases endemic to Old Fangak, Sudan one of the most remote, impoverished, and war-torn regions of the world….

She spends the remaining portion of each year in Bethel, Alaska, providing health services to Yup’ik Eskimo communities.

Read more about

• Dr Jill Seaman
• http://www.alaskasudan.org/
• http://www.medicalmissionhalloffamefoundation.org/bios/seaman.html

Q. What is the MacArthur Fellowship? A. The MacArthur Fellowship is a five-year grant to individuals who show exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future. The fellowship is designed to provide recipients with the flexibility to pursue their creative activities in the absence of specific obligations or reporting requirements. There are no limits on age or area of activity. Individuals cannot apply for this award; they must be nominated.

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Site Search Tags: Bethel, YKHC, MacArthur+Foundation, Unorganized+Borough, Third+World, medicine

TULAREMIA, HUMAN – USA: (ALASKA), REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Tags

Bumsted, Grassroots Science, Unorganized Borough, YKAlaska

In Mississippi, my Dad used to check rabbits for tularemia for Fish & Game. Rabbits were a subsistence food for many, then.
"F. tularensis was discovered in 1911 during an outburst of rabbit fever, when the disease killed a large number of ground squirrels in the area of Tulare Lake in California. Scientists determined that tularemia could be dangerous to humans; a human being may catch the infection after contacting an infected animal. The ailment soon became frequent with hunters, cooks and agricultural workers"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tularemia

Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:18:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promed.isid.harvard.edu>
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Tularemia, human – USA: (AK), RFI

TULAREMIA, HUMAN – USA: (ALASKA), REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
*********************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org

Date: Thu 6 Aug 2009
Source: Associated Press [edited]
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=10861604

Two residents of Fairbanks, Alaska have been diagnosed with tularemia, a potentially fatal bacterial infection more commonly found in animals. Alaska Department of Fish and Game veterinarian Kimberlee Beckmen learned of the outbreak from state public health authorities late last week.

The disease can be transmitted to humans from snowshoe hares, and the hare population has been high in the interior. It’s unclear how the Fairbanks residents contracted it.

Beckmen says people are usually infected through the skin by handling sick hares, but they can also get it when bitten by ticks, flies, or mosquitoes that fed on sick hares.

A Fish and Game spokeswoman says the Fairbanks patients were treated with antibiotics and are doing well.

– — communicated by: ProMED-mail rapporteur Brent Barrett

[Tularemia is typically found in animals, especially small mammals such as voles, mice, rodents, rabbits, and hares. _Francisella tularensis_ is found in a wide range of animal hosts and is capable of surviving for weeks at low temperatures in water, moist soil, or decaying plant and animal matter. Although hundreds of differing vertebrates and invertebrates can be infected with the tularemia bacillus, no more than a dozen or so are important in its ecology. Humans become infected through a variety of mechanisms including bites of infected arthropods (mosquitoes, ticks, deerflies), handling infected or dead animals, ingesting contaminated food or water, and inhaling aerosols of bacteria. The type of exposure will dictate the form of the disease manifestation with cutaneous exposures usually resulting in the glandular or ulceroglandular forms. The type of disease in these Alaskan cases is not stated.

ProMED-mail posted an alert (20041008.2760, see below) in October 2004 regarding hamsters from a Canadian pet distributor that were found to be infected with type B tularemia as well. No human cases were reported.

Tularemia in humans is generally a rural disease and occurs naturally throughout much of North America and Eurasia. The type B strain (_F. tularensis_ biogroup palearctica) is the dominant strain in Eurasia, whereas both biogroups (type A is biogroup tularensis) are found in the USA. Type A is said to be more virulent than type B.

Although not generally transferable from person to person, the infectious dose of _F. tularensis_ is quite low, and the organism is listed among the category A bioterrorism agents.

According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during the period 2000-2006, a total of 873 cases of human tularemia were reported in the USA. In the same period, there were a total of only 3 cases reported in Alaska, with annual reports of no more than one per year, although the disease is likely underreported. See http://www.cdc.gov/tularemia/Surveillance/Tul_CasesbyState.html for the full table of number of cases reported each year by state, 2000-2006. The largest numbers were from the south-central part of the USA, with Missouri (172), Arkansas (123), and Oklahoma (79) leading the list. – Mod.LL]