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Tag: centers for disease control

  • First Ebola Case Diagnosed In U.S. — ‘We Will Stop It Here,’ Says CDC

    The first Ebola case has been diagnosed in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today.

    The person who first tested positive for Ebola is a patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, hospital spokesman Stephen O’Brien said Tuesday.

    The unnamed person left Liberia on September 19 and arrived in the United States on September 20, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, told reporters Tuesday. At that time, the person did not have symptoms.

    “But four or five days later” that person began to show symptoms, Frieden said. The patient was admitted into isolation on Sunday until the CDC could confirm the diagnosis.

    Frieden said the patient was not sick on departure from Liberia or upon arrival in the U.S., adding that the disease can only be contracted by someone exhibiting symptoms of the disease.

    Frieden said he was confident there would not be an Ebola outbreak in the U.S.

    “There is no doubt in my mind we will stop it here,” he said.

    Several other Americans, including Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, were diagnosed in West Africa and then brought back to the United States for treatment. They have since recovered from the disease.

    The Ebola outbreak has been centered in the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, though there have been concerns about international air travel and other factors may contribute to its spread. Another concern is that symptoms do not appear until two to 21 days after being infected.

    According to last week’s World Health Organization report, more than 3,000 people in West Africa have died after being infected with Ebola and there have been 6,553 cases of the virus overall, though that number is likely higher due to difficulties in tracking and reporting the disease.

    According to the CDC, Ebola causes viral hemorrhagic fever. Early symptoms may include sudden onset of fever, weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat.

  • ‘Kissing Bug’ Illnesses On the Rise in the U.S.

    Members of a typically subtropical family of insects commonly known as kissing bugs have been making their way further north in the United States, while carrying the deadly Chagas disease.

    Chagas disease, or American trypanosomiasis, is a parasitic ailment caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. The parasite exists in the feces of the kissing bug (Triatoma infestans), and is spread while the insect is feeding on the blood of a vertebrate host, as it rubs its abdomen against an open bite wound.

    Acute infection with Chagas disease brings on mild symptoms which include fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches and local swelling at the site of the bite. Chronic infection, which can take decades to produce symptoms, can lead to enlargement of the ventricles of the heart, leading to heart failure, and an enlarged esophagus and colon.

    The kissing bug, also known as the assassin bug, tends to go for its host’s lips while feeding:

    Roughly 8 million people are living with Chagas disease worldwide, and anti-parasitic medications are usually effective, if treatment is given during the acute phase of the infection. Treatment is less successful if a patient develops a chronic illness.

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control believe that at least 300,000 Americans carry the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite, though domestic infection is rare, and it is believed that most cases of Chagas were contracted in Central and South America, where the disease is endemic.

    The CDC points out that while there are eleven different species of kissing bug that occur in the U.S., most of them do not carry Chagas.

    Below is a map of where kissing bugs have been recorded in North America:

    chagas

    The CDC considers Chagas as one of several neglected tropical diseases that it is focusing on. Roughly 11,000 people die annually of the disease, but its association with immigration and poverty may be preventing widespread awareness.

    Images via Wikimedia Commons, The CDC

  • MERS Virus: Third Case Diagnosed in U.S.

    The MERS virus appears to be spreading–albeit very slowly. The third case of the disease in the United States has been officially diagnosed. An Illinois man likely picked up the illness from an Indiana man who was diagnoed as the first within the country to have the disease earlier this month. Middle East respiratory syndrome hasn’t had much of an impact on this third person diagnosed with it, however. The man never needed any medical treatment and is feeling well according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    The two men–the first and third confirmed cases in America–met twice prior to the man from Indiana falling ill and subsequently being hospitalized in Munster, Indiana. The Indiana man traveled from Saudi Arabia where he lived and was employed in the health care field. The transmission is believed to have taken place via a handshake.

    ‘‘We don’t think this changes the risk to the general public,’’ Dr. David Swerdlow of the CDC. He says the risk to the general public of contracting the MERS virus still remains low at this time.

    Health officials report that the MERS virus is only spread from person to person contact via close contact. Many of the cases diagnosed in the Middle East are health care workers or family members of those with confirmed MERS cases. Some airports within the U.S. have issued warnings regarding the disease.

    The MERS virus was first seen two years ago in Saudi Arabia. It has been found in camels, however officials still have not determined how it first spread to humans. There is no vaccine or cure for the disease and there’s no specific treatment other than to relieve its symptoms. Those symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Not everyone who is exposed to the MERS virus becomes ill.

    MERS belongs to the coronavirus family which also includes the common cold and SARS. Severe acute respiratory syndrome was a health scare in 2003, when it caused approximately 800 deaths around the world.

    Is the MERS virus a cause for alarm? Will it impact your travel plans in the coming months?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • School Head Lice Policies Changing

    School Head Lice Policies Changing

    School head lice policies are being relaxed in several states, which has left some parents not too happy.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are between six to twelve million head lice infestations each year in the U.S., among children ages three to eleven. And now states including Florida, California, Nebraska, South Carolina and New Mexico no longer require educational institutions to send infested students home.

    Though head lice are harmless in reality, a lot of parents and pediatricians are opposed to the lax policy. Deborah Altschuler, head of The National Pediculosis Association, blames the updated policies for spreading the lice – “The new lice policy throws parental values for wellness and children’s health under the bus. It fosters complacency about head lice by minimizing its importance as a communicable parasitic disease.”

    Schools no longer are required to notify parents of lice problems in the classroom either, even if their child has a chance of being exposed. Reasoning behind the new policy includes privacy protection, protecting an infested child from embarrassment and to cut down on absenteeism.

    The head louse, scientifically known as Pediculus humanus capitis), is an obligate ectoparasite of humans, much like reality show production coordinators and roundworms, to an extent. Head lice are wingless insects that spend most of their life cycle on the human scalp, and feed exclusively on human blood. Other species of lice infest all orders of birds, and most orders of mammals.

    The American Academy of Pediatrics first updated the new guidelines in 2010, which recommend that the infested students didn’t have to leave their schools. The National Association of School Nurses also revised its policy in 2011, in alignment with the same idea

    High levels of lice infestations have also been reported in countries worldwide, including Israel, Denmark, Sweden, UK, France and Australia. Head lice can live away from the scalp, on soft furnishings such as couch cushions, on hairbrushes, or on coat hoods for up to 48 hours. While the CDC agrees that head lice are a nuisance and not easily eradicated, they don’t spread disease and are not a health hazard. The CDC also states that lice eggs, called nits, are “unlikely to be transferred successfully to other people.”

    The CDC also advises that parents with elementary-aged children should check their hair for lice once each week.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons.