Global Pulse: Diseases Archives

Category: Diseases

First HIV Arrived in U.S. From Haiti in 1969

EurekAlert by AAAS 30 Oct 2007 @ 19:22 GMT | Permalink | Comments

A single immigrant from Haiti in 1969 is likely responsible for the arrival of the AIDS virus in the United States, a new study has found. Scientists analyzed blood samples from five Haitian immigrants who died of then-unknown diseases and 117 AIDS patients from around the world. They conclude that HIV migrated from Africa to Haiti around 1966 and from Haiti to the U.S. three years later, showing that HIV has been in the U.S. long before "Patient Zero." The strain that came out of Haiti was HIV-1 group M subtype B, the most prevalent one today. The study also mentions that the U.S. government had stored blood samples of Haitians who died under mysterious circumstances.

Wanted: Crab Louse for Dutch Museum

25 Oct 2007 @ 16:48 GMT | Permalink | Comments

"Till today, not a single pubic louse reached the museum," the Rotterdam Natural History Museum wrote in a press release. The statement confirms an AP story about its fruitless effort thus far to add a single crab louse to its collection.

In October 2006, Kees Moeliker, curator of the museum, made an urgent appeal to the public for one dead crab louse. He has had no luck so far, curator Kees Moeliker tells The Associated Press.

In his original appeal, published in the Dutch monthly "Nieuw (New) Rotterdam," Mr. Moeliker blames the destruction of lice habitat--by way of pubic hair removal--for the disappearance of Phthirus pubis, the crab louse. He and Dr. Armstrong, at the General Infirmary at Leeds, point to the Brazilian and other types of pubic hair removal procedures for the increasingly rare occurrence of crabs.

Mr. Moeliker kindly asks donors to send only dead specimens preserved in 70 percent alcohol along with the name, age, sex, location of the donor and the name of the collector, if different. He has repeatedly guaranteed anonymity of the donor.

Samples may be sent to:

Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam
c/o Kees Moeliker
Westzeedijk 345 (Musempark)
3015 AA Rotterdam
The Netherlands

(Not in the Netherlands? Please, check with your local and Dutch authorities about shipping dead lice samples across international borders.)

Not all may be lost if the museum is unable to hunt down a crab louse. It turns out gorillas gave pubic lice to humans although obtaining a sample from them may be harder. The genetic lineage of pubic lice was published in BMC Biology earlier this year.

But they were unable to answer this mind-boggling question: How did the gorilla give pubic lice, which often spreads via sexual contact, to humans?

Depressed Swedes Turn to Light Cafés

14 Dec 2006 @ 12:47 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Trendy light cafes in Sweden are selling artificial daylight by the hour.

As the dark days of winter descend on Scandinavia, Swedes are flocking to comfy cafés instead of hospitals for artificial light therapy. The trend has become a cultural phenomenon in a country where scarce daylight affects the mood of nearly one in five people.

Customers at Iglo Ljuscafé in Stockholm, featured by Agence France-Presse and Reuters, can soak up bright, but not blinding, artificial daylight for an hour while eating super healthy breakfast.

Scientific studies have shown that lack of exposure to light can seriously affect a human body.

Medical Diagnosis by Google?

20 Nov 2006 @ 16:55 GMT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Is Google a medical diagnostic tool? Is it helpful? Are doctors smart enough to know how to use Google? Or is there an alternative?

The Internet has become a marvelous addition to medical reference books. News of disease outbreaks as well as photographic examples and descriptions of symptoms can all be transmitted instantly around the world.

Search engines like Google have become gateways to a wealth of information. But how helpful is Google? Two Australian doctors say the California-based search engine helped them diagnose difficult cases correctly 58 percent of the time.

Search results, regardless of how relevant they are, cannot replace a trained physician who on average carry more than two million facts in their head, the authors say. Rapidly expanding medical knowledge makes instant access to new information necessary.

And Google can be an excellent tool to access such information. But others disagree. And it is not Isabel.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 16:55 | Permalink | Comments (1)
TAGGED: Google | Health | Internet

Indian Politicians Ignored Chikungunya

01 Nov 2006 @ 11:26 GMT | Permalink | Comments (13)

India has been overrun by chikungunya infections, while the government pays scant attention to the outbreak.

Since chikungunya appeared in India in January, the Union government has done very little to help its citizens. Instead it was embroiled in a bitter political dispute over the caste system and the reservation (affirmative action) program.

India has no clearinghouse for information about the debilitating infection and convalescence. It has also done nothing to dispel the fear and superstition among ordinary citizens. It has left front-line physicians in towns and cities to fend for themselves.

WHO estimates that the chikungunya outbreak has now topped 1.25 million suspected cases. In some districts, the attack rates are as high as 45 percent.

Based on feedback from our readers, we will point out the latest research, statistics, a surprising vector, RT-PCR turnaround time in Pune, the role of NSAIDs, the evolution of the African strain and more. Transmission and treatment are also discussed below.

(We'll go over new data related to pregnancy and chikungunya infection in a separate post this week since there are several batches of new data available.)

Who Poisoned Côte d'Ivoire With Toxic Waste?

12 Sep 2006 @ 17:27 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Newspaper Photo of Ivorians Receiving Medicine for Toxic Waste Poisoning.

Abidjan has been consumed by toxic waste that has made thousands sick and killed several people. (Photo: Courtesy of Le Matin d'Abidjan)

Residents of Côte d'Ivoire's commercial capital Abidjan have become victims of corrupt companies that picked this West Africa port to be the dust bin for their toxic waste.

Thousands have become sick. Several people, including children, have died. And the environment has become permanently damaged. Who is responsible for this reprehensible act? That's harder to trace.

At least half-dozen companies in three continents are involved in this mess.

It all starts with "Probo Koala," a Panamanian-registered oil tanker that is staffed by Russian crew members, managed by Prime Marine Management Inc. in Greece and time-chartered by Dutch-Swiss commodity trader Trafigura Beheer B.V.

Belgian Congo: Countdown to Election

26 Jul 2006 @ 15:24 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Junior Kabemba, an 11-year-old shegue from Kinshasa, wants to be president of the Congo.

Junior Kabemba, an 11-year-old shegue from Kinshasa, wants to be president of the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC]. Will he make it? His chance of success is low -- very low. (Photo: IRIN)

The Congo is a supposed to be one of the most beautiful and the richest countries in the world. It languished under the Belgian occupiers and a brutal, C.I.A.-backed dictator.

Today systems for the health care, education, criminal justice and social support are either non-existent or about to collapse. The international community has largely ignored the country's demise.

Few countries would want to get caught up in a Congolese quagmire. Accordingly no credible international peacekeeping troops are keeping the peace. And few governments are offering any help, as they watch the country crumble.

On July 30, it holds its first "election" in 45 years. No viable opposition has emerged. Many residents expect bribes just to cast a vote.

My choice for president is Junior Kabemba.

'Noah's Ark' for Seeds Launched

19 Jun 2006 @ 12:44 GMT | Permalink | Comments

In case of extinction, a "doomsday vault" for three million seeds will be built on Svalbard, a very cold island about 966 kilometres (604 miles) south of the North Pole. The seed vault will be guarded by polar bears.

Five Nordic prime ministers attended the ground-breaking ceremony today, three decades after the idea was born. Far from wars and not a terrorist favorite, the underground vault is supposed to preserve our crop diversity for hundreds of years.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 12:44 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chikungunya Infection and Pregnancy

22 May 2006 @ 23:34 GMT | Permalink | Comments (30)

Health authorities in La Réunion, off East Africa, have been urging women who are nine-month pregnant and show symptoms of chikungunya infection to be be hospitalized.

The time of greatest risk of chikungunya virus transmission from a mother to a fetus appears to be during birth, if the mother acquired the disease days before delivery and carries the virus, according to the Perinatal Network of Réunion. This network of physicians and researchers on the French island of La Réunion has published a wealth of data on chikungunya infection during pregnancy since the epidemic began in March 2005. Preliminary data showed that such a contamination is "rarely serious" and more than 90 percent of the infected newborns recovered quickly without sequelae.

Malaria: Get Your ACT Together

20 Apr 2006 @ 11:03 GMT | Permalink | Comments

A cure for malaria is about to become very cheap, thanks to a Berkeley professor and his team of researchers. But 10 years is not going to be any time soon when someone, most likely a child, dies of malaria infection every 30 seconds. The World Health Organization [WHO] and its Roll Back Malaria partnership set April 25 as the "
Africa Malaria Day" to raise funds for Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy [ACT] that is more expensive than older anti-malarials, such as chloroquine, sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine [SP] and amodiaquine. But some African countries are still refusing to use ACT due to its cost.

Malaria infects 300 million to 500 million people every year.
At least one million and as many as 2.7 million, most of children in Sub-Saharan Africa, die from it each year.
Plasmodium falciparum is the deadliest of four parasites that cause malaria.
Most anti-malarials have been derived from ancient medicinal plants, such as sweet wormwood (4th Century China) and cinchona tree (17th Century South America).
The estimated financial burden on Africa from malaria is about US$12 billion annually.
Donations may be made to the U.N. Foundation's Malaria Fund.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 11:03 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Most Wanted: Bird Flu Suspects

16 Mar 2006 @ 16:16 GMT | Permalink | Comments

The U.S. government has launched massive surveillance efforts using not just spy satellites but also state and federal scientists to begin culling and testing key suspects for the potentially deadly avian flu virus.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 16:16 | Permalink | Comments (0)

U.S. Military Has Chikungunya Vaccine

07 Mar 2006 @ 21:39 GMT | Permalink | Comments (16)

Aedes albopictus, better known as the nasty Asian tiger mosquito, is the primary suspect in the chikungunya outbreak in the southwestern Indian Ocean nations. (Photo: C.D.C.)

At its top secret medical facility, the U.S. military developed a safe and effective vaccine against the debilitating chikungunya [CHIK] virus, which infected 186,000 people, or 20 percent of Réunion's population, 15,000 km (9,350 miles) away from Fort Detrick, Maryland. After several successful trials, the vaccine against this "potential bioterrorist agent" is stuck somewhere in the U.S. for military personnel only and has yet to see the light of day.

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