Virus Scares!

At a glance:

• A new outbreak of the Ebola virus is believed to have killed at least 14 people in the last few weeks in Kibaale, Uganda, East Africa.
• Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (EHF) is the name of five known and incurable Ebola viruses. Symptoms of the Ebola virus include: fever, severe headache, chills, sore throat, weakness. Over time, the symptoms expand and become more severe including: nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, red eyes, raised rash, chest pain and cough, stomach pain, severe weight loss, and bleeding from the nose, mouth, rectum, eyes and ears. Read more (Mayo Clinic)
• A new seal flu could pose as much of a threat as H1N1, in time.
• Autopsies of five of the 163 harbor seals which died last year off the coast of New England indicated the remains harbored a new viral strain of influenza that could potentially affect other animals and humans.
• “Since it’s similar to the bird flu virus that has devastated U.S. avian populations, scientists suspect the seals may have caught the virus from birds. Once inside an affected seal, the virus then evolved to become the H3N8 flu. This new version of the strain has the ability to target a protein found in the human respiratory tract, say the researchers who published their report in the journal of the American Society for Microbiology.” Read more (Discovery News)

Viruses of any kind are a scary breed. If you get a computer virus, there’s risk of losing valuable information and files which may be on your computer, but if you get an infection virus, there’s risk of human capabilities, hospitalization, isolation and even death.

Recently, an Ebola virus outbreak has roared its gruesome head into the lives of the people living and visiting Uganda.

“The president of Uganda is calling on people in the East African country to avoid physical contact, including handshaking and kissing, to prevent the spread of the deadly and highly contagious Ebola virus that is believed to have killed 14 people in the last few weeks.

“The disease has no known cure or vaccine and some strains can kill up to 90 percent of victims within days. Ugandans are so fearful of the disease that residents in Kibaale province where the outbreak was reported said that people immediately fled the hospital after hearing patients with Ebola were there.

“In a nationally televised speech today, President Yoweri Museveni said health officials are working to contain the disease to the rural district where the outbreak was confirmed Saturday, but at least one of the suspected victims was taken to a hospital in the capital city of Kampala. Now, nearly two dozen medical workers at Mulago Hospital are being held in isolation.

“”We have asked people in the whole country to be careful and aware of those who present with symptoms. We have informed health facilities of the right way to respond,” said Dr. Anthony Mbonye at Uganda’s Ministry of Health.

Mbonye said no other patients at Mulago Hospital in Kampala are at risk, and he is optimistic the outbreak in the Kibaale district 125 miles west of the capital city can be contained soon.

“I have hope because since Friday we have not had any new suspected cases of Ebola,” he said.

“However, another health official from the affected district told the Associated Press up to six more patients suspected to have Ebola have been admitted to a hospital there and said people in other villages are reporting possible Ebola infections.

“Mbonye said people are frightened because many illnesses that are common in the region, such as malaria, have the same symptoms as Ebola. He said health officials have to balance the need to inform the public while not wanting to cause unnecessary panic. In Kibaale, schools are closed and social gatherings have been cancelled.

“Experts from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in Uganda to advise health officials responding to the outbreak.” Read more (Yahoo! News)

Furthermore, a new seal flu could pose threat to humans. “A new influenza strain found in New England harbor seals could potentially threaten people as well as wildlife, new research suggests.

“Scientists cautioned that viruses like the newly discovered seal flu must be monitored in order to predict new strains and prevent a pandemic flu emerging from animals. The report was published online July 31 in mBio.

“”There is a concern that we have a new mammalian-transmissible virus to which humans haven’t been exposed yet. It’s a combination we haven’t seen in disease before,” report editor Dr. Anne Moscona, professor of pediatrics and of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, said in a journal news release.

“Another expert agreed that the flu strain could someday pose a threat to people.

“”Infections that threaten wildlife and human lives remind us how our health is intermingled on this dynamic planet,” said Dr. Bruce Hirsch, attending physician in infectious diseases at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. He said that while transmission via direct contact between humans and harbor seals is unlikely, the virus could find other ways to get to people.

“”A dangerous virus infecting mammals increases the risk to us — not by direct infection — but by evolutionary development of even more riskier strains,” Hirsch explained. For example, he said, the strain might pass from seals to birds, expand its presence in the environment and mutate in ways that make it easily passed to or between humans.

“Scientists from several organizations, including Columbia University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, co-wrote the new report. They said that flu viruses found in mammals, such as the H1N1 “swine flu” that emerged in 2009, can put people’s health at risk. The new seal flu, they warned, presents a similar threat to humans.” Read more (Yahoo! News)

Sources:

“Ebola Outbreak Prompts Ugandans to Stop Kissing” (Yahoo! News)

“Ebola Virus and Maburg Virus” (Mayo Clinic)

“New Seal Flu Could Pose Threat to Humans” (Yahoo! News)

“Next Scare: Seal Flu?” (Discovery News)

Is the Chagas Disease Really Like HIV/AIDS?

As many know, the media doesn’t have a very good rap for providing through information for an informed reader. Luckily, we here with NewsFeed of Today try to make sure we are well-informed and get our point across.

Just today, Yahoo! News posted an article “Chagas: Is a tropical disease really the new ‘AIDS?'” and as per the usual with Yahoo! News, their information isn’t necessarily the greatest and appears to be designed to create a wide-set panic. The article claims, “There are a number of striking similarities between people living with Chagas disease and people living with HIV/AIDS,” the authors [of an editorial, published by the Public Library of Science’s Neglected Tropical Diseases] wrote, “particularly for those with HIV/AIDS who contracted the disease in the first two decades of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”

Yahoo! News also claims that “Both diseases disproportionately affect people living in poverty, both are chronic conditions requiring prolonged, expensive treatment, and as with patients in the first two decades of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, “most patients with Chagas disease do not have access to health care facilities.””

ALl of the information provided is shocking and not entirely correct.

According to U.S. National Library of Medicine – The World’s Largest Medical Library, “Chagas disease is an illness spread by insects. It is common in South and Central America. It is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi [the Kissing bug], a parasite related to the African trypanosome that causes sleeping sickness. It is spread by reduvid bugs and is one of the major health problems in South America. Due to immigration, the disease also affects people in the United States.”

“The risk factors include: living in a hut where reduvid bugs live in the walls, living in Central or South America, poverty, and receiving a blood transfusion from a person who carries the parasite but does not have active Chagas disease.”

“The symptoms of the acute phase include: fever, general ill feeling (malaise), swelling of one eye, swollen red area at site of insect bite. After the acute phase, the disease goes into remission. No other symptoms may appear for many years. When symptoms finally develop, they may include: constipation, digestive problems, pain in the abdomen, swallowing difficulties.”

However, as many people know, these various symptoms can occur for many different reasons and if they don’t clear up within a reasonable amount of time, then an individual should make haste to see a doctor. Call for an appointment with your health care provider if you think you may be infected with Chagas disease.

If you believe you have Chagas, “a physical examination can confirm the symptoms and the signs may include: Cardiomyopathy, enlarged liver and spleen, Enlarged lymph nodes, irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), rapid heartbeat (tachycardia). Tests include: Blood culture, Chest x-ray, Echocardiogram, electrocardiogram (ECG), enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA), and Peripheral blood smear.”

Finally, there are two drugs which are used to treat Chagas, benznidazole and nifurtimox, and treatment is recommended no matter which stage a patient is in.

As with most insect related diseases, there are certain precautionary measures which may assist in the control of the spread of the disease, such as “insect control with insecticides and houses that are less likely to have high insect populations.” It should also be noted that, “blood banks in Central and South America screen donors for exposure to the parasite. The blood is discarded if the donor tests positive. Most blood banks in the United States began screening for Chagas disease in 2007.”

Now Yahoo! News claims there are similarities between people living with Chagas disease and people living with HIV/AIDS. That’s possible, but there are distinctions between Chagas and HIV/AIDS because Chagas does not affect the immune system, and it is only transmitted by blood or mother to child – human to human. Instead of HIV/AIDS, it is actually quite similar to Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus or Malaria, which are transmitted by insects and can be life threatening.  “While HIV/AIDS attacks the body’s immune system, Chagas afflicts the heart and digestive organs.”

To conclude, if you are experiencing any health issues, it is probably best that you contact a doctor and set up an appointment for them to take a look at you. Unless you believe your symptoms require more urgency, then it is probably best that you immediately get to a local hospital/doctor. While the media industry tries its hardest to get relevant news to its readers/viewers, perhaps some media outlets should allow their viewers to make an informed decision, but this is just our opinion.

Sources:

“Chagas: Is a tropical disease really the new ‘AIDS?'” (Yahoo!)

Chagas Disease (U.S. National Library of Medicine)

U.S. National Library of Medicine – The World’s Largest Medical Library

“Chagas Disease; Tropical Insect-Borne Illness May Be ‘New HIV/AIDS of Americas'” (The Huffington Post)