BREAKING UPDATE: Officials take back report of MERS spread in US
"MERS not considered pandemic threat" Associated Press May 15, 2014
LONDON — The spread of a puzzling respiratory virus in the Middle East and beyond is not a global health emergency despite a recent spike in cases, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
The decision was made after a meeting of WHO’s expert group on the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS.
Since 2012, MERS has sickened more than 500 people and killed 145, mostly in the Middle East. The majority of cases have been in Saudi Arabia, although the disease has spread within the region and to Asia, North Africa, Europe, and the United States.
Two employees of a Florida hospital tested negative days after coming into contact with a Saudi resident infected with the second confirmed US case.
Scientists suspect the disease is linked to camels. WHO recommends that people avoid contact with the animals, skip drinking camel milk, and only eat well-cooked camel meat.
I'm not eating or drinking either. At least, I don't think I am.
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Related: Dana-Farber researcher blocks MERS virus in experiment
Who is getting the vaccine contract?
"Logan travelers warned about MERS virus; Patient flew through Mass." by Deborah Kotz | Globe Staff May 12, 2014
A man who flew through Boston’s Logan International Airport earlier this month has come down with the second US case of a new and deadly respiratory virus first seen in Saudi Arabia, and health officials are contacting at least 80 Massachusetts residents who were on the same flights.
Federal health officials reported Monday that the man diagnosed with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome had flown on May 1 from the Saudi city of Jeddah through London, Boston, and Atlanta en route to Florida.
Public health officials emphasized that the chances of the virus spreading to other travelers on the plane were slim and that they were notifying passengers as a precaution.
“We haven’t seen cases yet where the virus has spread among passengers on a plane,” said Dr. Larry Madoff, director of epidemiology and immunization at the state Department of Public Health. “Usually there has to be close contact, like family members or doctors providing treatment to infected individuals” for the virus to spread.
Or sucking a camel's cock.
“We’re actively investigating all of the passengers from Massachusetts on all the flights he was on,” Madoff added. “We are also working to investigate people who might have been exposed to him in the airport.”
The patient, a health care worker from Saudi Arabia who may have treated patients infected with MERS before traveling — reported feeling unwell during his flight from Jeddah to London and continued to feel ill on subsequent flights, with symptoms that included fever, chills, and a slight cough, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. On May 9, he was admitted to a Florida hospital, where he is doing well.
A relatively new form of coronavirus, MERS was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. So far, there have been 538 confirmed cases of MERS in 14 countries, including the two cases reported in the United States over the past several days. Most of these people developed severe acute respiratory illness, with fever, cough, and shortness of breath, and 145 people have died.
CDC officials do not know where the virus came from or exactly how it spreads. “The risk to the US general public from MERS still remains very low,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases, said in a statement. The agency is not recommending that Americans alter their travel plans to the Arabian Peninsula, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, where MERS cases have originated.
“I think the CDC is positioning it right,” said Dr. Wayne Marasco, an infectious disease physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who is working on developing a treatment for MERS. “At this point, there’s no cause for alarm.”
I'm alarmed!
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Seems like we have been here before.
"MERS virus spread from human to human in US" Associated Press May 19, 2014
NEW YORK — Health officials have reported what appears to be the first time that a mysterious Middle East virus has spread from one person to another in the United States.
An Illinois man probably picked up an infection from an Indiana man who earlier this month became the first US case of Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. The Illinois man, however, did not need medical treatment and is reported to be feeling well, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday.
The two men met twice before the Indiana man fell ill and was hospitalized in Munster, Ind., shortly after traveling from Saudi Arabia, where he lived and was employed as a health care worker.
Health officials say they think the virus spread during a 40-minute business meeting that involved no more contact than a handshake.
Contagion!
‘‘We don’t think this changes the risk to the general public,’’ which remains low, said Dr. David Swerdlow of the CDC.
No?
The new report also is not considered evidence that the virus is spreading more easily among people than previously thought, he said. The virus is not considered to be highly contagious, and health officials believe it only spreads from person to person with close contact. Many of those who have gotten sick in the Middle East have been family members or health care workers caring for a MERS patient.
Time to do away with handshakes.
The CDC said tests completed Friday provided evidence that the Illinois man had an infection at some point.
Since the first man’s diagnosis, health officials have been monitoring and testing anyone who was in close contact with him, including health care workers and household members, but none of the rest of them has tested positive for the virus.
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Btw, the camel bit sounds as silly as a monkey bite:
"CDC backs daily pill to help prevent AIDS infection" by Donald G. McNeil Jr. | New York Times May 15, 2014
NEW YORK — Federal health officials recommended Wednesday that hundreds of thousands of Americans at risk for AIDS take a daily pill that has been shown to prevent infection with the virus that causes it.
Which pharmaceutical is getting the contract?
If broadly followed, the advice could transform AIDS prevention in the United States — from reliance on condoms, which are effective, but unpopular with many men — to a regimen that relies on an antiretroviral drug.
It would mean a fiftyfold increase in the number of prescriptions for the drug, Truvada — to 500,000 a year from fewer than 10,000. The drug costs $13,000 a year, and most insurers already cover it.
The guidelines tell doctors to consider the drug regimen, called PrEP, for pre-exposure prophylaxis, for gay men who have sex without condoms; heterosexuals with high-risk partners, such as drug injectors or male bisexuals who have unprotected sex; patients who regularly have sex with anyone they know is infected; and anyone who shares needles or injects drugs.
Another social and economic cost to heroin use.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have long been frustrated that the number of HIV infections in the United States has barely changed in a decade, stubbornly holding at 50,000 a year, despite 30 years of official advice to rely on condoms to block transmission.
Although there is no guarantee that gay men will adopt PrEP, federal officials say something must be done because condom use is going down. In a recent CDC survey, the number of gay men admitting to recent, unprotected sex rose nearly 20 percent from 2005 to 2011.
Nevertheless, advocates for PrEP were elated at Wednesday’s announcement.
“This is wonderful,” said Damon L. Jacobs, a therapist who has been on the regimen since 2011 and runs a Facebook page promoting it. “When an institution like the CDC makes a statement, it makes a profound difference to the doctors who are ambivalent.”
You also get a pot prescription?
Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC’s national center for AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, said the new guidelines should save many lives.
I'm all for that!
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While many drugs could, in theory, be used for PrEP, the only pill approved for that purpose by the Food and Drug Administration is Truvada, made by Gilead Sciences.
Truvada, a mix of tenofovir and emtricitabine, is considered relatively safe, with few side effects.
What are they? I hope it's not diarrhea.
Generic versions are made in India, and the drug has become the backbone of AIDS treatment in poor countries. Common side effects include headache, stomach pain, and weight loss. Rare but serious side effects include liver and kidney damage.
Since 2010, three studies of Truvada have shown that, when taken daily, it can vastly reduce the chances of infection. That held true for gay men, heterosexual couples, and drug injectors....
$$$$$$$$$$$$
The new guidelines say patients should have an HIV test before starting the regimen to make sure they are not already infected. Patients should be retested every three months to be sure they are still HIV-negative, are not developing side effects, and have not caught any other sexually transmitted diseases.
While many AIDS specialists endorse PrEP, it has not caught on among doctors....
Also, PrEP has not caught on among gay men, who are by far the largest risk group....
Anybody check the CDC lately?
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Also see: Many health woes common in autistic adults: Study
I already took my shots at that conspiracy.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Two new deaths from the Ebola disease were revealed Monday by health authorities in Guinea and Sierra Leone, raising fears that the first outbreak in West Africa is not yet under control. The new fatalities are far from where the outbreak began."
Honestly, I was surprised to see it after so long. Global depopulation and genocide campaign must be starting up again.
