USACHPPM
HEALTH
INFORMATION OPERATIONS (HIO) UPDATE
22
November 2002
The HIO Update provides information regarding global
medical and veterinary issues of interest to the United States (US) Army. The
update does not attempt to analyze the information regarding potential strategic
or tactical impact to the US Army and as such, should not be regarded as a medical
intelligence product. Medical intelligence products are available at http://mic.afmic.detrick.army.mil/.
The information in the HIO Update should provide an increased awareness of current
and emerging health-related issues.
HOT ISSUES... 2
A Controlled Trial of a Human Papillomavirus
Type 16 Vaccine. 2
Blood Test May Identify Ovarian Cancer 2
CDC Data Shows Resistance to Cipro. 2
Experts Weigh Smallpox Threat 3
Hostility May Predict Heart Disease
Best 3
Mom's PCB Exposure May Affect Kid's
Mental Health. 3
New Drug Might Fight Anthrax. 3
Protein Test is Called Best Gauge
of Heart Disease Risk. 4
Scientists to Report On Malaria Research. 4
Tiny Water-Borne Bugs Could Be Allergen. 4
USEUCOM..... 5
Birds Bear Brunt of Tanker Spill
Off Spanish Coast 5
Cholera in Democratic Republic of
the Congo. 5
Fasciola hepatica Prevalence Increase
in Ireland. 5
Madagascar – Influenza. 5
Women Prescribed More, Cheaper Meds:
German Study. 6
USCENTCOM..... 6
An Atomic-powered Plan to End Sleeping
Sickness. 6
Turkey Denies That Iraq Requested
Atropine. 6
USNORTHCOM..... 6
California Dairy Herd Slaughtered
After TB Outbreak. 6
Cities Wage Dengue Battle on U.S.-Mexico
Border 7
Community Acquired Staphylococcus
aureus in Texas. 7
Death Rates Higher at For-Profit
Dialysis Centers. 7
FDA Issues Warning on Injected Drugs. 7
FDA, Pharmacia Update Bextra Label
with New Warnings. 8
GAO: Military Hospitals Losing Money. 8
Hepatitis Outbreak Traced to Clinic. 8
Herpes Feared in 7 Horse Deaths. 9
Suit Seeks to Block Burning of Chemical
Arms. 9
US Developing Biological Early Warning
System.. 9
U.S. Tightens Meat Plant Scrutiny. 9
Vets Not Eligible for Lifetime Care. 10
USPACOM..... 10
Flu Vaccination Linked to Muscle-wasting
Disease. 10
Taiwan Military Called in to Battle
Dengue Fever 10
USSOUTHCOM..... 11
Argentina Renews Malnutrition Fight 11
Ecuador – Government of Japan Press
Release. 11
21 November - The New England Journal
of Medicine published a study concerning a vaccine that reduces the incidence
of HPV-16 infection and may provide important public health benefits. In this
double-blind study, 2392 young women received three doses of placebo or HPV-16
virus-like–particle vaccine. The incidence of persistent HPV-16 infection was
3.8 per 100 woman-years at risk in the placebo group and 0 per 100 woman-years
at risk in the vaccine group (P<0.001). All nine cases of HPV-16–related
cervical intraepithelial neoplasia occurred among the placebo recipients. Administration
of this HPV-16 vaccine reduced the incidence of both HPV-16 infection and HPV-16–related
cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Immunizing HPV-16–negative women may eventually
reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. View
Article
19 November - Reuters Health reported genetic imbalances
in DNA found in blood samples may one day help identify women with early-stage
ovarian cancer, the results of a preliminary study suggest. Although the findings
need to be confirmed, testing for these abnormalities may make it possible to
identify patients who would benefit from treatment, according to the report
published in the November 20th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The technique is called digital SNP analysis. SNPs, or single-nucleotide polymorphisms,
are variations in the genetic material DNA. Digital SNP analysis allows researchers
to count one-by-one the number of alleles--copies of individual genes--to detect
imbalances caused when portions of chromosomes are lost. SOURCE: Journal of
the National Cancer Institute 2002: 94:1697-1703. View
Article
19 November – The Las Vegas Sun reported research by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that a common bacterium
blamed for food poisoning has a growing resistance to a drug used to combat
the bug. The reason, scientists say, is the use of similar drugs to fight the
bacteria in poultry. A new study shows that Campylobacteria now has a
19 percent resistance to Cipro, compared with 0 percent in 1990, CDC epidemiologist
Robert Tauxe said Tuesday. The CDC data bolster the FDA's case that continued
use of Bayer's Cipro-like fluoroquinolone antibiotic, Baytril, in poultry flocks
is undercutting Cipro's effectiveness against food poisoning. Cipro also is
used to combat anthrax and complications associated with smallpox, which have
not displayed a similar growing resistance to the drug. View
Article
View
CDC Table
18 November - Reuters reported an American scientist
told a biosecurity conference that Iraq may have developed smallpox as a biological
weapon, leaving the United States with a tricky decision about whether to vaccinate
part of its population against the threat. The conference brought together emergency
responders, police, military personnel, scientists, public health officials
and local government leaders to discuss the threat posed by "biological
terrorism" and ways to combat it. Ronald Atlas, president of the American
Society for Microbiology said he feared Iraq might also have experimented with
genetically engineering smallpox to provide an even more deadly agent that could
not be killed by the existing vaccine. "The fear is that if you put interleuken-4
into human smallpox, you would create a virus that circumvents the vaccine,”
Atlas said. Iraq is known to have experimented with camel pox in the 1980s,
leading some Western experts to suspect it was trying to adapt yet another variant
of the disease for use against humans. View
Article
17 November - Reuters reported a personality test might
do a better job than standard examinations in predicting a man's heart disease
risk, researchers said on Sunday after finding a close link between hostility
and heart symptoms. Men who suffered heart attacks, chest pain or other incidents
of heart disease were much more likely to have scored high in hostility on a
personality exam. High blood pressure, total cholesterol levels, fasting insulin,
measurements of being overweight and even smoking did not predict a man's risk
of heart disease in the three years the study lasted. But hostility, as measured
by a standard personality test, also predicted who would develop heart disease
symptoms. View
Article
15 November - Reuters Health reported children born
to women exposed to high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) appear to
have slightly lower IQs and more behavioral and emotional problems than kids
whose mothers were not exposed to large amounts of the pollutant, a new study
from Taiwan has found. The findings are part of an ongoing study of children
born to mothers who suffered accidental PCB poisoning in 1978 and 1979. Children
born to exposed mothers scored 3 points lower than control children on an IQ
test, 3 points higher on a test that identified behavior and emotional problems
and 6 points higher on another test evaluating behavioral and emotional problems,
the authors report. "We found that children born to mothers who were PCB-poisoned
in (1978-1979) continued to have mild but statistically significant effects
on their behavior when tested in 1992 to 1995, when the children were up to
17 years old," Lai and colleagues write. SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry
2002;59:1061-1066. View
Article
18 November – Health Scout News reported a drug developed
at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Science Center may block the
development of lethal toxins produced by infectious bacteria such as anthrax,
says a study in the December issue of Infection and Immunity. The drug,
called D6R, is a potent, stable small molecule that blocks the action of an
enzyme called furin. In anthrax, the lethal factor toxin has to bind to another
part of the anthrax toxin, called the PA molecule, before the lethal factor
toxin can enter and kill a healthy cell. Before that binding can happen, the
PA molecule has to be made smaller. Furin cuts the PA molecule and makes it
small enough to bind with the lethal factor toxin. Without a cut PA molecule,
the lethal factor toxin can't bind and enter and kill a cell. Future research
will test the effectiveness of D6R against anthrax toxin in cells, rats and
mice. View
Article
14 November – The Boston Globe reported Boston researchers
have found that testing for a protein produced when arteries are inflamed is
a more reliable way of predicting a person's chance of having a heart attack
or stroke than measuring cholesterol levels. Doctors said the simple, inexpensive
blood test could provide an early warning to millions of Americans who think
their heart disease risk is low because they don't have elevated cholesterol
levels. In fact, about half of the 1.5 million heart attacks each year strike
people with low to normal cholesterol. Researchers found that in women with
low cholesterol counts, high levels of C-reactive protein nearly doubled the
risk of heart disease. Those people were at higher risk than people with the
opposite combination - high cholesterol levels but low C-reactive protein -
even though people with high cholesterol are the ones most likely to worry about
their cardiac health. The American Heart Association plans to discuss the findings
at a special session at its annual meeting, and will take them into account
when it issues revised heart screening guidelines together with the federal
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sometime in the next few months.
View
Article
19 November – AllAfrica.com reported researchers gathering
in Arusha, Tanzania, for the world's largest malaria conference say they are
making progress towards an effective vaccine for the disease. So far no effective
vaccine exists to prevent the disease, and treating malaria has become increasingly
difficult as the parasite responsible for the disease rapidly develops resistance
to drugs. Today scientists at the Arusha conference will report on promising
vaccine research at several African test sites. The Multinational Initiative
on Malaria, a coalition of research institutes and public health agencies, said
that vaccine research and development was advancing rapidly. One of the most
promising vaccines is "RTS, S/AS02A", developed by GlaxoSmithKline
Biologicals. Scientists from the US Army Medical Research Unit are expected
to report that clinical trials in Kenya of its vaccine candidate "MSP-1"
show it is safe for adults. Two other vaccines tested in Gambia using a "prime-boost"
technique have also shown encouraging results. View
Article
18 November - Reuters reported microscopic aquatic animals
known as copepods, one of the most widespread and abundant life forms on Earth,
could be a source of gastrointestinal and other allergies, researchers report.
In fact, nearly half of patients already allergic to other substances also tested
positive to proteins extracted from a species of copepod, according to Dr. Steve
Kagen of the Kagen Allergy Clinic in Appleton, Wisconsin. Kagen's team is currently
investigating the prevalence of copepod allergy in patients with inflammatory
bowel disease, and so far every one of the Crohn's patients in his practice
have tested positive for copepod allergy. View
Article
19 November - Reuters reported on the
spill of 5,000 barrels of fuel oil from the Bahamas-flagged tanker, Prestige,
holed during a violent storm off the northwestern Spanish coast last week, where
oil-soaked birds are the most visible victims. The spill has hit a corner of
Spain with an especially rich wildlife. Lagoons in Galicia are an important
habitat for migrating birds and the rocky coastline teems with gannets, cormorants
and guillemots. Scores of birds have been found covered in fuel oil, an unknown
number have died and many more have been spattered with the oil but are still
capable of flying. So far, 92 oil-soaked birds have been brought to the sanctuary
near La Coruna, including razorbills, gannets, guillemots and cormorants. The
birds have been found by the Galician government's patrols or by members of
the public. View
Article
15 November – CSR
reported as of 20 October 2002, the Ministry of Health, Democratic Republic
of the Congo has reported 394 cases of cholera including 41 deaths (CFR: 10.4%)
in Kasai Oriental. The most affected areas are the city of Mbuji-Mayi and the
Miabi, Tshilenge, and Katende, health districts. The El Tor strain of Vibrio
cholerae has been laboratory confirmed. View Article
17 November – ProMed reported high levels of liver fluke
in all livestock have been detected in every part of Ireland this winter, with
the exception of the Waterford-Wexford area. Gerry Scully, chief sheep advisor
with Teagasc, said that meat factories are reporting a liver infection rate
of 10 per cent above normal in slaughtered sheep at present. In western counties,
up to 70 per cent of lamb livers are being discarded by meat factories. "There
are also reports from veterinary laboratories of sudden deaths in lambs and
adult sheep from fluke. This is due to large numbers, often thousands, of the
fluke parasite passing through the liver substance," he said. The weather
during last winter, spring and throughout the summer was ideal for the spread
of liver fluke. This has led to the high infection levels. View
Article
14 November – The CDC
Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) reported a large influenza outbreak
in southeastern Madagascar during July and August with thousands of respiratory
illnesses and hundreds of deaths reported. The most affected were those living
in remote highland villages. Nearly all deaths occurred far from healthcare
facilities. An investigation by a team from the World Health Organization and
CDC concluded that the outbreak was attributed to influenza A (H3N2) viruses.
The influenza virus strain associated with this outbreak is similar to strains
that have been circulating worldwide for several years. This season’s 2002-03
U.S. influenza vaccine includes a similar strain to the one that caused this
outbreak. View
Article
18 November - Reuters reported women
in Germany are prescribed more medication than men and often receive older or
cheaper brands, more controversial drugs and combination therapies, according
to a controversial report by a health insurance company. The German Employees'
Health Insurer (DAK) study shows that a prescription written for a woman is
on average 15% cheaper than that given to a man with the same complaint. DAK
spokesman Ruediger Scharf told Reuters Health that women are 30% more likely
to be prescribed a controversial drug than men with the same problem. “They
are also over-prescribed," he said. The study was compiled from the DAK's
own records of what it funds, as well as information from doctors under contract
to the insurer and pharmacies fulfilling the prescriptions written. View
Article
12 November – The Boston Globe reported UN scientists
are about to embark on a hugely expensive, high-risk plan to obliterate sleeping
sickness disease by wiping out the fly that carries it. They want to cause a
crash in the continent's tsetse fly population by spraying the bush with billions
of sterilized male flies. Many biologists think the idea is ill-advised. The
only successful trial of the project cost an estimated $500 per dead fly. But
the United Nations is backing it, along with many African governments. Ethiopia
wants to become the first country out of the 40 targeted in the IAEA's plan
to eradicate the tsetse fly using sterile insects. Construction began this summer
on the continent's largest insect-rearing center, south of Addis Ababa. Weekly
flights across Ethiopia's Rift Valley, a hotbed of the disease, could begin
as early as this winter and continue for at least two years. View
Article
14 November – Arabic News reported the Turkish health
ministry secretary Safar Eidjan has denied news reports that Iraq had asked
one of the Turkish companies to provide it with large amounts of Atropine, an
immunizing agent for certain chemical gases that has the potential of being
used for military purpose. In a press conference he held with the director general
of the medicine and pharmacy, Orhan Jakmak, and the director general of the
Turkish medical treatment services, Tahsin Adjar, Eidjan stressed that these
news are baseless. He continued that the two said establishments did not receive
a request from the Iraqi government to buy Atropine, nor they had exported any
of this material. View
Article
USNORTHCOM
17 November – ProMed reported a dairy farmer has been
paid by the federal government to slaughter his herd of 6400 cows after an outbreak
of bovine tuberculosis (TB). The herd was euthanized to protect the state's
status of being free of bovine TB. "If you didn't depopulate, the whole
state would lose its whole TB-free status, and that would have an impact,"
said Larry Hawkins, a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) spokesman. View
Article
17 November – Reuters reported officials on the U.S.-Mexico
border on Sunday stepped up efforts to contain a dengue outbreak in the Mexican
city of Matamoros after health authorities confirmed 24 cases and suspected
another 222. Matamoros Public Health Director Ernesto Chanes said six of the
suspected cases of dengue were the potentially lethal hemorrhagic dengue strain.
Matamoros city workers are spraying neighborhoods where dengue cases have been
confirmed and soldiers are patrolling streets looking for stagnant pools of
water to contain the outbreak and stop it from spreading to the U.S. city of
Brownsville, Texas, across the Rio Grande from Matamoros. Brownsville health
director Josue Ramirez said the city was testing mosquitoes on a daily basis
to monitor the disease and also spraying to kill mosquitoes and larvae. To date,
there have been no confirmed cases in Texas. View
Article
15 November – ProMED reported since the beginning of the 2002--2003 school
year, there have been about 50 cases of MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus
aureus) infection among the students in Pasadena, Texas' independent school
district. This bacterial infection was discovered about 2 weeks into the school
year. Officials believe the infection may have started with some of the team
sports, like the football team. The Harris County Health Department is sending
out a questionnaire to parents around the school district and countywide to
try to get an idea how widespread this problem is.
View
Article
19 November – Health Scout News reported a new study
has found that Americans who have dialysis done at private, for-profit centers
face an 8 percent higher risk of death than those who seek the treatment at
private, non-profit clinics. The research also suggests that switching
kidney patients to the non-profit dialysis centers could prevent 2,500 deaths
a year, and possibly many more. For-profit dialysis units typically have smaller
staffs with less well-trained nurses and technicians than their non-profit alternatives.
Patients also generally attend for-profit clinics for shorter periods, which
has been associated with higher mortality rates. This study is especially relevant
to those who receive Medicare benefits as the government insurance program had
approved more than 67,000 dialysis facilities as of last year, of which roughly
75 percent were for-profit. SOURCE: Nov. 20, 2002, Journal of the American
Medical Association. View Article
17 November – ProMed reported The Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) issued a nationwide alert warning health workers that injectable antibiotics,
pain medications and hormones made by Urgent Care Pharmacy of Spartanburg, SC,
may be dangerous. Urgent Care recalled one of its injectable drugs, the synthetic
corticosteroid methylprednisolone, in September 2002 after it was linked to
4 cases of meningitis caused by a rare fungus Wangiella dematitidis.
The FDA said its inspections found the Spartanburg pharmacy ill-equipped to
ensure sterility in any of the injected drugs it makes, and Urgent Care wasn't
properly testing the drugs for sterility before shipping them to pain clinics
and other customers. Urgent Care refused to recall any other drugs, the FDA
said. So the government told health workers to avoid using any of the following
injected drugs made by Urgent Care: baclofen, betamethasone, Bimix 30:1, clonidine,
estradiol, hydromorphone, fentanyl, morphine, papaverine, Super Trimix, mesylate/prostaglandin,
and testosterone. View
Article View FDA
Report
15 November – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
reported the FDA and Pharmacia are advising health care professionals about
new warnings and information in the product labeling of the drug Bextra (valdecoxib).
The labeling is being updated with new warnings following post marketing reports
of serious adverse effects including life-threatening risks related to skin
reactions including Stevens Johnson Syndrome, and anaphylactoid reactions. In
addition, the labeling will state that the drug is contraindicated in patients
allergic to sulfa containing products. People who
start Bextra and experience a rash should discontinue the drug immediately.
Health care professionals are encouraged to report any unexpected adverse
or serious events associated with the use of Bextra directly to Pharmacia Corporation,
Peapack, N.J. at 1-800-323-4204 or to the FDA MedWatch program at 1-800-FDA-1088.
The Medwatch form is available online at http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety/3500.pdf
View Article
19 November – The Las Vegas Sun reported the prospect
of hundreds of people using Social Security numbers of dead people to obtain
free medical care was disclosed Tuesday in a General Accounting Office review
that turned up faulty record keeping at military hospitals in Georgia, Virginia
and Texas. Investigators checking patient records at one military hospital discovered
that the Social Security Administration had listed 41 of their patients as dead
the year before they were treated at the hospital. The Social Security numbers
of another 225 patients at the same hospital also turned up in the death records,
but with different names or birth dates. Congressional investigators said those
could have resulted from simple clerical errors or from individuals "fraudulently
using a deceased person's identification to receive prescriptions and treatment
at no cost." The GAO said the hospitals also are losing millions of dollars
by not pursuing insurance payments for patients who have such coverage but also
are entitled to free military medical care. And investigators uncovered potentially
fraudulent uses of government credit cards at the hospitals and inadequate records
of prescription drug inventories and usage. View
Article
View
Related Article View GAO Report
19 November – CNN
reported at least 81 people treated at a Nebraska cancer clinic
have tested positive for hepatitis C in an outbreak that may have been caused
by a contaminated vial of medicine, health officials said Tuesday. Dr. Tom Safranek,
the state epidemiologist, said poor medical practices at Dr. Tahir Javed's clinic
in Fremont might be to blame. The patients, who were suffering from cancer or
blood disorders, were treated at the clinic in 2000 and 2001. Just before it
shut down last month, the clinic advised 612 patients to get tested and nearly
500 did. It is possible that a clinic worker used a syringe to administer medicine
to a patient who had hepatitis C, then drew more medicine from the same vial
for the patient with the same syringe, Safranek said. Medical charts are being
examined, and state health officials are questioning current and past employees
of the clinic. Health officials are confident no other patients
have to be contacted because of changes made at the clinic in 2001, Safranek
said, declining to elaborate. View
Article
17 November – ProMed reported seven standard bred horses
are dead and 220 more in this region are being treated in a suspected outbreak
of the equine herpes virus following a sale in London, Ontario. Five of the
dead horses, purchased for harness racing, were sold at the Forest City Yearling
Sale in London 3 weeks ago. The other 2 were in contact with the ill horses.
Stan Henderson, a veterinarian at the Ilderton Equine Clinic reported that this
is an especially serious form of the virus. In an effort to determine the source
of the disease he is trying to track down most of these horses that have been
sold. View
Article
19 November –The New York Times reported an alliance
of environmental and civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit in a last-ditch
effort to block the Army from burning tons of chemical weapons in a populated
area. The suit demands that the Army complete more environmental studies before
proceeding with its plan to incinerate thousands of old shells containing nerve
gas, mustard gas and other deadly agents at the Anniston Army Depot. The lawsuit
contends that the plan should be halted so scientists can consider recently
discovered, less risky alternatives. The Army plans to begin destroying the
weapons early next year. To stop the project, one of the issues the alliance
must prove is that the weapons disposal poses an "imminent danger"
to the community. The Army, which houses 9 percent of the nation's chemical
weapon stockpile at the Anniston Army Depot, says that its process of burning
chemical weapons at 2,700 degrees is completely safe and that no fumes that
could hurt the public will be released. View
Article
20 November – Reuters Health reported the US military,
backed by civilian health authorities, is developing and beginning to deploy
an early warning system for possible biological attacks, a conference on defending
against biological warfare heard on Tuesday. The technique, known as "syndromic
surveillance," incorporates data from hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, schools
and even veterinarians into a single source to detect whether there has been
a surge in any infectious disease. Such early information could be crucial because
many biological agents are difficult to detect even by experienced doctors.
Early symptoms of plague, smallpox or anthrax often look similar to those of
the common flu. Syndromic surveillance does not seek to recognize whether a
specific biological attack has occurred. It merely tips off the authorities
about statistical abnormalities that might indicate an attack and need to be
examined. View
Article
18 November – Newsday reported
the government is tightening scrutiny of companies that process beef, pork and
poultry for deli meats and hot dogs but don't test countertops, equipment and
other parts of their plants for Listeria. The Agriculture Department
issued a directive to its inspectors ordering increased oversight for companies
that don't have testing programs of their own or who keep the results of such
tests to themselves. Until now, the government has required meat processors
to test their products for presence of the pathogen but not their plants and
equipment. Previously, those plants that conducted such environmental testing
did not have to share the results with federal inspectors. View
Article
19 November – The Las Vegas Sun reported a federal
appeals court reluctantly agreed with the government that military recruiters
had no legal authority to promise World War II and Korean War veterans that
they would get free lifetime health care if they stayed in the service 20 years.
Although the government conceded military recruiters made the promises,
the Defense Department convinced the court there was no valid contract because
law did not back up the assurances. What are at stake in this case are the costs,
estimated by Justice Department officials as billions of dollars, paid by older
veterans between 1995 and 2001 when the Pentagon issued regulations providing
free coverage by civilian doctors only for veterans under age 65. The majority
opinion notes that the older veterans still could get free medical treatment
at military bases when space was available. But hospital space was scarce due
to military downsizing, leading many veterans over 65 to purchase Medicare Part
B or costly private insurance coverage to ensure access to care. The law at
most allowed these veterans space-available treatment, not free health insurance
for life, the majority opinion says. The Pentagon, the decision concludes, "lacked
the authority ... to promise free and full medical care" because these
benefits cannot be subject to a contract, implied or otherwise. Congress recently
enacted legislation providing free health care for all of these older veterans
beginning in 2002. View
Article
18 November – The Japan Times reported five people in
Japan suffered Guillain-Barre syndrome -- a disorder of progressive muscle weakness
-- after receiving influenza vaccinations between January 2000 and April 2002,
health ministry officials said Sunday. The officials said the Health, Labor
and Welfare Ministry ordered the pharmaceutical companies that make the vaccines
to state clearly that the disease is a possible adverse effect of the products.
View
Article
19 November - Reuters Health reported the Taiwan government
will call in the military to help deal with an epidemic of dengue fever that
is the island nation's worst since World War II, public health officials said.
As of Monday, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has reported 4,464 confirmed
cases of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral disease. Among them, there were
121 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever, a potentially fatal complication, and
13 deaths. About 98% of confirmed cases
this year were reported from three jurisdictions in southern Taiwan, according
to the CDC. To further monitor the spread of the disease, CDC officials convened
an emergency meeting in southern Taiwan on Monday, raising the alarm levels
in Pingtung County, whose population is about 900,000. View
Article
20 November – CNN reported President Eduardo Duhalde
on Tuesday launched a nationwide campaign to combat rising infant malnutrition,
days after reports that at least eight children died of hunger in an impoverished
northern province. A report by the Center for Infant Nutrition
Studies in Argentina suggested 20 percent of Venezuelan children are malnourished.
Called "Operation Rescue,"
the medical and food emergency program will begin November 25 in Tucuman, one
of the areas hardest hit by the country's protracted economic crisis. The
program will be a "house-to-house campaign among the poorest families to
detect cases of infant malnutrition," said Hilda "Chiche" Duhalde,
the president's wife and director of the government's social programs. A team
of 120 pediatricians and 200 health care workers will be dispatched to the province,
bringing mobile hospital units to the populations most at risk, she said. View
Article
15 November – Relief Web reported Japan decided to extend
emergency aid in kind (portable water tanks, electric generators, water purifiers,
etc.), worth approximately 12.9 million yen, to the Government of the Republic
of Ecuador, which sustained large-scale damage from volcanic eruptions. The
volcano Reventador in Ecuador erupted on November 3 (Sun) at 7:00 a.m. local
time. The eruptions have continued with several lava flows that destroyed houses,
bridges and roads mainly in Sucumbios, Pichincha and Napo provinces in the northeastern
part of the country, and about 43,000 persons have been affected. View
Article
Please contact the below-listed POC for suggested improvements and/or comments
regarding this report. This report is also available on the USACHPPM website
at http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/Hioupdate/.
POC: Rachel Gross, PhD
Rachel.Gross@APG.amedd.army.mil
Lorraine Bell, DrPH, MSN
Lorraine.Bell@APG.amedd.army.mil
Approved:
Kevin Delaney
Chief, Health Information Operations
(410) 436-5217 or DSN 584-5217
ACRONYMS
AFMIC
- Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center
BBC – British
Broadcasting Company
BMJ – British
Medical Journal
BSE
– Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
CIDRAP
– Center for Infectious Disease Reasearch and Policy
CDC
– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CNN – Cable News Network
CSR – Communicable Disease Surveillance
and Response – A branch of the WHO
DoD/GEIS
– Department of Defense/Global Emerging Infections System
EPA – Environmental Protection Agency
FDA – Food and Drug Administration
IRIN - Integrated Regional Information
Networks, part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA).
MMWR – Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report
MSNBC
– Microsoft National Broadcasting Company
NASA
– National Aeronautic and Space Association
NIH
– National Institute of Health
NIOSH-
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
VOA-Voice of America
WHO – World Health Organization
