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Biotech / Medical : Bioterrorism -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Doc Bones who wrote (692)	5/11/2003 6:52:44 PM
From: Jon Koplik	Respond to of 891

Doc Bones -- Wow ! Thanks for posting this. Jon.

To: Doc Bones who wrote (692)	6/8/2003 5:04:23 PM
From: Jon Koplik	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 891

AP News -- Prairie Dog Illness Resembles Smallpox. June 8, 2003 Prairie Dog Illness Resembles Smallpox By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 3:25 p.m. ET MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Doctors initially feared a smallpox outbreak as they began seeing cases of a mysterious disease that has spread to at least 19 people who came into contact with pet prairie dogs in the Midwest, health officials said Sunday. The symptoms were alarmingly similar -- fever, chills, rashes and swollen lymph nodes, said Milwaukee's health commissioner, Dr. Seth Foldy. It was when the prairie dog connection surfaced that they knew it must be something else. ``We asked the question but discounted it very early,'' Foldy said. ``Smallpox has never been known to affect another species.'' The Centers for Disease Control said Saturday pet prairie dogs from a suburban Chicago pet distributor likely are infected with monkeypox, a member of the same viral family as smallpox. The virus can pass animal-to-animal and animal-to-human, and scientists believe it can pass human-to-human, as well, but it had never been documented in North America, Foldy said. So far, at least 17 people in Wisconsin and one each in Illinois and Indiana have become sick since early May with the symptoms consistent with monkeypox after coming in contact with prairie dogs. Both Wisconsin and Illinois have since banned the sale or importation of prairie dogs, and officials are urging people not to release prairie dogs they might already have into the wild for fear of spreading the disease to other wildlife. ``It eventually will clear up as you treat the symptoms,'' said Mark McLaughlin, a spokesman for Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee, which has treated several patients with the symptoms. ``We don't need people to go off the deep end. This is not an epidemic in the public's common perception of that,'' he said. Of the people infected, two remained isolated at the hospital in satisfactory condition Sunday, McLaughlin said. He said the doctors treating them are wearing masks as a precaution. State agriculture officials have other concerns. On Sunday, they issued warnings telling people not to dump prairie dogs they might have bought as pets into the wild. Doing so could spread the disease to squirrels, groundhogs and other native rodents, said Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection spokeswoman Donna Gilson. Monkeypox, found in west African nations, has never been detected in the Western Hemisphere. If the disease gets a foothold in indigenous North American species, it could become almost impossible to control and more people could become ill, Foldy said. ``We don't want that happen,'' Foldy said. ``It would have an unknown impact that I'd prefer not to find out.'' The death rate from monkeypox in Africa has ranged from one to 10 percent, he said. However, he cautioned that the mortality rate might not reach those levels in the United States, where people are typically better nourished and medical technology is more advanced. ``The person-to-person transmission in a rural Congolese setting is potentially very different than in a metropolitan American setting,'' Foldy said. ``We have isolation, soap, running water, sterile dressing materials, we have washing machines. These are all things that have reduced the prevalence of germs that are spreadable by person-to-person contact.'' Federal health officials believe the disease spread may have started with prairie dogs being infected with monkeypox by a Gambian rat at a Villa Park, Ill., pet distributor. South Milwaukee pet distributor SK Exotics purchased some of the prairie dogs and moved them to Wisconsin, and two pet stores in the Milwaukee area purchased them. Mike Hoffer, owner of Hoffer TropicLife, said he got a shipment of 10 prairie dogs from SK Exotics on May 5 but didn't sell any once his staff noticed they were sniffling. Seven of them were euthanized Wednesday and the others died earlier of a respiratory ailment, he said. He said he has been selling prairie dogs at a rate of about 20 to 25 a year over the last decade. ``They're cute,'' Hoffer said. ``They fall into place someplace between a guinea pig and a rabbit. I think people are maybe blowing it out of proportion.'' ^------ On the Net: Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection: datcp.state.wi.us Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.

To: Doc Bones who wrote (692)	7/13/2003 9:01:13 PM
From: Jon Koplik	Respond to of 891

NYT -- Health Officials Baffled by Rising Number of Legionnaires' Cases. July 13, 2003 Health Officials Baffled by Rising Number of Legionnaires' Cases By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DOVER, Del., July 12 (AP) - The number of reported cases of Legionnaires' disease has risen sharply this year, baffling federal and state health officials. The number of cases of legionellosis reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this year totaled 624 as of last week, compared with 436 for the corresponding period last year. In some regions of the country, the numbers are double or triple those reported at this time last year. Officials say that the cases appear to be random, and that they have not identified any specific outbreak or source of the bacteria that causes the disease. "There don't seem to be any explanations yet," said Brendan Flannery, an epidemic intelligence officer with the C.D.C. in Atlanta. The 197 cases reported in the agency's South Atlantic region was more than double last year's 95 cases. Health officials from Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina held a conference call on Friday with C.D.C. officials to discuss the situation. "We're just trying to figure out what's going on, but nobody has any really good ideas," said Diane Woolard, director of surveillance and investigations for the Virginia Department of Health. Among the questions officials are trying to answer is whether the increase in the prevalence of the disease is real, whether there might be problems with the urine antigen test used to diagnose most cases, or whether reporting simply has improved. "We've always assumed that Legionnaires' is pretty underreported," said Richard McGarvey, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health. People contract Legionnaires' disease after inhaling mists from a water source contaminated with the legionella bacteria, which thrives in warm, stagnant water. Sources can include hot water tanks, cooling towers and evaporative condensers of large air-conditioning systems, whirlpool spas and showers. Symptoms of the disease include fever, chills, cough, body aches, headache, fatigue, loss of appetite and, occasionally, diarrhea. The disease can be treated with antibiotics, but 5 to 30 percent of cases are fatal. While the disease can affect anyone, middle-aged and older persons are at highest risk, particularly smokers and those with chronic lung disease. Also at increased risk are those whose immune systems are suppressed by medications or by diseases like cancer, diabetes and AIDS. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company.