More pharmaceuticals have been linked to a meningitis outbreak which has sickened 214 people killed 15.
New England Compounding Center, NECC, is the pharmaceutical company at the center of the outbreak and is cooperating with the FDA and the CDC advising doctors and surgeons to contact patients who have come in contact with drugs which may be responsible for the spread of meningitis.
Outbreak of West Nile Virus is unusually high this year, however, in 2003, 9,862 cases were reported and 264 people died, according to the CDC’s records.
This year’s outbreak is far from that, however, with human cases reported in 44 states it is still cause for alarm.
Although the disease can be deadly, not everyone will develop serious, neuro-invasive illnesses.
Some will have such light symptoms that they may not know that they are infected at all.
The nationwide numbers were up from 1,590 cases and 65 deaths reported Aug. 28, said Dr. Lyle R. Petersen, director of the CDC’s division of vector-borne infectious diseases.
“We expect this increase to continue for the next several weeks, probably until October,” said Petersen, who added that he was infected with the virus himself a few years ago. Many cases have not yet been logged because of the lag in reporting time, he said.
More than half the cases — 54 percent — are the serious neuroinvasive variety, which can lead to encephalitis or meningitis. The vast majority of West Nile infections, some 80 percent, are so mild that people don’t know they’re infected. About 20 percent develop symptoms and about 1 percent may develop serious, neuro-invasive illnesses.
The disease is spread by infected mosquitos which breed in water.
Unusual weather patterns, light winter and a hot, wet summer have contributed to a rise in the mosquito population.
See you physician if you feel that you may have any symptoms.
The CDC has alerted the public to an outbreak of salmonella poisoning from mangoes which has sickened 103 people in the United States, mostly in California, including 22 people in Canada.
Salmonella poisoning can cause mild illness in otherwise healthy people 12 to 72 hours after infection.
Symptoms include fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramping.
In those individuals with a weakened immune system salmonella can cause severe illness requiring hospitalization.
Once a specific source is identified, CDC said public health officials will offer advice and take steps to prevent illness.
However, CDC officials did confirm that the genetic fingerprint of the salmonella strain was identical to that found in the recalled mangoes that made people sick in Canada, which were identified as Daniella brand mangoes imported from Mexico.
A U.S. importer of those mangoes, Splendid Products of Burlingame, Calif., has voluntarily recalled nationwide shipments of Daniella mangoes with PLUs #4959, 3114, 4051, 4311 or 4584. Several U.S. grocery stores have pulled the fruit from their shelves, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday. They were sold at retail locations across the U.S. from July 12 to Aug. 29.
Those infected with gonorrhea often show no symptoms, however, the disease can lead to serious complications, including infertility and chronic pelvic pain in women, and in men, a painful inflammation of the ducts attached to the testicles that may cause infertility.
Left untreated, according to the CDC. If the bacteria spread to the blood or joints, the condition can be life-threatening, the CDC says.
Over the last several decades, the bacteria that cause gonorrhea have developed resistance to many antibiotics used to treat the condition, including penicillin, tetracycline and fluoroquinolones.
That left just one class of drugs, called cephalosporins — which include the drugs cefixime and ceftriaxone — to be used as treatment.
But today, the CDC announced it no longer recommends cefixime, an oral medication, as a first-line treatment for gonorrhea, citing data over the last several years that show cefixime has become less effective at treating the infection.
Hepatitis C can damage the liver, often without being symptomatic.
The virus is the leading cause of liver cancer and liver transplants and potentially 800,000 people do not know that they have it.
And a recent analysis by the CDC found that more people in the U.S. die from hepatitis C than HIV/AIDS.
The current guidelines call for testing when someone has known risk factors.
Such as? Blood transfusions or organ transplants before 1992 (when effective screening for hepatitis C virus became common), or recreational injection of drugs — even once — could have led to a liver infection that has gone undetected all these years.
just being a baby boomer is risk factor enough, the CDC has concluded. “Baby boomers are five times more likely than other American adults to be infected with the disease,” the CDC says. “In fact, more than 75 percent of American adults with hepatitis C are baby boomers.” Infection rates were highest in the ’70s and ’80s.
Hepatitis C is highly treatable so being tested is important.
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This blog is for consumers of health care and medical services. Basically, it’s for everyone. For health issues you should always see a doctor or qualified medical professional - we are not dispensing medical advice. You should, however, be an educated consumer, so we offer information to help you start the process to become educated and to ask important questions. There are many excellent resources on the web, along with all sorts of conflicting opinions and advice. The key is to use a wide variety of resources to learn and access information, so you can ask the important questions when you are with your doctor or health professional.
