Category: Biological Hazard


Two Saudi health-care workers now infected by SARS-linked virus

Filed under: Biological Hazard, Disaster Management, Diseases, Diseases, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch, Medical Research, Science, Uncategorized — 2 Comments
May 16, 2013
Mike Stobbe, The Associated Press
Published Thursday, May 16, 2013 8:18AM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, May 16, 2013 7:52PM EDT

NEW YORK — A deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS has apparently spread from patients to health care workers in eastern Saudi Arabia, health officials said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia told world health officials that two health care workers became ill this month after being exposed to patients with the virus. One is critically ill.

Since September 2012, the World Health Organization has been informed of 40 confirmed cases of the virus, and 20 of the patients have died. The deaths occurred in Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

Coronavirus, SARS-linked, MERS

A transmission electron micrograph of novel coronavirus particles, colorized in yellow, is shown. (Handout/National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Experts have suggested calling the new virus MERS, for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, but officials have not signed off on that yet.Experts are watching carefully for signs that the deadly virus can spread from person-to-person. Health officials say the virus has likely already spread between people in some circumstances, including hospital patients in France.

The new virus has caused severe respiratory disease in patients, some of them needing mechanical ventilators to help them breathe.

One of the Saudi health care workers is a 45-year-old man who is in critical condition. The other is a 43-year-old woman in stable condition. No other details about their jobs or where they work were released. Health workers were previously infected in a cluster in Jordan, though that was before the new coronavirus had been identified and before any special measures were taken to prevent its spread. That is not the case in Saudi Arabia and officials worry any new spread to health workers could suggest the virus is becoming more transmissible to people.

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WHO Reprimands Saudi Arabia Facility: New Coronavirus Is Spreading Patient-To-Nurse

Two nurses in Saudi Arabia are added to the country’s list of now 30 infected individuals.

By Susan Scutti | May 16, 2013 12:16 PM EDT

Coronavirus, SARS-linked, MERS

(Photo : CDC.gov) Common symptoms of the new coronavirus (nCoV) have been acute, serious respiratory illness with fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties.

Two health care workers, one now in critical condition, caught the new coronavirus (nCoV) from patients in their care at a health care facility in the Eastern part of Saudi Arabia, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports in an update late on Wednesday. WHO has noted that all of the most recent cases are linked to a particular Saudi Arabian health care facility, which continues to remain unidentified in its updates on the disease.

A total of 21 patients, including nine deaths, have been reported in eastern Saudi Arabia from the outbreak since the beginning of May 2013 to date. The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia is conducting ongoing investigation of the outbreak, while WHO monitors the situation. Experts have suggested calling the new virus MERS, for Middle East respiratory syndrome, but officials have not yet signed off on it, Arab News reports.

“This is the first time health care workers have been diagnosed with (novel coronavirus) infection after exposure to patients,” WHO states of the two new laboratory-confirmed cases. Health care-associated transmission has been observed before with nCoV in Jordan last April, but this is a first for Saudi Arabia.

One of the two new patients is a 45-year-old man who became ill on May 2 and is currently in critical condition. The second patient is a 43-year-old woman with a coexisting health condition, who became ill on May 8 and is in stable condition.

In its update, WHO advises health care facilities providing care for patients with suspected nCoV infection to take appropriate measures to decrease the risk of transmission of the virus to other patients and health care workers. “Health care facilities are reminded of the importance of systematic implementation of infection prevention and control,” notes the United Nations Health Agency.

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Correction: New Virus story

Thursday, May 16, 2013

 

NEW YORK — In a story May 15 about a new SARS-like virus spreading from patients to health care workers in Saudi Arabia, The Associated Press reported erroneously the location of the 20 deaths attributed to the virus. There have been no deaths reported in France and Qatar, only in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Britain.

The story also said that the spread to health care workers was new. Health workers were previously infected in a cluster in Jordan before the new coronavirus had been identified.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Saudi health workers sickened by SARS-like virus

2 Saudi Arabia health care workers get SARS-like virus; officials consider naming it MERS

By MIKE STOBBE

AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS has apparently spread from patients to health care workers in eastern Saudi Arabia, health officials said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia told world health officials that two health care workers became ill this month after being exposed to patients with the virus. One is critically ill.

Since September 2012, the World Health Organization has been informed of 40 confirmed cases of the virus, and 20 of the patients have died. The deaths occurred in Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

Experts have suggested calling the new virus MERS, for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, but officials have not signed off on that yet.

Experts are watching carefully for signs that the deadly virus can spread from person-to-person. Health officials say the virus has likely already spread between people in some circumstances, including hospital patients in France.

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International Group Settles on Name for New Coronavirus

Filed under: Diseases, Global Disaster Watch, Diseases, Medical Research, Biological Hazard, Earth Watch Report, Science, Disaster Management — Leave a comment
May 16, 2013

by Martin Enserink on 6 May 2013, 1:05 PM

A virus by any other name? Researchers have recommended a new name for a novel coronavirus (above) first found in the Middle East.
Credit: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH

New MERS cases. The MERS coronavirus. Or—if things turn really bad—the MERS pandemic. That’s how the world may soon be talking about the new virus that surfaced in the Arabian Peninsula last summer and that has been rattling health experts since. In a move that may end more than 7 months of confusion, an international group of scientists and public health officials will soon recommend that the new virus be called Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

The group plans to publish a paper recommending the new name, says Raoul de Groot, a veterinary virologist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who has coordinated the effort. De Groot chairs the Coronavirus Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), which took the initiative to find a new, widely accepted name. The study group has no power to enforce use of the name, however; it will be up to researchers to decide whether to adopt the moniker.

News of the name comes as Saudi Arabia has reported 13 new cases of the virus, including seven deaths, in just the past 5 days. The wave—more than a month after the last reported case, a 73-year-old man from Abu Dhabi who died in Munich on 26 March—has sparked fresh worries that the virus might start spreading between humans and trigger a global outbreak. As of today, the total reported number of cases is 30, including 18 deaths.

Confusion had reigned over the new name since the virus was first reported by Ali Mohamed Zaki, an Egyptian microbiologist who isolated it in June 2012 from a patient at a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he worked at the time. Zaki sent the virus to Ron Fouchier’s virology group at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, which characterized it further in a paper published in m Bio in November. Alexander Gorbalenya, a coronavirologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands and ICTV’s vice president, was a co-author, and the group provisionally called the virus HCoV-EMC/2012, short for human coronavirus-Erasmus MC.

The reference to the Dutch lab didn’t sit well with Saudi health officials, who said that Zaki lacked authorization to send the virus to Rotterdam in the first place. Still, most researchers have accepted HCoV-EMC as the name to use. Some have dropped the “EMC,” however, and called the virus simply HCoV, a name that might cause confusion because there are five other human coronaviruses. The World Health Organization (WHO) has adopted the more neutral “novel coronavirus”—abbreviated initially as NCoV but more recently as nCoV—a name that by its very nature was not meant to last.

 

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Summary of Assessment of Public Health Risk to Canada Associated with Human Coronavirus Erasmus Medical Centre (HCoV-EMC/2012)

Filed under: Global Disaster Watch, Diseases, Biological Hazard, Earth Watch Report, Disaster Management — 1 Comment
May 16, 2013

16 May 2013
Information is reviewed on a regular basis and updated as required.

Risk Assessment

  • The public health risk posed by HCoV-EMC/2012 to Canada is considered low at this time. There have been a limited number of cases reported to date, and while there is evidence of limited capacity for human-to-human transmission, zoonotic transmission is still presumed to be the source of infection.
  • Updated risk assessments will be conducted as new evidence becomes available.

Event Summary

Cases of Novel Coronavirus (nCoV) – subsequently identified and named Human Coronavirus Erasmus Medical Centre (HCoV-EMC/2012) have been reported in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and France since the Fall of 2012.

As of 14 May 2013, 34 laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with novel coronavirus (nCoV) have been reported to WHO: two from Jordan, two from Qatar, 25 from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Kingdom (UK), one from the United Arab Emirates and two from France. Most patients are male (82%; 27 of 33 cases with sex reported) and range in age from 24 to 94 years (median 56 years). Most patients presented with severe acute respiratory disease requiring hospitalization and eventually required mechanical ventilation or other advanced respiratory support. Eighteen patients have died (case fatality rate 53%). Animal exposures were of concern in earliest cases, but the majority of recent cases do not have that history. For the latest updates on the total number of cases and deaths please visit the Global Alert and Response websiteExternal Link.

Since 14 April 2013, 15 new cases of infection have been confirmed and reported in Saudi Arabia, seven of these have died. All patients were reported to have at least one comorbid medical condition and most had more than one. Most of the cases were patients at a single health care facility. Two were family members of two patients from that facility; no health care workers have been affected. Preliminary investigations indicate that a small number of these cases had contact with animals in the time leading up to their illness.

On May 8, 2013, The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in France reported one confirmed case with infection of nCoV. The patient was hospitalized and preliminary investigations revealed that the patient had a history of travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. A secondary case was reported on May 12, 2013 in a patient who shared a hospital room with the first laboratory-confirmed case. Among 120 persons identified as contacts of the first laboratory-confirmed case in France, laboratory tests were conducted on five suspected cases, of which four tested negative, one (mentioned above) tested positive. No healthcare workers have been affected to date.

Several cases have occurred in clusters, including in a health care setting in Jordan in April 2012, in the UK among family members of an infected patient who had recently arrived from Saudi Arabia, the cluster in Saudi Arabia and now the cluster in France. Nosocomial transmission has occurred once and possibly two other occasions (investigations ongoing); and the UK and France clusters confirmed the potential of the virus to transmit between humans with close contact. In neither instance did transmission appear to go beyond the immediate outbreak into the community, and the likely current scenario is multiple introductions into humans with local spread rather than persistent low human transmission.

No vaccine is currently available for novel coronavirus.

The National Institutes of Health has found that a combination of two antiviral drugs, ribavirin and interferon-alpha 2b, can inhibit replication of the virus in cell culturesFootnote 1.

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Toronto SARS expert to go to Saudi Arabia to help with coronavirus

Dr. Allison McGreerDr. Allison McGeer in a laboratory at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto on Tuesday January 27, 2004. (/Frank Gunn / The Canadian Press)

Helen Branswell, The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, May 8, 2013 1:37PM EDT
Last Updated Wednesday, May 8, 2013 5:02PM EDT

Authorities in Saudi Arabia have invited outside experts to help it deal with a large outbreak of the new coronavirus in the eastern Saudi city of al Hofuf, and a Canadian infectious diseases specialist is among them.

Toronto SARS expert Dr. Allison McGeer arrived in the Middle Eastern country on Wednesday, travelling at the request of the kingdom’s government, a source revealed.

The outbreak, which involves at least 13 cases, has ratcheted up worry about the coronavirus, the World Health Organization acknowledged in an update on the virus, which is from the same family as the SARS coronavirus.

“The reappearance of this virus and the pattern of transmission currently being observed in Saudi Arabia increase the level of concern regarding this novel pathogen,” the statement said.

“The questions of the exposures that result in human infection, the mode of transmission, the source of the virus and the extent of infection in the community urgently need to be answered and are being actively pursued by the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia.”

In addition to McGeer, two officials of the World Health Organization were in or travelling to the country to meet with senior officials of the ministry of health in the capital, Riyadh.

“It’s likely they will also visit al Hofuf,” WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl said. He would not reveal the names of the WHO personnel.

The news came on the same day as France reported it had confirmed a case in one of its citizens, a 65-year-old man who got sick in late April after travelling to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. His infection was confirmed May 7.

It was reported that the man was in the Middle Eastern country on a package tour, a fact that suggests his case may help disease investigators in their efforts to track down the source of the virus. That key fact has to date evaded detection.

Piecing together possible exposures with this coronavirus has been tough. Of the 31 confirmed cases, 18 have died. Of the others, many remain in hospital in critical condition, often on breathing machines. So questioning cases about what they did in the days before they fell ill can be difficult or impossible.

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New reports yield clues about H7N9 detection, links to poultry

Filed under: Biological Hazard, Disaster Management, Diseases, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch — Leave a comment
May 16, 2013

Lisa Schnirring * Staff Writer

May 16, 2013 (CIDRAP News) – Though the steady stream of new H7N9 cases has tapered, the pace of publications on the new virus is still brisk, with new reports today on Taiwan’s case, a link between markets and human cases, and risk assessment and planning for possible scenarios in Europe.

All three reports were published in today’s issue of Eurosurveillance.

Lessons from Taiwan’s H7N9 case
In the report on Taiwan’s only case, officials from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control wrote that they learned several useful lessons from the case involving a man in his 50s who got sick in the middle of April after traveling for work to China’s Jiangsu province, where the virus had already sickened people and been detected in live-market poultry.

Within days of the announcement of the first cases in China, Taiwanese officials made H7N9 a notifiable disease and prepared for suspected cases to be detected through its influenza surveillance system, as well as the surveillance system for community-acquired pneumonia of unknown cause.

The enhanced surveillance activities helped flag the man’s illness. His was the only H7N9 infection confirmed in Taiwan among 358 suspected cases and 41 severe pneumonia illnesses from Apr 3 through May 10.

The authors noted that the man did not have a cough and didn’t meet the official case definition, but his doctors reported his illness as a suspected infection anyway, given his recent travel to China’s outbreak area. They suggested that physicians be allowed to report suspected cases that don’t fully meet case definitions.

The patient’s throat swabs were negative for the H7N9 virus on day 4 and 9 after his illness onset, but an endotracheal aspirate collected on day 8 was positive for the new virus. Taiwan officials wrote that the testing experience led them to revise their sampling guidance.

No H7N9 infections have been found in any of the man’s 139 contacts, including three healthcare workers who had respiratory symptoms a few days after they were exposed to the patient. The team noted the healthcare workers who had symptoms provided routine care using N95 respirators, goggles, gloves, and protective clothing.

Strong link between human cases, poultry
Meanwhile, health workers involved in outbreak response in Huzhou City, located in China’s Zhejiang province, found a strong link between illnesses in 12 patients and local poultry in different settings, according to another Eurosurveillance report.

They described 12 patients whose H7N9 cases were confirmed from late March to May 10. Ages ranged from 32 to 81. Ten had underlying medical conditions such as hypertension, bronchitis, and heart disease.

Nine of the 12 patients had visited live-poultry markets within 10 days of getting sick. The three others had a history of direct contact with poultry shortly before they started having symptoms. One had culled poultry from the live markets, one had purchased live poultry from a vendor and raised them with a neighbor in a courtyard, and one was the spouse of a man who had bought live birds from a market and brought them home to raise.

Researchers collected poultry and/or environmental samples from nine poultry markets linked to the cases, the home settings where case-patients kept their birds, and seven other live-poultry markets in the area that the patients had not visited. Evidence of H7N9 was found in samples from all of the settings.

The team wrote that the findings support the hypothesis that poultry are the source of the H7N9 virus, and they noted that no new cases in Huzhou City have been reported since live markets were shuttered there in the middle of April.

A reported lack of poultry exposure in some of the earlier cases in the outbreak might stem from some patients forgetting details of their exposure history or because they are too sick to provide the details. “It may therefore be possible that patients with no documented exposure may have in fact been exposed to poultry,” they wrote.

Testing of 339 close contacts found no other H7N9 infections, and although throat swabs might not yield the virus as reliably as deep sputum samples, the patients had no obvious symptoms, the authors wrote.

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Biological Hazard – Nepal, Capital City, Kathmandu : vet officials and technicians on Wednesday evening culled 200 chickens following confirmation of avian flu (H5N1) in a poultry farm

Filed under: Biological Hazard, Diseases, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch — Leave a comment
May 16, 2013

Earth Watch Report  -  Biological Hazards

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15.05.2013 Biological Hazard Nepal Capital City, Kathmandu Damage level Details

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Biological Hazard in Nepal on Wednesday, 15 May, 2013 at 19:29 (07:29 PM) UTC.

Description
A rapid response team comprising vet officials and technicians on Wednesday evening culled 200 chickens following confirmation of avian flu (H5N1) in a poultry farm owned by Bhim Prasad Lamichhane of Kirtipur -1 Tyanglaphant, Kathmandu. The Directorate of Animal Health (DoAH) said that it is the second outbreak over the last two days. Earlier on Monday evening, vet technicians had culled 1,465 chickens in a poultry farm owned by Amar Karki of Mulpani-3, Kathmandu following detection of bird flu virus. DoAH said the chickens in Lamichhane’s farm tested positive for bird flu on Tuesday evening. Dr Bijaya Kant Jha, Director General (DG) at DoAH said that the office could not deploy rapid response team immediately to Lamichhane’s farm as they were all busy in disinfecting Karki’s farm at Mulpani. “We will complete disinfection by Wednesday evening,” said Dr Jha. He said Lamichhane brought samples of dead chicken for laboratory examination after chickens stopped eating feed and started dying. Bol Raj Acharya, chief of district veterinary office, Kathmandu said that surveillance has been intensified across the country. He said surveillance officer deployed by DoAH have been collecting suspicious samples. DoAH has urged all poultry farmers to take proper care of their chickens. The office has urged poultry farmers to immediately inform vet officials if chickens demonstrate suspicious behavior. Chickens infected with bird flu virus avoid feed, stand still with their head down and drool.
Biohazard name: H5N1 (highly pathogenic avian influenza)
Biohazard level: 4/4 Hazardous
Biohazard desc.: Viruses and bacteria that cause severe to fatal disease in humans, and for which vaccines or other treatments are not available, such as Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, H5N1(bird flu), Dengue hemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, hantaviruses, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and other hemorrhagic or unidentified diseases. When dealing with biological hazards at this level the use of a Hazmat suit and a self-contained oxygen supply is mandatory. The entrance and exit of a Level Four biolab will contain multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, autonomous detection system, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all traces of the biohazard. Multiple airlocks are employed and are electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time. All air and water service going to and coming from a Biosafety Level 4 (P4) lab will undergo similar decontamination procedures to eliminate the possibility of an accidental release.
Symptoms:
Status: confirmed

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REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, May 15: A rapid response team comprising vet officials and technicians on Wednesday evening culled 200 chickens following confirmation of avian flu (H5N1) in a poultry farm owned by Bhim Prasad Lamichhane of Kirtipur -1 Tyanglaphant, Kathmandu.

The Directorate of Animal Health (DoAH) said that it is the second outbreak over the last two days.

Earlier on Monday evening, vet technicians had culled 1,465 chickens in a poultry farm owned by Amar Karki of Mulpani-3, Kathmandu following detection of bird flu virus. DoAH said the chickens in Lamichhane´s farm tested positive for bird flu on Tuesday evening.

Dr Bijaya Kant Jha, Director General (DG) at DoAH said that the office could not deploy rapid response team immediately to Lamichhane´s farm as they were all busy in disinfecting Karki´s farm at Mulpani. “We will complete disinfection by Wednesday evening,” said Dr Jha. He said Lamichhane brought samples of dead chicken for laboratory examination after chickens stopped eating feed and started dying.

 

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Biological Hazard – China, Multiple areas, [Provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hangzhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Capital City region] : UPDATE

Filed under: Biological Hazard, Disaster Management, Diseases, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch — Leave a comment
May 16, 2013

Earth Watch Report  -  Biological Hazards

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64 15.05.2013 Biological Hazard China Multiple areas, [Provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hangzhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Capital City region] Damage level
Details

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Biological Hazard in China on Sunday, 31 March, 2013 at 13:02 (01:02 PM) UTC.

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Updated: Tuesday, 14 May, 2013 at 03:09 UTC
Description
The death toll due to the deadly new strain of bird flu in China has climbed to 35 with one more death due to H7N9 infection, even as a fresh outbreak of the older strain H5N1 was reported in remote region of Tibet. Newly detected H7N9 virus has claimed 35 lives so far, while 57 infected patients have recovered, National Health and Family Planning Commission said. Meanwhile, Tibet reported an outbreak of the highly contagious older strain of the bird flu virus among chickens, the Ministry of Agriculture announced today. Thirty-five chickens at a farm in a village in Mainling County of Nyingchi Prefecture showed symptoms of avian flu and died last Tuesday, according to the ministry. The National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory today confirmed that the virus was H5N1, after testing samples collected at the farm. Local authorities have sealed off and sterilised the infected area, where a total of 372 chickens have been culled and safely disposed of in order to prevent the disease from spreading, the MOA said. Since the first H7N9 infections was reported in late March, China has confirmed a total of 130 cases. China, along with World Health Organisation has commissioned research teams to find a way to treat the deadly disease, as well as to develop a vaccine.

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Biological Hazard in China on Sunday, 31 March, 2013 at 13:02 (01:02 PM) UTC.

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Updated: Wednesday, 15 May, 2013 at 10:14 UTC
Description
The H7N9 bird flu has killed one person in central China’s Hunan Province, local health authorities said Wednesday. A 64-year-old woman surnamed Guan died Tuesday morning at a hospital in the city of Shaoyang some 20 days after her infection was confirmed, the Hunan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission said. She was the first person in Hunan diagnosed with the virus. Another three patients were confirmed afterward. One of the three died earlier this month, one has recovered and the other is still in critical condition, according to the commission. The first human infection was reported in China in late March. Authorities have recorded 130 confirmed cases thus far. Previously the National Health and Family Planning Commission said the virus had killed 35 people on the mainland, while 57 of those infected had recovered as of May 13.

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H7N9 bird flu kills one in Central China

Updated: 2013-05-15 15:28

( Xinhua)

CHANGSHA – The H7N9 bird flu has killed one person in Central China’s Hunan province, local health authorities said Wednesday.

A 64-year-old woman surnamed Guan died Tuesday morning at a hospital in the city of Shaoyang some 20 days after her infection was confirmed, the Hunan Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission said.

She was the first person in Hunan diagnosed with the virus. Another three patients were confirmed afterward. One of the three died earlier this month, one has recovered and the other is still in critical condition, according to the commission.

The first human infection was reported in China in late March. Authorities have recorded 130 confirmed cases thus far.

Previously the National Health and Family Planning Commission said the virus had killed 35 people on the mainland, while 57 of those infected had recovered as of May 13.

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First proof of patient-to-nurse infection of coronavirus in Saudi

Filed under: Biological Hazard, Disaster Management, Diseases, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch — 2 Comments
May 16, 2013

Al Arabiya English

Thursday, 16 May 2013
A Saudi family arrive at a hospital in the center of the capital Riyadh, on May 14, 2013. (AFP)
AFP, Geneva -

Two Saudi health workers have contracted the deadly coronavirus from patients, marking the first evidence of transmission in a hospital setting, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

“This is the first time health care workers have been diagnosed with nCoV (novel coronavirus) infection after exposure to patients,” the WHO said in a statement.

The two health care workers were among six new cases announced by the Saudi health ministry on Tuesday.

The U.N.’s health body said that while other health care workers had contracted the deadly disease in Jordan, there had until now not been clear evidence that they had been infected by patients carrying the virus.

“This is the first time we have pretty hard and fast evidence of it,” WHO spokesman Gregory Haertl explained to AFP.

“Health care facilities that provide care for patients with suspected nCoV infection should take appropriate measures to decrease the risk of transmission of the virus to other patients and health care workers,” the agency said.

WHO said one of the new patients with laboratory-confirmed nCoV was a 45-year-old man who became ill on May 2, and who was currently in a critical condition.

The second patient was a 43-year-old woman with a coexisting health condition, who became ill on May 8 and was in a stable condition.

“Health care providers are advised to be vigilant among recent travelers returning from areas affected by the virus who develop SARI,” or severe acute respiratory infections, WHO said.

The organization however continued to say travel restrictions and special screening was not yet called for to limit the spread of the virus.

Since last September, WHO says it has been informed of a global total of 40 laboratory confirmed cases of the virus, including 20 deaths.

While the virus has been deadliest in Saudi Arabia, which now counts 30 infections, half of them fatal, cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, Germany, Britain and France, where two patients are now in hospital in the northern city of Lille.

Read More  @ Al Arabiya English

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SARS-like virus in Saudi has killed 15, minister says

Sunday, 12 May 2013
This picture taken on May 10, 2013 shows the “Jean-Bernard” hospital in Valenciennes, where the first French person infected by a new SARS-like virus arrived on April 23, before being transferred to Douai and Lille. (AFP)
Al Arabiya with Agencies -

Fifteen people in Saudi Arabia have died from a SARS-like virus out of 24 people who contracted it since last August, Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabia said on Sunday, AFP reported.

“The number of people who contracted the virus in the kingdom since August/September is 24, of whom 15 have died,” Rabia told a news conference in Riyadh.

An earlier toll provided on Tuesday by the World Health Organization said 11 people had died in Saudi Arabia since last year from the disease whose medical term is NCoV-EMC, or novel corona-virus.

Rabia also said three other people are suspected of having contracted the virus in Saudi Arabia, pledging to announce with “full transparency” the results of their medical tests.

The French Health Ministry says they have confirmed a second case of the deadly new respiratory virus on Sunday, the Associated Press reported.

The ministry statement said a hospital roommate of the 65-year-old man who initially contracted the virus has tested positive.

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Thursday, 16 May, 2013 at 03:24 UTC
Description
A deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS has apparently spread from patients to health care workers in eastern Saudi Arabia, health officials said Wednesday. The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia told world health officials that two health care workers became ill this month after being exposed to patients with the virus. One is critically ill. Since September 2012, the World Health Organization has been informed of 40 confirmed cases of the virus, and 20 of the patients have died. The deaths occurred in in France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Kingdom. Experts have suggested calling the new virus MERS, for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, but officials have not signed off on that yet. Experts are watching carefully for signs that the deadly virus can spread from person-to-person. Health officials say the virus has likely already spread between people in some circumstances, including hospital patients in France. But the confirmed spread to nurses or other health care workers is new. The new virus has caused severe respiratory disease in patients, some of them needing mechanical ventilators to help them breathe. One of the Saudi health care workers is a 45-year-old man who is in critical condition. The other is a 43-year-old woman in stable condition. No other details about their jobs or where they work were released.

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Thursday, 16 May, 2013 at 10:08 UTC
Description
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been informed of a global total of 38 laboratory confirmed cases of human infection with novel coronavirus, including 20 deaths, from September 2012 to date, the UN health agency said Tuesday. WHO said in its latest update that the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia has informed WHO of an additional four laboratory-confirmed cases with infection of the novel coronavirus and one of them died. Since the beginning of May to date, a total of 19 patients, including nine deaths have been reported from the outbreak primarily linked to a health care facility in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia, according to the WHO. The Saudi Arabian government is conducting ongoing investigation into the outbreak, it said. Based on the current situation and available information, WHO encouraged all member states to continue their surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and to carefully review any unusual patterns. Health care providers were advised to be vigilant among recent travellers returning from areas affected by the virus who developed severe SARI. It said that the WHO did not advise special screening at points of entry with regard to this event nor did it currently recommend the application of any travel or trade restrictions.

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Wednesday, 15 May, 2013 at 17:04 UTC
Description
The Saudi Arabian Health Ministry says six more people have been infected by a new deadly respiratory virus related to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Saudi state media, citing the Health Ministry, reported four new cases on Monday and two more on Tuesday in Eastern Province, which has most of the cases in the kingdom. The ministry said that a total of 30 people were infected by the deadly coronavirus in the kingdom, and 15 of them died. “Two new confirmed infections were registered in Eastern Province,” the ministry said on its website, adding that those infected were nurses and “are receiving needed treatment and medical care”. The ministry had said on Monday that among the four other new cases, “one of the people has recovered and discharged, while the other three are still being treated. On Sunday, Saudi Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabia said the kingdom had a total of 24 confirmed cases since the disease was identified last year. “The number of people who contracted the virus in the kingdom since August/September is 24, of whom 15 have died,” al-Rabia told a news conference in Riyadh. In addition, Al Rabie said three more people are suspected of having contracted the virus in Saudi Arabia.

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Wednesday, 15 May, 2013 at 03:14 UTC
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The Saudi Arabian Health Ministry says six more people have been infected by a new deadly respiratory virus related to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Saudi state media, citing the Health Ministry, reported four new cases on Monday and two more on Tuesday in Eastern Province, which has most of the cases in the kingdom. The ministry said that a total of 30 people were infected by the deadly coronavirus in the kingdom, and 15 of them died. “Two new confirmed infections were registered in Eastern Province,” the ministry said on its website, adding that those infected were nurses and “are receiving needed treatment and medical care”. The ministry had said on Monday that among the four other new cases, “one of the people has recovered and discharged, while the other three are still being treated”. On Sunday, Saudi Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabia said the kingdom had a total of 24 confirmed cases since the disease was identified last year. “The number of people who contracted the virus in the kingdom since August/September is 24, of whom 15 have died,” al-Rabia told a news conference in Riyadh. In addition, Al Rabie said three more people are suspected of having contracted the virus in Saudi Arabia. The novel coronavirus, also known as nCoV-EMC, is a cousin of SARS. The virus first emerged in the Middle East, and was discovered on September 2012 in a Qatari man who had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia.

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Biological Hazard – China, Multiple areas, [Provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hangzhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Capital City region] : H7N9 (highly pathogenic avian influenza (new subtype) – human infection) UPDATE

Filed under: Biological Hazard, Disaster Management, Diseases, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch — 2 Comments
May 13, 2013

Earth Watch Report  -  Biological Hazards

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62 12.05.2013 Biological Hazard China Multiple areas, [Provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hangzhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Capital City region] Damage level   Details

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Biological Hazard in China on Sunday, 31 March, 2013 at 13:02 (01:02 PM) UTC.

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Updated: Sunday, 12 May, 2013 at 03:42 UTC
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The toll due to the H7N9 avian influenza in China has risen to 33, with the death of an 83-year-old woman in Shanghai, officials said Saturday. The woman surnamed Jiang died Friday evening at a hospital in Shanghai, a month after her infection was confirmed, Xinhua cited the Shanghai Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission as saying. Till Saturday, Shanghai confirmed 33 H7N9 infection cases. Four of them are being treated in hospital, 15 have recovered and 14 died. China has so far reported 130 confirmed H7N9 cases, that includes the 33 deaths.

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News Analysis: China’s poultry prices to rise as H7N9 wanes

 

English.news.cn      2013-05-13 20:33:27

 

BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) — Prices of poultry products in China could rise sharply as early as next month as the waning H7N9 virus helps consumers regain confidence in poultry meat and eggs, experts said.Since late March, authorities have closed many poultry markets in eastern China to curb the spread of the virus and many consumers have stayed away from poultry products due to fears of being infected by the deadly virus.Since the beginning of May the number of new infections has been decreasing, according to health authorities.The new strain of bird flu, which has killed 33 people among 130 confirmed cases nationwide, has led to huge losses for the country’s poultry industry and driven many farms out of business.Due to the H7N9 virus, the country’s poultry industry has suffered losses worth more than 40 billion yuan (6.5 billion U.S. dollars), according to the China Animal Agriculture Association.”Many breeders in Shandong, a major poultry production province in eastern China, have reduced or killed all their breeding stocks in response to losses,” said Cui Zhizhong, a professor at Shandong Agricultural University.”In a couple of production cycles, poultry prices could go up sharply and this could affect the market order nationwide,” said Cui.He estimated that prices could go up in June or July.Qin Fu, director of the research institute of agricultural economics and development under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, shared this viewpoint. “As consumer confidence regains, the ensuing shortfall in supply of poultry meat and eggs will trigger big rises in prices,” he said.”The whole industry was severely hit over the six weeks after the first H7N9 human infections were reported,” said Qin

 

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News Analysis: China’s poultry prices to rise as H7N9 wanes
 English.news.cn   2013-05-13 20:33:27
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Epidemic Hazard – Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, Al-hasa : Two more people have died from novel coronavirus, a new strain of the virus similar to the one that caused SARS

Filed under: Biological Hazard, Disaster Management, Diseases, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch — 2 Comments
May 13, 2013

Earth Watch Report  -  Epidemic  Hazards

 

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New SARS-like virus can probably pass person-to-person

ReutersVideo ReutersVideo

Published on May 13, 2013

May 13 – New SARS-like virus can probably pass person-to-person with Saudi Arabia having the biggest cluster of cases. Marie-Claire Fennessy reports.

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12 12.05.2013 Epidemic Hazard Saudi Arabia Eastern Province, Al-hasa Damage level Details

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Epidemic Hazard in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, 02 May, 2013 at 07:12 (07:12 AM) UTC.

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Updated: Sunday, 12 May, 2013 at 15:47 UTC
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Two more people have died from novel coronavirus, a new strain of the virus similar to the one that caused SARS, in an outbreak in al-Ahsa region of Saudi Arabia, the deputy health minister for public health said on Sunday. Ziad Memish said that in the latest cluster of infections, 15 cases had been confirmed, and nine of those patients had died.

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Panic grips Saudis amid fears of SARS-like virus

May 13, 2013 05:03 PMAgence France Presse

A Saudi health ministry official visits patients infected with a new SARS-like virus at a hospital in the eastern Saudi province of al-Ahsaa on May 13, 2013. AFP PHOTO/STRA Saudi health ministry official visits patients infected with a new SARS-like virus at a hospital in the eastern Saudi province of al-Ahsaa on May 13, 2013. AFP PHOTO/STRRIYADH: Panic gripped Saudis in the country’s east on Monday, where most cases of the deadly Coronavirus have been detected, witnesses said, as the death toll from the SARS-like virus in the kingdom hit 15.

Scores of people have reported to the emergency services at hospitals in the city of Al-Ahsa in Eastern Province, after showing even the slightest signs of a fever.

“I felt the symptoms of a cold, accompanied by a fever,” a young man told AFP by telephone from one hospital where he was admitted and placed in quarantine.

“I came to hospital. The symptoms disappeared by the end of the day, but I am still kept in a quarantine with other patients, which scares me,” he said, asking to remain anonymous.

All cases admitted to hospitals in Al-Ahsa region have been placed in isolation, Saudi authorities said.

Fifteen of the 24 people who have contracted the Coronavirus in Saudi Arabia Since August have died, the kingdom’s health minister Abdullah al-Rabia said on Sunday.

A total of 13 cases have been detected in the King Fahd hospital, in Al-Ahsa.

The minister said on Sunday that three new suspected cases had been identified.

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Virologist: Coronavirus will cause an epidemic but docs are better prepared this time

May 13, 2013 11:21 am by

novel coronavirus (NCoV)

CAIRO (Reuters) – The doctor who discovered a new SARS-like virus says it will probably trigger an epidemic at some point, but not necessarily in its current virulent form.

The new strain of coronavirus (nCoV) that Ali Mohamed Zaki found last year, related to one that caused the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, has killed at least 18 people in the Middle East and Europe.

On Sunday, the World Health Organization said it seemed likely the new virus, which can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia, could be passed between humans, but only after prolonged, close contact.

Zaki, an Egyptian virologist who identified the new virus last June in a patient at the hospital where he was working in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, noted in a telephone interview on Monday that no one else at that hospital had been infected at the time.

More recently, there has been a cluster of cases in a hospital in Hofuf in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern province, as well as a case of transmission between two patients sharing a hospital room in France.

Zaki, now working at Ain Shams university in Cairo, said the virus was probably mutating. “From what is going on, it seems it is going step-by-step to become more easily transmitted,” he told Reuters.

But he said doctors and authorities were in a better position to deal with an outbreak than they had been with SARS because the new virus had been identified relatively early:

“Now we have the virus before the epidemic happened – and I think it will happen – and we have tools to diagnose it.”

LESSONS OF SARS

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Biological Hazard – Ireland, Co Donegal, Dunfanaghy [New Lake] : Veterinary scientists in the Republic are examining the possibility that bird flu may have killed over 30 swans at a Co Donegal lake.

Filed under: Biological Hazard, Disaster Management, Diseases, Earth Watch Report, Global Disaster Watch — Leave a comment
May 12, 2013

Earth Watch Report  -  Biological  Hazards

bird flu may have killed over 30 swans at a Co Donegal lake. b photo birdflumayhavekilledover30swansataCoDonegallakeb_zps118caea4.jpg
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11.05.2013 Biological Hazard Ireland Co Donegal, Dunfanaghy [New Lake] Damage level Details

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Biological Hazard in Ireland on Saturday, 11 May, 2013 at 10:00 (10:00 AM) UTC.

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Veterinary scientists in the Republic are examining the possibility that bird flu may have killed over 30 swans at a Co Donegal lake. Just a few miles from Dunfanaghy a wildlife haven called the New Lake is the permanent homes to scores of swans. It’s normally a safe haven, however, now investigations are underway to determine how a number of the swans have died. In recent days 33 swans have been recovered from the waters of the lake. It’s thought they may have died over a four week period. The dead animals have been collected by the Republic’s National Parks and Wildlife Service and samples have been sent to veterinary laboratories for testing. A number of sick swans have also been rescued by the park service. It’s also emerged that tests are being carried out at another lake following the discovery of more dead animals. Poisoning or water pollution is being considered as a cause of the deaths. However, bird flu hasn’t been ruled out much to the concern of residents living along the shoreline. Because of those concerns around what has caused the deaths, the public are being warned that if they find a dead swan not to lift it or touch it.
Biohazard name: Mass. Die-off (swans)
Biohazard level: 4/4 Hazardous
Biohazard desc.: Viruses and bacteria that cause severe to fatal disease in humans, and for which vaccines or other treatments are not available, such as Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, H5N1(bird flu), Dengue hemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, hantaviruses, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and other hemorrhagic or unidentified diseases. When dealing with biological hazards at this level the use of a Hazmat suit and a self-contained oxygen supply is mandatory. The entrance and exit of a Level Four biolab will contain multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, autonomous detection system, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all traces of the biohazard. Multiple airlocks are employed and are electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time. All air and water service going to and coming from a Biosafety Level 4 (P4) lab will undergo similar decontamination procedures to eliminate the possibility of an accidental release.
Symptoms: Susp. H5N1 (highly pathogenic avian influenza)
Status: suspected

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bird flu may have killed over 30 swans at a Co Donegal lake. photo birdflumayhavekilledover30swansataCoDonegallake_zps329ce5cd.jpg

Possible bird flu link to swan deaths

Published Friday, 10 May 2013

Veterinary scientists in the Republic are examining the possibility that bird flu may have killed over 30 swans at a Co Donegal lake.

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Just a few miles from Dunfanaghy a wildlife haven called the New Lake is the permanent homes to scores of swans.

It’s normally a safe haven, however, now investigations are underway to determine how a number of the swans have died.

In recent days 33 swans have been recovered from the waters of the lake. It’s thought they may have died over a four week period.

The dead animals have been collected by the Republic’s National Parks and Wildlife Service and samples have been sent to veterinary laboratories for testing.

 

Read Full Article  and  Watch  Video  Here

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