The entire United States is on fire with the flu. Looking at either the CDC Flu Weekly or the Google Flu Trends map will tell you that however CDC lab value data suggests that perhaps the flu has peaked. The synopsis from the CDC for “week two” notes that influenza activity remained elevated in the United States, but decreased in some areas. During week 2 (January 6-12), Viral Surveillance: Of 12,360 specimens tested and reported by [...]
First Death in US Due to New Variant Swine Flu Strain. This Is Due to Pig to Human Transmission at Fairs. Hygiene Counts…Really!
Zoonotic infections…What are those you say?!?!? A zoonotic disease is an infection that is naturally transmitted from vertebrate animals to human beings. Pigs have been the source of significant zoonotic infections of humans, including like this one, a fatal case of “swine influenza” attributed to the swine influenza virus. State health officials in Ohio reported the first human death from this new variant strain of swine flu on August 31. Federal health officials confirmed the [...]
Scary diseases close up…watching the EV-71 (Hand, foot, and mouth disease) outbreak from the border…
I am working in SE Asia for the next ten days conducting pandemic flu exercises with the culprit being H5N1. Currently I am in Thailand. It has been most interesting and a bit disturbing to read of the deaths of young children in Cambodia and the uncertainty as to the cause. It is with some relief that the cause has been determined. Health officials are now reporting that a deadly form of a common childhood [...]
