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Avian flu - the ecology of an epidemic

After several years of intense analysis and debate, how much do you really know about H5N1, commonly known as bird flu? If you are like most people you have probably, at some point in the narrative, confused the actual bird disease with the theoretical human one. Like many people you may have been distracted from the process of examining the origins of the outbreak among poultry by predictions of the imminent annihilation of the human race. Yet it is only by examining the ecology of avian influenza that we can begin to understand where we are now and here the disease might be going in the future. (Pat Thomas, Ecologist, 1 December 2005)

http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=541

(Added: Mon Feb 12 2007   Hits: 59)

Avian Influenza - Review of the Consolidated Action Plan for Contributions of the UN System and Partners (UNCAPAHI)

This report, produced by the United Nations System Influenza Coordination (UNSIC), examines the current strategies used by the UN system to control highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The report pinpoints gaps in the current UN system response to avian flu and shows ways in which the gaps will be filled, sometimes through changes in the agencies' activities.

http://un-influenza.org/files/UNCAPAHIREVIEW2007.pdf

(Added: Thu Jan 10 2008   Hits: 19)

Central African Republic: Scramble to contain meningitis epidemic

Aid agencies and the authorities in the Central African Republic (CAR) have joined forces to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of people at risk of meningitis in the northwest of the country. (13 February 2008 (IRIN))

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76711

(Added: Mon Feb 18 2008   Hits: 17)

Cumulative Number of Reported Probable Cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) - WHO

A tabulated report showing: Country, Cumulative number of case(s), Number of new cases since last WHO update, Final status/ Number of deaths, Final status/ Number recovered, Local chain(s) of transmission, Date of last report. Nb. As SARS is a diagnosis of exclusion, the status of a reported case may change over time. This means that previously reported cases may be discarded after further investigation and follow-up.

http://www.who.int/entity/csr/sarscountry/2003_04_29/en

(Added: Wed Apr 30 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 154)

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) : Cholera outbreak spreads in Katanga

A cholera outbreak in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) province of Katanga has spread, despite efforts to bring the epidemic under control. (IRIN, 12 February 2008)

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76699

(Added: Mon Feb 18 2008   Hits: 21)

Dengue Fever: Growing Threat Rivals Malaria, Ebola, Experts Say

Formerly under control in some parts of the world, the mosquito-borne disease has made a rapid resurgence in recent decades. Programs to elimate mosquito-breeding sites went by the wayside in the 1970s. The disease's rise also mirrors unprecedented growth in urban and suburban areas, where it is most common. (Brian Handwerk, National Geographic News, 18 October 2006)

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061018-dengue-fever.html

(Added: Tue Oct 24 2006   Hits: 55)

GAVI Alliance

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization aims to widen access to children's vaccines. Our focus is on a selected list of vaccines that could make a major impact on global disease burden if they were universally available. In this section, we provide basic information about the diseases and vaccines and links to other sites.

http://www.gavialliance.org/

(Added: Tue Nov 12 2002   Modified: Wed Jan 10 2007   Hits: 258)

Guidance for Mass Gathering Events: hosting persons arriving from an area with recent local transmis

15 May, World Health Organisation (WHO). According to the information now available, only persons with symptoms are contagious and can transmit the disease, and close contact is required for transmission. Close contact means having cared for, lived with, or had direct contact with respiratory secretions or body fluids of a suspect or probable case of SARS. WHO recommends that those hosting persons arriving from an area with recent local transmission of SARS follow the following principles ...

http://www.who.int/csr/sars/guidelines/gatherings/en/

(Added: Sat May 17 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 130)

Laboratory Testing for SARS - the network.

WHO collaborative multi-centre research project on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) diagnosis. On 17 March 2003, WHO called upon 11 laboratories in 9 countries to join a collaborative multi-center research project on SARS diagnosis. This network takes advantage of modern communication technologies (e-mail; secure web site) to share outcomes of investigation of clinical samples from SARS cases in real time. Daily assessment of research results supports immediate refinement of investigative strategies and permits instant validation of laboratory findings. Network members share on the secure WHO web site electron microscopic pictures of viruses, sequences of genetic material for virus identification and characterization, virus isolates, various samples from patients and post-mortem tissues. Samples from one and the same patient can be analysed in parallel in several laboratories and results shared in real time. This network joins the intellectual resources of leading laboratories worldwide for a common goal: the detection of the SARS agent and the development of a diagnostic test.

http://www.who.int/csr/sars/project/en/

(Added: Wed Apr 30 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 148)

Major Issues and Challenges of Influenza Pandemic Preparedness in Developing Countries [pdf]

According to this article based on the premise that better preparedness for an influenza pandemic mitigates its impact, many countries have started developing and implementing national influenza pandemic preparedness plans. However, the level of preparedness varies among countries. (by Hitoshi Oshitani et. al, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan, June 2008)

http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/14/6/pdfs/07-0839.pdf

(Added: Mon May 05 2008   Hits: 4)

Map of Pandemic Risk

This interactive map uses information from the United Nations and the World Health Organisation to rate countries' pandemic risk index and capacity to contain outbreak. It also details what corporations are doing from country to country to assist in minimizing the potential impact of a pandemic.

http://maps.maplecroft.com/loadmap?template=map&issueID=56

(Added: Mon Mar 27 2006   Hits: 102)

PARAGUAY: Dengue Alert

As health authorities in Paraguay brace themselves to face another possible outbreak of dengue fever, critics are becoming more outspoken about the limited effectiveness of campaigns to prevent the disease, which affected over 28,000 people and caused 17 deaths in 2007. (IPS, 6 February 2008)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41093

(Added: Mon Feb 11 2008   Hits: 15)

SARS and poverty - the missing argument

Robert Walgate, 2 - 5 - 2003 (OpenDemocracy). The World Health Organisation has been criticised for excessive caution over outbreaks of Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in Canada and elsewhere. But, argues Robert Walgate in an investigation of the key players, their action is entirely justified. The great remaining concern is not for countries with adequate health systems, but for what would happen if the virus runs loose in the poorest developing countries.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/node/1201

(Added: Tue May 06 2003   Modified: Fri Mar 28 2008   Hits: 251)

SARS Watch

Asia Recovery Information Center's website on SARS

http://aric.adb.org/sars/sarswatch.asp

(Added: Wed May 14 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 234)

SARS, AIDS, and Public Health

Christina Zarowsky, June 20, 2003 (IDRC Viewpoint). For most of the past century, the spread of mysterious, frightening infectious diseases is something that's occurred mostly in poorer parts of the planet. Enter Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which has suddenly put Canada on the same plane - in the eyes of much of the world - as rural China. Tragic as it has been, Canada's experience of SARS has a potentially positive outgrowth. It can drive home some critical lessons about public health that many developing countries have paid dearly to learn.

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-32213-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

(Added: Tue Jul 08 2003   Modified: Tue Sep 26 2006   Hits: 222)

SARS: Economic Impacts and Implications

Some positive developments and improved public health measures in recent weeks have added weight to arguments that SARS, although serious, will cause only a temporary shock to economic growth. However, the implications stemming from SARS extend beyond the short-term horizon. The impact of SARS, and reactions to it, raise many questions. Two are particularly important: (i) Why has attention to SARS been so prominent given its relatively low morbidity and mortality? (ii) How should governments deal with unexpected shocks related to the outbreak of contagious diseases?

http://www.adb.org/Documents/EDRC/Policy_Briefs/PB015.pdf

(Added: Wed May 14 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 135)

SciDev.Net resource: bird flu and developing countries

The H5N1 bird flu virus is spreading, and the human flu pandemic it could trigger will hit developing countries the hardest. In response to this, SciDev.Net has created a new dossier, which will be regularly updated with news, features, opinions and editorials focusing on the spread of the H5N1 virus, and efforts to prepare for a human flu pandemic. The dossier contains the internet's most comprehensive bird flu glossary and links to relevant reports, articles, websites and organizations, including free access to the latest relevant research papers appearing in the journals Science and Nature. (SciDev.Net, 4 May 2006)

http://www.scidev.net/birdflu

(Added: Fri May 05 2006   Hits: 81)

Travel Advisories: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

http://www.who.int/csr/sars/travel/en/

(Added: Wed Apr 30 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 169)

USA's Centre for Disease Control (CDC) on SARS

For: Clinicians , Other (than English) Languages, Patients & Their Close Contacts, Schools. Features: Diagnosis/Evaluation, Infection Control & Exposure Management, Laboratory & Specimens MMWR mGuide, Quarantine, Reporting, Training & Reference Materials, Transport of Patients, Travel Treatment, WHO & Other Related Sites. Features: Diagnosis/Evaluation, Infection Control & Exposure Management, Laboratory & Specimens MMWR mGuide, Quarantine, Reporting

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/

(Added: Wed Apr 30 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 160)

Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) from WHO

This bulletin serves as an essential instrument for the rapid and accurate dissemination of epidemiological information on cases and outbreaks of diseases under the International Health Regulations and on other communicable diseases of public health importance, including the newly emerging or re-emerging infections. The WER is distributed every Friday in a bilingual English/French edition. The electronic edition is free of charge. An E.Mail subscription service exists, which provides by electronic mail the table of contents of the WER, together with other short epidemiological bulletins . To subscribe, send a message to majordomo@who.ch. The subject field should be left blank and the body of the message should contain only the line subscribe wer-reh

http://www.who.int/wer/index.html#WER

(Added: Wed Apr 30 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 132)

WEST AFRICA: WHO warns meningitis outbreak has begun in region

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed outbreaks of the deadly meningitis bacterium in three West African countries, marking the start of what experts have warned might be the worst meningitis epidemic to hit Africa in a decade. (IRIN, 17 January 2008)

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76303

(Added: Mon Jan 28 2008   Hits: 27)

WHO Communicable Disease Surveillance & Response (CSR): SARS Updates

The latest and past updates from the World Health Organistion on SARS.

http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/

(Added: Wed Apr 30 2003   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 177)