Archive for February, 2019
North Macedonia: A bus carrying workers crashed into a ravine outside Skopje Wednesday, killing 14 people and injuring about 30
Friday, February 15th, 2019“…………Venko Filipce, the newly renamed European nation’s health minister, said seven people were pronounced dead at the scene and the rest died after being taken to a hospital. Six of those injured had life-threatening conditions…..
The bus was carrying about 50 people when it veered off a highway linking Skopje with…. Tetovo and plunged 10 meters (30 feet) into a small ravine, landing upside down. The cause of the crash…wasn’t yet known…..”
Allegedly: A third man suspected of involvement in the nerve agent poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in England last year is a high-ranking Russian military intelligence agent
Friday, February 15th, 2019‘……Bellingcat [investigative website] said it had identified a third Russian agent who was also in Britain at the time and was suspected of being involved.
“Bellingcat can now reveal the true identity and background of this GRU officer, who operated internationally under the cover persona of Sergey Vyachaeslavovich Fedotov,” it said.
“In fact, this person is Denis Vyacheslavovich Sergeev, a high-ranking GRU officer and a graduate of Russia’s Military Diplomatic Academy.”…..’
Kashmir: An attack on a convoy of Indian soldiers killed 37 and wounded five
Friday, February 15th, 2019
Parkland, 2/14/2018: 17 dead, 17 injured
Thursday, February 14th, 2019“……Anthony Borges, 16
The five bullet wounds he took as he barricaded a classroom door to protect other students have healed, remarkably. But his recovery is far from over. And the prospect of being asked to testify in court looms in the future……..
Anna Crean, 16
Now a sophomore, she was inside the freshman building where the shooting took place. Her lab partner, Alyssa Alhadeff, was killed. So were two of her creative-writing classmates. During the interview, loud squawks from birds flying overhead made her jumpy……..
Lt. Nicholas Mazzei, 46, and Capt. Brad Mock, 43
The Coral Springs police officers — who have been friends for more than 25 years — were among the first emergency personnel to enter the freshman building. Their counterparts at the Broward Sheriff’s Office were criticized for failing to try to confront the gunman……..
Jammal Lemy, 21
The 2017 Stoneman Douglas graduate co-founded the March for Our Lives organization after the shooting, though he is not among the group’s well-known leaders. He left college to help with merchandising, but became the organization’s creative director after he designed a T-shirt that could be scanned with a cellphone to register someone to vote…….
Tori Gonzalez, 18
She’s a senior whose boyfriend, Joaquin Oliver, known as Guac, was killed in the shooting, months before he was expected to graduate. Only in December did she take what she considered the first step toward healing: planting a memorial garden at the school to commemorate the lives lost. She keeps the flowers Joaquin gave her last Valentine’s Day—his “last act of love,” she calls them— in a vase. ………
Manuel Oliver, 51, and Patricia Oliver, 52
Like many other parents, Joaquin Oliver’s mother and father have become dedicated activists since their son’s death. One of them was elected to the local school board. While the families don’t all share the same political views, they stay in touch and occasionally meet, knowing they are bound by the pain of losing a child…….
Sarah Lerner, 38
An English and journalism teacher and yearbook adviser at Stoneman Douglas, she compiled stories from shooting survivors into a book. Two of her students, Jaime Guttenberg and Meadow Pollack, were killed…….”
An enhanced-delivery anthrax vaccine formulation
Thursday, February 14th, 2019A truck bomb attack on a bus carrying members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, killed 27 Guards and wounded 13
Thursday, February 14th, 2019Yellow fever – Brazil: From December 2018 through January 2019, 361 confirmed human cases, including eight deaths, have been reported in 11 municipalities of two states of Brazil.
Wednesday, February 13th, 2019Brazil is currently in the seasonal period for yellow fever, which occurs from December through May. The expansion of the historical area of yellow fever transmission to areas in the south-east of the country in areas along the Atlantic coast previously considered risk-free led to two waves of transmission (Figure 1). One during the 2016–2017 seasonal period, with 778 human cases, including 262 deaths, and another during the 2017–2018 seasonal period, with 1376 human cases, including 483 deaths.
From December 2018 through January 2019, 361 confirmed human cases, including eight deaths, have been reported in 11 municipalities of two states of Brazil. In the southern part of São Paulo state, seven municipalities:El dorado (16 cases), Jacupiranga (1 case), Iporanga (7 cases), Cananeia (3 cases), Cajati (2), Pariquera-Açu (1), and Sete Barras (1) reported confirmed cases. In the same state, additional cases in Vargem (1) and Serra Negra (1) municipalities were confirmed on the border with Minas Gerais State. Additionally, two cases have been confirmed in the municipalities of Antonina and Adrianópolis, located in the eastern part of Paraná State. These are the first confirmed yellow fever cases reported since 2015 from Paraná, a populous state with an international border. Among these confirmed cases, 89% (32/36) are male, the median age is 43 years, and at least 64% (23/36) are rural workers.
Human cases reported so far during the current 2018–2019 period (July 2018 to Jan 2019) in nine municipalities in São Paulo State, as well as the confirmation of human cases and epizootic due to yellow fever in the state of Paraná, mark the beginning of what could be a third wave and a progression of the outbreak towards the Southeast and South regions of the country (Figure 2). While too early to determine if this year will show the high numbers of human cases observed in the last two large seasonal peaks, there is indication that the virus transmission is continuing to spread in a southerly direction and in areas with low population immunity.
Measles in the Philippines: from 1 January to 9 February this year, a total of 4,302 measles cases have been reported, with 70 deaths.
Wednesday, February 13th, 2019
The Department of Health (DOH) today points to vaccine hesitancy as one of the reasons for the recent measles outbreak in some regions of the country.
Validated data from different regions of the country by the Epidemiology Bureau of DoH revealed that from 1 January to 9 February this year, a total of 4,302 measles cases have been reported, with 70 deaths.
Ages of cases ranged from 1 month up to 75 years old with 1 to 4 years old (34%) followed by less than 9 months old (27%) as the most affected age-groups. Sixty-six percent of them had no history of vaccination against measles.
Of the total deaths, ages ranged from one month to 31 years old. Notably, 79% of those who died had no history of vaccination.
Regions with high reported cases are NCR (1,296 cases and 18 deaths) CALABARZON (1,086 cases and 25 deaths), Central Luzon (481 cases with 3 deaths), Western Visayas (212 cases and 4 deaths) and Northern Mindanao (189 cases and 2 deaths).
Eastern Visayas, MIMAROPA, CALABARZON, Central Visayas and Bicol are regions that have shown increasing trend as to reported cases for this week.
Vaccine hesitancy refers to delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of vaccination services.
The causes of measles outbreak involved a number of factors or elements. Loss of public confidence and trust in vaccines in the immunization program brought about by the Dengvaxia controversy has been documented as one of many factors that contributed to vaccine hesitancy in the country. This refers to mothers who became hesitant to have their children vaccinated with vaccines that were long proven to be effective.
On October 2018, the World Health Organization conducted a study in selected areas in Metro Manila to identify reasons for not bringing their children for immunization. The top reasons are the following: fear due to Dengvaxia, and the lack of time among households.
Moreover, results of the vaccine confidence project in 2015 against 2018 by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on the respondents’ views that vaccines are important decreased from 93% to 32%; safe and effective from 82% down to 21% and vaccine confidence dropped from 93 to 32% respectively.
DOH has been conducting vaccination activities against measles such as Outbreak Immunization Responses (ORI) in several regions. This was followed by a nationwide Supplemental Immunization Activity (SIA) for 6 to 59 months old which was conducted in 2 phases – in April 2018 (NCR and Mindanao) and in September 2018 (other parts of Luzon and Visayas). Despite the efforts of health workers, the SIA campaign had achieved a coverage of 69% during Phase 1 of implementation and 29% in Phase 2.
“I appeal to the public to rebuild your trust and confidence in vaccines that were long proven to be effective, and I am quite sure that all of us sometime in our lives have been recipients of these vaccines which had protected us from various diseases,” Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III concluded.
US: Measles Cases in 2019
Wednesday, February 13th, 2019Measles Cases in 2019
From January 1 to February 7, 2019, 101** individual cases of measles have been confirmed in 10 states.
The states that have reported cases to CDC are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.
*Cases as of December 29, 2018. Case count is preliminary and subject to change.
**Cases as of February 7, 2019. Case count is preliminary and subject to change. Data are updated weekly.
Measles Outbreaks in 2019
Five outbreaks (defined as 3 or more cases) have been reported in 2019 in the following jurisdictions:
These outbreaks are linked to travelers who brought measles back from other countries such as Israel and Ukraine, where large measles outbreaks are occurring. Make sure you are vaccinated against measles before traveling internationally.
Spread of Measles
- The majority of people who got measles were unvaccinated.
- Measles is still common in many parts of the world including some countries in Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and Africa.
- Travelers with measles continue to bring the disease into the U.S.
- Measles can spread when it reaches a community in the U.S. where groups of people are unvaccinated.
Measles Outbreaks
In a given year, more measles cases can occur for any of the following reasons:
- an increase in the number of travelers who get measles abroad and bring it into the U.S., and/or
- further spread of measles in U.S. communities with pockets of unvaccinated people.
Reasons for an increase in cases some years:
- 2018: The U.S. experienced 17 outbreaks in 2018, including three outbreaks in New York State, New York City, and New Jersey, respectively. Cases in those states occurred primarily among unvaccinated people in Orthodox Jewish communities. These outbreaks were associated with travelers who brought measles back from Israel, where a large outbreak is occurring. Eighty-two people brought measles to the U.S. from other countries in 2018. This is the greatest number of imported cases since measles was eliminated from the U.S. in 2000.
- 2017: A 75-case outbreak was reported in Minnesota in a Somali-American community with poor vaccination coverage.
- 2015: The United States experienced a large (147 cases), multi-state measles outbreak linked to an amusement park in California. The outbreak likely started from a traveler who became infected overseas with measles, then visited the amusement park while infectious; however, no source was identified. Analysis by CDC scientists showed that the measles virus type in this outbreak (B3) was identical to the virus type that caused the large measles outbreak in the Philippines in 2014.
- 2014: The U.S. experienced 23 measles outbreaks in 2014, including one large outbreak of 383 cases, occurring primarily among unvaccinated Amish communities in Ohio. Many of the cases in the U.S. in 2014 were associated with cases brought in from the Philippines, which experienced a large measles outbreak.
- 2013: The U.S. experienced 11 outbreaks in 2013, three of which had more than 20 cases, including an outbreak with 58 cases. For more information see Measles — United States, January 1-August 24, 2013.
- 2011: In 2011, more than 30 countries in the WHO European Region reported an increase in measles, and France was experiencing a large outbreak. These led to a large number of importations (80) that year. Most of the cases that were brought to the U.S. in 2011 came from France. For more information see Measles — United States, January-May 20, 2011.
- 2008: The increase in cases in 2008 was the result of spread in communities with groups of unvaccinated people. The U.S. experienced several outbreaks in 2008 including three large outbreaks. For more information see Update: Measles — United States, January–July 2008.
See also: The Surveillance Manual chapter on measles that describes case investigation, outbreak investigation, and outbreak control for additional information.