Global & Disaster Medicine

Archive for April, 2019

A 21-year old student died last week of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).

The International News

‘…..“A 21-year old student from Orangi Town, Anas Aslam, was brought to JPMC with high-grade fever and other complaints. Doctors suspected meningitis and the patient was shifted to ICU on deterioration in his health. He died yesterday [Friday] due to complications of the disease,” JPMC Executive Director Dr Seemin Jamali told The News on Saturday.

Dr Jamali said they had sent the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for analysis and the laboratory report confirmed that the young patient was infected with the lethal Naegleria fowleri infection…….’

Naegleria fowleri banner - trophs under a microscope with contrast

 

 


Floods and a humanitarian crisis: 25 out of 31 of Iran’s provinces have been affected. Officials say say 76 people have been killed so far, with some 150,000 homes partially or completely destroyed. Bridges across the country and miles upon miles of road have been left unusable.

NBC

 


A “brand-new type of terrorism:” At least 290 people are now known to have died in a coordinated attack on churches and hotels on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka.

CNN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7dwA3EZGeg

 


Sri Lanka blocks Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and the messaging apps WhatsApp and Viber

CNN


luxury hotels and churches across Sri Lanka were bombed with at least 140 dead and about 600 injured.

CNN

Here’s the full list of blast sites reported so far:
  • St Anthony’s Shrine, Kochchikade
  • St Sebastian’s Church, Negombo
  • Zion Church, Batticaloa
  • Cinnamon Grand, Colombo
  • Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo
  • The Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo
  • Near Dehiwala Zoo in Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia
  • A house in Mahawila Gardens, Dematagoda

“…….Christianity is a minority religion in Sri Lanka, accounting for less than 10% of the total population of 21.4 million.

According to census data, 70.2% of Sri Lankans identify as Buddhist, 12% Hindu, 9.7% Muslim, and 7.4% Christian.
It is estimated that 82% of Sri Lankan Christians are Roman Catholic……”

Up to six explosions have been reported at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka as Christians celebrate Easter. Twenty possibly dead and at least 160 wounded

BBC

Reuters

              Locator Map for Sri Lanka

“…..at least 80 people had been admitted to hospital in the capital, Colombo…….”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9O4ri4xCY4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA3oyHtrkyA

 


Hurricane Michael, which barreled into the Florida Panhandle in October, was actually a Category 5 storm when it hit the coast

NHC

Michael Overview


4/20/1999: At approximately 11:19 a.m., Dylan Klebold, 18, and Eric Harris, 17, dressed in trench coats, began shooting students outside the school before moving inside to continue their rampage. By 11:35 a.m., Klebold and Harris had killed 12 fellow students and a teacher and wounded another 23 people.

HxC


Inequities in cervical cancer care in indigenous Peruvian women (about 25% of Peru’s population is indigenous)

Lancet

Volume 7, ISSUE 5, Pe556-e557, May 01, 2019
Inequities in cervical cancer care in indigenous Peruvian women
May, 2019
“…Lima, is home to the country’s National Institute of Cancer (INEN) and has substantially lower rates of cervical cancer than elsewhere in the country, partially due to higher socioeconomic status and better access to screening and specialised care./…..”
“…..When informed she must travel to INEN for care, a patient from the Andean region told us: “I started crying, begging the doctors, ‘I don’t even have enough money to eat. I don’t have a job. How am I going to travel to Lima where I don’t even have family to stay with?’”

Similar to several participants, a woman from the Amazon region, who had SIS and was referred to INEN for free care, did not have the means to travel and sought local traditional herbal remedies, remaining in pain for over a year without treatment. Of the women who were able to travel to Lima, finding accommodation was a substantial barrier to care…….”

EWARS-in-a-Box: An early warning alert and response system for Mozambique

AfricaNews

“……EWARS in a box is a custom-built solution designed for use in difficult field conditions, such as following a natural disaster or in a conflict. Each box contains 60 mobile phones, laptops and a local server to collect, report and manage disease data. A solar generator and solar chargers allow the phones and laptops to function without 24-hour electricity. A single kit costs approximately US$15 000 and can support surveillance for 50 fixed or mobile clinics serving roughly 500 000 people.

Each health site receives a mobile phone loaded with a custom-developed disease reporting application that allows health workers to enter information when they see a patient with symptoms of one of 8 priority diseases or conditions. These are acute watery diarrhoea, acute bloody diarrhoea, cholera, measles, acute flaccid paralysis (which could indicate polio), fever, malaria and jaundice.

This information is sent immediately to a central system, where the data is used to generate real-time reports that enable a rapid response to diseases before they have time to spread……”

World Health Organization (WHO)


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