AVMS

Press Release 1
 

News from around the world:

From the August 2004 AVMS News Letter

West Nile victims can sue Ontario: judge

TORONTO - An Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled that a group of Ontario residents who contracted the West Nile virus in 2002 can sue the government for the way it handled the outbreak. 

About 45 families of the victims have been looking for the right to sue provincial public-health agencies for not acting fast enough to stem the spread of West Nile two years ago. 

A lawyer for the families has argued that a plan was developed in 2001 to deal with the virus, but the government failed to implement the plan the following year.

"We've got people who have died, we've got people who are going to be spending the rest of their lives in wheelchairs," Douglas Elliott said. "When you realize that the government could have prevented their infection, well they're angry, frankly. The least the government can do in these circumstances is be held accountable."

The suit, which was launched last summer, argues that the province laid off public-health-testing officials, publicly downplayed the risk of West Nile virus, and failed to institute larvicide programs.

"The fact is that the government did a poor job in all areas," Elliott said.

The province had argued in court that it could not be held accountable for the impact of emerging diseases. The judge dismissed that argument on Friday.

Elliott said the total value of the claims could reach more than $70 million.

Mosquito control steps up spraying; West Nile virus increase found in St. Tammany

St. Tammany Parish mosquito-control authorities have stepped up aerial and ground pesticide spraying in response to the recent dramatic increase in the presence of West Nile virus in mosquito samples and dead birds in the parish.

During the past two weeks, 19 mosquito pools, or samples, across the parish and 11 dead birds mainly from west St. Tammany have tested positive for the potentially deadly virus, Mosquito Abatement Director Chuck Palmisano said Monday.

Larviciding operations, primarily with larvae-killing briquettes, appear to be controlling the Southern house mosquito population. This species is the key vector for spreading West Nile. It breeds mainly in polluted water in roadside ditches.

False email reports

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has received several inquiries about an e-mail report of a stock clerk who became infected with hantavirus while working in a storeroom. According to the e-mail message, the infection resulted from exposure to dried rodent droppings that were contaminated with hantavirus. The e-mail message warns the reader to take precautions when handling items such as soda cans and grocery packages (for example, cereal boxes) because they may be contaminated with hantavirus.

The e-mail report is untrue. CDC could not substantiate this report of a hantavirus infection, nor has CDC been asked to participate in an investigation of the incident described in the e-mail.

Hantaviruses can cause a serious, often life-threatening disease called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, or HPS. The viruses are carried by certain species of mice and can be spread to humans by exposure to virus-contaminated rodent droppings, urine, or saliva.

For more information about hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and ways to reduce the risk for exposure to hantaviruses, please refer to the CDC All About Hantavirus Web site.

Researchers: Flick -- Don't Squash -- Mosquitoes

A mosquito bite has a better chance of becoming infected if you squash the bloodsucking insect while it's stinging you than if you simply flick it off, according to an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The article focuses on the case of a 57-year-old Pennsylvania woman who died two years ago of a mosquito-borne muscular fungal infection called Brachiola algerae, according to the Associated Press.

The article's authors, including Christina Coyle of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, concluded that the victim must have smashed the bug on her skin, forcing some of its infected body parts into the bite.

The suggestion to flick the insect in mid-bite is similar to the long standing advice for tick-bite victims, the AP pointed out.

The new advice isn't without its critics, however. Roger Nasci, an expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says he doesn't see the scientific proof that flicking will do any better than squashing. And because flicking probably won't kill the mosquito, it may go on to bite you again, he notes.

New mosquito disease deadlier than West Nile

As if West Nile virus wasn't bad enough, now U.S. health officials are on the lookout for another mosquito-borne disease, fearing it could become a permanent part of the American landscape if it entered the country.

Rift Valley fever, which originated in Africa, is the only disease at the top of both human health and agriculture lists of dangerous diseases.

The virus can kill people, with a near 1 percent mortality rate, making it deadlier than West Nile. But Rift Valley poses a greater threat to cattle and sheep.

It kills up to 30 percent of the livestock it infects and if it were found in animals here, it would probably prompt livestock bans by other countries.

"This is not a disease that occurs here now, but we want to make sure people are aware of the signs and symptoms," said Dr. Thomas Ksiazek, chief of the special pathogens branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The medical and public health community need to be mindful of it."

Most people get a flu-like illness when infected. Some may develop serious symptoms, including liver or kidney disease, Ksiazek said.

About 14 percent of those seriously ill with Rift Valley fever in previous outbreaks died. West Nile kills about 10 percent of those with serious complications, such as brain inflammation.

The virus is worrisome because at least 30 species of mosquitoes are capable of carrying it from cattle or sheep to humans, far more than the kind of mosquitoes that can carry West Nile. People also can catch it by handling the blood or fluids of an infected animal.

Scientists said that Rift Valley fever was being researched as a possible weapon during the Cold War and showed promise because of its stability in an aerosol form.

Despite the concern, health and agricultural officials have been slow to prepare for Rift Valley, said Dr. Corrie Brown, a professor of veterinary pathology at the University of Georgia and a member of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture's advisory committee for animal and poultry diseases.

"I think people weren't very worried about it until we started to think about agri-terror," Brown said.

The disease could appear here as mysteriously as West Nile, which first showed up as the culprit in the unexplained deaths of birds in New York in 1999.

The virus was first identified in a 1930 sheep outbreak in Kenya's Rift Valley in eastern Africa. For the next 70 years, it remained on the continent, emerging for the first time outside of Africa in outbreaks in Saudi Arabia and Yemen in 2000. In those cases, about 100 people died and 800 became ill.

Luckily, the virus seems to have disappeared, and there have been no new cases there since 2001.

Rift Valley fever is one of several emerging viruses being studied by the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. One focus is better vaccines, since there is no approved vaccine for people or livestock in case of an outbreak, Ksiazek said. The military developed a vaccine that has been approved for testing in people.

"It would really be hard to control this without a vaccine," said Dr. C.J. Peters, director of biodefense at UTMB in Galveston.

Fire ant attacks on patients in nursing homes are an increasing problem

Fire ants are becoming an increasing problem in structures and some are even attacking people.  "Two reports were recent cases, while a computer-assisted search yielded 4 other similar cases of attacks by foraging fire ants in the last 10 years. One patient experienced an anaphylactic reaction and 4 patients died within 1 week of the attack," scientists in the United States reported.  "Ants were usually noted in healthcare facilities days before the attacks. The presence of fire ants around immobile, often cognitively impaired, patients seems to be the primary risk factor for massive fire ant attacks. Healthcare providers and administrators in fire ant endemic areas must be aware that the presence of fire ants in hospitals and nursing homes represents a hazard.  "Fire ant infestation can lead to sting attacks on patients, causing respiratory tract obstruction, worsening of pre-existing medical conditions, or frank anaphylaxis," wrote R.D. Deshazo and colleagues at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.  The researchers noted, "All the attacks reported here have resulted in legal action involving physicians and healthcare facilities."

Bed bugs making a comeback

Those pesky little bedbugs and their nasty bites seem to be making a comeback thanks to international trade and travel. About a quarter of an inch long and lurking undetected in corners, these little creatures stalk their prey, then attack.

"We've seen a tremendous increase over the past several years, and every year it continues to get worse. Bed bugs are back and they're biting us all over," said Gil Bloom, NY Pest Management Association.

Pest control experts say that across the country bed bugs are making a big, itchy comeback. These six legged parasites like to travel.

"Bed bugs can go from point A to point B. They're great hitchhikers and can catch a ride on luggage," said Greg Baumann, National Pest Management Alliance.

They also enjoy feeding on warm-blooded mammals - like humans. Their calling card looks are large red welts on the skin.

"Some people react with mild welts, some other people get a pretty nice sized red spot from bed bugs," said Greg Baumann.  "The important thing is the bed bugs are not going to be coming out in the open. If they are going to infest a bed, they are typically going to be under the mattress in the seams.  They are going to be in baseboards, bed boards, electrical outlets, switches -- any places that there's a tight spot."

Bedbugs aren't dangerous and don't spread disease - but they are resilient. They can hibernate in floorboards for months. Exterminators say they can be eliminated with proper treatment.

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2008 Alabama Vector Management Society
Last modified: 02/04/08