1/11/98- US influenza/ China birds / Ontario meningitis/ Uganda / Congo
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Los Angeles, CA (US) - California hospital emergency departments are
recording significant increases in patient visits, well over 30% this year
compared to last, due to influenza.
The Los Angeles County Disease Control Department has called the
situation (quote)"The first flu epidemic in more than two decades."(endq)
According to Dr. Shirley Fannin of the CDC, it appears that a new
strain of influenzavirus A may be responsible.
Influenza immunizations were formulated to protect against
influenzavirus A/Wuhan, but it may be a second strain, influenzavirus
A/Sydney, that is the cause of the significant increase in cases.
A California Emergency Physicians spokesperson encouraged people w/
serious "flu" symptoms to seek treatment, as it could be the initial signs
of a true emergency medical condition.
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New Orleans, LA (US) - The State Epidemiologist, Louise MacFarland, said
there has been widespread flu, identified as H3N2/Sydney, for a month in
the state, especially severe in New Orleans & Baton Rouge - but nowhere
near the number of cases coming out of California.
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Beijing, CHINA - China has blamed a mass die-off in late 1996 to April
1997 of nearly 2 million chickens on "farmer error", not 'bird flu'.
This contradicts a statement, by a WHO official, last week that the
chickens died as a result of the avian-flu, which was later seen in Hong
Kong. (In the original article, posted in earlier reports, the official
linked imported Chinese fowl to the carrying of 'bird flu' to H.K.)
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Clarington, ONTARIO (Canada) - An elementary school aged boy is recovering
from a variation of meningitis, which killed two & hospitalized four
others in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.
Officials said the boy's disease was similar, but not directly
connected with others in Ontario.
However, on Wednesday in Mississauga, west of Toronto, a man who was in
the Kitchener-Waterloo area over the holidays was diagnosed with the same
form of meningitis as the other six infected people.
Clinics have been operating this week, in Kitchener-Waterloo, to
vaccinate anybody not in town during the mass innoculation in the last two
weeks. (Mostly students & others away for the holidays.)
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Kampala, UGANDA - As of Friday, Ministry of Health records indicated that
4,005 cases of cholera, with up to 185 fatalities, have been reported
since the outbreak began one month ago.
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Pointe-Noire, CONGO - An epidemic of diarrhea has killed 74 people in this
southwestern area, out of 243 cases reported since the end of November.
As of Friday, health officials were still trying to determine the cause
of the epidemic, local radio reported. (Radio reports picked up across the
border.)
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(L.A.C.D.C., Healthwire, UPI, Reuters)
