Free or low-cost sources of unstructured information, such as Internet news and online discussion sites, provide detailed local and near real-time data on disease outbreaks, even in countries that lack traditional public health surveillance. To improve public health surveillance and, ultimately, interventions, we examined 3 primary systems that process event-based outbreak information: Global Public Health Intelligence Network, HealthMap, and EpiSPIDER. Despite similarities among them, these systems are highly complementary because they monitor different data types, rely on varying levels of automation and human analysis, and distribute distinct information. Future development should focus on linking these systems more closely to public health practitioners in the field and establishing collaborative networks for alert verification and dissemination. Such development would further establish event-based monitoring as an invaluable public health resource that provides critical context and an alternative to traditional indicator-based outbreak reporting.
India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and mainland China also experienced new outbreaks of H5 N1 influenza in December. During the same period, four new human cases - in Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia - were reported to the World Health Organization. A 16-year-old girl in Egypt and a 2-year-old girl in Indonesia have died.
HMPV infection incidence ranged from 2.2% to 10.5% in outpatient cohorts. Infections were asymptomatic in at least 38.8% of each of these cases. Symptoms when apparent were typical of upper respiratory tract infection.
Health care workers in emergency departments are often carriers of the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), potentially putting patients at risk.
The Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo has declared an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever. As of 26 December, WHO is aware of 34 suspected cases including 9 deaths associated with the ongoing event.
In the UK 164 people have died of variant CJD, which originally came from cows infected with BSE, and all cases to date shared the same version of the prion gene (MM). A new case has a different varian tof the gene (MV). Estimates are that up to 350 people could be affected in this new wave.
Researchers have have discovered a distinctive chemical signature for placental and cerebral malaria which kill hundreds of thousands of young children a year, giving the option of earlier,or more intense treatment in those who need it.
Increased routine measles vaccine coverage implemented during 2000-2007 resulted in a 74% decrease in the estimated number of measles deaths globally. An estimated 197 000 deaths from measles occurred in 2007.
Anyone who has sex can catch a sexually transmitted infection. Find out how to avoid infection, get tested, get treated and how to protect your sexual health.
The causative agent of the disease which has resulted in the recent deaths of 3 people from Zambia and South Africa is a new virus from the Arenaviridae family.