Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Disease Outbreaks Update



I'm following any reported increases in diseases. So far I've seen reports of unprecedented levels of West Nile Virus and Pertusis:
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/disease-outbreaks-us.html

SEE Does the West Nile outbreak signal an epidemic of viral epidemics? Yes and no. The Washington Post Sep 12, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/does-the-west-nile-outbreak-signal-an-epidemic-of-viral-epidemics-yes-and-no/2012/09/12/bc8e9b34-fc14-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

[excerpted] The outbreaks of so many viruses in recent weeks, years and decades — including hantavirus, swine flu, bird flu, SARS, ebola and the great global scourge of HIV — raise an obvious question: Are we seeing an epidemic of viral epidemics? The experts give a complicated, nuanced answer: yes and no. The bottom line is that virologists are hardly in a panic... [end]


Majia Here: Now here is a new report on allergies and asthma. I can attest that mine have been terrible.

Weather pushes allergy and asthma miseries to new level. By Darryl Fears. The Washington Post Sep 15, 2012 http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/weather-pushes-allergy-and-asthma-miseries-to-new-level/2012/09/15/ad2d46be-fd03-11e1-a31e-804fccb658f9_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

[Excerpted] As one of the hottest summers ever recorded drew to a close, Jay Portnoy watched patients stream into Children’s Mercy Hospital and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo., coughing and wheezing with asthma, 20 admissions per day for the week that started with Labor Day, he said.

They were coming in from what Portnoy, chief of the hospital’s allergy, asthma and immunology section, called a perfect storm — hot, dry air; low humidity; trees and plants that bloomed early; months of high pollen counts. An allergy bomb targeting the face and lungs...

Allergists are seeing illnesses earlier in the season after the third warmest summer on record in the Lower 48. Several studies have shown that the allergy season has grown longer because of global warming. At the end of this summer, allergists say they expect to have data to prove it is having a severe impact on the public....

Majia here: Hmmm....

Nuclear Blues has a very interesting article on the epidemic levels of diabetes: http://www.nuclearblues.com/2012/09/16/have-we-already-crossed-the-tipping-point/

 

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