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LAKEVILLE — The potentially fatal EEE virus has been confirmed in mosquitoes from Lakeville, the state Department of Public Health announced.
The Plymouth County Mosquito Control project will be spraying as soon as possible, according to a statement issued by the town’s Board of Health.
The disease, which can cause inflammation of the brain, is rare, but SouthCoast seems to be a hot spot for the disease.
“It mostly only shows up in Southeastern Mass. The problem is, it’s devastating when it strikes,” said Edward “Ted” Gibney, a member of the Lakeville Board of Health.
Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus, commonly referred to as Triple-E, was also detected in Carver mosquitoes earlier this month. In that case, the particular species of mosquito, culiseta melanura, tends to bite birds, not humans.
But Mr. Gibney said last night: “It’s my understanding this is the human-biting kind of mosquito, but that is not yet a definite fact.”
He said the board was going to learn more details about the case this morning.
The Board of Health is urging people to take action to avoid mosquito bites:
Remove any standing water around your home and yard — that’s where mosquitoes breed.
Limit your time outdoors during periods of heavy mosquito activity (dusk and dawn) and wear protective clothing.
Adults and children over two years old should use a repellent that contains DEET.
Patch any holes in windows or door screens.
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Since it was first described in 1938, 84 cases have been reported in Massachusetts — over half of them in southeastern Massachusetts.
In Plymouth County last year, 28 mosquitoes tested positive for EEE and eight mosquitoes tested positive for West Nile virus between July 25 and Sept. 27.
Last year, a 5-year-old Halifax girl and 83-year-old Kingston man died from EEE. A 3-month-old girl from Plymouth and a woman from Duxbury were hospitalized with EEE, but survived.
EEE was also detected last year in Lakeville, causing outdoor activities, such as sports and recess, to be canceled at Apponequet Regional High School, Freetown-Lakeville Middle School, George R. Austin Intermediate School and Assawompset Elementary School.
The first symptoms of EEE are high fever, stiff neck, headache, and lack of energy. These symptoms show up three to 10 days after someone is bitten by an infected mosquito.
Inflammation and swelling of the brain, called encephalitis, is the most dangerous symptom. The disease gets worse quickly and some patients slip into a coma within a week.
Health officials also recommend avoiding mosquito bites as a precaution against another disease carried by the insects: West Nile Virus.
An 80-year-old Fall River woman died last year of West Nile. The DPH announced last month the first case of West Nile this year was detected in mosquitoes in Needham.
For more information on EEE or West Nile, visit the state’s information Web site at www.mass.gov/dph/wnv/wnv1.htm
Contact Lauren Daley at ldaley@s-t.com
Using a new method to test potential pandemic flu strains, scientists have created a virus that contains genes from human and bird flus and found it lacks what it takes to cause a pandemic.
The researchers combined genes from a human flu strain, H3N2, and the H5N1 bird flu strain that emerged in Hong Kong in 1997, which is an earlier version of the deadly strain that is circulating in parts of Asia, Africa and Europe. They found that in animal experiments, the mixed virus lacks “the key property that predicts pandemic spread.”
But experts say other gene combinations or mutations could turn H5N1 into a pandemic strain.
“We are far from out of the woods in H5N1 on a global scale,” Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a briefing on the study, which was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“These data do not mean that H5N1 cannot convert to be transmissible from one person to another person,” she said. “They mean that it’s probably not a simple process and more than simple genetic exchanges are necessary.”
In four experiments, CDC scientists used reverse genetics to create a virus with both bird flu and human flu genes. They gave the hybrid strain to ferrets, which are good models for human flu studies because they have similar respiratory tract cells.
They found the virus containing genes from both bird and human flu strains was weaker than either parent virus. It caused milder illness and didn’t spread easily.
The experiments were risky in that “the possibility was there” that a highly transmissible pandemic strain might have been created in the lab, said researcher Jacqueline Katz, “but the study was conducted using the most stringent safety precautions” in a biosafety level 3 lab.
Researchers used the combination they thought would have the greatest likelihood for transmission, but there are more than 50 other combinations possible. “Our results can’t be generalized, and they’re only relevant for the viruses we used in the study,” which were the 1997 strains, Katz said. The researchers “didn’t test the more recent strains (of H5N1) for their ability to transmit. We need to continue these studies.”
The study is “really important from the perspective of developing a useful lab tool that we can use to study these viruses and combinations of genes,” said Jeffrey Duchin of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and chief of communicable disease control at Public Health Seattle and King County, Wash. But “it doesn’t tell us anything about the likelihood of this virus becoming a pandemic in the near future. We need to go on preparing with a sense of urgency and being sure we keep pandemic preparation as a priority.”
By Sue Sturgis source: Reconstruction Watch (http://www.reconstructionwatch.org)
When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast last year, it revealed serious shortcomings in nursing homes’ evacuation plans.
At St. Rita’s Nursing Facility in St. Bernard Parish, La., 34 residents and caregivers died after owners Salvador and Mable Mangano allegedly turned away two buses parish officials had offered before the storm, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate. The couple then reportedly failed to call on an ambulance company they had contracted with to evacuate patients. The Manganos were eventually charged with negligent homicide and are awaiting trial.
Twenty-two people also died at Lafon Nursing Home of the Holy Family in eastern New Orleans, and three residents of eastern New Orleans’ Ferncrest Manor Living Center died as a result of an evacuation involving school buses that lacked air-conditioning and water, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.
Unfortunately, a year after the disaster, flaws in emergency plans that contributed to these deaths still have not been fixed, according to a report released this month by the Government Accountability Office. Titled “Disaster Preparedness: Limitations in Federal Evacuation Assistance for Health Facilities Should be Addressed,” the study examined the challenges faced by nursing homes and hospitals during hurricanes as well as gaps in federal emergency plans.
The GAO found that facility administrators faced several challenges, including deciding whether to evacuate, obtaining needed transportation, and maintaining outside communication. Although facilities had contracts with transportation companies, competition for the same pool of vehicles created supply shortages. In addition, hurricane damage to the local infrastructure impaired communication. For example, one Florida nursing home was unable to communicate with local emergency managers.
Perhaps even more worrisome, the GAO found that the National Disaster Medical System—a partnership of four federal agencies led by the Department of Homeland Security—fails to address the evacuation of people not in need of hospital care, such as nursing home residents. In addition, DHS’ National Response Plan—the basic framework for how the federal government helps states and local governments during disasters—also fails to address the evacuation of nursing home residents.
Another shortcoming of the NDMS is that it’s designed to evacuate persons from a designated mobilization center, such as an airport. That leaves nursing homes and hospitals to make their own arrangements for moving patients to the NDMS mobilization center.
GAO recommended that DHS, NDMS, and others clearly state how they will meet the needs of nursing home residents during evacuations, and how the federal government will assist state and local governments with transporting residents and patients from nursing homes and hospitals to NDMS mobilization centers.
“As with the Katrina response, we can’t let confusion and gaps in responsibility get in the way of the effectiveness of the response,” U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chair of the committee that oversees Medicare and Medicaid, said in a statement. “I urge the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies that are involved to plug the gaps in our evacuation system to ensure that some of the most frail and vulnerable among us are not left behind.”
WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security may scrap a digital communications project for rapid disaster response.
The new system, called Disaster Management, is designed to support hurricane response and has already been widely adopted. But the DHS reportedly issued an order in mid-July to Ohio-based nonprofit government contractor Battelle to immediately stop development work on it, sources close to the project told GovExec.com.
Disaster Management is an eight-year-old project that the Office of Management and Budget designated in 2002 as one of 24 e-government initiatives. Its mission is to create interoperable communication standards for emergency management software, as well as distribute free rudimentary disaster management software to local governments that otherwise could not afford to buy such a tool. DHS houses the Disaster Management program office and provides most of the funding, GovExec.com reported Friday.
The DHS requested $10.3 million to fund the effort for fiscal 2007. An estimated $40 million to $50 million has already been spent on the initiative, which started in 1999 as a Marine Corps Systems Command project called Consequence Management Interoperability Services. The stop-work order stipulated that Battelle cease operations and maintenance work on the project by Aug. 1, sources affected by it said. They report that DHS since has been pressured to release $4 million in funds to continue work past that date, GovExec.com said.
DHS spokesman Larry Orluskie told GovExec.com his department was conducting an internal review but would not necessarily cancel the project. OMB spokeswoman Andrea Wuebker said cancellation “is not an option.”
About 60,000 federal, state and local users have registered to use Disaster Management, and it was deployed to coordinate emergency assistance after Hurricane Katrina. The U.S. Navy recently installed Disaster Management in its southeastern U.S. bases.
An oil spill in one of Russia’s largest export pipelines today sparked fears of an environmental catastrophe.
The spill in the Druzhba pipeline has contaminated four square miles of water sources near Russia’s western border with Ukraine and Belarus.
A Russian Natural Resources Ministry spokesman said: “Judging by information reaching the ministry from representatives of environmental organisations, the consequences of the accident may be an environmental catastrophe in the region.”
The 2485-mile Druzhba pipeline has the capacity to ship over 1.2 million barrels a day and generally works at or close to its full capacity.
The spill reportedly happened on Saturday but only became public today.
An official from state pipeline operator OAO Transneft played down the importance of the spill, claiming that the consequences had been dealt with over the weekend.
“It’s already all cleared up. Now there is no problem,” said Mikhail Sayapin.
LOS ANGELES – Two small airliners came dangerously close to each other at Los Angeles International Airport this week when the pilot of an arriving plane mistakenly drove into the path of a plane that was taking off.
The pilot of the departing United Express plane pulled up suddenly to avoid the America West plane that had just landed and strayed onto an inner runway. He cleared the aircraft by less than 50 feet, according to initial reports from the control tower.
The episode began about 4 p.m. Wednesday, after the America West flight from Phoenix landed on the airport’s southernmost runway. Controllers told the pilot to leave the runway on a taxiway and stop short of the inner runway, but the pilot instead drove onto the inner runway where the United flight to Monterey was departing, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown.
A controller from the tower yelled into the radio to warn the United pilot, who later told authorities he pulled up early after hearing the warning.
“Traffic unauthorized crossing downfield!” the controller shouted.
Brown said the pilot was “past the point where he could have stopped.”
Officials blamed the close call on an error by the America West pilot, who told investigators he was confused when he reached a point on the taxiway that designated where he was supposed to stop and instead continued forward onto the runway.
An alarm system designed to alert controllers to potential collisions was not operating properly at the time, Brown said.
It was the second time in less than a week that a close call between two aircraft occurred when the radar system, known as Airport Movement Area Safety System, or AMASS, was not operating properly.
In Chicago on Sunday, a departing United Airlines Boeing 737 came within 300 feet of a Boeing 747 cargo plane on an intersecting runway at O’Hare International Airport.
The American Red Cross recommends six basic groups of items to stock for emergencies: Water, food, first aid supplies, clothing and bedding, tools and emergency supplies and special items for medical conditions.
Water
Store water in plastic containers such as soft drink bottles. Avoid using containers that will decompose or break, such as milk cartons or glass bottles. A normally active person needs to drink at least two quarts of water each day. Hot environments and intense physical activity can double that amount. Children, nursing mothers and ill people will need more.
Store one gallon of water per person per day. Keep at least a three-day supply of water per person (two quarts for drinking, two quarts for each person in your household for food preparation/sanitation).*
Food
Store at least a three-day supply of nonperishable food. Select foods that require no refrigeration, preparation or cooking, and little or no water. If you must heat food, pack a can of Sterno. Select food items that are compact and lightweight. Include a selection of the following foods in your Disaster Supplies Kit:
*Ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits, and vegetables
*Canned juices
*Staples (salt, sugar, pepper, spices, etc.)
*High energy foods
*Vitamins
*Food for infants
*Comfort/stress foods
First aid kit
Assemble a first aid kit for your home and one for each car. The following items are recommended:
*Adhesive bandages, various sizes
*One 5″ x 9″ sterile dressing
*One conforming roller gauze bandage
*Two triangular bandages
*Two 3 x 3 sterile gauze pads
*Two 4 x 4 sterile gauze pads
*One roll 3″ cohesive bandage
*Two germicidal hand wipes or waterless alcohol-based hand sanitizer
*Antiseptic wipes
*Two pair large medical grade nonlatex gloves
*Adhesive tape, 2″ width
*Anti-bacterial ointment
*Cold pack
*Scissors (small, personal)
*Tweezers
*CPR breathing barrier, such as a face shield
Nonprescription drugs
*Aspirin or nonaspirin pain reliever
*Anti-diarrhea medication
*Antacid
*Syrup of Ipecac (use to induce vomiting if advised by the Poison Control Center)
*Laxative
*Activated charcoal (use if advised by the Poison Control Center)
Tools and supplies
*Mess kits, or paper cups, plates and plastic utensils
*Emergency preparedness manual
*Battery-operated radio and extra batteries
*Flashlight and extra batteries
*Cash or traveler’s checks, change
*Nonelectric can opener, utility knife
*Fire extinguisher: small canister ABC type
*Tube tent
*Pliers
*Tape
*Compass
*Matches in a waterproof container
*Aluminum foil
*Plastic storage containers
*Signal flare
*Paper, pencil
*Needles, thread
*Medicine dropper
*Shut-off wrench, to turn off household gas and water
*Whistle
*Plastic sheeting
*Map of the area (for locating shelters)
Sanitation
*Toilet paper, towelettes
*Soap, liquid detergent
*Feminine supplies
*Personal hygiene items
*Plastic garbage bags, ties (for personal sanitation uses)
*Plastic bucket with tight lid
*Disinfectant
*Household chlorine bleach
Clothing and Bedding: Include at least one complete change of clothing and footwear per person.
*Sturdy shoes or work boots
*Rain gear
*Blankets or sleeping bags
*Hat and gloves
*Thermal underwear
*Sunglasses
Special Items: Remember family members with special requirements, such as infants and elderly or disabled persons. Ask your physician or pharmacist about storing prescription medications.
*Heart and high blood pressure medication
*Insulin
*Prescription drugs
*Denture needs
*Contact lenses and supplies
*Extra eye glasses
Important Family Documents: Keep these records in a waterproof, portable container
*Will, insurance policies, contracts, deeds, stocks and bonds
*Passports, social security cards, immunization records
*Bank account numbers
*Credit card account numbers and companies
*Inventory of valuable household goods, important telephone numbers
*Family records (birth, marriage, death certificates)
Tips For Your Disaster Supply Kits:
Keep a small Disaster Supply Kit in the trunk of each car. If you become stranded or are not able to return home, having some items will help you to be more comfortable until help arrives.
Keep items in airtight plastic bags. This will help protect them from damage or spoiling.
Replace stored food and water every six months. Replacing your food and water supplies will help ensure their freshness.
Rethink your kit and family needs at least once a year. Replace batteries, update clothes, etc.
Ask your pharmacist about storing prescription medications. It may be difficult to obtain prescription medications during a disaster because stores may be closed or supplies may be limited.
Use an easy-to-carry container for the supplies you would most likely need for an evacuation. Label it clearly. A large, covered trash container, backpack, duffel bag or even a cargo container that quickly fits on the roof of your vehicle are examples of what can be used.
Special Note: Each time you write your shopping list for the week. Add one or two items from your disaster supplies kit to the list. Thus over time, you can build up your kit without financially burdening yourself. That’s what I do. – Churton
BANGKOK (XFN-ASIA) – Thai officials ordered the slaughter of 300,000 chickens after the second outbreak this year of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus was discovered on a farm in the northeast.
‘The H5N1 virus was found in chickens in a local farm,’ Charal Trinvuthipong, assistant to the agricultural minister, told Agence France-Presse.
The outbreak at a farm in Nakhon Phanom province, 740 kilometers northeast of Bangkok, follows the death on Wednesday of a boy from bird flu — Thailand’s first such death in seven months.
‘It is the second outbreak (this year) following the one in Phichit province,’ Charal added.
He said more than one hundred volunteers had been deployed to cull about 300,000 chickens near the affected area.
Authorities earlier threatened people with a 2,000 baht fine for failing to report any sick or dead poultry.
Agriculture ministry officials said the measures, due to be officially announced tomorrow, would be enforced across the country.
Nowadays, I get more titillation from the AARP magazine than I do from Playboy. However, I might have to re-think that.
It seems that in a recent issue of Playboy, Michael Brown, the intrepid ex-FEMA chief, gave an interview. In it, “Brownie” said he had issues with Rep. Gene Taylor (D., Miss.) because the lawmaker severely questioned “our hero” during a Congressional hearing regarding the Fed’s sluggish response to Katrina.
Mr. Brown, in the interview, characterized the gentleman from Mississippi as “that little twerp.”
Not to be outdone, Mr. Taylor responded. “Brown is an incompetent fool, and everyone in South Mississippi knows it,” he retorted.
On this day in 1945, a U.S. military plane crashed into the Empire State Building killing 14 people. The cause of this freakish accident was heavy fog. For more information on this topic and other historical disasters, visit the History Channel’s website.
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