A place for the latest news, information and discussion regarding disasters, terrorism, emerging infectious diseases, disaster response, mitigation and preparedness!
The Toronto Star, 6/29/07: Health Canada is warning the public about counterfeit Colgate toothpaste products that are showing up in Canadian stores.
The toothpaste, labelled as 100 ml Colgate Fluoride Toothpaste Herbal, Colgate Fluoride Toothpaste Maximum Cavity Protection and Colgate Fluoride Toothpaste Gel, contain high levels of harmful bacteria.
The RCMP has been called in to investigate.
Police were originally alerted to a counterfeit tube of the toothpaste purchased at a dollar store in Guelph, Ont. in mid-June. Shortly after, another eight tubes of the counterfeit toothpaste were purchased from a store in Halifax.
In May, Health Canada issued a border alert for Chinese toothpaste containing anti-freeze.
The federal agency says the counterfeit products are identifiable by spelling mistakes on labels, such as “isclinically,” “SOUTH AFRLCA” and “South African Dental Assoxiation.”
Health Canada says fever, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain are a few of the potential side effects of the tainted toothpaste. It advises anyone who has bought the counterfeit product to stop using it and see a doctor if they have any symptoms.
Intro: Just when you think you can breathe a sigh of relief, another incident occurs that demonstrates one can never let one’s guard down. It has been recently reported that one of the people in the car has died. Britain’s Terror Alert has been increased in the wake of the happenings of the past several days. Be on the look-out for copy-cats. None of us is immune from these malcontents. if it can happen in Glasgow, it can happen in your neighborhood.
AP, 6/30/07: A Jeep Cherokee trailing a cascade of flames rammed into Scotland’s largest airport yesterday, shattering glass doors and stopping within meters of where holidaymakers were lined up at check-in counters. Two people were arrested – one of them on fire – and there were no reports of injuries. The apparent terrorist attack comes a day after police foiled a car bomb plot in central London, discovering explosives packed into a Mercedes outside a nightclub near Piccadilly Circus and another car parked nearby.
The chaos over the past two days has raised fears that the type of car bomb attacks that have become commonplace in Iraq may now become a fixture of European life. Late yesterday, Britain raised its security alert level to critical – the highest possible level indicating terror attacks may be imminent.
“This is in response to the events of the last 48 hours. Critical is the highest level of threat, and the threat level will be closely reviewed on a regular basis. Appropriate security measures have been put in place,” Home Secretary Jaqui Smith said in a statement.
The new terror threat presents Prime Minister Gordon Brown with an enormous challenge just three days after taking office, and comes at a time of already heightened vigilance one week before the anniversary of the July 7 London transit attacks.
The green Jeep barreled toward Glasgow’s main airport terminal at full speed shortly after 3 P.M., hitting security barriers before crashing into the glass doors and exploding, witnesses said.
Police wrestled the driver and a passenger, both described by witnesses as South Asian, to the ground, arresting them and taking one to the hospital. Witnesses said one of the men was engulfed in flames and spoke gibberish as an official doused him with a fire extinguisher.
The previous round of terrorist activity in Britain, in July 2005, was largely carried out by local Muslims, raising ethnic tensions in Britain.
“The car came speeding past,” said witness Scott Leeson. “Then the driver swerved the car around so he could ram straight in to the door. He must have been trying to smash straight through.”
Passengers fled running and screaming from the busy terminal, witness Margaret Hughes told the British Broadcasting Corp. “There was black smoke gushing out where the car had obviously been driven into the airport,” she said.
The airport – Scotland’s largest – was evacuated and all flights suspended. Flames and black smoke could be seen rising from the jeep outside the main entrance. It did not appear there were any injuries aside from the suspect who had been set afire.
The apparent attack left passengers shaken and stranded on the first day of summer vacation for Glasgow schools. At the time of the crash, the airport was bustling with families heading out on holiday.
Meanwhile in London, police were gathering CCTV evidence, as forensics experts searched for clues into the foiled bombings. The two Mercedes cars had been loaded with gasoline, gas canisters and nails in one of the capital’s busiest areas on a night when Londoners like to go out and party. Police would not comment on a U.S. news report that they had a crystal clear picture of one suspect from CCTV footage.
The vehicles were found abandoned in the early hours of Friday in what police believe was an attempt to kill scores or even hundreds of people. Detectives said they were keeping an open mind about who the bombers were, but terrorism experts said the signs pointed to a cell linked to or inspired by al-Qaida.
One former top British security official said she had no doubt the London and Glasgow incidents were connected.
“One has to conclude … these are linked,” Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, former head of Britain’s joint intelligence committee, told Sky News television. This is a very young government, and we may yet see further attacks. … We are seeing a pattern of attack in the early days of a new government.
Firefighters tackled flames that had consumed the Jeep – reduced to a charred hulk – and spread to the terminal building. Police did not say whether the SUV that struck the airport was carrying explosives, but one witness reported seeing a gas canister in the vehicle.
Witness Lynsey McBean said one of the men took out a plastic gasoline canister and poured a liquid under the car. “He then set light to it,” said Bean, 26. She said the Jeep struck the front door of the airport but got jammed.
Leeson said bollards – security posts outside the entrance – stopped the driver from barreling into the bustling terminal at Glasgow’s airport.
HHS Provides $430 Million to States to Enhance Hospital and Other Health Care Facilities Preparedness for Public Health Emergencies
Posted : Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:40:01 GMT
Author : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
WASHINGTON, June 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced a total of $430 million in awards to states, territories and four major metropolitan areas to strengthen the ability of hospitals and other health care facilities to respond to bioterror attacks, infectious diseases, and natural disasters that may cause mass casualties.
“These grants are an important addition to national security because our hospitals and other health care facilities play such a critical role in responding to a terrorist attack, an infectious disease outbreak, and natural disasters,” Secretary Leavitt said. “States and communities can use these funds to improve emergency care during a health crisis.”
Health departments in the states, territories and metro areas of New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles County and Washington, D.C. receiving the federal funds will use them to improve the readiness of hospitals and other health care facilities in their jurisdictions. The goal is to strengthen medical surge capability across the nation. Recipients will use the funds develop or improve:
– interoperable communications, — systems to track available hospital beds, — advance registration of volunteer health professionals, and — planning for both fatality management and hospital evacuations.
Congress transferred oversight of the grant program from the Health Resources and Services Administration to the new HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response with passage of the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006.
Also new for this year is the $15 million Healthcare Facilities Partnership Program. Congress asked HHS to award competitive grants or cooperative agreements to eligible health care partnerships to enhance community and hospital preparedness for public health emergencies. The $15 million will be awarded through a competitive process resulting in 6-30 cooperative agreement awards for regional partnerships that may range from $500,000 – $2.5 million.
“The goal of the new program is to develop innovative and creative projects that can be replicated across the country,” said HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response RADM Craig Vanderwagen, MD, USPHS. “These partnerships will require close coordination among health officials from state, local and private sectors.”
In the five years HHS has provided funding to increase hospital and health care facility preparedness, a total of more than $2 billion has been made available. Fiscal Year 2007 awards are contained in the following table.
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
State Funding Alabama $6,330,289 Alaska $1,349,441 Arizona $8,317,173 Arkansas $4,063,403 California $34,106,620 Chicago $4,103,521 Colorado $6,525,958 Connecticut $4,943,121 Delaware $1,581,970 District of Columbia $1,737,218 Florida $23,432,938 Georgia $12,370,869 Hawaii $2,129,653 Idaho $2,359,069 Illinois $13,163,842 Indiana $8,503,785 Iowa $4,280,453 Kansas $4,004,077 Kentucky $5,832,130 Los Angeles County $13,111,395 Louisiana $5,935,695 Maine $2,175,388 Maryland $7,619,177 Massachusetts $8,660,567 Michigan $13,298,463 Minnesota $7,050,445 Mississippi $4,189,754 Missouri $7,906,932 Montana $1,697,530 Nebraska $2,741,751 Nevada $3,663,636 New Hampshire $2,166,921 New Jersey $11,560,312 New Mexico $2,977,887 New York $14,561,258 New York City $10,913,604 North Carolina $11,727,581 North Dakota $1,306,102 Ohio $15,050,914 Oklahoma $5,037,444 Oregon $5,191,530 Pennsylvania $16,271,242 Puerto Rico $5,479,326 Rhode Island $1,853,432 South Carolina $5,978,140 South Dakota $1,491,255 Tennessee $8,155,520 Texas $30,301,320 Utah $3,732,769 Vermont $1,290,942 Virginia $10,189,048 Washington $8,608,090 West Virginia $2,805,313 Wisconsin $7,544,102 Wyoming $1,152,882 Guam (US) $457,390 Virgin Islands (US) $387,946 Federated States of Micronesia $387,095 Northern Marianas Islands (US) $346,510 American Samoa (US) $323,330 Marshall Islands $321,536 Palau $274,996 Total $415,032,000.00 Partnership Program $15,000,000.00 Grand Total $430,032,000.00 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Evacuated residents prepared to return to their burned-out streets as officials announced that an illegal campfire caused the inferno that destroyed more than 200 homes and charred 3,100 acres.
A U.S. Forest Service investigation found that the fire south of Lake Tahoe was built in a campfire-restricted area, but said there was no evidence it was deliberately set to spark the devastating wildfire that has displaced about 3,500 people.
Donna Deaton, an investigator for the U.S. Forest Service, said Friday the fire was built about a quarter-mile south of Seneca Pond, a popular recreation area south of Lake Tahoe. There were no suspects, she said.
Residents did not seem surprised by the news.
“Apparently kids hang out there,” said Donna Barker, a 21-year resident of Tahoe Keys who evacuated on Tuesday, although her home was spared. “I don’t think people think. It’s a sad reality.”
Because of tinder-dry conditions due to a lack of snow over the winter, the U.S. Forest Service had banned all campfires, charcoal grills, smoking and fireworks throughout the Tahoe basin.
The fire’s cause was announced after a second straight day of mild winds that allowed firefighters to surround the blaze. The fire was 80 percent contained by Friday evening, U.S. Forest Service incident commander Rich Hawkins said.
“Firefighters came in this morning and felt even more comfortable about the approaching containment of this fire,” he said. “I’m feeling pretty good about it.”
However, officials cautioned it was too early to declare victory, with forecasters predicting winds could pick up again and hotspots still smoldering in some areas.
“Don’t be complacent. There are still hazards out there,” Kit Bailey, a U.S. Forest Service chief, told hundreds of firefighters Friday morning. “It’s going to be a long, brutal summer.”
On Friday, residents were given limited access to some areas where all the destroyed homes are located – welcome news to residents who had waited all week to see the devastation for themselves.
Keith Cooney saw his rented home of three years engulfed in flames on a local news broadcast Sunday and came back to find only a bent metal garage door standing. He spotted a concrete swan given to him by a former neighbor in New Orleans, but not the fireproof box with his important papers.
“I gotta dig through this. This is going to be unbelievable,” he said.
Elsewhere on Friday, a 3,500-acre wildfire near a gateway to Yellowstone National Park was 20 percent contained, firefighters said.
“We got a lot of work done today, but we’re not totally done,” said Jess Secrest, who supervises an incident team in charge of fighting the fire.
Evacuation orders remained in effect for 45 to 50 summer homes, a resort, several campgrounds and a ranger station.
Fire officials said the blaze was human-caused but released no other details about its source.
Associated Press Writers Amanda Fehd, Scott Lindlaw and Robert Jablon contributed to this report.
Machine gun-toting cops in riot gear were dispatched to key spots around the city, while others set up vehicle checkpoints. Police brass dramatically increased the number of officers in subways through the morning and evening rush hours.
Cops armed with portable chemical and radiation detectors swept parking garages, mostly in Manhattan, to check for dangerous materials stashed in cars.
“We’d like to stress the fact that there is no specific threat against New York City,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters. “But we are taking some precautions.”
One of the most visible precautions: Marked patrol cars – in some cases as many as 75 of them with lights flashing and sirens whirring – swarmed cultural icons and tourist spots, such as Times Square, Herald Square and the Theater District.
“Seeing all the cop cars rush by is a little chilling,” said Atlanta tourist Stephanie Johnson as she stopped in Times Square. “But the idea of a car bomb going off is even worse. It’s a sign of the times.”
The need for additional security will be evaluated each day, Kelly said.
“No one seemed scared,” said Angel Matta, 56, as he watched from an NYPD vehicle checkpoint on W. 57th St. and Ninth Ave.
“All they do is pull people over and check their trunks. On big trucks they’ll check the wheels. They should do it more often. If it keeps us safe, they should do it all the time,” Matta said.
Mayor Bloomberg said the NYPD brass was in contact with police in London.
“I think from a practical point of view for all of us, we should go and enjoy the weekend,” the mayor said.
Jennifer Lewis, 34, said she was taking a cigarette break in Herald Square at the height of yesterday’s local show of force.
“I saw all the police and dogs out. It’s terrible what’s going on in London. We lost thousands last time. We don’t want to lose any more,” she said.
The NYPD’s detective stationed in London – one of a growing number of officers posted abroad – was in New York City for an NYPD promotion ceremony Thursday, shortly before the car bomb was discovered in London’s theater-nightclub district.
The detective was on his way back to London yesterday and had been in touch with his contacts in the morning to share pertinent information with the NYPD, police said.
The head of the NYPD’s team of the NYPD-FBI Joint Terrorist Task Force, Deputy Chief James Waters, was in Scotland for a security conference, and flew to London for briefings on the risk. He will stay there for several days.
Terror experts said that bombers have used limos and luxury cars in various plots.
The London car bomb fit that profile – a Mercedes filled with a lethal mix of gasoline, propane and nails. Hours later, London police confirmed that a second car bomb was found in the center of the city.
A British terrorist Dhiren Barot, aka Aba Esi al-Hindi, was convicted Nov. 7, 2006, in London for a plot that included turning high-end limousines and “black cars” into car bombs, Kelly said.
That plot was exposed when law enforcement recovered an Al Qaeda operative’s laptop computer – chock full of reconnaissance plans of the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup headquarters in midtown Manhattan.
“We should be increasing security because we could be next,” said Alexander Granville, 63, as a phalanx of cops passed by in Herald Square. “Being the greatest city in the world makes us a target. This is where all the action is.”
UN Inspector Says Visit to North Korea `Fruitful’ (Update1)
By Allen T. Cheng and Heejin Koo
June 30 (Bloomberg) — The United Nations nuclear agency will hold a board meeting in Vienna to decide on future proceedings after a “fruitful” visit to North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear reactor, the chief inspector said today after landing in Beijing.
Four inspectors from the UN International Atomic Energy Agency team concluded a four-day visit to the communist nation after visiting the reactor 96 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the capital, Pyongyang, yesterday. They may brief officials in Beijing on their findings before leaving, chief inspector Olli Heinonen said.
“We have a good idea of how we will verify the shutdown of this nuclear plant,” Heinonen, IAEA deputy director general for safeguards, told reporters at Beijing Capital Airport. “We will go back to Vienna, call a board meeting and make a decision on how to proceed from there,” Heinonen said today.
The government in Pyongyang agreed Feb. 13 with the U.S., South Korea, Russia, China and Japan to close Yongbyon, which produced spent fuel rods from which the North Koreans processed weapons-grade plutonium, in return for energy aid.
It missed an April 14 deadline to do so because of holdups in getting $25 million frozen in Macau’s Banco Delta Asia SARL, after the U.S. Treasury blacklisted the bank and accused it of laundering money for the communist state.
The Kim Jong Il regime and the UN inspectors have reached an agreement on how to proceed, Heinonen told reporters in Pyongyang before his departure, according to APTN footage.
“We have concluded this understanding, what our monitoring and verification activities are in principle,” Heinonen said in Beijing, without giving details of the agreement. The six nations involved in nuclear disarmament talks need to “talk with each other and agree on technical arrangements,” Heinonen said. “The IAEA doesn’t have any role in that.”
Heavy Fuel Oil
South Korea has agreed to provide the first tranche of 50,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil as part of the February agreement. North Korea will receive an additional 950,000 tons of oil, or an economic assistance equivalent, from the nations involved when it disables its nuclear facilities.
Officials from North Korea and South Korea are meeting for a second day today in the North Korean city of Gaeseong for talks aimed at coordinating South Korea’s delivery of the fuel oil.
The trip by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency was the first since inspectors were expelled in 2002. Since that year, North Korea has extracted plutonium from Yongbyon’s spent fuel rods and on Oct. 9 tested its first nuclear device, prompting Security Council sanctions.
Rice Shipments
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the U.S. chief nuclear negotiator, said on June 25 that six-party negotiations may resume in the week of July 10. Hill held talks with North Korean government officials in Pyongyang last week.
The U.S. has also promised North Korea an end to the 1950-53 Korean War, a conflict that was never resolved because it ended in a truce rather than a peace agreement. Hill told North Korean officials that the Bush administration was prepared to offer talks on normalizing bilateral ties within this year, if North Korea sped up the dismantling process, including disclosing all of its nuclear facilities and programs.
North Korea said it was considering taking part in a meeting of the foreign ministers of the six nations involved in the nuclear talks around August in Manila, about the time of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations conference. This would include Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and North Korea’s new Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun.
Meanwhile, South Korea resumed its delayed rice aid to North Korea today, in line with its policy that the aid would resume once North Korea begins the process of implementing the February agreement.
A freighter carrying 3,000 tons was preparing to sail for North Korea’s western port of Nampo near Pyongyang today from the South’s Kunsan port city, the Unification Ministry said in a statement. This would be the first tranche in the total of 400,000 tons of rice aid that the Seoul government pledged earlier this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Allen T. Cheng in Beijing at acheng13@bloomberg.net Heejin Koo in Seoul at hjkoo@bloomberg.net .
COMMENT: With the recent developments in London, the CDC has re-posted this “fact sheet” on Blast Injuries. It has been posted here as an FYI and an opportunity for our readers to familiarize themselves with blast injuries.
Blast Injuries: Essential Facts
Key Concepts
• Bombs and explosions can cause unique patterns of injury seldom seen outside combat
• Half the initial casualties seek medical care over a one-hour period
• Most severely injured arrive after the less injured, who bypass EMS triage and go directly to the closest hospitals
• Most injuries involve multiple penetrating wounds and blunt trauma
• Confined space explosions (buildings, vehicles, mines) and explosions resulting in structural collapse lead to greater morbidity and mortality
• Primary blast injuries among survivors usually result from confined-space explosions
• Standard protocols apply for triage, trauma resuscitation, treatment, and transfer
Blast Injuries
Primary: Injury from overpressurization force (blast wave) impacting the body surface (i.e., TM rupture, pulmonary damage, hollow viscus rupture)
Secondary: Injury from projectiles such as bomb fragments or flying debris (i.e., penetrating trauma, blunt trauma)
Tertiary: Injuries from displacement of victim by the blast wind or structural collapse (i.e., crush injuries, blunt/penetrating trauma, fractures, traumatic amputations)
Quaternary: Other injuries from the blast (i.e., burns, asphyxia, toxic exposures)
Primary Blast Injury
Lung Injury
• Signs are usually present at initial evaluation, but may be delayed up to 48 hours
• More common among patients with skull fractures, greater than 10% BSA burns, or penetrating injury to the head or torso
• Presentation varies from scattered petechiae to confluent hemorrhages
• Suspect in anyone with dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, or chest pain following blast
• Characteristic “butterfly” pattern produced on CXR
• Sufficient high-flow O2 to prevent hypoxemia is administered via NRB mask, CPAP, or ET tube
• Fluid management is similar to that of pulmonary contusion; ensure adequate tissue perfusion, but avoid volume overload
• Endotracheal intubation mandated for massive hemoptysis, impending airway compromise, or respiratory failure
- Selective bronchial intubation may be necessary for significant air leaks or massive hemoptysis
- Positive pressure ventilation may result in alveolar rupture or air embolism
• Clinical signs of pneumothorax or hemothorax require prompt decompression
• Prophylactic chest tube must be considered before general anesthesia or air transport
• Air embolism can present as stroke, MI, acute abdomen, blindness, deafness, spinal cord injury, or claudication
Blast Injuries: Essential Facts
(continued from previous page)
September 08, 2006 Page 2 of 2
- Administer high-flow O2; prone, semi-left lateral, or left lateral positioning
- Transfer for hyperbaric O2 therapy may be considered
Abdominal Injury
• Gas-filled structures are most vulnerable, especially the colon
• Presentation may include bowel perforation, hemorrhage (small petechiae to large hematomas), mesenteric shear injuries, solid organ lacerations, or testicular rupture
• Suspect in anyone with abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, hematemesis, rectal pain, tenesmus, testicular pain, or unexplained hypovolemia
• Clinical signs can be initially subtle until acute abdomen or sepsis is advanced
Ear Injury
• Tympanic membrane is the most common primary blast injury
• Signs of ear injury are usually evident on presentation (hearing loss, tinnitus, otalgia, vertigo, bleeding from external canal, otorrhea)
• Isolated TM rupture is not a marker for morbidity
Other Injury
• Traumatic amputation of a limb is a marker for multisystem injuries
• Concussions are common and easily overlooked; symptoms of mild TBI and post-traumatic stress disorder can be similar
• Grossly contaminated wounds are candidates for delayed primary closure
• Compartment syndrome, rhabdomyolysis, and acute renal failure are associated with structural collapse, prolonged extrication, severe burns, and some poisonings
• Exposure to inhaled toxins (CO, CN, MetHgb) must be considered in industrial and terrorist explosions
• Significant percentage of survivors have serious eye injuries
Disposition
• No definitive guidelines exist for observation, admission, or discharge
• Discharge decisions depend on associated injuries
• Second- and third-trimester pregnancies should be admitted for monitoring
• Follow-up is needed for wounds; head injury; and eye, ear, and stress-related complaints
• Patients with ear injury may have tinnitus or deafness and need written instruction
For more information, visit www.bt.cdc.gov/masscasualties, or call CDC at 800-CDC-INFO (English and Spanish) or 888-232-6348 (TTY).
CIDRAP News, 6/21/07: The company that markets oseltamivir (Tamiflu) in Japan has announced it will launch new studies to explore whether the antiviral drug contributes to adverse psychiatric and neurologic events in teenagers.
Meanwhile, experts at an international influenza conference this week in Toronto reported some progress in the quest for new types of antiviral drugs for flu patients, and Vietnam said it was ready to launch a trial of a locally made human vaccine for H5N1 avian flu.
Teen deaths prompt new studies In aJun 18 news release, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. said it has received several reports of serious psychiatric or neurologic events since oseltamivir’s 2001 launch in Japan. Though no link between the adverse events and the drug was established, in May 2004 Chugai added information about the reported symptoms to its packing inserts. The company imports oseltamivir from Roche and markets it in Japan.
Four months ago Chugai said it received a report of two teenage flu patients who fell to their deaths after taking oseltamivir, the press release said. After the accidents, Japan’s health ministry warned that children with the flu could show adverse behavioral effects, whether or not they were receiving oseltamivir, and advised doctors to avoid prescribing it to teenagers.
Oseltamivir, a neuraminidase inhibitor, is used for both treatment and prevention. Because world health experts regard it as the best available drug for combating a potential pandemic flu strain, the United States and numerous other countries are stockpiling it.
Chugai said it is examining adverse event reports to determine if any patterns emerge in the patient histories, timing of the drug, or onset of any abnormal behaviors.
Also, following Japanese health ministry proposals, Chugai and Roche will immediately conduct new research on the drug’s safety. In preclinical trials, the companies will use rats to gauge the drug’s effects on the brain, the press release said. A clinical research arm of the studies will assess the effect of oseltamivir on subjects’ sleep and look at transport of the drug to the cerebrospinal fluid.
Chugai also will proceed with epidemiologic studies of patients treated with oseltamivir, to examine what other drugs they take, their flu symptoms and clinical course, and their medical history. The company said its goal is to use the studies to guide safety measures for the next flu season.
A 2006 report by the US Food and Drug Administration concluded it was unclear if neuropsychiatric events in those treated with oseltamivir were related only to the drug, only to the flu, or to both.
In previous statements, Roche has said that clinical trials in the United States and Japan showed similar rates of psychiatric symptoms in children with flu who took oseltamivir and in peers who didn’t take it. The company also said US health insurance data showed that patients treated with the drug had a lower likelihood of events such as delirium, confusion, and hallucination than patients who were not treated.
Researchers discuss what’s on the antiviral horizon In presentations at the Options for the Control of Influenza Conference in Toronto yesterday, researchers offered glimpses of potential new antiviral medications, according to a Jun 19 Canadian Press (CP) report.
Frederick Hayden, MD, an antiviral expert with the World Health Organization (WHO), said work on new classes of antivirals drugs may eventually make the world less vulnerable to flu than it is now, with only four drugs in two classes available.
“The pipeline is not full, but it’s certainly more robust than it was some years ago,” Hayden told CP.
Later this week at the conference, researchers will present their work on a new drug, currently called T705, which targets the polymerase protein, a new target for flu antivirals, the CP story said. Hayden said phase 2 clinical trials of the drug will begin later this year.
Meanwhile, researchers from the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas at Austin have identified a drug target on the flu virus’s nonstructural protein, the CP report said. Robert Krug, a researcher at the institute, said the lab has screened molecules that could strike the target and have come up with a good “hit,” though development of a drug could take 5 years, even if the work goes smoothly.
An advantage of the nonstructural protein target is that it is the same in different virus strains, unlike other parts of the virus, the story said.
Vietnam to launch trial of H5N1 vaccine Health officials in Vietnam said the country was set to launch the first human trial of its own H5N1 avian flu vaccine, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported today.
Nguyen Tran Hien, director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) in Hanoi, told AFP the trial will begin as early as July, with the health ministry’s approval, and should be finished next year. He said researchers will enroll 20 to 30 volunteers for the study.
Experts from the United States will provide Vietnam with technical assistance to develop the vaccine, US health attaché Michael Iademarco told AFP. The United States provided $1 million to Vabiotech, a company with ties to NIHE, apparently to support the development of the vaccine, Iademarco said.
In the past few weeks, Vietnam has reported five human cases of H5N1 avian flu, with one death, and since early May, bird outbreaks have been reported in 16 of the country’s 59 provinces. The World Health Organization has not yet confirmed the recent human cases in Vietnam, so the official case count for now remains at 93 cases and 42 deaths.
Intro: It’s OK to be good, but it’s better to be lucky. And London was lucky that night. It also pays to have incompetent terrorists.
UK Globe and Mail, 6/30/07:
Hundreds of lives were likely spared by two lucky acts performed by unwitting municipal officials. The first car bomb was spotted by an ambulance crew coming to the aid of a young woman who had consumed too many drinks at the Tiger Tiger nightclub on Haymarket, a major boulevard in central London. The attendants noticed a parked Mercedes filling with smoke or fumes and the crew called the bomb squad.
The second car bomb had been in another Mercedes parked around the corner on Cockspur Street. But the car had been ticketed and towed away by parking police who, unaware that it was a weapon, had taken it to an impounding lot on the edge of Hyde Park. Its eventual discovery prompted the evacuation of the Park. Its eventual discovery resulted in the extraordinary scene of Hyde Park being evacuated on a sunny Friday afternoon, further compounding the normal traffic chaos.
“It appears that the bombers’ original aim was to have the first bomb go off on Haymarket and the second bomb go off in Cockspur Street just as the emergency vehicles are arriving,” said Mr. Beaver, describing a crowd-funnelling technique that has become popular in Iraq. “It would have been a scene of complete carnage and mayhem.”
AP, 6/29/07: For some folks living along a rain-swollen river, another day of downpours meant watching and waiting — but not leaving.Despite storms that have claimed 11 lives since last week in North and Central Texas, some in Parker County — who say they’ve weathered floods before — ignored the evacuations ordered for about 2,000 residents near the Brazos River.
The river was more than 2 feet above its flood stage Thursday night but had gone down nearly a foot by Friday morning. Still, it was expected to rise and cause more flooding if another flood gate was opened at Possum Kingdom Lake’s dam, which officials said could be done to prevent the dam from breaking if more rain comes.
Friday’s forecast called for thunderstorms across parts of North and Central Texas, and a flood watch was in effect for 28 counties until the afternoon.
In the area about 20 miles south of Weatherford, rescuers used a boat to get four children out of a house, although their grandparents chose to stay, said Janice Stroud, Parker County’s assistant emergency management coordinator.
“If people don’t want to leave, we can’t force them to,” she said.
Donna Thorpe, among those holding out Thursday afternoon, said she and her family had been anxiously watching the water rise for more than 24 hours, marking it with a measuring stick.
“Every two hours we’d get up and go down and measure,” Thorpe said. “You really don’t sleep. You’re so nervous about it, how quick it can come up.”
Meanwhile, about a dozen people evacuated from along Gonzolus Creek in the Stephens County town of Breckenridge in North Texas.
“If it stopped right now, we’d be in good shape. But it’s not going to,” Breckenridge police dispatcher Tina Logan said Thursday night.
In West Texas, Brownwood officials gave away sandbags to provide “peace of mind” in case of more rain. Several people around rising Lake Brownwood picked up sand, said Emergency Management Coordinator James Cook.
In San Antonio, there were 52 street closures and 43 calls for high-water rescues, although it’s unclear how many people were rescued, said Sandy Gutierrez, a spokeswoman for San Antonio’s Emergency Operations Center.
In Georgetown, north of Austin, 10 people were evacuated from three homes Thursday morning because of flooding on a branch of the San Gabriel River, said Keith Hutchinson, the city’s spokesman. There were no reports of injuries.
Authorities also closed several impassible roads in surrounding Williamson County. Some cars stalled in high water, but the occupants were able to get out, county spokeswoman Connie Watson said.
In Marble Falls near Austin, which received the brunt of a deluge earlier in the week, cleanup efforts began even as drizzle continued to fall Thursday. Piles of rubble and debris littered street corners, and roads were covered in a layer of mud and tree limbs.
“We’re through the crisis point and now we’re at the point it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get dirty,” Mayor Raymond Whitman said.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, acting governor while Gov. Rick Perry is out of the country, surveyed the damage in the small lakeside community that was drenched by 19 inches of rain in six hours a day earlier. No one was killed, but there were 32 water rescues.
“I haven’t seen so much destruction since I was on the ground right after Hurricane Rita,” Dewhurst said. “What these folks need is just a break in the rain and a chance to dry out.”
About 75 yards from Whitman Creek, workers at Ingram Readymix Inc. worked through the light rainfall to clean up the plant wrecked by 6 feet of rushing water. Aluminum walls flared from the side of the building, and rubble was piled outside the main office.
“It’s not a total loss, but it’s pretty much devastating,” said plant manager Craig Seward, who plans to be back in business by next week. While business was stalled, 20 full-time employees helped to clean up and wouldn’t take a pay cut, Seward said.
Most in the 7,200-resident town remained without running water after flash floods damaged the city’s water treatment plant, which state environmental officials were assessing. Bottled water brought in by state emergency workers was available.
With more rain on the way, lakefront residents in two subdivisions close to nearby Buchanan Dam were advised to evacuate. In one area, about seven families were evacuated from their homes by helicopter because the roads were not passable.
Whitman said the flooding caused the closure of six bridges and tore a wall off the funeral home. As many as 150 homes and businesses were damaged in Marble Falls, city spokeswoman Christine Laine said.
The Texas National Guard dispatched troops and vehicles to Central Texas, as well as other areas hit by storms from the Oklahoma border to the Rio Grande Valley. About 150 troops and 50 vehicles were mobilized.
It’s the wettest year on record in Austin, with more than 30 inches of rain since January, and Dallas-Fort Worth, Waco and Wichita Falls have received near-record amounts. The rainfall has more than compensated for a drought that gripped much of Texas in 2005-06, National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Lenz said.
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