The capital of India is facing a serious outbreak of dengue fever.
Health officials in New Delhi have said the outbreak of the disease is the worst in five years. They are also putting steps in place to make sure all patients can receive treatment after two children died when hospitals turned them away.
The government said they will be stripping the license of any private hospital that refuses to treat a dengue fever victim. Also, the government has restricted the cost of tests for the disease to $9 after some private labs were charging more than four times that amount.
The death of one of the boys lead to the suicide of their parent. The note left behind cited the child’s death and said five private hospitals turned the family away before he was finally admitted at a sixth for treatment, but by then it was too late.
The government confirmed death toll from the disease since the outbreak began has reached 11. Over 1800 cases have been confirmed by health officials.
The country is experiencing the rainy season and most cases of Dengue Fever happen near the end and in the months right after the rainy season.
A Michigan resident who had been vacationing in Colorado has tested positive for bubonic plague.
The Michigan Department of Health says the unnamed resident is the state’s first ever recorded case of the disease. They said it’s likely the contracted the disease in Colorado because they visited an area “with reported plague activity.”
The confirmed infection is the 14th case of the life threatening disease this year. Three people have died from the plague this year: two in Colorado and one in Utah.
The Centers for Disease Control said that the plague has been reported almost exclusively in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado since 1970. Only one infection has been confirmed to have taken place outside of those states, and that was in a lab environment.
Doctors say the disease is still extremely rare.
“Now, it’s very rare, especially in the U.S. There are only about 7 to 10 cases a year, but it still exists,” medical contributor Dr. Holly Phillips told “CBS This Morning.” “Think of rodents in very rural states — western states, southwest, ranches, farms — that’s likely what happened here.”
The number of overall infections this year is more than double the national average of seven cases.
Sierra Leone officials confirmed to world news outlets the death of a 67-year-old woman from Ebola and the quarantine of the entire village where she was living.
“Over 970 people are being monitored under quarantine as there is information that they had had some contact with the deceased woman who tested positive after her death,” the district Ebola response office said in a report distributed to reporters.
“From those under quarantine, 48 are considered as high risk and they are in various holding centers in the district and not treatment centers, as none of them have exhibited any signs and symptoms of Ebola.”
Local officials say that the woman lived in the village of Sella Kafta and was sick for 10 days without any officials being alerted to her symptoms.
Without any further victims of the disease, the quarantine will last three weeks.
A BBC correspondent on the ground the Sierra Leone said the government is using a stricter quarantine than in previous cases. Residents are being prohibited from moving from house to house.
Soldiers and police are surrounding the town and allowing no one but authorized government officials and health workers to enter or leave the area.
Illinois officials have confirmed another death from Legionnaires’ disease in the same town where seven elderly veterans have died.
The Illinois Department of Public Health says the latest victim was elderly with other health issues like the seven veterans who died from the disease. However, this woman was not in the care of the facility, just in the same town as the veteran’s home, Quincy.
Four other people are now confirmed to have been infected with Legionnaires’ who are not connected to the veteran’s home.
Illinois state public health director Dr. Nirav Shah said it’s possible more deaths will take place because of the two week incubation period of the disease.
The Centers for Disease Control rushed to the veteran’s home to help local officials deal with the outbreak and remain on site to assist the state in finding the source of the outbreak.
“[State officials] do not believe there is an increased risk of Legionnaires’ disease to the Quincy community,” Dr. Shah told reporters despite the new death and illnesses away from the veteran’s home.
Officials have also told residents of the area who are elderly or sick to avoid the veteran’s home.
The deadly brain eating amoeba has taken another life.
The family of 14-year-old Michael Riley, Jr. confirmed their son died from naegleria fowleri, or the “brain eating amoeba”, at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
“It is with a heavy heart, that we let everyone know that Michael John Riley Jr. lost his battle on this earth but won a victory for his place in the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ,” the family said in a statement on their Facebook page. “Michael fought a courageous fight over the past week, allowing him to move on to be with the Lord for future heavenly tasks, a beautiful set of wings, and a pair of gold running shoes.”
The death is the fourth this month from someone contracting the deadly amoeba.
Riley was also the second child to die at Texas Children’s Hospital from naegleria fowleri this month.
Riley’s family said their son fell ill after a trip with his track team to swim at San Houston State Park. Doctors couldn’t figure out why the young athlete was suffering from headaches that continued to worsen until they were unbearable until one doctor at Texas Children’s recognized the symptoms from the previous victim.
“It is unknown why certain persons become infected with (Naegleria fowleri) while millions of others exposed to warm recreational fresh waters do not, including those who were swimming with people who became infected,” the Centers for Disease Control said.
Only 3 of the 133 Americans known to be infected with the amoeba since 1962 have survived their infection.
Another western U.S. resident is dead because of the plague.
Officials in Utah say an elderly woman has died after contracting the potentially fatal disease earlier this month. They could not confirm how the woman was infected but speculated that she likely had contact with a dead animal or fleas.
Utah officials would not release the name of the woman or any demographic information other than she was “elderly.”
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says 11 plague cases have been found this year in the U.S. and three patients have died.
“It is unclear why the number of cases in 2015 is higher than usual,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated in a brief update.
The average number of cases per year is between 5 and 6.
“Health care providers should consider the diagnosis of plague in any patient with compatible signs or symptoms, residence or travel in the western United States, and recent proximity to rodent habitats or direct contact with rodents or ill domestic animals,” the CDC says in its report.
“In humans, plague is characterized by the sudden onset of fever and malaise, which can be accompanied by abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.”
The second tourist within a month to Yosemite National Park has been found to have contracted the plague.
The California Department of Public Health confirmed Tuesday a “presumptive positive” for plague in a patient who visited Yosemite and the Sierra National Forest in August. The Centers for Disease Control is now testing the patient, who’s demographic information is not being released to the press.
In late July, a child from Los Angeles County became infected with the plague after camping with their family at Crane Flat Campground in Yosemite National Park. The child is still hospitalized but recovering from the infection.
“Although the presence of plague has been confirmed in wild rodents over the past two weeks at Crane Flat and Tuolumne Meadows campgrounds in Yosemite, the risk to human health remains low,” the state Department of Public Health said in a statement. “Action to protect human and wildlife health by closing and treating campgrounds was taken out of an abundance of caution.”
Health officials say that campers should never feed squirrels and other small animals. They also said for campers to avoid making camp near rodent burrows and to wear long pants and use bug repellant to keep the fleas that carry the disease at bay.
The plague has killed two people so far this year in Colorado. The Centers for Disease Control says there is an average of seven human plague cases per year in the United States.
A woman’s 4th of July trip to Grand Lake has left her without parts of her arms and legs thanks to one tick bite.
Jo Rogers, a mother of two, took her family for a holiday getaway to Grand Lake in northeast Oklahoma. When she returned home, she mentioned to family members she was not feeling well, thinking that she had picked up the flu during her trip.
The following day, family members rushed her to the hospital when Rogers said her hands and feet hurt. Within hours Rogers was placed into a medically induced coma as her limbs began to turn black and blue at the tips and then spread up her arms and legs.
Doctors finally noticed a tick bite and discovered she had an aggressive form of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF). While there is treatment for RMSF, it must be started in the early days of infection and doctors say that Rogers missed that initial time frame.
The initial symptoms of RMSF mimic that of a cold or flu with headache, fever, vomiting and muscle pain. Oklahoma is one of five states where the rate of infection from the disease is three to 10 times the national average according to the Centers for Disease Control.
“She is still on a ventilator and being kept sedated to help with pain. Although she will have insurance for a couple more months, her medical bills are mounting daily and will continue as she will be in the hospital for many more months with rehab, prosthetics and home and car renovation to accommodate her needs,” her family wrote on a GoFundMe page.
A factory for drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was suddenly shut down Tuesday after the discovery of the deadly bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ Disease.
The plant in Zebulon, North Carolina manufactures inhaled medications and employs around 850 people. The bacteria was discovered in one of the plant’s cooling towers leading to the factory’s immediate closure.
“We are trying to gather information on what the situation is,” GSK spokeswoman Jenni Brewer Ligday said in statement to the Associated Press. GSK is also working to gather “more details on whether product has been impacted and, if they have, what is our procedure in place to handle that.”
“The cooling tower is a standalone structure, which does not come into contact with product manufactured at the facility,” added GSK spokesman Marti Jordan.
GSK officials said that the plant remains shut down but the campus of the company remains open and there is no threat to the general public.
The plant focuses on production of drugs for asthma patients such as Advair.
GSK said the plant is tested every three months for potentially hazardous bacteria like Legionnaires’.
The news of the closure comes on the heels of New York City dealing with the worst outbreak of Legionnaires’ in the city’s history, leaving 12 people dead and over 110 sickened.
New York City officials reported Wednesday another death from the current Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak that has now sickened almost 100 people.
“This is the largest outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that we are aware of in New York City,” Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said.
Although officials with the city’s Department of Health and Mental Health would not say where the victim had lived, they did say that like the other deaths it was an older person with other medical issues.
In addition to the news about the death and the 11 new cases of the disease, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio announced the city will be making a new law governing the cooling towers that have been confirmed to be the source of the latest outbreak.
“What we need and what the legislation will achieve is a complete registry of every single building that has (a cooling tower),” the mayor said. “That does not exist as a matter of law right now.”
Community residents were thankful the government was finally taking action but wondered why it took so long to happen.
“The health (commissioner) of the City of New York needs to step up her game,” said Alexander Freeman, 57, a cook at the East Side House Settlement, told the New York Daily News. “I’m still afraid that it might come down here.
“Everybody is nervous. How would you feel if this was your backyard?”