Hospital’s 15 deaths linked to superbug - Manchester Evening News
Posted using ShareThis
mercredi 26 mai 2010
mardi 25 mai 2010
lundi 24 mai 2010
NoroVirus: Schulausflug endet im Krankenhaus
15 Sechsklässler der Humboldtschule im Filzteich-Zentrum erkrank.
Read More
Read More
jeudi 20 mai 2010
Norovirus assumed to be cause of babies’ deaths
Imraan Karolia | Yesterday
Hospital officials told Eyewitness News one baby was detected with norovirus on Friday. By the end of the weekend 30 more babies displayed symptoms of diarrhoea.
Six infants died on Tuesday but the first baby to have caught the virus is still alive.
The community-acquired virus is believed to have spread by milk bottles, faeces of oral contact like kissing. Health MEC Qaedani Mahlangu is visiting the neonatal ward which is now sanitised.
Some of the remaining seven babies inside could be hear crying.
Maghlangu questions inspection control, saying anyone who enters the ward must wash their hands and wear hospital gowns.
She is currently meeting with the mother of one of the babies who died.
(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)
Hospital officials told Eyewitness News one baby was detected with norovirus on Friday. By the end of the weekend 30 more babies displayed symptoms of diarrhoea.
Six infants died on Tuesday but the first baby to have caught the virus is still alive.
The community-acquired virus is believed to have spread by milk bottles, faeces of oral contact like kissing. Health MEC Qaedani Mahlangu is visiting the neonatal ward which is now sanitised.
Some of the remaining seven babies inside could be hear crying.
Maghlangu questions inspection control, saying anyone who enters the ward must wash their hands and wear hospital gowns.
She is currently meeting with the mother of one of the babies who died.
(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)
mardi 18 mai 2010
vendredi 14 mai 2010
Hepatitis A outbreak in Panbang kills one
Lack of sanitation likely cause
13 May, 2010 - Medical doctors in Panbang dungkhag, Zhemgang, suspect poor sanitation may have caused the outbreak of hepatitis A in four villages of Bjoka gewog, which claimed the life of a man and left seven people sick.
The first case occurred in Alongtey village about three weeks ago, when the village health worker (VHW) died from fever and diarrhoea, according to Dr Yeshi Dorji of Panbang BHU grade I.
The deceased did not avail any medical facilities, but health personnel said that relatives told them that his eyes had turned yellowish before he died.
The gewog basic health unit (BHU) is a two-day walk from the Alongtey village.
Hepatitis A is one of five human hepatitis viruses that primarily infect the human liver and cause illness. The disease is usually mild and characterised by jaundice (yellow discolouration of the skin), fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhoea and fever. It can occasionally be severe, especially in people with liver disease.
Dr Yeshi Dorji said that, a few days after the man died, his nine-year-old son came to Panbang hospital, complaining of fever and diarrhoea. “We referred him to Gelephu regional hospital and he was diagnosed with viral hepatitis,” he said.
The deceased’s daughter also suffered from similar symptoms and visited Panbang hospital a few days later.
A medical team, comprising the dungkhag assistant health officer, medical officer, laboratory technicians, basic health worker and a brother went to the village last week to investigate.
The team concluded that the outbreak was caused by poor sanitation, as the people live in huts raised slightly on stilts with pigs reared under.
In the villages of Alongtey, Chapdempa, Ligshipong and Wangphu, about seven people were infected with hepatitis. “Three of them got jaundice too,” Dr Yeshi Dorji said.
“Usually hepatitis A is caused through faeco-oral transmission, where a contaminated water source by the faeces of an infected person spreads the disease,” Dr Yeshi Dorji said. “We checked all the water source and it was not contaminated.”
Health officials said that vitamin B-complex was given to patients and villagers were advised to wash their hands before cooking and eating, drink boiled water and to remove the pigs from under the huts.
By Tashi Dema
13 May, 2010 - Medical doctors in Panbang dungkhag, Zhemgang, suspect poor sanitation may have caused the outbreak of hepatitis A in four villages of Bjoka gewog, which claimed the life of a man and left seven people sick.
The first case occurred in Alongtey village about three weeks ago, when the village health worker (VHW) died from fever and diarrhoea, according to Dr Yeshi Dorji of Panbang BHU grade I.
The deceased did not avail any medical facilities, but health personnel said that relatives told them that his eyes had turned yellowish before he died.
The gewog basic health unit (BHU) is a two-day walk from the Alongtey village.
Hepatitis A is one of five human hepatitis viruses that primarily infect the human liver and cause illness. The disease is usually mild and characterised by jaundice (yellow discolouration of the skin), fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhoea and fever. It can occasionally be severe, especially in people with liver disease.
Dr Yeshi Dorji said that, a few days after the man died, his nine-year-old son came to Panbang hospital, complaining of fever and diarrhoea. “We referred him to Gelephu regional hospital and he was diagnosed with viral hepatitis,” he said.
The deceased’s daughter also suffered from similar symptoms and visited Panbang hospital a few days later.
A medical team, comprising the dungkhag assistant health officer, medical officer, laboratory technicians, basic health worker and a brother went to the village last week to investigate.
The team concluded that the outbreak was caused by poor sanitation, as the people live in huts raised slightly on stilts with pigs reared under.
In the villages of Alongtey, Chapdempa, Ligshipong and Wangphu, about seven people were infected with hepatitis. “Three of them got jaundice too,” Dr Yeshi Dorji said.
“Usually hepatitis A is caused through faeco-oral transmission, where a contaminated water source by the faeces of an infected person spreads the disease,” Dr Yeshi Dorji said. “We checked all the water source and it was not contaminated.”
Health officials said that vitamin B-complex was given to patients and villagers were advised to wash their hands before cooking and eating, drink boiled water and to remove the pigs from under the huts.
By Tashi Dema
Studies suggest benefits of monitoring viruses (norovirus, hepatitis A...) in mollusks
May 13, 2010 (CIDRAP News)
- FOOD SAFETY
- FOODBORNE DISEASE
Lisa Schnirring Staff Writer
Two new studies on viral pathogens in oysters and other mollusks shed new light on the need for better detection methods and the type of monitoring and treatments that are needed to ensure product safety.
Over the past few years the United States and Europe have reported several outbreaks of foodborne illness, especially norovirus cases, related to contaminated oysters and other mollusks.
The first study, by Spanish researchers, appeared yesterday in an early online edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID). They analyzed 50 mollusk samples imported into Spain from Sep 2006 to Mar 2009 for the presence of three human enteric viruses, including two norovirus genotypes, hepatitis A, and astrovirus. Species included clams, oysters, cockles, and razor clams. The mollusks were imported from Morocco, Peru, Vietnam, and South Korea.
They used real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing to detect norovirus and hepatitis A and standard RT-PCR to detect astrovirus.
They found that 20 (40%) of the 50 samples were contaminated by at least one virus, though they all had met current food safety standards. Norovirus genotype 1 was the most commonly detected virus, present in 24% of samples, followed by astrovirus (18%), norovirus genotype 2 (8%), and hepatitis A.
Six of the positive samples tested positive for more than one virus. The authors noted that coinfections with multiple virus strains could produce more severe symptoms and possibly lead to the emergence of new recombinant strains.
The researchers acknowledged the difficulty of detecting and monitoring viral contamination in shellfish samples, but they said new prevention strategies based on microbiological risk assessment could help ensure product safety and that it's essential to implement such steps and provide good lab training in developing countries that export the products.
In the second study, which appears in today's issue of Eurosurveillance, Irish researchers reported on a method they tested to reduce possible oyster contamination in harvesting areas linked to gastroenteritis outbreaks. They noted that methods for detecting norovirus in shellfish are relatively new and that processes to eliminate bacteria in oysters—putting them in clean seawater at ambient temperatures so they can purge their contaminants—do little to reduce virus levels in oysters.
They used oysters from an Irish harvesting area linked to norovirus outbreaks to test a modified "depuration" method that involved re-laying the oysters in a clean area for 17 days, and then subjecting them to elevated water temperatures (15C to 17C) for at least 4 days.
After treatment, the norovirus levels in the relaid oysters decreased from 2,900 to 492 genome copies, the group reported. Exposing them to the higher temperatures for 4 days reduced norovirus levels to 136 viral genome copies. The level fell below assay detection at 6 days.
The group concluded that growing evidence suggests that it is possible to gauge illness risk based on norovirus levels in oysters and that given the inadequacy of existing controls to prevent contamination, setting an appropriate virus standard would yield public health benefits. They also wrote that validated treatment processes can be used to produce a safe product, even when low levels of norovirus are detected in the treated oysters.
- FOOD SAFETY
- FOODBORNE DISEASE
Lisa Schnirring Staff Writer
Two new studies on viral pathogens in oysters and other mollusks shed new light on the need for better detection methods and the type of monitoring and treatments that are needed to ensure product safety.
Over the past few years the United States and Europe have reported several outbreaks of foodborne illness, especially norovirus cases, related to contaminated oysters and other mollusks.
The first study, by Spanish researchers, appeared yesterday in an early online edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID). They analyzed 50 mollusk samples imported into Spain from Sep 2006 to Mar 2009 for the presence of three human enteric viruses, including two norovirus genotypes, hepatitis A, and astrovirus. Species included clams, oysters, cockles, and razor clams. The mollusks were imported from Morocco, Peru, Vietnam, and South Korea.
They used real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing to detect norovirus and hepatitis A and standard RT-PCR to detect astrovirus.
They found that 20 (40%) of the 50 samples were contaminated by at least one virus, though they all had met current food safety standards. Norovirus genotype 1 was the most commonly detected virus, present in 24% of samples, followed by astrovirus (18%), norovirus genotype 2 (8%), and hepatitis A.
Six of the positive samples tested positive for more than one virus. The authors noted that coinfections with multiple virus strains could produce more severe symptoms and possibly lead to the emergence of new recombinant strains.
The researchers acknowledged the difficulty of detecting and monitoring viral contamination in shellfish samples, but they said new prevention strategies based on microbiological risk assessment could help ensure product safety and that it's essential to implement such steps and provide good lab training in developing countries that export the products.
In the second study, which appears in today's issue of Eurosurveillance, Irish researchers reported on a method they tested to reduce possible oyster contamination in harvesting areas linked to gastroenteritis outbreaks. They noted that methods for detecting norovirus in shellfish are relatively new and that processes to eliminate bacteria in oysters—putting them in clean seawater at ambient temperatures so they can purge their contaminants—do little to reduce virus levels in oysters.
They used oysters from an Irish harvesting area linked to norovirus outbreaks to test a modified "depuration" method that involved re-laying the oysters in a clean area for 17 days, and then subjecting them to elevated water temperatures (15C to 17C) for at least 4 days.
After treatment, the norovirus levels in the relaid oysters decreased from 2,900 to 492 genome copies, the group reported. Exposing them to the higher temperatures for 4 days reduced norovirus levels to 136 viral genome copies. The level fell below assay detection at 6 days.
The group concluded that growing evidence suggests that it is possible to gauge illness risk based on norovirus levels in oysters and that given the inadequacy of existing controls to prevent contamination, setting an appropriate virus standard would yield public health benefits. They also wrote that validated treatment processes can be used to produce a safe product, even when low levels of norovirus are detected in the treated oysters.
dimanche 9 mai 2010
jeudi 6 mai 2010
Visiting ban at Gloucestershire's norovirus hospitals
Visiting ban at Gloucestershire's norovirus hospitals : BBC News
The hospitals' maternity wards are not affected by the restrictions
Two of Gloucestershire's main hospitals have asked visitors to stay away after an outbreak of a vomiting bug.
Visiting has been stopped in all wards at Cheltenham General Hospital and Ward 7b at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
People are asked not to visit patients on those wards to control the spread of the bug.
The restrictions are being reviewed daily, but are expected to remain in place until at least the end of the week.
Dr Jim Stone, of the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "This is a precautionary measure and good infection control practice to protect patients and control the spread of the illness.
"I hope that families and friends will understand why we are asking them not to visit for this short period."
Anyone wanting to visit a patient on compassionate grounds is asked to speak to a member of staff on entering the ward.
Visiting to maternity wards is not affected and visiting to children's wards is restricted to parents and carers.
The hospitals' maternity wards are not affected by the restrictions
Two of Gloucestershire's main hospitals have asked visitors to stay away after an outbreak of a vomiting bug.
Visiting has been stopped in all wards at Cheltenham General Hospital and Ward 7b at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
People are asked not to visit patients on those wards to control the spread of the bug.
The restrictions are being reviewed daily, but are expected to remain in place until at least the end of the week.
Dr Jim Stone, of the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "This is a precautionary measure and good infection control practice to protect patients and control the spread of the illness.
"I hope that families and friends will understand why we are asking them not to visit for this short period."
Anyone wanting to visit a patient on compassionate grounds is asked to speak to a member of staff on entering the ward.
Visiting to maternity wards is not affected and visiting to children's wards is restricted to parents and carers.
Inscription à :
Articles (Atom)