Looking For Zebras

  

Google Search Screenshot

 

# 6761

 

 

Every day a small, dedicated group of volunteers around the world begin their day with a pot of coffee, an internet connection, and the goal of finding hints of `a zebra’ – an unusual or exotic disease outbreak – from hundreds of news sources around the globe.

 

You see the results of their work often in this blog, or on Crof's H5N1, and in the daily listings of `flu forums’ like FluTrackers and the Flu Wiki.  

 

Sure, Crof and I hunt for, find, and translate many of our own articles, but its a big internet and and even bigger world. So we often rely on the dozens of newshounds who spend countless hours scouring the internet, looking for tiny morsels of potentially important information. 

 

This is difficult, exacting, sometimes mind-numbing work.  Particularly when dealing with languages like Arabic or Chinese.

  

As you can see, just finding the articles that need to be translated is a major undertaking.

 

Once a likely article is found, newshounds use a variety of translation methods (including the linguistic prowess of native speakers) to turn Bahasan, or Arabic, Spanish, French, or Chinese into some semblance of English. Often, when we must rely on machine translations, we use more than one translation system, to try to get the most readable result.

 

Even then, it takes experience and knowledge of idioms and local customs to properly interpret these stories - skills that many of these newshounds have developed over these many months (and sometimes years) of volunteer work.

 

All the more remarkable, these newshounds are uncompensated for their time and effort.  They do it because they believe it is important.

 

You’ll see that Crof and I try to credit these volunteer newshounds whenever we use the fruits of their labor because recognition is pretty much the only reward (other than personal satisfaction) they get. 

 

An incomplete list of some of the more prolific newshounds would include:

Gert van der Hoek, Ronan Kelly, Giuseppe Michieli, Tetano, Shiloh, Diane Morin, Pathfinder, Missouri Watcher, Treyfish, Alert, Tonka, Laidback Al, Carol@SC, Sharon Sanders, Alaska Denise, Hawkeye, Arkanoid Legent, Catbird,  Commonground, Shannon, Mingus, mixin & AlohaOR.

 

There are many others, including some that work on other forums than FluTrackers and the Flu Wiki.  So my apologies to those who I failed to mention.

 

Last April, when a mysterious pneumonia swept a hospital in Jordan the newshounds at FluTrackers began a thread on the outbreak, and over the next 7 days made 90 posts, including scores of Arabic news article translations.

 

We now know that this incident was the first known outbreak of the novel coronavirus now garnering considerable attention in the Middle East. 

 

Most of the time, outbreaks like this turn out to be something far less exotic, like seasonal influenza, Dengue or Chikungunya.  But the truth is, most disease outbreaks – regardless of their cause – start out looking pretty much the same; a cluster of flu-like-illnesses or pneumonias.

 

So newshounds take all of these outbreaks seriously, accepting that most will turn out to be something other than zebras, but documenting them anyway.

 

Because, like the cluster of unexplained pneumonias last April, sometimes they make sense only in retrospect. 

 

Today we’ve a good example of an `odd’ news report posted by Gert van der Hoek on FluTrackers that may – or may not – become a bigger story in the days to come.

 

The thread is Brazil: unknown respiratory disease, and it contains a machine translated account of five patients being transferred to a larger hospital due to an unknown pneumonia.  According to the news report, another 14 people have similar symptoms.

 

Here is an excerpt from the news report:

 

02/12/2012
Respiratory syndrome patients are transferred from Bethlehem to Curuçá

From the newsroom  Para News Agency

The State Department of Public Health (Sespa) decided to transfer to Bethlehem five patients with clinical gentler, who were admitted to the Hospital Municipal Curuçá with symptoms of acute respiratory syndrome because as yet undefined.

The aim is to ensure better care of the sick, whose cases are still being investigated by the Epidemiological Monitoring of Sespa in conjunction with the 3rd Regional Center for Health in Castlebay, the Municipal Health Curuçá, Central Laboratory of the State (Lacen), Centre Skill Scientific Renato Chaves (CPC) and Instituto Evandro Chagas.

Patients transferred to the capital will be admitted to the Unit Diagnosis of Meningitis (UDM), the University Hospital João de Barros Barreto, under monitoring of infectious disease. In addition to these five people, 14 more showed symptoms of the disease since the beginning of the outbreak in Curuçá Municipal Hospital, where a 17-year-old died in the ICU of the Holy House, on the evening of Saturday, 01.

(Continue . . . )

 

Armed with this information, I did a quick search myself, and found several other news reports regarding this `outbreak’, which may be viral, bacterial, or possibly even the result of chemical or radioactive exposure.

 

A report, dated yesterday from the Diario do Para, states:

 

Sai result today on infection in hospital

Monday, 03/12/2012, 1:47 a.m.

The State Department of Health (SESPA) has no information about what the real focus of the contamination in Unit Joint Health Dr. Henrique Alves de Christo, located in the municipality of Curuçá, northeastern state. The complaint made by the hospital staff said that about 10 employees were contaminated by alleged leakage of a chemical used to make dental x-ray. Some employees are hospitalized in Curuçá and others were taken to Bethlehem for treatment.

 

Since last week the SESPA became aware of the case and is investigating the complaint on two lines of research. One is that the symptoms reported by employees can be caused by bacteria or a respiratory virus.

 

Laboratory technicians Central State (Lacen) and Epidemiological Surveillance investigating the case. The result of tests performed by teams due out today (Monday).

(Continue . . . )

 

 

Is this a `Zebra’?

 

We won’t know that until more information comes in. Most turn out to be less than earthshaking in their impact.  But every once in awhile . . .

 

The point is, these stories – whether they turn out to be something of global importance or not – are being monitored, organized, and posted every day by the newshounds of Flublogia – making a historical record available for anyone who wants to look.

 

 

I couldn’t do a lot of what I do in this blog without their capable assistance, and for that, they get my profound thanks and admiration.

 

 

_________________________________________________

The term `Zebra’ comes from the famous adage, retold to almost every beginning medical student, is that if you are in Central Park, and you hear hoof beats coming up behind you . . . think horses . . not zebras.

 

Simply put, doctors should always seek to rule out the most likely diagnoses first, not some obscure and exotic disease.

 

The caveat being that every once in awhile you run into a zebra.

»» Read More

Drinking From The Twitter Fire Hose

 

 

# 6387

 

 

Every day I weed through literally hundreds of news stories, press releases, journal articles, and blog posts looking for items that interest me, and I hope, will interest my readers.  

 

I have an RSS feed system that polls 266 different news sources every 20 minutes, and pipes new items to my desktop based on a variety of key words. I rely heavily on the newshounds on FluTrackers and The Flu Wiki, and of course items that come across my Twitter feed.

 

It’s a lot to keep track of, and even with RSS tools and the able assistance of the newshounds on the flu forums, it is easy to miss items. 

 

Luckily, over the past couple of years specialized daily newspapers – with news gleaned from twitter feeds – have sprung up, and they increasingly provide another very useful conduit of internet news.

 

In early 2011 I wrote about some of these internet papers in Getting My Daily Twitter Fix. At the time, I highlighted about a half dozen papers I followed, including:

 

The Emergency Management (EM) Daily 

The microbiology Daily

The Sciencemob Daily

The MicrobiologyBytes Daily

 

Since then, the number of papers I follow has increased, and now includes:

 

The DRJ Digest (Disaster Recovery)

The Business Continuity Daily

The bravethestorm.com Daily

The Healthcare Daily

#Publichealth Daily

And the newest entry, started recently by one of my first twitter contacts going back to 2008 - Andrew Wilson - whom I was lucky enough to meet in Washington D.C. a couple of years ago.

 

Health and Human Services News

 

 

These genre-based newspapers are a terrific way to quickly scan the enormous content published online each day – usually in very specific fields. Each daily edition usually has dozens of linked stories, easily arranged into 6 to 8 broad categories for quick viewing.

 

You can search for newspapers that cover topics you may be interested in at http://paper.li/, and yes, you can create your own online newspaper as well.

 

If you are looking for a better way to keep track of the avalanche of information that flows continually across the twitterverse, pick a couple of papers that cater to your interests, and give it a go.

 

Just as with your Twitter feed, the quality and reliability of the information in these newspapers will depend upon the quality and reliability of the people they follow.  

 

So examine the list of each paper’s daily contributors, and choose your Daily Newspapers wisely. 

 

And as always, Caveat Lector.

»» Read More

WSJ: Nathan Wolfe & Viral Chatter

 

 

 

# 5886

 

A decade ago `wild flavor’ restaurants were the rage in mainland China, most particularly in Guangzhou Province. Diners there could indulge in exotic dishes – often slaughtered and cooked tableside - including dog, cat, civit, muskrat, ferret, monkey, along with a variety of snakes, reptiles, and birds.

 

What are commonly referred to as `bushmeat’.

 

It was from this practice that the SARS is believed to have emerged, when kitchen workers apparently became infected while preparing wild animals for consumption.

 

Before SARS burned out, more than 8,000 people were infected around the globe and at least 800 died.

 

In the aftermath of the SARS epidemic – at least for a time – Chinese authorities cracked down on many of these `wild flavor’ establishments, although some reportedly still flourish in parts of China.

 

In Africa consumption of bushmeat is common, and often ends up illegally imported into the United States, Canada, and the European Union.

 

In recent years we’ve seen an increase in the number of outbreaks of Monkeypox in central and western Africa, and even a rare outbreak in the United States in 2003 when an animal distributor imported hundreds of small animals from Ghana, which in turn infected prairie dogs that were subsequently sold to the public (see MMWR Update On Monkeypox 2003)

 

(Photo Credit CDC PHIL)

 

While dubbed `monkeypox’, this less lethal cousin to smallpox is probably more commonly found in rodents than in monkeys.  Both of which are often targets of bushmeat hunters.

 

No vaccine is available for monkeypox, but the smallpox vaccination is said to reduce the risk of infection.

 

Earlier this year the British papers were filled with reports of `bushmeat’ being sold in the UK. A couple of links to articles include:

 

Meat from chimpanzees 'is on sale in Britain' in lucrative black market

Chimp meat discovered on menu in Midlands restaurants

 

The slaughtering of these intelligent (and often endangered) primates for food (but mostly profit) is horrific its own right, but it also has the very real potential of introducing zoonotic pathogens to humans.

 

To give some perspective on the size of the problem, in 2010 a study published in the journal Conservation Letters  looked at the amount of smuggled bushmeat that was coming into Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport over a 17 day period on flights from west and central Africa.

 

An Associated Press article provides the details (link & excerpt below):

 

Tons of Bushmeat Smuggled Into Paris, Study Finds

By MARIA CHENG and CHRISTINA OKELLO Associated Press Writers

PARIS June 17, 2010 (AP)

(EXCERPT)

Experts found 11 types of bushmeat including monkeys, large rats, crocodiles, small antelopes and pangolins, or anteaters. Almost 40 percent were listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

 

In 2005, the CDC’s EID Journal carried a perspective article on the dangers of bushmeat hunting by Nathan D. Wolfe, Peter Daszak, A. Marm Kilpatrick, and Donald S. Burke . 

 

It describes how it may take multiple introductions of a zoonotic pathogen to man – over a period of years or decades – before it adapts well enough to human physiology to support human-to-human transmission.

 

Bushmeat Hunting, Deforestation, and Prediction of Zoonotic Disease

 

 

Beyond SARS and monkeypox, a few other viruses of concern include Hendra, Nipah, Ebola, avian influenzas, hemorrhagic fevers, many variations of SIV (Simian immunodeficiency virus), and of course . . .  Virus X.

 

The one we don’t know about.  Yet.

 

On the frontlines attempting to interdict the next emerging pathogen is Dr. Nathan Wolfe, whom I’ve written about several times before, including:

 

Nathan Wolfe And The Doomsday Strain

Nathan Wolfe: Virus Hunter

 

You can also view an absolutely fascinating TED Talk by Dr. Wolfe.

Video Link

 

 

Dr. Wolf has an essay in today’s WSJ that is adapted from his new book ("The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age."), that looks at ways that monitoring `viral chatter’ could tip us off to the next emerging pandemic.

 

Where Will The Next Pandemic Come From?

To intercept killer viruses, we need to monitor 'viral chatter' in the wilds of Central Africa and Southeast Asia

 

 

His vision of a `viral war room’, one that would monitor viral chatter and electronic medical records around the globe, does not exist yet.  But there are some volunteer organizations out there working on a much smaller scale -such as ProMed Mail, FluTrackers, the Flu Wiki, and the rest of flublogia  – that are attempting to find early indicators of viral trouble from press reports around the world. 

 

For more on how the dedicated volunteer newshounds of the Internet work to track down these stories, I would invite you to read:

 

Newshounds: They Cover The Pandemic Front.

»» Read More

FluTrackers 5th Anniversary

 

 

# 5299

 

After several weeks of intense preparation, FluTrackers  opened their doors to the public five years ago this week.  From humble beginnings, FT has grown into one of the best repositories of emerging infectious disease news on the internet.

 

Unlike some of the other flu forums, the focus at FT has been 90% newsgathering.  They’ve eschewed unbridled speculation and survivalist talk in favor of more sober, and professional discussions.

 

The volunteer newshounds of FluTrackers do a terrific job of finding, translating, and analyzing media reports from all over the world.  You can read more about the work the do in Newshounds: They Cover The Pandemic Front.

 

I tend to use FT as a reference library, and visit it – along with the other grande dame of Flu Forums – the Flu Wiki – several times each day.

 

To commemorate the occasion, Sharon Sanders, editor-in-chief of FT, has put together a brief history of FluTrackers which you can read on this thread.

 

My congratulations go to Sharon, and the whole team at FluTrackers on their first five years.

»» Read More

Tripura Follow Up

 

 

# 4681

 

 

We’ve a little more information  this morning about the events in Tripura, India where 20 or more people have recently died from a `mysterious illness’ (see Newshounds Watching Tripura).

 

According to a news report today, Tripura’s Health Minister Tapan Chakraborty is describing this as an ARI (Acute Respiratory Infection), and giving the number of deaths as approximately 24 (with 17 of them children).

 

The cause of the respiratory infection isn’t stated, although an investigation is promised. 

 

For now, the debate seems to have centered around political infighting and affixing blame for the spread of the illness. 

 

Which leaves us – for the time being - not knowing whether this outbreak is due to a pneumonia, an influenza, or perhaps some other respiratory pathogen (RSV, Parainfluenza, metapneumovirus, etc.).

 

These reports come via Alert on FluTrackers.

 

ARI claims 24 lives in Tripura

Agartala | Tuesday, Jun 29 2010 IST

At least 24 people have lost their lives since the past fortnight following sudden spread of acute respiratory infection (ARI) in remote Kangrai hamlet under North Tripura along Tripura-Mizoram border.

 

Health Minister Tapan Chakraborty said according to hospital records, 24 people had died so far and 50 others were admitted with ARI complications, adding that there was a possibility of few more unrecorded deaths outside the hospital. Unofficial reports said 28 people, including 17 children, had died.

 

The minister said initial investigation revealed that the deaths occurred due to failure of the health officials to contain the disease in the area and village panchayats were also to be blamed for their careless attitude.

 

''We are giving our best efforts to control the situation and we have launched investigation into the cause of spread of the disease and all the accused authorities will be dealt with as per law,'' Mr Chakraborty said.

 

(Continue . . .)

 

And this from the Tripura Times.

 

Health Minister holds meeting with officials
Kangrai incident to rock Assembly today
Times News

(EXCERPT)

Mr. Nath has already demanded resignation of Health Minister for his alleged failure to check the outbreak of the mysterious disease.The outbreak of mysterious disease that has so far claimed 26 lives has pushed the government in an awaked situation keeping in view of the Assembly session.

 

The deaths of mysterious disease have exposed the poor health service in the rural areas like Kangrai. Sources said, the treasury bench has also envisaged strategy on how the tackle the opposition members in the Assembly tomorrow.It has been learnt that Health Minister held a meeting with senior Health department officials where he was briefed about the steps taken by the department to tackle the situation.The steps include setting up of a special sub-centre, engagement of a paediatrician at Kanchanpur hospital and house to house surveillance in the entire subdivision.

 

The government today formally informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare about the outbreak of Respiratory Tract Infection (RTI) at Kangrai in Kanchanpur subdivision. The outbreak of RTI has claimed 14 lives, according to an official of Health department.

 

Obviously, we’ll watch with interest to see what is determined to be the infectious agent in this case.

»» Read More

Newshounds Watching Tripura

 

 

# 4779

 

 

 

Three days ago Shiloh on FluTrackers posted an article from The Hindustan Times on a deadly outbreak of a `mystery disease’ in the northeastern Indian state of Tripura that had reportedly claimed the lives of 20 children.

 

 

Unknown diseases kill 20 kids in Tripura
Indo-Asian News Service
Agartala, June 25, 2010
 
Last Updated: 16:15 IST(25/6/2010)

At least 20 children have died in the past 10 days following the outbreak of various unknown viral and tropical diseases in a remote tribal-dominated village in Tripura, officials in Agartala said on Friday.

 

"The children mostly died at their homes in remote Kangrai tribal village along the Tripura-Mizoram border in northern Tripura," doctors and officials who visited the affected areas told reporters at divisional headquarters Kanchanpur.

 

Many other children and elders also fell ill. Some were admitted to the sub-divisional hospital.

(Continue . . .)

 

 

Reports of `mystery fevers’ and illness are common out of India and surrounding countries as many villages are remote, and without adequate medical care.  

 

Often, assuming we do get a diagnosis, these outbreaks are attributed to Japanese Encephalitis, Malaria or some other vector borne disease that is endemic in the region. Sometimes food poisoning or a tainted water source is blamed.

 

Occasionally, in this part of the world, outbreaks of something more exotic occur, such as the Nipah virus. And while no human cases have been recorded in India as yet, this is also an area that has seen H5N1 in poultry.

 

So naturally, the newshounds are paying attention to reports of any `mystery disease’ out of that region.

 

Over the last 72 hours Alert, Treyfish, Ironorehopper, and RoRo have all added to this ongoing thread on Flutrackers, with more than a dozen additional reports from various news outlets.

 

The reports are somewhat confused and conflicting, with various estimates of deaths ranging from 24 to nearly 100.  The symptoms described are too vague to allow much speculation as to the cause.

 

ProMed Mail  was notified, and they’ve printed several of these reports and issued an RFI (Request for Information) as well.   I’ve excerpted their comment below.

 

 

UNDIAGNOSED ILLNESS - INDIA: (TRIPURA), REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
***********************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

<SNIP>

 

The description of the symptoms of the illness is not sufficiently precise to indicate whether this outbreak has been caused by a novel pathogen such as Nipah virus or a more familiar agent such as avian (H5N1) or pandemic (H1N1) influenza virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, or malaria which may be prevalent in the area, or a combination of agents. ProMED-mail would welcome any additional information from the region.

 

Regardless of what ends up being the cause of this outbreak, this is illustrative of the terrific work being done by the volunteer newshounds on the flu forums.

 

They spend countless hours searching hundreds of newsfeeds every day, looking for any hint of an unusual outbreak of a disease in humans or animals.  And they do this not only in English, but in dozens of other languages as well. 

 

I’ve written often of my gratitude to these tireless troops.  I literally couldn’t do half what I do without their efforts.

 

For more on how they go about their formidable task, you might wish to read Newshounds: They Cover The Pandemic Front.

 

When we get more information, I’ll try to update it here.  But to follow in real time, you may wish to check on this FluTrackers thread.

»» Read More

Media Report: Two More Bird Flu Cases In Egypt

 

 

# 4323

 

Late yesterday Commonground of Pandemic Information News  posted an Egyptian News report on FluTrackers that gives details on what they are calling Egypt’s 96th H5N1 case.

 

The last media report I saw was of their 94th case (see  Egyptian Media Reports 93rd & 94th Bird Flu Cases) just over a week ago. Assuming the case count is correct in the article below, we apparently missed one in the past couple of days.

 

If confirmed, this would make the 7th case reported in 2010, getting Egypt off to a fast start in the new year.   Last year, Egypt reported a total of 39 cases (4 deaths).    The year before, just 8 cases (4 fatalities).

 

This from youm7.com and most of it appears straight forward, except for the mention of `Tamiflu-resistant’ in the last paragraph.

 

 

The 29-year-old woman from Sadat Center Monofiya ..

"Health" detected 96 bird flu infection

2010 - 20:20 Thursday, February 4th, 2010 - 20:20

 

Minister of Health

Abdul Salam wrote Princess

The Ministry of Health this evening, Thursday, discovered the case of the 96 human cases of bird flu, a woman, aged 29 years of Sadat Center Menoufiya Governorate.

 

A statement issued by the Ministry of Health, The symptoms of avian influenza began to appear on the case Jan. 27, after 7 days on this date entered the hospital issued Menouf has been suffering from double pneumonia, high fever, difficulty in breathing after exposure to birds suspected of being infected with bird flu.

 

The statement added that the situation got a Tamiflu-resistant to disease once they enter the hospital issued Menouf, but that the continuation of their health in a critical situation prompted the hospital was converted to the Abbasid.

 

 

Machine translations into English, whether from Arabic, Chinese, or any other language, can sometimes be difficult to decipher. Nuances and details don’t always survive the translation process.

 

Which is why I use them only cautiously, accepting the fact that some of the details may be `muddy’ or inaccurate. Still, they have been a valuable tool as well watch disease activity around the world.

 

We are fortunate, therefore, to have Twall - a moderator at FluTrackers - who lives in Egypt, is fluent in Arabic, and who offers this clarification:

 

this group of words (التاميفلو المقاوم للمرض ) really means that Tamiflu is used to treat the diseases of bird flu.

it also reads like they were forced to transfer the person because of how sick they were.

 

This is a good example of the `value added’ by the newshounds and analysts who have been doing this sort of work for years on the flu forums.  Although there are several flu forums doing this sort of work, the two I tend to frequent are the Flu Wiki and FluTrackers.

 

For more on how these newshounds find, translate, and analyze reports you might be interested in Newshounds: They Cover The Pandemic Front.

»» Read More

Egyptian Media Reports 92nd H5N1 Infection

 

 

# 4262

 

For the second time this week, we’ve a report in the Arabic press of a new H5N1 human infection in Egypt.   The `official’ sites, like SAIDR and WHO (World Health Organization)  often tend to lag behind on publishing these reports.

 

Egypt’s Bird Flu page, which ironically bills itself as `All You Need To Know About Bird Flu’, hasn’t been updated in months.   The screenshot below was taken this morning, and it shows the headline being from September of last year, announcing Egypt’s 87th H5N1 infection.

 

 

Even the WHO (UPDATE 26) had 90 cases as of December 21st.

 

Yesterday Commonground posted this report on FluTrackers from youm7.com.  Earlier this week, Commonground brought us news of Egypt’s 91st infection.

 

 

New bird flu cases raise the Total to 92

الجمعة، 15 يناير 2010 - 19:19 Friday, January 15th, 2010 - 19:19

 

 

 

Minister of Health

 

The Ministry of Health on the No. 92 human cases of bird flu, a child from the province Dakahliya one year old and a half.

 

The ministry of Health on "Friday" that the onset of symptoms since the child started on 7 January, where he entered the hospital in Mansoura issued on Jan. 12, suffering from fever, cough and shortness of breath.
 

 

She noted that it had been given proper treatment of the drug "Tamiflu" as soon as a suspected injury, and his health is stable and in good health.

 

Meanwhile Cottontop on the Flu Wiki  (Egyptian thread) has a very similar report from www.masrawy.com  credited to MENA (Middle East News Agency).   

 

Boy, 1 1/2 H5N1 positive

Health announces a Child bird flu, bringing the total to 92 injured

 

1/15/2010 7:07:00 PM

Cairo - Editor Masrawy - The Ministry of Health on the No. 92 human cases of bird flu, a child from the province Dakahlia one year old and a half.

 

The ministry of Health on Friday that the onset of symptoms started on day 7 of the Child since Enyeralhaly where he entered the hospital in Mansoura issued on Jan. 12, suffering from fever, cough and shortness of breath.

 

She noted that it had been given proper treatment of the drug "Tamiflu" as soon as suspected of being infected in a stable condition and in good health.

 

Source: Middle East News Agency, Masrawy.

 

 

This is an excellent time to remind my readers of the terrific work being done by the volunteer newshounds on the flu forums.   I try to hat tip them as often as I can because . . .  frankly . . .without them, I couldn’t begin to produce this blog.

 

For those who would like to learn more about these very talented and dedicated analysts, I’d direct you to an essay I wrote entitled: Newshounds: They Cover The Pandemic Front.

»» Read More

Drinking From The Fire hose

 

 

# 3882

 

With flu season in the northern hemisphere upon us, and cooler weather bringing the likelihood of new H5N1 bird flu reports as well, the newshounds that work the flu forums are looking at six very busy months ahead.

 

Newshounds are volunteers who spend hours each day searching in the hundreds of online English and Foreign language news sources for information pertaining to pandemic influenza, avian flu, and other emerging infectious diseases.  

 

Their efforts appear on flu forums like Flutrackers, the Flu Wiki, Plan For Pandemic, CurEvents and PFI or in blogs such as Crofsblog,  Chen Qi or Pandemic Information News .

 

Much of what I do in this blog is dependent upon their labors.  While I still do a fair amount of news hounding myself, at least half of the stories I blog about come by way of these hardworking news analysts.

 

I’ve highlighted their efforts a number of times, and always try to hat tip them whenever I use one of their links, but perhaps the best introduction to how they work can be found in an essay entitled:

 

Newshounds: They Cover The Pandemic Front

 

While I select the 3 or 4 (or sometimes more – yesterday I did 10) stories that interest or intrigue me to blog about each day, that doesn’t come close to covering the territory that the newshounds traverse each day. 

 

Their work thankfully is archived on the flu forums, where it is discussed, analyzed, and becomes part of the historical record.  The flu forums have essentially become repositories of flu and infectious disease information, that function like real-time libraries.

 

While there are a half dozen flu forums - all with hard working members - with just 24 hours in a day, I tend to focus my attention on two; Flu Wiki and FluTrackers.   

 

Crof over at Crofsblog quite accurately says that trying to keep up with the flow of information is like trying to drink from a fire hose.  These forums make that task – if not easy – at least a bit less daunting.

 

Both FluTrackers and The Flu Wiki  produce a daily summary of news items, which helps make it easier to pluck out individual news stories from the onslaught of posts. 

 

The Flu Wiki summary is updated in real time, during the day, at the top of each day’s news thread.  Each item has a corresponding link to take you to the original source material (news article, journal article, etc.).   

 

(Unsourced news items are not allowed on the news threads, and are generally frowned upon in Flublogia)

 

Excerpts of the story, and comments, can found below the summary in the body of the news thread.

 

This is what the Flu Wiki Daily Summary looked like yesterday.

 

Australia
•  Teen swine flu victim's muscles 'melted' (Link)

Canada
•  One more death in Ontario, total for province now 28 (Link)
•  Alberta confirms another death, total now 9 (Link)

Indonesia
•  Health Minister Promises International Cooperation (translated) (Link)

Ireland
•  Youth is Ireland's ninth flu death (Link)
•  "Unprecedented" numbers sick with H1N1 (Link)

United Kingdom
•  Swine flu vaccine: drugs regulator casts doubt on one dose schedule (Link)
•  Two more swine flu deaths in Wales (Link)
•  Sir Elton cancels arena concert (Link)
•  Cheerleader in flu jab horror (Link)

 

United States
•  AL: Nursing students get vaccinated as two more H1N1 deaths reported (Link)
•  DE: Delaware death of 15 yr old ruled H1N1-related(Link)
•  KY: two more deaths in Kentucky last week, total now 10(Link)

•  MI: First death confirmed in Kalamazoo, Michigan (Link)

•  MN: Martin County Officials React To H1N1 Deaths (Link)
•  MN: Minnesota Mom Says Swine Flu Led to Son's Death (Link)
•  MO: Health director suspends flu vaccine law (Link)
•  NC: Brunswick County confirmed 1st death, new mom (Link)
•  OR: 800 turned away from Multnomah County swine flu shot site (Link)
•  OR: Josephine County has its first H1N1 death (Link)
•  OR: 2 S. Oregon swine flu patients in critical condition (Link)
•  OR: Josephine County to declare State of Emergency - H1N1 (Link)
•  SC: Joe Wilson's wife diagnosed with swine flu (Link)
•  TX: New Flu Deaths in Dallas & Tarrant (Link)
•  TX: Local Health District Offers Drive-Through FluMist Clinic Friday (Link)

•  WI: Second death in Winnebago County (Link)

 

General
•  Swine flu may protect against bird flu (Link)
•  Human transmits H1N1 flu to ferret(Link)
•  Nearly 5,000 H1N1 Flu Deaths Reported World-Wide (Link)
•  Washing hands won't stop a respiratory virus (Link)
•  GSK's flu vaccine delivers strong response in children with one shot(Link)

 

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FluTrackers takes  a slightly different approach, posting a summary at slightly irregular intervals, but generally every 24 to 36 hours. 

 

The links provided in this case take you to the thread, or post, dealing with that story.  From there you will find links to the original source material.

 

You’ll find the latest summary linked on the front page atop the right hand PANDEMIC FLU HELP column.

 

The FluTrackers summary tends to run a bit larger, and so I’ve only reproduced excerpts below.   These snippets of the Oct 23rd summary represent about half of that summary.

 

 

 

 

China - Hong Kong - Tamiflu-resistant swine flu strain detected

A high-tech, rotating bed already saving lives at Indiana hospitals could be critical in the fight against the H1N1 flu.

U.S. Doctors Answer Flu Questions on New Website

Tracking World Wide Virulence of Swine Flu

Paper - The 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza and indigenous populations of the Americas and the Pacific

Novel H1N1 Vaccine Availabilty

• Algérie - Le vaccin contre la grippe A/H1N1 sera réceptionné à la fin du mois, selon Saïd Barkat - Muscade
• Canada - British Columbia - Novel H1N1 Vaccine Availability
• Canada - Ile-du-Prince-Edouard - Campagne de vaccination - Muscade
• Canada - Quebec - Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean: Un plan qui se précise - Muscade
• Canada - Quebec - H1N1 vaccinations start Monday in Quebec - Pathfinder     

      <SNIP>

• USA - Texas - Novel H1N1 Vaccine Availability - Pathfinder
• USA - Retard dans la livraison de vaccins aux États-Unis - Muscade

Novel H1N1 outbreaks

• Canada - Alberta - La grippe porcine balaie les Territoires du Nord-Ouest (25 communautés sur 33 - 65% des échantillons positifs) - Muscade
• Canada - Alberta - Absentéisme record dans les écoles - Muscade
• Canada - Quebec - Identification des écoles touchées - Muscade
• Canada - Quebec - Trois cas diagnostiqués dans une école de Granby - Muscade

      <SNIP>

• UK - Deaths rise to 128 as A/H1N1 claims younger victims - Shiloh
• USA - California - California Death Toll from H1N1 Swine Flu Virus Grows - Americas hit Hardest - Chuck
• USA - Florida - Swine flu claims life of Seminole County girl - JimO
• USA - Florida - 11 New Deaths Reported in Florida last week – JimO

     <SNIP>

• Vietnam - Swine flu continued to take its toll in Vietnam, as two children in central Danang City and southern Ben Tre Province
  succumbed to the virus. - Dutchy
• ECDC Update - Ironorehopper

Pneumonia and Influenza Like Illnesses (ILI)

• USA - ACHA Pandemic Influenza Surveillance Influenza Like Illness (ILI) in Colleges and Universities - Missouriwatcher
• USA - Massachusetts %ILI week 41 - RNboston

H5N1 outbreaks

• Indonésie - Sumatra Nord - Lubuk Pakam - Cas suspect - forte fièvre + poulets morts - Muscade

Other news

• Transcript of WHO Virtual Press Conference of 6 August 2009 with Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, Director of Initiative for Vaccine Research at WHO Headquarters and Gregory Hartl, Spokesperson for H1N1 - Pathfinder
• Major Nurses Strike and Picket Looms October 30 As RNs to Protest Hospital Gaps in Swine Flu Safety – Chuck

      <SNIP>

• USA - Swine flu vaccine shipments to Massachusetts are running three weeks behind schedule, forcing the state to direct local health departments to cancel vaccine clinics scheduled for next month. - Commonground

Studies

• N Engl J Med. Use of Ribavirin to Treat Influenza - Ironorehopper
• Les virus influenza A pourraient échapper au système immunitaire - Lili
• N Engl J Med. A Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Vaccine in Various Age Groups - Ironorehopper
• Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Outbreak at the U.S. Air Force Academy: Epidemiology and Viral Shedding Duration - Ironorehopper
• Early transmission characteristics of influenza A(H1N1)v in Australia: Victorian state, 16 May – 3 June 2009 - Ironorehopper

Commentaries

• Adjuvants and Cytokines - the Curious Case of IL-6 - SusanC, Snowy Owl
• Why CDC says this year's flu season is "very sobering" - Revere
• Human swine flu in pigs – Revere

 

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All of this, as you might imagine, takes an incredible amount of work and dedication.  Scores of these folks work on the forums without pay, and far too often without recognition.   Their work, by the way, is freely shared between forums and with the world.  

 

The expertise of many of these newshounds is remarkable, with some becoming quite adept at translating articles, and knowledgeable about local customs and idioms in places like Indonesia and China. 

 

The various flu forums, while certainly overlapping in some areas, each have found their own niche and style.   Many of us belong to more than one forum, finding different things to value in each venue.  

 

I’d hate to have to choose just one.

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