We’re Not Out of the Woods Yet with Swine Flu

Swine flu may have fallen off the front pages in recent days, but federal and state health officials say that the illness is spreading so quickly that it’s hard to keep count of the victims. In the past week alone, they say, the swine flu has accounted for about 40 percent of the flu viruses diagnosed in the United States. Read more

Seven salmonella cases in Maryland have been tied to a nationwide outbreak of the disease that has infected 400 people and killed one, according to the state health department. The cases have the same DNA “fingerprint” as other cases in the outbreak that has struck 42 states, said Health Department spokeswoman Karen Black.  No deaths in Maryland have been attributed to the outbreak. However, federal health officials say the strain involved in the outbreak has hospitalized about one in five.

Cholera triggers a national emergency in Zimbabwe. The government of Zimbabwe late Wednesday declared that the cholera epidemic – which has claimed more than 500 lives, and the breakdown of the national hospital system – a national emergency, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported. Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said there is a “critical shortage of resources” in the Zimbabwean health sector. “Our central hospitals are literally not functioning,” the Herald quoted Parirenyatwa as saying. “Our staff is de-motivated, and we need your support to ensure that they start coming to work and our health system is revived.” Doctors and nurses in Zimbabwean state hospitals have been striking on and off for the past year or more, but last month most of Harare’s main state hospitals essentially closed as medical staff walked off the job over low pay and abysmal working conditions, the paper reported. Additionally, clean drinking water is at short supply as the nation’s water and sewer systems have failed, thus exacerbating the epidemic. Parirenyatwa appealed to donors for medicine, lab chemicals, surgical materials, X-ray film, food to feed patients other materials lacking in the national health system. “The emergency appeal will help us reduce…mortality,” he said.