The decadeslong search for effective ways to treat or prevent Alzheimer's disease is littered with failures, leaving 5.7 million Americans already stricken with this form of dementia without a lifeline. The rest of us are left to hope we won't be among the 1 in 10 over 65 who gets the devastating diagnosis.

But precision medicine—an approach that is changing the treatment of cancer and spawning targeted therapies for a wide range of diseases—may open new avenues for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. And new ways to test experimental treatments promise to more quickly identify treatments that work, and perhaps the patients in whom they will work best.



Precision medicine offers a glimmer of hope for Alzheimer's disease

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Ebola scare at Denver hospital after man just back from Congo exhibited symptoms

A man who recently worked to help those infected with the Ebola virus in eastern Congo exhibited flu-like symptoms on Sunday and potentially could have exposed the ambulance crew and others, The Denver Post reported.

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Dengue fever outbreak stopped by special mosquitoes

Australian researchers say for the first time an entire city has been protected from viral disease dengue.

Captive-bred mosquitoes with a naturally occurring bacteria were released in the city of Townsville, where they mated with local mosquitoes.

By spreading the bacteria Wolbachia, which hinders dengue transmission, the city has been dengue-free since 2014.

Researchers from Monash University also believe their work could stop mosquito-borne diseases Zika and malaria.

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Damn :(


Ebola virus breaks out in Congo again, just days after last one ended

A new outbreak of Ebola virus has hit the Democratic Republic of Congo, just days after the last outbreak was declared over.

Four cases have been positively identified and more are likely, Congo’s health minister, Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga, said in a statement Wednesday.

“Just a week after announcing the end of the ninth epidemic of Ebola virus disease in the Equator Province, the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing a new epidemic," Kalenga said. He added that there was no indication that the two most recent outbreaks, separated by more than 1,500 miles, are related.

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EBOLA OUTBREAK: Killer disease WARNING as fresh cases discovered - 'We need calm'

The health ministry said four cases of the virus have been confirmed, while 20 deaths from hemorrhagic fever in and around Mangina, a densely populated town 30km southwest of the city of Beni and 100km from the Ugandan border have also been recorded.

A team of 12 experts from the health ministry will arrive in Beni on Thursday to set up a mobile lab.

Julien Paluku wrote on Twitter: "Ebola virus conformed in North Kivu province.

"The Minister of Health just announced it after confirmation of the analysis at the INRB (Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale).

"I call for calm and prudence."

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Hi Lynn :)

The WolbachiaI bacteria looks really promising. Thanks :) Apologies if this has been linked to before, (it's seven months old and I don't think I've caught up on all the posts that far back) but I read recently that the vaccine against dengue, administered to children in the Phillipines isn't quite a success story :( In fact, it sounds a pretty dubious definition of a vaccine to me...

More than 700,000 Filipino children were given dengue vaccine shots in 2016. But on November 29, 2017, French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur, which developed the Dengvaxia vaccine, said it should not be given to children who have not been previously infected by dengue virus.

In 2014, the world welcomed the news about the research breakthrough in developing a dengue vaccine. One of the countries which bought the vaccine from Sanofi Pasteur was the Philippines at a cost of 3.5 billion pesos (70 million US dollars).

edit: thanks too for the ebola updates.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/03/middleeast/yemen-cholera-hodeidah-intl/index.html
Yemen at risk of third cholera epidemic, health officials warn

War-ravaged Yemen is teetering on the brink of a third cholera epidemic, the World Health Organization warned Friday.
Cholera cases are increasing near the capital, Sanaa, and the major port city of Hodeidah, where recent conflict has hindered WHO's efforts to prevent the disease.
"We've had two major waves of cholera epidemics in recent years, and unfortunately the trend data that we've seen in the last days to weeks suggests that we may be on the cusp of the third major wave of cholera epidemics in Yemen," Dr. Peter Salama, WHO deputy director-general of emergency preparedness and response, told a UN briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.

Thanks for your input Annie. :(

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33 reported dead in Congo Ebola outbreak

(CNN)The Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 33 people, the World Health Organization said Sunday.
An additional 43 suspected cases of Ebola were reported, including 13 confirmed by lab testing, according to WHO.

:-(

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In addition to this outbreak, the DRC is plagued with multiple militias, a perfect storm condition which won't make containment any easier =:(

33 reported dead in Congo Ebola outbreak
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/05/health/ebola-outbreak-congo/index.html

(CNN)The Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 33 people, the World Health Organization said Sunday. An additional 43 suspected cases of Ebola were reported, including 13 confirmed by lab testing, according to WHO.

:-(

A very interesting newspiece reposted to a WCG OpenZIka forum, thanks Lynn.

Dengue fever outbreak stopped by special mosquitoes
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-45028733

Australian researchers say for the first time an entire city has been protected from viral disease dengue.

Captive-bred mosquitoes with a naturally occurring bacteria were released in the city of Townsville, where they mated with local mosquitoes.

By spreading the bacteria Wolbachia, which hinders dengue transmission, the city has been dengue-free since 2014.

Researchers from Monash University also believe their work could stop mosquito-borne diseases Zika and malaria.

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Apr 3, 1999 - May 3, 2020

Scourge of superbugs killing Malawi's babies

Malawi (CNN)In a sweltering room in the corner of the Chatinkha nursery in Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, Lilian Matchaya is expressing milk.
Her daughter, Abigail, is nearby, lying in a wooden cot with a UV light overhead keeping her at the right temperature. Her head wrapped in a bandage, Abigail has a plastic feeding tube going into her nose.
Matchaya, 38, inserts a syringe of breast milk into the tube, and it travels slowly down the translucent pipe. The sounds of infants crying, machines beeping and nurses pushing trolleys fill the ward.

Video with above link.

Welcome Pierre.

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BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil complained on Thursday that Venezuela was doing nothing to stop the spread of an outbreak of measles in Brazil and other neighboring countries that has been sparked by an exodus of Venezuelans fleeing economic collapse.

Since February, four people - three of them Venezuelan - have died of measles in the remote Brazilian border state of Roraima where health authorities have confirmed 281 cases of the disease, mostly among children.


Brazil slams Venezuela as measles spreads across border

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Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak taking place in a war zone

by Al-Hadji Kudra Maliro | AP August 11 at 4:29 PM

BENI, Congo — In a new reminder of the dangers in containing an Ebola outbreak in a war zone, suspected rebels killed seven people overnight in northeastern Congo and sent residents fleeing, an official said Saturday.

Global health officials have warned that combating this virus outbreak is complicated by multiple armed groups in the mineral-rich region and a restless population that includes 1 million displaced people and scores of refugees leaving for nearby Uganda every week.

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Michigan county fair attendees test positive for rare strain of swine flu

Health officials announced Friday that two children were sickened by a rare strain of influenza after coming into contact with pigs at a county fair in Michigan.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said that influenza A (H1N2) has been identified as the strain that the children contracted from last month’s Fowlerville Family Fair, which took place July 23 to 28.

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Adults and children are advised to get the Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.


CDC watching spread of measles in Tennessee and 20 other states

ATLANTA, Ga. (WKRN) - During the first half of this year, there were 107 reported cases of measles in 21 states, including Tennessee.

If the rate of infection continues, 2018 is on track to become one of the worst years for measles in the last decade.

Last year there were 118 cases during the entire year.

The worst measles outbreak was in 2014 when there were 667 cases.

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Recall Alert: FDA Warning About Two Thyroid Medications


PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The Food and Drug Administration has a new warning and recall about two thyroid medications made by a Chinese manufacturer.

The FDA has issued a voluntary recall for the medications because of potential problems with an ingredient in them.

The warning was issued Aug. 9 for Levothyroxine and Liothyronine 15 mg, 30 mg, 60 mg, 90 mg, and 120 mg thyroid tablets.

In the statement, the FDA says the medications were “manufactured using active pharmaceutical ingredients that were sourced prior to the FDA’s import alert.”

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New Haven park overdoses possibly caused by fentanyl

Conflicting reports out of Connecticut suggest that at least some of the 76 patients who overdosed on synthetic marijuana in a New Haven park may have also ingested fentanyl. Dr. Katheryn Hawk, an emergency room physician at Yale New Haven Hospital, where many victims were treated, told the New Haven Register that the Drug Enforcement Administration “confirmed the presence of fentanyl.”

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Congo Ebola outbreak: 78 cases, 44 deaths, 10 health workers infected

(CNN)There have been 78 cases of Ebola reported in the current outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo as of Wednesday, the World Health Organization said Friday.
Of those cases, 51 are confirmed, and 27 are probable. This includes 44 deaths.

terrible :-(

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Weaponizing oxygen to kill infections and disease

The life-threatening bacteria called MRSA can cripple a hospital since it spreads quickly and is resistant to treatment. But scientists report that they are now making advances in a new technique that avoids antibiotics. Instead, they are using light to activate oxygen, which then wipes out antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The method also could be used to treat other microbial infections, and possibly even cancer.

The researchers are presenting their results today at the 256th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Clinical facilities currently have few alternatives when trying to rid their patients of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). The Veterans Health Care System, for example, hires infection prevention staff to track hand hygiene. Going even further, one recent study found that disinfecting every patient admitted to an acute-care setting cut the rate of bloodstream infections in half. However, this procedure isn't feasible at most hospitals.

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-weaponizing-oxygen-infections-disease.html

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Measles cases hit record high in Europe

Cases of measles in Europe have hit a record high, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

More than 41,000 people have been infected in the first six months of 2018, leading to 37 deaths.

Last year there were 23,927 cases and the year before 5,273. Experts blame this surge in infections on a drop in the number of people being vaccinated.

In England, there have been 807 cases so far this year. The WHO is calling on European countries to take action.

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