Tag Archives: pandemic
PANDEMIC OUTBREAK – Mystery illness claims dozens of Cambodian children
Hong Kong (CNN) — The World Health Organization is helping the Cambodian Ministry of Health investigate the cause of a mysterious illness that has killed dozens of children in the country since April.
A joint statement from the WHO and the ministry, released Wednesday, said 61 of 62 children admitted to hospital had died from the disease. The majority of the reported cases came from southern and central Cambodia.
“[The Ministry of Health] and WHO are currently investigating the cases,” Mam Bunheng, the Cambodian minister of health, said in the statement, “possible causes of the disease are being considered, but definite identification of the cause and source may take some time.”
Initial reports from the Cambodian government indicate that the unknown illness struck children under seven years old.
“The symptoms include a mixture of respiratory illnesses, fever and generalized neurological symptoms, including convulsions in some of the patients,” Dr. Nima Asgari, a team leader of the WHO country office in Cambodia, said in an email to CNN.
The children were brought to hospitals in the capital, Phnom Penh, and the northern tourist hub of Siem Reap — the two biggest cities of Cambodia — but most of them died within 24 hours upon admission.
“This can be a mixture of a number of known diseases — virological, bacterial or toxicological — which have been reported as one syndrome or something new,” Asgari added.
“While the labs are excluding the various pathogens, we are providing support to [the Ministry of Health] to make sure that an in-depth analysis of cases is done to identify possible causes or exposures which will give us a better picture. The investigation is ongoing.”
So far, there were no signs of contagion or clusters of cases — patients who had contact with each other and fell sick together — a telltale warning sign of a highly infectious disease. But Asgari admitted the high mortality rate in such a short time was extremely worrying.
MAINE’s OFFICIAL ZOMBIE EMERGENCY DRILL
The undead are wreaking havoc in Maine — in a unique emergency preparedness drill, at least.
About 100 first emergency responders from eight counties in Maine were summoned to Bangor to contain a “zombie apocalypse” Thursday in an exercise intended to train them to react to a mass casualty event, the Bangor Daily News reported.
The participants: Bangor residents outfitted with makeup and fake blood to look as “undead” as possible.
In the exercise, the emergency personnel were tasked with treating the zombie-infected participants to prevent them from becoming zombies.
“If they don’t receive the anti-zombie drug, they progress to stage two and then on to the ‘undead’ stage,” Kathy Knight, director of the exercise’s organizer Northeastern Maine Regional Resource Center, explained.
The whole point of the exercise, according to Knight, was to get first responders to “think outside the box” in dealing with a potential pandemic scenario.
“This gives us the opportunity to do something a little bit different, but it still has the same principles that would apply in a real situation,” Knight told the Bangor Daily News.
“The entire thing is very similar to any regular pandemic influenza planning,” she told the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. “So we can use what we learn here in the planning for that type of event.”
EUROPE TRYING TO TURN AMERICA INTO A ZOMBIE WASTELAND
A WAVE of gruesome cannibal attacks that have left Americans fearing a “zombie apocalypse” is being fuelled by a drug imported from the UK, The Sun can reveal.
The mind-bending narcotics that make users eat living human flesh are bought off the internet — labelled as BATH SALTS.
Cops have been shocked by a surge in frenzied attacks by people, which includes:
HOMELESS Ronald Poppo, 65, had three-quarters of his FACE chewed off by Rudy Eugene, 31, who was high on the drug when cops shot him dead last month in Miami. The officers had repeatedly ordered him to stop but he just growled at them like a wild animal. Poppo is now partially blind.
MUM Pamela McCarthy, 35, who was tasered by cops as she attacked her three-year-old son this month. She had a cardiac arrest and died in hospital in New York.
CRAZED Carl Jacquneaux, 43, bit a chunk out of the face of his ex-wife’s new lover Todd Credeur, 48, when he turned up at her home in Lafayette, Louisiana, this month.
ON the same day, Brandon de Leon, 21, was restrained in a Hannibal Lecter-style face mask when he tried to bite off the hands of cops who arrested him in Miami. He screamed at them: “I’m going to eat you.”
Another user said the “bath salts” made him feel “evil” — and convinced him he was possessed by Jason Voorhees, the psycho in the Friday the 13th movies.
Freddy Sharp, 27, from Tennessee, said: “It felt like the darkest, evilest thing imaginable. I was hallucinating about being in an insane asylum and being possessed by Jason Voorhees. I couldn’t stop whatever was in me.”
TV reporter Cenk Uygur watched footage of Freddy being restrained by medics and said: “He looks like a zombie. People are talking about a zombie apocalypse and all these people eating each other. I cannot fathom why you would do bath salts that make you want to eat someone’s face off.”
US authorities fear the cannibalistic attacks could become a pandemic. They have discovered that many shipments are coming from the UK.
In an investigation by network NBC, a girl of 16 ordered a batch from a firm which, despite saying it did not sell to under-18s, soon delivered. A reporter said: “Just days later, the drugs arrived from England to the NBC studios. Even more alarming is cops that say they cannot stop the sale of the drugs as they are not illegal.”
The Sun knows of several British “bath salts” sites which boast delivery to the US in five-to-eight working days — but we will not print the addresses.
One mockingly suggests users put them in their bathtub to help “erase fatigue and invigorate the body”. It says the products are offered “for scientific research purposes only” and are “not designed for human consumption”.
But it also advises buyers to use the drug “sparingly” and predicts the effects will last for several hours. No mention is made, however, of the risk that users will turn into the crazed, flesh-eating monsters horrifying America.
Earlier this month, a naked man was arrested ranting and screaming outside the Los Angeles home of British actor Orlando Bloom, 35. He was said to be manic and sweaty as he prowled the estate.
Users of the drug have reported feeling incredibly hot, which is why many strip off. They can also develop superhuman strength — meaning it can take five or six men to restrain them.
They become so manic and delusional that the term “excited delirium” is being used to describe their mental state. The shocking wave of attacks has sparked fears of a real-life zombie outbreak as seen in movies such as Dawn Of The Dead.
The dangers of so-called legal highs has hit the headlines in the UK in recent weeks with two incidents linked to a new “bath salts” drug called Benzo Fury.
Alex Herriet, 19, died after taking the £10 high at the Rockness festival in Scotland.
And Katie Wilson, 19, paraded naked in a Tesco in Bourne, Lincs, after taking the drug.
The “bath salts” are actually a cocktail of amphetamine-like chemicals, mainly mephedrone, MDPV and methylone. Authorities in the US and UK have tried to close loopholes allowing the drugs to be sold.
Last year America’s Drug Enforcement Administration imposed a 12- month emergency ban on the three chemicals. MDPV is illegal in the UK.
But experts have warned the current rules are ineffective.
David Shurtleff, of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the States, explained drug makers are constantly “tweaking” the molecular structure of the substance to get round regulations while maintaining the effects.
Dr Shurtleff said: “The problem is that chemists are very clever.”
The number of calls America’s Poison Control Centers receive about the drug rose from 304 in 2010 to 6,138 in 2011. Addiction expert Dr Deborah Mash of University of Miami says the problem should chill people to the bone. She said: “This is almost like a science fiction episode where someone creates a dangerous molecule and it is released into the public. The results are terrifying in the extreme.”
Things have got so out of hand in America that many people feared a mutant virus was to blame.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention had to release a statement saying it is not aware of any virus that can cause zombie-like behaviour.
Addiction expert Dr Karen Hylen believes the cannibals were already disturbed — and that eating human flesh can become addictive. Dr Hylen said: “It takes a very disordered psyche to become interested in cannibalism. But once a person entertains such fantasies and acts on them, eating flesh will release brain chemicals that can make the process addictive.”
Luka Magnotta, 29, is the most infamous recent “flesh eater” after he was held on suspicion of killing and eating a lover.
But the Canadian oddball, who lived in London for a while, is not known to have used “bath salts”.
The Home Office said it is trying to root out the “bath salts” menace. A spokesman said: “MDPV is an illegal and harmful drug and stiff penalties are in place for people who possess or supply it. Drugs ruin lives which is why we are taking tough action against dealers and criminal gangs and helping people to free themselves from the cycle of dependency.”
CDC visitors exposed to deadly germs?
Washington (CNN) — It’s a highly secured, sophisticated research lab studying deadly diseases such as bird flu, monkeypox, tuberculosis and rabies.
It’s in a facility called Building 18, which cost taxpayers $214 million.
And now, the Biosafety Level 3 lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is also the subject of a congressional investigation after a potentially dangerous airflow leak at that lab, CNN has learned.
The leak occurred on February 16, when air flowed the wrong way out of a germ lab into a clean-air corridor, rather than through the powerful HEPA filter that cleans the air, congressional sources and CDC officials said. Visitors touring the facility were in the clean corridor when they observed a puff of air being pushed out from the lab through a slot in a door window.
CNN recommends: Deadly bird flu could become airborne
If experiments had been under way at the time of that air leak, experts say, unprotected visitors could have been exposed to deadly germs, although an epidemic would have been unlikely.
According to U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, a Texas Republican and a medical doctor, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has asked the CDC for documents about that incident. The request came in the wake of a report on internal CDC e-mails about the incident, first reported by USA Today last week.
“The biggest concern was that there was a contingent of visitors who were walking through the building,” Burgess said. “And had one of those people been stricken or made ill or worse, obviously that would have been devastating.”
The lab handles small mammals such as rats, ferrets and mice as part of its experiments with pathogens, according to CDC officials. They say animals were in the lab at the time of the air leak, but they were secured in filtered cages.
CDC officials say the lab was clean, was not active at the time, and no one got infected.
“At no time during recent incidents featured in the media were CDC workers or the public in harm’s way,” agency spokesman Tom Skinner said. “This unique facility features multiple security layers specifically designed to protect workers and the public in the event of an incident.”
In a statement released to CNN, Burgess’ committee said, “We will actively work to find out if there are additional concerns or incidents associated with Building 18. Any anomaly or breach is of concern, and we will work to ensure the integrity of the facility is maintained and that our scientists are safe.”
There has been at least one other safety-related incident in that same building where February’s air leak occurred.
In 2008, it was discovered that a high-containment lab door was sealed with duct tape. That incident was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and confirmed to CNN by Skinner.
Robert Hawley, former safety chief at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, said the CDC has many safety layers in place at its labs. Hawley says researchers at the Biosafety Level 3 lab work in biosafety “cabinets” within the lab itself.
“Nothing is handled outside that cabinet,” Hawley said. “So they’re working with minute amounts of material, and the chances of aerosol are negligible.”
But there are questions about a possible cover-up.
In an internal e-mail, reported by USA Today, CDC biologist Kismet Scarborough said the centers “… will do anything … to hide the fact that we have serious problems with the airflow and containment in this whole building.”
CNN has not been able to independently verify that e-mail. But in response, Skinner said, “CDC will continue to take an open, transparent and inclusive approach to address any safety challenge in a manner that will ensure the safety of our workforce and the public.”
Skinner said the agency “intends to cooperate fully with Rep. Burgess and the committee to address any questions they may have about Building 18 at CDC.”
A viral pandemic has the potential to cripple the nation’s workforce and infrastructure
A viral pandemic has the potential to cripple the nation’s workforce and infrastructure. Where does government provision end and your contingency planning begin? By Andrea Kirkby
With 5.3 million extra tourists arriving for the Olympics, the risk of avian flu and other pandemics arriving in the UK has greatly increased.
But back in December 2005, the Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology said the country was not ready to defend itself against an avian flu pandemic. Have things changed since?
According to Dr Doug Quarry, medical director of International SOS Pandemic Planning Services, the spread of the H5N1 virus is not the only issue – new strains have developed, too. Has preparedness kept up to date with the risk, or are we becoming dangerously complacent?
Globally, government preparedness varies widely. But overall, in terms of healthcare, preparedness has certainly improved. Major vaccine manufacturers ramped up their capabilities in 2006 and the UK government stockpiled 16,000 doses of Pandemix. In fact, now the political issue is whether the UK government has bought too much vaccine and paid too high a price.
The government also put a detailed pandemic strategy in place, which was overhauled in 2011. However, while this covers NHS and social services preparedness in detail, it’s pretty vague on how businesses will cope. Generally, it foresees ‘business as usual’; borders won’t be closed, nor will schools, and while events organisers ‘may prefer’ to cancel major events, there will be no government compulsion.
Unfortunately, that throws the entire burden for preparedness on to individual businesses. And the Association of British Insurers says business interruption policies are unlikely to cover closures as a result of an influenza epidemic. In terms of medical preparedness, a number of businesses are now stockpiling antivirals for key staff and their families. But that’s only the tip of a very large iceberg. Bird flu or swine flu here and in the rest of the world could have a major impact on businesses in many different areas of operations.
Logistics is an obvious area where business continuity plans will be vital. Even if the UK itself isn’t affected, companies that import supplies or outsource parts of their business process are at risk from outbreaks in other countries. British business is now highly dependent on the Far East for its components and sub-assemblies. Call centres in other countries could also be badly affected.
Continuity plans need to enable a speedy response. Australia declared it would close its borders within two hours in the event of a bird-flu pandemic – that would give businesses little time to prepare.
Know your own needs
Many companies are handicapped by lack of detailed knowledge of their own supply chains. For instance, multiple sourcing won’t help if suppliers all depend on a single crop or base component manufacturer. Service Level Agreements should help guarantee supply, but strategic stockpiling may be necessary.
Within the UK, cash handling and postal services are likely to prove bottlenecks – cash handling was one of the concerns arising from the FSA’s market-wide exercise in 2006. Neither banks nor the Post Office are on the government’s list of Category 2 responders, although arguably they are as vital to the smooth running of the nation as the railways or ports. Smaller bank branches could have to close if staff are sick, leaving some areas without banking facilities and ATM top-ups depend on transport, which could be knocked out early in a pandemic.
Businesses will also rely on telecoms and so network resilience is a major issue. While telecoms companies (both fixed and mobile) are listed as Category 2 responders, facilities will be stretched, particularly where companies have told staff to work from home.
Some companies are now looking at the possibility of using distributed or ‘virtual’ call centres, possible using such services as OPEX hosting. Routing calls to employees’ homes rather than setting up large emergency centres may well be the best way to cope with a pandemic (although ironically, the government plans to set up a centralised public information call centre – just the kind of facility businesses are likely to be avoiding.)
Will the internet stand up to increased usage? There are real concerns about the ability of service providers to cope with the increased traffic. A Booz Allen report in April 2006 speculated that internet provision might only last two to four days into a pandemic. Even then, Jeroen Meijer, an expert in risk at Control Risks, says he believes that working from home requires a completely different way of managing staff. “Businesses will have to change and change fast, or their plans won’t stick.”
While most business continuity plans are focused on assets – offices and IT – pandemic preparedness has to focus on human resources. Meijer says: “It’s like a neutron bomb – your hardware is still there, but you are losing your staff.”
Worst-case scenarios
Government advice appears to understate the risks to business. The 2011 UK Influenza Preparedness Strategy sees the worst-case scenario as flu affecting 50 per cent of the population, with 15 to 20 per cent of staff absent on any single day, and mortality rates of 2 to 5 per cent.
However, the 2006 FSA market-wide exercise modelled staff absence as high as a 60 per cent peak in some business units. Businesses with a high proportion of female, particularly part-time, staff also need to assess the likelihood of staff who are not ill having to look after children if schools close.
Meijer points out that most business systems aren’t yet able to offer staff absence data in a form that’s useful in stress situations. “Absenteeism monitoring is crucial and not many companies have it on a day-to-day basis, so you could say with one push on the button, who is available where.” This is one area where, compared to the sophisticated systems with which many supply chains are run, human resources scores relatively low.
A pandemic is difficult to protect against since it is not a singular event; pandemics typically come in waves lasting six to 15 months. Flexibility has to be built in; equally, companies need trusted sources of information to monitor the pandemic internationally and that feedback will provide the triggers to action. Meijer warns against believing in a “one-button solution” to a dynamic threat. “Your decision-making process needs to incorporate flexibility and continuous monitoring.”
Fortunately, one area that has advanced a good deal recently has been the availability of good information. National media will generally not report in detail on the situation in other countries – affecting the supply chain – while some governments may downplay the situation in order to avoid panic. There are no government plans for a business-orientated information service, so all public information will be consumer focused and therefore of limited utility to the business manager.
Fortunately, a wide range of information products is now available. For instance, International SOS reports include the ascertaining of medical suppliers and reports monitoring government response.
Keep calm and carry on?
One question divides experts: how bad can a pandemic get? At worst, some believe, most of the transport infrastructure might be shut down, telecoms would be badly impacted by lack of maintenance and high usage, and there could be public order problems if the supply of food and other basic items is interrupted. In the face of a social breakdown of that order, there might seem to be no point planning.
However, Jeroen Meijer says that even in this case, those businesses that have planned well will gain an eventual competitive advantage from having done so. “The objective is to stay in business as long as possible and if you have to shut down completely, do it in a controlled manner that provides the best security to your staff and assets, and enables you to restart operations quickly and efficiently.”
It’s difficult to judge business preparedness, since many businesses won’t talk about their preparations. Most companies do now have pandemic plans as part of their business continuity framework, but those plans may not have been revisited for several years. Perhaps they should be.
There’s a huge impact on the work of facilities managers. A plan needs to be put in place for managing the consequences of a pandemic – checking sanitation and air quality, handling high absenteeism and planning for interruption to basic services and to transport. Basic cleaning services should be stepped up – that might mean cleaning lift buttons, door handles, ATM machines and check-in desks as often as hourly. That means increasing the level of service at the same time as managing a staff shortage – not an easy task.
Cross-training staff so that they can step in to replace staff who are absent will be vital – particularly where remote working is not a possibility. In some cases, upgrading systems to allow for remote operation could be a good investment.
Some facilities may need to implement perimeter protection, possibly including thermal scanners (which can detect if someone has a fever) or even DNA testing. New procedures for deliveries may be required to prevent drivers from entering the building – dropping off the deliveries in a secure car park, for instance. Where security is provided by a contractor, common policies and procedures need to be developed with them, including where staff are not admitted, what to do next (send them home? To hospital?) and who to notify within the organisation.
Facilities managers also need to ensure that subcontractors and suppliers have plans to deal with a pandemic. Unlike many disasters, a pandemic will be a sustained event, probably lasting eight to 14 weeks, so planning needs to take that into account. For instance, stocks of critical supplies may need to be built up. Tenant relations and contracts also need to be put under the microscope. If the government or a tenant closes a building, how can you continue to manage it? Are you going to be required – and are you going to be able – to provide emergency relocation for the tenant?
However, while the pandemic threat does have some special characteristics, developing a specific pandemic plan could be a waste of effort. Rather, pandemic plans should be developed within the framework of overall continuity plans.
The most worrying gap is the absence of government involvement in assuring the regular supply of basic goods. Booz Allen Hamilton noted back in 2006 that government needs to assurethe ‘last mile’ – but the 2011 strategy still doesn’t seem to have taken any notice. Is reliance on the private sector, without compulsion or assistance, a responsible government strategy?