Staph-Infection.org

Tamiflu is prescribed to flu patients and has been in use sense 1999. More then 1,800 children who have taken the drug have experienced abnormal behavior. This includes convulsions, delirium or delusions according to USAtoday.

Only 55 of such cases have been reported in the U.S. No U.S. deaths have been attributed to Tamiflu. Japan, who is a heavy user of Tamiflu, has had seven deaths related to the drug. Most deaths are labeled as “fatal falls” or “abnormal accidents”.

The FDA plans on studying these cases to figure out what effects if any Tamiflu has on the brain. Tamiflu is quick to point out that they don’t beleive there is proof the deaths were caused by Tamiflu directly.

The Tamiflu box already comes with the warning, “people with the flu, particularly children, may be at an increased risk of self-injury and confusion shortly after taking Tamiflu”.

Around 1,500 people have left their homes for shelter. For the most part they are indigenous people and minors. They have choose to flee after new fighting has erupted between the military and the New People’s Army.

According to gmanews.tv the affected villages are, Kabuluhan, Lagangan, Han-ayan, Mike, Kilometer 16, Simowao, Emerald, Manluy-a, Panukmoan, all in Lianga, Surigao del Sur and Barangay Magkahunao in San Agustin, Surigao del Sur. The site also says the reason for the fighting is the military has launched a campaign to flush out the remaining communist in those 10 villages.

These people are in a really bad situation to begin with. Now they have to contend with illness that is spreading quickly through the camps. It is unclear if the government is providing any help. The government at one point even claimed communist were hiding out in these evacuation camps. The evacuee’s say if they were communist they would have stayed and fought with the rest. Seems to make sense to me.

At least 53 children are suffering from severe cough, runny nose, fever, diarrhea and eyesores. Without the medical help they need, these children are in very bad condition. There is also a lot of worry that it will spread quickly through the camp.

That’s really all the info I have at this time. I will do my best to keep an eye on this story…

It may not look like it from the outside but I’ve been putting a lot of time into this site. I’m really trying to get everything just the way I want it.

I’ve messed around with .htaccess for more hours then I even want to tell you. But, I finally got all the clean looking URLs working.

My next project will probably be to integrate bbPress into WordPress. When will that happen? I’m really not sure.

The wiki is installed and functioning correctly. I just need to get it looking more like the main blog. I also need to figure out exactly how to use it. Anyone ever had any experience with PmWiki?

After I can get all that done, I’ll move my focus to writing articles in the wiki. The wiki will be used to create articles that pertain to outbreaks. Once they have reached a certain quality, they will be moved to the main blog. How ever, the wiki’s version of the article will still be online. This will allow users to suggest corrections to any article.

China Foundation for Hepatitis Prevention and Control says that nearly 38 million Chinese are carrying the hepatitis C virus. With so many people infected one might figure everyone in China is well educated about the virus. Thats not the case, 1% of people who answered a survey knew how Hepatitis C spreads and how to prevent getting infected.

On top of that only 5% of people have been tested. There is no vaccine for Hepatitis C. So it may be a surprise that 80% of people thought they could be vaccinated.

Hepatitis C can be treated if it is caught early. So the government is expanding testing for Hepatitis.

This is something I will try to follow as best I can…

Statistics from xinhuanet.com

Thailand seems to be suffering a small Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease outbreak. Several schools have been ordered to close.

The most effected seems to be younger kids. This article reports at least two kindergarten classes and one nursery to be affected.

Although details are very limited it is confirmed that between 30-40 kids were affected.

The names of the schools effected are Prachawit School, Assumption School, Ban Sattahib School.

The Vail Sun reported that Desert Sky Middle School had a confirmed case of MRSA. The school is located in Vail, Arizona. In response the school has sanitized all bathrooms and sports facilities. They have also have made hand sanitizer available in class rooms.

I’m a strong believer in hand sanitizer in class rooms. I hate getting sick. At my school almost no class rooms have hand sanitizer. The only ones that do are either bought and then brought in by the teacher or donated by students. It’s not over-reacting to staph infection, its just moving towards being more sanitary.

Just a note…I live in Phoenix Arizona but have never heard of Vail, Arizona. Anyone know anything about Vail?

I recently came across this letter written to a newspaper “Reaction to staph outbreak disproportionate to risk”. In this letter the author makes a lot of good points.

The author says, that the publics reaction to staph is over-rated. After all The Centers for Disease Control predicts only 19,000 people will die from MRSA each year in the U.S. Twice that number will die from the flu, 36,000, or so it is predicted. The kicker here is, we have a vaccine for the flu but not for MRSA. We as a people are afraid of what we don’t understand fully. If a vaccine existed, people would rush to be vaccinated.

I don’t think we should be in any sort of a panic. The individual risk for infection is very low. How ever, it is important that Staph receives media attention. As the author of the letter says, we are afraid of what we don’t know. The only way to stop the panic is through public awareness. This site is intended to educate not panic.