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Marburg Virus Threat: Health Officials on High Alert! 

Marburg Virus Threat: Health Officials on High Alert! Credit | Pixabay

United States: After the COVID-19 pandemic caught the world off guard, scientists say we need to learn from it. Now, two new viral outbreaks are worrying health officials. 

There’s a serious outbreak of the Marburg virus, which is related to the Ebola virus and is very deadly, with about 88% of infected people not surviving. Health Minister Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana reported 62 confirmed cases of Marburg, with 38 people recovering and 15 unfortunately passing away. 

As reported by CBS, Out of the nine, they intensified their treatment, and most of them are getting better, he said during a virtual media briefing on Thursday. 

It was declared on 27th September after health officials saw that the orphan treatment administered to ‘malaria’ suspects did not respond to the standard treatment. By then, some health officials had been infected, he said, citing workers at his ministry. 

Nsanzimana said Thursday that Rwanda’s Marburg response had improved.  

This shows that we are on the right direction.” This is the 3rd week new infections have reduced by more than 50% compared to the first two weeks, and in consecutive days this week we have had no new detections,” he said, adding: “Even after one week now, those who are being discharged from treatment centers are many than those who are dying from the virus.”  

Currently there are no vaccines or antiviral drugs available for Marburg outbreak but four vaccine candidates are in preclinical stage. The PE Macro Health – Nonprofit organization based in Washington D.C. has brought 1,800 doses of the single-dose clinical trial vaccine to Rwanda.   

To date, 856 people in the high-risk group exposure of the confirmed case and frontline health care workers in Rwanda received one of those doses. In preparation for the new measures announced past week all passengers arriving in United States 21 days and or thereafter qualify to travel to New York John Kennedy, Chicago O’Hare or Washington-Dulles International airports to undergo further efficient health check. 

While the risk Marburg in the United States remains low these measures are being taken as a precaution due to ongoing outbreak in Rwanda CDC spokesman David Daigle said when the measures were announced on Oct 7. 

Here are some passengers with recent travel history to Rwanda will have their temperatures checked upon arrival at one of the three designated U.S.  airports and should expect to answer questions about the symptoms and the potential exposure to the virus in the areas for the screenings. 

Also, the CDC said passengers who clear the checks but then experience the fever, chills, headache or other symptoms commonly associated with the disease should immediately isolate themselves from others and seek the medical attention and ideally advising the health care facility in the advance of their circumstances. 

The Rwandan Health Minister said teams were working to trace the routes of the infection in the country and that health workers had implemented the testing for all the travelers both at Kigali International Airport and all the land borders to make sure we protect everyone in the Rwanda and beyond as this virus has to be contained quickly to avoid going out of control.” 

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Painless Skin Patch Offers New Immunization Alternative 

Painless Skin Patch Offers New Immunization Alternative. Credit | Georgia Tech

United States: According to experts, children who dislike immunization needles may soon have a painless skin patch as an alternative. Following a single vaccination dosage via the patch, all 190 Gambian infants were protected against rubella and more than 90% of them were protected against measles, according to preliminary study data. 

According to experts, the patch has a variety of tiny needles that enter the skin gently and administer the vaccination. 

Potential Impact on Global Immunization Efforts 

“These are really encouraging results that have created a lot of enthusiasm, even if it’s early days. “They show for the first time that microarray patch technology can be used to safely and effectively administer vaccines to babies and young children,” said Ed Clarke, a researcher and head of infant immunology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia. 

“Vaccines against measles are the most important to administer using this method, but it is also now feasible to administer other vaccines using microarray patches,” stated Clarke. “Pay attention to this area.” 

Scaling Up Trials and Advancing Vaccine Delivery 

Painless Skin Patch Offers New Immunization Alternative. Credit | Georgia Tech
Painless Skin Patch Offers New Immunization Alternative. Credit | Georgia Tech

 According to experts, these patches may facilitate the expansion of immunization coverage in less developed nations. They don’t require a medical practitioner to give them, may be simpler to carry, and may not require cold storage. 
 
Speaking for the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Dr. Ikechukwu Adigweme stated, “We hope this is an important step in the march towards greater vaccine equity among disadvantaged populations.” 

 

Addressing Parental Concerns in Wealthy Nations 

According to academics, vaccination patches may be a more convenient and painless option for traditional jabs in wealthy nations like the US. 
 
According to them, providing a patch-based immunization might even persuade more parents to vaccinate their children. 
 
Due to parental vaccination hesitation, the United States has seen outbreaks of the extremely contagious and lethal virus throughout the previous several years, despite the measles being declared eliminated in 2000. 
 
The researchers noted that in order to validate these findings and offer further information, larger trials of the patches are currently being developed. 

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Climate Change Fuels Dangerous Germs in Our Food. 

United States: Experts are warning that warmer temperatures are affecting our food and making it less safe. Recently, there was an outbreak of E. coli linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders, which can make people sick. 

Scientists say that germs, like the bacteria that cause E. coli, are changing because of climate change. Pratik Banerjee, a food safety teacher at the University of Illinois, explains that these changes can be bad for our health. 

 Banerjee is at the moment employed to analyze the effects of climate on food production. 

As reported by Yahoo.com, “Again I said to her there is not a magic wand that can be there and the food would be absolutely safe, right?” he said. ‘Thus, it is to minimize the risk’. 

Comparable work is underway at the Institute for Food Safety in the Illinois Institute of Technology. 

‘This is probably disrupting a whole lot of the large context out there with regards to how microorganisms go about their day,’ IFSH’s Dr Alvin Lee adds. 

The FDA reports that the Slivered onions that are used to garnish on the Quarter Pounders are likely the cause of the E. coli to bring an outbreak at McDonalds. But, in a sense, if you talked to people with whom CBS News Chicago spoke to for this piece, the McDonald’s outbreak is as real as climate change. 

’Those that are skeptics, they will be believers after a while,” said attorney Bill Marler of Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, ‘There are many more scientific papers out there that are coming out with reports that show that certain pathogens such as E.coli, salmonella and campylobacter are better suited for heat than we are.’ 

Marler has acted as a lawyer for victims of outbreaks across the country for more than three decades as a foodborne illness lawyer. He said that some of these pathogens which cause food to be contaminated are being found in the United States for the first-time courtesy of climate change. 

Some of the bugs you find here in United States countries we have never seen any. We do not usually used to see Cyclospora as bacterial or viral issue. Now, we are seeing it all the time in the United States, and that’s because temperatures are warming,” he said. Once in a while, it was more of a South American issue. Now, it’s a U.S. problem.” 

He said given that temperature affects pathogens that are in the food chain, there is need to adapt in the industry. 

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445 Million Adults at Risk from Gambling! 

445 Million Adults at Risk from Gambling! Credit | Getty Images

United States: A celebrity, for instance, Drake takes to Instagram to post photos of their victories in the online casinos. Sport betting is promoted through podcast advertisements. People, particularly friends, slip the word “parlay” into group chats nonchalantly. 

Gaming has grown to other heights globally. A new report by an international commission of 22 health and policy experts cautions that gambling poses particular dangers in the age of limitless immediate access online. 

As reported by the Yahoo News, “Our conclusion is clear: There is concern that gambling is becoming a public health issue,” wrote the team in a report presented Thursday in Lancet Public Health journal. Scientists from the World Health Organization and other organizations of five continents reported that the growth of this phenomena can be stopped only with „a substantial expansion and tightening of gambling industry regulation. “ 

445 Million Adults at Risk from Gambling! Credit | Alamy
445 Million Adults at Risk from Gambling! Credit | Alamy

Pathological gambling, or gambling disorder, is one of the most researched addictions throughout many decades. The factors are different than with other forms of addiction: Unlike other vices where a person gets to his or her worst, meaning overdoses for instance on drugs when he or she doesn’t have money to buy more, gambling offers you an opportunity to go on an on until you are literally cleaned out. 

And Las Vegas style slot machines and game day wagers, have never been more within reach. 

“The idea of having three-in-one electronic gadgets means that anyone with a mobile phone now has a casino in his/her pocket, ” the commission’s co-chair , Professor of gambling research and policy at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, Heather Wardle said. Of great concern, highly sophisticated marketing coupled with technology makes it easier to begin and very hard to quit gambling, while users are supposed to have ‘multiple and protracted contact’. 

Some 445m adults globally engage in what is termed ‘risky gambling’, that can affect money, mood, interactions and productivity, it said, in a survey of past research-based report. Gambling increases chances of performing actions that affect an individual and or his/her health says the report. Another 80 million people land at a more serious version known as gambling disorder or pathological gambling. 

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