- Hello Jeff - This is a curious situation and the fact
that poultry and cattle are being investigated as a possible cause of the
outbreak lends even more mystery to the situation.
-
- As soon as more data is made available, which will, hopefully,
include lab results, I will send you an update.
-
- I fail to understand why the Promed moderator would theorize
that it could be an encephalitis-LIKE illness when a doctor from the hospital
appears to rule out encephalitis, malaria and meningitis.
- Viral encephalitis had been the original suspected culprit,
however, according to the statement below, it appears to NOT be the case.
-
- Exerpt:
-
- Dr Md Abul Faiz of the hospital's medicine ward said
symptoms of the
- illness include high fever, headache, tendency to vomit,
diarrhoea, and
- loss of consciousness. He however ruled out malaria,
meningitis or
- encephalitis.
-
- Here again, we may be looking at a zoonotic disease.
A zoonotic disease is a disease that jumps species barrier. A good example
is West Nile Virus.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
- UNDIAGNOSED DEATHS - BANGLADESH (RAJBARI): REQUEST FOR
INFORMATION
-
- A ProMED-mail post
- ProMED-mail is a program of the
- International Society for Infectious Diseases
- http://www.isid.org
-
- [1]
- Date: 24 Jan 2004
- From: ProMED-mail
- Source: Matamat.com [edited]
- http://www.matamat.com/fullstory.php?gd=22&cd=2004-01-24
-
- 2 more people died of a mysterious disease in Goalundo
on Friday and Saturday, raising the death toll from the yet-unidentified
malady to 12.
-
- According to family and hospital sources, 18-year-old
and 13-year-old brothers, and a 10-year-old boy from the Kazipara area
were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in critical condition.
The [18-year-old] died Friday night and [the 10-year-old] this (Saturday)
morning.
-
- 5 new patients out of 12 affected, were admitted to Goalundo
Hospital today. Symptoms of the disease are high fever, headache, and body
convulsion, physicians said. District Civil Surgeon Dr Motiur Rahman said
that although the disease was initially diagnosed as "Viral Encephalitis",
medical teams from ICDDR-B and IEDCR from Dhaka are testing the blood of
domestic animals like cattle and poultry birds to identify the source of
the disease.
-
- The unidentified disease has so far claimed 8 lives in
Kazipara and Juran Mondoler para in Goalundo municipal area alone. Most
of the victims were children and adolescents. Panic-stricken people have
already started leaving the affected areas, while special prayers were
being held in mosques and shrines.
-
- ******
- [2]
- Date: 24 Jan 2004
- From: ProMED-mail
- Source: The Daily Star [edited]
- http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/01/25/d4012501099.htm
-
- Mysterious Deadly Disease
- Tissue samples to be sent to US as 3 die at DMCH
-
- 3 out of 5 children admitted to Dhaka Medical College
Hospital (DMCH) over the last 3 days with a mysterious illness died yesterday.
-
- 4 of the children, including the 2 [who died, a 12-year-old
and an 18-year-old], came from Goalando in Rajbari. The [10-year-old] is
the 3rd fatality and the only one from Manikganj town.
-
- The 18-year-old's 14-year-old brother and another 11-year-old
boy, the 2 others from Goalondo, have been quarantined at the DMCH as the
doctors failed to diagnose the disease.
-
- A team of experts on communicable diseases have collected
tissue samples from several other victims of the disease in Goalondo, the
BBC Bangla Service reported yesterday.
-
- Dr Jahangir Hossain of ICDDR-B (International Centre
for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh) and a member of the visiting
team of experts said the samples will be sent to Atlanta, USA, for diagnosis
at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) there, sources said.
-
- "We haven't been able to identify the disease, but
we are sure it's viral," Dr Hossain told BBC last night. He also
did not rule out the possibility of [the disease having been passed] from
local poultry or other farm animals, but said experts are unable to comment
on the spread of the disease until CDC's diagnostic report is at hand.
-
- Meanwhile, hospital authorities formed a medical board
yesterday in connection with the mysterious illness.
-
- Dr Md Abul Faiz of the hospital's medicine ward said
symptoms of the illness include high fever, headache, tendency to vomit,
diarrhoea, and loss of consciousness. He however ruled out malaria, meningitis
or encephalitis.
-
- A report from Rajbari says fear spiralled over the mysterious
disease after the recent death of 5 of a family in Joran, the same village
where 4 of the DMCH victims come from.
-
- --
- ProMED-mail
- <promed@promedmail.org>
-
- [More information on this outbreak would be appreciated
from knowledgeable sources. From the brief description it appears this
may be an encephalitis-like illness. It is curious that the cattle and
poultry are being tested as well, leading us to wonder what the postulated
etiologies are. Rather than speculate on possible etiologies here, we
shall await further information. - Mod.MPP] ..........................mpp/pg/dk
-
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
-
-
- Man Arrested For Injecting Children With Unknown Substance
-
- Staff Writer
- Arab News
- 1-25-4
-
- JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Police have arrested a man for
allegedly giving contaminated vaccines to children. The arrest came after
a five-year-old boy was admitted to a city hospital after receiving an
injection.
-
- There have been strong rumors that a group of people
claiming to be members of the Health Ministry's medical team was giving
contaminated vaccines to children after visiting households in the city.
-
- A hospital source told Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication
of Arab News, that the boy was playing with his friends on the street when
several men approached them. The men, the source said, caught the boy and
forcibly injected him with contaminated vaccine.
-
- The newspaper said rumors of people pretending to be
Health Ministry officials contaminating children have been circulating
in Jeddah for the past 10 days. It said people have received text messages
on their mobile phones warning against the group.
-
- A security source confirmed the arrest of the individual
but refused to give the man's identity. The arrest took place in Umm Al-Salm,
northeast of Jeddah, and police are questioning the man in order to arrest
other people involved in the incident. "The child was brought to hospital
on Friday and the incident could have taken place several days before.
The child does not show any symptoms of any disease," the source told
the daily.
-
-
- Copyright:Arab News © 2003 All rights reserved.
-
- http://www.arabnews.com:
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