Whooping Cough Kills 13 babies in the UK in 2012

 Posted by on January 2, 2013  No Responses »
Jan 022013
 
Whooping Cough Kills 13 babies in the UK in 2012

13 infants have died of whooping cough in the UK between January 1st and October 31st, 2012, preliminary data from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) shows, nearly doubling  the number of fatalities from all of 2011. No deaths have been recorded in November, although an additional 1,080 confirmed cases of infections were recorded bringing the total number of laboratory confirmed cases in the UK and Wales to 8,819 for the calendar year 2012 (through November). The real incidence number is very likely to be higher, especially keeping in mind that data for December is not yet available. The number of fatalities is worrying ———->FULL ARTICLE

126 Children Victims of Measles in Yemen

 Posted by on March 6, 2012  1 Response »
Mar 062012
 
126 Children Victims of Measles in Yemen

Tragic news reach us from Yemen: at least 126 children have died from measles since mid-2011 due to a breakdown in basic health services as a consequence of political troubles. The Yemeni government has asked for international assistance with a vaccination campaign that will begin in the hardest-hit regions in early March. The latest numbers (February 2012) show a total of 3,767 confirmed cases resulting in 126 deaths, since mid-2011, for a death rate of 1 in 30 infected. 70% of infections, and all of the 126 deaths, were in children under 5 years of age,  an age-group group that is ———->FULL ARTICLE

Whooping Cough outbreak sickens over 140 people in Canada

 Posted by on March 1, 2012  No Responses »
Mar 012012
 
Whooping Cough outbreak sickens over 140 people in Canada

A whooping cough outbreak in British Columbia, Canada has sickened more than 140 people since December, prompting Canadian Health authorities to issue a warning. Hotspots  include the Fraser Valley, Hope, Chilliwack and Agassiz areas. If you are traveling to the area make sure you have received your booster shot, and especially if traveling with children make sure they are up-to-date with their DTaP vaccine. Pertussis can be particularly dangerous if caught by a young child, especially a baby who hasn’t had a chance to be vaccinated yet. Related articles Whooping cough spreading in B.C.’s Fraser Valley (cbc.ca) Spread of whooping cough in Fraser ———->FULL ARTICLE

Meningitis kills 11 in three days in the Ivory Coast

 Posted by on February 10, 2012  2 Responses »
Feb 102012
 
Meningitis kills 11 in three days in the Ivory Coast

Meningitis doesn’t play around, it maims, debilitates and kills very fast. In just 3 days in February a meningitis outbreak in the Ivory Coast has killed 11 people, as reported by Examiner.com. A vaccine costs about $5 which is too much for many families to afford, thus forcing them to skip it. This tragedy highlights the importance of the work of organizations such as GAVI and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who work at making vaccines available to poor people in developing countries. According to Examiner.com: “The symptoms of bacterial meningitis are sudden, with fever, stiff neck, body aches ———->FULL ARTICLE

Over 1,100 children killed by measles in Congo

 Posted by on July 25, 2011  6 Responses »
Jul 252011
 
Over 1,100 children killed by measles in Congo

In some cultures, there used to be a time when parents were instructed not to count their children, or in some cases not to name them, until they caught, and survived, certain childhood diseases. Parents used to have 8, 9, or 10 children with the hopes that a few would survive to adulthood. Nowadays, modern medicine, and modern living conditions, have made it so that most of us can have just two children and be reasonably assured that they will not die needlessly from a preventable disease. It is undeniable that vaccines played a major role in that. However, even ———->FULL ARTICLE

Doctors Without Borders embark on massive vaccination campaign in Zambia

 Posted by on June 3, 2011  No Responses »
Jun 032011
 

A measles epidemic affecting thousands of Zambian children has prompted Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in collaboration with Zambian health authorities, to embark in a massive vaccination campaign aiming to reach 600,000 children between the ages of 6 months to 15 years. Teams began work early in May in two provinces that have suffered the most cases, 3,043 and 4,670 respectively. During the first two weeks of the campaign, nearly 270,000 were vaccinated. The campaign which was supposed to take about 3 weeks should have concluded, or be in its winding stages, as you read this. Measles has been ———->FULL ARTICLE

US Measles Update

 Posted by on May 25, 2011  No Responses »
May 252011
 

The U.S. is experiencing the highest numbers of measles in 15 years, according to a recent report by the CDC. During 2001-2008 the median number of cases has been 56 per year. So far, through May 20, 2011 that number has more than doubled. Here is a summary of the latest numbers: 118 cases reported (105 lab confirmed), the highest number reported for this period since 1996 105 (89%) associated with importation from other countries 105 (89%) patients were unvaccinated 47  (40%) patients were hospitalized and nine had pneumonia, no one had encephalitis and no one died All but one ———->FULL ARTICLE

Meningitis and measles kill 41 in Nigeria

 Posted by on May 23, 2011  1 Response »
May 232011
 

Meningitis and measles have killed 41 people in Yobe State, Nigeria in the past 18 months. In 2010, 322 cases of Cerebrospinal Meningitis were recorded with 22 fatalities. This year, through May, another 51 cases and 4 more deaths were reported, for a total toll of 26 deaths. Measles caused 7 deaths out of 464 cases in 2010, whereas in the current year it caused 3,022 cases and 8 deaths so far, for a total of 15 measles deaths. Officials with state health departments have procured drugs on measles, meningitis and other diseases and that they had already been distributed ———->FULL ARTICLE

 Older Entries