Malaria alert! Kingston and St Catherine

[evanovitch]

sting might not happen because of malaria

dis is gwine to be good...money vs good sense and good decision making...there is currently a ban on mass gathering because of the outbreak..now Sting a kip ovah weh mosquito deh, etc etc...

so now dem announce dem a ha meeting fi decide if dem a go allow Sting fi gwane... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif[/img]

dat is why in the US wen u a ha show u need fi ha insurance an why rap show naw gwane more dan so cause insurance company get fraid a di violence weh gwane sumtimes an stop insure...but u know how yaad go [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif[/img]

[Tuff Gong]

Re: sting might not happen because of malaria


Mon Dec 18, 2006
More than 100 malaria cases now confirmed

Understanding malaria's complex life cycle remains as challenging to researchers as it is critical for public health. The global killer is difficult to culture, and traditional genetic and biochemical tools are largely ineffective.

The number of confirmed malaria cases across the island has climbed to 103.

But despite the increase in the number of cases, the outbreak remains confined to the western section of the Corporate Area and parts of St. Catherine.

Sunday Health Ministry officials noted that the increasing number of cases was in keeping with projections announced more than two weeks ago when the outbreak was first announced.

Health Minister Horace Dalley is expected to provide an update on the outbreak to his Cabinet colleagues when they meet on Monday.

Most interest will centre on the efforts to test hundreds of blood samples collected by health workers.

Over the weekend Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller was briefed on efforts to control the outbreak.

Following the briefing, the Prime Minister expressed satisfaction with the measures already implemented and commended the health workers.

http://www.radiojamaica.com/news/story.php?category=2&story=31087

[evanovitch]

Re: sting might not happen because of malaria

i love my people..di new cases r within dem projected....we muss believe dat dem can project fi dis but economic disasters tek dem by surprise [img]/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] an dis is not funny ha ha laff...

[RichD]

Re: sting might not happen because of malaria

i dont find the statement unreasonable or ridiculous or unbelievable

[evanovitch]

Re: sting might not happen because of malaria

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i dont find the statement unreasonable or ridiculous or unbelievable

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is really di fact dem would verbalize it wen dem always claim surprise wid everyting else

[RichD]

Re: sting might not happen because of malaria

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i dont find the statement unreasonable or ridiculous or unbelievable

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is really di fact dem would verbalize it wen dem always claim surprise wid everyting else

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di political different from the operational.

[evanovitch]

wonda if dem a tess any a dem vaccine a yaad rite now

Stopping malaria before the bite

Researchers are developing a malaria vaccine which blocks development of the disease-causing parasite while it is still inside the mosquito.
The vaccine targets Pfs25, a protein key to the parasite's development during its time in the mosquito's gut.

When a mosquito bites a vaccinated person it would ingest antibodies which would block the protein's action.

The US National Institutes of Health study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The experimental malaria vaccine shows great promise for combating a terrible disease that exacts a devastating toll on the world's children

Dr Elias Zerhouni
National Institutes of Health

The researchers said the vaccine had the potential to eliminate malaria from entire geographic regions.

However, experts warned that the vaccine would not prevent or limit disease in the person who had been vaccinated, and predicted this could make it difficult to sell the idea to infected communities.

Tests of other malaria vaccines are under way, but as yet none has been licensed for widespread use.

Most attempt to neutralise the malaria parasite - Plasmodium - while it is in humans.

But this has proved difficult, because Plasmodium cells escape the human immune system by hiding in liver and blood cells.

Malaria kills between one and three million people worldwide each year, with most of the deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.

More than a million children in Africa die from malaria each year.

The latest vaccine has so far only been tested in mice.

It is a combination of the Pfs25 protein, and other molecules which are more easily recognised by the immune system, and more likely to spur it into action.

The combination triggers the production of large quantities of antibodies which, when ingested by the mosquito, zero in on the malaria parasite in its gut.

A microscopic analysis of the guts of mosquitoes fed a serum containing the antibodies triggered by vaccination in the mice, showed that they were completely free of the malaria parasites.

In fact, the mice produced higher levels of antibodies when they were tested three and seven months after their initial set of jabs, than they did after one week.

The same technology has already been used to develop vaccines against diseases such as typhoid fever.

Dr Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, said: "The experimental malaria vaccine shows great promise for combating a terrible disease that exacts a devastating toll on the world's children."

However, Dr Ron Behrens, a malaria expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the potential problem with the vaccine was that it would protect communities, but not the individual to whom the jab was administered.

"Until now all other vaccines that have been developed have offered the individual some form of protection," he said.

"In this case, the individual has got to make a sacrifice in order to protect the community, and that might make it very difficult to sell."

The vaccine has been developed to combat Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for the most severe form of malaria.

But the researchers said it was also likely to be effective against another form of the parasite, Plasmodium vivax

[Tuff Gong]

Re: wonda if dem a tess any a dem vaccine a yaad rite now


Mon Dec 18, 2006
Opposition Leader doubts that malaria outbreak is under control

Opposition Leader Bruce Golding says he is not convinced that the government has the malaria outbreak under control.

Mr. Golding says the Government's failure to release data that shows specific trends since the first cases were discovered on December one has left the nation groping in the dark.

“103 cases are what we are now up to. This suggests that the graph is rising and that is worrying because we are now two weeks after the first case was detected,” said Mr. Golding.

“If we were on top of it that graph would now be declining. We are not able to say because we have not been given the figures the most important bit of information is how many persons have been sampled and of that number that have been sampled how many have been tested and what is the ratio of confirmed cases to the number of tests that have been done,”

“That would tell you whether you are on top of the situation but for some reason that I cannot understand the Minister of Health refuses to make the information public. Nobody knows and because we don’t know we are just groping in the dark,”

Mr. Golding said the Prime Minister's announcement that the authorities would publicly name people in the communities if they refuse to get tested would not aid in solving the problem.

“Do we start now going around naming people who are confirmed to have contracted HIV/AIDS? I don’t understand,”

“What we need to do is to use every moral persuasion that we can to get hold of these people and ensure that they subject themselves to whatever treatment is necessary,” said Mr. Golding.

The number of confirmed malaria cases across the island has climbed to 103.

But despite the increase the Ministry of Health says the outbreak remains confined to the western section of the Corporate Area and parts of St. Catherine.

http://www.radiojamaica.com/news/story.php?category=2&story=31100

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Malaria alert! Kingston and St Catherine

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They play cricket in India,pakistan,south Africa,Sri Lanka all of which has malaria.
So what, the agents did not realize that?

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[evanovitch]

Eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in St Mary

Eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in St Mary
published: Tuesday | December 19, 2006

Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

The St. Mary Health Department is investigating eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in the parish following the death of one man and the hospitalisation of several others.

According to a health official who requested anonymity, the cases have been clinically diagnosed in the interim as persons have been displaying symptoms of leptospirosis.

Symptoms

However, the health worker told The Gleaner yesterday that the test would have to confirm this as some of these symptoms such as sudden onset of fever, nausea and vomiting could also be related to malaria or dengue fever.

"We are not able to say definitively, but what will lead us to say that (it is leptospirosis) is because these persons are farmers and (some) are involved in the fishing industry," the health official said.

The health worker was, however, unable to say how soon the results of the tests would be ready. The autopsy of the man who died is expected to be ready this week.

Leptospirosis is a contagious disease that is primarily transmitted by rats, but affects humans and other animals.

Outbreaks of leptospirosis are usually caused by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals. This may happen by swallowing contaminated food or water or through skin contact, such as the eye or nose, or through broken skin.

Last year, there was an outbreak of leptospirosis, which led to the death of approximately 53 persons and the hospi-talisation of many. Some 335 persons tested positive for the disease and the parish of Clarendon was widely affected.

The health official said the suspected cases of leptospirosis could be linked to the flooding in the area last month. Among the affected communities are Port Maria, Islington and Oracabessa.

Awaiting report

Contacted yesterday, Dr. Sheila Campbell-Forrester, acting chief medical officer in the Ministry of Health, said she learned of the suspected cases yesterday and was awaiting a copy of the report from the St. Mary Health Department.

She noted that the ministry had put on a major education programme informing persons about leptospirosis and what to do if flooding occurs, but that seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

"We have to make sure that we keep our environment clean so we do not harbour rats and other vector," said Dr. Campbell-Forrester.

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in St Mary

[ QUOTE ]
Eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in St Mary
published: Tuesday | December 19, 2006

Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

The St. Mary Health Department is investigating eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in the parish following the death of one man and the hospitalisation of several others.

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So you are saying that jamaica was better off health wise,when jamaicans were living in mostly substandard houses with pit latrines etc?

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Aren't Jamaicans living in more or the same level of substandard housing units now?
Isn't the health services worse than it has ever been since Independence?
Isn't this why there is an outbreak of malaria, leptospirosis, running belly and other recent outbreaks?

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[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in St Mary

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in St Mary
published: Tuesday | December 19, 2006

Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

The St. Mary Health Department is investigating eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in the parish following the death of one man and the hospitalisation of several others.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
So you are saying that jamaica was better off health wise,when jamaicans were living in mostly substandard houses with pit latrines etc?

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Aren't Jamaicans living in more or the same level of substandard housing units now?
Isn't the health services worse than it has ever been since Independence?
Isn't this why there is an outbreak of malaria, leptospirosis, running belly and other recent outbreaks?

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]
How many times has there been suspectec cases of Leptpspirosis,and how many confirmed for the past how many years?
I thought intelligent people would have dealt with these suspected cases just as all other cases.
that is one of the reasons why the majority of Jamaicans do not truest the media as a reliable source of facts. Ofcourse they spend more time on speculation and very little on the facts. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70392-silly.gif[/img]

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in St Mary

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How many times has there been suspectec cases of Leptpspirosis,and how many confirmed for the past how many years?

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In last couple of years there have been numerous outbreaks and confirmation of those cases, despite the MOHs bes….err worst efforts to play down the number..

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I thought intelligent people would have dealt with these suspected cases just as all other cases.

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Meaning what?

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...that is one of the reasons why the majority of Jamaicans do not truest the media as a reliable source of facts. Ofcourse they spend more time on speculation and very little on the facts. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70392-silly.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
<font color="brown">Eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in St Mary
published: Tuesday | December 19, 2006

Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

The St. Mary Health Department is investigating eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in the parish following the death of one man and the hospitalisation of several others.

According to a health official who requested anonymity, the cases have been clinically diagnosed in the interim as persons have been displaying symptoms of leptospirosis.</font>

[/ QUOTE ]

The St. Mary Health Department is the media?
The GOJ fail to maintain a clean environment....Jah gwine lick dem with diseases!

[evanovitch]

Malaria threat at KPH



With the frequent deposits of water on all sides of the Kingston Public Hospital, residents of the surrounding areas are accusing the hospital of enabling the spread of malaria.

"Water pour out of KPH two, three times fi di day. Sometimes di water clear, sometimes it blue, but wi want know how big national hospital fi a do dat inna dem ya time yah...Dis a outskirts a Tivoli, whe dem seh have di biggest malaria infestation, so dem ting deh nuh fi a gwaan?" said a resident of the area, as he pointed to a flow of water from the back entrance to the hospital, along Rose Lane.

A visit to the area last week showed that liquid at the KPH's back entrance was coming from a drain on the compound of the neighbouring Victoria Jubilee Hospital.

Large deposits of water were also observed along Princess Street at the intersection with North Street, Charles Street at the intersection with Matthew's Lane and along Drummond Street close to the back of the Jubilee Hospital.

Citing fears for their own health, residents of Drummond Street have began taking matters in their own hands. "Nuff water always settle roun' ya, especially pon di corner of Rose Lane whe dem have a standpipe. We don't have nuh water, suh everybody use it fi bathe...We did affi do we own cleaning a di water weh wi see mosquito a breed ina," said a resident.

Efforts to contact the KPH on the matter, proved futile up to press time.

The STAR informed The Ministry of Health about the residents complaints and on a second visit to the area last Wednesday, it was observed that the water deposits at the intersection of Princess and North streets had been drained away.

Downplaying threat


However while admitting to the unhealthy state of affairs, officers from the Ministry of Health are downplaying the actual threat of malaria.

"Fogging exercises have been in operation in the area from the (malaria) outbreak began. In conjunction with the National Works Agency, we have dealt with the problem near the hospital's entrance," said a representative at the ministry.

The Ministry of Health added that apart from fogging, field officers were visiting homes in problem areas, testing water deposits and educating residents. However, they admitted that only a few homes in that area were visited, as they were mandated to concentrate on the four critical areas.

"The hospital area is a priority, but we have been instructed to firstly concentrate on Denham Town, Tivoli Gardens, Trench Town, and Delacree Park, before we move on. But anyone who feels they are at serious risk should call us (922-0024, or toll free at 1-888-663-5683), and we will gather the information, log it, and forward it to vector control for them to be visited," advised the ministry official.

The Ministry said that they only dealt with one of the many water deposits surrounding the hospital, because that was the only one that was deemed as a possible environment for the breeding of the malaria 'disease carrier.'

"The female Anopheles mosquito (able to carry and transmit malaria to humans), does not breed in dirty, or murky water, but only in clean water. Areas that have stagnant water, though not conducive to general health, are not deemed as an immediate threat," said the Health Ministry official.

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in St Mary

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How many times has there been suspectec cases of Leptpspirosis,and how many confirmed for the past how many years?

[/ QUOTE ]

In last couple of years there have been numerous outbreaks and confirmation of those cases, despite the MOHs bes….err worst efforts to play down the number..

[ QUOTE ]
I thought intelligent people would have dealt with these suspected cases just as all other cases.

[/ QUOTE ]

Meaning what?

[ QUOTE ]
...that is one of the reasons why the majority of Jamaicans do not truest the media as a reliable source of facts. Ofcourse they spend more time on speculation and very little on the facts. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70392-silly.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
<font color="brown">Eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in St Mary
published: Tuesday | December 19, 2006

Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

The St. Mary Health Department is investigating eight suspected cases of leptospirosis in the parish following the death of one man and the hospitalisation of several others.

According to a health official who requested anonymity, the cases have been clinically diagnosed in the interim as persons have been displaying symptoms of leptospirosis.</font>

[/ QUOTE ]

The St. Mary Health Department is the media?
The GOJ fail to maintain a clean environment....Jah gwine lick dem with diseases!

[/ QUOTE ]

How come I haven'tseen any of those confirmations since I've beenseeing these numerous 'suspicions'??