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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Climate change and health


Key facts
  • Climate change affects the fundamental requirements for health – clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter.
  • The global warming that has occurred since the 1970s was causing over 140 000 excess deaths annually by the year 2004.
  • Many of the major killers such as diarrhoeal diseases, malnutrition, malaria and dengue are highly climate-sensitive and are expected to worsen as the climate changes.
  • Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries – will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.
  • Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better transport, food and energy-use choices can result in improved health.
Source: WHO Fact Sheet No. 266

Friday, June 17, 2011

Voluntary unpaid blood donations increase, saving more lives


The number of countries collecting all their blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors increased by more than 50% between 2002 and 2008, according to new global data from WHO, released on World Blood Donor Day, 14 June.
World Blood Donor Day is celebrated each year to highlight the contribution voluntary unpaid blood donors make to public health. This year's slogan, "More blood, more life" aims to encourage still more people to come forward to give blood and save more lives.
"WHO's goal is for all countries to obtain all blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donations by 2020," says Dr. Neelam Dhingra, Coordinator, Blood Transfusion Safety at WHO. "Nine years ago, 39 countries were obtaining all their blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors: in 2008 that figure had gone up to 62. We hope that World Blood Donor Day will encourage more people in more countries to become regular voluntary blood donors."

Source: WHO

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Pigs susceptible to virulent ebolavirus can transmit the virus to other animals


Canadian investigators have shown that a species of ebolavirus from Zaire that is highly virulent in humans can replicate in pigs, cause disease, and be transmitted to animals previously unexposed to the virus. The findings are published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases and are now available online. In order to prevent human outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever, it is important to identify animal species that replicate and transmit the virus to other animals and, potentially, people. Zaire ebolavirus, one of several species of the virus, has a fatality rate as high as 90 percent in humans. Antibodies to another species not associated with human disease, known as Reston ebolavirus, have been found in pig farmers in the Philippines, suggesting pigs may be able to transmit virulent ebolavirus to humans as well.

Source:

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Discovery of new MRSA strain in milk

A new strain of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been discovered by scientists at the University of Cambridge Veterinary School. The findings are published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 
The new strain has been identified in milk from dairy cows and in humans. It had not previously been detected because its genetic makeup differs from previous strains and the ‘gold standard’ molecular tests  currently used to identify MRSA do not detect this strain.


Source:  British Veterinary Association