Hemorrhagic fever

[Harriet]

Epidemic Hazard - Asia
Event summary

GLIDE Number EH-20060823-7307-IND
Event type Epidemic Hazard Date / time 23/08/2006 - 20:02:11 (Military Time, UTC)
Country India Area -
County / State Gujarat State City Surat
Cause of event Unknow Log date 23/08/2006 - 20:02:11 (Military Time, UTC)
Damage level Heavy Time left -
Latitude: N 21° 10.000 Longitude: E 72° 50.000
Number of deaths: 2 persons Number of injured persons: Not or Not data
Evacuated: - Infected - -

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DESCRIPTION
Death of two persons in the worst affected Katar gam area of the city has stirred a controversy over the type of disease. While some doctors suspect it to be plague few others say it was a case of hemorrhagic pneumonia. It may be noted that after the floods the citizens are facing another typical problem of growing number of rats. With flood waters rats have also entered the houses. While in many areas dead rats flowing in floodwaters were seen. This has instilled a fear of plague among the citizens who are still reeling under the shock of floods. The city was under the grip of severe plague in 1994. Many people had died and most of them had fled from the city. According to reports Deepak Magan and Shambhu Kanji of Katar gam area died yesterday night. Their samples have been sent to National Institute of Communicable Disease at Bhopal for checking. There was no official version about these deaths. After the floods heavy slush was found in the entire city. The administration has taken up cleaning of the city on war footing and claims that cleaning operation is nearly complete.

Havaria Information Service Alert Map

http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert...t=dis&lang=eng

 

[Harriet]

Re: Epidemic Hazard - Asia

Re: Epidemic Hazard - Asia

Am posting this because the h5n1 has been known to cause hemorrhagic pneumonia in both birds and people. Also note proximity to Asian nations currently fighting avian flu outbreaks.

 

[Harriet]

Re: Epidemic Hazard - Asia

Re: Epidemic Hazard - Asia

SURAT: Surat is yet to stand on its feet following the devastating recent floods, even as another tragedy seems to be looming large.

Haemorrhagic pneumonia has claimed two lives in Surat within a day, even as four other cases of the same disease have been reported from various hospitals, spreading panic.
The administration has asked the citizens to remain alert and take precautions, but has ruled out the possibility of the disease being plague.

Addressing media-persons, Vikas Desai, deputy director of health, said, ?One person (Deepak Tarsadiya) has died due to haemorrhagic pneumonia at Mahavir hospital. Four other persons suffering from the disease have also been identified. However, haemorrhagic pneumonia has not been confirmed as the cause of death of any other patient so far.?

?Tests have not revealed any plague symptoms so far. Serum samples collected from the patients have been sent to New-Delhi based National Institute of Communicable Diseases for further tests. We are expecting a report by Thursday,? he said, adding that there is no cause for worry.


http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1049064
Summit Khanna
Thursday, August 24, 2006 00:03 IST

 

[Harriet]

Niman:Surat India

Niman:Surat India

H5N1 Bird Flu Fatality in Surat India

India is in the Central South Asia flyway, which also includes Qinghai Lake, suggesting the infections are due to the H5N1 Qinghai strain.

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02190601/H5N1_Surat_Fatality.html



Hospitalization of Relatives of H5N1 Bird Flu Fatality in Surat India

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02200602/H5N1_Surat_Relatives.html

 

[emmysue]

Re: Epidemic Hazard - Asia

Re: Epidemic Hazard - Asia

In Surat, only lepto deaths counted
Express News Service
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=198635

Surat, August 27: IN the last five days, about 55 people have died in various city hospitals due to Viral Haemorrhagic Pneumonia, fever, diarrhoea and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, but the Health department records do not show any such figure. The Health officials, however, have figures only of the deaths caused by leptospirosis. As per their record, leptospirosis has claimed 17 lives so far.

When asked, State Health Commissioner Dr Amarjeet Singh said: ??We have given figures of only those who have died due to leptospirosis, as we are not aware of other cases in the city hospitals. I will check up with them to know the exact situation.??

On the information about the deceased, Singh said: ??It is unethical to give names of those who have died. We will give details like the areas where the deaths have occurred in the last five days and the total number of deaths.??

But why is there a discrepancy in official and unofficial figures? ??We have called all general practitioners and medical consultants on a single platform to avoid miscommunication. We are coordinating with all hospitals to know the exact number of patients undergoing treatment.?? Later in the day, private and government-run hospitals were strictly asked not to give any information regarding patients ? dead or undergoing treatment ? to the media. Confirming, sources said an official communique will be issued to the press in the evening.

Meanwhile, Relief Commissioner S R Rao issued a notification to all the general practitioners and medical consultants in the city on Sunday, directing them to notify the disease syndrome to the SMC Health authority at the flood relief control room at the Government Medical College within six hours of consultation or admission of a patient.

Rao announced the appointment of Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Health and Hospital), SMC as Controlling Officer for taking action and measures which deem fit for safeguarding the health of the community at large.

 

[emmysue]

Re: Epidemic Hazard - Asia

Re: Epidemic Hazard - Asia

Monday , August 28, 2006
Surtis flee home fearing epidemic
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=198636

Surat, August 27: WITH memories of the 1994 plague still fresh in many minds, Surtis are fleeing the city for fear of an epidemic, despite claims by health authorities that the situation is under control and all suspected cases of plague and hantavirus have tested negative.

??Many of the residents from our society have gone away in the last three days fearing an outbreak of disease,?? says Champaben Radadia, a resident of Bhaichandnagar society in Katargam who too has sent both her kids to her paternal home in Jamnagar.

??When you see a healthy boy dying within few hours of being admitted to the hospital after vomiting blood, you have to face the situation. I have two small children and don?t want to take any chances,?? says Jivraj Siroia, a resident of Parasnagar Society, from where the first death of Deepak Tarsaria (24) was reported.

Siroia, a diamond polisher, who has stayed back but has sent his family, to Saurashtra says, ??I was worried about my kids, wife and parents.??

There are many in the residential societies of Ved Road, Dabholi, Katargam, Puna and Varachha who have gone away to their hometowns immediately after floodwaters receded. Those who stayed back then are now fleeing the city for the fear of an epidemic.

Kaushik Patel, a resident of Umangnagar in Ved Road said, ??Each day we read in the newspapers about deaths of people due to leptospirosis and other diseases. With our area filthy and stinking of garbage and slush, we are reminded of the 1994 plague.?? Ghanshyam Patel, an estate developer from Prabhunagar Society on Ved Road said, ??I have sent my wife and kids to Bhavnagar. I have come here to clean my house and they will come only after 10-15 days.??

It is a similar situation in Puna, Amroli, Rander, Adajan, Pal, Jehangirpura and other flood ravaged areas.

Even migrant labourers employed in textile units are fleeing as most powerloom units affected in the floods are likely to start only after three to four weeks.

Dinkar Prajapati, a powerloom unit owner at Ved Road said, ??All my workers fled after waters receded. Those who had stayed back are going now.?

Another powerloom unit owner at Katargam, Tarique Anwar said, ??I have got 30 migrant labourers who reside in kutchha houses. Two of them were admitted to a hospital with fever and diarrhoea. This prompted the rest to flee before they caught a disease.??

 

[Harriet]

Re: Epidemic Hazard - Asia

Re: Epidemic Hazard - Asia

Thanks very much for this update. Had missed it.

 

[Niko]

Not the plague. Just a cesspool of other diseases?

Not the plague. Just a cesspool of other diseases?

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=198223#
Health Dept clears air: NICD has confirmed it is not plague
Express News Service

Gandhinagar, August 24: SO what?s ailing Surat? The State Health Commissioner on Thursday said the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi, has ruled out the possibility of plague, as rodent and human serum samples sent to the institute tested negative. Authorities also denied the Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), stating that the youth who died in Surat was suffering from ??viral haemorrhagic fever.??

Later, Health authorities said six out of nine cases in the city tested positive for leptospirosis and that one person Saheb Singh (35) of Amroli area had died due to it on Thursday in a city hospital.


Meanwhile, others tested negative for leptospirosis were suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome and viral haemorrhagic pneumonia.

The State health authorities had sent samples to the NICD for serology testing in the wake of the death of a youth in Surat city on Wednesday due to suspected HPS.

?Now that the NICD in its report sent to the Government on Thursday has said the serum samples tested negative, it?s clear that the talk of plague in Surat is nothing but a rumour. The youth who died was suffering from viral haemorrhagic fever that mainly affects the lungs of a patient,? State Health Commissioner Amarjit Singh said.

He said the death could be due to leptospirosis, and that this time the patient?s lungs, and not kidneys, had been affected.

Singh said the Health Department had sent as many as 198 samples of rodent sera, 94 samples of rodent organs, two samples of human sera and five samples of dog sera for testing at the NICD. The Health Commissioner said even Dr Sohan Lal, a NICD expert of plague who has been camping in flood-ravaged Surat for the last two days, has ruled out any possibility of plague and confirmed that there is no cause for concern.

Deputy Director of NICD Dr.Sunder Lal too falsified rumours and ruled out the possibility of plague by saying, ??The situation is very much under control by now. There is no fear of any epidemic outbreak and we have found no evidence, whatsoever, which points to the minute possibility of plague.? But Dr Nirmal Chorariya, president of Indian Medical Association and a leading doctor of the city said, ??We are dealing with the cases of Leptospirosis and Viral Haemorrhagic Pneumonia. There is no plague-like situation. But the fact is that Viral Haemorrhagic Pneumonia could take the form of Leptospirosis, Hantavirus or any other virus.?

Singh, however, said the Government was not taking any chances, and had intensified surveillance in and around Surat and other flood-hit districts across Gujarat. A team of experts from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, will reach Surat late tonight to further assess the situation.

The NIV team will also visit local hospitals treating patients suffering from different viral diseases.

Singh refuted reports of chikungunya having assumed epidemic proportion in Ahmedabad, claiming that only 2,400 cases of the disease have been reported from the city till now, while elsewhere in the State only sporadic cases were reported. To a query, Singh said the Centre, in response to the Government?s plea, would ? in two days ? dispatch adequate quota of medicines to treat patients suffering from viral diseases. The medicines will be sent to hospitals in the flood-hit areas.

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. In humans it causes a wide range of symptoms, and some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. Symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, or a rash. If the disease is not treated, the patient could develop kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, and respiratory distress. In rare cases death occurs.

The health authorities said that leptospirosis has a major concentration in the rural areas during the monsoon season. Outbreaks of it are usually caused by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals. Many different kinds of animals carry the bacterium; they may become sick but sometimes have no symptoms. Leptospira organisms have been found in cattle, pigs, horses, dogs, rodents, and wild animals. Humans become infected through contact with water, food, or soil containing urine from these infected animals. This may happen by swallowing contaminated food or water or through skin contact, especially with mucosal surfaces, such as the eyes or nose, or with broken skin. The disease is not known to be spread from person to person.

The health authorities here have said that they have sufficient quantity of antibiotics and ventilators to deal with the situation. New Civil Hospital confirmed it had sufficient quantity of Doxycilline, Tetracycline, Amoxicilline and Ciprofloxacin tablets at its store as well as Crystalline Penicilline (CP) injections.

Okay, this is a couple of days old but fleshes out the above reports. What do they know?
Facts(?):
No plague
No Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS)
6 out of 9 positive for leptospirosis (bacterial infection - not H2H trasnmitted)

So, at least 3 out of 9 are infected with an as yet undiagnosed disease causing "acute respiratory distress syndrome and viral haemorrhagic pneumonia".

Per emmysue's report posted today:

IN the last five days, about 55 people have died in various city hospitals due to Viral Haemorrhagic Pneumonia, fever, diarrhoea and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, but the Health department records do not show any such figure. The Health officials, however, have figures only of the deaths caused by leptospirosis. As per their record, leptospirosis has claimed 17 lives so far.

.

 

[Niko]

History refresher

History refresher

Just went back to refresh my memory about the outbreak in poultry in Surat and surrounding area - February 2006. I had this article saved:

AHMEDABAD, FEBRUARY 25: While Ground Zero Navapur is coming back to normal, bird flu has been confirmed in some samples from a poultry in Surat district leading to the resumption of poultry culling in the area.
**snipped**
Authorities had earlier this week culled over 73,000 chickens and destroyed thousands of eggs in Surat, Uchchal and surrounding regions of the state, adjoining Maharashtra?s avian flu-affected Navapur taluka.

In Navapur, however, officials said the situation would be normal within three days. Except for the disposal of litter in poultries, all other operations were likely to end within the next couple of days, Public Health Department Secretary, Dr Vijay Satbir Singh said.

http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/full_story.php?content_id=88611

One has to wonder about the level of H5N1 still in the environment and undetected in poultry (vaccinated , of course) that is floating in the viral soup following the monsoon and subsequent flooding. I haven't even begun to check the migratory bird possiblilities for this region.