The Plague

3 08 2009

pneumo plagueThe plague. Sounds so 14th century, doesn’t it?

Two townsfolk in a rural area of China recently died of pneumonic plague, bringing it right into the 21st century.  Their small town is now sealed off from the world and it’s unknown for how long the quarantine will last.

There are three forms of plague:

  • Bubonic is the most common form and it causes swellings or tumors on the affected person’s neck, armpits or groin.  Infected fleas hopping a ride on rats and then humans are the common source of infection for this disease.
  • Pneumonic is a respiratory infection and can be spread just by breathing in the exhaled air of an infected person.  This is a very infectious and deadly form of plague.
  • Septicemic attacks the blood system but doesn’t spread from person to person.

The WHO isn’t too worried about the small outbreak and this makes sense.  For most people, this is not a potential health risk when stepping out the door each morning, and China’s quick actions will likely stop the spread of infection.

These days, diseases old and new seem to crop up with depressing regularity.  There are several things we can do to protect ourselves, including:

  • keeping our hands clean throughout the day with soap and water or hand sanitizer
  • covering our coughs and sneezes
  • talking to our healthcare provider to see what immunizations are right for our family members
  • using standard precautions in daily living

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Categories : Current News, General Health, Infectious Diseases, Plague, Pneumonic Plague

H1N1: More Questions Than Answers

24 07 2009

Is it wrong to say I’m sick of pandemic (H1N1) 2009, influenza A (H1N1), novel influenza A H1N1, swine flu virus 2009, etc?  Not sick with, just sick of.

Yet, drop a hint of H1N1 into the conversation and I’m all ears (I know, it’s sick).

confusion!

So many questions, so few answers at this time…

We’re hearing a lot about antigens and adjuvants in relation to the vaccines that are being developed by various manufacturers.

An antigen is the active ingredient in a vaccine that causes our bodies to produce the immune response, or development of antibodies, that helps us fight the virus, should we become infected.

An adjuvant is an additive that might be added to a vaccine to boost the immune system’s response and, we hope, reduce the amount of antigen necessary for the body to recognize and fight a virus.

If we can reduce the amount of antigen necessary for each dose, then we can further stretch our available vaccine supply.

Are vaccine manufacturers going to use an adjuvant, the additive that boosts our immune response to the vaccine (although scientists are saying we’ll still need two doses)?

There’s no definitive answer as of this date, 24 July 2009.

If an adjuvant will be used, is it one that’s been used before and if so, has it been used with a swine flu virus?

Adjuvants have been used before, but not against a swine flu virus.  No one knows at this time if this will make a difference.

For each potential vaccine, how many subjects will be tested in clinical trials before the vaccine is made available to the general public?

We probably won’t know until it’s done.

How much adjuvant should be used?  Will studies be done to determine age-specific responses to an antigen/adjuvant mix?  Will each manufacturer be using a different antigen and adjuvant combination and what pre-licensure studies will be done for each?  Will studies be done on at-risk populations like those who are immune-compromised or obese?

Don’t know.

Since one of the groups most affected by this virus is kids, and therefore the youth in the U.S. will surely be encouraged to get vaccinated, how many kids will be in the pre-licensure trials?

Don’t know.

We sincerely hope someone has the answers to these questions and shares those answers with all of us, although it’s encouraging to realize that vaccine development is not a new science and the world’s governments have plans for dealing with the many issues that arise in a pandemic situation.

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Categories : Current News, H1N1, Immunizations, Infectious Diseases, Influenza (flu), Swine Flu

Scientists vs The Public: Can’t We All Just Get Along?

12 07 2009

A survey came out last week involving members of the public and scientists.  It says that 84% of the public feels that science has had a mostly positive impact on society.

That’s good news—shows we’re not trashing the scientific method.

sci and public

About half of that 84% cite medical developments as the positive impact:  “The largest share of that group (32% of the total) names medical and health care in general, 24% cite disease research, cures or vaccines and 4% cite advances in the use of stem cells.”

While most of us are yahooing over the science, it has to be said that the scientists aren’t exactly happy about us.

A whopping 85% of scientists say our lack of scientific knowledge is a problem and almost half shake their heads at our unrealistic expectations.  They also say that members of the media kind of stink at educating the public and getting the facts right.  (OK, we’re paraphrasing, but you get the idea.)

There are shocking differences of opinion between scientists and the public and some comforting similarities.

The survey covered more areas than are discussed here and is worth a read.  As members of the public, we walked away with the notion that providing more education in the sciences for America’s youth is a critical next step.

But, let’s not forget communication.

Scientists are more accustomed to lecturing than listening.  It’s not surprising, given the training they go through, but it can be alienating.  They need to learn to have conversations with us.  Listen to us.  And, we need to listen to them.

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GoodSearch: Giving the 2.0 Way

30 06 2009

Want to do something for your fav nonprofits, but the wallet’s a bit thin?  Try GoodSearch.

It’s a Yahoo! powered search engine that donates to the charity of your choice for every search you make.

Goodsearch_goodshop

If shopping online is more your thing, GoodSearch also operates GoodShop, an online store that gives back up to 30% of every purchase to the charity of your choice.

Using GoodSearch

Go to GoodSearch and enter the charity you wish to support in the second search box under WHO DO YOU GOODSEARCH FOR?  Click the verify button.

GoodSearch-Web-search

If the charity is listed on GoodSearch, you’ll see this under the search box: “Search now and money will go to your designated cause.”  That means the charity is verified.

Once it’s verified, go to the search box above the charity search box and enter your search term(s), as you would in any browser.  Use this each time you search and money will be donated to the charity you choose for that search.  If you have more than one charity that you support, you may alternate between the various charities.

Charity not verified?

If the charity you entered can’t be verified (you’ll see text below the search box indicating that you need to re-try your search), then go to the Add A New Charity page. The link to that page is at the bottom of the GoodSearch home page.

Registration of a charity is free and easy, but you’ll need to be familiar with the charity to fill out the form.  Also, make sure you have the nonprofit’s EIN, or Employer ID Number, for the form.

If everything is entered correctly, you’ll get an email stating the acceptance of your charity and instructions on how to promote your charity’s new revenue tool.

Once your charity’s accepted, you can start searching and shopping for good!

Using GoodShop

Once you’re at GoodShop, fill in the WHO DO YOU SUPPORT box, if it’s not automatically filled in with the charity of your choice, then click the verify button.

There are several ways to find stores:
•    Near the top of the page, search for a specific store, or
•    search the alphabetized dropdown list, or
•    scroll down the page to see the most popular stores, or
•    search by category from the left side of the page.

goodshop_goodsearch_Coupons_coupon-codes_deals

At the bottom of the GoodShop page, there are popular coupons and deals, or there may be deals and coupons to be found on a store’s page.

Top retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, Buy.com, and eBay are participants in this cool deal that benefits buyers, sellers and, most of all, nonprofits!

Just click on the store where you want to shop, use any coupons that are listed on the store’s GoodShop page, and click the “GoodShop This Store” icon to begin shopping for good!

Browse the Internet with GoodSearch and shop with GoodShop.  It’s the feel-good way to help out PKIDs and other nonprofits without squeezing your budget.

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Categories : Current News, Organization Updates, Social Media

Finding Health Info on YouTube

29 06 2009

YouTube is a vast library of online videos.  There truly is something there for everyone.

This amount of content makes narrowing a search challenging, but doable.  It is possible to find quality health-related videos on YouTube.

sony-bravia-youtube

Creating An Account
Go to YouTube.com and create an account by clicking the Sign Up link on the top right.

As you’re filling in the blanks on the sign-up page, notice the little box that says, “Let others find my channel on YouTube if they have my email address.”

Channels are people’s accounts. Think of YouTube as a giant TV and everyone signed up, including you, is hosting his/her own channel. Yikes! Very crowded, but there are gems in the crowd.

Once done with the sign-up page, you’ll go to another page where you’ll type in your email and password.  At the end of this process, YouTube sends you an email asking you to confirm your account.  Follow the email instructions and you’ll soon be on your very own YouTube account page.  When you get there, look in the upper right corner of that page.  If your user name is there, you’re signed in and ready to go.

Your Page
Take a look at your personalized home page. The first option you have is Add/Remove Modules.  Click on that to go to Account Settings, where you pick and choose what you want to see on your home page (e.g. add/remove subscriptions, recommendations, friend activity, ect.).

Subscriptions is next (videos from channels to which you’re subscribed), then Recommendations (videos recommended by YouTube that you may like), followed by Friend Activity (videos your friends have uploaded), Featured Videos (videos that are featured on YouTube), and Videos Being Watched Now (which is self-explanatory).

Searching YouTube
Finding health channels to subscribe to is easy―just type a keyword (e.g HIV/AIDS, pertussis, H1N1, etc.) into the search box.

The search brings you results from Channels (other users’ accounts) and Playlists (a user-maintained list of videos).

Browse the channels and playlists and when you find something you like, click the gold Subscribe button on that page.

YouTube-CDC-Streaming-Health

Subscribing allows you to get up-to-date videos from the channels or playlists you select and feeds those videos to your home page.

When looking for a range of information providers to subscribe to, sorting by Playlist can be beneficial, as playlists may be made up of videos created by that particular user, or videos the user likes that are created by others, or a combination.

YouTube - health search

You can also click on the Community tab (see above) and browse videos by categories, shows, movies, channels, contests and events.

Once you’ve identified a health information source and determined its credibility, click subscribe.

The new videos from that user’s channel or playlist will then show up on your YouTube home page under subscription.

It is that easy, so jump in and don’t forget to find some funny vids to get you through the day.

Visit PKIDs and GETVAXED on YouTube, subscribe to our channels and check out our favorites.

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H1N1 Moves to Phase 6

11 06 2009

After weeks of saying it without saying it, today WHO is moving the pandemic scale from phase 5 to phase 6.

WHO

In the U.S. and many other countries, this is simply a formality, as the actions being taken by the various governments (local, state, provincial, federal) will stay on course, unaffected by the WHO declaration.

CDC believes that novel H1N1 (swine flu) is at a category 2 out of 5 on the pandemic severity index.

Brushing away all the extra words and getting to the core, nothing new has happened with the virus.

Everyone is waiting to see what happens in the Southern Hemisphere this summer.  It’s their flu season and the virus may mutate, get more severe, die down, or remain at its current level of severity.

There will be another holding of the collective breath this fall as we see what happens when flu season gets going in the North.

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Researching Health Information on Twitter: Tip#1 – Hash It!

19 05 2009

Twitter_Logo

Social media has made the spread of information lightening fast.

One of the most interactive and helpful social media Websites is Twitter, a microblogging service that lets you make frequent 140 character updates.

As an avid Tweeter myself, I have found quite the handful of useful tools to navigate the Twitterspace. Some of these tools can be used to stay abreast of pertinent health information.

Tip #1 is the hashtag (#). The hashtag lets someone follow a conversation or relate his or her tweet (a.k.a. message) to a topic.

Take a look at one of  PKIDs’ tweets:

Twitter_Post_PKIDs_profile

In the post, there are multiple hashtags (#cellphones, #germ, #health) that, when typed into Twitter’s search box, will allow you to follow the current trends on that subject.

View what the search box looks like below. It’s also featured on the bottom right side of your Twitter profile page (or look at http://twitter.com/pkids).

Twitter_Search_pkids_profile

The search function also shows recent hot topics and allows you to search for topics you’re interested, i.e. #health for health information.

So, why use the hashtag?

Not every hashtag has a conversation attached, but the # attached to a word allows Twitter users to tag relevant posts so others can find them, even if you aren’t following their posts on Twitter. Hashtags before a specific word, like #health, also help exclude irrelevant posts like “I am a health freak,” which wouldn’t teach you much.

Here are a few good hashtag choices for health info:
#health
#wellness
#medicine
#medical

If you want more specific health information use the specific disease or virus name, like #hepatitis or #H1N1.

There are also Twitter-independent tools you can use to follow health information on Twitter, without getting a Twitter account. TweetDeck and Search.Twitter.com are two that are easy and free to use.

And remember, as with all information on the Web, not all of it is credible. Consult your doctor before acting on any health advice from a third party.

Stay tuned next week for another tip on social media and your health.


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Meningitis Belt

11 05 2009
Town crier announcing the vaccination campaign Niger 2009 © Olivier Asselin

Town crier announcing the vaccination campaign Niger 2009 © Olivier Asselin

Grief is no stranger to families in the “meningitis belt” of Africa.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,900 people in the belt have died and tens of thousands have been affected. 

The sub-Saharan countries of Niger, Nigeria and Chad have been hit particularly hard these past few months.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported “…dozens of MSF teams, together with health authorities, are performing vaccination campaigns throughout these countries to reduce the impact of the epidemic. Meanwhile, other MSF teams are travelling to urban and remote health centers to collect data, review and treat patients, and donate medicines.”

Vaccination has to happen to stop this disease, but we can’t overlook the huge efforts they’re making to treat the infected.  They’re succeeding and they’re saving lives.  Without treatment, up to 50 percent of people infected with bacterial meningitis will die.

MSF workers deserve PKIDs’ Stamp of Excellence for their work in this outbreak.


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Categories : Current News, Immunizations, Infectious Diseases, Meningitis

Stay Up-To-Date on H1N1

8 05 2009

We haven’t written about H1N1 lately – not much has changed. 

In the Northern Hemisphere, we’ve moved out of flu season, which may be why H1N1 isn’t exploding into a pandemic.  We’re all waiting to see what the virus does in countries like Australia, where flu season is just starting.

To keep up-to-date with this novel flu strain, CDC has created a page on their site that’s kind of a catch-all, but helpful.  You don’t have to search much to find what you need.

Meanwhile, to avoid getting or giving this and so many other infections: wash hands, cover coughs and sneezes, stay home if you’re sick.

Have a good weekend:)


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Categories : Current News, H1N1, Handwashing, Infectious Diseases, Influenza (flu), Swine Flu

May Day

1 05 2009

It’s May Day, the day we used to hang tiny paper vases full of flowers on doorknobs. 

Today, we’re going to write about the flu, again, but this should be the last daily blog about this subject.  Oh, we’ll cover it fairly often, but not every day.  So here goes.

We’re getting some good news about influenza A (H1N1) [aka swine flu and/or 2009-H1N1].

CDC laboratory testing has found that this new virus does not have similar characteristics to the 1918 pandemic virus that resulted in millions of deaths worldwide.

Also, the disease-causing markers that were previously found in the avian influenza A (H5N1) virus that has caused human infections and deaths in other countries have not been found in the new virus.

All this suggests that, while we are dealing with a new strain for which we have no vaccine, it probably isn’t going to be the monster we feared.

The CDC is estimating at least two more weeks before they have a vaccine virus that can be sent to vaccine manufacturers.  It will then take about six months, maybe less, to produce large quantities of vaccine.

There are antiviral medications available by prescription, should you become infected, so you’re not defenseless.  But, if you are ill, stay home for seven days or until your symptoms go away, whichever is longer.  This will keep you from accidently infecting others.

And one last note today…we can’t get this new flu from eating pork, so pig out on the bacon!  Oh, and Happy May Day!


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