AstraZeneca jab risk-benefit 'still largely positive' - WHO

GENEVA, Switzerland - The risk-benefit balance for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is "still largely positive", the World Health Organization said Tuesday after fresh claims about links to blood clots.

A top official from the European Medicines Agency -- the EU's drug regulator -- claimed there was a clear connection between the jab and clots, though the EMA itself said it was still reviewing data and no conclusions had yet been reached.

The WHO said there was no evidence that the risk-benefit analysis had shifted on the jab, which is one of only three different COVID-19 vaccines so far to have received the green light from the UN health agency.

"There is no link for the moment between the vaccine and thrombotic events with thrombocytopenia," Rogerio Pinto de Sa Gaspar, the WHO's director for regulation and pre-qualification, told a press conference.

"The appraisal we have for the moment -- and this is under consideration by the experts -- is that the benefit-risk assessment for the vaccine is still largely positive.

Agence France Presse

Virus curbs tightened over fears of a second wave

PARIS, France — Spain and Germany were among the countries tightening restrictions on Tuesday in a bid to cool coronavirus hotspots that have sparked fears of a second wave.

The World Health Organization warned that the virus did not appear to be affected by seasonality, as the global death toll from the pandemic passed 654,000 Tuesday -- nearly a third of the dead in Europe, according to an AFP tally.

More than 100,000 deaths have been recorded since July 9 and the global toll has doubled in just over two months.

The UN's World Tourism Organization said the sector lost $320 billion in revenue globally during the first five months of 2020, threatening millions of livelihoods.

This is "more than three times the loss during the Global Financial Crisis of 2009", the Madrid-based body said in a statement.

The International Air Transport Association meanwhile warned that global air traffic would not return to levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic until at least 2024.

Spain, one of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic, insisted it was still a safe destination for tourists despite tackling 361 active outbreaks and more than 4,000 new cases.

Several countries have nonetheless imposed quarantines on people returning from Spain, including its biggest tourist market, Britain.

The strict lockdown in Spain destroyed more than a million jobs during the second quarter of the year, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported Tuesday -- mainly in tourism.

'Situation worrying' in Iran
Germany, which has registered an average of 557 new cases a day over the past week, also tweaked its mask rules, saying they must be worn outdoors wherever social distancing was not possible.

"We must prevent that the virus once again spreads rapidly and uncontrollably," its disease control agency said Tuesday.

Iran suffered its worst day yet of the pandemic, reporting 235 new deaths on Tuesday, a record toll for a single day in the Middle East's hardest-hit country.

"The situation is worrying," health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said, with Tehran, the most populous province, hitting the highest category on the country's coronavirus risk scale.

Officials have made masks mandatory in enclosed public spaces and allowed Tehran and other hard-hit provinces to reimpose the restrictions progressively lifted since April to reopen Iran's sanctions-hit economy.

Lebanon also raised fears for its crisis-hit health sector after recording 175 cases on Saturday, its highest daily tally.

On Tuesday, it announced a full lockdown over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha from July 30 until August 3, and limits on bar and restaurant capacity.

Trump retweets 'misinformation'
Twitter removed a video retweeted by President Donald Trump in which doctors made allegedly false claims about the pandemic, saying it was in violation of its "COVID-19 misinformation policy".

Earlier, Facebook had also withdrawn the video, which claimed masks and lockdowns were not necessary to counter the pandemic.

Florida's virus death toll passed 6,000 on Tuesday as the disease claimed another 186 lives.

McDonald's meanwhile blamed coronavirus closures for a 68 percent drop in second-quarter profits to $483.8 million.

The virus continued to hit major sporting events, as Major League Baseball on Tuesday shut down the Miami Marlins for the remainder of the week. Four more members of the virus-stricken franchise had tested positive for COVID-19.

And in American football, the New England Patriots' pre-season preparations were hit after six players opted out of the 2020 campaign over coronavirus fears.

The 2020-21 Belgian football season will begin behind closed doors following new measures announced by the government to stem a flare-up in coronavirus cases, the Pro League announced Tuesday.

Not a seasonal virus: WHO
In China, officials moved to head off the possibility of a second wave after a new cluster in the northwest port city of Dalian spread to other provinces.

Health authorities said the Dalian cluster had now spread to nine cities in five regions across the country, including as far away as the southeast coastal province of Fujian.

Beijing has tightened measures in the affected region, introducing mass testing in Dalian and heightened scrutiny of travellers arriving in the city.

China had largely brought the virus under control since it first emerged in the country late last year, through a series of strict lockdowns and travel restrictions.

Greece said it would reopen six of its ports, including Piraeus in Athens, to cruise ships at the weekend. But responding to a recent rise in infections, it made masks compulsory again in shops and public services.

"Season does not seem to be affecting the transmission of this virus," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters.

It is summer in the United States, which with nearly 148,000 deaths and close to 4.3 million cases is the hardest-hit country.

It is winter in the second most affected country Brazil, which has recorded more than 87,000 deaths.

"What we all need to get our heads around is this is a new virus... and even though it is a respiratory virus and even though respiratory viruses in the past did tend to do these different seasonal waves, this one is behaving differently," Harris said. — Barney Spender with AFP bureaus

Agence France-Presse

Study: Speaking, breathing might spread COVID-19

WASHINGTON – Scientists have known for several months the new coronavirus can become suspended in microdroplets expelled by patients when they speak and breathe, but until now there was no proof that these tiny particles are infectious.

A new study by scientists at the University of Nebraska that was uploaded to a medical preprint site this week has shown for the first time that SARS-CoV-2 taken from microdroplets, defined as under five microns, can replicate in lab conditions.

This boosts the hypothesis that normal speaking and breathing, not just coughing and sneezing, are responsible for spreading COVID-19 – and that infectious doses of the virus can travel distances far greater than the sixfeet (two meters) urged by social distancing guidelines.

The results are still considered preliminary and have not yet appeared in a peer-reviewed journal, which would lend more credibility to the methods devised by the scientists.

The paper was posted to the medrxiv.org website, where most cutting-edge research during the pandemic has first been made public.

The same team wrote a paper in March showing that the virus remains airborne in the rooms of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and this study will soon be published in a journal, according to the lead author.

“It is actually fairly difficult” to collect the samples, Joshua Santarpia,

an associate professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center told AFP.

The team used a device the size of a cell phone for the purpose, but “the concentrations are typically very low, your chances of recovering material are

small.”

The scientists took air samples from five rooms of bedridden patients, at a height of about a foot (30 centimeters) over the foot of their beds.

The patients were talking, which produces microdroplets that become suspended in the air for several hours in what is referred to as an “aerosol,” and some were coughing.

The team managed to collect microdroplets as small as one micron in diameter.

They then placed these samples into a culture to make them grow, finding that three of the 18 samples tested were able to replicate.

For Santarpia, this represents proof that microdroplets, which also travel

much greater distances than big droplets, are capable of infecting people.

“It is replicated in cell culture and therefore infectious,” he said.

Why we wear masks

The potential for microdroplet transmission of the coronavirus was at one stage thought to be improbable by health authorities across the world.

Later, scientists began to change their mind and acknowledge it may be a possibility, which is the rationale for universal masking.

The World Health Organization was among the last to shift its position, doing so on July 7.

“I feel like the debate has become more political than scientific,” said Santarpia.

“I think most scientists that work on infectious diseases agree that there’s likely an airborne component, though we may quibble over how large.”

Linsey Marr, a professor at Virginia Tech who is a leading expert on aerial transmission of viruses and wasn’t involved in the study, said it was rare to obtain measurements of the amount of virus present in air.

“Based on what we know about other diseases and what we know so far about SARS-CoV-2, I think we can assume that if the virus is ‘infectious in aerosols,’ then we can become infected by breathing them in,” she told AFP.

Agence France-Presse

Wuhan recovery gives rest of world hope: WHO

GENEVA, Switzerland — The World Health Organization said Friday that the original epicenter in China of the coronavirus outbreak at last reporting no new cases gave hope to the rest of the world battling the pandemic.

The city of Wuhan registered no new cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours—for the first time since reporting its first case in December in an outbreak that has gone on to infect more than 250,000 people around the world and kill more than 11,000 people.

"Yesterday, Wuhan reported no new cases for the first time since the outbreak started," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference in Geneva.

"Wuhan provides hope for the rest of the world that even the most severe situation can be turned around.

"Of course, we must exercise caution; the situation can reverse. But the experience of cities and countries that have pushed back this coronavirus gives hope and courage to the rest of the world."


China as a whole is now reporting only a handful of new infections each day—all of them apparently from overseas visitors—as the crisis has shifted from Asia to Europe, which has now reported more deaths than China.

Tedros said the WHO's greatest worry was the impact that the virus could have if it took hold in countries with weaker health systems or more vulnerable populations.

"That concern has now become very real and urgent," he said, but added that significant sickness and loss of life in such countries was not inevitable.


"Unlike any pandemic in history, we have the power to change the way this goes," he said.

Young 'not invincible' 

Tedros said that although older people had been the hardest hit by the disease, younger people were not spared, saying they made up many of the sufferers needing hospital treatment.

He said solidarity between the generations was one of the keys to defeating the spread of the pandemic.

"Today I have a message for young people: you are not invincible. This virus could put you in hospital for weeks—or even kill you," Tedros warned.

"Even if you don't get sick, the choices you make about where you go could be the difference between life and death for someone else.

"I'm grateful that so many young people are spreading the word and not the virus."

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said that two out of three people in intensive care in badly-hit Italy were aged under 70.

Physical distancing 

The WHO also said it was now using the term "physical distancing" rather than "social distancing" to describe the need to maintain space between people to avoid the virus passing.

Although people may need to go into physical isolation, they did not need to become socially isolated, he said, adding it was important to maintain good mental health during the crisis.

"We can keep connected in many ways without physically being in the same space," said Maria Van Kerkhove, who heads the WHO's emerging diseases unit.

"We want people to still remain connected."

Tedros added: "It's normal to feel stressed, confused and scared during a crisis. Talking to people you know and trust can help."

Whilst advising people to maintain their mental and physical health during the crisis, including exercising and eating a healthy diet to help the immune system, Tedros also had a message for the world's smokers.

"Don't smoke. Smoking can increase your risk of developing severe disease if you become infected with COVID-19," he said.

The WHO also said it was launching a new health alert messaging service on WhatsApp, containing news, information, details on symptoms and how to prevent against catching the virus.

To access it, WhatsApp users need to send the word "hi" to the number 0041 798 931 892.

The service is initially available in English, with other languages to be rolled out next week.

Agence France-Presse

China sees drop in new virus cases, two Japan cruise passengers die

BEIJING, China — China reported a big drop in new coronavirus cases on Thursday, fuelling hopes the epidemic is nearing its peak, but Japan faced a growing crisis as two passengers from a quarantined cruise ship died.

The death toll rose in China hit 2,118 as 114 more people died, but health officials reported the lowest number of new cases there in nearly a month, including in the hardest-hit province, Hubei.

More than 74,000 people have been infected in China and hundreds more in some 25 countries, with Iran reporting two deaths, the first fatalities in the Middle East.

In Japan, a man and a woman in their 80s who had been aboard the Diamond Princess have died, local media reported, citing a government source.

A World Health Organization official noted the progress in China but warned it had not reached a turning point just yet.

Chinese officials said this week that their drastic containment efforts, including quarantining tens of millions of people in Hubei and restricting movements in other cities nationwide, have started to pay off.

"After arduous efforts, the situation is changing for the better," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a meeting with Southeast Asian counterparts in Laos late Wednesday, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Hubei and its capital Wuhan -- where the virus is believed to have emerged in December -- are still "severely affected" by the epidemic, Wang said.

"But the situation is under effective control, while other regions are embracing comforting news," he said.

'Not turning point'

More than 600 new infections were reported in Wuhan -- the lowest daily tally since late January, and well down from the 1,749 new cases the day before.

The national figure has now fallen for three days in a row.

Chinese authorities placed Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, under quarantine on January 23 and quickly locked down the rest of Hubei in the days that followed.

Cities far from the epicentre have limited the number of people who can leave their houses for groceries, while villages have sealed themselves off from outsiders.

Richard Brennan, regional emergency director at the World Health Organization, said China was making "tremendous progress in a short period of time" but cautioned that it was not over just yet.

"Trends are very encouraging but we are not at a turning point yet," Brennan told a press conference in Cairo.

'Chaotic' cruise quarantine

While China touts progress in its fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, Japan's government faces criticism over quarantine measures on the Diamond Prince cruise ship.

The huge vessel moored in Yokohama is easily the biggest coronavirus cluster outside the Chinese epicentre, with 621 positive cases confirmed among the passengers and crew -- one sixth of the total.

On Wednesday, 443 passengers disembarked from the ship after testing negative for the COVID-19 virus and not showing symptoms during a 14-day quarantine period. The complete removal of the passengers was expected to last at least three days.

More passengers left the ship on Thursday, packing into yellow buses and leaving for stations and airports.

But questions are increasingly being asked as to the wisdom of allowing former Diamond Princess passengers to roam freely around Japan's crowded cities, even if they have tested negative.

The death of the two elderly passengers is likely to add to the criticism.

A specialist in infectious diseases at Kobe University slammed "completely chaotic" quarantine procedures onboard, in rare criticism from a Japanese official.

"The cruise ship was completely inadequate in terms of infection control," said Kentaro Iwata in videos he has since deleted.

Japan's health ministry insisted it had conducted "consultations on appropriate infection control in the ship" with experts and taken a range of measures.

Agence France-Presse

China sees deadliest day yet as global virus fears mount

WUHAN, China — China reported its biggest single-day jump in novel coronavirus deaths on Thursday, as confirmation that three Japanese evacuated from the outbreak's epicentre were infected deepened fears about a global contagion.

The World Health Organization, which initially downplayed the severity of a disease that has now killed 170 nationwide, warned all governments to be "on alert" as it weighed whether to declare a global health emergency.


As foreign countries evacuated their citizens from Wuhan, the locked-down city where the virus was first detected, concern over the economic impact has steadily intensified.

Airlines have suspended services to China and companies from Starbucks to Tesla have shuttered stores and production lines.

Chinese authorities have taken extraordinary steps to arrest the virus's spread, including effectively locking down more than 50 million people in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province.



But that was yet to pay dividends, with the government reporting 38 new deaths in the 24 hours to Thursday, the highest one-day total. All but one were in Hubei.

The number of confirmed new cases also grew steadily to 7,711, the National Health Commission said. Another 81,000 people were under observation for possible infection.

The pathogen is believed to have been spawned in a market that sold wild game, spreading far and wide by a Lunar New Year holiday season in which hundreds of millions of Chinese travel domestically or abroad.

'Totally new situation'

Japan's infection rate grew to 11 after three Japanese citizens among more than 200 on an evacuation flight Wednesday tested positive.

Officials had already confirmed two cases in which patients tested positive without having travelled to China, adding to anxiety over human-to-human transmission of the respiratory disease.

"We are in a truly new situation," Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told parliament.

The fact that two of the three new confirmed Japanese cases showed no symptoms underscored the scale of the challenge for health workers.

The WHO has come under fire after it last week declined to declare a global health emergency.

The global health body's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed regret for what he called a "human error" in the WHO's assessment.

WHO's Emergency Committee will meet Thursday to decide whether to declare an emergency -- which could lead to travel or trade barriers.

"The whole world needs to take action," Michael Ryan, head of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, told reporters in Geneva.

A US charter flight from Wuhan arrived Wednesday at a California military base with nearly 200 consular staff and other Americans, who "cheered loudly" when the jet touched down, said an official with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

All passengers were declared symptom-free but will remain isolated for days while they are monitored.

Some 250 French citizens and 100 other Europeans will be flown out of Wuhan on board two French planes this week.

Australia plans to house any citizens it evacuates from the city on an island normally used to detain asylum seekers.

A growing number of governments -- including the United States, Britain and Germany -- have advised their citizens to avoid non-essential travel to China.

China also has urged its own citizens to delay trips abroad, after more than 15 countries confirmed infections.

Flights scrapped, stores closed

Major airlines that have suspended or pared back service to China include British Airways, German flag carrier Lufthansa, American Airlines, KLM, and United.

China efforts to halt the virus have seen the suspension of classes nationwide and an extension of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Most street traffic in and around Wuhan has been banned.

"This is the first day since the lockdown that I've had to go out," a man in his 50s told AFP on the mostly deserted streets of the industrial city.

"I have no choice because I need to buy food."

China's football body meanwhile said it was postponing "all levels and all types of football matches across the country", including the country's top-tier Chinese Super League, in response to the outbreak.

Economic worries

Japanese automaker Toyota, Swedish furniture giant IKEA, tech giant Foxconn, Starbucks, Tesla and McDonald's were among major corporate giants to temporarily freeze production or close large numbers of outlets in China.

As the "world's factory", the disruptions in China are expected to send ripples through supply chains globally, denting profits.

US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the new coronavirus posed a fresh risk to a fragile world economy, adding that the US central bank was on alert.

"There will clearly be implications at least in the near term for Chinese output and I would guess for some of their close neighbours," Powell said.

The contagion has spread to nearly every corner of China, with remote Tibet reporting its first case on Thursday.

It has triggered fears in part due to its striking similarity to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2002-03, which also began in China and eventually killed nearly 800 people worldwide.

source: philstar.com

Hong Kong confirms first Zika case

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong has confirmed its first case of Zika, putting the Asian financial center on high alert for any spread of the mosquito-borne virus that has wreaked havoc in Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond.

At a media conference late on Thursday, Controller of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, Leung Ting-hung, said relevant measures had been taken to prevent the virus from spreading further.

He said the government's priority was controlling the mosquito population in Hong Kong.

"The patient is a 38-year-old woman with good past health. She has developed joint pain and red eyes since August 20," the department of health said in a statement.

It said it would report the case to the World Health Organization.

In February, a mainland Chinese man who flew into Hong Kong was diagnosed as having the Zika virus, according to local broadcaster RTHK, citing officials as saying there was little chance he could have caused an outbreak during his brief stay.

Zika was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. The virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects. It has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly in Brazil.

source: interaksyon.com

Zika outbreak will worsen before it gets better - WHO head

RIO DE JANEIRO -- The head of the World Health Organization warned Wednesday that the Zika outbreak would likely worsen before nations besieged by the mosquito-borne virus linked to thousands of birth defects in Brazil see relief.

Director General Margaret Chan made the comments at the end of her two-day visit to Brazil, the country at the epicenter of the Zika crisis.

"Things may get worse before they get better," Chan said at a news conference in Rio de Janeiro. "Don't be surprised to see microcephaly reported in other parts of Brazil."

As yet, Brazil's Zika outbreak has been concentrated in the northeastern part of the nation.

Much remains unknown about Zika, including whether the virus actually causes microcephaly, a condition marked by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems. Chan underscored that scientists are still working to determine causality between the virus and the birth defect.

Brazil said this week it has confirmed more than 580 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating more than 4,100 additional suspected cases of microcephaly.

After Brazil, Colombia has been hardest hit by Zika infections with the country's health officials reporting on Wednesday a probable case of microcephaly possibly linked to Zika in an aborted fetus.

Colombia has reported more than 37,000 cases of Zika including 6,356 in pregnant women but has yet to have a confirmed microcephaly case linked to the virus. At least 34 countries, mostly in the Americas, have active Zika outbreaks and the virus is expected to spread.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak an international health emergency on February 1, citing a "strongly suspected" relationship between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly.

Scientists are also studying a potential link between Zika infection and Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological disorder that can weaken the muscles and cause paralysis.

source: interaksyon.com

WHO says cancer report not calling for people to give up meat

GENEVA - The World Health Organization stressed Thursday that an explosive report this week linking the consumption of processed meat to cancer was not calling for people to stop eating meat altogether.

The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) caused shockwaves Monday when it released a report analyzing 800 studies from around the world, concluding that processed meats such as sausages, ham, and hot dogs cause bowel cancer, and red meat "probably" does too.

Meat producers slammed the report, with Australia's agriculture minister calling it "a farce", and the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) saying IARC "tortured the data to ensure a specific outcome".

The United Nations agency cited research attributing about 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide to diets high in processed meat.

The agency acknowledged this was dwarfed by the estimated one million cancer deaths attributed to tobacco smoking, 600,000 to alcohol use, and more than 200,000 to air pollution every year.

But it warned its data did "not permit" the determination of a safe meat quota.

The WHO however stressed Thursday that IARC's review merely confirmed the UN health agency's 2002 diet and nutrition recommendations, urging people "to moderate consumption of preserved meat to reduce the risk of cancer."

"The latest IARC review does not ask people to stop eating processed meats but indicates that reducing consumption of these products can reduce the risk of colorectal cancer," WHO said in a statement.

It pointed out that it has a standing group of experts who regularly evaluate the links between diet and disease.

"Early next year they will meet to begin looking at the public health implications of the latest science and the place of processed meat and red meat within the context of an overall healthy diet," WHO said.

source: interaksyon.com

McDonald's to cut back on chicken fed with antibiotics

WASHINGTON - Fast-food giant McDonald's announced Wednesday it would stop serving chicken raised with antibiotics that are important to human health, as worries grow over resistance to crucial drugs.

McDonald's said it would work with poultry farmers to halt the use of what the World Health Organization has identified as "critically important antimicrobials" to feed the chickens it serves alongside its popular hamburgers.

Some antibiotics would still be allowed, but only poultry-specific ones not used on people.

"While McDonald's will only source chicken raised without antibiotics important to human medicine, the farmers who supply chicken for its menu will continue to responsibly use ionophores, a type of antibiotic not used for humans that helps keep chickens healthy," the company said.

"Our customers want food that they feel great about eating -- all the way from the farm to the restaurant -- and these moves take a step toward better delivering on those expectations," said McDonald’s US president Mike Andres.

McDonald's said that it hoped to implement the new restrictions at its 14,000 US restaurants over the next two years.

The move will help prod changes by the large industrial chicken suppliers which have fostered widespread use of human antibiotics among growers.

Over several decades livestock producers have increasingly fed a wide range of antibiotics to animals to prevent disease and boost growth.

McDonald's said it would not accept any poultry in which antibiotics are used to encourage growth.

It said it recognizes that farmers could use human-use antibiotics on sick animals, but that it would not accept those into its food supply.

The move comes in response to a growing number of health-conscious consumers who have shown in supermarket and restaurant purchases that they are interested and willing to pay for healthier food.

A year ago the Chik-fil-A chain, the largest fast food buyer of chickens, announced a plan to go completely antibiotic-free within five years.

Following that, Purdue, the third largest chicken processor, said it had stopped using human antibiotics on 95 percent of its chickens, and would no longer inject hatchery eggs with antibiotics as a preventative and growth booster.

Laura Rogers, director of the Antibiotic Resistance Project at The Pew Charitable Trusts, said it is crucial to slash the use of antibiotics in the livestock industry.

"Every time we use antibiotics... we have the potential to get antibiotic-resistant bacteria. We are running out of new antibiotics and new types of antibiotics," she told AFP.

But she said the changes are consumer-driven, after years of failed efforts by activists to get the US Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of critical human antibiotics.

"McDonald's made this change because that's what their customers wanted," she told AFP.

But she also noted McDonald's additional statement this week that their criteria in part come from the WHO push to prohibit the use in animals of antimicrobials defined as "critically important" to human medicine. 

"They are at least the first major food company that's talked about responsible use," she said.

Even so, McDonald’s made no mention of the beef used in its popular hamburgers, or pork.

Making the change in both could be more complicated, acknowledged Rogers.

"Raising beef is different from raising hogs or raising turkeys," she said.

But the activist group Food and Water Watch said it's not enough to wait for the industry to evolve with consumers.

"We're glad to hear McDonald's realizes the public doesn't want food from factory farms that overuse antibiotics," said executive director Wenonah Hauter.

"But voluntary measures are not enough. It's past time for the FDA to force the meat industry to eliminate its use of harmful antibiotics though enforceable, non-voluntary regulation."

source: interaksyon.com

One billion young at risk of hearing loss from loud music: WHO

GENEVA - More than one billion young people risk damaging their hearing through listening to loud music, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

The WHO estimates that around half of those between the ages of 12 and 35 in middle- and high-income countries are at risk due to unsafe levels of sound on personal audio devices or smartphones.

Another 40 percent are at risk from damaging audio levels at concert venues and night clubs.

"More and more young people are exposed to unsafe levels of sounds. Young people should be aware that once you lose your hearing, it won't come back," said Shelley Chadha, a WHO specialist on hearing impairment.

The UN health agency considers a volume above 85 decibels for eight hours or 100 decibels for 15 minutes as unsafe.

Exposure to traffic noise at peak hours can reach 85 decibels.

The vuvuzela, a popular wind instrument used in stadiums during the football World Cup in South Africa in 2010, has a sound intensity of 120 decibels and over nine seconds of exposure could result in irreversible hearing damage.

"It is something we can live without," Chadha said referring to the vuvuzela.

To counter the risks, the WHO recommends that personal audio devices should not be used for more than an hour a day, at reduced sound levels.

The use of ear plugs in loud conditions and regular check ups were part of the recommendations as well.

The WHO also wants governments to play a role by imposing strict regulations on noise in public places.

The UN agency estimates that 360 million people suffer from hearing loss worldwide. In addition to noise related causes and ageing, it is also brought on by infectious diseases, genetic conditions, complications at birth, and use of certain drugs.

source: interaksyon.com

Ebola vaccine trials to start in Switzerland this week

GENEVA - Ebola vaccine trials are set to start in Switzerland this week after receiving the green light from the country's authorities, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

Swiss regulators announced they would allow trials of an experimental vaccine made by Britain's GlaxoSmithKine, and tests on some 120 individuals were set to get under way at the CHUV hospital in Lausanne this week, the WHO said.

"This marks the latest step towards bringing safe and effective Ebola vaccines for testing and implementation as quickly as possible," the UN's health agency said in a statement.

There is no licensed treatment or vaccine for the deadly Ebola virus, which has killed nearly 5,000 people in the outbreak centred in west Africa.

The experimental GSK vaccine is one of two considered particularly promising by WHO.

Called ChAd3, it is based on a genetically modified chimpanzee adenovirus and trials have already begun in Mali, Britain and the United States, the WHO said.

"The trial will test the safety of the vaccine and its capacity to induce an immune response," it said.

It added that results of the trials in Switzerland and elsewhere will "provide the basis for planning subsequent trials involving several thousand participants, and for choosing vaccine dose-level for efficacy trials".

A second experimental vaccine being fast-tracked on the WHO's recommendation, Canadian-discovered rVSV, is set to soon start trials at the University Hospital of Geneva.

Trials of that potential vaccine have already begun in the United States and are also set to soon start in Germany, Gabon and Kenya.

"If shown to be safe and effective, either of the vaccines could be scaled up for production during the first quarter of next year, with millions of doses produced for wide distribution in high-risk countries," WHO assistant director general Marie-Paule Kieny said in the statement.

source: interaksyon.com

Obama urges people to be guided by facts, avoid Ebola hysteria in weekly address

MOSCOW - In his weekly address on Saturday, US President Obama re-emphasized following his last week's address that Ebola-panic should be avoided and urged people to be guided by facts over fears, further commending New Yorkers for their calmness.

"We have to be guided by the science — we have to be guided by the facts, not fear," Obama was quoted as saying by the White House press release, while addressing the public.

"I want to leave you with some basic facts. First, you cannot get Ebola easily. You can't get it through casual contact with someone," he added.

Obama also applauded New Yorkers for evading the Ebola hysteria following the announcement of the first Ebola patient in the city on Friday.

"Yesterday, New Yorkers showed us the way. They did what they do every day — jumping on buses, riding the subway, crowding into elevators, heading into work, gathering in parks," Obama said.

Craig Spencer, a 33-year-old health worker who had been treating Ebola patients in Guinea, is being treated at an isolation unit at the Bellevue Hospital Center after being rushed to the Manhattan trauma center on Thursday when he reported a high fever and diarrhea, according to a report by USA Today.

The latest World Health Organization (WHO) case count, released Saturday, indicated that a total of 10,141 confirmed, probable and suspected cases have been reported so far. The Ebola virus has caused 4,922 deaths, with the hardest hit countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea accounting for 4,912 of the deaths.

Among the reported cases, 244 of the 450 infected healthcare workers have died; three in the United States.

According to the WHO, the virus is not air-borne and is only transmitted by direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected person. However, symptoms may take up to three weeks to show.

source: interaksyon.com

West Africa Ebola death toll rises above 1,200; Liberia fights to halt spread of virus

MONROVIA/GENEVA - Liberia battled on Tuesday to halt the spread of the Ebola disease in its crowded, run-down oceanside capital Monrovia, recording the most new deaths as fatalities from the world's worst outbreak of the deadly virus rose above 1,200.

The epidemic of the hemorrhagic disease, which can kill up to 90 percent of those it infects, is ravaging the three small West African states of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and also has a toehold in Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy.

As the Geneva-based World Health Organization rushed to ramp up the global response to the outbreak, including emergency food deliveries to quarantined zones, it announced that deaths from it had risen to 1,299 as of Aug. 16, out of 2,240 cases.

Between Aug. 14-16, Liberia recorded the most new deaths, 53, followed by Sierra Leone with 17, and Guinea with 14.

On a more hopeful note, the WHO expressed "cautious optimism" that the spread of the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation where four deaths out of 12 confirmed cases have been recorded since July, could be stopped.

It also described the situation in Guinea, where the virus made its first appearance in West Africa in December, as currently "less alarming" than in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The WHO said it was working with the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) to ensure food delivery to 1 million people living in Ebola quarantine zones cordoned off by local security forces in a border zone of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

"Providing regular food supplies is a potent means of limiting unnecessary movement," it said in a statement.

Besides infection in border zones, Liberia is fighting to stop the spread of the virus in the poorest neighborhoods of its capital, such as the West Point slum where at the weekend a rock-throwing crowd attacked and looted a temporary holding center for suspected Ebola cases, 17 of whom fled.

As fears of wider contagion increased - Ebola is spread by contact with the bodily fluids of infected persons - Liberia sent police to track down the fugitive suspected cases.

"We are glad to confirm that all of the 17 individuals have been accounted for and have now been transferred to JFK Ebola specialist treatment center," Liberia's Information Minister Lewis Brown told Reuters on Tuesday.

He added that after meetings with religious and community leaders, a task force was being set up to go door-to-door through West Point, a labyrinth of muddy alleys, to explain the risks of the disease and the need to isolate infected patients.

"I know that Monrovia is really of concern to WHO," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said in Geneva.

Lewis said the Liberian authorities were considering imposing even tougher restrictions on movements.

Liberia and Sierra Leone's weak health systems have been overwhelmed by the multiplying numbers of cases and deaths.

WHO has said it is coordinating a "massive scaling up" of international assistance to the worst affected countries.

But a Liberian health ministry report for Aug. 17 said its Ebola-hit Lofa County had stopped burials due to a lack of body bags. "Absolutely no body bags," the report said.

It said the ministry warehouse had only three pairs of rubber boots remaining and no more bottles of hand sanitizers.

"I am sorry to say the government has lost the fight against Ebola. It is out of control now," said student Samuel Zorh.

On Friday, the Liberian and Sierra Leonean governments and a medical charity chided the WHO for its slow response, saying more action was needed to save victims threatened by the disease and hunger.

"IMPROVEMENT" AFTER RARE DRUG USED

The WHO declared the West African Ebola outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" on Aug. 8, triggering global alarm as countries stepped up precautions and testing.

Reflecting this, emergency services in Berlin on Tuesday cordoned off a job center and took a woman with Ebola-like symptoms including high fever to hospital.

The U.N. health agency this month gave the green light to use untested pharmaceuticals to treat Ebola patients.

In Monrovia, three African healthcare workers were given the rare experimental ZMapp drug, which has already been used on two American aid workers being treated in the United States after being evacuated from Liberia with Ebola.

Lewis said the three Africans treated with ZMapp were showing "remarkable signs of improvement".

However, the manufacturer of the drug, California-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, has already said its scarce supplies have been exhausted. Officials have cautioned the public not to place too much hope in untested and scarce treatments.

As part of the increased international response, WFP is stepping up emergency food deliveries to the quarantined areas, which include severely-affected cities such as Gueckedou in Guinea, Kenema and Kailahun in Sierra Leone and Foya in Liberia.

Fears of the disease and quarantine measures like military and police roadblocks have stopped farmers from reaching their fields, and as a result food output has dropped, raising fears that a famine could set in on top of the deadly illness.

"We think that even beyond the control of the outbreak there will be severe food shortage," said Gon Myers, WFP country director for Sierra Leone. The extra food deliveries would be trying to reach 400,000 people in Sierra Leone alone.

The WHO has told countries affected by the outbreak to screen people departing at airports, seaports and major land border points and stop any with signs of the virus.

It has argued against further travel restrictions, but several international and regional airlines have canceled services to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Shipping companies operating on Africa's west coast, as well as port authorities, were also on high alert.

"We sense a certain amount of concern out there in the industry," Ian Millen, Chief Operating Officer of Dryad Maritime, a maritime operations company, told Reuters, but he said he had not seen widespread cancellations of services.

Nigeria said on Monday its confirmed Ebola cases had reached 12, up from 10 last week, but five had almost fully recovered. Four people have died from the virus in Lagos, where it was transferred by a U.S. citizen who arrived by plane from Liberia.

Although WHO said the situation in Lagos looks "reassuring", Cameroon closed its borders with Nigeria on Tuesday as a precaution.

source: interaksyon.com

At frontline in fight vs Ebola, a doctor finds grief and inspiration

LONDON -- After a month on the frontline battling Ebola in a hospital in Sierra Leone, the memories that both haunt and inspire British doctor Tim O'Dempsey are of the children.

Many memories of children dying in isolation wards while their parents wailed outside. And one of a small girl who fought her way out of a coma and was reunited with her father.

"Seeing a mother come in with a little baby, and within a few days the baby die -- it's very difficult," he told Reuters. "What you do is just get on with it. There are lots and lots of patients that need to be attended to. Occasionally, entire families would be admitted. You can't stop."

O'Dempsey, a doctor with three decades' experience studying and fighting tropical diseases, was seconded to Sierra Leone by the World Health Organization to help battle the biggest outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever in history.

He ended up as part of a team of between two and four doctors, plus a handful of nurses, caring for 40-60 patients a day with one of the most lethal known diseases.

Kenema hospital's three Ebola wards -- one for suspected cases, the other two for confirmed infections -- had barely 10 or 12 beds each, so patients lay on mattresses on the floors and in the corridors.

Many of the staff themselves became ill, and many died, including the head nurse on the Ebola wards, Mballu Fonnie, and the doctor in charge of the unit, Sheik Umar Khan -- declared a national hero by the government when he passed away last month at 39 after treating more than 100 Ebola sufferers.

Amid the misery, it was the small triumphs that made the work worth doing, like that of a girl aged around six or seven.

‘Stormy course’

"Her father had brought her in, but because he wasn't a suspect case he had to leave, so she was on her own," O'Dempsey said. The girl was soon confirmed with Ebola and moved to the isolation wards.

There, she had "a pretty stormy course" with high fever, vomiting and diarrhea. She slipped into a coma and was close to death.

"But we managed her as best we could, and she came out of her coma, and very, very slowly we were able to encourage her to drink, and then begin feeding her," he said.

"Just before I left -- four weeks later -- I arranged for her to go into a side room so her father could see her and look after her again. I hear that she is getting stronger every day."

Such stories, he said, are important because they encourage people to come forward and seek the medical attention that can save lives and prevent the disease from spreading. They are also a blessing for staff who risk their own lives to provide succor.

"It's quite fantastic to see people convalescent and waiting to be discharged -- walking around the place, joking, singing and looking remarkably well."

WHO Director General Margaret Chan said last week that one of the most important factors in being able to bring the outbreak under control was to ensure healthcare workers were cared for and respected.

"Governments affected need to send a very strong signal that the local healthcare workers' contribution is appreciated, they are properly paid, and security is provided to make sure they can work quietly and do what they are best at," Chan said.

Infected health workers

O'Dempsey saw the struggle faced by local doctors and nurses at first hand.

"When I arrived the nurses had been on strike since the previous day. There were no nurses inside the wards at all, so conditions were really pretty grim," said O'Dempsey. "There was a high infection rate among healthcare workers and nursing staff. It was very difficult for people to see their colleagues becoming ill and in some cases dying."

The death toll in this Ebola epidemic -- the largest and most deadly ever seen -- reached 961 on Aug. 8 from a total of 1,779 cases, according to WHO data. In the four countries hit so far, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria, the virus has infected some 140 or 150 healthcare workers, killing around 80 of them, WHO Director General Margaret Chan said last week.

Many epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists -- including O'Dempsey, a senior lecturer at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine -- fear it could get far worse.

"It's unlikely we've seen the peak," he said. A lot more needs to be done to improve and expand treatment facilities to ensure all patients who need to be contained and isolated can be, and to make sure fear and stigma were not made worse, he added.

Nurses and other health workers were not only exhausted and fearful for their lives, he said, but are also shunned by family, friends, landlords and other members of the community, some of whose traditional beliefs lead them to see Ebola infection as a punishment for doing something wrong.

"We need enough nurses who are properly trained and we need clinicians able to offer support and expertise," he said. "You can't have nurses working 12, 14 hours a day, seven days a week for months without a break."

source: interaksyon.com

Death toll from Ebola in W. Africa hits 887: WHO

ABUJA, Nigeria — The doctor who treated a man who flew to Nigeria and died of Ebola now has contracted the disease, authorities said Monday, presenting a dire challenge to Africa's most populous nation as the regional toll for the outbreak grew to 887 dead.

As Nigerian health authorities rushed to quarantine others who had been exposed, a special plane left Liberia to evacuate the second American missionary who fell ill with Ebola. Nancy Writebol, 59, is expected to arrive in Atlanta on Tuesday, where she will be treated at a special isolation ward.

The second confirmed case in Nigeria is a doctor who treated Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American man who died July 25 days after arriving in Nigeria from Liberia, said Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu.

Three others who also treated Sawyer now show symptoms of Ebola and their test results are pending, he said. Authorities are trying to trace and quarantine others in Lagos, sub-Saharan Africa's largest city of 21 million people.

"This cluster of cases in Lagos, Nigeria is very concerning," said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention, which is dispatching 50 experienced disease control specialists to West Africa.

"It shows what happens if meticulous infection control, contact tracing, and proper isolation of patients with suspected Ebola is not done. Stopping the spread in Lagos will be difficult but it can be done," he said.


The World Health Organization announced Monday that the death toll has increased from 729 to 887 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.

Cases in Liberia jumped from 156 to 255, WHO said, as the government ordered that all Ebola victims must now be cremated because of rising opposition to burials in neighborhoods around the capital. Over the weekend, police were called in amid a standoff over whether health authorities could bury nearly two dozen victims in a neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital, Monrovia.

Sierra Leone marked a national stay-at-home day Monday in an effort to halt the disease's spread. A documentary film of the first outbreak of the Ebola disease in Congo was being shown intermittently throughout the day by the national broadcaster.

The emergence of a second case in Nigeria raises serious concerns about the infection control practices there, and also raises the specter that more cases could emerge. It can take up to 21 days after exposure to the virus for symptoms to appear. They include fever, sore throat, muscle pains and headaches. Often nausea, vomiting and diarrhea follow, along with severe internal and external bleeding in advanced stages of the disease.

"This fits exactly with the pattern that we've seen in the past. Either someone gets sick and infects their relatives, or goes to a hospital and health workers get sick," said Gregory Hartl, World Health Organization spokesman in Geneva. "It's extremely unfortunate but it's not unexpected. This was a sick man getting off a plane and unfortunately no one knew he had Ebola."

Doctors and other health workers on the front lines of the Ebola crisis have been among the most vulnerable to infection as they are in direct physical contact with patients. The disease is not airborne, and only transmitted through contact with bodily fluids such as saliva, blood, vomit, sweat or feces.

Sawyer, who was traveling to Nigeria on business, became ill while aboard a flight and Nigerian authorities immediately took him into isolation upon arrival in Lagos. They did not quarantine his fellow passengers, and have insisted that the risk of additional cases was minimal.

Nigerian authorities said a total of 70 people are under surveillance and that they hoped to have eight people in quarantine by the end of Monday in an isolation ward in Lagos.

Tracking down all the people who came into contact with Sawyer and his caregivers could prove difficult at this late stage, said Ben Neuman, a virologist and Ebola expert at Britain's University of Reading.

"Contact tracing is essential but it's very hard to get enough people to do that," he said. "For the average case, you want to look back and catch the 20 to 30 people they had closest contact with and that takes a lot of effort and legwork ... The most important thing now is to do the contact tracing and quarantine any contacts who may be symptomatic."

___

Paye-Layleh reported from Monrovia, Liberia. Associated Press Medical Writer Maria Cheng reported from London. Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal; Clarence Roy-Macaulay in Freetown, Sierra Leone; and Maram Mazen in Lagos, Nigeria contributed to this report.

source: philstar.com

How to protect yourself from Ebola virus

WASHINGTON - West Africa is grappling with the largest outbreak of Ebola virus in history, and concerns are mounting that the hemorrhagic fever could spill across international borders.

Here is some advice from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how people can protect themselves against Ebola. 






Watch for symptoms

Symptoms of Ebola include fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, lack of appetite and in some cases bleeding.

"Transmission is through direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected person, or exposure to objects such as needles that have been contaminated with infected secretions," said Stephan Monroe, deputy director of the CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases.

"Ebola is not contagious until symptoms appear."

Bodily fluids

The Ebola virus can be spread though mucus, semen, saliva, sweat, vomit, stool or blood.

Monroe said it is "very unlikely" that Ebola would spread among passengers in a crowded space like a plane or train, since it requires direct contact with bodily secretions.

"Most people who become infected with Ebola are those who live with and care for people who have already got the disease and are showing symptoms."

Although the virus can be fatal as much as 90 percent of the time, those who recover must exercise caution for nearly two months because they may be infectious.

"Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to seven weeks after recovery from illness," said the WHO.

Avoid dead bodies

Ebola has also spread to people who came in contact with the bodies of people who died from the virus, such as during funeral preparations and burial ceremonies.

"People who have died from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried," said the WHO.

For health care workers 


Patients from areas where Ebola is active and who are showing these symptoms should be isolated from the general public, the CDC said.

Health care workers should follow infection control precautions. They should wear face masks, gloves and long-sleeved gowns to shield themselves when treating patients.

The CDC also recommends routine handwashing before and after contact with any patient who has a fever, as well as safe handling and disposal of needles and syringes.

The incubation period for Ebola -- meaning the time lapsing between infection and the onset of symptoms -- is 21 days.

Avoid raw meat

Ebola gets into the human population after people come in close contact with the blood, organs or bodily fluids of infected animals. Fruit bats are Ebola's natural host.

"In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest," said the WHO.

People should avoid eating or handling raw bushmeat.

If an outbreak is suspected on a pig or monkey farm, the WHO recommends immediate quarantine of the premises, followed by culling of the infected animals "with close supervision of burial or incineration of carcasses."

There is no animal or human vaccine against Ebola.

source: interaksyon.com

W. Africa's Ebola outbreak still manageable -- WHO

GENEVA – The World Health Organization on Friday denied the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa is already out of control.

"The situation's not out of hand and a lot of work has been done in the three affected countries -- Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia -- to tackle the situation and stop transmission of Ebola virus," assured Dr. Pierre Formenty, an expert from WHO's Department of Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Response, speaking during a press conference.

He said WHO and local authorities were able to control the outbreak in different places like Telimele and Dabola in Guinea.

There are places where WHO was not totally successful.

In other places, however, WHO was successful in stopping the chain of transmission.

However, difficulties in identifying cases, tracing the point of contact, and informing people about the infection that still exist in the affected countries particularly in forest areas there.

"Given the recent outbreak of the virus in Sierra Leone, and with people traveling to Liberia and elsewhere, WHO needs to address the possibility of continuous transmission between countries," the expert said.

He warned the other West African border countries like Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau must be prepared in case people infected with the disease traveled to these areas.

As of Thursday, authorities confirmed a total of 386 Ebola cases.

Probable and suspected cases were reported in Guinea, including 280 deaths.

Sierra Leone reported 176 cases including 78 deaths.

Liberia reported 63 cases including 41 deaths.

In an effort to address further spread of the virus in the shortest possible time, WHO will convene in Ghana a special meeting between July 2 and 3 to discuss the best way of tackling the crisis collectively as well as to develop a comprehensive inter-country operational response plan.

source: interaksyon.com

Jordan reports its 5th MERS death

AMMAN - A man has died in Jordan after being infected with the MERS virus, the government said Monday, on the eve of a World Health Organisation emergency meeting on the disease.

The latest death brings to five the number of fatalities in Jordan from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus since it first emerged in 2012.

The man, in his 50s, worked in a private hospital and died on Sunday, the health ministry said.

The announcement came after Saudi Arabia on Sunday reported that three new deaths from MERS had taken its death toll from the disease to 142.

MERS has now infected 483 people in the Gulf kingdom since it first appeared in 2012, accounting for the vast majority of the 496 cases registered worldwide.

It is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003, infecting 8,273 people and killing nearly 800.

Like SARS, it appears to cause a lung infection, with patients suffering coughing, breathing difficulties and a temperature, but MERS differs in that it also causes rapid kidney failure.

Although most MERS infections have been in Saudi Arabia, cases have also been recorded in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and even the United States.

Most cases outside Saudi Arabia involve people who had travelled to the kingdom or worked there, often as medical staff.

The UN's health agency WHO is to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss the worrying spread of MERS.

"The increase in the number of cases in different countries raises a number of questions," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said on Friday, without elaborating.

source: interaksyon.com

Saudi hospital head sacked as MERS death toll hits 117

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia's acting health minister has announced the sacking of the head of a Jeddah hospital where a spike in MERS infections among medical staff sparked panic among the public.

The move, which Adel Fakieh published on Twitter late Tuesday, came after he inspected King Fahd Hospital's emergency department in the Red Sea city.

Hours after the news, health officials announced two more deaths from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, bringing the toll to 117.


The victims were a 68-year-old woman in Jeddah, the kingdom's commercial capital, and a 60-year-old man died in Medina.

The Jeddah hospital was temporarily shut last month after several medics were infected by MERS.

And panic at the Red Sea city's main hospital prompted at least four doctors to resign in mid-April after they refused to treat MERS patients for fear of infection.

Nearly a week later, Riyadh dismissed the health minister and appointed Fakieh, who is labour minister, to take over the health portfolio on an acting basis.

Fakieh, who has repeatedly promised "transparency" over MERS, said he has replaced the head of the hospital and his assistants.

"The new team will immediately take up its duties," he tweeted, adding that "the ministry will take all decisive measures to achieve its goals in preserving the health of members of society."

Saudi Arabia has reported 431 infections since MERS first appeared in its eastern region in September 2012 before spreading across the kingdom.

Fakieh said last week that measures to contain the spread of MERS "will be announced in the coming days," as Western experts and representatives of the World Health Organisation met in Riyadh.

The WHO said Wednesday that a team of its experts completed a five-day mission to the kingdom "to assist the national health authorities to assess the recent increase in the number of people infected" in Jeddah.

Experts visited two main hospitals there and have found that the increase in cases are "due to breaches in WHO's recommended infection prevention and control measures," the UN organisation said.

It said that the recent increase in numbers of infections does not suggest a "significant change in the transmissibility of the virus."

So far, there is no evidence "of sustained human-to-human transmission in the community and the transmission pattern overall remained unchange," said WHO.

"The majority of human-to-human infections occurred in health care facilities," it said, adding that "one quarter of all cases have been health care workers."

The team called for improving "knowledge and attitudes" of health care workers about MERS.

MERS is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments for MERS, a disease with a mortality rate of more than 40 percent that experts are still struggling to understand.

Some research has suggested that camels are a likely source of the virus.

source: interaksyon.com