Ugandans try to avoid touching amid ebola outbreak

"Officials from the World Health Organization wear protective clothing last week as they prepare to enter Kagadi Hospital in Kibale District, about 200 kilometres from Kampala, where an outbreak of ebola virus started. President Yoweri Museveni on Monday confirmed that Ebola, one of the world's most virulent diseases, has reached Kampala for the first time. (AFP Photo/Isaac Kasamani)" title

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Deadly ebola outbreak in Ugandan capital

"A Ugandan health official wears protective gear as he deals with an ebola outbreak at the Bityo hospital in 2007. Uganda's president has warned against shaking hands and other physical contact after the first reported death from the deadly Ebola virus in the capital Kampala. (AFP Photo/)" title

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Ebola outbreak in Uganda kills 13: official

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Ebola outbreak in Uganda kills 14

"A nurse takes care of a patient with the Ebola virus in a Ugandan hospital in 2007. An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus that erupted in western Uganda at the start of July has killed 14 people, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday. (AFP Photo/)" title

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Suspect in hepatitis C outbreak was fired in Ariz.

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Former lab technician charged in New Hampshire hepatitis C outbreak

Reuters – 13 hrs ago (Reuters) - A former lab technician faces charges in connection with a hepatitis C outbreak that reportedly infected dozens of patients at a New Hampshire hospital, authorities said.

David Michael Kwiatkowski, 32, is charged with obtaining controlled substances by fraud and tampering with a consumer product, U.S. Attorney John P. Kacavas said this week.

The outbreak at the Exeter Hospital Cardiac Catheterization Unit is believed to have infected some 30 people with the disease, considered the most serious of hepatitis strains, authorities said. Hepatitis C can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis, and kills more people each year than HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

"The evidence gathered to date points irrefutably to Kwiatkowski as the source of the hepatitis C outbreak at Exeter Hospital," Kacavas said. "With his arrest, we have eliminated the menace this

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More suspected cases in UK Legionnaires' outbreak

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Colorado farm linked to listeria outbreak files for bankruptcy

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Low water flows cause U.S. avian cholera outbreak

Reuters – 41 mins ago PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - More than 10,000 migrating birds have died from an avian cholera outbreak blamed on reduced water flows through vast marshlands of southern Oregon and northern California known as Western Everglades, federal wildlife officials said.

Avian cholera, which poses virtually no risk to human health, surfaces in the region nearly every year in wetlands of the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, but the recent waterfowl die-off there is the worst in over a decade, said Matt Baun, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"We estimate 10,000 to 15,000 birds will die, after everything is said and done," he said, adding that snow geese, American coots, American wigeon ducks, white-fronted geese and Northern pintail ducks have been the hardest hit.

The 53,600-acre (22,900-hectare) refuge encompasses a patchwork of shallow lakes, freshwater marshes and grasslands that serve as key roosting, nesting and feeding grounds for some 2 million birds that pass through the region along the Western migratory corridor called the Pacific Flyway.

The refuge lies at the heart of the larger Klamath River Basin, an area long considered the Everglades of the West and fed mainly by runoff from melting snow in the Cascade mountain range.

Water flow into the basin is controlled through dams and reservoirs operated by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which must balance of needs of birds and other wildlife with endangered fish and the irrigation demands of farmers and Indian tribes.

For the first few months of the 2012 winter-spring migration, the refuge received only enough water to cover about half the 30,000 acres of its wetlands, according to the American Bird Conservancy, an environmental group.

The drier conditions have forced birds to congregate in smaller areas, causing crowded conditions that accelerate the spread of avian cholera.

"We anticipate this continuing to happen until there is better management of the water," said Steve Holmer, senior policy adviser for the conservancy.

The problem was aggravated by below-normal snow pack levels in the Cascades until early March, said Kevin Moore, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said.

The snow pack, however, has rebounded since then, growing from 63 percent of normal in late February to 115 percent of normal today, he said.

As a result, Baun said, federal water managers were able to flood an additional 4,000 acres of the refuge since mid-March. Moreover, many of the birds that had crowded into the area have moved on, easing congestion, said John Beckstrand, a refuge biologist.

In the meantime, wildlife workers and volunteers have been gathering and incinerating the carcasses of dead birds to try to stem the cholera outbreak.

Water remains a highly contentious issue in this area. Several species of fish are listed as endangered or threatened, and the Endangered Species Act makes them a top priority for water management, Baun said.

"We also have legal contracts with agricultural irrigators to supply them with water, when water is available," Moore said.

Still, the American Bird Conservancy says it remains concerned about maintaining adequate water flows through the basin.

"We need to see a more equitable distribution of water and ways of managing this land," Holmer said. "Right now we are not getting it done."

(Editing by Steve Gorman)

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Tuna linked to salmonella outbreak in 20 states

A yellowfin tuna product used to make dishes like sushi and sashimi sold at restaurants and grocery stores has been linked with an outbreak of salmonella that has sickened more than 100 people in 20 states and the District of Columbia, federal health authorities said Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration said 116 illnesses have been reported, including 12 people who have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

Moon Marine USA Corp. of Cupertino, Calif., also known as MMI, is voluntarily recalling 58,828 pounds of frozen raw yellowfin tuna. It was labeled as Nakaochi Scrape AA or AAA when it was sold to grocery stores and restaurants and is scraped off the fish bones and looks like a ground product.

The product is not available for sale to individual consumers but may have been used to make sushi, sashimi, ceviche and similar dishes available in restaurants and grocery stores. Many of the people who became ill reported eating raw tuna in sushi as "spicy tuna," the FDA said.

Reports of the foodborne illness caused by salmonella bareilly have mainly come from the Eastern Seaboard and South, though cases have been reported as far west as Missouri and Texas.

As of Friday, illness had been reported these states and the District of Columbia: Alabama (2), Arkansas (1), Connecticut (5), District of Columbia (2), Florida (1), As Georgia (5), Illinois (10), Louisiana (2), Maryland (11), Massachusetts (8), Mississippi (1), Missouri (2), New Jersey (7), New York (24), North Carolina (2), Pennsylvania (5), Rhode Island (5), South Carolina (3), Texas (3), Virginia (5), and Wisconsin (12).

The memo notes there is likely a 30-day lag time between when people become sick and when cases are reported to health officials.

The raw yellowfin tuna product may have passed through several distributors before reaching the restaurant and grocery market and may not be clearly labeled.

Previous outbreaks of salmonella bareilly have been linked to bean sprouts, which are grown in warm, damp conditions.

The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within eight to 72 hours of eating the contaminated food. The illness can be severe or even life-threatening for infants, older people, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.

The FDA recommended that people be cautious about eating raw seafood, inquire about the source and "when in doubt, don't eat it."

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Online:

FDA news release: http://tinyurl.com/7nsezo8

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