virus outbreak

Pets Rats in Illinois, Wisconsin Linked to Seoul Virus Outbreak

January 21, 2017 By Amanda Blankenship Leave a Comment

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that pet rats are to blame for the outbreak of Seoul virus in Illinois and Wisconsin. On Friday CDC officials said that the virus has been confirmed in eight patients and is still being investigated.

What is the Seoul Virus?

The Seoul virus is similar to a hantavirus. The first of known hantaviruses were discovered in 1993. At first the viruses were so confusing to doctors and scientists. In fact, the virus was was dubbed the “Sin Nombre” virus, otherwise known as the virus without a name.

Hantavirus’ first victim was a young man who lived in New Mexico. Although doctors tried everything to save his life, they could not. In 2012, a small outbreak of the virus killed three campers at Yosemite National Park.

“Though Seoul virus is in the hantavirus family, it produces a milder illness than some other hantaviruses,” CDC officials said. If you think you may have been exposed to the Seoul virus there are some symptoms you can be looking out for though.

NBC News reported that the CDC named symptoms such as a “fever, severe headache, back and abdominal pain, chills, blurred vision, redness of the eyes, or rash. In rare cases, infection can also lead to acute renal disease. However, not all people infected with the virus experience symptoms. Most people infected with Seoul virus recover.”

You can only contract the Seoul virus from a rodent. According to CDC officials, “The virus is not spread between people and cannot be transmitted to or from other types of pets. Rats infected with Seoul virus typically do not appear sick.”

How Did People Get The Seoul Virus?

When people become infected with the Seoul virus they have usually come into contact with fluids from a rodent (or in this case rats). This could include blood, saliva and urine. People are able to contract the virus easily if they are in regular contact with rodents because the animal will likely not show any symptoms.

The first patient discovered to have the Seoul virus was a resident of Wisconsin. They were admitted to the hospital with flu-like symptoms, according to CNN, and was a home-based rodent breeder.

All of the cases discovered in the two Northern states are “the first human cases we’ve seen in the United States associated with pet rats,” said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, a veterinarian and deputy division director. Prior to this outbreak the Seoul virus has been linked only to wild rats in the U.S.

“There was an outbreak reported in Europe previously associated with pet rats, so it’s not the first time this has been associated with pets worldwide,” McQuiston said.

Currently only eight patients have been diagnosed. Both states’ departments of health are attempting to discover who may have been exposed to the Seoul virus. They will be reaching out to ratteries to help identify people who may have been exposed to help prevent an outbreak.

Until the CDC gains control of the Seoul virus outbreak and can be insured that the area is free of the virus the agency is urging U.S. citizens to be cautious. If you come into contact with a rodent (even your pet) you should wash your hands immediately after handling it and do not touch your face. If you’d like to learn more about the Seoul virus, watch the video below:

Have you heard about the woman banned from Facebook for supporting breast cancer survivors? Read more here.

Photos: Kai Schreiber

Rare Respiratory Virus Targets Children in Severe Outbreak Across US

September 8, 2014 By Emma Harrison Clark 4 Comments

Rare respiratory virus targets children in severe outbreak across the US

Hospitals in Denver, Illinois and clusters of the Midwest have reported an outbreak of what health officials believe is a rare and serious respiratory illness. The virus, which is believed to have started in California, is said to be related to both the human enterovirus 68 (HEV68) and the human rhinovirus, which is also known as the common cold.

Time Magazine reports, “HEV68, which almost uniquely affects children, tends to first cause cold-like symptoms, including body aches, sneezing and coughing. These mild complaints then worsen into life-threatening breathing problems that are all the more dangerous to children with asthma. Since viruses do not respond to antibiotics, hospitals have treated the illness with asthma therapies.”

Since August the 18th the Children’s Hospital in Colorado has treated more than 900 cases of the virus. It’s said to be severe and unpleasant, but there have been no reported deaths from the virus at this time.

Dr. Robert Merrick, an Epidemiologist at Blessings Hospital in Illinois said, “We are restricting children under age 12 from visiting Blessing Hospital patients until further notice to reduce the risk of contracting and spreading the virus for all involved, the children who would be visiting and our patients.”

Blessing and other hospitals will be working with the Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stay on top of the outbreak. This has meant issuing warning posts on social media pages like this one from the Hannibal Regional Healthcare System‘s Facebook page.

“Due to the recent outbreaks of enterovirus infections in Missouri and Illinois, Hannibal Regional Hospital health officials ask that children 16 and under and persons with the following symptoms refrain from visiting patients who are hospitalized at Hannibal Regional Hospital until further notice.”

Symptoms of the virus are similar to the common cold but will increase in severity. If your children are not feeling well, watch out for the following symptoms:

Sneezing
Coughing
Mouth Blisters
Muscle Aches
High Fever
Rashes

The CDC is warning that this virus may ultimately affect thousands of children as it continues to spread. Everyone should take the basic precautions one would take for avoiding the flu such as washing hands often and avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with your hands. Symptoms are likely to escalate and worsen if your child is asthmatic. If your child is showing symptoms, immediately contact your doctor for further advice and treatment solutions.

(Photo courtesy of Matteo Bagnoli)

Mystery Virus Hospitalizing Kids Goes from Midwest to All Over the US

September 6, 2014 By Kal Kurdi 28 Comments

A mystery virus is sending kids across the us to emergency rooms

A mystery virus which has hospitalized hundreds of children across the midwest in the United States has also landed some kids in the hospital as far west as Colorado. What was once thought to be a case only happening in Illinois and Ohio may now be a cause for concern for all Americans. This mysterious respiratory virus initially comes on with symptoms similar to the common cold.

The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more commonly known as the CDC, has identified what may possibly be Enterovirus D68 or EV-D68 in some cases out of Kansas. Currently there is no vaccine or specific treatment for this respiratory disease. At present, the director of the Division of Viral Diseases at the CDC, Mark Pallansch, has said that similar cases to the ones happening in the midwest have now been reported across at least 10 states.

By his account, the suspected outbreaks of the EV- D68 virus were enough to warrant support requests from the CDC by Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Colorado, Ohio, North Carolina, and Georgia. That’s just to date. With no real way to treat this virus, ventilation seems to be the only way to ease the child’s discomfort. Currently there is no data on any deaths associated with this virus in the United States.

Officials at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver say that between August 8th and September 4th doctors have seen close to 900 patients, with over 80 being hospitalized and a number of those needing intensive care. It seems that the kids have been getting sick since school began in August, and this epidemic has doctors baffled. Dr. Mary Anne Jackson, the division director for Infectious Diseases of the Children’s Mercy Hospital’s in Kansas City, Missouri, said, “I’ve practiced for 30 years in pediatrics, and I’ve never seen anything quite like this. We’ve had to mobilize other providers, doctors, nurses. It’s big. I would call it unprecedented. It’s worse in terms of scope of critically ill children who require intensive care.”

(Photo courtesy of rosmary)

Look for Higher Pork Prices with Deadly Pig Virus Surge Come Autumn

June 19, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain Leave a Comment

There isn’t much good news for meat eaters this year. Beef prices are at all time highs, and they are expected to stay that way for the foreseeable future. The solution to this would usually be to move to another meat source such as pork, but pork prices are also at all time highs, and it appears those prices may get worse.

Pork prices are already at an all-time high at $4.10 per pound, but the odds are these prices will climb higher by the end of the year. The Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) is currently taking a short hiatus with the warmer summer time weather, but US veterinarians are predicting there will be further outbreaks once autumn arrives, and the weather begins to get colder. If their predictions are correct, pig farmers in the US may have to put down another 2.5 million pigs over the next 12 months, in addition to the 8 million they have already had to kill since the virus first broke out in in April, 2013. A resurgence of PEDv in the fall would create a situation where pork prices will hit more all-time highs.

While the USDA approved a vaccine created by the Iowa-based company Harrisvaccines this past week, the effectiveness of the vaccine in cold weather is quite uncertain. The worry is with colder weather, the virus could overwhelm the immunity of the herd, thereby creating an outbreak even among those pig herds which have been immunized. PEDv spreads rapidly in damp and cold conditions, so it has slowed as summer has arrived. However, it’s expected to come back with a vengeance once the colder weather arrives.

PEDv has already killed an estimated 10% of the US pork herd, the main reason for the current high pork prices. If the virus continues to spread as autumn arrives, pork prices could rise to above $4.50 a pound, and even higher depending on how devastating it is to herds. It would also mean millions of dollars of losses to pig farmers, and further jeopardize international trade. China, Japan and Russia, all countries which import US pork, have restricted imports of live US pigs due to the virus.

The National Pork Board wants more research to be done to study and better understand immunity and transmission of the disease in an effort to prevent the virus from making the strong autumn comeback many are predicting. The USDA is taking the situation seriously by requiring farmers to report all new cases of PEDv, as well as allotting $26 million to help fight any outbreaks.

The USDA says the virus does not pose a threat to humans or other animals. It also doesn’t pose any risk to food safety, and the pork on grocery shelves, although pricey, is safe to eat.

(Photo courtesy of The Pug Father)