more Neptune -Ketu

[Guest guest]

There is an outbreak of dengue fever in SE Asia that has many officials puzzled

by its severity. Maybe they should check the afflicted position of a slowing

Neptune (disease) by Ketu (south node).

 

And I see that avian flu has now turned up in Eastern Europe now.

 

Chris

 

 

Dengue-fever outbreak alarms Asia

(IMAGE:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2005/10/06/2002545019.jpg)

People walk past one of many anti-dengue posters erected at bus stops

around the island in Singapore.

 

SINGAPORE: -- The Philippines is stocking up on blood supplies, and

Thailand is urging people to sleep under mosquito nets. An unusually

severe outbreak of dengue fever has caused alarm across Asia and baffled

clean, orderly Singapore with a record 10,000 cases this year.

 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers dengue

the " most important mosquito-borne viral disease affecting humans " this

year — ahead of malaria and encephalitis — with an estimated 2.5 billion

people at risk worldwide.

 

Across Asia, governments are scrambling to curtail the spread, mainly

by educating the public about the potentially fatal illness and

controlling mosquito-breeding areas such as stagnant pools.

 

Dengue is sometimes called bone-breaker's disease because it causes

severe joint pain. Other symptoms include high fever, nausea, and a rash.

In the worst cases it causes internal bleeding. There is no known cure

or vaccine.

 

Severe outbreak

 

While outbreaks are common in Asia, the latest has been unusually

severe, for reasons that remain unclear.

 

Dr. Kevin Palmer, a mosquito-borne diseases expert of the World Health

Organization who is based in Manila, said Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand

and the Philippines all had a large number of dengue cases this year.

 

But Palmer is most perplexed by the spike in Singapore.

 

" It's a city. It has a well-organized health-care system and a

preventive system, " he said. " It should kick it when it has an outbreak.

There's something missing when the cases go very high. "

 

The city-state of 4.2 million had seen 10,237 people sickened by the

virus — eight of them fatally — as of Sept. 19. That surpasses the

previous record of 9,459 set for all of last year.

 

Officials have compared the crisis to the 2003 outbreak of SARS, or

severe acute respiratory syndrome, that killed 33 here.

 

" It is baffling, " Singapore Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said.

 

Hospitals have suspended nonemergency surgery to cope with the large

number of dengue patients, and health inspectors are searching public

housing for mosquito-breeding areas. Soldiers are dousing their uniforms

in a chemical mixture to ward off mosquitoes.

 

Yaacob Ibrahim, the minister in charge of a high-level committee on

dengue, said authorities also were prepared to break into vacant

properties to look for mosquito-breeding sites.

 

Dengue afflicts an estimated 50 million worldwide annually, according

to the World Health Organization. Most cases are reported in Africa,

Asia and South America. The disease is not spread by human-to-human

contact but rather by an Aedes mosquito that has bitten an infected person

and then passes the virus to others it bites.

 

" It is largely a developing world's disease, " said Dr. Subash

Vasudevan, head of the dengue research unit at the Novartis Institute of

Tropical Diseases in Singapore.

 

Thailand's advice

 

Thailand is advising people to eliminate sources of stagnant water

around the home, to sleep under mosquito nets and to wear repellent, said

Chaiporn Rojanawatsirivet of the Public Health Ministry.

 

Thailand's dengue-fever cases have increased slightly this year,

compared with last year, to 32,193 suspected cases, based on clinical

diagnoses. The actual number of confirmed dengue cases is probably slightly

lower, at around 30,000, Rojanawatsirivet said.

 

The Philippine government has asked local authorities to intensify

educational campaigns about dengue fever, organize mosquito-control

systems, ensure sufficient blood supplies for transfusions and increase

surveillance of cases.

 

The disease has sickened at least 18,802 people in the Philippines — a

26 percent rise over last year. At least 259 have died.

 

In Sri Lanka, a campaign asking residents to keep their premises clean

and to empty pots of stagnant water has seen infections there drop to

just over 3,000 so far this year from 15,365 for all of 2004.

 

Indonesia has recorded 38,285 cases of dengue this year, of which 538

have been fatal, said Nyoman Kandun, director general of

contagious-disease control at Indonesia's Health Ministry. Last year, almost

60,000

people were stricken with the virus, with 669 fatalities.

 

Cases are down in Vietnam, but some central provinces are showing an

increase because of drought that has forced villagers to keep water in

open containers.

 

Mosquito larvae breed in still water, and experts have said the larvae

can " hibernate " in semi-dry conditions.

 

" It's a mosquito that can survive with minimal water. It's a tough

mosquito, " said Novartis' Vasudevan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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