Posted on 11/15/2007 12:07:57 PM PST by steve86
ATLANTA (AP) - A mutated version of a common cold virus has caused 10 deaths in the last 18 months, U.S. health officials said Thursday.
Adenoviruses usually cause respiratory infections that aren't considered lethal. But a new variant has caused at least 140 illnesses in New York, Oregon, Washington and Texas, according to a report issued Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The illness made headlines in Texas earlier this year, when a so- called boot camp flu sickened hundreds at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. The most serious cases were blamed on the emerging virus and one 19-year-old trainee died.
"What really got people's attention is these are healthy young adults landing in the hospital and, in some cases, the ICU," said Dr. John Su, an infectious diseases investigator with the CDC.
There are more than 50 distinct types of adenoviruses tied to human illnesses. They are one cause of the common cold, and also trigger pneumonia and bronchitis. Severe illnesses are more likely in people with weaker immune systems.
Some adenoviruses have also been blamed for gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis and cystitis.
There are no good antiviral medications for adenoviruses. Patients usually are treated with aspirin, liquids and bed rest.
In the CDC report, the earliest case of the mutated virus was found in an infant girl in New York City, who died last year. The child seemed healthy right after birth, but then became dehydrated and lost appetite. She died 12 days after she was born.
Tests found that she been infected with a form of adenovirus, called Ad14, but with some little differences, Su said.
It's not clear how the changes made it more lethal, said Linda Gooding, an Emory University researcher who specializes in adenoviruses.
Earlier this year, hundreds of trainees at Lackland became ill with respiratory infections. Tests showed a variety of adenoviruses in the trainees, but at least 106—and probably more—had the mutated form of Ad14, including five who ended up in an intensive care unit
In April, Oregon health officials learned of a cluster of cases at a Portland-area hospital. They ultimately counted 31 cases, including seven who died with severe pneumonia. The next month, Washington state officials reported four hospitalized patients had the same mutated virus. One, who also had AIDS, died.
The Ad14 form of adenovirus was first identified in 1955. In 1969, it was blamed for a rash of illnesses in military recruits stationed in Europe, but it's been detected rarely since then. But it seems to growing more common. The strain accounted for 6 percent of adenovirus samples collected in 22 medical facilities in 2006, while none was seen the previous two years, according to a study published this month in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
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On the Net:
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr
WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!!
That is when folks need to stay home and quarentine.
Some people just have to go go despite knowing they are sick.
Skip the non essentials and keep your rear end at home and get well.
Sheeesh.
I am pretty sure I had an adenovirus last winter. I got pink-eye, both ears got totally plugged up, I could not breathe through my nose, had a fever, etc. It was really the sickest I’ve been since I was a kid. Nasty stuff!
What are your symptoms? I hope you feel better soon!
I made it halfway through the book last year. I need to get back to it and finish it!
Sambucol-Natures Way
Fact Dude/Dudette.
Some of us sooner and some of us later.
But we are all going to die.
Supposedly, and I don’t have a source for this, the Spanish Flu came from a chicken farm in KS when a man who worked there joined the army in WW1. It spread through the army camps, to Europe, and through the world. Apparently it was a strain of what we now call Bird Flu.
I don't think we're all going to die but to not be aware or prepared is just stupid.
I am very close ( 50 miles) to this. Public officials have kept their yaps shut.
Any ideas? The first report was that an employee came to work on Sat. with an infection. They closed the store and made arrangements to destroy all the merchandise, even the fixtures. Rumors are running rampant.
IMHO, there are only a few “infections” that one can visibly see without testing or at least a microscopic examination before destroying 100,000.00 worth of stuff.
And.....that would be so deadly that everything had to be destroyed. They denied that it was MRSA.
BA
Patients usually are treated with aspirin, liquids and bed rest.
Thanks for posting this.
Is there a "thirst center" in the brain?
Maybe the bug weakens the victims by making them lose their "sense of thirst" as well as their appetite.
In case you missed this... (Thanks, neverdem!)
I read one a couple of years ago called “FLU” by
Gina Kolata. A great read.
Tracked down the book I referred to in an earlier post. “The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History” by John Barry. Highly recommended.
Finally tracked down the book. “The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History” by John Barry. It was quite good.
My point exactly....
Actually, we all ARE going to die at some point. But for most of us, it won't be from this. How should we be prepared for this? Other than TRYING to prevent becoming infected with a cold virus (which would probably entail moving out into the wilderness by oneself until the cold season is over), there is nothing else you can do about it. There are no preventative meds, and no meds to treat this. No sense in worrying about it, since it's not to be controlled....
You know, I’ve heard about this. I am pondering. I think I shall write a post in the next day or so.
And how many people has this virus killed since then?
And this is news NOW Because...?
...Maybe the MRSA story didn't freak people out enough.
...Just like the media couldn't freak out enough people about the Bird Flu.
...Because there's no bad news coming out of Iraq.
Turn off the frigging TVs. Read the CDC public information sites. They have something that the media lacks: OBJECTIVITY.
A lot of people who "died of the flu" in 1918/19 were actually weakened by the flu, and died of opportunistic infections -- like bronchitis, pneumonia, staph, meningitis, etc.
Anti-viral drugs are still kinda sketchy. But modern medicine, and modern antibiotics, are much better at treating the symptoms and fighting off the second-tier infections. Give a flu patient air conditioning to keep the fever from cooking his brain and a hard whack of Cipro to keep other infections at bay, and you've got two potent weapons that did not exist in 1919. A lot more patients will survive now than did then.
There is definitely the potential for a global viral pandemic. That's why there's so much surveillance of SARS and the H5N1 "bird flu" virus. Neither is a particularly urgent threat right now, but you don't want to wait until the house catches before paying attention to the fire in the barn.
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