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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Experts said on Saturday they were worried by a leaked report that describes an outbreak of smallpox in the Soviet Union -- one they say may point to the testing of a smallpox biological weapon.Seven people became ill in the 1971 outbreak and three died of what appeared to be the more fatal, and more rare, hemorrhagic form of the infection, said Dr. Alan Zelicoff of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, one of the authors of the report."Someone has successfully disseminated smallpox as an aerosol," Zelicoff said in an interview."It has been talked about and it...

The second-largest, second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history has reached 600 confirmed cases in five months, health officials said. Among those cases, 600 have tested positive for Ebola virus disease, which causes an often-fatal type of hemorrhagic fever, according to Monday night's bulletin from the country's health ministry (Congo).

Hemorrhagic fever cases reported in Sudan’s Kordofan About five cases of hemorrhagic fever have been reported in Kadulgli town in Sudan’s South Kordofan, according to medical sources. A source told Radio Tamazuj that about five children were taken to Kadugli Hospital, amid a media blackout due to a visit by the First Vice President Bakri Hassan Selah to the town today. The visiting vice-president was expected to inaugurate health facilities in the area. Meanwhile, security agents allegedly refused a transfer of one of the suffering children to El Obeid Hospital for treatment. This comes after similar reports in October of...

[MercoPress.com] VENEZUELA : Mysterious outbreak of hemorrhagic fever syndrome in Venezuela kills ten "An outbreak of a mysterious hemorrhagic fever syndrome in the Venezuelan state of Aragua and the country’s capital Caracas has left ten people dead in the last three weeks." Similar to Ebola, this syndrome causes patients to experience high fever, skin rashes and bleeding. It has been described as an aggressive disease that leads to a fatal deterioration of health within 72 hours. Doctors have urged government authorities to declare a state of emergency in Aragua state; however they have received resistance from a surprising source. The...

Display Settings: Abstract Send to: JAMA. 2002 May 8;287(18):2391-405. Hemorrhagic fever viruses as biological weapons: medical and public health management. Borio L1, Inglesby T, Peters CJ, Schmaljohn AL, Hughes JM, Jahrling PB, Ksiazek T, Johnson KM, Meyerhoff A, O'Toole T, Ascher MS, Bartlett J, Breman JG, Eitzen EM Jr, Hamburg M, Hauer J, Henderson DA, Johnson RT, Kwik G, Layton M, Lillibridge S, Nabel GJ, Osterholm MT, Perl TM, Russell P, Tonat K; Working Group on Civilian Biodefense. Author information Abstract OBJECTIVE: To develop consensus-based recommendations for measures to be taken by medical and public health professionals if hemorrhagic...

THIRTEEN people have been reported dead in Abim and Agago districts, following an outbreak of a strange disease in Abim. Twenty cases have been reported in Abim district, out of whom eight have already died. In neighouring Agago district, five cases have been reported in the sub counties of Omiya P’Chua and Paimol, which border Abim district. Emmanuel Okech, an official from Abim district health Office said out of the twenty cases, eight have died, two quarantined and another ten have been discharged after their conditions improved. According to Okech, the affected persons have high fever, vomit blood, pass bloody...

So far this year there have been 200 confirmed cases of an extremely aggressive strain of dengue virus in Mexico's Pacific coast state of Sinaloa. The new strain has prompted that state's Secretary of Health to issue a warning to residents to take precautions to reduce its potential spread, by eliminating standing water where mosquitoes breed. Sinaloa encompasses the resort town of Mazatlan. Secretary Héctor Ponce Ramos, indicated that this year's strain of dengue fever is more lethal than in previous years and may be based on DENV-3 AND DENV-4 strains of the disease, which in theory would yield very...

New Arenavirus Associated With Hemorrhagic Fever Discovered ScienceDaily (May 1, 2008) — A team of Bolivian health authorities, U.S. Navy health experts based in Lima, Peru, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has characterized "Chapare arenavirus," a previously unrecognized arenavirus, discovered in serum samples from a patient in rural Bolivia who eventually died of the infection. Named after the Chapare River in the eastern foothills of the Andes, the new Chapare arenavirus produces clinical hemorrhagic symptoms similar to those associated with other New World arenaviruses, such as the Junin, Machupo, Guanarito, and Sabia viruses. Genetically, however, Chapare...

MEXICO CITY — The deadly hemorrhagic form of dengue fever is increasing dramatically in Mexico, and experts predict a surge throughout Latin America fueled by climate change, migration and faltering mosquito eradication efforts. Overall dengue cases have increased by more than 600 percent in Mexico since 2001, and worried officials are sending special teams to tourist resorts to spray pesticides and remove garbage and standing water where mosquitoes breed ahead of the peak Easter Week vacation season. Even classic dengue — known as "bonebreak fever" — can cause severe flu-like symptoms, excruciating joint pain, high fever, nausea and rashes. More...

Megadrought and Megadeath in 16th Century Mexico Rodolfo Acuna-Soto,* David W. Stahle, † Malcolm K. Cleaveland,† and Matthew D. Therrell† *Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico and †University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA The native population collapse in 16th century Mexico was a demographic catastrophe with one of the highest death rates in history. Recently developed tree-ring evidence has allowed the levels of precipitation to be reconstructed for north central Mexico, adding to the growing body of epidemiologic evidence and indicating that the 1545 and 1576 epidemics of cocoliztli (Nahuatl for "pest”) were indigenous hemorrhagic fevers transmitted by...

An outbreak of dengue fever in Mexico has health officials here in Texas keeping a watchful eye across the border. More than 100 people have been infected in the southern state of Morelos. Several people have the hemorrhagic strain of the disease that causes bleeding and, if untreated, possibly death. To prevent the spread of the disease, health workers need to enlist the help of the residents. Oswaldo Zambrano, dengue fever prevention program director, says the enemy lives among them. He warns residents that they are providing a safe haven for the mosquitoes that carry dengue fever. Many homes have...