Infectious disease

14 August 2007 -- French authorities say four ducks have tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu in northeastern France.

The ducks were found dead last week in an area known as Diane Capelle in the Moselle region.

Two dead swans had already been discovered with bird flu at the end of July in the same area. The site is just 10 kilometers from where three other swans were found dead with the virus about a month earlier.

That outbreak was the first in France in more than a year.    » read more »

August 13, 2007 -- A gene mutation that appears to be responsible for changing relatively mild forms of the West Nile virus into a highly virulent and deadly disease in American crows has been identified by a team of scientists led by a researcher at the University of California, Davis.

Because it is highly susceptible to West Nile virus, the American crow has served as the major sentinel species, playing an important role in alerting scientists and health professionals to the movement of the disease across North America.    » read more »

08/13/2007 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed an executive order providing up to $10 million in additional emergency relief for local mosquito control agencies. The executive order supplements the emergency proclamation Governor Schwarzenegger signed on August 2 and the more than $1 million in emergency funding awarded last week.    » read more »

August 9, 2007 -- SPRINGFIELD – Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, Illinois state public health director, announced today the first death related to West Nile virus in Illinois for 2007. A 77-year-old Ogle County man died yesterday after becoming ill from West Nile virus earlier this month. The first human case was reported in DuPage County on June 15. A total of eight human cases of West Nile virus in Illinois this summer have been reported in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Madison, Ogle and Tazewell counties.    » read more »

Totals More Than $1.3 Million

08/10/2007 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced $897,000 in funding to be released immediately to assist in mosquito control efforts and West Nile Virus surveillance throughout the state. This is in addition to the $453,000 in emergency funding the Governor announced yesterday to fight West Nile Virus. This emergency funding is authorized through the West Nile Virus emergency proclamation Governor Schwarzenegger signed last week.    » read more »

08/09/2007 -- Within a week of issuing a West Nile Virus emergency proclamation, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced funding has been released to immediately begin additional mosquito control efforts in four counties.    » read more »

09 August 2007 -- In Kenya, environmental researchers say they may have discovered a new, effective weapon to combat malaria. The disease kills more than 1 million people worldwide each year. The weapon is a fish commonly found in Western Kenya.

Researchers in Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria, were studying insects and the environment when they discovered that by introducing a fish called the Nile Tilapia into ponds, mosquito numbers fell by more than 94 percent in less than a year.    » read more »

August 09, 2007 -- PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota has reported its second West Nile virus death of the season, a Pennington County resident. The individual was in the 80 to 89 year old age group and died of West Nile virus encephalitis. The first death was reported July 24 in Hand County, also in the 80 to 89 age group.

Twenty-seven of South Dakota's 66 counties have now had WNV detections. A total of 46 human cases have been reported to date.    » read more »

August 09, 2007 -- PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds said today the state will provide $150,000 to supplement mosquito control efforts in 12 South Dakota communities. Each is located in a county that has reported human WNV cases this year and that also has a high incidence since 2002 when the disease was first detected in South Dakota. Aberdeen, Huron, Ipswich, Miller, Mitchell, Mobridge, Pierre, Rapid City, Sisseton, Vermillion, Watertown, and Waubay will each recieve $12,500.    » read more »

August 8, 2007 -- SPRINGFIELD – Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, Illinois state public health director, announced today another confirmed human case of West Nile virus, bringing the total to seven in Illinois for 2007. The latest case involves a 50-year-old Cook County woman who became ill in early July. The first human case of West Nile virus for 2007 was reported in DuPage County on June 15. Human cases of West Nile virus in Illinois this summer have been reported in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Madison and Tazewell counties.    » read more »

08/08/2007 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today added Glenn County and Kings County to the list of counties eligible for emergency financial aid to fight the spread of West Nile Virus.    » read more »

Government Response Presents a "Disturbing Picture," Senators Say

August 3, 2007 -- Washington, DC – Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., and Senator Hillary Clinton, D-NY, Friday announced that the Government Accountability Office has agreed to investigate how a man believed to be infected with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) was able to slip past government officials and reenter the United States even when health officials knew of his medical condition.    » read more »

08/02/2007 -- With the number of people infected this year with West Nile Virus three times higher than the same time last year, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today declared a state of emergency in Kern, Colusa and San Joaquin counties to prevent the spread of this mosquito-borne disease. This year there have been 4 deaths in California due to West Nile Virus (2 in Kern County, 1 in San Joaquin County and 1 in Colusa County).    » read more »

July 17, 2007 -- PARTICIPANTS:

Dr. Rajeev Venkayya, Special Assistant to the President for Biodefense
Ambassador John Lange, State Department Special Representative on Avian and Pandemic Influenza
Dr. John Clifford, USDA Chief Veterinarian
Admiral John Agwunobi, Assistant Secretary of Health
Dr. Jeff Runge, DHS Chief Medical Officer on Pandemic Preparedness

1:02 P.M. EDT    » read more »

PIERRE, S.D. – The South Dakota Department of Health is reminding parents to protect their children from shigellosis, a common bacterial infection that increases in the summer.

Shigellosis is spread by eating or drinking contaminated food or water or by direct contact with an infected person. Kids in day care are at higher risk due to their frequent hand to mouth contact. People exposed to shigella may have mild or severe diarrhea or may show no symptoms at all.    » read more »