West Nile Virus Spreads Across US

Flu claims 671 lives in Madagascar, one in three Thais is a TB carrier, Singapore braces for dengue

A BILLION OVERWEIGHT

LONDON

Close to one billion people worldwide are overweight or suffering from obesity, according to experts of the International Obesity Task Force who said that the number of obese people--30 percent or more overweight--or simply overweight was continuing to grow.

    They said there are 280 million obese people and some 700 million people who are overweight. Medical problems related to their condition currently eats into two to eight percent of the health budgets of industrialized nations.

"PREVENTIVE" ABORTION

TEHRAN

A group of MPs in Iran's reform-dominated parliament submitted a bill to legalize "preventive" abortions in the conservative country. If passed, the legislation would permit abortions in cases where it could be shown a baby would be born with severe handicaps, IRNA, the stae news agency, said. The choice to abort the child would have to be made during the first four months of the pregnancy, with three doctors confirming the fetus was malformed.

    Under current law, all abortions are banned in the Islamic republic except for cases where the mother's life is proved to be in danger. There were no further details on the bill, but it is expected to come up for debate on the parliament floor.

    Earlier, the parliament adopted a law that authorizes in vitro fertilization (IVF) for couples who are unable to have children.

FLU EPIDEMIC IN MADAGASCAR

GENEVA

A flu epidemic in the African island-nation of Madagascar has claimed 671 lives and affected more than 22,000 people. The epidemic, first reported June 2 as the nation emerged from an economically devastating six-month civil conflict, has been particularly virulent in the southeastern Fianarantsoa province.

    "This province is extremely poor, lacks a health infrastructure, and has serious malnutrition problems," said World Health Organization spokeswoman Fadela Chaib. She said that roughly 18,000 of the total number of infections had been reported from Fianarantsoa alone.

    WHO, which had sent a team to investigate the outbreak, said the deadly flu virus rampant in Madagascar was clearly identified as the type-A flu virus. A team of WHO experts carried out tests at the Pasteur Institute in the capital Antananarivo.

    Chaib said WHO and other UN agencies would be shipping protein-enriched food to the area, where health officials said people have been dying mainly because they were weakened through malnutrition and poverty, and because they are unable to reach medical help.

CONCERN OVER TB

BANGKOK

One in three Thais is a carrier of tuberculosis and the kingdom ranks 16th in the world in terms of active cases. Expressing concern over the disease's spread, Thai health officials said TB patients have increased by 30 percent over the past decade, with more than 60,000 Thais now diagnosed with the potentially fatal disease.

    "We are concerned about TB because we still have AIDS patients who are easily susceptible to TB," Pasakorn Assavasevi, the health ministry's tuberculosis division chief, said. He said the number of TB cases has risen in tandem with the increase of AIDS patients in Thailand, but that migration and the influx of illegal workers from neighboring countries have also contributed to TB growth.

    India, China and Indonesia have the world's worst TB problems, while Thailand ranks 16th. Deputy city clerk Prapan Kittisin said 59.6 out of every 100,000 Bangkok residents, or about 4,000 people, have been diagnosed with the disease, roughly 4.6 times more than the number of cases detected 10 years ago.

LIABILITY INSURANCE WOES

SYDNEY

Six out of 10 Australian surgeons are considering early retirement if skyrocketing liability insurance costs are not brought under control, according to a survey conducted by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

    Kingsley Faulkner, head of the college, said the survey found that more than six percent of surgeons had already retired early and more than 60 percent of the rest say they will retire unless steps are taken to curb escalating medical indemnity costs.

    "This will devastate the Australian health system," he said. "Patients are already waiting months for elective surgery. With fewer surgeons available to operate, waiting lists are going to get much worse."

    Premiums on liability policies have soared due to a combination of increasing litigation, the collapse of a major Australian insurance company, HIH, and post-September 11 concerns about terrorism. Faulkner said high-risk specialists like neurosurgeons have had to bear the brunt of rising premiums and about 20 percent of them may not be replaced when they retire over the next couple of years.

    Faulkner said the survey found that nearly 25 percent of trainee surgeons would consider abandoning their training if medical insurance premiums continue to rise, while nearly 30 percent would leave medical practice altogether.

WEST NILE VIRUS HITS US

WASHINGTON

The death toll in the West Nile virus outbreak in the United States continues to rise, reaching 44 as of September 10, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported. Most victims were the elderly, including the latest, a 79-year-old woman from Illinois.

    Illinois reported the most number of deaths (10), followed by Louisiana (eight), Ohio (five), Tennessee (four), Mississippi (three), and Michigan (three). So far, 985 people have been infected with the virus in 28 states and Washington, 268 of them from Illinois.

    The virus is generally transmitted by mosquitoes, but studies are underway to determine whether the virus can also be transmitted via blood transfusions or organ transplants. Four people who received organs from a donor infected with the West Nile virus have now been now diagnosed with the virus, epidemiologist Lyle Petersen said at a CDC press conference. The CDC is also investigating the case of a Mississippi resident who was diagnosed with the virus four weeks after receiving a blood transfusion.

    The CDC anticipates many more cases of West Nile virus to crop up, "as the transmission season peaks in different parts of the country," Petersen noted.

    California's State Health Director Diana Bonta said health experts had been expecting the virus to make its way across continental United States. "We have been anticipating the arrival of West Nile virus in California as reports of the disease have progressed steadily westward across the United States," she said. Los Angeles health officials reported they were treating a woman for suspected West Nile infection.

    Meanwhile, Canada's first case of West Nile virus infection has been diagnosed in the Toronto area, while four other "probable" cases are under scrutiny, Ontario health officials said.

    The virus, was first isolated in the West Nile district of Uganda in 1937, and emerged in parts of Europe in recent years. It first appeared in the US in New York in 1999 and has pushed farther west each year. Infection resulting from the West Nile virus has no known cure.

    Doctors say that 80 percent of the people infected do not develop any symptoms. Most of those who do develop symptoms--generally the elderly or those with compromised immune systems--suffer a slight fever for three to six days. In about one case in 150, the virus causes encephalitis that in its most severe form can be fatal.

DENGUE LINKED TO EL NINO

SINGAPORE

Singapore faced a surge in cases of dengue fever since June, including three deaths, as the El Niño weather phenomenon returned to the region. On average, there have been 440 dengue cases a month since June, compared with 318 over the same period last year. The three deaths in June and July compared to four in all of last year and two in 2000.

    The National Environment Agency said there was a link between warmer weather and dengue, especially during an El Niño year which brings prolonged dry weather. During the last major El Niño in 1997, a record 4,300 dengue cases were recorded in Singapore.

    "If there is a dengue resurgence in the region, we will not be spared--we are right smack where the action is," the agency's director--general of public health, Wang Nan Chee, said.

    Environment officials said last month they expected the latest El Niño to be much weaker than the one five years ago. The type of mosquitoes which carry dengue hatch faster in hotter weather and live longer as adults. This means there are more mosquitoes that can carry and spread the virus.