Vietnam - One death from unidentified disease in Quang Ngai Province

VietNamNet Bridge – A young teenage boy from Reu Village in Son Ha District in the central province of Quang Ngai on March 11 succumbed to the bizarre disease that is plaguing the area. 

>> Bizarre skin disease outbreaks again in Quang Ngai

Dinh Van Thap, 17, suffered from thickening of the skin (keratosis) on palms and soles, stiffness in limbs and ulcers on hands and feet, before he finally succumbed to the disease.

Earlier he had been transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of the General Hospital in Quang Ngai Province, for treatment of liver failure but did not pull through.

By February, two more patients from Son Ha District including Dinh Van Hoan, 63, and his wife Dinh Thi Lo, 58, were hospitalized for thickening of the skin (keratosis) on palms and soles, stiffness in limbs and ulcers on hands and feet that looked like burns.

They have since left the hospital for their homes and have left their fate to God.

Son Ha District is the second district to report a death from the yet unidentified disease, after Ba To District. In 2012, Ba To District reported 23 deaths from the bizarre disease with 240 infected cases.

Since March, the district has reported 10 more cases, including two suffering from a relapse within a year of infection.

Health agencies have yet to find a cure or cause of the disease.

Source: SGGP

Cambodia - Girl is Cambodia's 5th bird flu fatality this year

A 5-year-old Cambodian girl has become the country's fifth bird flu fatality this year.

Cambodia's Health Ministry and the World Health Organization announced Friday that the girl had a history of contact with poultry in her village in southeastern Takeo province, where there was evidence of recent deaths among poultry.

Only one of Cambodia's six victims this year of the virus, also called avian influenza, or H5N1, has survived the disease. The country reported three cases in 2012, all fatal.

WHO statistics issued Feb. 1 show Cambodia as the only country so far reporting human cases of the disease in 2013.

The U.N. agency says bird flu has killed 365 other people worldwide since surfacing in 2003. Most human cases have been linked to contact with infected poultry.

AP

http://www.biosciencetechnology.com

Cambodia - Two Cambodians die of avian flu

Two Cambodians have died from avian influenza (H5N1) in the past eight days.

The victims were a 15-year-old girl from Smao village, in the Prey Kabass district of Takeo province, and a 35-year-old man from Trapeang Sla village, in Kampong Speu province’s Kong Pisey district, the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation said today.

The man was the 24th person in Cambodia to become infected with the H5N1 virus. All but three of the victims have died.

Fifteen of the 24 reported cases were children under the age of 14.

“Avian influenza is still a threat to the health of Cambodians, and children still seem to be the most vulnerable,” Health Minister Mam Bunheng said.

“I urge parents and guardians to keep children away from sick or dead poultry, discourage them from playing in areas where poultry stay and wash their hands often.

“If they have difficulty breathing, they should be brought to the nearest health facility.”

Ministry of Health rapid-response teams were identifying the latest victims’ close contacts, looking for any epidemiological link between the cases and initiating preventive treatment, Bunheng said.

John Yeager

http://www.phnompenhpost.com

Asia - 65% Of Air Pollution Deaths Occur In Asia: WHO Study

A new global study ranks air pollution as one of the top 10 killers in the world, with 65 percent of the air pollution deaths occurring in Asia.

A new global study ranks air pollution as one of the top 10 killers in the world, with 65 percent of the air pollution deaths occurring in Asia.

The findings of the new Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010 (GBD) were released at a public event at the Royal Society of London on Friday.

The launch coincides with the publication in The Lancet of seven original research articles and eight commentaries describing the findings.

Based on the latest tally, air pollution causes 3.2 million deaths worldwide, a whopping 300 percent increase from the 800,000 estimate in 2000. The new estimates of particulate air pollution are based on ground-level measurements, satellite remote sensing, and global chemical transport models to capture population exposure.

In South Asia, air pollution has been ranked as the sixth most dangerous killer, just below blood pressure, tobacco smoking, indoor air pollution, poor intake of fruits, and diabetes.

Outdoor air pollution is a leveler that makes everyone – rich or poor – vulnerable, says The Center for Science and Environment (CSE) based in New Delhi, India,

“This GBD count on air pollution and its health risks must trigger urgent, aggressive, and most stringent action in India to curb air pollution to protect public health. India cannot afford to enhance health risk at a time when much of its economic growth and motorization are yet to happen,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, CSE executive director of research and advocacy and head of its air pollution unit.

The GBD estimates that over 2.1 million premature deaths and 52 million years of healthy life lost in 2010 are due to fine particle air pollution in Asia.

1.2 million deaths occurred in East Asia which is in throes of high level of economic growth and motorization, and 712,000 deaths occurred in South Asia which is at the take-off stage.

These figures are much higher than the combined toll of 400,000 in EU 27, Eastern Europe, and Russia.

The CSE recommends that National Ambient Air Quality Standards be legally binding across India. Better fuel quality and in-use vehicle management could also cut the health impact of motorization, it says.

India must also control and cut the explosive increase in vehicle numbers by scaling up public transport, non-motorized transport, and compact city planning, while also cleaning up critically polluted areas, it adds.

The latest GBD results were produced by more than 450 global experts and partner institutions including the World Health Organization, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Tokyo.

Source: CSE India

Health & Medicine

http://www.asianscientist.com

Vietnam - Ministry concludes case of death at French-invested hospital

The exact cause of death of a Hanoi resident at FV Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City this August can only be identified after an upcoming autopsy, Vietnam’s Ministry of Health announced last week.

>> FV Hospital woes

>> French hospital ill health

The ministry’s ad hoc professional council researching the cause of death of patient Mai Trung Kien concluded that what resulted in his death was “secondary haemorrhage due to the administration of anti-coagulant drugs after appendectomy and acute myocardial ischemia in a patient with many risks – 4 coronary artery bypasses and a cerebrovascular accident.”

The announcement said the conclusion was based on the analysis of the medical records provided by FV and Tam Duc hospitals.

The council requested French-invested FV to organise the study, conduct an indepth review, and correct the individuals and teams who had made professional, technical mistakes in medical examination and treatment of the patient, according to the judgement rendered by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health.

The case of the 57-year-old Kien has lasted for three months. On August 8, he was brought to FV with symptoms of appendicitis. His daughters told doctors he used to have heart disease and was taking anticoagulation medicine. An appendectomy was then performed. Two days later, Kien complained of chest and abdominal pains, and FV doctors diagnosed him with a heart attack. FV then transferred him to Tam Duc heart hospital next door, where doctors found that his appendectomy had internal bleeding and he was in critical conditions due to blood loss. He was brought back to FV immediately for another medical operation, but his heart stopped very early August 12 before surgery could happen.

The city Department of Health concluded August 29 that the reason of Kien’s death was internal bleeding after surgery and the hospital failed to make timely diagnoses and treatments on this internal bleeding. FV disputed those findings and brought the case to the Ministry of Health.

On November 22, FV held the first-ever press conference on the case. FV CEO doctor Jean-Marcel Guillon said, “As doctors, we strive to heal all, but, sometimes, higher powers or the gods have other plans for us. And despite our best efforts, not every life can be saved.

“As we have admitted from the outset, FV Hospital’s diagnosis of the bleeding was late, but the professional council confirmed that the cardiac problems deviated our diagnosis and that FV Hospital accurately diagnosed the heart problems and gave the right treatment. Nonetheless, we are reviewing our risk-priority protocols to try to ensure that, in a patient with many risk factors, one symptom does not mask another, and multiple symptoms are balanced by priority of risk.”

“The mistake of FV Hospital did not directly cause the death of this patient,” he added, citing the council’s conclusion.

“We are also reminded that doctors are human beings too, with human souls and emotions. I would turn to the fact that the council has conclusively confirmed that Dr. Le Duc Tuan, our surgeon in this case, made no mistake whatsoever, either in his diagnosis of the emergency appendicitis or in performing the appendectomy surgery.

“However, for 3 months now, Dr. Tuan has been under attack because he has been judged without reference to the medical facts. His wife and children have suffered along with him the indignities of these attacks and he has been stopped from performing his beloved surgery since this nightmare started. This is unjust and we should all consider if this is how we should treat those whose lifework is to save our lives.”

The council includes prestigious medical doctors such as Prof. Pham Gia Khanh, former director of the Army Institute of Medicine; Prof. Pham Gia Khai, chairman of the Cardiovascular Association of Vietnam; Prof. Vu Van Dinh, former chairman of the Association of Resuscitation-Emergency and Antitoxication of Vietnam, and Prof. Nguyen Anh Tri, chairman of the Association of Haematology-Blood Transfusion of Vietnam.

The FV CEO also announced that nine foreign doctors at the hospital were already back at work with their new registrations with the Ministry of Health.

Guillon was mentioning the suspension of the foreign doctors while they were waiting for new registration procedures to be finalised. “Now that these administrative procedures have been done, we are pleased to confirm that our foreign doctors get back to work.”

Guillon said despite all the difficulties FV has faced in this case, his hospital would continue to accept high-risk patients for treatment.

“Even if in doing so, we risk extremely adverse media coverage. In Vietnam there is a famous proverb – adversity brings wisdom. And we are expecting that all the adversity we have experienced in the last 3 months will bring us much wisdom.

Regarding the compensation for the patient’s family, Guillon said FV would observe court rulings.

Tuong Thuy | vir.com.vn

China - China To Reduce Reliance On Death-Row Inmates For Organs

China is taking a relook at its human organ transplant policies, reports the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

AsianScientist (Nov. 13, 2012) – China is taking a relook at its human organ transplant policies, reports the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

Haibo Wang, Director of the China Organ Transplant Response System Research Center of the Ministry of Health, said in a recent interview with the Bulletin that the new legislation will allow organ transplant and donation in China to become more transparent.

It will also move away from the 2007 human organ transplant regulation passed by the State Council of China which relies heavily on organs from executed prisoners.

“While we cannot deny the executed prisoner’s right to donate organs, an organ transplantation system relying on death-row prisoners’ organs is not ethical or sustainable,” said Wang.

“Now there is consensus among China’s transplant community that the new system will relinquish the reliance on organs from executed convicts. The implementation of the new national system will start early next year at the latest. This will also mark the start of phasing out the old practice,” he explained.

The new legislation to be adopted early next year was based on the results of a two-year pilot program for national organ donation, said Wang.

Unlike other countries, ‘brain death’ is not a legal criterion to pronounce a person dead in China. Lack of brain death legislation can put medical professionals engaged in organ transplantation at legal risk, he explained.

“Brain death, as defined in law, is used to determine death in many countries and is often taken as the basis for the surgical removal of organs for transplant. In China we do not have such legislation and that makes it difficult – but not impossible – for us to do organ donation after death,” said Wang.

But even if brain death legislation were to be passed in China, Chinese people still prefer to donate their organs after circulatory death (heat has stopped beating) and not neurological death (brain death), said Wang.

“Even if we had brain death legislation, some people would still say ‘I will only donate my organs once my heart has stopped’. This is not unique to Chinese society but exists in other countries to a different extent,” he said.

Only nine percent of organ donations are on the basis of brain death, while the rest were based on brain death with circulatory death or just on circulatory death, Wang revealed.

“This is the reality, but once we make progress with the new organ donation system, this will shift the cultural and societal norm regarding death,” he said.

A national organ computer system – the China Organ Transplant System (COTRS) developed by researchers at the University of Hong Kong – will allocates organs according to national policy, said Wang.

In addition, the Red Cross Society of China has been commissioned by the Ministry of Health to implement the new organ donation system on a national scale and act as a watchdog.

Megha Prakash | Editorials

http://www.asianscientist.com/

Vietnam - The second death by brain eating amoeba confirmed

VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Health has warned that people should not bathe, swim in dirty ponds and lakes to avoid brain eating amoeba to enter their noses.

>> Ho Chi Minh City: A little boy died of brain eating amoeba?
>> Phu Yen’s man died of amoeba, which moved from nose to brain
>> Brain-eating amoeba infection not a threat: Doctors

On September 19, Director of the Preventive Medicine Agency, Dr. Nguyen Van Binh, confirmed that the child who died of brain abscess in Ho Chi Minh City is actually killed by brain eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri.

"The test results show that the samples of the child are positive for amoeba Naegleria fowleri," Binh said.

Previously, samples taken from the 6-year-old child was tested by the high molecular biological techniques at a hospital in HCM City, revealing that it is positive for Naegleria fowleri.

To be sure, the HCM City Forensic Center sent other samples taken from the child to others labs for testing.

According to the HCM City Preventive Health Center, the child lived in Binh Tan district and suffered from congenital mental retardation. The Ministry of Health has asked HCM City to send a detailed report on the case. This afternoon, September 19, the HCM City Health Department will have further information about the second death by Naegleria fowleri.

This is the second patient in Vietnam who is confirmed for being killed by brain eating amoeba. Last August, at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases, a 25-year-old patient from Phu Yen was the first identified death from Naegleria fowleri, after diving in a lake near his home to catch mussels.

According to experts, the brain eating amoeba lives in ponds and lakes. It can enter the brain through the nose when a person indulges in freshwater lakes and ponds.

The Ministry of Health has advised people not to bathe, swim in high-risk areas. If they have to, they should minimize water from getting into their noses, by using nose clips if possible. After bathing or swimming, they should clean their noses by nasal antiseptic. Upon detection of headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, people should immediate go to clinics for prompt diagnosis and treatment.

Compiled by Le Ha

Vietnam - First Vietnam man dies from brain-eating amoeba

The death of a 25-year-old man who developed high fever and headache after diving to catch clams in a pond in Phu Yen Province in July has been confirmed to be caused by a brain-eating amoeba. This is the first confirmed case in Vietnam.

P.V.T, a temporary resident in Ho Chi Minh City, returned to his native province of Phu Yen in mid-July. He and some friends later dived to catch clams in a fishpond. On July 29, he developed high fever and headache and he took some medicines but the condition got worse.

One day later, he was hospitalized at the Nhan Dan Gia Dinh Hospital in HCMC, where doctors consulted their counterparts from the Tropical Diseases Hospital and suspected that T had been inflected with a kind of amoeba.

T was later transferred to the Tropical Diseases Hospital for further treatment.

Despite intensive treatment, the patient could not recover since the ameba had moved from his nose to his brain and caused meningitis, said Dr Nguyen Hoan Phu, deputy head of the hospital’s infection department.

The patient later fell into a deep coma and experienced three cardiac arrests and the three respiratory arrests.

On July 31, the patient’s relatives asked the hospital for T’s discharge and T died on the way home in Phu Yen.

On August 21, a molecular biological test on the victim’s sample confirmed that he had been infected with a deadly amoeba species with scientific name Naegleria fowleri, which was discovered in 1965 and is sometimes called the brain-eating amoeba.

The amoeba is typically found in warm fresh water, such as ponds, lakes, rivers, and hot springs, Phu said.

N. fowleri can invade and attack the human nervous system. Although this occurs rarely, such an infection nearly always results in the death of the victim. The fatality rate is estimated at 98 percent.

In the US, 121 people have been affected by the amoeba since 1937, when the first infection case was found, and only one of them survived. The dead victims had swam or bathed in ponds or lakes and then developed fever, headache and vomiting 1-2 weeks later, Dr Phu said.

He advised everybody should go to see a doctor if they develop the said symptoms after swimming or bathing in ponds, lakes or rivers.

The Health Ministry has asked the hospital to submit a report about the death, since this is the first case in Vietnam.

Swimming pools are safe

Dr Tran Phu Manh Sieu, said the amoeba is unlikely to be found in swimming pools that are well decontaminated like those in HCMC, since it cannot survive in water mixed with bactericide at a high level.

He also said the death from the amoeba is the first that has been confirmed in Vietnam so far. Whether any similar death has previously occurred remains unknown, since this amoeba can kill patients soon and if a test is not performed, doctors cannot identify the cause of the death.

Dr Nguyen Hung, director of Phu Yen Province Preventive Health Center, said. “I think an epidemiological investigation should be made on a certain number of people before concluding that this amoeba lives in lakes and ponds.

Such an investigation is necessary to drive away fear among the public, Hung said.

TUOI TRE

Malaysia - Malaysia - Malaysia reports first H1N1 death in 2012

SEREMBAN (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A 27-year-old Malaysian woman has become the country's first A(H1N1) influenza-related fatality in 2012 when she succumbed to the virus at a local hospital.

The woman, who worked in Singapore, had fallen ill while still in the country and died just before Hari Raya. She had reportedly been asked by her family to return home after she did not recover from a fever for several days.

State health director Dr Zailan Adnan said a post-mortem revealed that she was infected by the virus.

“We have reasons to believe that she may have been infected in Singapore. She returned for treatment here but died several days later,” she said.

http://www.straitstimes.com/

France - Stem cells can be harvested long after death: study

PARIS: Some stem cells can lay dormant for more than two weeks in a dead person and then be revived to divide into new, functioning cells, scientists in France said on Tuesday.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, unlocks further knowledge about the versatility of these cells, touted as a future source to replenish damaged tissue.

"Remarkably, skeletal muscle stem cells can survive for 17 days in humans and 16 days in mice, post mortem well beyond the 1-2 days currently thought," they said in a statement.

The stem cells retained their ability to differentiate into perfectly functioning muscle cells, they found.

"This discovery could form the basis of a new source, and more importantly new methods of conservation, for stem cells used to treat a number of pathologies," the statement said.

Stem cells are infant cells that develop into the specialised tissues of the body.

They have sparked great excitement as they offer hopes of rebuilding organs damaged by disease or accident.

The study led by Fabrice Chretien of France's Pasteur Institute found that to survive in adverse conditions, skeletal muscle stem cells lower their metabolism to enter a dormant state, using less energy.

The team then also looked at stem cells taken from bone marrow, where blood cells are produced.

These remained viable for four days after death in lab mice and retained their ability to reconstitute tissue after a bone marrow transplant.

"By harvesting stem cells from the bone marrow of consenting donors post mortem, doctors could address to a certain extent the shortage of tissues and cells," said the statement, issued by the four institutes backing the research.

The investigators sounded a word of caution, though.

- AFP/al

USA - Coffee Drinkers Have Lower Risk of Death, Study Suggests

Older adults who drank coffee -- caffeinated or decaffeinated -- had a lower risk of death overall than others who did not drink coffee, according a study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and AARP.

Coffee drinkers were less likely to die from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections, although the association was not seen for cancer. These results from a large study of older adults were observed after adjustment for the effects of other risk factors on mortality, such as smoking and alcohol consumption.

Researchers caution, however, that they can't be sure whether these associations mean that drinking coffee actually makes people live longer. The results of the study were published in the May 17, 2012 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Neal Freedman, Ph.D., Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI, and his colleagues examined the association between coffee drinking and risk of death in 400,000 U.S. men and women ages 50 to 71 who participated in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. Information about coffee intake was collected once by questionnaire at study entry in 1995-1996. The participants were followed until the date they died or Dec. 31, 2008, whichever came first.

The researchers found that the association between coffee and reduction in risk of death increased with the amount of coffee consumed. Relative to men and women who did not drink coffee, those who consumed three or more cups of coffee per day had approximately a 10 percent lower risk of death. Coffee drinking was not associated with cancer mortality among women, but there was a slight and only marginally statistically significant association of heavier coffee intake with increased risk of cancer death among men.

"Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in America, but the association between coffee consumption and risk of death has been unclear. We found coffee consumption to be associated with lower risk of death overall, and of death from a number of different causes," said Freedman. "Although we cannot infer a causal relationship between coffee drinking and lower risk of death, we believe these results do provide some reassurance that coffee drinking does not adversely affect health."

The investigators caution that coffee intake was assessed by self-report at a single time point and therefore might not reflect long-term patterns of intake. Also, information was not available on how the coffee was prepared (espresso, boiled, filtered, etc.); the researchers consider it possible that preparation methods may affect the levels of any protective components in coffee.

"The mechanism by which coffee protects against risk of death -- if indeed the finding reflects a causal relationship -- is not clear, because coffee contains more than 1,000 compounds that might potentially affect health," said Freedman. "The most studied compound is caffeine, although our findings were similar in those who reported the majority of their coffee intake to be caffeinated or decaffeinated."

http://www.sciencedaily.com