Bubonic plague kills boy in Kyrgyzstan

Via Telegraph :

" A teenage boy has died of bubonic plague in Kyrgyzstan, health officials have confirmed, adding that an epidemic was not likely.

The 15-year-old was a herder from a small mountain village of Ichke-Zhergez in eastern Kyrgyzstan, close to the border with Kazakhstan and the Issyk-Kul lake.

He died last Thursday in the Karakol regional hospital, the ministry said in a statement."

Bird Flu death man 'caught virus after jogging in park' in China

Article via The Telegraph. Not too sure how credible is the source of infection as stated in the article :

" A jogger who died from Bird Flu may have caught the deadly virus after running through a wetlands park full of migratory flocks, medical officials in China claimed on Sunday.

The 39-year-old Chinese man, identified only by his family name, Chen, died of multiple organ failure on Saturday – a week after being admitted to hospital with pneumonia in the southern industrial city of Shenzhen, located just across the boarder from Hong Kong.

"We discovered he had taken five days' leave before he fell sick. He went jogging every morning in an area where there are many migratory birds," said Chinese Health Ministry official He Jianfeng.

The medical team are now probing whether Mr Chen, a bus driver, contracted the deadly H5N1 avian flu strain from the wintering wild flocks or via their droppings during his regular morning jogs through the Waterlands Resort wetland park.

He had had no direct contact with poultry – the source of most bird-to-human contagion – and had not travelled in the past month, Mr He said.

Mr Chen is the first fatal case of the H5N1 virus in China in 18 months."

India : Indian Army stands by in Delhi over Dengue fever outbreak

A report from Telegraph, dengue is looking even more serious in India, especially with Commonwealth Games going on :

" The Indian Army is on stand-by amid growing fears over Dengue fever at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi after municipal workers tackling an outbreak of the disease went on strike.

The athletes village, which is located on the riverbed of the Yamuna River, a natural habitat for mosquitoes, and hospitals in the vicinity are reporting more than 50 cases of the fever each day.

About 3,200 part-time Municipal staff have been employed to spray mosquito repellent across the city but halted work on Monday to demand better pay and conditions.

Half of them have now returned to duty after talks, but the remaining half are still on strike and we cannot accept their demands," the city's health committee chairman VK Monga said.

"Our preventative measures have proved futile. The entry points to the village and the roads outside of it are completely waterlogged, resulting in massive mosquito breeding. The water has to be drained out from the surrounding area otherwise the situation will get out of hand."

UK : Girl died of swine flu after being misdiagnosed

Via Telegraph:

" A teenage girl who died of swine flu went without vital drugs after she was diagnosed with pneumonia, an inquest heard today.

Madelynne Butcher returned from holiday in Tenerife with a chest infection and was taken to Southampton General Hospital.

Dr Anindo Banerjee, a respiratory consultant, suspected the 18-year-old was suffering from a bacteria-based pneumonia infection and put her on anti-biotics.

Doctors were concerned that, with only limited stocks of swine flu medicine, they should not prescribe the specialist drugs unless they were very confident in their diagnosis, the inquest was told.

It was another 36 hours before tests confirmed the student had contracted the H1N1 virus and she was started on Tamiflu, the inquest at Leicester Town Hall heard."