Archive for the ‘Viruses’ Category

Military Eyes Bug-Repellent Coating To Replace Permethrin in Uniforms

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/08/02/military-eyes-bug-repellent-coating-replace-permethrin-uniforms.html?

Military Eyes Bug-Repellent Coating to Replace Permethrin in Uniforms

Army Reserve Spc. Susan Muir and Army Reserve Sgt. Sean Tynes, a preventive medicine specialist, trap and draw ticks for testing of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease at Lake Hurst at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, June 11, 2015. (U.S. Army/Spc. Samuel Al-Nimri)
Army Reserve Spc. Susan Muir and Army Reserve Sgt. Sean Tynes, a preventive medicine specialist, trap and draw ticks for testing of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease at Lake Hurst at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, June 11, 2015. (U.S. Army/Spc. Samuel Al-Nimri)
2 Aug 2019
Military.com | By Patricia Kime

The Defense Department is exploring a replacement for permethrin, the bug repellent and insecticide that is soaked into most military combat uniforms.

Officials declined to provide details on the new product, which is still being tested and evaluated, but said it may be used “at a lower toxicity level” and last a uniform’s lifetime. Permethrin lasts through about 50 launderings.

“We are looking at new chemistries,” said Lt. Cmdr. James Dunford, a medical entomologist at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, speaking with reporters on a call Wednesday to promote the Defense Health Agency’s “Bug Week.”

“We are working on a new chemical … that would also include environmental factors like sweat, ultraviolet light and abrasion, so we are trying to make it last longer,” added Dr. James English, a global health specialist with the Uniformed Services University, addressing several of the shortcomings of permethrin that cause it to lose its bug-fighting powers.

“DoD is always actively engaged in testing new products, methodologies and technologies to enhance the efficacy of the vector-borne disease protection we can provide for our service members. Any time we find a better tool … we are going to add it to our tool box,” English said.

The Pentagon’s marked its second annual “Bug Week” July 27 to Aug. 3 to raise awareness of the slew of disgusting diseases carried by bugs and provide information to service members and their families on preventing illness.

According to the Defense Department, Lyme disease continues to be the top domestic threat to U.S. troops when it comes to bug-borne diseases, with illnesses carried by mosquitoes being the major challenge overseas.

“Outdoor activities like farming, camping and military training exercises in grasslands or edges of the forest increase chances of these pathogens’ transmission,” Army Maj. Elizabeth Wanja of the Uniformed Services University for Health Sciences said in a news release.

The most ubiquitous vector-borne disease in the United States by far is Lyme, with more than 30,000 diagnosed cases of Lyme reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention each year and estimates of infections as high as 300,000 annually.

From 2010 to 2016, the U.S. armed forces saw 721 confirmed cases and 3,266 suspected cases of Lyme, as well as 64 cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and 14 cases of ehrlichiosis — all carried by ticks.

Also from 2010 to 2016, the services saw 346 confirmed and 475 suspected cases of malaria, 86 cases of dengue, 78 cases of chikungunya and 52 cases of Zika.

Other diseases on the rise in the U.S. include the rare Powassan virus, with 33 cases across the U.S. in 2017. This illness, carried by the deer tick, affects the human nervous system, causing respiratory complications and brain swelling. And alpha-gal syndrome, which can be caused by a bite from the lone star tick, can cause a red meat allergy in humans.

To prevent infections, the Defense Department takes a “three-pronged approach,” English said.

This includes proper wearing of uniforms — “tucking your pants into your boots, long sleeves” — caring for uniforms so they maintain their insecticide impregnation and taking preventive medications for diseases such as malaria before and during deployment to endemic countries.

Officials say the key to preventing infection off-duty is to maintain similar practices. They recommend using an effective repellent containing DEET, IR3535 or oil of lemon eucalyptus, all of which the CDC classifies as providing “reasonably long-lasting protection,” wearing proper clothing (again, long pants and long sleeves) and conducting tick checks after being in grassy areas and woods.

“The more time you spend outside, the more likely you are to pick up ticks. The best way to prevent it is to not get them in the first place,” English said.

According to English, ticks need roughly 24 hours to transmit a disease, so if one is found on the body, remove it carefully, using tweezers to grasp it and pull away gently and “straight out in slow motion.”

Do not, he said, use a hot match to make it release or smother it with Vaseline or baby oil.

“None of that works and, in fact, all that does is make them regurgitate if they get trauma like that, and it can either [lead to] an infection or the pathogen can be vomited when it otherwise it wouldn’t,” he said.

To prevent mosquito-borne illnesses, deprive them of their breeding grounds, Dunford added. This means eliminating all standing water in yards and using environmentally friendly mosquito dunks in bird baths or fountains. Being aware of the potential for standing water has been especially important in a year that has seen extensive flooding at military bases, he said.

“As far as mosquitoes go, aedes aegypti [mosquitoes that carry dengue, Zika and other tropical diseases] don’t fly more than a block in their entire life, so if you are getting bit at your home in the daytime, they probably are breeding within a block of your home … even in something as small as a bottle cap full of water,” English said.

Again, wear protective clothing and use repellents, he added.

While several of these diseases are curable, many are not, and they not only pose a threat to readiness, given the symptoms and related down-time, they can carry long-term consequences.

In July, military researchers wrote a case study in the journal Military Medicine about a 24-year-old Army officer and U.S. Military Academy graduate who was discharged after exposure to Lyme disease resulted in chronic inflammation of his knees, rendering him unfit for duty.

In 2016, the Military Health System confirmed 156 cases of Zika, including five cases in pregnant beneficiaries. The Zika virus can cause severe birth defects in children, including microcephaly, a condition where a baby’s head is much smaller than normal that is linked to developmental and intellectual delays, seizures and other disabilities.

The Defense Department’s relationship with ticks made headlines earlier this month, thanks to an amendment to the proposed House national defense authorization act that seeks to determine whether the Pentagon has experimented with ticks and insects to spread disease.

Sponsored by Rep. Christopher Smith, R-New Jersey, the legislation would require the Pentagon inspector general to investigate the “possible involvement of DoD biowarfare labs in the weaponization of Lyme disease in ticks and other insects” from 1950 to 1975.

Smith said he was inspired to write the amendment based on several books, including “Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons” by Kris Newby, that claim DoD research may have played a role in spreading Lyme.

“My amendment tasks the DoD Inspector General to ask the hard questions and report back,” Smith said in a news release.

Defense officials said Wednesday that the goal in studying Lyme and other tick-borne diseases is to prevent them.

Department spokeswoman Heather Babb said that the Pentagon cannot comment on Smith’s proposed legislation. But, she added, “DoD takes extreme care in all of our research programs to ensure the protection of our personnel and the community.”

— Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

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**Comment**

First, Powassan is not rare:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/27/maine-resident-contracts-rare-tick-borne-illness-that-can-cause-brain-infections-death-state-cdc-says-but-its-not-rare/  Please read comment after article.

For more on the bioweaponization issue:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/04/lyme-disease-amendment-passes-house-tells-dod-ig-to-investigate-the-bioweaponization-of-ticks/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/19/biological-warfare-experiment-on-american-citizens-results-in-spreading-pandemic/

Regarding the DoD “taking extreme care to ensure our protection,”  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/31/tick-expert-admits-to-working-on-ticks-dropping-them-out-of-airplanes/  Dropping tweaked lab ticks from airplanes is not being careful!

More on permethrin:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/27/study-conforms-permethrin-causes-ticks-to-drop-off-clothing/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/06/16/study-shows-effectiveness-of-factory-treated-permethrin-impregnated-clothing-works/

Bug sprays: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/01/what-you-need-to-know-about-bug-sprays/

Tick Prevention: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/12/tick-prevention-2019/

 

Category:

Lyme, mosquitoes, Prevention, Ticks, Viruses

CCHF in Republic of Sudan: A Retrospective Study

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6645580/

. 2019 Jul; 13(7): e0007571.
Published online 2019 Jul 10. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007571
PMCID: PMC6645580
PMID: 31291242

Detection of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever cases in a severe undifferentiated febrile illness outbreak in the Federal Republic of Sudan: A retrospective epidemiological and diagnostic cohort study

Hilary Bower, Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing,1,2,‡*Mubarak El Karsany, Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing,3,4,‡ Mazza Alzain, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – review & editing,5Benedict Gannon, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing,1,6Rehab Mohamed, Data curation, Investigation, Writing – review & editing,4 Iman Mahmoud, Data curation, Investigation, Writing – review & editing,4 Mawahib Eldegail, Data curation, Investigation, Writing – review & editing,4Rihab Taha, Data curation, Investigation, Writing – review & editing,4 Abdalla Osman, Project administration, Writing – review & editing,4 Salim Mohamednour, Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,5,¤aAmanda Semper, Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing,7 Barry Atkinson, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,7,¤b Daniel Carter, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,7 Stuart Dowall, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,7 Jenna Furneaux, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,7 Victoria Graham, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,7 Jack Mellors, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,7Jane Osborne, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,7 Steven T. Pullan, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,7 Gillian S. Slack, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,7 Tim Brooks, Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,7 Roger Hewson, Methodology, Writing – review & editing,7Nicholas J. Beeching, Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing,8 Jimmy Whitworth, Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing,1,2 Daniel G. Bausch, Writing – review & editing,1,6,9 and Tom E. Fletcher, Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing8,‡
Darci Smith, Editor

Abstract
Background

Undifferentiated febrile illness (UFI) is one of the most common reasons for people seeking healthcare in low-income countries. While illness and death due to specific infections such as malaria are often well-quantified, others are frequently uncounted and their impact underappreciated. A number of high consequence infectious diseases, including Ebola virus, are endemic or epidemic in the Federal Republic of Sudan which has experienced at least 12 UFI outbreaks, frequently associated with haemorrhage and high case fatality rates (CFR), since 2012. One of these occurred in Darfur in 2015/2016 with 594 cases and 108 deaths (CFR 18.2%). The aetiology of these outbreaks remains unknown.

Methodology/Principal findings

We report a retrospective cohort study of the 2015/2016 Darfur outbreak, using a subset of 65 of 263 outbreak samples received by the National Public Health Laboratory which met selection criteria of sufficient sample volume and epidemiological data. Clinical features included fever (95.8%), bleeding (95.7%), headache (51.6%) and arthralgia (42.2%). No epidemiological patterns indicative of person-to-person transmission or health-worker cases were reported. Samples were tested at the Public Health England Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory using a bespoke panel of likely pathogens including haemorrhagic fever viruses, arboviruses and Rickettsia, Leptospira and Borrelia spp. Seven (11%) were positive for Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) by real-time reverse transcription PCR. The remaining samples tested negative on all assays.

Conclusions/Significance

CCHFV is an important cause of fever and haemorrhage in Darfur, but not the sole major source of UFI outbreaks in Sudan. Prospective studies are needed to explore other aetiologies, including novel pathogens. The presence of CCHFV has critical infection, prevention and control as well as clinical implications for future response. Our study reinforces the need to boost surveillance, lab and investigative capacity to underpin effective response, and for local and international health security.

Author summary
The Federal Republic of Sudan has had at least 12 outbreaks of febrile illness of unknown cause associated with symptoms of haemorrhage and high case fatality rates since 2012. Outbreaks without clear diagnosis are concerning, particularly in countries such as Sudan where a range of high consequence diseases, including viral haemorrhagic fevers, are endemic or epidemic, and local laboratory capacity is limited. We transferred historical samples stored in the National Public Health Authority from one of these outbreaks that occurred in Darfur 2015–2016 to the Public Health England Laboratory at Porton, UK, and tested them against a wide range of infectious diseases to try to identify the cause, and to help the Sudanese Federal Ministry of Health to develop and target their limited laboratory capacity. We found that Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever was an important cause but not the only source of cases in this outbreak. This has implications for prevention and control as well as for treating cases. Our study also highlighted the need for future studies to explore other possible causes, including new pathogens, and reinforced the need to boost surveillance, lab and investigative capacity for more timely and complete outbreak response.

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More on CCHF: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/03/deadly-ticks-carrying-ebola-like-congo-fever-found-in-uk-after-spreading-across-europe/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/19/monster-ticks-found-in-germany-threaten-europe-with-deadly-disease-crimean-congo-fever/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/05/23/crimean-congo-hemorrhagic-fever-outbreak-in-africa/

H. rufipes on the UK horse:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/11/african-tick-found-on-untraveled-u-k-horse/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/14/crimean-congo-the-asian-ebola-virus/

 

Not to be confused with SFTS, CCHF is often treated with Ribavirin: http://infectious-diseases-and-treatment.imedpub.com/research-advances-on-epidemiology-of-severefever-with-thrombocytopenia-syndrome-asystematic-review-of-the-literature.php?aid=17986

Ribavirin is reported to be effective for treating Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) infections and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, but it is still inadequate to judge the effect of ribavirin on SFTS patients because of the study limitation without adequate parameters were investigated [45]. Host immune responses play an important role in determining the severity and clinical outcome in patients with infection by SFTSV

Category:

Ticks, Viruses

What is Vaccine Shedding?

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/07/23/what-is-vaccine-shedding.aspx?

What is vaccine shedding?

Analysis by Dr. Joseph MercolaFact Checked

July 23, 2019

vaccine shedding

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Live viral vaccines contain a weakened (or attenuated) version of the virus
  • Live attenuated viral vaccines can cause vaccinated persons to shed vaccine strain virus for a period of days, weeks or months, potentially infecting others and leading to symptoms of the very disease the vaccine was intended to prevent
  • One recent study revealed not only that influenza virus may be spread via simple breathing (i.e., no sneezing or coughing required) but also that repeated vaccination increases the amount of virus released into the air
  • Individuals who had gotten a flu vaccination in the current and previous season had 6.3 times more aerosol shedding of influenza virus than those who had received no vaccination in those two seasons
  • Due to a lack of active surveillance and testing, there’s no way to know how often vaccine-strain live virus shedding and disease transmission actually occurs

When you’re infected with a virus that causes an illness, that virus is shed in your saliva and other bodily fluids, and sometimes also via skin lesions. This means that a person who comes into direct contact with the shed virus may also become infected. The same holds true for live attenuated viral vaccines.

While inactivated vaccines use a killed version of the pathogen, live viral vaccines use a weakened (or attenuated) version of the virus. Typically, the live virus used in vaccine production is passed through a living cell culture or other host, such as chicken embryo, many times over until it becomes weakened to a point that it’s not likely to make you sick when it’s injected or, in the case of live oral vaccines, swallowed.

That being said, a live vaccine strain virus is still active and strong enough to trigger an inflammatory response in your body, prompting the creation of vaccine-acquired antibodies. There are a few problems with this, such as the possibility that the weakened vaccine-strain virus can revert to virulence, leading to serious complications identical or similar to complications of the natural disease the vaccine is supposed to prevent in the vaccinated person.1

Another noted problem is that the person who is given a live attenuated viral vaccine can asymptomatically shed and transmit vaccine-strain virus for a period of days, weeks or months and potentially infect close contacts, who can also experience symptoms of the very disease the vaccine was intended to prevent.

Live flu vaccine associated with increased viral shedding in exhaled breath

The possibility of vaccine strain viral shedding takes on renewed importance in the case of the government’s strong recommendation for annual flu vaccination. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends annual influenza vaccinations for everyone 6 months and older.

In the 2018 to 2019 flu season, CDC officials recommended health care providers “use any licensed, age-appropriate influenza vaccine (inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV), recombinant influenza vaccine (RIV), or live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV4) with no preference expressed for one vaccine over another.”2

The live influenza vaccine FluMist, which is approved for nonpregnant women as well as anyone aged 2 to 49 years, is administered in the form of a nasal spray.

While the CDC states that the live type A and B vaccine strain influenza viruses in FluMist are too weak to actually give recipients influenza, research has raised some serious doubts that this is the case. One recent study revealed not only that influenza virus may be spread via simple breathing (i.e., no sneezing or coughing required) but also that repeated vaccination increases the amount of influenza virus released into the air.3

“Self-reported vaccination for the current season was associated with a trend toward higher viral shedding in fine-aerosol samples; vaccination with both the current and previous year’s seasonal vaccines, however, was significantly associated with greater fine-aerosol shedding … ,” the researchers stated.4

What’s more, individuals who had been vaccinated in the current and previous season had 6.3 times more aerosol shedding than those who had received no vaccination in those two seasons. The researchers concluded:5

“The association of current and prior year vaccination with increased shedding of influenza A might lead one to speculate that certain types of prior immunity promote lung inflammation, airway closure and aerosol generation … If confirmed, this observation, together with recent literature suggesting reduced protection with annual vaccination, would have implications for influenza vaccination recommendations and policies.”

Virus shedding is common following FluMist — and can transmit flu

MedImmune, the company that developed FluMist, is aware that the vaccine sheds vaccine-strain virus. In its prescribing information, they describe a study on the transmission of vaccine-strain influenza viruses from vaccinated children to nonvaccinated children in a day care setting.

In 80 percent of the FluMist recipients, at least one vaccine-strain influenza virus was isolated anywhere from one to 21 days following vaccination. They further noted, “One placebo subject had mild symptomatic Type B virus infection confirmed as a transmitted vaccine virus by a FluMist recipient in the same playgroup.”6

Another MedImmune study revealed that 89 percent of babies under 2 years who received FluMist shed vaccine-strain influenza virus, as did 20 percent of adults. The most virus was shed two to three days following vaccination, continuing for up to 11 days.7

While the CDC claims vaccine-strain virus shedding, and subsequent transmission of disease, is rare, they have also stated that people with a weakened immune system, or those who will be caring for someone with a weakened immune system within seven days of vaccination, should not receive the live attenuated influenza vaccine due to the “theoretical” risk that the recently vaccinated person could shed and transmit the vaccine-strain virus to immunocompromised individuals.

That being said, there’s no way to know for sure how often vaccine-strain live virus shedding and disease transmission actually occurs. Barbara Loe Fisher, cofounder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), wrote a special report, The Emerging Risks of Live Virus and Viral Vectored Vaccines: Vaccine Strain Virus Infection, Shedding and Transmission, which contains over 200 references and delves into virus shedding and vaccine virus shedding. She noted:8

“There is no active surveillance and testing for evidence of vaccine strain live virus shedding, transmission and infection among populations routinely being given multiple doses of live virus vaccines, including measles vaccine. Therefore, it is unknown exactly how many vaccinated children and adults in the U.S. or other countries are shedding and transmitting vaccine strain live viruses.

Whether or not vaccine strain live virus shedding, transmission and infection is causing undiagnosed or misdiagnosed health problems, especially among people with severe immune deficiencies or autoimmune and other immune system disorders, is an open question.”

Which vaccines are capable of shedding?

Examples of live attenuated viral vaccines are measles, mumps, rubella, vaccinia (smallpox), varicella, zoster (which contains the same virus as varicella vaccine but in much higher amount), yellow fever, rotavirus and influenza (intranasal).9 As with the live virus influenza vaccine, there are many examples of other live attenuated viral vaccines spreading disease.

The live oral polio vaccine (OPV) is one of them. OPV is no longer used in the U.S., having been replaced by inactivated injectable polio vaccine in 1999, but OPV is still used in some developing countries. In 2017, there were 21 reported cases of vaccine-derived polio, compared to six cases of wild polio — marking the first time more cases of polio were caused by vaccine-derived strains than wild or naturally occurring strains.

In Syria alone, 15 children were paralyzed by vaccine-derived polio, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).10 Research published in the journal Cell also revealed that the live vaccine strain virus used in the oral polio vaccine can easily mutate and spread through a community.11 NPR reported:12

“After a child is vaccinated with live polio virus, the virus replicates inside the child’s intestine and eventually is excreted. In places with poor sanitation, fecal matter can enter the drinking water supply and the virus is able to start spreading from person to person.

‘We discovered there’s only a few [mutations] that have to happen and they happen rather quickly in the first month or two post-vaccination,” [lead study author Raul] Andino says. ‘As the virus starts circulating in the community, it acquires further mutations that make it basically indistinguishable from the wild-type virus. It’s polio in terms of virulence and in terms of how the virus spreads.'”

WHO also noted, “When a child is immunized with OPV, the weakened vaccine virus replicates in the intestine for a limited period … During this time, the vaccine virus is also excreted.”13 In some people, however, the period of replication may not be so “limited.”

One British man received three doses of attenuated live virus polio vaccine at 5, 7 and 12 months of age. He also received a booster at age 7, as was recommended. The man has a health condition that suppresses his immune system, making it more difficult for him to clear vaccine-strain poliovirus from the body.

Although he had no symptoms of the disease, when researchers tested his stool (more than 100 samples were taken over a period of 28 years), they confirmed high levels of the poliovirus even decades later.

Virus shedding is also possible after MMR vaccination

The CDC recommends the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 months, with a booster between ages 4 and 6 years. This live attenuated combination vaccine has also been associated with vaccine-strain virus shedding and disease transmission.

For instance, following live virus measles vaccination, measles virus RNA was detected in 10 of 12 children, as early as one day or as late as 14 days after vaccination.14 Vaccine virus-related measles has also been documented, including in one 2-year-old boy who became ill 37 days after receiving an MMR vaccine.

The researchers who published the case report explained, “Although this is the first such reported case, it likely represents the existence of additional, but unidentified, exceptions to the typical timeframe for measles vaccine virus shedding and illness.”15

It’s often the case that measles outbreaks are blamed on unvaccinated individuals, but this suggests that recently vaccinated individuals could also transmit a vaccine strain version of the disease.

Likewise, mumps vaccine strain virus has also been confirmed as being transmitted by recently vaccinated children to their parents, while live rubella vaccine virus can be transmitted via breast milk. The live attenuated chickenpox vaccine can also cause vaccine-strain chickenpox in healthy or immunocompromised vaccine recipients — or their close contacts. According to Fisher:16

“It is possible for healthy children and adults to transmit vaccine strain varicella zoster infection to other healthy children and adults. However, immune compromised persons are at special risk for contracting vaccine strain chickenpox infections and suffering complications.

Generally, it is advised that persons recently given chickenpox vaccine avoid close contact for at least six weeks after vaccination with potentially susceptible persons, such as immune compromised persons, pregnant women, newborn infants and premature babies, especially if a rash develops after vaccination.”

Why are live virus vaccines still being used?

With documented cases of live virus vaccines contributing to vaccine strain virus shedding and transmission, it’s clear there remain many questions about their safety and effectiveness. Yet, their use continues, in part because the immune response triggered by live virus vaccines is considered to be superior to that triggered by inactivated vaccines.

In short, live virus vaccines tend to stimulate an immune response that’s more similar to one that would occur had you been exposed to the wild-type virus naturally. That being said, live virus vaccines rarely confer the same kind of longer lasting immunity that exposure to a naturally acquired infection can confer.

This is why booster shots are necessary, and why some have recommended that a third MMR vaccine dose be added to the U.S. vaccine schedule.

At the very least, it’s important to be aware of the differences between attenuated live virus vaccines and inactivated vaccines, especially if you’re part of a vulnerable population, such as very young children, the elderly, pregnant and breastfeeding women and people with acute or chronic health problems or a compromised immune system.

For now, however, there remain many unanswered questions regarding live virus vaccines and their ultimate impact on public health. As Fisher explained:17

“The impact of vaccine-strain virus shedding infection and transmission on individual and public health is a question that deserves to be asked and more thoroughly examined by the scientific community. The fact that children and adults given live virus vaccines have the potential to pose a health risk to both unvaccinated and vaccinated close contacts should be part of the public conversation about vaccination.”

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For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/12/09/vaccines-likely-infected-with-retroviruses-linked-to-chronic-disease/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/15/vaccines-and-retroviruses-a-whistleblower-reveals-what-the-government-is-hiding/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/03/01/vaccines-could-contribute-to-disease-epidemics-due-to-retrovirus-contamination/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/23/the-role-of-retroviruses-in-chronic-illness-a-clinicians-perspective/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/02/polio-like-manifestation-of-powassan-virus-with-anterior-horn-cell-involvement-canada/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/06/15/therapeutic-efficacy-of-favipiravir-against-bourbon-virus-in-mice/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/23/cdc-warns-about-7-new-tick-viruses/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/12/04/is-the-chickenpox-vaccine-creating-a-shingles-epidemic/

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/30/whooping-cough-vaccine.aspx  (Outbreaks of Whooping Cough related to pertussis vaccine)
https://ohioamf.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/HIGHLY-and-FULLY-VACCINATED-outbreaks.-1.pdf  (9 pages showing outbreaks in fully vaccinated populations)

 

 

Category:

vaccines, Viruses

North Central Integrated Pest Alert

https://www.ncipmc.org/projects/pest-alerts1/

image.png

They have the following for ticks and specific diseases:

https://www.ncipmc.org/projects/pest-alerts1/brown-dog-tick-vector-for-rocky-mountain-spotted-fever/

https://www.ncipmc.org/projects/pest-alerts1/rocky-mountain-spotted-fever-rickettsia-rickettsii/

https://www.ncipmc.org/projects/pest-alerts1/ticks-and-tick-borne-diseases/

 

Category:

Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme, Rickettsia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ticks, Tularemia, Viruses

Maine Resident Contracts Rare Tick-borne Illness That Can Cause Brain Infections, Death, State CDC Says (But it’s Not Rare)

https://www.foxnews.com/health/maine-resident-rare-tick-illness-powassan

Maine resident contracts rare tick-borne illness that can cause brain infections, death, state CDC says Fox

Madeline Farber is a Reporter for Fox News. You can follow her on Twitter @MaddieFarberUDK.News’ Alexandria Hein contributed to this report.

What is Powassan disease?Video

What is Powassan disease?

A rare and life-threatening tick-borne virus is worrying doctors. What is Powassan disease and how can you keep yourself safe?

A Maine resident has been infected with a rare but typically severe tick-borne illness that can cause brain infections and meningitis and, in some cases, lead to death.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in a Wednesday news release that the resident, who has not been identified, showed symptoms of human Powassan encephalitis disease — more commonly referred to as Powassan virus — in late June and was hospitalized. The state CDC did not say whether or not the resident recovered.

NEW JERSEY VETERAN TESTED POSITIVE FOR RARE TICK-BORNE VIRUS BEFORE DEATH, DAUGHTER SAYS

Powassan virus — which “belongs to a group of viruses that can cause infection of the brain (encephalitis) or the membranes around the brain and spinal cord (meningitis), per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—  is typically spread to humans after they’re bitten by an infected woodchuck or deer tick. The federal agency says those who live or work near brushy or woody areas are more likely to be exposed to potentially infected ticks.

Most cases of Powassan virus — which was first discovered in Powassan, Ontario in 1958, according to the Maine CDC — have occurred in the northeast and Great Lakes areas of the U.S.

Those infected with the virus typically experience fever, headache, vomiting, weakness, confusion, seizures and memory loss, per the Maine CDC, which also noted: “long-term neurologic problems may occur.”

“Symptoms can begin anytime from one week to one month after the tick bite. There is no specific treatment, but people with severe Powassan virus illness often need to be hospitalized,” it added.

Patients typically need support breathing and to treat swelling around the brain, but there is no medicine to treat the virus, nor is there a vaccine to prevent it, and about 10 percent of cases result in death, according to the federal health agency.

Powassan virus is rare, with an average of seven cases reported cases each year in the U.S. In Maine, 11 cases of Powassan virus have occurred since 2000, state health officials said.

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**Comment**

Here we go again. Powassan ISN’T RARE.

http://www.coppelabs.com/blog/why-is-powassan-virus-infection-still-described-as-rare-and-mysterious/  Please read the following excerpt by Coppe Lab here in Wisconsin,

For the last two years, Coppe Laboratories has dedicated a significant amount of time and resources to dispelling the myth that infection with Powassan virus, a virus transmitted by tick bite, is rare. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) reports only 100 cases of Powassan virus infection in the United States in the last 10 years. Indeed, that statistic gives the illusion that Powassan infection is rare. However, did you know that the only infections reported to CDC are those that are life-threatening, particularly cases causing severe inflammation of the brain like the case reported in LiveScience? Coppe has published three new papers in the last year that clearly show Powassan virus infection is not rare are at all,and until testing for this virus is included as part of tick-borne disease screening panels infections will continue to be underreported. Coppe’s Powassan Guide, which can be downloaded from the website, summarizes the findings from both tick and human Powassan prevalence studies, as well as defining the patient populations that would benefit most from Powassan testing.

COPPE LABORATORIES OFFERS THE FIRST COMMERCIAL PANEL DESIGNED TO DETECT EXPOSURE TO POWASSAN VIRUS THROUGHOUT ALL STAGES OF INFECTION.

Powassan can be transmitted in 15 minutes, so all the comforting words by the CDC on the emphasis that transmission of Lyme takes anywhere from 24-72 hours falls flat regarding Powassan. Also, to my knowledge, no work has been done on transmission time when multiple pathogens are being transmitted concurrently, or what happens when a person perhaps gets bitten, obtains Powassan but doesn’t have symptoms, and then in the future gets another tick bite and perhaps gets Lyme with that one.

Does that second bite activate a latent virus infection with Powassan?

THESE QUESTIONS HAVE NEVER BEEN BROACHED BY THE CDC.

The virus can be worse in those with “other medical conditions.”

Nobody really has a clue what a concurrent infection with Powassan looks like, but I would label that another medical condition. What if someone has Powassan and Lyme?  Or, in my case, what if you have Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia, and then Powassan on top of that?

THIS IS THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT THAT CURRENT RESEARCH IS NOT ADDRESSING.

In this article Coppe Lab, right here in Wisconsin has uncovered some interesting findings:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/08/31/wi-coppe-lab-in-the-news/  A study completed in May, 2016 of 106 patients with suspected acute tick borne disease showed 10.4 % had Powassan.  Nearly 17% of the patients with positive Lyme results also tested positive for POWV exposure. The authors concluded,

“Infection with POWV may be underdiagnosed and may contribute to the persistent symptoms often associated with Lyme diseasediagnosis.”16

They postulate:

In both studies, the percentage of Lyme patients co-infected with POWV was about 17%, coinciding with the 10 – 20% of patients treated for Lyme that develop lingering symptoms attributed to post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome.

One thing’s for sure.  The CDC is not getting the memo because every single article I read on Powassan calls it “rare.”  
QUESTION TO PONDER:  HOW MANY HAVE TO DIE BEFORE SOMETHING IS NO LONGER RARE?

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/03/04/powassan-virus-on-the-up-tick/

 

 

Category:

Viruses