Sixteen are confirmed dead and thirty are in isolation in Kagadi hospital from the well-known and terrifying virus, Ebola.

Ebola is a viral infection related to HIV that is characterized by fever, body aches, rash, abdominal pain, and in most case violent hemorrhaging (bleeding from body openings). Similar to HIV, Ebola is spread only through contact with bodily fluids. Death rates from previous outbreaks range from 50-90% and there is no known cure or treatment except to treat the symptoms. Knowledge of the virus was made popular by the book The Hot Zone which was later the basis of the film ‘Outbreak.’

Ebola was originally discovered in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is named after the Ebola River. Five strains, all named for regions, are known to exist: Zaire, Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire, Bundibugyo, Reston. This latest outbreak is the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus.

This outbreak has been centered in the Western region of Uganda and began in the city of Kibaale, about 100 miles from the capital, Kampala. The origin of the virus is unknown although the Kibaale Forest has a high concentration of monkeys and birds that are known transmitters of the disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO), United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Doctors Without Borders, and the Ugandan government are all working tirelessly to contain this outbreak. So far only two cases have been found far away from the original outbreak zone, one infected person was 200 miles outside of Kampala and had traveled from the area.

The other suspected case was in Eldoret, a large town in the Rift Valley in Kenya. Health officials are working on tracking down all 232 people who have had contact with the thirty individuals in isolation at the hospital and the sixteen who died originally.

Olimpia de la Rosa, the emergency coordinator for Doctors without Borders stated, “Right now there is no treatment for Ebola, so the most effective measure we can take is to contain the spread of the disease. That is why we need to start working immediately. Other cases need to be rapidly identified because containment is what can stop it.”

The thirty in isolation are currently only suspected to have the Ebola virus, although according to Dr. Dan Kyamanywa, at least three have been officially confirmed as having the virus.

Five of the thirty are prisoners from Kibaale prison and are showing the signs of vomiting, fever, and diarrhea. The rest of the cases will be verified when the blood samples return from the CDC labs in the US or the lab in Kampala (the only lab in Uganda capable of performing the analysis). Those with the virus – or just suspected to have it – are put in isolation and the medical personnel must wear many layers of protective gear.

Dr. Kyamanywa stated, “We do expect the number of suspected cases to increase. It’s important to break transmission and reduce the number of contacts that suspected cases have.”

According to the Ugandan Health Minister, Dr. Christine Ondoa, the outbreak initially went undetected because the patients only exhibited signs of fever and vomiting but no hemorrhaging, the most obvious symptom of the disease. The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, has asked Ugandans to refrain from handshaking, kissing, using public transport, having casual sex, and do-it-yourself burials.

The Ugandan government has also suffered from a lack of supplies. According to health official Stephen Mfashingabo, “There was no money from the Health Ministry to fund activities since this outbreak was confirmed and there was also no food.”

Many Ugandans are terrified about the outbreak. In 2000 another Ebola outbreak occurred, infecting 425 and killing more than half. Market day on Wednesday, August 1 was cancelled and many residents in Uganda are scared to go shopping, visit churches and mosques, or travel. Tumusiime Jamilo, a reporter for a local Ugandan station reported, “Fears of catching Ebola have twisted people’s lives. They can’t go to the markets to buy things, [others can’t] sell their products and that’s hitting their pockets.”

The thirty in the hospital twelve were admitted very recently. It is still unknown how effective the prevention methods have been.

Image Courtesy of  uusc4all

The article Officials Attempt to Contain Ebola Outbreak in Uganda appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In recent weeks, people in Kibaale, a western district of Uganda, have been troubled by a disease that has taken the lives of 14 out of the 20 reported cases and has many others leaving their homes in fear. Until now, the results of the tests have been inconclusive, with on-site analysts unable to identify the problem. It is confirmed that the deadly outbreak is the dreaded Ebola Virus.

World Health Organization (WHO) representative Joaquim Saweka told the Associated Press that “investigators were “not-so-sure” it was Ebola, and a Ugandan health official dismissed the possibility of Ebola as merely a rumor.” All of the evidence now points to this disease.

Common signs and symptoms of the disease are flu-like symptoms, including fever, nausea and vomiting, and a sore throat. This progresses to central nervous system problems like confusion, agitation, seizures, headaches, and occasionally a coma. A rare symptom (fewer than 10 percent of cases) is hemorrhaging of sites like the nose, gastrointestinal tract, or vagina, which gives Ebola the name Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever (EHF). It infects and kills the victim quickly.

The cause is still unknown, but some suspect the infection begins through contact with an infected animal. It is transferred between people through contact with infected secretions of the individual, such as blood or mucous. Relatives of a person who died from Ebola have often contracted the virus at bereaving ceremonies or coming into contact with the person’s belongings.

While there is no cure or vaccine for Ebola, officials are working now to isolate the individuals with it to stop the disease from spreading too far. Patients are being treated at the only major hospital in Kibaale. Stephen Byaruhanga, the districts health secretary, said “Being a strange disease, we were shocked to learn that it was Ebola. Our only hope is that in the past when Ebola broke out in other parts of Uganda it was controlled.”

The last outbreak, in 2000, left 224 dead in Uganda. Another outbreak left 37 dead in Bunibugyo, a district on the edge of the Congolese border. Officials in Kibaale hope to stop this strain before it reaches that point.

The only problem with their current isolation plan that Byaruhanga voices is that other people with diseases will not want to come to the hospital in fear of catching Ebola. Doctors and nurses on site are being asked to risk their lives in order to treat these patients. All remain hopeful that the virus will not spread.

Image Courtesy of  amref_france

The article Ebola Virus Strikes Kibaale, Uganda appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Geneva, Switzerland — One year after South Sudan declared independence, many humanitarian needs remain unmet. Communities lack access to basic health-care services. The situation is particularly difficult in northern regions close to the border with Sudan. Recent fighting in this area has had a direct impact on the availability and price of food, contributing to an increase in child deaths from malnutrition.

“In Malakal Teaching Hospital, there has been a dramatic rise in child malnutrition admissions over the past three months, since fighting escalated,” said Melker Mabeck, the head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in South Sudan. “Children are also arriving in a much worse condition.”

People in South Sudan have very poor access to health care. There is a shortage of facilities and skilled health workers and a limited supply of drugs and equipment. According to the Ministry of Health, South Sudan has about 120 medical doctors and just over 100 registered nurses for an estimated population of nearly nine million people.

This falls far below the doctor-patient ratio in neighbouring Kenya, for instance, where there are 14 doctors per 100,000 people, 10 times the ratio of South Sudan, according to World Health Organization statistics from 2006. Vulnerable groups like women, children, and the wounded are particularly at risk. South Sudan has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world.

In addition, the country is prone to diseases, with meningitis, measles, yellow fever, and whooping cough endemic in many areas. Preventable diseases such as malaria and acute respiratory infections are the leading causes of ill health. River blindness, sleeping sickness, and cholera are also common.

Another issue is the estimated 50,000 people in the country with physical disabilities, which are often due to injuries sustained in connection with the armed conflict. Landmines, already common in the pre-independence armed conflict between the north and the south, are still used today.

Together with the South Sudanese government, the ICRC manages a physical rehabilitation centre in Juba, the only one of its kind in the country. “A significant proportion of amputees are victims of landmines or unexploded ordnance left behind after clashes,” said Gerd Van de Velde, an ICRC project manager at the centre. “The rehabilitation work we do here gives these people a chance to rebuild a productive life.”

The ICRC also provides support for health-care facilities, such as Malakal Teaching Hospital. As the only referral hospital for Unity, Jonglei and Upper Nile states, the hospital has a vast catchment area of approximately three million inhabitants. Landmines are an issue in the area, much of which is almost entirely cut off during the rainy season that has just started. An ICRC medical team based in the hospital provides paediatric and physiotherapy along with trauma and emergency surgical care. It also delivers on-the-job training for hospital staff.

The ICRC’s operations in southern Sudan began in 1986. The organization set up a delegation in South Sudan’s biggest city, Juba, when the country became independent on 9 July 2011. The ICRC also has two sub-delegations in the new country, in Malakal and Wau. In South Sudan, the ICRC works to prevent violations of international humanitarian law and helps conflict-affected communities to survive and become self-sufficient.

A three-part series showing the struggle for health care in South Sudan released on Eurovision News Feeds and on www.icrcvideonewsroom.org:

South Sudan: facts and figures

Between July 2011 and June 2012:

● the ICRC surgical team in Malakal Teaching Hospital performed emergency surgery on more than 750 patients. Over half of the patients suffered from weapon-related injuries;

● 450 people wounded during clashes were treated using medical supplies and drugs donated by the ICRC to 10 hospitals and several first-aid posts;

● over 2,000 physically disabled people received treatment through ICRC-supported physical rehabilitation services. More than 400 artificial limbs were fitted for amputees, while hundreds of orthotic devices, wheelchairs, and crutches and sticks were also delivered. Just over 1,000 patients also benefited from physical therapy services. Approximately 30 per cent of the amputees to whom the ICRC has delivered artificial limbs since 2008 were victims of landmine accidents.

Image Courtesy of   United Nations Photo

The article South Sudan Struggles to Meet Health Care Needs appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The first clinical trial of a new vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has been launched by the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), a Seattle-based nonprofit that develops products to prevent, detect, and treat diseases of poverty. The Phase 1 trial is taking place in Washington State, with a companion Phase 1 trial planned in India, an epicenter of the disease.

Visceral leishmaniasis affects vital organs and bone marrow, destroying white and red blood cells. Because VL attacks the immune system, it has been called the parasitic version of HIV/AIDS.

“Visceral leishmaniasis is a persistent and deadly global health problem,” said Steve Reed, IDRI founder and Chief Scientific Officer, who led the over twenty years of preclinical vaccine work. “Our partnership with India will speed the development of an effective vaccine and accelerate its control.

Leishmaniasis takes several forms, all of which are caused by the Leishmania parasite and transmitted by infected sand flies. VL is most common in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sudan, and Brazil and causes about 500,000 cases and 50,000 deaths each year.  Cutaneous leishmaniasis, the most common form of the disease, causes serious skin lesions and often leaves its victims permanently disfigured.  Leishmaniasis occurs in 88 countries, affecting 12 million people.

While the disease can be treated, current treatments are too expensive, difficult to administer, or toxic for widespread use in poor countries. Drug resistance is also a growing problem, particularly in India. Left untreated, VL has a 90% case fatality, and death can come within two years—much more quickly than AIDS.

Furthermore, scientists warn that the geographical range for leishmaniasis is expanding. Spurred on by global warming, mass migration and rapid urbanization, cases are being reported in previously unaffected areas. Given such challenges, a vaccine is considered essential to control and eliminate the disease.

“With this clinical trial, we hope to launch a new era in the fight against Visceral Leishmaniasis,” said Franco Piazza, Medical Director at IDRI and leader of the vaccine’s clinical development.  “For the first time, an advanced vaccine to prevent this devastating disease is being tested in people.”

The IDRI vaccine, known as LEISH–F3 + GLA-SE, is a highly purified, recombinant vaccine.  It incorporates two fused Leishmania parasite proteins and a powerful adjuvant to stimulate an immune response against the parasite.

The Phase 1 clinical trial will enroll 36 adult volunteers in Washington State.  They will be randomly assigned to receive one of three versions of the vaccine, which differ in the amount of adjuvant included. The trial will evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of each version.

A second Phase 1 trial will take place in India, where IDRI is transferring its vaccine technology to the Gennova Biopharmaceuticals. Last month, Gennova opened a vaccine formulation center that will be producing vaccines for neglected diseases in Pune, India, where the company is based.

In India, VL is known as kala-azar, a Hindi word that means black fever, named after the fever that ravages affected individuals, whose skin becomes dark gray.

“Kala-azar is a significant health problem across northern India and neighboring countries,” said Dr.Sanjay Singh, CEO of Gennova.  “Bringing a vaccine to India will not only end deaths and disease, it will also help many of our poorest citizens to lead more productive lives and move out of poverty.”

Beginning later in 2012, the Indian biotherapeutics and vaccine manufacturer will produce the LEISH-F3 + GLA-SE vaccine.  It will be then tested in healthy Indian adults, in collaboration with the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India.

“We are very pleased to be working with IDRI on this vaccine, which is critically important to the many people who suffer from this disease in India as well as to the millions of people who are infected around the world,” said Dr. Shyam Sundar, Professor of Medicine at the University’s Institute of Medical Sciences.

Subsequent clinical trials will involve larger numbers of people who are at high risk of developing VL during their daily lives, because they are frequently bitten by sand flies. Only such large trials, conducted in real-life situations of disease exposure, will determine the full effectiveness of the LEISH-F3 + GLA-SE vaccine.

“Vaccines can do what medicines can’t – prevent the disease from even occurring,” said Dr. N. K. Ganguly, a highly distinguished biotechnology professor and advisor in India, and former Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi.  “Only with an effective vaccine can we expect to control leishmaniasis in South Asia.”

The Phase 1 clinical trials are being funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which also recently announced a global partnership with the World Health Organization and 13 pharmaceutical companies to control or eliminate 10 neglected tropical diseases, including leishmaniasis.

The article New Vaccine for Visceral Leishmaniasis Launched appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming recently praised the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for limiting the use of cephalosporins in food animal production.

Cephalosporins are vital treatments for children suffering from infection; unlike other antibiotics, such as fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines, they carry no warnings or precautions for pediatric use.  They also are important medicines for treating people suffering from bacterial meningitis and infections of the bone, urinary tract, and upper respiratory system, as well as those associated with cancer.

“We applaud FDA’s move,” said Laura Rogers, project director of the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming. “This restriction is a victory for human health, as it will help ensure we can still rely on cephalosporins to treat life-threatening infections today and in the future.”

Although FDA has approved cephalosporins to treat some infections in food animals, the drugs often are administered in ways not specifically approved by the agency.  Its rule will apply to such extralabel use of cephalosporins in meat and poultry production, which multiple studies have linked to the emergence of cephalosporin-resistant bacteria that can infect people.

If cephalosporins continue to be overused on industrial farms, these drugs will lose their effectiveness.  As a result, many human infections will become more difficult to treat, leading to more deaths and higher health care costs.

“This action is a good first step,” added Ms. Rogers, ”and we encourage FDA to issue guidelines expeditiously that restrict the overuse and misuse of other critical antibiotics on industrial farms.”

In 2010, officials from FDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testified before Congress that there was a definitive link between the uses of antibiotics in food animal production and the crisis of antibiotic resistance in humans.  In addition, many medical organizations including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization warn that this practice is putting human health at risk.

To ensure additional human antibiotics work when we need them, the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming also urges Congress to pass the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (H.R. 965, S. 1211). A 60-day public comment will follow FDA’s announcement, during which Pew will submit a formal response to the agency.

The article FDA Applauded by Pew for its Restrictive Measures on Critical Antibiotics appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The invention of the steam engine at the end of the 18th century was the beginning of evolution in transportation. This development allowed people to move heavier loads faster. A hundred years after, since the motor car was created, people were able to travel long distances without using a lot of effort.

By the end of 20th century, and continuing today, he computer is the main source of communication for the vast majority of people in the world. In last 10 years, the average growth of Internet usage in the world grew by 480 percent. This increase shows that people are becoming more addicted to online communication, and the need to physically interact with people has become limited.

The absence of the necessity to walk and do other physical activities in order to complete daily tasks is one of the leading causes of the most serious public health problems of the 21st century: obesity. Obesity is defined as a body having  excessive body fat, which causes health problem and reduces the life expectancy of a person.

Moreover, it increases the probability of having various diseases such as heart disease, certain types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Obesity is caused by many factors. One reason could be the person’s genes, which usually explains 25-40 percent of a person’s weight. The remaining percentage of your body condition comes from that person’s culture, way of life, and environment. 

With the development of technology and transportation, the cost of goods has decreased, and most people are able to afford junk food, which is sold everywhere. Moreover, there is no need to go to the grocery stores as often since fast food services, such as pizza deliveries, are readily available. Such services are becoming more popular, especially among the younger generation.

The problem of obesity is more global than we think. It was estimated that Americans spend more than $33 billion annually on weight loss. Additionally, the cost of health care to treat obesity is $120 billion. The World Health Organization predicts that there will be 2.3 billion people with weight problems by 2015, which is almost a quarter of the world’s population. At the present, nearly a third the US population is obese.

How people should deal with obesity problem?

First of all, a person who is obese must understand his/her own problem and consciously decide to deal with that issue. It was recommended to use a positive criticism in order to build self-confidence, which means that criticism must be seen as a way to correct oneself, but not as an irritating factor.

As soon as an obese person is certain about his/her situation, a balanced diet must be chosen. When the goal is to lose weight by decreasing the amount of food, the body should still get all essential nutritients, since it is vital for physical health and appearance. In addition, it is important to have a habit of counting calories.

Whenever food is bought, all the labels must be read to know how many calories the product contains. If extra calories were consumed, exercise can help balance it. In conclusion, it is necessary to avoid ignoring small things. If you already decided to have a diet and be healthy, it should last for as long as possible, and must not depend on any events, such as wedding or birthday party.

The article Obesity Rising as a Result of Transportation Evolution appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

A new study from Senegal has experts worried about the spread of malaria through mosquitoes. The study has shown that mosquitoes can form a resistance to the insecticide used in mosquito nets.

Researchers studied the Senegalese village of Dielmo, over a span of years from 2007 to 2010. This documented the Malaria morbidity both before and after the 2008 distribution of long-lasting insecticide bed nets, a leading method in preventing malaria. Though some experts say the study was too small to draw conclusions, but the findings are troubling.

The study shows that mosquitoes may be forming a resistance to the insecticide. While just three weeks after the net introduction, there was a short-term decline in malaria attacks, the proportion of mosquitoes genetically resistant to a type of pesticide rose from 8 percent to 48 percent.

In 2010, the pesticide Deltamethrin, which is recommended by the World Health Organization for bed nets, was genetically resisted by 37 percent of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, the principal vectors for malaria in Africa.

This led to a raise in malaria attacks back to high levels, for the last few months of the 2010 study period. In fact, the rate of attacks was even higher amongst older children and adults than it was before the bed net introduction. According to the study, this is possibly related to a reduced immunity among these age groups.

According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2008 there were an estimated 190 to 311 million cases of malaria worldwide, causing 708,000 to 1,003,000 deaths. Most of these deaths occurred in young children from sub-Saharan Africa.

“Strategies to address the problem of insecticide resistance and to mitigate its effects must be urgently defined and implemented,” said the researchers in study.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/gatesfoundation/

The article Malaria Alert: Insecticide-Resistant Mosquitoes Cause Concerns appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

United States President Barack Obama recently convened a panel of experts known as the Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues following the revelation that despite more than 1,000 regulations covering how clinical studies are conducted, unethical medical studies are still possible.

Obama first thought about creating this panel last fall when a 65-year-old study surfaced accusing federal doctors of infecting Guatemalans with syphilis without their consent or knowledge.  This study lasted from 1946 to 1948.  American scientists infected patients in a Guatemalan mental hospital with the terrible disease to test whether penicillin could prevent some sexually transmitted diseases.  The study was hidden for many years after it produced no useful information.

The Guatemalan study was completely unethical for several reasons.  Infecting the patients with syphilis alone is unethical, but the participants did not understand the study and were not capable of giving their consent.  The study was hidden from the public and was only just exposed last year.

While the Guatemalan study is horrifying, perhaps the most well-known unethical medical study, at least to Americans, was the Tuskegee experiment, a syphilis study conducted between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama.  Six hundred poor, rural black men were tracked by the U.S. Public Health Service to study the progression of untreated syphilis.  These men were not given the adequate treatment even once penicillin became available.  The participants believed they were receiving free healthcare from the U.S. government.

Extensive research by the Associated Press found more than 40 other unethical studies.

In the 1940s, there was a federally funded study in which researcher Dr. W. Paul Havens Jr. exposed men to hepatitis in a series of experiments.  Havens’ study used patients from mental institutions in Middletown and Norwich, Conn.  The experiments left eight healthy men chronically ill.  Havens, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert on viral diseases, was the first scientist to differentiate types of hepatitis and their causes.  This study, however, broke no new ground in understanding the disease or how to cure it.

Also in the 1940s, a University of Minnesota study caused 11 public service employees to be injected with malaria and then starved for five days.  Some of the participants were also subjected to hard labor and they lost an average of 14 pounds.  They were later treated for malarial fevers with quinine sulfate.

In the 1950s, government researchers attempted to infect two dozen prison inmates with gonorrhea.  The inmates were from a federal penitentiary in Atlanta.  The bacteria was pumped directly into the urinary tract through the penis.  The men developed gonorrhea, but the study was deemed ineffective.  It was decided that since this is not how men would normally contract gonorrhea (which is by having sex with an infected partner), the results were not comparable.  The participants were eventually treated with antibiotics.  This study was never reported in the news.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, there was a dramatic increase in prisoners participating in studies.  By the 1960s, about half of the United States allowed prisoners to be used in studies and experiments.  It wasn’t, however, until a 1973 congressional hearing that pharmaceutical industry officials admitted they used inmates for their studies, because it was cheaper than using chimpanzees.

In a 1915 study, Mississippi inmates were offered pardons if they participated in a study where they were required to go on special rations.  U.S. Government’s Dr. Joseph Goldberger established the study to prove that pellagra, a systemic nutritional wasting disease, was caused by a dietary deficiency.  Goldberger is remembered as a public health hero.

These studies, and the countless others, violate the fundamental medical principle of “first do no harm.”  “When you give somebody a disease – even by the standards of their time – you really cross the key ethical norm of the profession,” said Arthur Caplan, Ph.D., director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Bioethics.

Unethical medical studies, as Obama and his panel feared, did not end with the 1960s.  There were two international studies in the last 15 years that raised outrage and concern.  One case involved U.S.-funded doctors who neglected to give an AIDS drug (AZT) to all HIV-infected pregnant women in an Uganda-based study.  The medicine would have protected their newborns had the women received it.

The other study was done by Pfizer Inc. The company gave a powerful antibiotic, Trovan, to Nigerian children infected with meningitis.  The drug was given to the children even though there were known doubts about its effectiveness for this disease.  The deaths of 11 children were tied to this study.  While Pfizer ultimately settled a $75 million lawsuit with Nigerian officials, the company admitted no wrongdoing.

The goal of the newly constructed presidential panel, Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, is to not only ensure that unethical medical studies will not continue, but to examine past studies.  The panel is set to report back to the president in September.  Their main objectives are to examine federally funded international studies to ensure all research is ethical, and to take a more intense, comprehensive look at the Guatemalan syphilis case.  There is a 14-member expert panel assigned to study if international studies are ethical, and a 12-person commission of investigators to look through hundreds of boxes of old government documents related to the Guatemalan study.

It is plausible that with less than a year to do its work, the panel may not produce any substantial new information.  “They face a really tough challenge,” Caplan said.

The article Unethical Medical Studies: From Past to Present appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Independent experts from 24 countries gathered during the past month to discuss and assess the World Health Organization’s handling of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009. The panel reviewed the W.H.O. harshly, despite not affirming controversial accusations that it exaggerated its reactions to help vaccine companies get rich during the outbreak.

In its draft report released Thursday on the W.H.O.’s website, the panel claimed that the world has always been unprepared to handle severe cases of pandemics, and if a more fatal virus arises, millions of lives will again be risked.

The disease was interpreted to be severe in the spring outbreak last year. It was not until the summer, past the assumed climax of the disease when countries felt the need to place orders for the vaccine, that the mildness of the situation was clarified and confirmed.

Also the 78 million doses of vaccine donated by rich countries to poor ones were not distributed, since the W.H.O. was tangled in liabilities and costs conflicts with vaccine manufacturing companies.

This resulted to millions of vaccines going unused and wasted. Despite this trouble, the panel said that there is “no evidence of malfeasance.”

The panel, led by Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine, criticized how complex the health organization defines a pandemic, how it describes the level of a pandemic depending on how geographically wide it spreads and not on how severe the pandemic in one place is.

It also criticized how the W.H.O.’s expert advisers’ names were held in secret to avoid pressure and thus produced “suspicions that the organization had something to hide,” as well as how potential conflicts of interest “were not managed in a timely fashion.”

How the disease’s severity was communicated was also inefficient, the panel concluded, and the pandemic produced confusion in people with W.H.O.’s “ill-advised” communication and how it responded “with insufficient vigor.”

The panel did not offer only plain criticism. Members of the panel also praised how W.H.O. identified the swine flu virus quickly with the help of national health agencies of countries including Canada and the United States.

Although the draft is already published, the W.H.O. will not respond to the report until the final version of it is released at the assembly of the world’s health ministers in May, a spokeswoman for the organization said.

The article W.H.O. Criticized for “Exaggerated” Reaction toward H1N1 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.