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Preparing for Swine Flu
By Laura Knoy on Monday, April 27, 2009.
As the world worries about the new swine flu virus, we’ll talk with the state's epidemiologist about the risks and what the state’s doing to combat them. We'll also look at the "usual" public health threats that come with spring, such as Lyme disease, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, and West Nile Virus.
Guests
- Dr. Jose Montero, Chief Epidemiologist at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services
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NTI-Global Security Newswire reports* that 3 vials of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus are unaccounted for.
Most likely it's just an 'accounting' issue, but what danger *could* this type of pathogen pose if it got into the wrong hands?
*
My father travelled to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, on Sunday with a youth group from his church in North Hampton. They plan to stay for a week. The trip had been planned for months and news of swine flu only emerged on Saturday. Should they return home now (via San Antonio) just to be on the safe side? It seems that if any member of the group fell ill while in Mexico, cross-border travel, not to mention access to the best medicines, might prove difficult.
Dr. Montero stated there is no concern related to black flies, however, after a quick search I found came upon Onchocerciasis - a disease transmitted from black flies which has blinded ~300,000 people worldwide.
According to Wikipedia: "The black fly is central to the transmission of the parasitic nematode Onchocerca volvulus, which causes Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness. It serves as the larval host for the nematode and acts as the vector by which the disease is spread. Transmission of the parasite occurs through the bite of a black fly when feeding on human blood."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onchocerciasis