Scott McPherson's Web Presence

Faithful readers of this blog (do I HAVE faithful readers anymore?) know that I have taken about a year's sabbatical from blogging on disease.  that does not mean I have neglected the topic entirely; it just means that I have left the topic to those bloggers (Crof, FLA_MEDIC, maryn, others) who have much more informed comment than I.

But I am happy to report that I have returned to blogging on a topic with which I am intimately familiar:

ZOMBIES.

Today, the Centers for Disease Control has issued a warning to prepare for a Zombie Apocalypse. 

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/05/18/cdc-warns-public-prepare-zombie-apocalypse/?test=latestnews

The actual CDC warning appears here:

http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp

Zombies have always been a curse upon humanity, as chronicled by Max Brooks in his important and long-suppressed historical work, The Zombie Survival Guide:  Recorded Attacks.

Of course, what the CDC is trying to do is capitalize on the tremendous success of the comic and TV show The Walking Dead and the wonderful films of George A., Romero in an effort to promote planning and preparedness for disasters.

Their message is a simple one:  If you've planned for the Zombie Apocalypse, you've planned for pretty much everything. 

Oh yeah -- that's me, just right of center, and toward the top of the photo.

It has been a long time since I blogged anything about the flu.  For starters, I am busier than ever at work, which cuts severely into my blogging time.  But also because I just have not felt the muse.  The swine flu pandemic was blessedly mild overall, although there are thousands of families still coping with the loss of a loved one due to H1N1/2009 who would harshly disagree with my assessment. But it wasn't 1918, so we breathed a sigh of relief.

There are many seemingly divergent storylines currently out there, which I will just list at random.  I am not so sure they are not somehow interconnected, however.

First has to be the continued number of human bird flu infections and deaths in Egypt.  Overlaying this ongoing problem is the sudden departure of Mubarak, the takeover by the Egyptian military, and what this portends for both transparency and NAMRU's operations within the nation. 

Second is the realization that this year's seasonal flu vaccine was way off the mark.  I began to notice last month that my employees were getting sick from flu, and I knew they had received their vaccinations in the late fall.  My deputy, in fact, was tested type A-positive last month.  That's pretty specific.  Here in Tallahassee, doc-in-the-box and emergency rooms were positively overrun with flu cases.  Things are looking better, but the WHUMP! of flu cases in January was much more severe than at the same time last year.  And last year was the dang pandemic!  Almost everyone who got flu this year who I am personally acquainted with, had, in fact, received the vaccine months prior.

Third is the ongoing Siege of Japan by H5N1 in poultry.  We all have read the articles about the culling of hundreds of thousands of birds in Japanese poultry farms.  this has spread to the mainland, especially South Korea.

What is clear to me is that the H1N1/2009 pandemic was not sufficient to push the other subtypes off the radar.  This runs contrary to previous pandemics where a dominant substrain was capable of, and able to, sufficiently supplant  the previous Big Dog of Flu.  H1N1 was replaced by H2N2, which was replaced by H3N2, and so on.  Swine flu was not able to eradicate H3N2, nor was it able to eradicate B.  for that matter, I do not know what research existed prior to the mid-1950s to actually track Influenza B.  for all I know, Influenza B has been around since the Chinese domesticated ducks some 4,000 years ago. 

Or, since B mutates more slowly than A, and is therefore not capable of producing pandemics (so says Wikipedia), it is not subject to the King of the Mountain game like Influenza A.

But someone apparently blew the call on the vaccine this season.  I get the feeling the only strain they got right was, in fact, the pandemic strain! 

The other strain that H1N1/2009 did not push off the radar is H5N1.  In fact, so far this year, bird flu activity seems to be much more intense than at the same time last year.  Human cases and deaths in Egypt seem to be at the same levels as last year, but H5N1's overrunning of the Japanese poultry industry is disconcerting.

Finally, there seems to be some concern that this year's flu outbreaks are more severe than last year's.  Again, this is not scientific, but my people got hit and hit hard by the virus.  Their symptoms were severe, with one person requiring hospitalization.  In one case Tamiflu did nothing, although there is a chance it was not administered in time.

H1N1 had a comeback in the late 1940s and early 1950s, with several epidemics (the Liverpool Flu of 1951, for instance) that were considered equal to, or more severe than, the 1918 pandemic, depending on location.  Shortly afterward, H2N2 (re)appeared, seemingly wiping H1N1 off the face of the Earth.

I openly wonder if the appearance of swine flu in 2009 was, in fact, the Beginning of the End of H1N1 as it was in the 1950s, and we are at the brink of the introduction of a different substrain of flu.

The first locally-acauired case of Dengue since the Eisenhower Administration has hit shiny, glamorous Miami.  Story here.

Now "locally acquired" means the person did not travel recently to any of the known areas (or even unknown areas) where Dengue is normally found.  This person did not travel, and still contracted Dengue.  That means, therefore, that there are mosquitoes in Miami-Dade County carrying Dengue.  Period. No other way to say it.  And if one has Dengue, it is a fair question to ask how many misdiagnosed persons are out there currently, also with Dengue?

The mosquitoes are winning.  Insect-borne diseases such as Dengue, EEE, West Nile, and even bites from bedbugs are on the march.  All could all be easily mitigated.

All it takes is the political will (yes, the political will) to re-engage a little something called DDT.  As you may know, I am a big proponent of the return of DDT.  It's either that, or we start asking the UN for our own mosquito nets. 

This past June, I had one of the best experiences of my life.  I had the great good fortune to be a zombie extra on the set of the upcoming AMC television series The Walking Dead.

I won't try (at least not in this particular blog) to go into great details; an interview with horror Website www.gorestruly.com covers my experiences in great detail.  The interview with Yours Truly can be found at: http://www.gorestruly.com/2010/10/22/the-walking-dead-a-zombie-interview/

Emergency managers, disaster recovery experts, pandemic planners, and survivalists can rejoice!  I have just written a Computerworld blog proclaiming the value of this series at sharpening critical thinking skills!  The blog can be read at: http://blogs.computerworld.com/17247/dr_planners_can_learn_a_lot_from_the_walking_dead .

Picture?  Sure, from www.gorestruly.com, photo credit AMC TV.  those of you in foreign lands:  Fox is broadcasting the series all over the planet!  So no matter where you live, you can enjoy The Walking Dead.  Please watch!  And look for "limping zombie."

According to Fox News Orlando, Dengue fever is confirmed in Orlando, and the Obama Administration is to blame!

OK, the first part of that sentence is true.  Dengue fever has been confirmed in Orange County, which includes Orlando and all your world-renowned theme parks.  The Fox affiliate is reporting that three Orange residents are stricken with dengue.  Here's the link, and the text:

LAKE MARY, Fla. (AP) - A health department official from Orange County has told FOX 35 that there are three cases of dengue fever in Orange County.

Late Thursday, health officials in Miami and Ocala were reporting the first suspected cases of dengue fever, a potentially serious mosquito-borne illness that had once disappeared from the United States.

Dengue fever is a flulike illness spread by the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito (ay-EE-deez ee-JIP-ty), a common urban mosquito in the U.S. and Caribbean. It's known as breakbone fever because of the intense joint pain suffered in extreme cases.

Health officials say the Miami Beach man who is suspected of contracting the disease has fully recovered. No further information was released Thursday about the case in Ocala.

A recent study revealed five percent of Key West residents show evidence they have been exposed to the virus, but few became ill.

Orange County Health Department spokesperson Dan Weister said the cases in Orange County involve residents who have traveled to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

As we know, you can get a lot more than a sunburn by traveling to Puerto Rico, trinidad, and just about anywhere wlse in the Caribbean these days.  Anyone who goes to these areas without a) sunscreen and b) a ton of DEET-laden repellent, is crazy!

About an hour north of Orlando is Ocala, where horsemen and -women breed champion thoroughbreds.  It is equidistant between Orlando and Gainesville, where Gators breed national championships!  Anyway, Ocala has also reported its first case of dengue since Johnson was president.   Here is that story, from the Ocala Star-Banner:

Dengue fever identified in county

The Marion County Health Department has requested the Marion County Commission conduct a mosquito spray in the northeast area of Citra after receiving confirmation of a case of Dengue fever in the county.

More Information:

• CDC page on Dengue fever

“We have requested the mosquito spray as a precautionary measure,” said Dr. Nathan Grossman, director of the Marion County Health Department, in a news release. “The risk of transmission from this mosquito-borne disease is very low, but as part of our mission to protect the health of Marion County citizens we are taking additional steps to further reduce possible transmission.”

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne virus that is transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito. It is usually seen in subtropical and tropical land regions. Symptoms are headache, fever, exhaustion, severe joint and muscle pain, swollen glands, mild bleeding and rash. There is no specific treatment.

Because the fever can be transmitted to another human from a mosquito that has bitten a person with the disease, citizens should take precautions to protect themselves from mosquito bites.

The Health Department advises following the “5 Ds:

* Dusk and Dawn – Avoid being outdoors when mosquitoes are most active.

* Dress – Wear clothing that covers most of the skin.

* DEET – Use repellents containing DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, or N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide). Picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus are options.

* Drainage – Check around homes and rid areas of standing water where mosquitoes can lay eggs.

For more information, call 629-0137.

So dengue has gone from "What it that?" to "OMG!" Stay tuned, for i am sure there will be plenty more to read about.  And follow Avian Flu Diary and H5N1 for more details.  Their links are in the column to the left.