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WHO links processed meat consumption to cancer

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Twenty-year-long study finds hot dogs, bacon and other processed meats raise risk of colon, stomach and other cancers.

EU Meat andCancer

by Al Jazeera

Hot dogs, bacon and other processed meats raise the risk of colon, stomach and other cancers, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

Monday’s announcement follows studies which looked at more than a dozen types of cancer in populations with diverse diets over the past 20 years.

The findings back what many doctors have been warning for years, and will anger the meat industry which has been rallying against putting processed meats in the same danger category as smoking or asbestos.

A group of 22 scientists from the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, evaluated more than 800 studies from several continents about meat and cancer.

Based on the results, the IARC classified processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans”.

With regard to red meat, the report said it contained some important nutrients, but still labelled it “probably carcinogenic”, with links to colon, prostate and pancreatic cancers.

The agency said it did not have enough data to define how much processed meat is dangerous, but said the risk grows with the amount consumed.

Analysis of 10 of the studies suggested that a 50-gramme portion of processed meat daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer over a lifetime by about 18 percent.

The WHO’s findings can influence public health recommendations around the globe.

‘Global impact’

Doctors, especially in rich countries, have long warned that a diet loaded with red meat is linked to cancers, including those of the colon and pancreas.

The American Cancer Society has long urged people to eat less processed and red meat.

“For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed,” Dr Kurt Straif of the IARC said in a statement.

“In view of the large number of people who consume processed meat, the global impact on cancer incidence is of public health importance.”

The cancer agency noted research by the Global Burden of Disease Project suggesting that 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide are linked to diets heavy in processed meat – compared with one million deaths a year linked to smoking, 600,000 a year to alcohol consumption and 200,000 a year to air pollution.

WHO declares Liberia Ebola-free

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With no new cases reported in 42 days, WHO says West African nation is now free of disease that killed 4,700 there.

ebola

by Al Jazeera

Liberia has been declared free from Ebola after no new cases were reported for over a month, the World Health Organisation has said.

Peter Jan Graaf, the head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency, urged vigilence until the worst-ever recorded outbreak of the virus was extinguished in neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone.

No new cases were reported in 42 days – twice the maximum incubation period for the deadly disease.

“We’re proud of what we collectively managed to do but we need to remain vigilant,” he said. “The virus is not yet out of the region and as long as the virus is in the region we’re still all of us potentially at risk.”

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that Liberia’s completion of the WHO’s benchmark for the end of an Ebola epidemic should not lead to complacency.

“We can’t take our foot off the gas until all three countries record 42 days with no cases,” said Mariateresa Cacciapuoti, MSF’s head of mission in Liberia.

She urged Liberia to step up cross-border surveillance to prevent Ebola slipping back into the country.

A total of 11,005 people have died from Ebola in the West African countries of Liberia, neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone since the outbreak began in December 2013, WHO reported.

At least 4,700 of those have been in Liberia, where the outbreak peaked between August and October, with hundreds of cases a week, sparking international alarm.

Helped by the visible US military presence, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government launched a national awareness campaign to stem the infectious disease, which is spread by physical contact with sick people.

Heightened surveillance

The UN Special Envoy on Ebola, David Nabarro, said this week that Liberian authorities had pledged to maintain heightened surveillance for at least a year after being declared Ebola-free on Saturday.

Nabarro suggested that, even though fewer than 20 new cases were reported in Guinea and Sierra Leone last week, it could take months to get to zero.

International aid organisations were forced to step in as the Ebola outbreak ravaged the region’s poorly equipped and understaffed healthcare systems.

MSF – which was highly critical of the slow response by the United Nations and western governments – opened the world’s largest Ebola management centre in Monrovia, with a capacity of 400 beds.

According to the WHO, a total of 868 health workers have caught the virus in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone since the start of the outbreak, of whom 507 died.

International Medical Corps (IMC), a charity that ran two Ebola clinics in Liberia, appealed for international support in rebuilding the healthcare system there in the wake of the virus.

“Now is the time to build on the momentum we have generated to strengthen the Liberian health system … and change attitudes to keep the people of Liberia safe long into the future,” said Anouk Boschma, IMC’s acting country director in Liberia.

Disease outbreak threatens Nepal's earthquake survivors

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Medical workers try to prevent spread of disease in quake’s aftermath, with clean water and toilets in short supply.

Disease Nepal earthquake

by Al Jazeera

Survivors of Nepal’s major earthquake are facing the threat of a disease outbreak due to a severe shortage of clean water and toilets.

Al Jazeera’s Subina Shrestha, reporting from the village of Dukuchap in Lalitpur area, said on Friday that locals were suffering from diarrhoea, stomach cramps and other diseases that could turn into epidemics if the cause of the problem was not stopped in time.

“The water is thick and smelly, but we have to drink it,” Kalpana Tamang, a Dukuchap village resident, told Al Jazeera.

Dr Kishore Rana, a major general in the Nepalese army, said that in a number of villages the health centres and hospitals have been ruined and the areas depended on mobile medical teams – often foreigners.

“Our plan is for other medical teams that can come here and stay here for a longer duration – three to six months,” he said.

“We’ll be sending these teams to the areas were health posts and hospitals have been destroyed.”

Shrestha reported that “even at the best of times, the health system in Nepal has been rather poor”.

“For this village of Dukchap, the only health post is half an hour further up and the only thing they have is paracetamol.”

Essential medicines

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that a quick assessment of Nepal’s worst-hit districts has found some hospitals damaged or destroyed, but most were coping well with no extra staff or beds required.

According to the WHO, there was a need for essential medicines, equipment and materials.

The organisation said it was focused on preventing the possible spread of diarrhoeal diseases among at least 2.8 million displaced people, especially those living in 16 makeshift camps in the capital, Kathmandu.

The death toll from Saturday’s earthquake has reached more than 6,200 people. Almost 14,000 have been injured and thousands are still missing.

Many of the monuments and temples in Kathmandu Valley, which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, for seven distinct locations, were destroyed in the earthquake.

Search and rescue teams continue their operation, clearing debris from crushed buildings and the centuries-old temples as well as getting aid to remote locations.

The government has announced it will give every family, which has had a member killed in the earthquake, about $1,000 in compensation.

WHO: one million people wounded in Syria as diseases continue to spread

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A medic stitches the head of a wounded Syrian boy at a makeshift clinic after a mortar reportedly fell in the besieged rebel town of Douma, 13 kilometers (eight miles) northeast of Damascus, on November 11, 2014. AFP/ Abd Doumany

A medic stitches the head of a wounded Syrian boy at a makeshift clinic after a mortar reportedly fell in the besieged rebel town of Douma, 13 kilometers (eight miles) northeast of Damascus, on November 11, 2014. AFP/ Abd Doumany

One million people have been wounded during the nearly four-year old Syrian war, and diseases are spreading as regular supplies of medicine fail to reach patients, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Syria representative said.

A plunge in vaccination rates from 90 percent before the war to 52 percent this year and contaminated water has added to the woes, allowing typhoid and hepatitis to spread, Elizabeth Hoff said in an interview late on Thursday.

More than 200,000 people have been killed in Syria’s conflict, which began in March 2011 with popular protests against President Bashar al-Assad and spiraled into a war.

“In Syria, they have a million people injured as a direct result of the war. You can see it in the country when you travel around. You see a lot of amputees,” said Hoff. “This is the biggest problem.”

She said a collapsed health system, where over half of public hospitals are out of service, has meant that treatments for diseases and injuries are irregular.

“What has been a problem is the regularity of supply,” she said. “The (government) approvals are sporadic.”

Hoff said that Assad’s government – which demands to sign off on aid convoys – is still blocking surgical supplies, such as bandages and syringes, from entering rebel-held areas, arguing that the equipment would be used to help insurgents.

Syrian officials could not be reached for comment on Thursday or Friday.

More than 6,500 cases of typhoid were reported this year across Syria and 4,200 cases of measles, the deadliest disease for Syrian children, Hoff said.

There was just one reported case of polio, which can paralyze children within hours, in 2014 following a vaccination drive. However, other new diseases appeared, including myiasis, a tropical disease spread by flies which is also known as screw-worm, with 10 cases seen in the outskirts of Damascus.

Syrian activists in the Eastern Ghouta district of Damascus said that tuberculosis was also spreading due to poor sanitary conditions and a government siege on the area, blocking aid.

The United Nations called on Thursday for more than $8.4 billion to help nearly 18 million people in need in Syria and across the region in 2015.

Hoff said that the WHO delivered more than 13.5 million treatments of life-saving medicines and medical supplies in 2014, up nearly threefold from the year before.

However, Hoff added that “the needs are not possible to believe,” saying that the problems were growing at an even faster pace with poor water access and deepening poverty worsening the health crisis.

A UN refugee agency (UNHCR) report published in mid-November shows that about 7.2 million people have been displaced within Syria, many without food or shelter as winter has started.

The report also estimates that some 3.3 million Syrian refugees live abroad, most of them living in squalid informal camps, exposed to the heat of summer and cold of winter.

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

WHO reports sharp rise in Ebola deaths

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New toll of 6,928 shows a leap of about 1,200 since Wednesday and appears to include previously unreported deaths.

Representational image. Reuters / Susana Vera

Representational image. Reuters / Susana Vera

by Al Jazeera

The death toll from the worst Ebola outbreak on record has reached nearly 7,000 in West Africa, according to the World Health Organisation.

The toll of 6,928 dead showed a leap of just over 1,200 since the WHO released its previous report on Wednesday, according to a Reuters news agency report.

The UN health agency did not provide any explanation for the abrupt increase, but the figures, published on its website, appeared to include previously unreported deaths.

A WHO spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Just over 16,000 people have been diagnosed with Ebola since the outbreak was confirmed in the forests of remote southeastern Guinea in March, according to the WHO data that covered the three hardest-hit countries.

Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia have accounted for all but 15 of the deaths in the outbreak, which has touched five other countries, according to previous WHO figures.

In a separate development, Sierra Leone will soon see a dramatic increase in desperately needed treatment beds, but it is not clear who will staff them, a top UN official in the fight against the disease has said.

Sierra Leone is now bearing the brunt of the eight-month-old outbreak. In the other hard-hit countries, Liberia and Guinea, WHO says infection rates are stabilising or declining, but in Sierra Leone, they’re soaring. The country has been reporting around 400 to 500 new cases each week for several weeks.

Those cases are concentrated in the capital, Freetown, its surrounding areas and the northern Port Loko district, which together account for about 65 percent of the country’s new infections, Anthony Banbury, head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, said in an interview with the Associated Press news agency.

“The critical gap right now in those locations are beds. It’s as simple that: We need more beds,” said Banbury, who spoke by telephone from Ghana, where the mission is headquartered.

Only about 350 of some 1,200 promised treatment beds are up and running, according to WHO figures.

‘A long, hard fight’

Five more British-built treatment centres will open next month, tripling the current bed capacity, according to the UK’s Department for International Development. One near the capital is already up and running.

Still, more beds alone are not enough.

“We’re concerned that the partners who have signed up to operate the beds won’t be able to operate them in the numbers and timeline really required,” Banbury said. He is flying to Sierra Leone to address that problem.

The UN had hoped that by December 1, the end of the outbreak would be in sight: Two months ago, it said it wanted to have 70 percent of Ebola cases isolated and 70 percent of dead bodies safely buried by that date.

WHO numbers show they are significantly short of that goal and Banbury acknowledged that the overall goal would not be met. He stressed that tremendous progress has been made, and many places throughout the region would meet or even exceed the targets set.

“As long as there’s one person with Ebola out there, then the crisis isn’t over and Ebola is a risk to the people of that community, that country, this sub-region, this continent, this world,” he said.

“Our goal and what we will achieve is getting it down to zero, but there’s no doubt it’s going to be a long, hard fight.”

Source: Reuters And AP

Plague outbreak kills 40 in Madagascar

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WHO warns of deadly disease spreading in densely populated capital city with weak healthcare system.

Plague, a bacterial disease, is mainly spread from one rodent to another by fleas [Al Jazeera]

Plague, a bacterial disease, is mainly spread from one rodent to another by fleas [Al Jazeera]

by Al Jazeera

An outbreak of plague has killed 40 people out of 119 confirmed cases in Madagascar since late August and there is a risk of the disease spreading rapidly in the capital, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

So far two cases and one death have been recorded in the capital Antananarivo but those figures could climb quickly due to “the city’s high population density and the weakness of the healthcare system”, the WHO warned on Friday.

“The situation is further complicated by the high level of resistance to deltamethrin (an insecticide used to control fleas) that has been observed in the country,” it added.

Plague, a bacterial disease, is mainly spread from one rodent to another by fleas. Humans bitten by an infected flea usually develop a bubonic form of plague, which swells the lymph node and can be treated with antibiotics, the WHO said.

If the bacteria reaches the lungs, the patient develops pneumonia (pneumonic plague), which is transmissible from person to person through infected droplets spread by coughing.

It is “one of the most deadly infectious diseases” and can kill people within 24 hours. Two percent of the cases reported in Madagascar so far have been pneumonic, it added.

The first known case of the plague was a man from Soamahatamana village in the district of Tsiroanomandidy, identified on August 31. He died on September 3 and authorities notified the WHO of the outbreak on November 4, the agency said.

The WHO said it did not recommend any trade or travel restrictions based on the information available about the outbreak.

The last previously known outbreak of plague was in Peru in August 2010, according to the WHO.

(Reuters)

‘Entire villages disappeared’: Ebola deaths in Sierra Leone ‘underreported’

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Reuters / Susana Vera

Reuters / Susana Vera

by RT

Ebola’s toll on Sierra Leone is much greater than previously thought, with entire villages killed off by the virus. This means up to 20,000 people could have succumbed to the disease by now, a senior coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) believes.

According to Rony Zachariah, coordinator of operational research for MSF, the Ebola impact on Sierra Leone is in fact “under-reported,” AFP quotes.

“The situation is catastrophic. There are several villages and communities that have been basically wiped out. In one of the villages I went to, there were 40 inhabitants and 39 died,” Zachariah told the agency.“Whole communities have disappeared but many of them are not in the statistics. The situation on the ground is actually much worse.”

The latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) put the total number of dead at 4,951 out of 13,567 recorded cases.

But the real total could be up to 20,000 people dead, Zachariah argues. “The WHO says there is a correction factor of 2.5, so maybe it is 2.5 times higher and maybe that is not far from the truth. It could be 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000.”

Zachariah also highlighted the shortage of healthcare workers in the country.

“You have one nurse for 10,000 people and then you lose 10, 11, 12 nurses. How is the health system going to work?” he said.

Even at this point, the pace of dealing with Ebola is slow, he added. “We might get a vaccine and a treatment…but even now we need to go much faster because the clock is ticking…We want action now.”

Meanwhile, the latest cases of Ebola in Spain and the US have sparked fears of an even bigger outbreak, prompting Canada to step up its border security so as to limit the risk of infection spreading into the country.

The federal government announced on Friday it is suspending the processing of visa applications for residents and nationals who have been in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in the last three months. The same goes for permanent residence applications.

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