# DOE -- Medical and Infectious Disease Update -- Wednesday, May 5, 2004

DOE weekly updates on Bird Flu, Human Influenza, West Nile Virus, or
other illnesses and medical issues will continue as appropriate or as
requested. The following information is current as of Thursday, May 6,
2004, 0700 hours, EST. Information presented is routinely taken from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), <http://www.cdc.gov/>,
The World Health Organization (WHO), <http://www.who.int/en/>, the
Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and
Response System site, (DoD-GEIS) - <http://www.geis.ha.osd.mil/>, and
other creditable sources.

**Recent News**

**[ALLERGY]{.underline}**-**[The Accuweather
page](http://wwwa.accuweather.com/adcbin/public/maps_index.asp?type=airq)**
provides current air quality information with specific charts for
[**Grass
Pollen**](http://wwwa.accuweather.com/adcbin/public/maps_index.asp?type=grass),
[**Overall
Pollen**](http://wwwa.accuweather.com/adcbin/public/maps_index.asp?type=overall),
[**Ragweed
Pollen**](http://wwwa.accuweather.com/adcbin/public/maps_index.asp?type=ragweed),
and [**Tree
Pollen**](http://wwwa.accuweather.com/adcbin/public/maps_index.asp?type=tree)
\...
<http://wwwa.accuweather.com/adcbin/public/maps_index.asp?type=airq>**.**

**[Directory Of DOE Site Medical Clinics Is Available
On-Line](http://tis.eh.doe.gov/health/occhealth/directory.pdf):** DOE
clinic directors are urged to visit this site at the link below, and
verify the accuracy of the information. Please send additions or
corrections to Claudia Beach, RN, COHN, 301-903-9826, E-mail:
<claudia.beach@eh.doe.gov>, or to the Editor **\...**
<http://tis.eh.doe.gov/health/occhealth/directory.pdf>.

[**China confirms 3 more SARS
cases**](http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1083708610549&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724)
-- 5May2004, Toronto Star (REUTERS, aP) \--BEIJING---Three suspected
cases of SARS in this Chinese capital have been confirmed, taking the
number of victims of the latest outbreak to nine, the Health Ministry
said yesterday. All three newly confirmed cases of the highly contagious
deadly flu-like SARS were linked to one viral disease laboratory in
Beijing, it said on its Web site
[http://www.moh.gov.cn](http://www.moh.gov.cn/). Only one of the nine
has died. Six of the confirmed SARS patients were in stable condition in
Beijing\'s Ditan hospital while a seventh confirmed patient in the
capital was expected to be released from hospital after recording a
normal temperature for 18 consecutive days, it said. No new suspected
SARS cases had been reported, it added \...
<http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1083708610549&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724>.

[**Flesh-eating disease strikes third victim in
Maritimes**](http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040504.wxflesh0504/BNStory/National)
-- 4May2004, by *Kevin Cox*, **Globe and Mail** \--A team of federal
epidemiologists is in Saint John this morning looking for the source of
the flesh-eating infection that has killed one person and made another
seriously ill. Nova Scotia reported a case yesterday, bringing the
number in the Atlantic region to three. An unidentified patient at South
Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater is recovering after being treated
in late April. The case is not believed to be related to the other two.
Officials with Atlantic Health Sciences Corp. in Saint John have been
looking for a common denominator in the case of a woman who died of
necrotizing fasciitis on April 30, the same day a patient was diagnosed
as having the potentially fatal disease at Saint John Regional Hospital
\...
<http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040504.wxflesh0504/BNStory/National/>.

[![](media/image1.jpeg){width="1.6041666666666667in"
height="1.1208333333333333in"}**Spinach pigments proposed as blindness
cure**](http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994933) --
2May2004, Duncan Graham-Rowe, **NewScientist** \--A truly extraordinary
cure for some forms of blindness is being proposed. The idea is to add
light-absorbing pigments from spinach to nerve cells in the retina, to
make the nerve cells fire when struck by light. Eli Greenbaum\'s team at
the [Oak Ridge National Laboratories in
Tennessee](http://www.ornl.gov/ornlhome/about.shtml) has been exploring
this possibility for several years. In their latest experiments, the
researchers have shown that adding plant pigments to human cells makes
the cells respond to light. The technique would restore only limited
vision at best - people would be colour-blind, for instance - but
Greenbaum thinks it could provide far better resolution than the
electronic retinal implants being developed \...
<http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994933>.

[**Researchers Confirm Genetic Link Between Hereditary Breast And
Prostate Cancer**](http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/19906.cfm) -
1May2004, NEW YORK, May 1, 2004 --A new study shows that the risk for
prostate cancer is significantly elevated in men who are part of
families with a hereditary form of breast and ovarian cancer.
Researchers at [Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center](http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/44.cfm) have determined that men
in families carrying BRCA genetic mutations have a three- to five-fold
increased risk of prostate cancer. \"While the association between
hereditary breast and prostate cancer has been suspected, this is the
first study of its type to confirm the link,\" said Kenneth Offit, MD,
Chief of the Clinical Genetics Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and
senior author of the study, which is published in the May 1 issue of
Clinical Cancer Research \... The results show that the frequency of
certain BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations was 5.2 percent in the prostate cancer
cases compared to 1.9 percent in the healthy volunteers. When stratified
by gene, the risk for prostate cancer was 4.8 times higher in carriers
of a specific BRCA2 mutation than in the healthy individuals tested \...
<http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/19906.cfm>.

[**Stomach device can make obese people feel
full**](http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-pace29.html) -
29April2004, by *Lori Rackl*, Health Reporter, **The Chicago
Sun*-*Times** \--Researchers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital are
testing what could be a new weapon in the war on obesity: a
\'\'pacemaker\'\' for the stomach that tricks the body into feeling
full. If the device fares well in a large nationwide clinical trial, it
could serve as an alternative to more radical gastric bypass surgery, an
increasingly popular procedure that\'s very effective at getting people
to shed pounds but carries a sizable risk of complications. \"The
problem in America is people eat too much food, period,\" said Dr.
Robert Kushner, lead investigator for Northwestern\'s study. \'\'If we
find this device is effective in producing a sense of fullness like the
preliminary trials suggest, it can be a significant aid to people who
have difficulty following a healthy, portion-controlled diet\'\' \...
<http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-pace29.html>.

**\'Living Bandages\' Heal Burns with Patients\' Cells** -- 27April2004,
by Patricia Reaney \--LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists have
developed \"living bandages,\" made from a patient\'s own cells, which
speed healing for burns and diabetes sufferers. The biological bandages,
launched at the British Burns Association meeting on Tuesday, have been
used successfully on patients with severe burns and diabetics with
chronic wounds. \"It is a convenient way of using the patient\'s own
cells to heal wounds,\" Professor Sheila MacNeil, of the University of
Sheffield, said in an interview. \"This is a simple dressing to take
laboratory-expanded cells and deliver them back to patients\' wounds.\"
MacNeil, who developed the bandages called Myskin with her Sheffield
colleague Professor Robert Short, said the bandages can be placed on
wounds five to seven days after a sample of cells has been taken from
the patient and grown on specialized discs in the laboratory \...
<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=4957682>.

**Bird Flu 2003-2004: Doe Special Medical Update** -- With information
from WHO and the CDC, this update also explains the concepts of viral
infection, viral replication, antigenic "drift", and antigenic "shift"
...
<http://www.eh.doe.gov/health/news/BIRDFLU2003-2004_DOESPECIALUPDATE_B200402091.pdf>
(PDF) or for a choice of PDF or Word format,
<http://www.eh.doe.gov/health/index.html>**,** and scroll down under
\"News and Features\".

**WHO: Avian influenza-fact sheet** -- 5January2004-Avian influenza
("bird flu") and the significance of its transmission to humans ...
<http://www.who.int/csr/don/2004_01_15/en/>.

**[2004 West Nile Virus Activity in the United States, reported to
CDC.](http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/index.htm)**
[Maps](http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/surv&control04Maps.htm)
reporting WNV avian and veterinary activity occurring during 2004 are
updated regularly. Human disease cases have been reported in Ohio.

**2004 West Nile Virus Activity in the United States\
(reported to CDC as of April 28, 2004\***)\
\
![](media/image2.png){width="4.631944444444445in"
height="3.317361111111111in"}

\*Currently, WNV maps are updated regularly to reflect surveillance
reports released by state and local health departments to the CDC
Arbonet system for public distribution. Map shows the distribution of
avian, animal, or mosquito infection occurring during 2004 with number
of human cases, by state. If West Nile virus infection is reported to
CDC Arbonet in any area of a state, that entire state is shaded
accordingly.

<http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/index.htm>

George R. Gebus, MD, MPH, Editor

US Department of Energy

Office of Occupational Health, EH-53/270CC

19901 Germantown Road

Germantown, MD 20874-1290

Phone: 301-903-2876

Fax: 301-903-5072

Email: <george.gebus@eh.doe.gov>

<http://www.eh.doe.gov/index.html>