# DOE -- Medical and Infectious Disease Update -- Wednesday, May 26, 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 27,
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>**.**

**[Updated]{.underline} [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>.

**Aspirin May Avert Breast Cancer:** Risk of Estrogen-Related Types
Falls With Use, Study Finds - 26May2004, by *Rob Stein*, **Washington
Post** Staff Writer \--Aspirin, which has already been shown to cut the
risk for heart attacks, also appears to reduce the chances that women
will be stricken by breast cancer, researchers reported yesterday. A
study involving 2,884 women found that those who took aspirin on a
regular basis were about 28 percent less likely to develop breast cancer
than those who never used the popular painkiller \...
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55708-2004May25.html>.

**Moldy Buildings Tied to Respiratory Problems** - 26May2004, by *Rob
Stein*, **Washington Post** Staff Writer \--Damp, moldy buildings can
make asthma worse and cause coughing, wheezing and other breathing
problems in healthy people, but there is no good evidence that they can
cause other illnesses, the National Academy of Sciences concluded
yesterday. \... \"Because excessive dampness is prevalent in buildings
and is associated with a range of respiratory symptoms, it constitutes a
public health problem,\" said Noreen Clark, dean of the University of
Michigan School of Public Health. She led a nine-member expert committee
that reviewed the issue for the academy\'s Institute of Medicine (IOM)
\...
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55697-2004May25.html>.

**Vaccines for food diseases in prospect** -- 24May2004, **The
Washington Times**, New Orleans, LA (**UPI**) \--U.S. researchers said
they are making promising steps toward developing vaccines against
foodborne diseases. Researchers at Ohio State University Gunn developed
a strategy using a live, crippled strain of Salmonella bacteria that do
not cause disease and outfitting it with pieces of other bacteria to
stimulate immunity to multiple infectious agents. The researchers
modified the vaccine strain so that it also contains a gene from another
foodborne pathogen, called Listeria monocytogenes. When they gave the
modified oral vaccine to mice, it protected them 100 percent against
lethal doses of both foodborne bacteria \...
<http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040524-102422-9710r.htm>.

**A \'warning sign\' in flesh of sheep** - 24May2004, by *Donald G.
McNeil Jr.*, **The International Herald Tribune** \--Prions, the
misfolded proteins that are widely believed to cause brain-wasting
diseases, have been found in sheep muscle, scientists announced - the
first time they have been discovered in animal flesh that many humans
normally eat. But the scientists emphasized that the finding did not
mean that lamb or mutton posed a danger to humans. \"The risk of
transmission from sheep to humans is very, very low,\" said Olivier
Andreoletti, a prion specialist at the National Veterinary School in
Toulouse, France, and lead author of the study, which was published on
Sunday in Nature Medicine \...
<http://www.iht.com/articles/521496.html>.

**It\'s prime time for Lyme disease** -- 23May2004, **The
Pilot-Independent** \--It\'s mid-May, the weather\'s turning warmer, and
more Minnesotans are venturing outdoors. That means it\'s prime time for
Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, state health officials
warn. \"Anyone planning to spend time in tick country from now through
mid-July needs to protect themselves from deer ticks,\" said Harry Hull,
M.D., the state epidemiologist with the [Minnesota Department of Health
(MDH)](http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/lyme/index.html).
Deer ticks carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, an illness that
can cause debilitating arthritis as well as serious heart and nervous
system problems. \"This is the peak time of year for Lyme disease, the
time when the risk of being exposed to the illness is greatest,\" said
David Neitzel, a tick-borne disease specialist with MDH. \"Eighty
percent of Minnesotans who develop Lyme disease are exposed to the
illness between mid-May and mid-July\" \...
<http://www.walkermn.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=7&story_id=174026>.
**More information about Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases is
available on the MDH Web site at**
<http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/lyme/index.html>**,or**
<http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/submenus/sub_lyme.htm>.

**Vitamin D Deficiency Called Major Health Risk** -- 21May2004, *by Rob
Stein*, **Washington Post** Staff Writer, WASHINGTON \--Many Americans,
particularly African-Americans, may be suffering from unrecognized
deficiencies of a key nutrient \-- vitamin D \-- that increase the risk
of bone problems and perhaps a host of other diseases, a growing number
of scientists say. Pediatricians scattered around the country have been
surprised to see children suffering from rickets, a bone disorder caused
by vitamin D deficiency that had been largely relegated to a bygone era.
A few doctors have come across adults who were disabled by severe muscle
weakness and pain, sometimes for years, until they were treated for
undiagnosed vitamin D deficiency. And recent studies suggest low vitamin
D may be putting the elderly at higher risk for the bone-thinning
disease osteoporosis and life-threatening falls and fractures. But
beyond bone and muscle problems, some evidence suggests a dearth of
vitamin D may be associated with an array of more serious illnesses,
including many forms of cancer, high blood pressure, depression, and
immune-system disorders such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis
and diabetes \...
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43711-2004May20?language=printer>.

**Discovery In Parasite Movement May Offer Insights Into Malaria** --
21May2004, *by Leslie H. Lang*, **UNC School of Medicine**, CHAPEL HILL
\--[University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill](http://www.med.unc.edu/cgi-bin/news/display_summary.pl) scientists
have discovered a protein in the cell wall of parasites that's crucial
to the molecular mechanism allowing them to move between cells, survive
and cause disease. The discovery was made in Toxoplasma gondii, an
organism that can cause blindness and brain damage in people with an
impaired immune system and can cause severe disease in first-trimester
fetuses. In addition, the organism is used as a model experimental
system for studying the closely related mosquito-borne malaria parasite
Plasmodium. \"The way these organisms move and the way their movement is
controlled is absolutely critical to their ability to cause disease,\"
said Dr. Con Beckers, associate professor of cell and developmental
biology at UNC's School of Medicine. \"Movement is necessary for these
parasites to spread within the host animal, it is necessary for their
ability to enter host cells, and movement is also necessary for
parasites to escape from the host cell, to swim off and find a new
cell\" \...
<http://www.unc.edu/news/newsserv/archives/may04/malaria052104.html>.

**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.

**2004 West Nile Virus Activity in the United States\
(reported to CDC as of May 26, 2004\***)\
\
![](media/image1.png){width="7.019444444444445in"
height="4.145833333333333in"}

\*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, if any, by state. If West Nile virus infection is
reported to CDC Arbonet in any area of a state, that entire state is
shaded accordingly. A human disease case has been reported in New
Mexico.

<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>