Swine flu: world on high alert

World health officials, racing to extinguish a new flu strain that is jumping borders, raised a global alert level to an unprecedented level as the outbreak claimed more lives in Mexico.

"At this time, containment is not a feasible option," said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organisation, which raised the alert level to Phase 4. With the swine flu having already spread to at least four other countries, authorities around the globe are like fire fighters battling a blaze without knowing how far it extends.

The World Health Organisation raised the alert level to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country. Monday was the first time it was raised above Phase 3. Putting an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans.

Affected countries
Mexico, with the most number of deaths believed to be caused by swine flu rose to 152, is the suspected ground zero of the outbreak. Fifty cases - none fatal and most of them mild - were confirmed in the United States. Worldwide there were 79 confirmed cases, including six in Canada, one in Spain and two in Scotland. Thirteen are suspected in New Zealand, and one is suspected in both France and Israel.

South Africans should not panic over swine flu which is spreading in some parts of the world, the health department said on Tuesday.

"To date, there are no cases of swine influenza reported in South Africa," spokesman Fidel Hadebe said in a statement. However, adequate measures had been taken to ensure the country could respond swiftly should there be any cases. These included having outbreak response teams in all provinces and heightened clinical and laboratory surveillance to identify any suspected human cases.

The department was working closely the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the agriculture department and the World Health Organisation in keeping an eye on the situation.

Meanwhile pork producers moved to assure the public that their products were not affected by the current outbreak, which they said could only be spread between humans. "People can eat pork and the virus is definitely not in South Africa," said Simon Streicher, chief executive officer of the SA Pork Producers Association. "We have tested our pigs over the last couple of years for swine flu and all our pigs were negative," he said.

Symptoms
Symptoms include a fever of more than 37.7 degrees Celsuis, coughing, joint aches, severe headache and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhoea.

The epidemic in Mexico has been deadly, with many victims in their 30s and 40s - not the very old or young who typically succumb to the flu. So far, no deaths from the new virus have been reported outside Mexico.

It could take 4-6 months before the first batch of vaccines are available, WHO officials said. Some anti-flu drugs do work once someone is sick.

Prevention methods
Richard Besser, the CDC's acting director, said his agency is aggressively looking for evidence of the disease spreading and probing for ways to control and prevent it.

But the new flu strain is a combination of pig, bird and human viruses that humans may have no natural immunity to.

The best way to keep the disease from spreading, Besser said, is by taking everyday precautions such as frequent hand washing, covering up coughs and sneezes, and staying away from work or school if not feeling well. � (Andrew O. Selsky - Sapa/AP, April 2009)

MSN Health

High alert for measles this Easter

Six measles cases have been reported in Pretoria and the national health department is warning all travellers to be vigilant for symptoms this Easter.

Six measles cases have been reported in Pretoria and the national health department is warning all travellers to be vigilant for symptoms this Easter.

Spokesman Fidel Hadebe said on Thursday none of the six cases was fatal.

"With the start of the Easter holidays and cross-border travelling this weekend, members of the public are urged to remain on high alert."

"Measles is a highly infectious viral disease that usually occurs during the winter and spring seasons (world-wide) and is spread through droplets of saliva and secretions from the nose," he said.

According to the department, common symptoms of the disease include high-fever, cough, runny nose, and teary eyes about two to three days before a typical rash appears.

"With most people expected to travel during this Easter period, members of the public are urged to be alert for any of the symptoms and make contact with the nearest health care facility.

"So far, all clinics, both in the private and public sector, have been alerted about the disease and infection control measures are been implemented," Hadebe said.

HIV becoming more virulent

Damage to patients� immune systems is happening sooner now than it did at the beginning of the HIV epidemic, suggesting that the virus has become more virulent, researchers report.

Conventional wisdom says several years will pass between HIV infection and the need for antiretroviral therapy. However, clinicians have observed that patients are entering HIV care with lower initial CD4 cell counts than in previous years, and now often require antiretroviral therapy soon after entering care, raising the question of whether HIV has become more virulent.

US researchers studied data from more than 2 000 HIV-positive active-duty military personnel, retirees, and dependents between 1985 and 2007 who had tested HIV-negative within the previous four years.

When they looked at patients� first CD4 count after HIV diagnosis, they found that it decreased from an average of 632 cells per square millimetre in 1985-1990 to 514 in 2002-2007.

Additionally, 25% of patients diagnosed with HIV in recent years already had fewer than 350 CD4 cells per square millimetre, the threshold for when antiretroviral therapy should begin according to US guidelines, compared to only 12 percent of patients in the late 1980s.

Trend stabilising
The authors note that the trend seems to have stabilised, perhaps due to the widespread introduction of highly active combination antiretroviral therapy.

This is the first study from the United States which shows that the immune cells among recently diagnosed HIV patients has dramatically fallen during the HIV epidemic, the authors said in an official statement. These findings are similar to those found in a study from Europe, which suggests that these trends may be widespread.

�Unfortunately, it may no longer be true that there is a time period of several years between diagnosis and the need for treatment � instead this time-span is shortening� said study author Dr Nancy Crum-Cianflone, of the San Diego Naval Medical Centre. �Early diagnosis is important for several reasons including that patients can enter into medical care and begin treatment before the immune system becomes weak and opportunistic infections develop.�

The study is published in the May 1, 2009 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. � (EurekAlert, April 2009)

Read more:
HIV/Aids Centre
Early ARV treatment saves lives

MSN Health

Unless they were just plucked from the bush

Those "antioxidant rich"
blueberries could have almost
no nutritional value at all!

Revolutionary new blend packs
antioxidant power that never fades away

Dear friend,

They're our greatest weapon against the ravages of time -- antioxidants stave off deadly disease and keep your cells young and healthy.

But here's a newsflash -- you might not be getting anything out of your "5 a day" fruits and veggies.

Because by the time that produce hits grocery store shelves, it could have lost more than half of its antioxidant content! And for every day in your fridge, it's losing even more.

But you don't have to have your own garden to get the age-busting muscle of fresh-picked produce. Not when there's Vital Purples -- packed with the antioxidants of 19 powerhouse fruits and vegetables. Locked in right away, so the antioxidant-punch is always just as powerful as the very day they were picked.

An entire produce aisle --
packed into a tiny scoop

Introducing Vital Purples, the BRAND NEW breakthrough that’s overflowing with...well, everything that makes fruits and vegetables so good for you. Vital Purples loads MORE of the BEST kinds of fruits and vegetables into your diet -- with no grocery bills, no slicing and dicing and no pills.

Every morning you can easily have...

• The extracts of 19 WHOLE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES with every serving
• Ingredients hand-selected for their dark, rich color and loaded with antioxidants
• It’s all loaded into just one powerful scoop a day...

Personally, I love fruit and work hard to eat my five daily servings so antioxidants keep streaming to my cells. But it’s getting harder and harder. You never know where in the world these fruits and vegetables are coming from, there are more and more outbreaks of e-coli every year, and gas prices are sending the price of produce through the roof.

So when I caught wind of a formula that packs 19 whole fruit and vegetable extracts into a delicious powdered drink mix -- I asked my team to get me a supply fast. That’s double the amount in any formula I’ve seen (or even heard of).

But why are fruits and veggies so vital for your diet?

Every piece of fruit and every vegetable is nature’s way of keeping you healthy and feeling your best. Housing essential vitamins, fiber and minerals is one thing...but now we know produce’s real age-defying power comes from antioxidants. The power is truly remarkable...

• Zapping free radicals in their tracks -- the culprit behind deadly diseases
• Helping to keep your cells in tip-top shape so they do their job and do it well
• Even promoting young, tight skin and strong, silky hair

Perfect for the family member that won’t
Go near a vegetable...

We all have a family member or loved one that would sooner starve than try a string bean. To them, they’re one in the same. It could be a wife, grandchild or a friend -- for me it’s my husband. He knows how important veggies are to a healthy diet, but when they’re passed to him at the dinner table...he just keeps on passing.

But Vital Purples is the perfect solution!

You get eggplant, purple carrots, purple cabbage, and beets with every glass...but that can be your little secret. You see, with its great taste any palette looking to avoid veggies will be fooled. Vital Purples tastes sweet and delicious, but delivers the whole food extracts of essential vegetables. Thanks to the all-natural sweetener stevia and the naturally sweet tastes of all those whole fruit extracts, Vital Purples is for people that never get veggies in their diet.

Go ahead and try Vital Purples on your resident "veggie-hater." Getting them to eat their greens -- actually, purples, has never been easier! Order yours today!

Antioxidants are the key to maintaining and protecting your youth.

Imagine powering through your day with surging energy -- never feeling like you want to doze off the whole day. Or never worrying about catching that cold your grandson just picked up. Or having such young and healthy looking skin that people find it hard to believe you’re a grandparent in the first place.

That’s what happens when your body is charged and raring to go with loads of antioxidants.

But when it comes to potent antioxidants -- the ones that keep cat naps away and have people guessing your age -- follow a simple rule: The darker, the better.

Mother Nature’s favorite color -- The POWER of purple

In the produce world -- it just doesn’t get any darker than purple.

Vital Purples gives you 19 whole fruit and veggie extracts in every scoop of powdered drink mix and they’re all from a source that’s either a deep purple color or dark red. Chances are, you only need one hand to count the number of purple fruits you know...and vegetables...are there purple vegetables? Yes, and Vital Purples tracks down nearly every purple fruit and veggie known to man and puts them in one place.

Blueberries, blackberries, black cherries, black raspberries, black currants, plums, elderberries, bilberries, figs, raisins, eggplants, purple carrots, purple cabbage, beets and the most expensive of all fruits...pomegranates.

In fact, the entire globe was scanned to bring you the darkest, most potent purples...

What’s a camu camu?
The most exotic fruits on earth
to skyrocket your health!

Towering over the mighty Amazon river you’ll find the Camu camu tree along the shores. The sweet fruit hanging on the branches is similar to cherries, but is darker in color and you know what that means: It’s brimming with antioxidant power.

But Vital Purples doesn’t stop there...

Scanning the tropical Sudan islands in the South Pacific, you’ll find the very strange mangosteen fruit. The curious looking fruit has a thick white center wrapped in juicy fruit and on top sits a large, green stem. It has no relation to a mango and actually tastes like a juicy-sweet peach. The fruit is delicious, but the real power of mangosteen lies in the skin. Can you guess what color that is? The purple protective skin is just bursting with tons of antioxidants and Vital Purples provides a full 300 mg of mangosteen extract -- using only the potent skin!

Acai fruit, Goji berry, bilberry, pomegranate...these exotic purple powerhouses are fueling Vital Purple’s amazing anti-aging might. But let’s not forget about the basics...

The secret power behind
"ordinary" fruits and veggies

Remember, all of the following extracts are brimming with antioxidants. So you know they’re great for your immune system, energy and brain function right from the get-go. But they have some secrets, too!

Cut the cravings with blueberries -- Blueberries consistently sit atop ORAC value charts, (a measurement of antioxidants) but there’s a surprise. Preliminary research shows blueberry extract may help cut food cravings. In a recent study, animals given a daily dose of blueberry extract decreased their food intake by about 8%! The fruit itself doesn’t have the same effect...good thing Vital Purples is packing loads of whole fruit blueberry extract.

Plus, a study published in a 2008 British Journal of Nutrition showed that pigs fed a diet consisting of two percent blueberries maintained healthy cholesterol levels and helped keep LDL cholesterol in check.

Charge up your cells with...Purple cabbage -- This particular cabbage gets its color from anthocyanins. That’s just a very special kind of antioxidant and purple cabbage packs 36 different kinds in its makeup. Emerging evidence suggests that anthocyanins may provide cellular-protection, improve brain function and promote heart health. Plus, a recent Japanese study shows anthocyanins may help influence the function of fat cells making them a potential "fat fighter."

Support healthy blood pressure with...Figs -- This Greek fruit is usually reserved for desserts and cookies, but with all the calcium, iron, magnesium and fiber it they packs -- we should eat them at every meal. In fact, because they're a rich source of potassium (a mineral that helps support healthy blood pressure when used along with a healthy diet) folks in Okinawa, Japan have been drinking fig juice to support healthy blood pressure and blood sugar for years.
Whether they’re exotic fruits you’ve never heard of or fruits and veggies you’ve loved since childhood, you’re getting 19 power-packing extracts.

Eating these 19 fruits and veggies everyday is very difficult...affording them is next to impossible, but Vital Purples tackles both problems with every glass. Its price puts those grocery store receipts to shame...but more on that in a second. First, there’s a bigger question. How does a mix of eggplants, cabbage and beets taste...?

No added sugar or unnatural sweeteners --
Vital Purples just tastes great!

The first thing you’ll notice when cracking open a fresh jar of Vital Purples is a bright purple springing up from the bottle. That deep purple is 100% natural -- just like every purple ingredient in the mix.

But following right behind the color is a wonderfully sweet smell. Honestly, it smells so good it’ll take you a moment to snap out of it and move on to the taste testing.

Next up, you’re ready to start mixing. Remember, it’s just one scoop a day -- that’s all it takes to get a stockpile of whole fruit and veggie extracts. Pouring one scoop of the sweet smelling purple mix into 6 oz of water, adding a couple of stirs and pow -- you get your nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants in a snap!

The taste is just like the smell -- sweet and energizing. Every glass goes down smooth and tastes like delicious fruits with just a small hint of carrot juice. Plus, there are NO artificial sweeteners...Vital Purples uses the all-natural stevia sweetener to help deliver a refreshingly sweet flavor.

What a relief!
Vital Purples is the complete package

• Heaps of antioxidants from purple fruits and veggies all over the world
• One scoop a day -- 19 servings worth of antioxidants without a single pill
• The deliciously smooth taste other drink mixes strive for

It’s all so easy. A scoop of Vital Purples works with any meal (though I like to start my day with a smooth glass right away). You can just use water or add all these healthy extracts to a glass of apple juice -- the tastes mix perfectly! I even have a friend that mixes Vital Purples with carbonated water for a fizzy dose of anti-aging power.

It’s like strolling down the produce aisle and picking all the juiciest, freshest produce you can grab.

But the price of produce has skyrocketed lately. So with a whole troop of fruite and veggie extracts, Vital Purples must be pricey, right? Actually, you’re going to be pleasantly surprised...

Vital Purples is such a great bargain --
it’s like robbing a grocery store

Imagine this grocery list...

Blueberries, blackberries, black cherries, black raspberries, black currants, plums, elderberries, bilberries, figs, raisins, eggplants, purple carrots, purple cabbage, beets and pomegranates.

And you’ll use A LOT of air miles collecting camu camu, acai fruit, mangosteen, and goji berries...

Don’t forget to get enough of each so you have 5 daily servings for an entire month...imagine the grocery receipt! For all of those exotic fruits and at those quantities you’re getting close to at least $200!

Okay, now take a breather because I have some good news. If you want the healing power of every single fruit and vegetable listed above and not have to sell your car to make ends meet, Vital Purples is for you.

There’s one more thing you should know. Not only are you getting a pile of antioxidants but...

There’s more to Vital Purples than
all those antioxidants

You don’t pack all of those fruits and veggies into one place without getting some other great benefits. Like...

• 3 grams of fiber in every glass! 2,000 mg of soluble fiber, which helps maintain healthy cholesterol. Plus, a diet high in fiber can promote a strong heart, help control weight and maintain proper blood sugar levels.

• A vitamin C punch -- the classic nutrient is upfront and center ready to keep you feeling your best. Vitamin C is essential for growing and repairing tissue, protecting your body from clotting and bruising, and promoting a fast acting immune system.

• Completely vegetarian and yeast free! Everything about Vital Purples is 100% natural -- just like you were picking the fruit from the vine.

When it comes to fighting age --
This PURPLE protector never quits

Trying to follow your doctor’s advice can be hard. Remember, you’ll need over 140 servings a month! But now you can easily get the anti-aging properties of a whole produce aisle without the dreaded receipt.

You see, one bottle of Vital Purples is just $39.95. That’s a downright steal compared to the $200-and-up grocery tab you’ll receive racking up this much produce.

With just $39.95 a bottle, Vital Purples packs 19 whole fruits and vegetable extracts into a delicious drink mix. You have a glass anytime you want and that’s it -- all of your antioxidants in one go.

Vital Purples has all you need to kiss the hassle of the old "5 a day" diet goodbye! Keep your immune system mighty, your hair and skin youthful and strong and your cells armed with free-radical-fighting power -- all without ever biting into a piece of produce. Plus, you’ll get a natural source of fiber in every scoop.

Get the POWER OF PURPLE fruits and veggies into your diet without all the work. All it takes is one scoop a day to get the energy and age-defying might of an entire produce aisle.

Just use the "Order Now" button right below to stock your cabinets with a produce section’s worth of antioxidants.

To your PURPLE health,

Karen M. Reddel

Vice President
NorthStar Nutritionals

P.S. Vital Purples is the BRAND NEW way to get the antioxidant power of 19 whole fruits and veggies into your diet. Taste a delicious glass for yourself. You’ll never believe the smooth, sweet flavor...and how good you feel when your body gets so many antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients. Take the easy road to getting the anti-aging power of tons of fruits and vegetables. Order yours today!

Ebola vaccine tested on human

It was a nightmare scenario worthy of a sci-fi movie script: A scientist accidentally pricked her finger with a needle used to inject the deadly Ebola virus into lab mice.

Within hours of the accident, several members of a tightly bound, yet far-flung community of virologists, biologists and others tensely gathered in a trans-Atlantic telephone conference to map out a way to save her life.

The outcome was stunning. Within 24 hours of the March 12 lab accident, an experimental vaccine - never before tried on humans � was on its way to Germany from a lab in Canada.

Within 40 hours, the at-risk scientist, a 45-year-old woman whose identity has not been revealed, was injected with the vaccine. So far, so good.

If the woman is still healthy on April 2, she can consider herself safe.

90% of Ebola victims die
Ebola hemorrhagic fever, mostly seen only in Africa, is one of the world's most feared diseases. It begins with flu-like symptoms, followed by bloody diarrhoea and vomiting. Days later, some victims begin bleeding through the nose, mouth and eyes.

Depending on the strain of virus, it can kill up to 90% of victims. It has no cure. It is spread through direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person.

Dr. Stefan Guenther, head of the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, where the researcher was working, said tests so far show that the scientist is healthy and free of the virus. The peak period for an outbreak in the 21-day Ebola incubation period passed this week, he said.

"We are now on the downside," Guenther said, noting that with each passing day the chance of infection taking root diminishes.

Unclear if she was infected or not
One complicating factor is that it's not entirely clear the researcher was actually infected with the virus. At the time of the accident, she was wearing three layers of protective gloves. Though the needle stuck her, the plunger was not pushed so it's not certain the virus entered her bloodstream.

If she doesn't become infected, scientists may not know if it was the vaccine or luck.

There are two other known accidents involving researchers who came into direct contact with a similar strain of the virus. A Russian researcher died from it. A British scientist became ill but survived.

When the accident happened, Guenther knew that he had to act swiftly. He sent out an e-mail to fellow scientists in the Ebola research community. One was Dr Heinz Feldmann, chief of the virology laboratory at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories, a US National Institutes of Health research facility in Hamilton, Montana, who sprang into action.

"We considered this as serious as (the Russian) case, in terms of the exposure," Feldmann said. He was part of an international group of experts from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; the Fort Detrick, Maryland-based US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases; the Canadian Public Health Agency, Boston University and the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Vaccine based on different virus
The night of the accident, Feldmann, Guenther and several other experts in Ebola research were on the teleconference debating the options: a live vaccine developed by Feldmann and colleagues, but untried on humans; a treatment designed to interfere with the virus's ability to multiply; and the use of an anti-coagulant that Army research found had saved the lives of monkeys exposed to Ebola.

The one that emerged as the strongest, Guenther said, was the vaccine developed by Feldmann and collaborating researchers at several institutions.

Much of the key works was done about nine years ago in Winnipeg, at a microbiology research lab run by the Canadian government, where Feldmann worked at the time.

Although the vaccine is based on a different kind of virus, researchers used genetic engineering to make the virus look like Ebola, triggering an immune system response.

In a 2008 study, Feldmann and other researchers showed that when given 20 minutes after a lethal dose of Ebola virus, four of eight monkeys survived. There were no vaccine side effects, Feldmann said.

"The group came very swiftly to agreement that this vaccine would be the best ... because it had showed an effectiveness when used after exposure," Guenther said, referring to its use in experiments.

'Saving her life was the priority'
In the end, the woman whose life was at risk made the decision herself. She took the vaccine about 40 hours after the accident. Within 12 hours she had a headache, muscle pain and a fever, but recovered quickly.

"Those are normal reactions to live attenuated vaccines," Feldman said. If no symptoms occur in the remaining several days, "she was either not infected or the treatment was successful," Feldmann said. He noted that while future study of her immune response may help to clarify the question, it will most likely remain open to interpretation.

"It's hard to tell whether we'll ever know if she was infected or not." Either way, Feldmann said scientists cannot draw conclusions about the experimental vaccine's safety or effectiveness. "It was to save her life, that was the priority," he said.

Even so, it might have been five years or more before the vaccine would ever have been tried on a human, because of additional animal studies and production issues, he said.

Guenther expressed hope that the situation might attract more money for more research in the field of such vaccines. "Of course, we can't just go to Africa, now that we have seen such a vaccine went well when used on a human ... but it is also a direction that we will have to pursue," Guenther said.

"Perhaps this will be like a little push, where one says, yes, it's possible. Everything that we are doing on an experimental level can actually be put into practice." � (Sapa, March 2009)

Read more:
Ebola virus jumps species
Three ebola deaths in Congo

MSN Health