Tuesday, January 22, 2008

This week in pandemic flu, emerging infectious disease: Concerns focus on more than just bird flu

While health officials around the world continue to track avian flu cases, they are also keeping their eyes trained for other infectious diseases that are emerging as a threat or are making a comeback. Among the diseases that are on the radar are dengue, MRSA, tuberculosis and cholera, according to headlines reported by APHA's Get Ready news Twitter.

Among the infectious disease headlines reported recently by the Get Ready news Twitter are:

*Vietnam to vaccinate 400,000 children against cholera
*Cambodia bracing for dengue fever outbreak
*Family docs in UK on alert for MRSA strain in nurseries, schools and gyms
*Measles epidemic in north Nigerian city
*Tropical dengue fever may threaten U.S.
*TB major health problem in Afghanistan
*Horse flu spreads in Mongolia

For links to these and dozens of other news stories and resources, visit the Get Ready Twitter.

New information is posted each weekday, so check back regularly for updates, or sign up for our RSS feed. Our Twitter headlines can also be read on the Get Ready for Flu blog.

2 comments:

Sarah Patrick said...

Our APHA Affiliate received an APHA/Kellogg grant (thank you very much!). At our mid-year meeting yesterday, a health lobbyist provided some advocacy training. We put together information from the Get Ready campaign (and the state version, bReadySD.com) for our legislators and took the information to the capitol. Hopefully this will start some of the necessary outreach and discussion between public health advocates in this state and our elected officials.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the information, Sarah. We're glad to hear that the Get Ready campaign is helping you advocate on pandemic flu and emerging infectious disease. For others out there who may want free materials, be sure and check out the Get Ready fact sheet page at http://www.getreadyforflu.org/pg_facts.htm