They’ve Got It Covered

 

# 5003

 

 

I realized long ago that when it comes to finding and posting `breaking’ medical or disease news, I’m no match for flublogia’s stalwarts like Crof, Chen Qi, or Arkanoid Legent  or the talented and dedicated newshounds on FluTrackers or the Flu Wiki.

 

So, recognizing my limitations, I try to take a couple of items each day and attempt to add value or context instead.

 

While I may not always succeed, it does keep me out of bars and bowling alleys.

 

But I digress . . .

 

The past couple of days has seen an explosion of news reports out of Haiti, and I would be remiss if I didn’t strongly urge my readers to visit Crofsblog several times a day to stay informed.  

 

He is doing a phenomenal job in keeping up with the latest, and his extended commentary this morning Haiti: Cholera as symptomatic relief for attention-deficit disorder is highly recommended.

 

 

You’ll find two areas on my sidebar of particular interest when it comes to keeping up with the latest news.   First, for a list of the latest offerings from Flublogia’s bloggers, you’ll find:

 

 

 

A little further down you’ll find another shorter list of blogs whose feeds don’t always work properly with my blogger real-time sidebar updates.

 

I would urge you to check out, and routinely visit, all of these sites.  

 

Note: Despite its name, `Flublogia’ covers more than just flu.  It embraces just about all of the emerging infectious diseases, along with public health and preparedness issues.

 

You’ll also find links to CIDRAP, and the various flu forums (I personally use FluTrackers and The Flu Wiki), along with dozens of other links of interest.  

 

As long as I’m making referrals this  morning, I would also point out that Maryn McKenna has an important piece on her Superbug blog  called  News break: A new type of MRSA spreads in Ohio

 

No one blog, or any one website, can cover the diverse and rapidly changing world of emerging infectious diseases effectively.  

 

But combined . . .  Flublogia manages to do darn good job.

The News Gathering Blogs

 

 

 

# 4885

 

 

As most of you are no doubt aware, I don’t try to cover every emerging disease story that crosses the wires.

 

Most days, I try to concentrate on the 2 or 3 stories that I find of greatest interest, do a little background research, and present them here with what I hope is useful context.

 

Which means that there are a lot of important stories that simply don’t end up on these pages.  Luckily, I’m not the only blogger covering the EID (Emerging Infectious Disease) beat.

 

I’ve often mentioned the hard work being done by the newshounds on the flu forums (I regularly visit FluTrackers and the Flu Wiki), and I honestly couldn’t do half of what I do without their considerable efforts.

 

They spend countless hours searching hundreds of newsfeeds every day, looking for any hint of an unusual outbreak of a disease in humans or animals.  And they do this not only in English, but in dozens of other languages as well.

 

For more details on how they go about this formidable task, I would direct you to Newshounds: They Cover The Pandemic Front.

 

But I rely also on the work being done by the news gathering bloggers, who do an amazing job every day sifting through news feeds looking for health and disease related stories.

 

 

There are a number of good disease-related news blogs, and you’ll find links to many of them in my sidebar, but I wanted to pay special homage this morning to the three I rely on most.

 

 

Crof of Crofsblog  (who is on a well deserved vacation this week) is the dean of flu bloggers, having been showing the rest of us how it ought to be done for more than 5 years now.  

 

By now, everybody should know Crof’s site. But if you aren’t a daily visitor to his site, you should be. 

 

A relative newcomer to the scene is Arkanoid Legent  out of Malaysia, who consistently provides one of the best daily roundups of infectious disease news on the net. 

 

Arkanoid has a genuine `nose for news’, and has become one of my favorite`go to’ sources for material each day.

 

Paul Klancnik in the Netherlands edits Chen Qi, which provides a tremendous amount of disease news in an easy to read newspaper format. 

 

You’ll find Chen Qi’s focus encompasses the aftermath of natural disasters, as well as disease outbreaks.

 

If you want a good sense of what is going on around the world each day regarding infectious diseases, these three sites will go a long ways towards achieving that goal.

 

I hit each of them several times each day, and am extremely thankful for their efforts.   

 

Highly recommended.

Referral: Chen Qi Covers Haiti

 

 

# 4284

 

Chen Qi is a newspaper format infectious disease site that has done a remarkable job over the past couple of years finding, and often translating, news articles.  While influenza (H5N1 and H1N1) have been a major focus of their efforts, they’ve also covered other diseases and disasters as well.

 

Right now, they are giving a good deal of their attentions to the horrendous earthquake in Haiti. 

 

 

If you haven’t tried Chen Qi, or haven’t visited recently, you ought to check it out.

Iran: Closing Schools, 28 Deaths Reported

 

 

# 3949

 

 

Updated:  PressTV.Ir now reporting 33 Deaths. 

(hat tip Crof at Crofsblog)

 

From Chen Qi, the excellent daily newspaper-style blog on emerging infectious diseases out of the Netherlands, this report from Iran’s Press TV.

 

 

3,000 Iranians contract swine flu, 28 dead

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:18:24 GMT

 

An Iranian health official says 3,000 Iranian citizens have been infected with the A-H1N1 flu across the country as the virus's death toll reached 28.

“Closure of 70 schools in Tehran and many other schools around the country is alarming for authorities,” Majlis Health Commission spokesman told Mehr News Agency.

 

“Majlis Health Commission will meet the country's Health and Education ministers on Tuesday to discuss the latest state of the fatal virus spread in the country,” Mohammadreza Rezaei Kuchi said.

 

The country's health officials urge parents to keep a child with flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough and sore throat at home until the symptoms are gone.

 

“Apart from children and students, tourists, especially Hajj pilgrims, are also another group at serious risk of infection to A-H1N1 virus,” he added.

 

“Majlis will put extra focus on the matter,” continued Kuchi who is a representative form Jahrom.

 

Health officials stressed that adopting simple precautionary measures such as frequently washing hands, using a tissue to cover the mouth when coughing and sneezing, avoiding kissing and touching face and eyes can help contain the virus from spreading.