Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Derek Wong
“Wong’s Virology” http://virology-online.com
Terms
Containment – to contain the disease as to prevent it from
becoming a worse problem. Containment is usually the only
option available for the majority of infectious diseases.
Elimination – to eliminate the disease even though the
infectious agent may remain e.g. rabies and polio had been
eliminated in many countries, and probably SARS in 2003.
Eradication – to eradicate the infectious agent altogether
worldwide e.g. smallpox
Epidemiology (Gr.Studies upon people)
Aedes Aegyti
Assorted Ticks
Day Di f f erence
Epidemiological Aspects
Incubation around 6 days.
Spread by droplets – no evidence it is an airborne disease. Uncertain
whether faecal-oral spread can occur.
Health care workers were at special risk, especially those involved in
procedures that may generate aerosols. In some cases, transmission to
health care workers occurred despite that the staff was wearing full
protection.
Risk of transmission is greatest at around day 10 of illness
No evidence that patients can transmit infection 10 days after fever has
resolved.
Children are rarely affected by SARS
Super Spreading Events
Some infected individuals have spread the infection to large numbers
of people. They were originally called superspreaders but WHO now
prefer to call them superspreading events.
In Hong Kong, 3 superspreading events occurred:
Metropole Hotel – the mechanism is not completely understood.
Prince of Wales Hospital – the use of a nebulizer by the patient was
responsible.
Amoy Garden – this was a unique event. The index patient was a 33-yr
old man with chronic renal disease treated at PWH. He visited Amoy
Garden frequently and had diarrhoea over a 3-day period. Dry U-traps in
bathroom floors allowed contaminated sewage droplets to enter
households.
Control Measure Taken
PPE provided for hospital staff, patients and visitors to hospitals. In
the later stages, hospitals were closed to visitors and all patients had to
wear masks.
Home quarantine for contact cases.
DH supervised cleaning and disinfection of the workplaces and homes
of those infected.
Residents of Amoy Garden Block E were first quarantines before
transfer to a camp.
Public education campaigns for workplace ad personal hygiene
Schools were closed.
Future Control Measures
Better drugs should be available
Anti-viral prophylaxis
Vaccines
More sensitive diagnostic tests would enable the early
detection of cases.
Better surveillance system
Better contingency procedures
Better education and facilities.
H5N1 Avian Influenza
H5N1 Avian Influenza
First human infection by a highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza was
reported in Hong Kong in 1997. 18 persons were infected with 6 deaths. The
outbreak was eventually controlled after culling all the chickens.
The virus resurfaced in Feb 2003 to cause 2 infections (one fatal) in a Hong
Kong family who had recently traveled to China. It began to cause outbreaks
in the rest of Asia that year that were unnoticed.
In 2004, Vietnam and Thailand started reporting human infections, followed
by Cambodia, Indonesia and China in 2005. The strains exhibited divergence
in these localities.
It is now thought that highly pathogenic H5N1 is now firmly endemic Asia
and has also spread to Russia and Southern Europe.
It is thought that the virus is carried by migratory birds.
Human Cases Reported to the WHO as of April 2008
Country
cases deaths cases deaths cases deaths cases deaths cases deaths cases deaths cases deaths
Azerbaijan 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 5 0 0 0 0 8 5
Cambodia 0 0 0 0 4 4 2 2 1 1 0 0 7 7
China 1 1 0 0 8 5 13 8 5 3 3 3 30 20
Djibouti 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Egypt 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 10 25 9 4 1 47 20
Iraq 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 3 2
Laos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 2
Myanmar 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
Nigeria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
Pakistan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 3 1
Thailand 0 0 17 12 5 2 3 3 0 0 0 0 25 17
Turkey 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 4 0 0 0 0 12 4