10 Minute Test Diagnoses Ebola, Dengue, Yellow Fever

Ebola is continuing to infect people in the West Africa, but current testing techniques for the disease still take too much time. A new paper strip diagnostic device developed at MIT can spot Ebola, as well as dengue and yellow fever, simultaneously within ten minutes.

Using lateral flow technology, the device works much like a pregnancy test strip. Three different kinds of silver nanoparticles are used, each type having antibodies for a specific disease attached to them. When blood is passed through the strip the target viral proteins latch onto their matching antibodies and pull up the silver nanoparticles. The color of the test strip identifies the viral infection that the patient has. Hopefully this easy to use technology can lead to fewer people being infected and can help those that have the virus to receive earlier care.

From the study in Lab on a Chip:

Rapid point-of-care (POC) diagnostic devices are needed for field-forward screening of severe acute systemic febrile illnesses. Multiplexed rapid lateral flow diagnostics have the potential to distinguish among multiple pathogens, thereby facilitating diagnosis and improving patient care. Here, we present a platform for multiplexed pathogen detection using multi-colored silver nanoplates. This design requires no external excitation source and permits multiplexed analysis in a single channel, facilitating integration and manufacturing.

Study in Lab on a Chip: Multicolored silver nanoparticles for multiplexed disease diagnostics: distinguishing dengue, yellow fever, and Ebola viruses…

MIT: Simple paper strip can diagnose Ebola and other fevers within 10 minutes…

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Government Yellow Fever Vaccination Center in Hyderabad

Here are some details regarding getting Yellow Fever Vaccination done at Hyderabad.
It would be helpful if people would share their experiences and point out any helpful tips/ errors on the blog since I do not have any personal experience, and all of this information is collected from online resources

Location
 Institute of Preventive Medicine, Public Health,  Labs and Food (Health) Admn., Narayanaguda, Hyderabad - Tuesday and Friday - 09:00 AM – 02:00 PM
09441152515 (M), 040-27557728, 040-27567894

Website: http://results2.ap.nic.in/vaccination/

" GUIDELINES FOR TRAVELLERS before taking appointment For all vaccinations Original passport is required. 1) Minimum gap of one month should be maintained between 1st & 2nd doses of MMR / Hepatitis B vaccine. 2) Do not take more than 2 vaccines on a single day. 3) Person who have to take multiple vaccines: Once you have completed vaccination on any appointed day, take the next vaccination appointment after a gap of one month. 4) Students who want to go for TB (Mantoux) test and also take MMR Vaccine: (a) First go for Mantoux test, collect report after 48 hours and then take MMR Vaccine. Schedule your MMR vaccine appointment accordingly. (b) There is no need of taking online appointment for Mantoux Test. Timing for Mantoux Test 8.30 A.M to 12.30 P.M. 5) Appointment for Yellow Fever Vaccine will be given on Tuesdays and Fridays only. 6) All vaccines (except yellow fever) have to be purchased outside and brought at the time of appointment. 7) Do not take any vaccine just before your date of departure. Give a gap of at least one week between vaccination and departure day. Service Charges: Rs.50/- per VaccineCharges for Yellow fever vaccine: Rs.200/- (plus Rs.50/- Service charges)"
"Vaccination Appointment for International Travelers (VAIT)
Requirements
·   All Travellers have to get their ORIGINAL PASSPORT at the time of Immunization. (International Certificate of vaccination)
Emergency Travellers have to get their TRAVEL DUCUMENTS (ORIGINAL TICKETS) at the time of Immunization."

More information about Yellow Fever Vaccination at this link
http://results2.ap.nic.in/vaccination/yellow.html

The website seems old and not updated regularly, and the link for online appointment registration was not working when I checked out the website.

Also, in this page http://results2.ap.nic.in/vaccination/yellow.html, it is mentioned that the YF vaccine is only given on Tuesdays.

So get back with more details regarding your experience and share some tips about the Yellow Fever Vaccination Center in Hyderabad.

Fake Yellow Fever certificates sold in Zimbabwe

FAKE World Health Organisation (WHO) Yellow Fever International Certificates of Vaccination are being openly sold on the black market at long distance bus terminuses in Zambia and Zimbabwe, risking the health of scores of cross border travellers who buy these counterfeit certificates.

Yellow Fever which is one of the diseases subject to WHO international regulations is a viral disease common in some parts of Africa and South America.

The disease is transmitted to humans through a female mosquito bite and some countries require a yellow fever vaccination certificate for all travellers coming from either areas infected with the disease or areas where transmission has occurred even though there may be no risk of becoming infected while travelling in the affected countries.

Only two SADC countries, Tanzania and South Africa, reportedly insist on the provision of the certificates before certain travellers enter their countries.

In Zimbabwe travellers are only issued with the certificate after being administered with the vaccine either at private surgeries or at a government or any other health centre.

But because of the high cost of the vaccine, most travellers prefer to acquire the certificate from the black market where one can easily get the medical document for as little as $5 while the drug costs between $50 and $70 in private pharmacies.

“I was forced to buy the fake card last week from a tout at Lusaka bus terminus. The tout convinced me that if I don’t buy the card, Tanzanian immigration officials were not going to let me into their country without the card,” said Moses Lindela who travelled to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam to collect his car.

Lindela said he only realised that the card was fake when he presented it to immigration officials at Tunduma border post. He was lucky as the officers did not endorse the passport but referred him to a mobile clinic at the border post where he was issued with a genuine certificate after being vaccinated.

Another traveller, Charity Rakapeta, said she bought the fake certificate at Harare Road Port last year after she failed to raise enough money for vaccination at a private surgery.

“All the clinics which I visited had run out of the vaccine and the nurses advised me to get it from private pharmacies. But just because I could not afford the charges at the private pharmacies, I ended up buying the cheap fake certificate at Road Port,” said Rakapeta.

Some Zimbabwean travellers have run into serious trouble at ports of entry in Tanzania after acquiring the fraudulent certificates which have got fake WHO logos and fake doctor stamps and seals.

Close to 900 million people live in areas at the risk of the disease which has no cure.

Source

WHO investigating reports that Ebola may have infected ISIS camp in Mosul

ARTICLE | JANUARY 3, 2015 - 8:44AM

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is investigating reports that ISIS militants have been showing up at an Iraqi hospital with Ebola.

According to three media outlets, an undisclosed number of militants displaying signs of the disease attended a hospital in the ISIS-held city of Mosul, 250 miles north of Baghdad.

While the reports, from Kurdish and pro-Iraqi sources, remain unconfirmed, WHO spokesman, Christy Feig, said the group is trying to reach out to officials in ISIS-held areas to offer help.

UN workers are currently banned from entering ISIS-controlled areas in both Iraq and Syria so it is unlikely an operation in the region could be carried out.

Ms. Feig told Mashable: ‘We have no official notification from [the Iraqi government that it is Ebola.’

The symptoms of Ebola are similar to those of other diseases including malaria and yellow fever.

Mosul has been under control of ISIS since June 2014 and over the past few weeks, militants have reportedly executed more than a dozen doctors for refusing to treat injured fighters.

According to a report in Iraq’s pro-government newspaper, al Sabaah, the disease was brought to Mosul by ‘terrorists’ arriving ‘from several countries’ and Africa.

The symptoms of Ebola, which include nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding and bruising, are similar to those of other diseases including malaria and yellow fever meaning it could easily have been misdiagnosed.

In addition, very few ISIS fighters are believed to have travelled up from West Africa where the Ebola outbreak originated with most coming from areas where there have been no reports of the disease.

The reports have appeared in pro-government and Kurdish media but if true, it could have catastrophic implications for people in ISIS-held areas as the group is against western science and medicine.

It is not known if any of the surviving doctors in Mosul are equipped to test for Ebola or trained to treat patients and prevent the spread of the disease.

ISIS fighters pictured in June 2014, when the extremist group swept through Iraq seizing territory including the city of Mosul

Yesterday the United States and its allies staged 29 air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq on Wednesday, the Combined Joint Task Force said.

The action in Syria included 17 strikes near the cities of Al Raqqah, Dayr az Zawr and Kobani. A variety of Islamic State buildings, fighting positions and units were hit.

In Iraq, 12 strikes targeted Islamic State buildings, fighting positions and units near the cities of Mosul, Fallujah and Sinjar.

Fighters, bombs and remotely controlled aircraft were used.

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