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Chennai hospital to attempt surgical separation of Pygopagus twin boys

The surgical separation of a pair of Pygopagus twin boys at the Apollo Specialty Hospital in Vanagaram will be the first-ever attempted in India.

Prayers are indeed necessary for the survival and speedy recovery of nine-month-old Ericana and Eluidi, hailing from Kasumulu village in Tanzania, who are joined at the tail-end of their spines and share a single anus and rectum, for they will be undergoing an 18-hour-long ordeal at the operating table.

According to Dr Venkat Sripathi, Senior Consultant Paediatric Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, conjoined twins are seen in one in 200,000 deliveries, with 60 per cent of them being stillborn and 35 per cent of the remaining dying within a few days or months of birth. “However, fusion at the buttocks (Pygopagus) is very rare and account for less than 17 per cent of all conjoined twins,” he said at a media briefing here on Friday.

“Till now in medical literature, only 30 sets of Pygopagus twins have been reported, out of which 26 are female and only four are male,” he pointed out.

The male twins arrived at the Apollo Hospitals for surgical separation under a joint project ‘Save a child’s heart initiative’ with the Tanzanian government. The cost of the surgery, estimated to be around `30-40 lakh, will be met by the Tanzanian government.

Dr Sripathi said the unique and challenging aspect of the separation was the fused phallus, which had to be delicately separated to give each baby a functional penis. A team of 20 doctors from the specialties of neurosurgery, plastic surgery, paediatric surgery and paediatric urology would attempt the separation. “The twins have a 75 per cent chance of survival,” he said to a query.

Awaiting their most transforming moments in their life, the bubbly boys have learnt to speak Tamil from the nurses and lisp words such as athai and thatha.

Source; New Indian Express

Conjoined twins Saba, Farah in critical condition in Bihar

The conjoined twins, Saba and Farah in Bihar are said to be in critical condition and have been admitted to a leading hospital in Patna.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had ordered the Bihar government to look after their medical expenses and provide all kinds of financial help to the family. The twins share a vital blood vessel in the brain. While Farah has two kidneys, Saba has none.

The family of Saba and Farah were provided financial aid after they had rejected surgery to separate the two of them in the absence of funds.

Dr Shyam Sundar, who has been treating the twins said that the twins have been facing complications from the past few days. “Farah has been bleeding from the nose from the past five days with some respiratory tract infection and the blood pressure of both the twins is low. We are still evaluating the cause of the bleeding and a multi speciality team is having a look”, he said.

In case, an operation is being carried out to separate the head, it would prove to be a real medical challenge ,according to Doctor Sundar.

Source: Zee news

U.S. states affected by deadly pig virus now at 20 – USDA

Nebraska has become the latest U.S. state to be hit by a deadly pig virus, bringing the total number of states affected to 20, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week.

The Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) had never been reported in North America until May, when it was discovered in the United States.

The virus has fueled market concerns that U.S. hog supplies will decline steeply next spring and summer.

PEDv causes diarrhea, vomiting and severe dehydration. Hog epidemiologists have found that a large number of very young piglets infected with the virus die.

While the disease has tended not to kill older pigs, mortality among very young pigs infected on U.S. farms is commonly 50 percent, and can be as high as 100 percent, according to veterinarians and scientists studying the outbreak.

To date, more than 1,500 cases, each of which could represent thousands of infected animals, have been reported in 20 states across the Hog Belt. The states include such major pork producers as Iowa, North Carolina, Minnesota and Oklahoma.

As defined by the USDA, each diagnostic case could represent multiple animals at either a single farm site or several locations. The USDA’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network released its latest pig virus data on Wednesday.

Nebraska, the sixth-largest pork production state, had 1.35 million hogs spread over 2,200 operations as of Sept. 1, according to USDA data.

The spread of the disease has heightened scrutiny of the U.S. trucking industry, as livestocktransportation vehicles have been targeted as a possible means of transmission.

The National Pork Board has issued biosecurity guidelines urging transporters to clean, disinfect and dry vehicles that are used to transport pigs and hogs.

The guidelines also include stricter standards for handling of manure by producers and commercial haulers.

Source: Godlike productions

Three die suddenly from rare Lyme disease complication

One was found dead in a car that veered off the road. Two others collapsed and died suddenly without warning. All three may have been killed by an infection known for causing long-term misery, but not one usually considered a killer — Lyme disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports Thursday on the cases of three people who literally dropped dead from a heart infection known as Lyme carditis. The two men and a woman were young, aged 26 to 38, and had not been treated for Lyme disease.

And no one suspected an infection until an astute pathologist readying heart tissue for a possible transplant noticed something wrong.

The first case was one of those inexplicable deaths, when a young, seemingly healthy person dies suddenly from heart disease.

“In November 2012, a Massachusetts resident was found unresponsive in an automobile after it veered off the road. No evidence of traumatic injury was found,” the CDC team and state department of health investigators write in the report. The driver was dead.

In the second case, a New York state resident had chest pain and collapsed and died at home last July. This patient did have an unusual heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, but no one suspected something else might have been involved.

The same month, a Connecticut resident died suddenly while on an out-of-town visit. “The patient had complained of episodic shortness of breath and anxiety during the 7–10 days before death. The patient lived on a heavily wooded lot and had frequent tick exposure; there was no known history of cardio­vascular disease,” experts wrote in the report, published in the CDC’s weekly report on disease and death.

All three were tissue donors. A pathologist at the Cryolife tissue lab in Kennesaw, Ga. noticed something unusual when he was examining the heart valve from one of the victims as it was being prepared for a transplant. “He noticed the histopathology was similar to what he had seen in Lyme carditis,” said Dr. Joe Forrester, a CDC epidemiologist in Ft. Collins, Colo. who helped write the report.

The Ft. Collins lab checked the blood; the CDC in Atlanta checked the tissue and found the characteristic Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria. “We began investigating,” Forrester said.

The Massachusetts victim may have had symptoms of Lyme disease. “Interviews with next-of-kin revealed that the patient had described a nonspecific illness with malaise and muscle and joint pain during the two weeks preceding death. The patient lived alone with a dog that was reported to have ticks frequently,” the report reads.

Forrester said the victim almost certainly did not think anything serious was wrong. “If I had muscle aches and joint pains, I don’t know if I would go to the doctor right away,” Forrester told NBC news.

Only four other deaths from Lyme disease have ever been reported, CDC says — two in Europe and two in the United States. “Pathologists and medical examiners should be aware that Lyme carditis can be a cause of sudden cardiac death,” the agency advises.

Lyme disease is common, and this deadly complication remains very unusual. “We believe it’s rare. We are trying to find out how rare,” Forrester said.

CDC says while 30,000 Lyme cases are reported a year, it’s probably much more common than that — perhaps as high as 300,000 cases a year.

It’s most common in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

It’s not clear what the message for the general public might be – people are already cautioned to avoid being bitten by ticks, especially in areas known to have high rates of Lyme disease. Lyme is caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi and antibiotics usually clear it up. And Forrester says only 1 percent of people infected with Lyme disease get carditis.

There is not a vaccine against Lyme, so CDC recommends using insect repellants — those containing DEET are best — and wearing long sleeves, pants and socks when in wooded areas where ticks might be found.

Source: nbc news

A stone baby found in 82 years old colombian woman

An 82-year-old woman complaining of stomach pain was revealed to have a 40-year-old fetus inside her body.

Multiple news agencies reported that when the Colombian woman when to a doctor in Bogota, they found a lithopedion, or a calcified fetus, inside her stomach.

Also known as a “stone baby,” a lithopedion happens when a mother has a pregnancy that doesn’t develop in the uterus, according to an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Typically the fetuses are more than three months old and found in the abdomen. The fetus lacks circulation, which leads to extra calcium buildup.

Because it is so large, it cannot be absorbed by the body. Instead the fetus becomes calcified until it is removed.

According to the Irish Independent, about one out of every 11,000 pregnancies will turn into a lithopedion. Most women do not know what happened or that they were even pregnant, so it can remain inside them for quite some time.

An article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine explained that the first known case of a lithopedion was found in 1582 in a 68-year-old woman from Sens, France. The fetus was estimated to be about 28 years old.

The Colombian woman was reportedly transferred to a different hospital to have the fetus surgically removed.

Source: Cbs news

NYC requires flu shots for all daycare, preschool children

If your child wants to attend daycare or preschool in New York City, he or she will now be required to get a flu vaccine.

New York City’s Board of Health voted unanimously Wednesday to require all children under 5 attending one of these facilities to receive the vaccine before Dec. 31, right before flu season peaks.

Young children often pass influenza to other children and family members, who then spread the infection to others in the community. This mandate will help protect the health of young children, while reducing the spread of influenza in New York City,” the board said in an emailed statement.

City health officials told CBS News Tuesday they anticipate this effort would affect 150,000 children and, based on traditional vaccine effectiveness rates, prevent more than 20,000 cases of flu in young kids.

“A lot of people have a misconception that the flu is just like the common cold and nothing that needs to be worried about,” said Dr. Jay Varma, deputy commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “In fact, flu is common and can be very serious for children under the age of 5.”

In New York City, children of these ages are already required to receive common vaccines including the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), polio, pertussis (whooping cough), chickenpox and tetanus shots, so flu will just add one more shot to this list.

The rule will be enforced by the facilities, which may choose to exclude a child if he or she doesn’t get the vaccine. If the facility does not keep up to date vaccination records for its kids — as it’s required to do for all childhood vaccines — it could be subject to a fine.

Flu season typically begins as early as October, with the number of cases increasing dramatically by December and often peaking from January through March.

A flu season can range in severity, but children and the elderly are often most likely to be hospitalized or die from disease complications, even kids who were previously healthy.

Last year’s severe flu season killed at least 165 children. In the prior 10 seasons, between 43 and 153 kids died.

Since Dec. 31 is only weeks away, this mandate would not go into effect until next year’s 2014-2015 flu season.

Parent’s can only opt out of the flu vaccine if their child has medical reasons for not being able to take it, which are rare, or for religious exemptions. Philosophical exemptions, such as over vaccine concerns, are not allowed in New York State.

Children entering family daycare, which are held in people’s homes, won’t be subject to the requirement.

According to Varma, only New Jersey and Connecticut have similar requirements for flu vaccinations.

The new rule takes effect in 30 days, according to CBS New York.

“We feel strongly that we are doing something that’s always been done to protect the health of children,” he said.

Source: cbs news

$17.5 bn global investment needed for optimal breastfeeding: Report

A global annual investment of $17.5 billion in interventions to universalize optimal breastfeeding can prevent millions of babies from infant deaths due to diarrhoea and pneumonia besides impaired development and reduce the risk for diabetes, hypertension, cancer and cardiac diseases in adult life, suggests a report.

The report “The Need to Invest in Babies – A Global Drive for Financial Investment in Children’s Health and Development through Universalizing Interventions for Optimal Breastfeeding” was published by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), an international non-governmental organization that monitors and tracks the implementation of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding.

The report was formally released here Tuesday by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.

The report has been launched simultaneously in Canada, Mexico, Egypt, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nepal.

The report notes that out of the 135 million babies born every year, 83 million babies and their mothers are not enabled to optimally breastfeed as recommended by the WHO.

The report challenged the current estimate of $2.9 billion given by the World Bank in 2010.

“Even though breastfeeding has been identified as the most vital intervention to reduce infant deaths and malnutrition in children, it is extremely under-funded. Earlier estimates covered only parts of promotion of breastfeeding and were too low to fund all the necessary interventions of ‘protection’ and ‘support’ to women, which are so critical,” it said.

The report calls the transfer of a minimum of $2 per day for 180 days for lactating women to enable them to remain with their infants during the critical early months without economic pressure to go back to work. This assistance, which globally comes to $12.6 billion annually, is based on World Bank’s poverty line. India and UK have already begun such schemes to support women, it said.

Source: daijiworld

G8 nations sets 2025 target to find treatment for dementia

A pledge by the G8 countries to find a cure or treatment for dementia in 12 years is highly optimistic considering no drug is anywhere close to being developed, health officials have acknowledged.

The promise came at the end of a day-long meeting in London involving representatives of health, business and non-profit sectors from Canada, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and Italy. In a communiqué, G8 health ministers vowed to identify a cure or “disease-modifying therapy” by 2025. They also promised to “significantly increase” the amount they spend on dementia research and share scientific data. They also plan to appoint a global envoy for dementia innovation to co-ordinate international efforts.

“No one here is in any doubt about the scale of the dementia crisis,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told the conference, adding that one new case of dementia is diagnosed every four seconds around the world. “This disease steals lives, wrecks families and breaks hearts.”

The 2025 target immediately came into question and Britain’s Health Minister Jeremy Hunt conceded it was ambitious. “We know that it’s a big challenge and I don’t think we have that cure yet,” he said. “If we don’t aim for the stars, we won’t land on the moon. I think we should be aiming for the stars.”

Dementia is a term used to describe Alzheimer’s and other diseases in which brain cells die in vast numbers. Developing a drug to stop the deterioration has proven fruitless so far despite roughly 10 years of efforts and $12-billion (U.S.) spent by drug companies.

Not one clinical trial has succeeded and officials say some drug makers have given up altogether. Over all, spending on dementia research is a fraction of the amount devoted to cancer, HIV/AIDS and other illnesses, even though the number of those affected is soaring as the population ages. About 44 million people worldwide have dementia, an increase of 22 per cent in three years.

“In terms of a cure, or even a treatment that can modify the disease, we are empty-handed,” World Health Organization director-general Margaret Chan told the meeting. “The ‘business as usual’ model hasn’t worked.”

Harry Johns, chief executive of the U.S. Alzheimer’s Association, said Alzheimer’s is the only disease “among the top 10 killers that has no way to prevent or treat effectively.”

Source: the globe and mail

Pakistani doctor wins $1m to fight child deaths

A Pakistani doctor won a $1 million grant on Tuesday to fight early child mortality in a small fishing village in southern Pakistan in a contest financed by an American entrepreneur to find innovative ways to save lives, The Caplow Children’s Prize said.

A proposal by Anita Zaidi, who heads the pediatrics department at the Aga Khan University in the port city of Karachi, beat out more than 550 other applications from more than 70 countries. The prize was founded and funded by entrepreneur Ted Caplow to find impactful and cost-effective ways to save children’s lives, according to a press release announcing the results.

Zaidi said in a telephone interview that her project will focus on reducing child mortality rates in Rehri Goth, on the outskirts of Karachi. According to Zaidi, 106 out of 1,000 children born in the town die before the age of five. That is almost double the worldwide under-five child mortality rate of 51 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2011, according to UNICEF.

Few of the women in the area of roughly 40,000 people have access to medical care during pregnancy or money to pay for things like multivitamins, said Zaidi. There is no nearby hospital, and women usually give birth accompanied by a birthing attendant with little or no formal training.

When women do run into complications giving birth, the babies often die while the women seek medical care, the doctor said.
The money will be used in Rehri Goth to eliminate malnutrition among expectant and new mothers and their babies, ensure that children have access to primary health care and immunizations and train a group of local women at Aga Khan University to become midwives.

Women taking part in the program would get two medical checkups to monitor their pregnancy, multivitamins to promote a healthy fetus and food if they are malnourished, she said.

Zaidi has been working in the area for the last ten years on various health-related research projects carried out by the university so she was familiar with its needs.

“I know this community. I know what its problems are,” Zaidi said. “It’s a really good match between what the community needed and what this prize was offering.”

Caplow said Zaidi “really gave reassurance that she would be able to do exactly what she said she would do and it would have the impact that she said it would have.”

He added that he and his wife conceived of the prize after they gave birth to triplets who spent a month in an intensive care unit. The prize, which Caplow said would continue next year, was a way to address the disparities in medical technology available around the world.

Source: The Nation

45 deaths due to Japanese Encephalitis in UP, Bihar in 2013

A total of 45 deaths due to Japanese Encephalitis (JE) have been reported from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during this year, parliament was told Tuesday .

All the deaths have been in eastern UP, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

He said while the two eastern UP districts of Gorakhpur and Basti reported 277 cases, 14 were reported from Bihar.

JE is a mosquito-borne disease, the symptoms of which include fever, headache and convulsions. It has a high mortality rate among children.

Azad said a national programme for prevention and control of JE was started with a multi-pronged strategy in 60 high endemic districts of five states, including UP and Bihar.

Some of the aims of the programme were strengthening and expansion of JE vaccination in affected districts, strengthening of surveillance, vector control, access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation facilities to the target population in affected areas, he said.

During the current year, an amount of Rs.346.9 million and Rs.603.83 million is allocated to the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar respectively for controlling the disease, he added.

Source: News track India