Measles

Now there's an outbreak of measles in the Netherlands, I've got a reason to blog about.. Measles.
So far, 30 people have been lab-confirmed to have measles. Most, if not all, of these people live in the Dutch 'bible belt', a region in the Netherlands where many people do not have their children vaccinated for religious reasons.[1][2][3]

The last measles outbreak in the Netherlands was in 1999/2000, and yes, this was in the very same bible belt region.[1][2][3]
One way or another, this once again proves that vaccinations can be quite useful.

Measles is a highly contagious disease which generally affects children. One sick person may infect about 10 or more people.[1]
For those of you studying epidemics: its reproductive rate Ro is about 13, which is remarkably high. (The reproductive rate for smallpox is only 6 or so, go figure how contagious measles really is..)
Because of their weaker immune systems, malnourished children are at risk of dying, but even in the Netherlands, children have been known to die because of measles.

Bacterial/Viral/Fungal/Parasitic: Viral
Causative agent: Rubeola
Incubation time: about 2 days
Antibiotics of choice: - 
Antivirals of choice: -
Toxins / Factors: - 
Bioterrorism agent category: ? (I think it sucks..)
Vaccine available: Yes
[4]

Influenza

Seeing as the Netherlands is suffering some mild epidemic (over 51 out of every 100.000 people with flu-like symptoms), I might as well dedicate a post on the well-known and fearsome Influenza virus.

Influenza is a pesky disease affecting the respiratory system. I think about everyone's had it at some point in their lives.

Bacterial/Viral/Fungal/Parasitic: Viral
Causative agent: Influenza A / Influenza B / Influenza C
Incubation time: about 2 days
Antibiotics of choice: - 
Antivirals of choice: Adamantanes, amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir (Tamiflu), zanamivir (Relenza)
Toxins / Factors: - 
Bioterrorism agent category: ? (I think it's a potentially good weapon, though..)
Vaccine available: Yes, although none of them grant full immunity [1]

The info regarding Influenza has been updated as of January 11th, 2013.

Dutch Vaccination Programme & HPV

Hey folks,
It's been a while.
Been studying anatomy and physiology for a while now. College really takes away all your time..
Either way, I'm working on a PBL assignment at the moment, and I figured I might as well put it online.

Although it only deals with the Human Papillomavirus(HPV) and the Dutch's way of dealing with immunization, it might just cover some information you might need for whatever assignment.

Roleplay situation: Aside from studying Health & Life Sciences, I also happen to work at a consulting bureau. I'm visiting some kid named Bram, whose parents don't have their children vaccinated for religious reasons. Their kid has a nasty cough, which sounds achingly similar to a dog's barking.
After I'm done visiting the family, I wonder whether my little sister should get a HPV shot or not..

Proof of vaccination

Last update: November 26th, 2012

Plague

Blackened skin. Swollen lymph nodes. Rats and other pests. Fleas. Ew.
You know what I'm talking about. The Plague.
It's caused more human deaths than any other infectious disease, save for malaria and tuberculosis.[1]

It's caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium.
It's primary host is the rat, and the intermediate hosts between rats and humans are fleas. (Guess that gives me another reason to lay down rat/mouse traps.)
Since it primarily infects rats, but sometimes infects humans as well, it is a zoonotic disease. (disease which primarily infects animals, although it can also cause disease in humans)
Infected rats generally die soon after infection, but the survivors develop a chronic condition in which the animal can keep transferring the disease to other organisms.[1]

Alright, my little pet hamster doesn't carry fleas,
but that isn't the case for every pet rodent..

Yersinia pestis can cause multiple forms of plague:
- Sylvatic plague
- Bubonic plague
- Septicemic plague
- Pneumonic plague

Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli

Wooot, spare-time-post! No, seriously. My crazy timetable decided to give me 3.5hrs off between classes. Seriously? What the hell am I supposed to do? Oh wait. My teachers finally checked my writing assignment on EHEC. 8.5 out of 10 pts, hehe..

Well, let's get to the point.

Salmonellosis

Mhm.. Smoked Salmon..

I like salmon. Especially smoked salmon. It's also one of the only kinds of fish I'll eat without fussing. Until my stomach started acting up after eating smoked salmon for lunch.
I figured it was because my salmon was several days past the "Use By.." date. Either that, or it contained some pathogen. But the diarrhea was only short-lived and very mild, so I continued eating salmon, because smoked salmon is so very expensive (yeah, yeah, I'm a cheapskate, I know). I figured I was immune to the pathogen anyways, because when I continued eating the salmon on a daily basis, it never bothered me anymore.
2 weeks later, somewhere between the 4th and 6th of October, I received a letter from the store telling me that it might have been infected with Salmonella. Oops?

Flu Epidemic Europe 2012?

I came down a week ago with a random flu-like disease.
My fever came and went, while my throat only felt a little sore for a couple of days. No nasal congestion, no rash. I wasn't sore all over, although it did bring a killer headache.
Aside from this, I was tired 24/7, even when I slept 9 hrs.
It certainly wasn't strong enough to keep me in bed, but it was annoying.

Today, I found a newspaper article in a Dutch newspaper concerning the flu. Title: "Experts predict flu epidemic"

Sp!ts, September 12th 2012

Read on for a sucky English translation (by me)