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16 dead of "mysterious disease" in Kenya

by Paula | 5 May 2009 | permalink | comments
Tags: disease, globalization

Via the pandemic subreddit, from the International Society for Infectious Diseases: UNDIAGNOSED FATALITIES — KENYA: (BUNGOMA), REQUEST FOR INFORMATION:

Date: 3 May 2009
Source: Kenya KTN TV / The Standard [edited]
http://www.eastandard.net/videos/?id=1144013251

‘Mysterious disease’, 16 dead in Kenya

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A total of 16 people have died of “mysterious” disease in western district. Text of report by Kenyan privately-owned TV station KTN on [3 May 2009] (video report available at Kenya News Paper The Standard website):

[Presenter] We have received reports this evening from Bungoma regarding the deaths of about 10 people in Kabula sub-location, in Bungoma South District in a week, from a disease which has not been established. According to area residents, the dead victims suffered from diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding from their noses and eyes before dying.

The residents of the area have accused health officials of failing to take action to stop the deaths and the spreading of the disease. In one homestead, a man his wife and son died one after the other, spreading panic among people. The disease has so far not been established. Our reporter Zubeida Kananu has the details:

[Kananu] This is Remwa village, and soon after our arrival, we met sad and terrified people following the death of a whole family over the mysterious disease. It is said, a boy from this village died on Thursday [30 Apr 2009] this week from the disease and day later, his father died. His mother died shortly afterwards.

[Unidentified man in Swahili] Since he was taken ill, the boy did not speak and uttered no word even to the people attending to him when he was taken to hospital; he just died.

[Kananu] Before their deaths, the victims had diarrhoea, vomiting, shedding tears and blood from their eyes and noses. This disease is mysterious to the villagers. About 16 people from Remwa, Ashioya and Kabula villages in Bungoma district had the same symptoms and died from the disease.

[Second unidentified man in Swahili] People who have attended funeral ceremonies, having washed the bodies of their relatives for burial have died.

[Kananu] Following the eruption and spread of the disease, all pigs in the areas have been confined and some locked in their sheds over fears of the swine flu which erupted in Mexico some weeks ago.

Meanwhile, health officers from the area have been blamed for failing to take appropriate action to tackle the disease.

—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail

[The description of the disease along with the perceived association
with preparation of bodies of deceased cases for burial is highly
reminiscent of descriptions that have accompanied outbreaks of viral
hemorrhagic fever outbreaks in Africa. The symptom complex of
diarrhea and vomiting along with epistaxis (nose bleed) and bleeding
from eyes has also been described in outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic
fevers.

Johnson et al demonstrated antibodies against Ebola virus, Marburg
virus and Rift Valley Fever Virus in residents of Lodwar, Laisamis,
Malindi/Kilifi (see ref 1 below). CCHF has also been described in
Kenya (see ref. 2 below). While there have not been reports of yellow
fever in humans in Kenya in more than 10 years, Kenya is still in the
yellow fever risk zone.

More information on this outbreak would be greatly appreciated.

For a map of Kenya, see
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/kenya_pol88.jpg. The Western Division borders with Uganda where outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic
fevers have been reported in recent times (see prior references below).

For the interactive HealthMap/ProMED map of Bungoma District, Western Division Kenya, see http://healthmap.org/r/00b3.

References:
—————-
1. Johnson BK, Ocheng D, Gichogo A, Okiro M, Libondo D, Tukei PM, Ho
M, Mugambi M, Timms GL, French M. Antibodies against haemorrhagic
fever viruses in Kenya populations. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg.
1983;77(5):731-3.

2. Dunster L, Dunster M, Ofula V, Beti D, Kazooba-Voskamp F, Burt F,
et al. First documentation of human Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever,
Kenya. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 2002 Sep;8. Available at
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol8no9/01-0510.htm

Why the Smithfield-H1N1 question matters

by Paula | 27 April 2009 | permalink | comments
Tags: disease, globalization

I’ve been watching the Smithfield/H1N1 story develop in the blogosphere since Tom Philpott over at Grist first wrote about it on Saturday. A number of valid criticisms have come up in blog posts and in comments that I think warrant discussion, so I want to take a few minutes to address those.

First, a quick note about my political views. One of the more common criticisms I’ve seen is that the Smithfield-H1N1 question is simply a means for liberals to attack business. This may be motivation for some folks, I can’t say; for myself however, I’m about as pro-business as you’re going to find anywhere. I don’t have any ideological issues with businesses growing up to become vast corporations; no qualms whatever about market economics; I think money is fascinating and I want a great deal of it. I think being a venture capitalist would be the coolest job in the world.

That being said I am also deeply pragmatic. I studied science journalism and technical communications as an undergrad at Penn State, so my view of things is much informed by science and technical issues that frequently escape notice. The fact is, consolidation of the global food supply is a phenomenally bad idea from every perspective imaginable, even that of short-term profits. With over $12 billion in annual revenues, Smithfield is the largest producer of pork and pork products in the world, and is therefore the central force behind consolidation of the global pork supply. Smithfield’s actions and inactions reverberate throughout the entire global food industry; the company’s operations are so enormous that even its small missteps can impact countless people around the world. How the company handles responses to the Mexican press, bloggers, and data aggregators such as Veratect is very much worth watching.

Criticism: flies can’t transmit the H1N1 swine influenza virus, and therefore it’s impossible that Smithfield’s hog operations in Mexico, run by its subsidiary Granjas Carroll, might be responsible for the outbreak.

Response: some background science

The H1N1 swine influenza virus is a subtype of Influenza-A virus. Influenza-A viruses infect several species of mammals, including humans, pigs, and birds. Pigs in particular are capable of contracting Influenza-A viruses that are normally associated only with birds, only with humans, and only with swine. When Influenza-A viruses commingle within a herd of pigs, they can share genetic information and mutate into a new strain that can be passed from human to human.

This appears to be what has happened with the latest H1N1 outbreak. It contains genetic material from bird, swine, and human influenza viruses and is capable of passing from human to human.

One of the ways Influenza-A viruses can spread is through manure. Given that H1N1 is an Influenza-A subtype it is entirely possible, if not likely, that flies could carry virus-containing manure particles from Granjas-Carroll CAFO lagoons to people. These need not be injected by the flies directly into humans, such as with West Nile Virus; it is enough that a fly might deposit manure particles containing the virus on a person’s face, hands, or uncooked food.

Please note that this is not merely speculation. Again, quoting the Biosurveillance outbreak timeline:

[A] municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms.

Just in case that didn’t quite sink in: official investigations thus far into the origin of the swine flu outbreak point to Granjas-Carroll CAFO operations as the source of the virus, and that flies carried it from infected manure to humans. This is most certainly newsworthy information. That little tidbit contains more credibility than half the crap that passes as “news” on cable. What is still required is independent confirmation that this is or is not the case.

Criticism: this is just a way for liberal bloggers to try to bring down a good company like Smithfield.

Response: the issues here lean heavily toward conservative concerns and I’m a little surprised the conservative blogosphere didn’t pick it up first.

Primarily, Smithfield’s Granjas-Carroll operations in Mexico represent a major national security threat to the United States. Given the trade agreements between the United States and Mexico that allow goods to flow back and forth across the border almost completely unimpeded, it stands to reason that any reservoir of infectious disease in Mexico will almost certainly find its way to the US.

(And please note that this is not an illegal immigration matter — so far all the reported cases of H1N1 in the United States revolve around American citizens who’ve traveled to Mexico. In my opinion it seems unlikely that illegal immigrants crossing the border could bring the disease here: they would get sick before they ever reached US soil, and even if they did cross the border infected, they tend to stick together in their own communities.)

Moreover, the H1N1 outbreak is a perfect blueprint for anyone with malicious intent and access to a basement lab. Can’t get your designer disease across the US border? No problem! Just take it to Mexico and let American-owned subsidiary CAFOs do the rest. With progress on the Trans-Texas Corridor moving ahead, albeit in a toned-down and modified manner, this should scare the bejeezus out of everyone.

From this perspective it is critically important to identify whether Smithfield’s Granjas-Carroll operations are the source of the H1N1 virus. If they are it would be a case study in potential asymmetrical warfare acts against US interests that can fly totally under the radar, since actors need not even come in contact with any Americans or enter American territory.

Smithfield’s actions also impact business in general — especially if the H1N1 outbreak resulted from a subsidiary’s Mexican CAFOs operating at a lower level of sanitation than their American counterparts. The value of Smithfield stock will plunge, as will the stocks of any public company with Mexican CAFOs under its umbrella. This is pretty much the last thing markets need right now.

If Smithfield — or some other company — doesn’t take the fall on this, it has the potential to create food price inflation by effectively disappearing pork products from consumers’ shopping lists. This scenario would collapse pork prices and drive many hog farms out of business; simultaneously, demand would increase for alternative products as shoppers turn to them en masse, driving up prices across the board. Americans simply cannot afford to absorb the financial consequences of yet another big company’s irresponsibility, be it Smithfield or anyone else.

Criticism: passing along this information is irresponsible, since a definitive link between H1N1 and Smithfield has not yet been established.

Response: not passing it along is even more irresponsible. If the public does not pressure authorities to investigate Smithfield’s Granjas-Carroll operations, it won’t get done; conversely, if Smithfield does not pressure authorities to clear its name, it won’t get done.

Either way, the public is the clear winner on all fronts: environmental, security, financial & business, and health. In the long term, my hope is that this outbreak will wake people up to the fact that consolidating the global food supply is profoundly stupid. Decentralizing the food supply — that is, creating a business climate conducive to the establishment of small and medium-sized farms, processing operations, and packaging centers scattered across the landscape would satisfy the concerns of both the environmental left and the security & business oriented right. It would form the basis of local and regional economic systems that are more resilient against the busts and booms of globalization, and it would put a whole lot of willing people back to work.

As far as I’m concerned, this is the central issue inherent in the Smithfield-H1N1 question. If anything should cause the public to question the wisdom of consolidating the global food supply, this would be it.

Swine flu & Smithfield foods

by Paula | 25 April 2009 | permalink | comments [7]
Tags: disease, globalization

I’m posting here a copy of an email I sent this morning to the ComFood listserv regarding the current outbreak of H1N1 swine influenza virus. If you have further information or links, please add to the comments.

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This morning I’ve been reading about the swine flu outbreak in Mexico which now appears to be crossing the US border, with 5 confirmed cases in CA and 2 in TX. In Mexico, 68 people have died.

According to the swine flu timeline put together by a company called Veratect, who evidently map infection disease events for clients like the WHO & CDC:

Residents [of La Gloria, Perote Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico] believed the outbreak had been caused by contamination from pig breeding farms located in the area. They believed that the farms, operated by Granjas Carroll, polluted the atmosphere and local water bodies, which in turn led to the disease outbreak. According to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to ‘flu.’ However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms. It was unclear whether health officials had identified a suspected pathogen responsible for this outbreak.

Granjas Carroll is a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods. According to the Smithfield Foods website, Granjas Carroll produced 950,000 hogs in fiscal 2008.

So now it looks like Big Ag is not only responsible for poisoning people directly with contaminated foods, but also for unleashing a deadly pandemic.

My question for the list — is this even theoretically possible with small-scale organic hog farming?

Here’s the CDC’s statement about H1N1 swine influenza virus: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/?s_cid=tw_epr_55

CNN: Texas family quarantined with swine flu virus: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/25/swine.flu.family/

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Hat tip to @hyperlocavore who originally tweeted the swine flu timeline link, which is how I got hold of it.

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UPDATE: Swine flu subreddit

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UPDATE 04.25.09 10:00 am: Chinese agribiz giant eyes Smithfield takeover

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UPDATE 04.25.09 11:54 am: So far nothing at Google News for flu smithfield or flu "Granjas Carroll" or flu Cofco

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UPDATE 04.25.09 7:49 pm: The company responsible for putting together the flu outbreak timeline, Veratect, has established a Twitter feed for nearly real-time updates on the unfolding swine flu situation.

Fellow Comfoodie Tom Philpott has broken the Smithfield connection story at Grist.

Huffington Post has indirectly made the connection in its own excellent independent piece, which calls for an investigation of Mexican CAFOs.