Mysterious pneumonia that turned out to be Legionnaires’ disease, polio continues to spread in Pakistan and fear of West Nile fever in Israel
At the end of the week, a disturbing report was published about a mysterious pneumonia in Argentina, which has already killed four people out of about 11 patients, in the same clinic in the province of Tucumán in the northwest of the country. Since the corona disease also started this way at the end of 2019, several warning lights were lit, but a closer examination reveals that it is apparently the Legionella bacteria, a well-known and common bacteria in the world that spreads through contaminated water systems, and it is not the beginning of a new pandemic.
Monkey pox
The number of deaths linked to monkeypox in the world has reached 19. The dead from the past week are the second case in Brazil and Peru, and the first case in the USA and Belgium. It is still not certain that monkeypox is the main cause of death for all of them. Of the 706 known cases of monkeypox in Belgium, 32 required hospitalization. Almost 20,000 cases of the disease have been discovered so far In the US, at least 31 of the cases were discovered among children. Nine of the cases of sick children were discovered in Texas alone, and in Florida, 2 children under the age of 4, not from the same family, got sick. The first case of the disease was discovered in El Salvador in a woman who was in contact with people who came from the USA. Here in Israel there are already about 240 confirmed cases of monkeypox, according to reports from the Ministry of Health.
West Nile fever
Also in Israel, the Ministry of Health announced today about mosquitoes infected with the West Nile fever virus that were discovered in Nahal Sorek in the Palmachim area, in the youth village of Ben Shemen and in a drainage canal near the Sharaga camp north of Acre. The disease is transmitted through poultry and infects humans only through mosquito bites. It is usually a mild disease, but its complications can even lead to death. One patient has already died this year in Israel. The Ministry of Health also recently announced several cases of rabies among animals in the north of the country, the latest of which is a stray dog in Kibbutz Yaraon. Rabies is an incurable disease, and the only way to prevent it in case of infection is a rapid vaccination that is given free of charge at health offices. In any case of a bite or scratch from a stray animal, contact the nearest health office and follow its instructions.
Almost 20,000 monkeypox cases have been discovered in the US so far. | Illustration: TUMEGGY / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Corona
And regarding the corona epidemic, the number of deaths in Israel as of August 29 (the day on which at least five people died from corona) was 11,620, and has not been updated since then as of the moment of writing these lines. While the disease continues to fade in Israel, the number of patients in serious condition has dropped below 100, with less than 400 people hospitalized with Corona in hospitals. The average number of patients per day is less than 1,000 for the second week in a row, and only two settlements were defined as red at the end of the week. However, the coefficient of contagion is still steadily increasing and approaching 0.9. The extent of the disease in the country is still shrinking, but doing so more and more slowly.
In the coming days, the Novavax vaccine against Corona, a classic technology vaccine of a protein presented to the immune system, will be available at health insurance companies. The vaccine is suitable for those who cannot or do not want to receive the common mRNA vaccines in Israel from Moderna and Pfizer. Also last week, vaccines adapted to the Umicron variant of the companies Pfizer and Moderna were approved as a boost dose in the US, next week discussions will also begin in Israel on the approval of the vaccine.