Monday, May 5, 2014

May 2014. Chikungunya declared an epidemic in the Caribbean

http://www.caribbean360.com/news/chikungunya-declared-an-epidemic-in-the-caribbean?utm_source=Caribbean360%20Newsletters&utm_campaign=aed9667c44-Vol_9_Issue_010_Sunday_News5_4_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_350247989a-aed9667c44-39414761#axzz30oLSVKbn

Chikungunya declared an epidemic in the Caribbean

ORANJESTAD, Aruba, Thursday May 1, 2014, CMC – The head of the Caribbean Public Health Authority (CARPHA), Dr James Hospedales, has declared the Chikungunya virus has reached epidemic proportions in the Caribbean.
“By definition this is an epidemic since it represents an unusual number of cases of this problem where we would never have it before,” Dr Hospedales told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
The mosquito-borne illness was first detected in the Caribbean in December 2013, in St Martin, and last week Antigua and St Vincent and the Grenadines became the latest countries to declare an outbreak.
St Lucia’s Chief Epidemiologist says the focus is on surveillance to stave off a potential Chikungunya virus outbreak. (HTS Channel 4/YouTube)
According to Dr Hospedales, as of April 28, there were 4,108 probable cases in 14 countries across the region.
He also stated that Caribbean countries have been putting measures in place to address the spread of the virus.
“PAHO (the Pan American Health Organisation) since 2012 had done a preparatory briefing, in July of last year we convened a Caribbean-wide virtual meeting of the chief officers in the countries in the labs, to highlight this emerging threat and to adjust our surveillance protocols and laboratory testing to have early detection.
“In December, once it came into the region we established an incident management team, and that has regular contact with the countries, with PAHO, with the French and so on,” Hospedales said.
Chikungunya is spread by the Aedes Egypti mosquito, which also spreads dengue fever.
Hospedales noted there are steps that can be taken to contain the disease.
“Our main recommendations are to continue to educate members of the public on the current situation, and get accurate information to avoid confusion.
“It is very important to inspect homes and communities to eliminate potential vector breeding sites for the Aedes Egypti mosquito,” he said.
He also advised that people who are sick with fever and suspect they may be suffering from dengue or Chikungunya, should use an insect repellant and sleep under a mosquito net.
“This is not a severe disease, in that people don’t die from it, whereas dengue can kill you, but Chikungunya has more long term a significant percent of people will have joint pains one year, two years afterwards,” Hospedales said.
To date Chikungunya virus has been confirmed in Anguilla, Aruba, Virgin Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Barthelemy, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Maarten (Dutch) and St Martin (French).


Read more: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/chikungunya-declared-an-epidemic-in-the-caribbean#ixzz30oMcuVL1

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Special Announcement: White House Maker Faire


05/02/2014
Private Sector Update
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Created and distributed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Private Sector Office private.sector@dhs.gov | 202-282-8484
May 2, 2014

White House Maker Faire - Summer 2014

This summer, the White House will host its first-ever Maker Faire to highlight the work of 
entrepreneurs and inventors who represent the next generation of American innovation.  
During the Maker Faire, the White House will announce new commitments from federal 
 agencies and the private sector to expand access to Maker education and entrepreneurship.  
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Private Sector Office invites our private sector 
partners to participate and learn more about this opportunity.
Industry, academia, and communities all play an important role in strengthening the Maker 
 ecosystem. Your organization can help by contacting the White House Office of Science and 
Technology Policy at maker@ostp.gov to suggest ways to grow and improve this ecosystem. 

A selection of private sector commitments will be announced at the Maker Faire, 
so please click here to submit yours today.
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Chicago: Country Club Hills police chief gets five years in prison

http://www.suntimes.com/27180113-761/former-country-club-hills-police-chief-gets-five-years-in-prison.html#.U2XnF_ldXvk

Chicago Sun-Times

Former Country Club Hills police chief gets five years in prison


Former Country Club Hills police chief ReginEvans. |  Sun-Times Media
Former Country Club Hills police chief Regina Evans. | Sun-Times Media
Updated: May 2, 2014 2:28AM

 

SPRINGFIELD — Described by the prosecution as a “scourge” on Chicago, ex-Country Clubs Hills Police Chief Regina Evans was sentenced late Thursday to five years in prison for stealing more than $900,000 in state grant money.
Opting against the 10-year, one-month sentence that federal prosecutors sought, U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough nonetheless told Evans that she “broke the law in magnificent fashion with a magnificent fraud.”
The heart of government’s fraud case against Evans centered on her misuse of a $1.25 million state work-training grant that was part of her effort to revive the Regal Theater on the South Side. Evans pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money-laundering and conspiracy charges last year.
“That’s what makes your fall from grace so shocking to me, the fact you of all people knew these were crimes,” Myerscough said, alluding to Evans’ background on the south suburban police department and her lengthy time as a homicide detective and narcotics officer with the Chicago Police Department.
After a day of emotional testimony from her daughter, ex-husband, minister and family friends, Evans delivered a tearful 10-minute apology for her crime that drew sobs from many of the roughly two dozen supporters who crowded into the federal courtroom in downtown Springfield.
“I made some bad decisions in my journey to save the Regal Theater,” a gaunt-looking Evans, dressed in a red jumpsuit with her ankles chained, told the judge.
“I made a mistake. I was wrong. But is that enough to take my life away and keep me away from my child and family?” Evans asked, alluding to a 15-year-old son she still has at home.
Her 60 months in prison is to be followed by three years of supervised release, with the first year to be served in home detention. The remaining two years of supervised release require her to do 20 hours per week of unpaid community service.
Plus, Evans was ordered to make immediate restitution to the state for more than $917,000 in funds that prosecutors say was spent improperly from a $1.25 million Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity work-training grant tied to her and her husband’s renovation of the Regal Theater.
“To this day and very minute, she has never acknowledged the extent of the carnage she has caused,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass said in a blistering argument for a lengthier term.
“She’s not a person of complete, good character,” he continued. “She’s been a financial and personal scourge on the city of Chicago.”
To drive home those points, the prosecution brought forth one witness, who is a quadriplegic music promoter from Milwaukee, to testify how Evans bankrupted him by not sharing at least $262,900 in ticket sale revenue he was owed from a 2008 rap and hip-hop concert he staged at a Dolton venue she owned.
“Ms. Evans ruined my life. That’s all I can say,” Robert Sain, 31, said as he sat in his wheelchair while testifying remotely via video from Milwaukee.
But Evans’ lawyer, Lawrence Beaumont, outlined a far different picture of his client as he made the pitch to Myerscough to impose a 36-month sentence on his client.
Beaumont cited her decorated work as a suburban and city police officer and noted that former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. got a more lenient 30-month prison term for misusing $750,000 in campaign funds and Beanie Babies tycoon Ty Warner avoided prison altogether despite evading almost $5.6 million in taxes.
“She was a chief of police at Country Club Hills for part of this time. She was for 21 years a Chicago police officer,” Beaumont told Myerscough. “But she literally risked her life for the people of the city of Chicago. She’s been shot at on multiple occasions. She’s been attacked on multiple occasions. She’s saved people’s lives on multiple occasions.”
Without naming names, Beaumont lashed out at the prosecution during the hearing, accusing the government of having a “misguided vendetta” because after she “made telephone calls,” she didn’t deliver any prized political pelts sought by prosecutors.
“In my humble opinion, part of the prosecution in this case had some kind of vendetta against her because she refused to cooperate or didn’t cooperate the way they felt she should against some political people in Chicago. They seem to want to take that out on her, which in my opinion is inappropriate,” Beaumont said.
During testimony in her two-day sentencing hearing, U.S. Postal Inspector Basil Demczak indicated the government criminal investigation into grant fraud at the Department of Commerce and Opportunity remains ongoing.
Asked later to clarify those remarks, Bass said, “I can only speak for what’s in the record. Again, what’s in the record is what Inspector Demczak testified to, and that is this case arose from an investigation of DCEO’s employment opportunity grant program that was targeted at helping underrepresented persons, underprivileged minority persons in the Chicago-area community.
“The investigation involved not just looking at Ms. Evans as one grantee but the entire program and whether or not other persons, other grantees, or other public officials had engaged in any wrongdoing. Inspector Demzak testified that investigation is ongoing,” Bass said, declining to name any targets.
Much of Thursday’s testimony revolved around a succession of character witnesses Beaumont brought forth to bolster his case for leniency, including Evans’ daughter, minister, ex-husband and a man she took in as a troubled youth.
“I just really miss my mother,” her 31-year-old daughter, Jennifer Joanes tearfully told the court.
Dennis Banahan, a former Chicago police lieutenant to whom Evans was married for seven years in the 1990s, broke down as well when he testified that his ex-wife has “got a heart the size of Alaska but warmer.”
As for the charges she pleaded guilty to, Banahan called them “preposterous” and refused to accept them as fact, suggesting his ex-wife admitted wrongdoing merely because “she’s afraid of going to prison for 20 years.”
And Nicholas Mobley, 35, told Myerscough that Evans took him in and cared for him as a teen when his mother had AIDS. Mobley compared Evans to “a female Martin Luther King.”
Bass pounced on that comparison.
“Dr. King didn’t steal from people, did he?” Bass asked.
“I’m not aware of that,” Mobley answered.
Before she handed down Evans’ sentence, Myerscough seemed to dismiss much of what she was hearing from the former police chief’s supporters, saying much of the testimony didn’t comport with the massive fraud prosecutors had proven and that she had admitted to.
“It’s almost as if there’s a delusion somewhere in this room,” the judge said.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Health Alert Network: Confirmed Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in U.S. (Indiana)

http://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00361.asp


Confirmed Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) Case in Indiana, 2014
 Health Alert Network logo.

This is an official
CDC HEALTH ADVISORY
Distributed via the CDC Health Alert Network
May 3, 2014, 16:30 ET (4:30 PM ET)
CDCHAN-00361 
Summary

The first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection in the United States, identified in a traveler, was reported to CDC by the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) on May 1, 2014, and confirmed by CDC on May 2. The patient is in a hospital in Indiana after having flown from Saudi Arabia to Chicago via London. The purpose of this HAN is to alert clinicians, health officials, and others to increase their index of suspicion to consider MERS-CoV infection in travelers from the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries. Please disseminate this information to infectious disease specialists, intensive care physicians, primary care physicians, and infection preventionists,as well as to emergency departments and microbiology laboratories.

Background

The first known cases of MERS-CoV occurred in Jordan in April 2012. The virus is associated with respiratory illness and high death rates, although mild and asymptomatic infections have been reported too. All reported cases to date have been linked to six countries in the Arabian Peninsula: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and Kuwait. Cases in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Greece, Tunisia, Egypt, and Malaysia have also been reported in persons who traveled from the Arabian Peninsula. In addition, there have been a small number of cases in persons who were in close contact with those infected travelers. Since mid-March 2014, there has been an increase in cases reported from Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Public health investigations are ongoing to determine the reason for the increased cases. There is no vaccine yet available and no specific treatment recommended for the virus. In some cases, the virus has spread from infected people to others through close contact. However, there is currently no evidence of sustained spread of MERS-CoV in community settings. Additional information is available at (http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/index.html).

Recommendations

Healthcare providers should be alert for and evaluate patients for MERS-CoV infection who 1) develop severe acute lower respiratory illness within 14 days after traveling from countries in or near the Arabian Peninsula, excluding those who only transited at airports in the region; or 2) are close contacts of a symptomatic recent traveler from this area who has fever and acute respiratory illness; or 3) are close contacts of a confirmed case. For these patients, testing for MERS-CoV and other respiratory pathogens can be done simultaneously. Positive results for another respiratory pathogen (e.g H1N1 Influenza) should not necessarily preclude testing for MERS-CoV because co-infection can occur.

Clusters of patients with severe acute respiratory illness (e.g., fever and pneumonia requiring hospitalization) without recognized links to cases of MERS-CoV or to travelers from countries in or near the Arabian peninsula should be evaluated for common respiratory pathogens. If the illnesses remain unexplained, providers should consider testing for MERS-CoV, in consultation with state and local health departments. Healthcare professionals should immediately report to their state or local health department any person being evaluated for MERS-CoV infection as a patient under investigation (PUI).

Additional information, including criteria for PUI are at  http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/interim-guidance.html. Healthcare providers should contact their state or local health department if they have any questions.

Persons at highest risk of developing infection are those with close contact to a case, defined as any person who provided care for a patient, including a healthcare provider or family member not adhering to recommended infection control precautions (i.e., not wearing recommended personal protective equipment), or had similarly close physical contact; or any person who stayed at the same place (e.g. lived with, visited) as the patient while the patient was ill.

Healthcare professionals should carefully monitor for the appearance of fever (T> 100F) or respiratory symptoms in any person who has had close contact with a confirmed case, probable case, or a PUI while the person was ill. If fever or respiratory symptoms develop within the first 14 days following the contact, the individual should be evaluated for MERS-CoV infection. Ill people who are being evaluated for MERS-CoV infection and do not require hospitalization for medical reasons may be cared for and isolated in their home. (Isolation is defined as the separation or restriction of activities of an ill person with a contagious disease from those who are well.).

Providers should contact their state or local health department to determine whether home isolation, home quarantine or additional guidance is indicated since recommendations may be modified as more data becomes available. Additional information on home care and isolation guidance is available at http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/hcp/home-care.html.

Healthcare providers should adhere to recommended infection-control measures, including standard, contact, and airborne precautions, while managing symptomatic contacts and patients who are persons under investigation or who have probable or confirmed MERS-CoV infections. For CDC guidance on MERS-CoV infection control in healthcare settings, see Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Hospitalized Patients with MERS-CoV athttp://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/infection-prevention-control.html.

For suspected MERS-CoV cases, healthcare providers should collect the following specimens for submission to CDC or the appropriate state public health laboratory: nasopharyngeal swab, oropharyngeal swab (which can be placed in the same tube of viral transport medium), sputum, serum, and stool/rectal swab. Recommended infection control precautions should be utilized when collecting specimens. Specimens can be sent using category B shipping containers. Providers should notify their state or local health departments if they suspect MERS-CoV infection in a person. State or local health departments should notify CDC if MERS-CoV infection in a person is suspected. Additional information is available athttp://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/guidelines-clinical-specimens.html.

Additional or modified recommendations may be forthcoming as the investigation proceeds.

For More Information

For more information, for consultation, or to report possible cases, please contact the CDC Emergency Operations Center at (770) 488-7100.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protects people's health and safety by preventing and controlling diseases and injuries; enhances health decisions by providing credible information on critical health issues; and promotes healthy living through strong partnerships with local, national and international organizations.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

HAN Message Types
·        Health Alert: Conveys the highest level of importance; warrants immediate action or attention. Example: HAN00001
·        Health Advisory: Provides important information for a specific incident or situation; may not require immediate action. Example: HAN00346
·        Health Update: Provides updated information regarding an incident or situation; unlikely to require immediate action. Example: HAN00342
·        Info Service: Provides general information that is not necessarily considered to be of an emergent nature. Example: HAN00345

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This message was distributed to state and local health officers, state and local epidemiologists, state and local laboratory directors, public information officers, HAN coordinators, and clinician organizations.
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Funding Opportunities For Universities To Support Homeland Security R&D

http://www.hstoday.us/single-article/dhs-announces-two-funding-opportunities-for-universities-to-support-homeland-security-r-d/c39ab1c1fe606b48c07924b216377f19.html

DHS Announces Two Funding Opportunities For Universities To Support Homeland Security R&D
By: Homeland Security Today Staff
05/02/2014 (10:34am)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) Office of University Programs announced two funding opportunities for US academic institutions to conduct homeland security research and education.

The first opportunity is a cooperative agreement, up to $20 million over a five-year period, to fund the creation of a new DHS S&T Center of Excellence (COE) for Coastal Resilience to conduct research enhancing the homeland security mission to safeguard people, infrastructure, communities and economies from catastrophic coastal natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes. The new Coastal Resilience Center will evaluate future climate trends and their impacts on coastal resilience, focusing specifically on the US East and Gulf Coast regions.

A second opportunity is a cooperative agreement, up to $20 million over a five-year period, to fund the creation of a new DHS S&T COE for Borders, Trade and Immigration Research to conduct research enhancing the homeland security mission to secure our borders, facilitate lawful trade and travel, effectively enforce our immigration and customs laws, grant immigration and citizenship benefits and, ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.

Both funding opportunities are seeking Center Lead and Center Partner institutions.

DHS COEs work closely with DHS component agencies to conduct research, develop and transition mission-relevant science and technology to an operational environment, and educate the next generation of homeland security technical experts. DHS funds the COEs through cooperative agreements, and each COE is led by a US college or university. COEs work with DHS to leverage existing relationships with public and private sector partners, as well as other subject matter experts, to enhance homeland security missions and capabilities in their topic areas.

The funding opportunity announcements are available at grants.gov for Coastal Resilience Center Lead institution and Partner institution, and for the Center for Borders, Trade and Immigration Research Lead institution and Partner institution.

For additional information about the DHS COEs, visit DHS S&T Centers of Excellence.

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