Medical Services Gets Request to Ship Dengue Fever Kits to Hong Kong
EDMONTON, Alberta, April 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Medical Services International Inc. (Pinksheets: MSITF) wishes to announce that it has been requested to ship VScan Dengue Fever test kits to Hong Kong immediately. According to our Hong Kong distributor there has been an unexpected outbreak of Dengue Fever in Hong Kong. Public service announcements currently being broadcast in Hong Kong are describing the symptoms of Dengue Fever and if individuals are experiencing these symptoms they are to see their doctor immediately.
The current problem is that the laboratories are taking 2 to 3 weeks to get test results. The key to full recovery from Dengue Fever is immediate fluid replacement therapy. With a delay in diagnosis, fluid replacement therapy is administered too late and the individual can be severely incapacitated or die. Standard recovery time for the mildest form of Dengue Fever without any treatment is 3 to 4 months.
With the VScan Dengue Fever test kit the detection of the Dengue Fever Virus is within 20 minutes and treatment can start immediately.
Early detection means that if necessary, fluid replacement therapy can be used to prevent the collapse of the circulatory system and resulting in the affects of Dengue Fever being minimal. Link
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China Hit by Measles Outbreak
BEIJING: A potentially-lethal measles outbreak has infected at least 300 children in the Chinese province of Sichuan, where crowded rural schools make disease control a problem, local officials said Tuesday.
"Nearly 300 people have been infected by measles ...," said a Sichuan Health Bureau official surnamed Xiao, the China Daily reported.
The official acknowledged that the reporting system was not good and more people could be infected.
"Countryside areas are suffering from bad quarantine conditions and many schools are rather crowded," he said, explaining why the disease, characterised by rash, fever and coughing, had spread.
China is on high alert for infectious diseases following a new outbreak of the respiratory disease SARS.
In many rural Chinese schools, there are around 70 students to a class, often in tiny rooms, providing a breeding ground for disease. Many children in China do not have access to vaccines.
Measles is a viral disease passed between humans through physical contact or through respiratory droplets. It first infects the respiratory tract before showing itself as spots in the skin and a fever. Link
S.Korean Ship Sails with Aid as North Demands More
Wed Apr 28, 2004 04:06 AM ET By Paul Eckert and Lim Jong-nam
SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean ship loaded with instant noodles sailed North on Wednesday to help victims of last week's train blast, as Seoul moved to meet Pyongyang's request for building materials and school supplies.
At least 161 people died and 1,300 were injured in Thursday's blast, which the official KCNA news agency said had the force of 100 one-ton bombs and caused "horrible" damage in a 2.5-mile radius in Ryongchon on the Chinese border.
"(The) strong explosion left many inhabitants blind and deaf," it said. Children are among the injured, aid workers say.
Aid from China and Russia has reached North Korea by land and air, and many other countries have offered help. More is on the way from Japan and the World Health Organization. The United Nations appealed urgently on Tuesday for 1,000 tons of food.
A spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in Beijing that global relief agencies had met emergency needs for medical supplies at Ryongchon, but that authorities were having difficulty sheltering those made homeless by the blast. "There is evidence that some people are, what we feared very early on, back on the streets," said Red Cross spokesman John Sparrow. "They've got tarpaulins as shelter."
He said the 479 patients were spread over six hospitals in the disaster area, with their conditions changing rapidly. "Our impression is that perhaps as many as two-thirds of the serious cases involve children," Sparrow said. He said that the Ryongchon crisis was taxing aid groups' supplies in North Korea.
But almost a week after two trains carrying fertilizer and fuel exploded during what KCNA said was careless shunting, South Korea has been unable to get its supplies in by road or air..... Link