Ebola’s deadly return
CONAKRY: Four people have died of ebola in Guinea in the first resurgence of the disease there in five years.
Health Minister Remy Lamah said officials were concerned about the deaths, the first since a 2013-2016 epidemic — which began in Guinea — left 11,300 dead across the region.
One of the latest victims was a nurse who was buried on February 1, National Health
Security Agency head Sakoba Keita said.
“Among those who took part in the burial, eight people showed symptoms: diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding,” he said. “Three of them died and four others are in hospital.”
The World Health Organisation is treating another outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a global health emergency.
A WOMAN who travelled to the Northern Territory from Victoria has been fined more than $5000 for breaking selfquarantine to get takeaway.
The 20-year-old arrived in the Territory on February 11 and was required to selfisolate, but when police and public health officers checked on the woman on Saturday, she was not at home.
She later arrived at her home in a friend’s vehicle, admitting she had travelled to get takeaway.
“Her lack of consideration for the community’s wellbeing is disappointing,” Acting Commander Scott Pollock said.
The penalty for failing to abide by the Chief Health Officer’s directions is $5056 for an individual, and $25,280 for a business.
RADIATION accidents have jumped almost 30 per cent in a year, with mishaps including the wrong body parts being scanned and 37 pregnant women being exposed to radiation by mistake.
In total, an estimated 400 Australians had unnecessary scans, 37 were given the wrong radiation dose and mammography equipment failed on 39 women, health records show.
“These incidents have the potential to significantly affect patient outcomes if this is not picked up and wrong clinical decisions are made based on this imaging,” the Australian Radiation Incident Register’s annual report found.
A national database shows a 290 per cent rise in incidents since 2013.
Human error was the major culprit, behind three-quarters of the accidents.
Some of the accidents included a pregnant woman waiting for an ultrasound being given a CAT scan instead and being exposed to a dose of radiation. Another patient had been called, but the pregnant woman had a similar name and responded by mistake.
In another mishap, a patient was misdiagnosed with a malignant spinal tumour instead of it simply being inflammation.
As a result the patient received toxic radiation treatment.
Worryingly, computer malfunctions, power blackouts and equipment failures contributed to one in five incidents, frequently resulting in patients having to be re-scanned and receiving a double dose of radiation. Errors involving radiation can be some of the most insidious of all medical mishaps, as the repercussions, including elevated cancer risks, may not be known for years.
Medical Radiation Safety expert Deirdre Elder, from the University of Colorado Hospital, said it was essential for medical errors to be documented and investigated “so root causes can be determined and staff can be trained and held accountable”.
Scientists at the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency said the higher figures reflected more awareness and reporting, not a fall in standards.
BRAZIL’S President Jair Bolsonaro has issued a series of decrees further relaxing gun control laws in Brazil, one of the far-right leader’s signature issues.
The decrees increase the number of firearms Brazilians can own from four to six — or up to 60, for those who practice recreational sport shooting — and authorise them to carry up to two guns in public. They also double the amount of ammunition that gun enthusiasts can buy for specially regulated weapons to 2000 rounds per year, and scrap controls on access to specialised sharpshooter scopes, pre-20th-century firearms, and ammunition up to 12.7mm in caliber.
Another decree eases licensing requirements.