Smileband health topics

Histoplasmosis is an infection caused by a fungus called Histoplasma. The fungus lives in the environment, particularly in soil that contains large amounts of bird or bat droppings. Endemic areas include central and eastern United States, particularly areas around the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys, as well as parts of Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

Symptoms include:

• Fever
• Cough
• Fatigue
• Chills
• Headache
• Chest pain
• Body aches

Transmission

People can get histoplasmosis after breathing in the microscopic fungal spores from the air. Histoplasmosis can’t spread from the lungs between people or between people and animals. Lab Tests & Specimen Info

Test*	Specimen
Immunodiffusion antibody	Serum
Culture	Blood, Sputum

 Isolation Precautions

Standard precautions are recommended in healthcare settings. 

Prevention for Patients
In areas where Histoplasma is known to live, people who have weakened immune systems should avoid doing activities that are known to be associated with getting histoplasmosis, including:

• Disturbing material (for example, digging in soil or chopping wood) where there are bird or bat droppings
• Cleaning chicken coops
• Exploring caves
• Cleaning, remodeling, or tearing down old buildings

Large amounts of bird or bat droppings should be cleaned up by professional companies that specialize in the removal of hazardous waste.

Smileband health topics

Helicobactero pylori is a Gram-negative bacteria that can cause acute or chronic gastritis and has been associated with gastric cancer. Most infections are generally asympotmatic and the bacteria can persist in the stomach for years.

 

Transmission

Transmission is thought to occur by the fecal-oral route or possibly be ingestion of inadequately treated drinking water.

The incubation period is unknown.

Lab Tests & Specimen Info

Test*	Specimen
Culture (culture should be done within 3 hours after specimens are collected)	Gastric material
IgG/IgM Serology	Serum

 Isolation Precautions

Standard precautions are recommended for hospitalized patients.

Prevention for Patients
The source of H. pylori is not known and there are not specific recommendations for prevention.

In general, best practices include proper hand washing, only eating food that has been prepared properly and drinking water from safe clean sources. 

Smileband general news

Call handlers at London's Met Police say they are being threatened with court after they were accidentally overpaid nearly £1 million. Some 500 staff handling emergency 999 calls received £976,574 more than they should have between 2013 and last year. 

Now they are being asked to repay all the money. 

'This has caused astronomic stress, and out job dealing with life and death situations is stressful enough,' a source told The Sunday Mirror. 'I'm being bullied for something that is not my fault.' 

The overpayments occurred after a new computer system was introduced designed to reduce costs. 

Workers said the extra money went unnoticed because wages varied depending on shift patterns. 

They claimed the new system could not calculate correct amounts for part-time workers whose rates changed on weekend and night shifts. One shift worker, who was overpaid £5,000, said they never noticed their overpayments. 

A source, who described the system as 'out of control', claimed several employment tribunals had already taken place — which found in the workers' favour.

Verbal warnings about potential legal action are already understood to have been made by the Met's audit team at Hendon, north-west London. 'I've been threatened with a County Court judgement. It's totally heartless — I'm being punished for a mistake that was not mine.'

A spokesman for the Met Police said: 'We seek to recover all overpayments, normally made over the same period of time they were made. 

'County Court judgements would very much be considered a last resort and only where an individual has repeatedly failed to engage or agree a repayment process. 

Smileband general news

Calling a policeman to report or discuss a crime has become a thing of the past. A nationwide Mail on Sunday survey has revealed that members of the public are facing major problems when they try to telephone local police stations. And finding a police officer on the other end of the telephone is increasingly rare. The majority of forces across the country have introduced telephone call centres, similar to those used by private sector companies, to deal with non-emergency calls. Often these centres are based miles away from the caller's home, adding to the public's sense of detachment from their bobby on the beat. And calls are answered by impersonal civilian operators, increasing the feeling that officers are becoming more inaccessible. In our survey, 58 per cent of the 43 constabularies in England and Wales refused to put callers through to an officer. Instead, civilian staff insisted they take the details. Some calls took up to six minutes to be answered. One Superintendent said: 'This is one of the biggest causes of complaint from the public and I have to sympathise. Ideally, I want a local call centre staffed by my local officers but to do that I'd have to take all my officers off the streets and sit them behind telephone consoles round the clock.' Conservative Home Affairs spokesman Oliver Heald said: 'When people have had a distressing incident they want to feel it's going to be looked at by a police officer. There is no reason why a call shouldn't be fielded but it should be fielded effectively. It's the linking between the call centres and the police which is the key issue.' In recent years most forces have had to reduce the number of local stations that are manned 24 hours because of manpower shortages and efficiency drives. Chief Constables have tried to cover the shortfall by centralising the call systems and making greater use of cheaper civilian staff to process incoming information. Just three police forces, the City of London, Durham and Northumbria, have no plans to abandon the old tried-and-tested telephone system in favour of centralisation. Using the scenario of witnessing a car being broken into, our researchers selected a town at random. They then called Directory Enquiries and asked for the telephone number of the police station in that town. On every occasion but one, the number they were given was for a call centre or headquarters. In only 18 cases were we able to get through to a police officer. In the South-West, we were put through to police officers within seconds. Only Devon and Cornwall put the caller through to a civilian because the station in the randomly selected town of St Austell was closed. Just two forces in the South-East - Bedford and Hampshire - put callers through to a police officer, although they had to hold on for more than five minutes. Sussex police offered to e-mail an officer but could arrange for us to speak to a policeman. We reached officers in both Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. But in Lincolnshire an operator spent several minutes unsuccessfully trying to locate an officer. In the Midlands, only West Midlands police put us through to a police officer. In the North-East, Durham constabulary was the only one that put a caller directly through to an officer. Northumbria and Cleveland also put us through after an initial wait. Forces in Merseyside and Cheshire were the only ones in the North-West who put our researchers through to police. In London, the Metropolitan police connected our researcher to an officer within three minutes. We weren't so fortunate with City of London police - our caller was cut off. In Wales, only Gwent police failed to put us through to a police officer. One operator in Kent told our researcher it was not usually possible for the public to speak to an officer if they phone the call centre, saying: 'Chances are there won't be an officer in the room.' Sussex Police chief constable Paul Whitehouse, who is the communications spokesman for the Association Of Chief Police Officers, said: 'The public's perception that centralised call handling is making the police more remote is perfectly valid and it is something we have to explain. 'Now the numbers of phone calls we receive have increased dramatically, we have to have better systems for the 21st Century. The first step is to make the telephone answering speedier and we've had to centralise for that.' President of the Police Superintendents' Association, Chief Superintendent Peter Gammon, said: 'Just because you are a constable doesn't mean you are any more skilled than a trained civilian call handler. We want to maximise the number of police officers we can get out on patrol or investigating crime.' But Norman Brennan, director of the Victims Of Crime Trust, said: 'I've found civilian staff unhelpful and inexperienced. When you ring to report a crime you want someone to understand what your concern is.'

Smileband general news

Harry Uzoka, who was on the books of Premier Model Management, died from a single stab wound.

Neighbours on Old Oak Road, East Acton, reported a shout of 'hand it over' in the melee which involved several men.

Mr Uzoka, 25, staggered into the street from a housing estate before collapsing.

Today the area around Ollgar House in Ollgar Close was sealed off by police.

Detective Inspector Beverley Kofi said: 'This is another tragic murder with a young male victim who has met a violent death.

'We believe that the incident started Ollgar House, in Ollgar Close and the victim was assaulted and stabbed before staggering and collapsing in Old Oak Road.'We believe there were a number of people involved, but we are still working to establish the circumstances and a possible motive.

'We have made two arrests and continue to pursue a number of lines of inquiry. We need to public's help to piece together what happened - who the victim was seen with, the incident itself and the immediate aftermath. 'If you were in the area at the time and saw anything that could be of significance to the investigation, we would urge you to get it touch right away.' his friends and fans began paying tribute on social media.  

Tributes have flooded into the promising 6ft model, whose face had appeared on billboards in the UK and USA. He had also worked for Zara and Mercedes.

He was also signed to the Los Angeles New Models agency and was followed by more than 14,000 people in Instagram.

He had spent Christmas in the Caribbean and had sent a message to followers in his last post: ‘Happy Holidays’ with double heart emojis.

One follower wrote: ‘Hurts to not have you with us anymore my bro. Hope you are resting well. It was a privilege to know you brother.’

Another said: ‘ Harry all I do is cry I don’t want to believe this.’ 

One Essex-based hip hop artist known as Cally the Dreamer told the Evening Standard: 'He went my school, was a few years below.

'He was a lad that I admired, changed his life for the better and inspired many to do better. Model Jourdan Dunn tweeted: 'Wow... I just woke up to the news about Harry Uzoka.' She added: 'Rest in Paradise young King.' 

DJ and musician O'Neil McDowall, who said he knew Mr Uzoka from a young age, said: 'Being able to be a part of your life was a blessing for me!

'Seeing you at 11 playing football and then growing up to become a beautiful talented young man didn't come as a shock.

'I knew you would go places! We spoke last week of how proud I am of you! I love you, H.'

London fashion brand Yemzi was among those in the fashion and photography world who paid tribute to the young man, tweeting: 'Such a special soul.'

Photographer Philipp Raheem said: 'Rest well young king' while Hunger Magazine tweeted: 'We are beyond shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of model Harry Uzoka. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. RIP.'

DJ Kartel Brown called the news 'heartbreaking', adding: 'One of the humblest and nicest people I've met. Rest In Peace bro.'

Ohene Kwaku, who runs African restaurant Kwaku's Kitchen, said: 'I've seen the young king Harry Uzoka's face in a lot of places.

Smileband health topics

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a gram positive bacteria that can cause a wide range of infections. Most GAS infections are relatively mild illnesses such as "strep throat," or impetigo (a skin infection). Occasionally these bacteria can cause severe and even life-threatening diseases such as bacteremia, toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing fasciitis.

In Arizona there are usually between 200 and 350 cases of invasive Group A Streptococcus reported yearly.

Arizona 5 year median: 250 cases

Transmission
Person to person by contact with infectious secretions from the nose or throat of infections persons or by contact with infected skin lesions.

Lab Tests & Specimen Info

Test*	Specimen
Culture	Specimen from normally sterile site

  Isolation Precautions

Standard precautions are recommended in healthcare settings. 

Individuals are not considered contagious 24 hours after initiation of appropriate treatment. 

Prevention for Patients

• Maintaining good hand and body hygiene. Washing hands often especially after coughing and sneezing and before preparing food or eating.
• Keeping cuts, scrapes, and wounds clean and covered until healed.
• Staying home from work, school or daycare until 24 hours after taking an antibiotic.
• Getting care early if infection is present.

Public Health Actions
Public health will conduct an epidemiological investigation on an outbreak (if there are 3 or more cases, not from the same household within a 1 week period).

Smileband health topics

Meningococcal invasive disease is caused by an infection with Neisseria meningitidis. There are five serogroups (A, B, C, W, and Y) that generally cause disease in humans. Serogroup B, C, and Y tend to cause the most disease in the United States. The infection can have severe symptoms with meningitis as the most common manifestation. Communicability of the bacteria is generally limited and requires close contact with an infected individual.

 

Meningococcal meningitis symptoms most commonly include:

• sudden onset of fever
• headache
• stiff neck

The number of those with Meningococcal invasive disease in Arizona has remained low with 5 cases seen in 2015.

Arizona 5 year median: 6  cases

 

Transmission

Transmission occurs through direct contact with respiratory secretions.

The incubation period can range from 1 to 10 days.             Isolation Precautions

Isolate and institute droplet precautions for a meningococcal invasive disease case for 24 hours after the initiation of treatment. 

An individual will be contagious as long as the bacteria is present in the nose, mouth, and throat secretions. 

Prevention for Patients
Vaccination against Meningococcal (ACWY) is the best prevention method for individuals. Immunity is believed to last approximately 5 years after a single dose.

Meningococcal B vaccine is available and recommended for high-risk groups.