Is White-Nose Bat Syndrome in KY or Not?

On June 6th, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review published a story about the mysterious and incurable White-Nose Bat Syndrome being found in bats in Kentucky, within 30 miles of Mammoth Cave.

On June 7th, that story was subsequently picked up by the Lexington Herald-Leader's kentucky.com:

White-nose syndrome, a fatal and mysterious disease that is killing bats, has been found in Kentucky, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. A group of researchers met in Pittsburgh to discuss the disease, but "they left without any more solutions with which they arrived," reports the Tribune-Review. The disease has been confirmed within 30 miles of Mammoth Cave, Cal DuBrock, director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's bureau of wildlife management said to the newspaper.

Now today, the Herald-Leader seems to be backtracking. The original story on kentucky.com has disappeared but can still be found in the Google cache, and the paper is now saying the incident in question is in Tennessee, about 80 miles from Mammoth Cave, not 30. Regarding the discrepancy, the paper has this to say:

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported on June 6 that the disease had been confirmed within 30 miles of Mammoth Cave and that Mammoth Cave is home to some of the largest bat concentrations in the country. Both of those statements are inaccurate, Carson said.

To say that white-nose syndrome has been found within 30 miles of Mammoth Cave would have to mean it's been found in Kentucky, which it hasn't, Hemberger said.

Cal DuBrock, director of wildlife management for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, was the Tribune-Review's source for both pieces of information about Mammoth Cave. DuBrock said when he told the Tribune-Review that information, he was citing a presentation at a white-nose syndrome conference he attended in Pittsburgh.

The presenter said that a case of white-nose syndrome was found 26 miles from Mammoth Cave and that there was a fairly high concentration of bats there.

There must have been a misquote or misstatement on someone's part, DuBrock said.

Kentucky Most Cancerous State

Yikes! Here's a newsy nugget the tourism department aren't going to like. The Centers for Disease Control have announced that Kentucky has the highest cancer death rate in the entire United States of America.

Kentucky averages 211.2 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with the national average of 180.7 per 100,000.

Kentucky has also the fifth highest pre-term birth rate and seventh-highest cesarean delivery rate and low birthrate weight. Also of interest is the fact that Kentucky is statistically high in terms of cellphone use - 21.4 percent of Kentucky households have a cellphone as their only phone, compared with 14.7 percent nationally.

Warren County Hirsute Girl

From the New York Times, September 17, 1877: a report originally published in the Franklin Patriot about a 4-year-old Warren County girl who allegedly was normal for the first two years of her life, but then began secreting a bizarre and foul black liquid from her skin, followed by a thick growth of hair all over her body excepting the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet. With these strange mutations, it was also reported she acquired amazing strength, being able to carry around her 10-year-old sister with ease.

Hirsutism is a relatively common condition, itself being a symptom of many different diseases, but the only other time I've ever heard of black sweat (aside from the Prince song) is from reports about the mysterious Morgellons Disease.

Kentucky's Second H1N1 Death

A Louisville woman has become the second Kentuckian to die from H1N1.

Officials say the 41-year-old woman, who name is so far being withheld - died on September 21 of H1N1-induced pneumonia. The Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness Department reports the woman had no other underlying medical conditions, making her death very unusual and atypical.

The Courier-Journal reports that officials are also investigating the death of a teenager from Caldwell County to see if H1N1 was involved.

Health officials say the virus is spreading around the state, but so far seems not to be mutating or increasing in strength.

On June 11, the World Health Organization raised the pandemic level to a full-blown six.

Clostridium difficile

As the Courier-Journal reports, there's yet another scary new bug on the loose, and Kentucky is sixth in the nation for outbreaks of it:

Cheryl Keplinger nearly lost her life to a germ some doctors are calling the next big bacterial threat — Clostridium difficile. The 54-year-old Simpsonville, Ky. nurse suffered diarrhea for 19 days before being told she might need to have her appendix, gall bladder and part of her colon removed after she contracted the dangerous infection caused by bacteria known as C. diff...

Typically tied to hospitalization or antibiotic use, the infection is rising dramatically. As many as 3 million Americans a year suffer diarrhea, inflammation of the colon and other problems because of C. diff, which some doctors say is beginning to rival the staph infection MRSA as a deadly superbug...

A study in the May issue of the American Journal of Infection Control showed the state had the sixth-highest rate in the nation among hospitalized patients, with 21.8 per 1,000, compared with 10.7 per 1,000 in Indiana and 13 per 1,000 nationwide.

Mystery Bat Disease

As I write this, it's only a couple of hours since Dr. Margaret Chan grimly announced to the world that we're now officially in a Level Six Pandemic for the virus that causes Swine Flu, marking the first global pandemic in nearly half a century. The first Kentucky cases were reported back in April.

Concerned though I am about the humans, I'm also very concerned about life in general on this planet (and others) - and therefore have spent what some might call an inordinate portion of the afternoon fretting about Kentucky's bat population:

According to this news story, Bat expert Merlin Tuttle addressed the House Natural Resources Committee regarding a brand-new malady called "White-nose Syndrome":

A mysterious disease that has killed a million bats in nine states is headed toward Kentucky caves that hold three endangered species of the flying mammals, lawmakers in Washington were told Thursday.

Scientists have been unable to determine where the disease came from or how to stop it.

Officials first noticed the disease in New York in 2007. Then a caver came forward with a photo taken a year earlier that showed bats with white noses.

The government has closed all caves in national forests in the east, including an estimated 1,000 caves in Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest.

Scientists don't think people can "catch" white-nose syndrome, but there was a suggestion at the hearing that a public worried about the disease would stay away from commercial caves, hurting tourism.

First Kentucky H1N1 Case

From News-tribune.net:

A Warren County woman has been hospitalized in Georgia with Kentucky’s first confirmed case of H1N1, or swine flu, state officials announced Thursday, and a probable case has been diagnosed in an infant.

Gov. Steve Beshear and Commissioner of Public Health Dr. William Hacker announced the developments at a news conference, saying the woman had recently returned from a trip to Mexico and a couple of days later traveled to Georgia where she fell ill. A second case in the Barren River Health District is suspected but has not yet been confirmed as swine flu. The district serves Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, Metcalfe, Simpson and Warren counties.

Beshear said the child “had close contact with a family member who recently went to Mexico and returned.” The child, he said, has not been hospitalized since the case is apparently a mild one. Samples have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta for further testing, but Hacker said he expects confirmation the child is suffering from swine flu.

Beshear said officials are not releasing the name of the county to avoid fear and anxiety by local residents but will identify the county if the illness is confirmed as swine flu.

On April 29, the World Health Organization raised the pandemic alert level to five, the second-highest level, indicating that a pandemic is "imminent".

New MRSA Strain in Jessamine Co.

Uh-oh. Just saw this on FOX News:

West Jessamine High School junior Ryan Robinson was placed on life support at the University of Kentucky Hospital after being diagnosed with methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus — or MRSA.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that was confirmed by Sam Pile, who coaches the youth's soccer team.

Pile said Robinson played well Thursday, but said his mother said the boy fell ill that night. His ailment was first diagnosed as influenza, but MRSA was later discovered.

Jessamine County Schools Superintendent Lu S. Young said the school and the Career and Technical Center have been thoroughly cleaned.

MRSA, aka Necrotizing Fasciitis, aka the "Flesh Eating Bacteria", stands for "Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus", and it's seriously scary stuff. Just a few weeks ago, ABC News ran a story about how some say it's becoming a dangerous new sexually transmitted disease, and is increasingly being treated as an epidemic. The Mayo Clinic says:

Most MRSA infections occur in hospitals or other health care settings, such as nursing homes and dialysis centers. It's known as health care-associated MRSA, or HA-MRSA. Older adults and people with weakened immune systems are at most risk of HA-MRSA. More recently, another type of MRSA has occurred among otherwise healthy people in the wider community.

That new wider-ranging superstrain is known as Community-associated MRSA, and is apparently what we have here in Nicholasville.

Just how swift and how scary is it? Well, this teen was healthy and playing soccer in the afternoon. By evening, he was severely ill. By morning, he's in critical condition.