The worst outbreak in 30 years of yellow fever has hit the African country of Angola. Health care providers are attempting to head off the spread of this mosquito borne disease with a vaccination programme. They have vaccinated millions of Angolans but have many more to go and are rapidly depleting the stocks of vaccine. Prevention is the key to calming the latest epidemic. There is no cure once the virus takes hold of a person. Most people have flu like symptoms but about 15% go on to experience the severe form of the disease. Of those so stricken, half will die. As the disease progresses, it becomes a haemorrhagic fever and people bleed out. The flare up of the disease started in Luanda in mid-February and quickly escalated to 1600 confirmed cases. Two hundred twenty-five have died. Now the disease is moving into the DR Congo. There are a reported 21 fatalities to date with 151 confirmed cases. Some of those cases have been traced to the outbreak in Angola. The countries share a border. Currently, yellow fever is endemic in 44 countries. Africa and Latin America are the most strongly hit. WHO estimates that 60 000 people die from the disease each year. Those people who are planning travel to areas affected by this haemorrhagic disease are strongly urged to obtain a vaccination against the virus. Yellow fever is only one of a large number of haemorrhagic fevers that are largely confined to tropical areas. Mosquitoes are one of the insects that spread the viruses, but other biting insects are known to spread these diseases as well. More than 100 diseases are spread by arthropods. While most of these diseases are believed to have originated in tropical areas, they don’t always stay there. A combination of warming climate and quick travel can spread blood infections to new areas. An example of a recent introduction to N. America is the West Nile Virus. About 15 years ago a few cases were detected on the eastern US. Both people and horses were infected. Some infections spread by mosquito bites were mild but others led to complications and deaths. The disease now is established in most of the continent. Sources: CBC News WHO Microbiology and Immunology on-line
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The Keystone oil pipeline that transports oil from the Alberta fields to refineries in Nebraska, sprung a leak sometime in early April or late March. It is uncertain when the oil started leaking from the line, but it was discovered by the farmer whose land the pipeline crosses. TransCanada pipeline estimated that based on the amount of oil in the soil that about 16 800 gallons had leaked. They had nearly one hundred workers on site along with numerous machines to do a repair and clean up. While the response was prompt once the alarm was sounded by the farmer, leak detection equipment did not register any drop in pressure. Local news gatherers in the Bold, Nebraska area were forbidden to overfly the spill site. Any photos taken by TransCanada may be held for months or years. Oil that came to the surface is damaging and will likely result in poisoned soil and this year’s lost crop, oil can also soak down to join groundwater flow. There are two rivers nearby – the James and Missouri Rivers. An engineer who formerly worked for the pipeline company spoke about the likelihood that the official estimate of the size of the spill is way too low. It can take a lot of oil to leak before enough of it percolates up to the surface level for someone to notice,” Vokes said. EcoWatch He also pointed out that the leak detection equipment only sounds the alarm when pipeline pressure drops by 2% or more, so a seeping leak could go undetected for a very long time. There is some uncertainty about what type of petroleum product was being transported at the time of the leak’s discovery. While light crude is bad, dilbit or diluted bitumen is worse. In order to get the thick oil to flow, it must be diluted with a solvent – dilbit. The result is higher in benzene than light crude. Today, the oil resumed flowing to refineries. And we can rest easy about the possible contamination of the farm and nearby water sources. TransCanada said it has not "observed significant impacts to the environment" and there are no "significant" bodies of water nearby. There is "no threat to public safety," the company said. CNN Sources: RT EcoWatch Money CNN Mass defection of N Korean workers embarrassment to regimeThirteen North Koreans working in a restaurant outside of that country have arrived in S. Korea to claim asylum. It has been reported that one man and 12 women were in the group of defectors. The S. Korean Unification Ministry declined to specify from which country the refugees came. One of the defectors is purported to have volunteered that their assigned restaurant was having difficulty keeping up with the demands of the home government for increased money sent home. S. Korea has urged its citizens who travel abroad to boycott any N. Korean restaurants as the money earned there is helping support the N. Korean nuclear weapons programme. There are about 130 restaurants in China, South Asia and Russia that are run by N. Korea. The majority are in the PRC. The revenue from the eateries is considerable, estimated at around USD $10 million each year. Another source of foreign income for the reclusive nation, especially as sanctions tighten to force Pyongyang to stop its nuclear weapons development, is the deployment of thousands of workers overseas. According to a UN report released last October an estimated 50 000 workers are placed by their government in jobs that range from the restaurant workers to extremely hazardous situations. The workers are placed depending on where they fit into the hierarchy of loyalty to the “supreme leader” with those deemed less loyal getting the worst jobs. The majority of workers are sent to the PRC. As might be expected these forced labourers are paid little, work hard and have most of the money earned by them sent to the N. Korean government. The UN official presenting the report put a USD$2.3 billion sum on what N. Korea was receiving per year for the sweated labour. Sources: CBC News Ministry of Unification(Korea) Channel News Asia The Guardian The Chinese minister of propaganda has taken quick and explicit measures to censure the reporting of the Panama Papers. Some relatives of high ranking Party officials have been mentioned in the massive data leak. While some of the off shore transactions are believed to be legitimate, there is growing evidence that shell companies and complex ownerships have served some to hide trillions of dollars from the tax man. Evidence is also growing that some of the people who used the Panama firm Mossack Fonseca, used some of its expertise for money laundering. One of the first to resign over the growing scandal was the PM of Iceland. Today Swiss authorities raided the FIFA offices. PM David Cameron has come under fire for his failing to mention a fortune that his father squirreled away in offshore caches. Many more of the rich and infamous are expected to be exposed in the near future. That fate is unlikely to happen in the People’s Republic of China. When the official party line is that the leaders are fighting corruption, it looks bad for some of those leaders to be named as avoiding their social responsibilities. "Find and delete reprinted reports on the Panama Papers," a leaked provincial propaganda directive published and translated by the U.S.-based China Digital Times (CDT) website said. "Please act immediately." "Do not follow up on related content, no exceptions," the April 4 directive, delivered verbally to news editors across China, said. "If material from foreign media attacking China is found on any website, it will be dealt with severely," it said. Radio Free Asia The story continues to grow, but in countries that tightly control their media outlets, the people there are unlikely to hear many details. Sources: Radio Free Asia USA Today More evidence is accumulating for the health benefits of drinking red wine. Red wine contains the substance resveratrol which may help support a healthy vascular system by reducing the accumulation of cholesterol and calcium deposits in the blood vessels. Research done by Dr. Man-tian Mi in Chongquing, China using mice found that reservatrol could change the balance of bacteria in the gut. The overall make up of bacteria in the gut is complex and varied by individuals. It is referred to as the microbiome of the gut. Many of you have seen the TV ads for bioactive yogourt which purport to rebalance the bacteria in your digestive system. The Chinese researcher found that resveratrol fed to mice would encourage some bacteria’s growth while inhibiting other varieties. The varieties inhibited were important in producing the chemicals that allow plaque to form in the blood vessels. The plaque is made up of a combination of cholesterol and calcium. An accumulation of it can block blood vessels which can lead to heart attack, stroke, dementia and organ failure. The study of the bacteria present in the digestive system is an emerging science. A good balance of microorganisms is important in maintaining good health. It has long been known that some gut bacteria produce Vitamin K which is important in ensuring blood clotting. Now it has been established that what you eat can rapidly affect the balance of those tiny creatures living inside you. Scientists are now engaged in identifying all the bacteria normally found in the human gut. It is known as the Human Gut Biome Project. When that is complete, the researchers plan to chart all the bacteria normally found on the body’s surfaces. The Human Food Project is a joint project with American and British researchers. They are crowd sourcing “samples” from a wide range of people. The research results are in early days. There is some indication that resveratrol may be effective in fighting some cancers, but don’t get your hopes up too soon. And some evidence that it does not protect against plaque formation. Too much alcohol has been implicated in causing some cancers. There are other good sources of resveratrol than red wine. You can find it in the skin of red grapes, peanuts, and some berries. But isn’t it nice to think of the old saying – A little wine for thy stomach’s sake? Maybe the old timers had it right. Sources: Medical News Today Scientific American The Human Food Project Linus Pauling Institute Oregon State University |
Barbara McPherson
Blogger, gardener, farmer. Working toward food security and a 30 foot
diet. Addicted to reading. Love this planet, especially my little corner
on Vancouver Island, Canada Archives
October 2016
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