Malaysia facing dengue endemic with over 48,000 cases – Channel NewsAsia

Malaysia is facing a dengue endemic with more than 48,000 people falling victim to the mosquito-borne disease this year alone.

With at least 92 deaths so far, the government has now set up a national task force to tackle the problem before it spreads even further throughout the country.

Mr Tan Chee Hong and his family were looking forward to their annual Lunar New Year celebrations in January. But one by one, they fell ill with dengue fever.

Mr Tan said: “It was very depressing. You do not even want to call friends or relatives because you don’t want anybody to see you in the hospital during times like that, especially during Chinese New Year.”

He and his family are just four of the more than 48,000 Malaysians who have fallen victim to dengue since January — an almost 250 per cent increase in cases compared to the same period last year.

via Malaysia facing dengue endemic with over 48,000 cases – Channel NewsAsia.

Eurosurveillance – Chik V in Caribbean

Chikungunya fever (CHIKV), a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes, is currently affecting several areas in the Caribbean. The vector is found in the Americas from southern Florida to Brazil, and the Caribbean is a highly connected region in terms of population movements. There is therefore a significant risk for the epidemic to quickly expand to a wide area in the Americas. Here, we describe the spread of CHIKV in the first three areas to report cases and between areas in the region. Local transmission of CHIKV in the Caribbean is very effective, the mean number of cases generated by a human case ranging from two to four. There is a strong spatial signature in the regional epidemic, with the risk of transmission between areas estimated to be inversely proportional to the distance rather than driven by air transportation. So far, this simple distance-based model has successfully predicted observed patterns of spread. The spatial structure allows ranking areas according to their risk of invasion. This characterisation may help national and international agencies to optimise resource allocation for monitoring and control and encourage areas with elevated risks to act.

via Eurosurveillance – View Article.

Eurosurveillance – chikungunya virus and dengue in France

During the summer of 2014, all the pre-requisites for autochthonous transmission of chikungunya virus are present in southern France: a competent vector, Aedes albopictus, and a large number of travellers returning from the French Caribbean islands where an outbreak is occurring. We describe the system implemented for the surveillance of chikungunya and dengue in mainland France. From 2 May to 4 July 2014, there were 126 were laboratory-confirmed imported chikungunya cases in mainland France.

via Eurosurveillance – View Article.

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In her series ‘Landscapes’ – Peruvian artist Cecilia Paredes Peruvian has mastered the art of camouflage and by using body paint is able to disappear into her surroundings. With the help of her assistants, she paints herself into the background of floral wallpapers. Her dark hair and the whites of the eyes are often the only thing that shows there’s a person hiding.

However, her series called “Landscapes” doesn’t just create a disappearance illusion, it also shows Paredes’ quest for belonging.

“The theme behind all is re-location after displacement and migration and how one has to adjust in order to belong. Tough it is, but it has to be done, without forgetting our origin. The theme behind all is re-location after displacement and migration and how one has to adjust in order to belong. Tough it is, but it has to be done, without forgetting our origin.”

(via demilked.com)

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Wow! Indigenous mountain farmers unite on climate change

Farmers from 25 indigenous mountain communities in ten countries have come together to share traditional knowledge that could help them to mitigate climate change and to lobby governments for greater recognition of their unique knowledge.

The International Network of Mountain Indigenous Peoples was formed at a workshop in Bhutan last month (26 May-1 June). It includes communities from Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Taiwan, Tajikistan and Thailand.

via Indigenous mountain farmers unite on climate change.

Through Lens, 4 Boys Dead by Gaza Shore – NYTimes.com

My day here began at 6 a.m. Photographing something as unpredictable as war still has a routine.

It is important to be out the door at first light to document the destruction of the last night’s bombings. By midmorning, I check in at the hospital’s morgue to see if families have come to pick up the dead for burial.

When the routine is broken, it is because things can go horribly wrong in an instant. That is how it happened in Libya in 2011, when three colleagues and I were taken captive by government soldiers and our driver was killed.

On Wednesday, that sudden change of fortune came to four young Palestinian boys playing on a beach in Gaza City.

Continue reading the main story

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I had returned to my small seaside hotel around 4 p.m. to file photos to New York when I heard a loud explosion. My driver and I rushed to the window to see what had happened. A small shack atop a sea wall at the fishing port had been struck by an Israeli bomb or missile and was burning. A young boy emerged from the smoke, running toward the adjacent beach.

I grabbed my cameras and was putting on body armor and a helmet when, about 30 seconds after the first blast, there was another. The boy I had seen running was now dead, lying motionless in the sand, along with three other boys who had been playing there.

By the time I reached the beach, I was winded from running with my heavy armor. I paused; it was too risky to go onto the exposed sand. Imagine what my silhouette, captured by an Israeli drone, might look like as a grainy image on a laptop somewhere in Israel: wearing body armor and a helmet, carrying cameras that could be mistaken for weapons. If children are being killed, what is there to protect me, or anyone else?

I watched as a group of people ran to the children’s aid. I joined them, running with the feeling that I would find safety in numbers, though I understood that feeling could be deceptive: Crowds can make things worse. We arrived at the scene to find lifeless, mangled bodies. The boys were beyond help. They had been killed instantly, and the people who had rushed to them were shocked and distraught.

Earlier in the day, I had photographed the funeral for a man and a 12-year-old boy. They had been killed when a bomb hit the car in which they were riding south of Gaza City, severely injuring an older woman with them.

There is no safe place in Gaza right now. Bombs can land at any time, anywhere.

A small metal shack with no electricity or running water on a jetty in the blazing seaside sun does not seem like the kind of place frequented by Hamas militants, the Israel Defense Forces’ intended targets. Children, maybe four feet tall, dressed in summer clothes, running from an explosion, don’t fit the description of Hamas fighters, either.

via Through Lens, 4 Boys Dead by Gaza Shore – NYTimes.com.

List of the 214 Palestinians killed in Gaza in the last ten days

Killed Wednesday 16/7

1. Mohammed Sabri al-Dibari, 20, was killed in Rafah.

2. Abdullah Mohammed Abdullah al-Irjani, 19, was killed in Khan Younis.

3. Ahmad Adel Ahmad al-Niwajha, 23, was killed in Rafah.

4. Mohammed Tayseer Sharab, 23, was killed in Khan Younis.

5. Farid Mohammed Abu Daqa, 33, was killed in Khan Younis.

6. Ashraf Khalil Abu Shanab, 33, was killed in Rafah.

7. Khadra al-Abd Salama Abu Daqa, 65, was killed in an attack on Khan Younis.

8. Omar Ramadan Hassan Abu Daqa, 24, was killed in the same attack.

9. Ibrahim Ramadan Hassan Abu Daqa, 10, was killed in the same attack.

10. Abdelrahman Ibrahim Khalil al-Sarkhi, 37, was killed in an attack on Gaza City.

11. Ahed Atef Bakr, 10, was killed on a beach in Gaza.

12. Zakaria Ahed Bakr, 10, was killed on a beach in Gaza.

13. Mohammed Ramez Bakr, 11, was killed on a beach in Gaza.

14. Ismail Mohammed Bakr, 9, was killed on a beach in Gaza.

15. Hamza Ra’ed Thari, 6, succumbed to wounds sustained “a few days ago” and passed away.

via List of the 214 Palestinians killed in Gaza in the last ten days.