All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

http://dorindaduclos.com/2016/11/19/away-from-bitter-weather-a-dogs-point-of-view/.

WHO says human H5N8 risk low as more H5N6 reported | CIDRAP – More political-economic assessment over health assessment, it appears.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in an assessment yesterday, said that while human risk of contracting H5N8 avian flu cannot be excluded, there is so far little evidence that the current H5N8 strain will mutate and infect humans.H5N8 has circulated the globe since 2014, when it first appeared in China, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Russia, and the United Kingdom. In late 2014, the strain came to North America, and last year H5N8 viruses were also detected in Taiwan, China, Hungary, and Sweden. The strain can infect both wild birds and poultry, and people have minimal to no immunity from the virus.The current clade has been found in 11 countries: Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, and Switzerland. It was initially detected in Tyva, Russia, in May of 2016, and has followed migratory bird patterns, first appearing in India and then moving west to central Europe, the WHO said.The agency said it expects more countries will report cases in the coming weeks, following bird migration patterns.

Source: WHO says human H5N8 risk low as more H5N6 reported | CIDRAP

WHO scales back Zika public health emergency | CIDRAP

(Becoming clearer and clearer – to me – releases such as this one, are overly influenced by political and economic considerations rather than health concerns)

 

Based on a recommendation from its emergency committee today, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Zika virus infections and related microcephaly cases no longer constitute a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), and efforts to battle and research the disease will now be folded into the WHO’s regular work, where it will receive high-level attention and more sustained funding.

Source: WHO scales back Zika public health emergency | CIDRAP

Febrile illness diagnostics and the malaria-industrial complex: a socio-environmental perspective | Single disease focus – misleading and harmful.

A study from Tanzania highlights the diverse etiology of AFI. Of 870 hospital admissions, 528 (60.7%) patients were clinically diagnosed with malaria, but only 14 (1.6%) actually had malaria parasites upon subsequent blood analysis. Ten different kinds of infections, including bloodstream infections, bacterial and fungal infections, and arboviruses, were all presumptively diagnosed as malaria based on clinical symptoms [19]. But this study was conducted in Moshi, a city of roughly 144,000, which may not be representative of the local disease ecology of large, tropical SSA urban agglomerations like Luanda, Dar es Salaam, Abidjan, Nairobi, or Accra, much less emerging megacities like Lagos or Kinshasa-Brazzaville. We are just beginning to realize how little we know about communicable disease epidemiology in SSA.

Source: Febrile illness diagnostics and the malaria-industrial complex: a socio-environmental perspective | BMC Infectious Diseases | Full Text

Prejudice, Bigotry and the Safety Pin

We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident

safety-pinWhite people wearing a safety pin has become a symbol of being a safe person against racist, sexist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, and other hateful ideologies.  An idea behind the pin is that it’s a public pledge that the wearer will help de-escalate situations where the marginalized are under attack, whether verbally or physically.

Because of its controversy, yesterday I read as much as I could about the symbol of wearing a safety pin.  Christopher Keelty, a White bisexual man, wrote for the Huffington Post that the safety pin is an embarrassment for White people.

The general criticism is that it’s more of a sign of White-guilt.  There are articles which in summary, say how dare White people think that they can say what solidarity with minorities, immigrants and others should be; should look like.

Yes, I read allot yesterday and I also talked with others.  Nothing satisfied me one way or…

View original post 200 more words

Zika counts rise in Florida as more nations note microcephaly | CIDRAP

Ongoing spread in Miami Beach, Little RiverThe Florida Department of Health (Florida Health) reported six new cases of locally acquired Zika yesterday and today.Yesterday the Florida Health reported three new locally acquired cases of Zika, and one new case in a non-Florida resident who had recently traveled to Miami. Two of the local cases occurred in Miami-Dade County residents, and the other involves a Broward County resident.Though investigations are still under way to determine where the four cases were acquired, Florida Health says that Miami Beach and Little River, two neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County, are still the only places in the state where active transmission is taking place.Today Florida Health confirmed two locally acquired cases, both involving Miami-Dade County residents. Officials are investigating where exposure occurred.There are now 230 locally acquired Zika cases in Florida, and 14 undetermined cases. There are 159 pregnant women in the state with Zika, but it is unknown how many contracted the disease through travel, sexual partners, or local transmission.

Source: Zika counts rise in Florida as more nations note microcephaly | CIDRAP

Humans of New York – Borderlines of Racism

“I think a lot of people live on the borderline of racism. I work in a machine shop with about thirty older guys. I don’t think there is one bad guy in the group. You’d like them if you met them. All of them love their families. But I’d say that I’ve heard eighty percent of them make racist comments of some sort. A lot of the older guys drop ‘n bombs.’ But if a black guy walks up, they’ll be friendly. They’ll even go out to lunch with him and share a meal. I honestly don’t think they see themselves as racist. Every one of them will deny it. They’ll point to the black guy that they’re friendly with. They won’t point to the things they say when he’s not around.”

Source: Humans of New York

George Takei Responds to Trump Surrogate’s “Dangerous” Japanese-American Internment Camp Comments | Hollywood Reporter

George Takei is taking a firm stand against the recent comments by a Donald Trump surrogate that the treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII serves as “precedent” for a national Muslim registry now. Takei called the remarks “dangerous” and warned against history repeating itself. “The Japanese-American internment was an egregious violation of our national values and principles, a terrible event for which Congress apologized in 1988,” said Takei. “To invoke that dark chapter as a precedent for any action against any minorities today is a morally bankrupt and dangerous step, completely out-of-bounds with contemporary notions of civil and human rights.”

Source: George Takei Responds to Trump Surrogate’s “Dangerous” Japanese-American Internment Camp Comments | Hollywood Reporter

How Forest Loss Is Leading To a Rise in Human Disease by Jim Robbins: Yale Environment 360

deforestation is having another worrisome effect: an increase in the spread of life-threatening diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. For a host of ecological reasons, the loss of forest can act as an incubator for insect-borne and other infectious diseases that afflict humans. The most recent example came to light this month in the Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases, with researchers documenting a steep rise in human malaria cases in a region of Malaysian Borneo undergoing rapid deforestation.

Source: How Forest Loss Is Leading To a Rise in Human Disease by Jim Robbins: Yale Environment 360