Category Archives: environment

How Scared Should You Be About Zika? – The New York Times

The point is, we should have anticipated that the large increase in mosquitoes would create a major health crisis. Just as we should have anticipated that a deadly hemorrhagic disease caused by the Ebola virus would emerge one day from the remote forests and threaten the vast slums of the rapidly growing megacities of Africa. We should now anticipate that the MERS virus will result in more deadly outbreaks outside of the Arabian Peninsula, as it did in Seoul, South Korea. We should anticipate that viruses such as Venezuelan equine encephalitis may spread from their jungle homes and be even more deadly than Zika.

Even more than these viruses, we should be afraid of a planet-wide catastrophe caused by influenza. The best way to avert a pandemic is to develop a game-changing universal influenza vaccine. All these crises are largely predictable and we can do much in advance to lessen the effects and diminish the spread. And believe me, the cost of acting now will be infinitely less than the cost of not acting in the long run.

Source: How Scared Should You Be About Zika? – The New York Times

Cold Snap in Asia : Image of the Day

Weather Underground blogger Bob Henson reported that the January chill stemmed from the polar vortex—an upper-level circulation pattern that rings the Arctic. The vortex extended southward, allowing the development of a strong Siberian high. This cold, dense, low-level air mass then spread southeast across the continent.According to news reports, the temperature in Bangkok, Thailand, dipped to 16°C (61°F); lows there typically stay above 20–25°C. Taipei, Taiwan, got down to just 4°C (39°F), a low not seen in 44 years. Snow fell in Japan and South Korea, stranding travelers.Farther north, Mongolia and Inner Mongolia also saw anomalously low temperatures in January. In Eergu’Na, Inner Mongolia, temperatures reached a record-low of -47°C (-53°F). The cold weather in Mongolia, however, goes beyond the timespan portrayed in this this map. Extremely low temperatures and heavy snowfall—a winter phenomenon locally called dzud—have persisted since November 2015 and are expected to affect almost 1 million people, according to Reliefweb. Animals are vulnerable as well; Mongolia lost about 20 percent of its livestock during the 2009-2010 dzud.

Source: Cold Snap in Asia : Image of the Day

Russia-OPEC meeting flagged to limit oil production | News | DW.COM | 29.01.2016

Russia may attend an upcoming meeting with world’s leading oil producing nations over low oil prices. Moscow says Saudi Arabia has proposed global production be cut to reduce a supply glut and boost sinking prices.

Source: Russia-OPEC meeting flagged to limit oil production | News | DW.COM | 29.01.2016

No need to panic about the Zika virus | Sci-Tech | DW.COM | 27.01.2016

For a healthy grown-up who isn’t pregnant, Zika doesn’t pose much of a threat. Common symptoms include fever, joint ache and a rash with small red spots. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) puts it pretty clearly: “The illness is usually mild… Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon. Deaths are rare.”Compare that to Ebola, which comes with vomiting and unexplained bleeding and killed more than 11,300 people in the recent West-Africa outbreak, and you’ll see that Zika isn’t quite that bad.Some tourists have already brought the virus back to their European home countries from vacation without any major consequences. According to the news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa), there have been ten cases reported in Germany since 2013.The dpa also mentions four cases in Italy, three in Great Britain and two in Spain, though those numbers are probably incorrect, since there’s no international protocol for reporting and recording the virus, Schmidt-Chanasit said. More people could have been infected without ever knowing: the CDC reports that only one in five people infected with the virus actually become ill.Dangerous birth defect In hospitals like this one in Recife, Brazil, more and more babies are born with mircrocephalyAll that is not to say that Zika is completely harmless. The virus has been connected to an exceptional high number of babies born with microcephaly in Brazil. In the most recent Zika outbreak, around 4,000 newborns were diagnosed with the birth defect. Their skulls are smaller than those of healthy babies, which leads to brain damage.

Source: No need to panic about the Zika virus | Sci-Tech | DW.COM | 27.01.2016

Avian Flu Diary: CDC Adds Two Destinations To Zika Travel Advisory

Twelve days ago the CDC issued a Level-II travel advisory for 14 countries and territories over the Zika Virus threat, asking pregnant women to considered postponing travel to regions that were affected. Seven days later they added 8 additional countries and/or territories.   Last night two more travel destinations were added to the list (United States Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic) both having recently reported confirmed local transmission of the virus.  It should be noted that while evidence of a tentative link between the introduction of Zika to the Americas and the sharp rise in microcephalic births in Brazil continues to grow, a causal link has yet to be established.  Doing so could take months. Given the potentially dire outcome of maternal infection, the CDC is acting out of an abundance of caution and is recommending that pregnant women avoid travel to these affected regions until more is known.

Source: Avian Flu Diary: CDC Adds Two Destinations To Zika Travel Advisory

Dr. Francis Collins | NIH Director’s Blog  Zika Virus

For decades, the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus was mainly seen in equatorial regions of Africa and Asia, where it caused a mild, flu-like illness and rash in some people. About 10 years ago, the picture began to expand with the appearance of Zika outbreaks in the Pacific islands. Then, last spring, Zika popped up in South America, where it has so far infected more than 1 million Brazilians and been tentatively linked to a steep increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly, a very serious condition characterized by a small head and brain [1]. And Zika’s disturbing march may not stop there.

Source: Dr. Francis Collins | NIH Director’s Blog

CDC unveils Zika guidance for infants, expands travel advisory

Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP NewsJan 26, 2016The guidance covers testing of newborns, and the Virgin Islands and DR are now on the travel advisory.<a href=”http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2016/01/cdc-unveils-zika-guidance-infants-expands-travel-advisory

Source: CDC unveils Zika guidance for infants, expands travel advisory