Category Archives: environment

Breaking News: Campaign Launched to End Slaughter of Dolphins in Peru

BlueVoice and Mundo Azul have called on the Peruvian government to both enforce existing laws and enact legislation banning harpoons on fishing boats. “Harpoons are used solely to kill dolphins and banning them would save the lives of t

via Breaking News: Campaign Launched to End Slaughter of Dolphins in Peru.

Bundy Supporters Drove ATVs Through Native American Ruins – The Wire

Anti-Native American and Anti-Brains!

Both the BLM and the sheriff’s department came to the rally, but whatever skirmishes the ATV riders were anticipating/hoping for didn’t come to pass. The BLM simply recorded the proceedings to prosecute offenders later. The sheriff’s deputies said they were only there to keep the peace, and any punishment would have to come from the BLM, since “they’re the ones that closed the road.” Thanks, deputies.

Lyman won’t have to worry about any federal repercussions, as he ultimately did not drive on the trail. Bundy did ride on the illegal trail, but I guess he doesn’t think there will be consequences for his actions for some reason.

A Navajo Warrior ceremony for returning veterans was scheduled for the area that weekend, but the rally forced organizers to reschedule it for October. So the rally was a slap in the face of Native Americans from the past and the present.

“Damage to archaeological sites is permanent and the information about our collective past is then lost forever,” said Jerry Spangler, director of the Colorado Plateau Archaeological Alliance. “It is sad that irreplaceable treasures of importance to all Americans would be sacrificed on the altar of anti-government fervor. It is worse that protesters would be so blinded to their own insensitivity as to what others consider to be sacred treasures of their past.”

via Bundy Supporters Drove ATVs Through Native American Ruins – The Wire.

Shipment of whale meat from Iceland arrives in Japan | Greenpeace International

(Why? So lame and unneeded, cruel, wasteful.)

Its arrival here has almost doubled the stockpile of unsold whale meat sitting in freezers around Japan.

Iceland hunts these whales only for export to Japan. No one in Iceland eats them. But fewer and fewer people in Japan eat whale either. A poll by the respected Asahi newspaper last month found that just 4 percent of respondents occasionally eat whale meat, while 10 percent said they eat whale meat on rare occasions. Forty-eight percent said they have had whale meat once in the distant past, but they have not had it recently. Thirty-seven percent, including roughly half of respondents in their 20s and 30s, said they do not eat whale meat at all.

via Shipment of whale meat from Iceland arrives in Japan | Greenpeace International.

Researchers determine MERS virus transmission from animals to humans | Vaccine News Daily

{Stop nose to nose contact with camels and no more kissing your camel’s nose?

Could well be that both camels and people are being infected by bats who infect the camels and people – similar to the influenza connection between poultry, pigs, and people in live markets?}

The virologists found that virus levels were very high in the camel’s nasal mucosa and conjunctiva, which they said points to transmission pathways from to humans from those sites.

via Researchers determine MERS virus transmission from animals to humans | Vaccine News Daily.

Migrant workers should avoid live bird markets: WHO official – ANTARA News

Jakarta (ANTARA News) – An Official from the World Health Organization (WHO) said Indonesian migrant workers should avoid live bird markets in foreign countries, particularly in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“I think it is important for tourists or migrant workers to avoid live bird markets. I think it is particularly important currently in China, but also in live bird markets in general that have avian influenza scattered around,” the chief of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Professor Anne Kelso, told ANTARA here on Tuesday.

Anne said it is better for people who are in foreign countries to avoid live bird markets, especially when a dangerous virus arises. Anne added that the location can be the source of the greatest risk for a virus infection.

The latest virus of avian influenza that had infected several birds and people in the area are of the H7N9 type, Anne said.

via Migrant workers should avoid live bird markets: WHO official – ANTARA News.

Saudi hospital head sacked as MERS death toll hits 117 | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

Saudi Arabia’s acting health minister has announced the sacking of the head of a Jeddah hospital where a spike in MERS infections among medical staff sparked panic among the public.

The move, which Adel Fakieh published on Twitter late Tuesday, came after he inspected King Fahd Hospital’s emergency department in the Red Sea city.

Hours after the news, health officials announced two more deaths from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, bringing the toll to 117.

The victims were a 68-year-old woman in Jeddah, the kingdom’s commercial capital, and a 60-year-old man died in Medina.

The Jeddah hospital was temporarily shut last month after several medics were infected by MERS.

And panic at the Red Sea city’s main hospital prompted at least four doctors to resign in mid-April after they refused to treat MERS patients for fear of infection.

via Saudi hospital head sacked as MERS death toll hits 117 | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Avian Flu Diary: WHO Statement On MERS-CoV Mission To Saudi Arabia

The majority of human-to-human infections occurred in health care facilities. One quarter of all cases have been health care workers.  There is a clear need to improve health care workers’ knowledge and attitudes about the disease and systematically apply WHO’s recommended infection prevention and control measures in health care facilities.

 

The reasons for the increase in the number of primary community cases, as well as the infection route, remain unknown. Three quarters of all primary community cases have been male, the majority of whom have been over 50 years old. Secondary transmission in the community and households is much lower than in health care settings.

via Avian Flu Diary: WHO Statement On MERS-CoV Mission To Saudi Arabia.

Protection against filovirus (ebola) diseases by a novel broad-spectrum nucleoside analogue BCX4430 : Nature : Nature Publishing Group

  1. Good and bad – the researchers know what they are doing but Ft. Detrick is also the place were nerve gas was tested and developed. The close ties between testing for cures and for militarizing things troubles more than a few people.

(Very shortly now, I expect rumors will begin that these labs or someone else is behind the MERS-CoV epidemic in Saudi Arabia and UAE)

Most importantly, BCX4430 completely protects cynomolgus macaques from Marburg virus infection when administered as late as 48 hours after infection. In addition, BCX4430 exhibits broad-spectrum antiviral activity against numerous viruses, including bunyaviruses, arenaviruses, paramyxoviruses, coronaviruses and flaviviruses. This is the first report, to our knowledge, of non-human primate protection from filovirus disease by a synthetic drug-like small molecule.

via Protection against filovirus diseases by a novel broad-spectrum nucleoside analogue BCX4430 : Nature : Nature Publishing Group.

Who did the research?

  1. Division of Molecular and Translational Sciences, Therapeutic Discovery Center, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Fort Detrick, Maryland 21702, USA

    • Travis K. Warren,
    • Jay Wells,
    • Rekha G. Panchal,
    • Kelly S. Stuthman,
    • Nicole L. Garza,
    • Sean A. Van Tongeren,
    • Lian Dong,
    • Cary J. Retterer,
    • Brett P. Eaton,
    • Gianluca Pegoraro,
    • Shelley Honnold,
    • Lisa S. Welch &
    • Sina Bavari
  2. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc., Durham, North Carolina 27703, USA

    • Shanta Bantia,
    • Pravin Kotian,
    • Xilin Chen,
    • Brian R. Taubenheim,
    • Yarlagadda S. Babu &
    • William P. Sheridan
  3.  

IRIN Middle East | Alert over spike in Middle East flu virus | Egypt | Israel | Iraq | Jordan | Lebanon | Libya | Oman | OPT | Syria | United Arab Emirates | Yemen | Early Warning | Flu | Health & Nutrition

Last month some 400 passengers from an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Manila were called in for testing by the Philippines Ministry of Health after it was discovered one person on board had been diagnosed with MERS-CoV in the UAE, but had left the country before his results were known.

via IRIN Middle East | Alert over spike in Middle East flu virus | Egypt | Israel | Iraq | Jordan | Lebanon | Libya | Oman | OPT | Syria | United Arab Emirates | Yemen | Early Warning | Flu | Health & Nutrition.

VDU’s blog: MERS in the USA….

The source of all exported MERS-CoV positive people lies within the Arabian peninsula. Very limited local spread has occurred within 3 non-peninsula countries.

Click on image to enlarge.

The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) made its way to another country yesterday; the United States of America (USA).

via VDU’s blog: MERS in the USA…..