Category Archives: Fail!

Avian Flu Diary: Study: Recombinant H5N2 Avian Influenza Virus Strains In Vaccinated Chickens

The `elephant in the room’ is that 10 years ago, when most of these countries elected to rely primarily on poultry vaccinations to control H5N1, there was only one HPAI H5 virus of concern; H5N1.   Now we now have at least a half dozen subtypes (H5N1, H5N2, H5N3, H5N6, H5N5,  H5N8) and literally dozens of clades between them.

This rapid growth is likely due in no small part to the continued use of outdated, poorly matched poultry vaccines which only hid symptoms in birds, and allowed viruses to continue to circulate and reassort.

via Avian Flu Diary: Study: Recombinant H5N2 Avian Influenza Virus Strains In Vaccinated Chickens.

NYC Rats Now Carrying Same Fleas That Spread Bubonic Plague: Gothamist

The good news is that researchers did not find any plague or typhus bacteria in the fleas they sampled. But come on, we all know it’s only a matter of time. “If these rats carry fleas that could transmit the plague to people, then the pathogen itself is the only piece missing from the transmission cycle,” says Matthew Frye, the lead author of the study.

via NYC Rats Now Carrying Same Fleas That Spread Bubonic Plague: Gothamist.

Hillary Clinton Used Personal Email at State Dept., Possibly Breaking Rules – NYTimes.com Advertising $$ down – want Koch Bros to buy ads?

Mrs. Clinton is not the first government official — or first secretary of state — to use a personal email account on which to conduct official business.

But her exclusive use of her private email, for all of her work, appears unusual, Mr. Baron said. The use of private email accounts is supposed to be limited to emergencies, experts said, such as when an agency’s computer server is not working.

“I can recall no instance in my time at the National Archives when a high-ranking official at an executive branch agency solely used a personal email account for the transaction of government business,” said Mr. Baron, who worked at the agency from 2000 to 2013.

via Hillary Clinton Used Personal Email at State Dept., Possibly Breaking Rules – NYTimes.com.

Saudi MERS deaths reach 400 as cases surge | CIDRAP

Saudi Arabia’s surge of MERS-CoV cases and deaths continues into March, with 15 more cases reported over the past 3 days, as well as 6 additional deaths, pushing the country’s fatality count to 400, according to statements from the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH).

Thirteen of the new cases are from Riyadh, with 2 reported in Buraydah, the capital of Al Qassim region, which is 220 miles northwest of Riyadh. All of the patients are adults, ages 34 to 80, and all but four are men. All 15 of the latest MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) case-patients are symptomatic, with 9 hospitalized in critical condition and 6 listed as stable.

Seven of the patients are from outside of Saudi Arabia, and of four healthcare workers who are infected, three are from foreign countries. All but four of the patients have preexisting health conditions.

via Saudi MERS deaths reach 400 as cases surge | CIDRAP.

Opinion: Manipulate and Mislead – How GMOs are Infiltrating Africa | Inter Press Service

About 80 percent of Africa’s food is produced by smallholders, who seldom farm on more than five hectares of land and usually on much less.  The majority of these farmers are women, who have scant access to finance or secure land tenure.

That they still manage to provide the lion’s share of the continents’ food, usually without formal seed, chemicals, mechanisation, irrigation or subsidies, is testament to their resilience and innovation.

African farmers have a lot to lose from the introduction of GMOs – the rich diversity of African agriculture, its robust resilience and the social cohesion engendered through cultures of sharing and collective effort could be replaced by a handful of monotonous commodity crops owned by foreign masters.

via Opinion: Manipulate and Mislead – How GMOs are Infiltrating Africa | Inter Press Service.

Tim’s El Salvador Blog: El Mozote and Bill O’Reilly

El Mozote and Bill O’Reilly

Recent stories in The Nation and Huffington Post have criticized Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly, then a young TV reporter for CBS News, for his role when the US government and US mass media turned a blind eye to the 1981 massacre at El Mozote.

via Tim’s El Salvador Blog: El Mozote and Bill O’Reilly.

Nearly Beaten in Sierra Leone, Ebola Makes a Comeback by Sea – NYTimes.com

Sick fishermen came ashore in early February to the packed wharf-side slums that surround the country’s fanciest hotels, which were filled with public health workers. Volunteers fanned out to contain the outbreak, but the virus jumped quarantine lines and cascaded into the countryside, bringing dozens of new infections and deaths.

“We worked so hard,” said Emmanuel Conteh, an Ebola response coordinator in a rural district. “It is a shame to all of us.”

Continue reading the main story

RELATED COVERAGE

Liberia’s President Urges U.S. to Continue Ebola AidFEB. 27, 2015

Fatality Rate Is Falling in West African Ebola Clinics FEB. 26, 2015

Leaders of Ebola Fight at U.N. Express Worry About EradicationFEB. 20, 2015

Public health experts preparing for an international conference on Ebola on Tuesday seem to have no doubt that the disease can be vanquished in the West African countries ravaged by it in the last year. But the steep downward trajectory of new cases late last year and into January did not lead to the end of the epidemic.

via Nearly Beaten in Sierra Leone, Ebola Makes a Comeback by Sea – NYTimes.com.

Mexican man dies during violent police response to teachers protest in Acapulco | World news | The Guardian

Juan Angulo, director of the respected local newspaper El Sur, said retired teacher Claudio Castillo, who died in hospital early on Wednesday, was singled out by police as he sat in a truck from where he had been chanting slogans through a microphone.

“The police pulled him out and hit him, before letting him go. Then he was beaten up again by other officers,” Angulo told Radio Fórmula.

The newspaper director added that one of El Sur’s photographers was also beaten by police and his camera was smashed. “The police acted with a lot of violence, but there are not many images of what happened,” Angulo said.

Photographs of the incident were widely shared on social media – including an image of a man covered in blood being marched away by police and another of dozens of detainees lying facedown in the road.

The authorities reported that 106 people were arrested during the operation, of whom 99 were released on Wednesday morning.

via Mexican man dies during violent police response to teachers protest in Acapulco | World news | The Guardian.

Plants found to alter soil types

{Australia has a reputation for messing up its environment with rabbits and camels, now they want to “engineer” their soil. Maybe being short-sighted and dumb is in their soil?}

Exciting research has revealed some plants have the ability to alter soil types, suggesting opportunities may exist to re-engineer WA’s hostile soils to better suit agricultural purposes.

via Plants found to alter soil types.

​Pussy Riot offers two video versions of ‘I Can’t Breathe’ song

“This song is for Eric and for all those from Russia to America and around the globe who suffer from state terror — killed, choked, perished because of war and state-sponsored violence of all kinds — for political prisoners and those on the streets fighting for change,” Pussy Riot members said.

via ​Pussy Riot offers two video versions of ‘I Can’t Breathe’ song.