Category Archives: healthcare

Polio resurfaces in Mali from Ebola-hit Guinea: WHO | Reuters

Cases of a crippling vaccine-derived polio virus could spread in Ebola-ravaged Guinea and in Mali after a Guinean toddler traveled to Mali and became the country’s first polio case in more than four years, the World Health Organization said on Monday.The case, caused by a strain of the virus known as type 2 that had come from a vaccine, is the second setback in a week for global efforts to eradicate polio. Two cases were reported in Ukraine last week..Preliminary tests showed the 19-month-old was paralyzed on July 20, seven days before being brought to Mali for treatment. The strain is the same as one found in Siguiri in Guinea’s Kankan region in August 2014.

Source: Polio resurfaces in Mali from Ebola-hit Guinea: WHO | Reuters

VDU’s blog: Whether MERS-CoV spreads or stops is entirely up to the hospitals…

We propagate epidemics. We create our own headaches in this arena. Many viruses wouldn’t break out if we didn’t create the circumstances for an outbreak. The biggest headache? Infected patients who spread virus to uninfected patients and health workers when they are in unprotected close contact in a healthcare setting.

via VDU’s blog: Whether MERS-CoV spreads or stops is entirely up to the hospitals….

CENSORED NEWS: U.S. EPA tells Navajo People to Waive their Rights – Gold King spill

The U.S. EPA has been seeking signatures from the Navajo People on Standard Form No. 95 which, if signed, will waive future claims against the U.S. EPA.

“The Federal Government is asking our People to waive their future rights because they know without the waiver they will be paying millions to our People. This is simple; the Feds are protecting themselves at the expense of the Navajo people and it is outrageous.” said President Begaye

Standard Form No. 95 states the following:

I CERTIFY THAT THE AMOUNT OF CLAIM COVERS ONLY DAMAGES AND INJURIES CAUSED BY THE INCIDENT ABOVE AND AGREE TO ACCEPT SAID AMOUNT IN “FULL SATISFACTION AND FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THIS CLAIM”

All signors will be limited to the specific claims filed, and any future claims for injuries caused by the Gold King Mine will be waived.

“The U.S. EPA has admitted they are at fault and stated this disaster will last for decades. This is unacceptable. The damages to our People will be long term and the Navajo Nation will not settle for pennies. I have consistently stated that the Navajo people deserve to be compensated for every penny lost. I will not allow fine print to let U.S. EPA off the hook. The Navajo people deserve better from the United States government.” said President Begaye

The U.S. EPA has been attending local public hearings across the Navajo Nation, in Shiprock, Aneth and Olijato and passing out Standard Form No. 95 to participants urging them to sign the form. The Navajo Nation Attorney General has advised that Form No. 95 will settle for current claims and preclude all future claims from the spill.

“We are also concerned for our neighbors, and whether this Standard Form No. 95 is being circulated in other communities. This is not just hurting the Navajo People but all those in the Four Corners Region. Think twice before you sign this form, we must hold U.S. EPA fully accountable for their negligence.” said Vice-President Nez

via CENSORED NEWS: U.S. EPA tells Navajo People to Waive their Rights – Gold King spill.

Frances Oldham Kelsey, F.D.A. Doctor Who Exposed Danger of Thalidomide, Dies at 101 – The New York Times

The sedative was Kevadon, and the application to market it in America reached the new medical officer at the Food and Drug Administration in September 1960. The drug had already been sold to pregnant women in Europe for morning sickness, and the application seemed routine, ready for the rubber stamp.

But some data on the drug’s safety troubled Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, a former family doctor and teacher in South Dakota who had just taken the F.D.A. job in Washington, reviewing requests to license new drugs. She asked the manufacturer, the William S. Merrell Company of Cincinnati, for more information.

Continue reading the main story

RELATED COVERAGE

The Public’s Quiet Savior From Harmful MedicinesSEPT. 13, 2010

Retro Report: The Death and Afterlife of ThalidomideSEPT. 23, 2013

Thus began a fateful test of wills. Merrell responded. Dr. Kelsey wanted more. Merrell complained to Dr. Kelsey’s bosses, calling her a petty bureaucrat. She persisted. On it went. But by late 1961, the terrible evidence was pouring in. The drug — better known by its generic name, thalidomide — was causing thousands of babies in Europe, Britain, Canada and the Middle East to be born with flipperlike arms and legs and other defects

via Frances Oldham Kelsey, F.D.A. Doctor Who Exposed Danger of Thalidomide, Dies at 101 – The New York Times.

New Hampshire’s Planned Parenthood Defunded Because White Men Know Best

This post was originally published on the Community site.

Continuing the trend of white men having a lot to say about women’s health care, three Republicans on the New Hampshire Executive Council removed state funding from New Hampshire’s Planned Parenthood on Wednesday over the objections of the state’s pro-choice governor, Maggie Hassan. This leaves thousands of their constituents at risk of losing vital services, and it makes New Hampshire one of the three states to remove funds from the organization this week.

All white dude council

(Voted to defund: Kenney, Sununu, Wheeler)

So how did this fairly obscure entity manage to override a sitting governor? The answer is rooted in New Hampshire’s longstanding distrust of centralized authority. The Executive Board, which arose out of the state constitution as a check on gubernatorial power, approves members of boards and commissions, judicial appointments, and state contracts. And, since all of the members of the Council are male, this effectively means that the only female Democratic governor has to share power with a bunch of dudes.

Three of these men are very concerned about the manufactured scandal that is Planned Parenthood legally donating fetal tissue. So following Governor Hassan’s refusal to honor demands for an investigation of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s fetal tissue donations (the entity doesn’t even participate in a voluntary tissue donation program), the Republican Councilors rejected a $640,000 contract that constitutes a third of the budget for the state’s five Planned Parenthood clinics.

While this move was ostensibly meant to eliminate Planned Parenthood’s ability to provide abortion services, the dollars from the general fund that were at issue were not being used for abortions. Instead, the actual effect of this decision will be the decimation of other services that Planned Parenthood provides such as birth control, health education, cancer screening, and STD testing and treatment.

Christopher Sununu, one of the councilors who voted to defund Planned Parenthood, summarized the stakes best on Wednesday:

“In my district — I represent about a quarter-million people —

via New Hampshire’s Planned Parenthood Defunded Because White Men Know Best.

Study: Mowing dry basins can boost mosquito activity, West Nile risk

A recent University of Illinois study on the risk of West Nile virus with “dry” water-detention basins in Central Illinois indicated that mowing these dry basins worsens mosquito problems.

The researchers said mowing wetland plants inside basins that have not properly drained can cause a rapid increase in Culex pipiens mosquito populations, which can carry and transmit West Nile virus.

“We suspect bacteria quickly colonize the waterborne debris, and mosquito larvae feed on the bacteria,” Brian Allan, a University of Illinois entomology professor and co-author of the study, said.

“After aquatic plants were mowed in the basins, we saw a large increase in the number of Culex pipiens mosquito larvae in the basins, which had relatively few before mowing,” postdoctoral researcher Andrew Mackay, another author of the study, said. “And perhaps more importantly, we caught about twice as many adult Culex mosquitoes in traps at basins after these plants were mowed, compared with basins where the aquatic vegetation was left intact.

“We had observed that these phragmites-invaded basins would become colonized by large communal roosts of birds, and we thought that was important because birds are the natural reservoir hosts of West Nile virus,” Mackay said.

“Instead, we found that the presence of a communal bird roost actually decreased West Nile virus risk,” Allan said. “That may be because these wetland roosts include a variety of bird species, many of which are not good reservoirs of the virus. They don’t amplify the virus like other bird species more associated with residential areas do — the American robin, for example.

“We measured mosquito abundance, and we measured West Nile virus prevalence in the mosquitoes we collected in this field study, and we were able to show that it’s these mowed areas where you actually get the highest West Nile virus risk to people in the surrounding landscape,” Allan said.

via Study: Mowing dry basins can boost mosquito activity, West Nile risk.

East Jerusalem youth find escape in drugs | Middle East | DW.COM | 15.07.2015

Tamer Zakkak, director of a counseling center situated in the old city, claims over 5,000 children aged 12-17 years are using drugs in East Jerusalem. The center, run by the charity Caritas Jerusalem, has noticed that more children are being drawn toward drugs at increasingly younger ages.

“In the past we were working with children, 16, 17, 18, who were dealing with drug addiction,” Zakkak said from his office, just outside the old city walls. “In some cases we are now dealing with 13- and 14-year olds.” Zakkar refers to his most recent case as an example: a 13-year-old homeless boy hooked on marijuana and ecstasy.

Children as young as nine begin on what appear to be harmless legal highs, but before they know it they are craving a much bigger hit, says Zakkak. He is referring to synthetic marijuana. Packed with potent chemicals that can induce psychotic episodes, it is cheap, readily available, addictive – and a hit with the youth. “Some people leave school age eight or nine and start working in the streets, learning from adults and other youth in the streets about drugs,” Zakkak adds. “Heroin is the second level.”

via East Jerusalem youth find escape in drugs | Middle East | DW.COM | 15.07.2015.

Tularemia warning issued in New Mexico

The New Mexico Department of Health issued a warning Monday about the risk of contracting tularemia.

The warning was issued after a 51-year-old Los Alamos Countyman received laboratory confirmation from the Scientific Laboratory Division of the Health Department that he has tularemia. He returned home after receiving hospitalization.

Health professionals also have reported 33 tularemia cases in pet cats and dogs so far this year. The pets were located throughout Santa Fe, Torrance, Taos, Los Alamos and Bernalillo

via Tularemia warning issued in New Mexico.