Category Archives: planetkillers

Ebola Is Rapidly Mutating As It Spreads Across West Africa : Goats and Soda : NPR

“That’s very hard to say. In most cases, the answer would be ‘no,’ ” Morse says. “But Ebola is obviously a concern and very virulent. I’d say it’s too early at this point to speculate on what any mutation or any change, even with rapid evolution, might lead to.”

A number of scientists working on the project caught Ebola. “Five of them passed from Ebola,” Sabeti says, including Dr. Shiek Humarr Khan. He was Sierra Leone’s top virologist, who had treated dozens of Ebola patients before catching the virus.

Health workers in Sierra Leone, who talked to NPR in the spring, blamed a lack of proper protective equipment for infections at the government-run hospital in Kenema, where Khan worked.

“The work is just that dangerous,” Sabeti say. “Another British nurse at the hospital has just come down with Ebola. You’re seeing so many infections going on. It’s an extraordinary thing that’s going on right now [in Sierra Leone].”

via Ebola Is Rapidly Mutating As It Spreads Across West Africa : Goats and Soda : NPR.

Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: TWINS: Arpaio and Ferguson’s Chief Thomas Jackson — Why Latinos Should PAY ATTENTION to what’s Happening in Ferguson Missouri

I’ve been reading the posts by these Far Right Wing sites. They are disgusting and racists, blaming Teenager Brown for his own murder. However those attacking young Mike are the same nutcases that support Arpayaso, the Tea Party, Ted Cruz and all the other crazy racists that HATE LATINOS, Blacks, Gays, Women and all minorities. They are using THE SAME LANGUAGE they use when they attack us.

They are blaming poor Mike Brown, the dead victim who cannot speak for himself.

They are blaming the civil protesters who are utilizing their 1st amendment rights to rally. Yet these right wing racist websites call them “animals” and “let them kill themselves.” You should read their despicable spew. (However, you don’t have to read their vile spew. I’ll report it so you don’t have to read their garbage!)

These are the same WORDS they use against LATINOS in Maricopa County / in Guadalupe!

These folks don’t believe in EQUALITY!

Their EQUALITY only encompasses WHITE MEN, not ALL PEOPLE – not ALL MINORITIES!

WE LATINOS NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT’s Happening in Ferguson, Missouri.

via Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: TWINS: Arpaio and Ferguson’s Chief Thomas Jackson — Why Latinos Should PAY ATTENTION to what’s Happening in Ferguson Missouri.

Ebola kills 56 in two days, says WHO | News , World | THE DAILY STAR

The Ebola virus killed 56 people in just two days, bringing the global death toll to 1,069, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

The death toll, which passed the 1,000-mark at the weekend, soared higher between August 10 and 11.

The number of confirmed infections jumped by 128 over the two days, bringing the total number of cases to 1,975 people, the UN’s health agency said.

New cases and deaths had been registered in all four west African countries so far hit by the worst Ebola epidemic seen since the deadly virus was discovered four decades ago.

Liberia saw 71 new cases and 32 new deaths, while Sierra Leone recorded 53 new cases and 19 more deaths, according to fresh WHO data.

Guinea, where the outbreak began at the beginning of the year, counted four new cases and four new deaths.

Nigeria, meanwhile, counted one more death, bringing the total there to three, but WHO lowered the total number of suspected, probable and confirmed cases in the country to 12 from 13.

via Ebola kills 56 in two days, says WHO | News , World | THE DAILY STAR.

Maine Codfish Numbers Hit All-Time Low – global warming anyone?

National Marine Fisheries Service scientists say the amount of cod spawning in the Gulf of Maine is estimated to be 3 to 4 percent of its target level. That number declined from 13 to 18 percent three years ago.

Low levels of reproduction in the fishery are holding repopulation back, scientists say. They are investigating what might be driving down the numbers of cod but believe temperature change — which they have also linked to a declining Northern shrimp stock and northern migration of herring — may be one factor.

The Gulf of Maine, along with Georges Bank, is one of two key areas where East Coast fishermen search for cod, a vital commercial fish in New England that appears in supermarkets and roadside fish-and-chip shops.

An updated assessment of the Gulf of Maine cod shows the fish spawning at levels lower than seen in data stretching back to the 1930s, scientists say. Records of cod catches dating back to the 19th century indicate the population has never dipped this low before, said Russ Brown, deputy science and research director at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

via Maine Codfish Numbers Hit All-Time Low.

Avian Flu Diary: The New Normal: The Age Of Emerging Disease Threats

Over the past three decades, dozens of new – mostly zoonotic – diseases have been identified.   Some of these new, or re-emerging disease threats, include:

 

HIV

SARS

The re-emergence and spread of H5N1 bird flu in 2003

An H1N1 `Swine Flu’  pandemic in 2009

Swine Variant Influenza viruses (H1N1v, H1N2v, H3N2v)

MERS-CoV and other `bat borne’ viruses like Nipah and Hendra

H7N9, H10N8, H5N2 and other emerging avian flu viruses

Lyme Disease, CCHF, Heartland Virus, SFTS, and other tickborne diseases

The global spread of MRSA, along with the recent arrival of of NDM-1 and other Carbapenemases that threaten the viability of our antibiotic arsenal.

An explosion and spread of mosquito-borne diseases like  dengue, chikungunya & malaria

Even old scourges, once thought on the way out, are showing new signs of life . . . like Pertussis, measles, and polio.

Perhaps most troubling of all has been the emergence of increasingly drug resistant strains of tuberculosis.

And the one that has everyone’s attention right now;  Ebola.

via Avian Flu Diary: The New Normal: The Age Of Emerging Disease Threats.

How Siberia’s methane craters affect the whole planet | Green Prophet

“Gas pressure increased until it was high enough to push away the overlaying layers in a powerful injection, forming the crater,” “href=”http://www.nature.com/news/mysterious-siberian-crater-attributed-to-methane-1.15649″>explained geochemist Hans-Wolfgang Hubberten of Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute.

The other two craters have diameters of 45 feet and 13 feet. And while the pockmarked peninsula poses a particular risk to local people, especially considering that industrial plants have been erected on the frozen land that is now melting away, the global community will be affected as well.

Despite the danger of investigating this “spooky” unstable landmass, archaeologist Andrei Plekhanov from the Scientific Center of Arctic Studies in Salekhard, Russia reported in a recent Nature article that the air at the bottom of the crater consists of up to 9.6 percent methane – compared to the standard 0.000179 percent.

Related: Giant plumes of gurgling methane could fast-track planetary warming

This is worrisome because methane is far more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere – the one atmosphere that everyone on planet Earth shares.

“Pound for pound, the comparative impact of [methane gas] on climate change is over 20 times greater than [carbon dioxide] over a 100-year period,” the Environmental Protection Agency reported.

NIMBYism refers to the idea that as long as something bad (pollution, mining, social injustice) is taking place anywhere other than my back yard, it’s not my problem. But the thawing permafrost and subsequent release of methane bombs is everyone’s problem.

via How Siberia’s methane craters affect the whole planet | Green Prophet.

AKA: We’ll do it when no one is watching! Government drops enough hint to allow confined field trials of GM crops – The Times of India

A day after allaying members’ concerns over genetically modified crops in Parliament, the government on Wednesday dropped enough hint that it may eventually give its nod for ‘confined’ field trials of certain varieties of GM crops including rice, brinjal, chickpea, mustard and cotton.

“We are not saying no to science. Nobody can say no to science. We have to take proper caution. We have to take proper action. But you cannot deny, we are not living in the Galileo times,” said environment minister Prakash Javadekar on sidelines of a function here.

via Government drops enough hint to allow confined field trials of GM crops – The Times of India.

Never ask me about peace again – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

My father’s brother, Ismail al-Ghoul, 60, was not a member of Hamas. His wife, Khadra, 62, was not a militant of Hamas. Their sons, Wael, 35, and Mohammed, 32, were not combatants for Hamas. Their daughters, Hanadi, 28, and Asmaa, 22, were not operatives for Hamas, nor were my cousin Wael’s children, Ismail, 11, Malak, 5, and baby Mustafa, only 24 days old, members of Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine or Fatah. Yet, they all died in the Israeli shelling that targeted their home at 6:20 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Their house was located in the Yibna neighborhood of the Rafah refugee camp. It was one story with a roof made of thin asbestos that did not require two F-16 missiles to destroy. Would someone please inform Israel that refugee camp houses can be destroyed, and their occupants killed, with only a small bomb, and that it needn’t spend billions to blow them into oblivion?

If it is Hamas that you hate, let me tell you that the people you are killing have nothing to do with Hamas. They are women, children, men and senior citizens whose only concern was for the war to end, so they can return to their lives and daily routines. But let me assure you that you have now created thousands — no, millions — of Hamas loyalists, for we all become Hamas if Hamas, to you, is women, children and innocent families. If Hamas, in your eyes, is ordinary civilians and families, then I am Hamas, they are Hamas and we are all Hamas.

Throughout the war, we thought that the worst had passed, that this was the pivotal moment when matters would improve, that they would stop there. Yet, that real moment of pain, of extreme fear, was always followed by something even worse.

via Never ask me about peace again – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

70 bodies found in Rafah as death toll hits 1,830 | Maan News Agency

The death toll on the 27th day of Israel’s offensive on Gaza hit at least 120 on Sunday as health officials reported that over 70 bodies had been recovered in Rafah, a day after the city came under fierce, prolonged bombardment by Israeli forces.

Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma’an that the bodies of 70 Palestinians had been recovered from the city in southern Gaza, while 55 other Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks across the Strip Sunday.

The continuing attacks brought the total death toll in the assault to 1,830 with nearly 10,000 injured.

via 70 bodies found in Rafah as death toll hits 1,830 | Maan News Agency.

Promising Ebola Drugs Stuck in Lab Limbo as Outbreak Rages in Africa

{Although the writer is well respected using the term promising feeds doubts about regulations designed to keep people safe and researchers accountable. This is not just red tape for the sake of red tape. Years ago, a drug with great promise was released and “oops” babies with deformed arms and legs were being born. Just a few years ago, a widely prescribed drug was found to “oops” increase the likelihood of strokes and was withdrawn. Research at U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland is done to protect members of the military from disease in areas of the world where they may be asked to serve. If they had }

Yet, some experimental therapies and vaccines show promise. Some show excellent efficacy when given to nonhuman primates deliberately infected with the virus.

Of the experimental vaccines, most work only to protect against infection. But one—designed by scientists from the Public Health Agency of Canada in conjunction with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland—protected half of the animals injected with lethal amounts of Ebola virus when administered 30 minutes post exposure.

via Promising Ebola Drugs Stuck in Lab Limbo as Outbreak Rages in Africa.