Translation: Death to Kurds and up to Genocide 2.0! Turkey will take over the fight against Islamic State militants in Syria as the United States withdraws its troops, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, in the latest upheaval wrought by Washington’s abrupt policy shift.
Trump hopes partial shutdown of government will not last long
I am proud to shut down the government…I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not gonna blame you for it.”—Donald Trump, December 11 U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that a partial shutdown of the government would hopefully not last long, after Republican senators failed to muster the votes needed to approve a funding measure that included $5 billion for a border wall fiercely opposed by Democrats.
US government shuts down over border wall funding
I am proud to shut down the government…I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not gonna blame you for it.”—Donald Trump, December 11

Hundreds of thousands of US public servants will be affected by a partial government shutdown. Lawmakers are at loggerheads over including funding for a border wall in a general spending bill.
Deep Beneath Your Feet, They Live in the Octillions
The real journey to the center of the Earth has begun, and scientists are discovering subsurface microbial beings that shake up what we think we know about life.
Reliable Allies Refuse to Defend a President Content With Chaos
I am proud to shut down the government…I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not gonna blame you for it.”—Donald Trump, December 11 Buffeted by a drop in the markets, fallout over his troop pullout and a looming shutdown, the president is forced to test the idea that he is his own best spokesman.
Student Targeted by ‘Troll Storm’ Hopes Settlement Will Send Message to White Supremacists
Good on her! Evan James McCarty said he would renounce white supremacy and apologize to Taylor Dumpson, who endured abuse after she was elected student body president at American University.
Trump’s Syria move pleases dictators and hands initiative to Isis
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The president’s surprise decision to withdraw US troops from Syria and Afghanistan has weakened allies and given a fillip to jihadists
Donald Trump’s sudden decision to pull US troops out of Syria, and slash the numbers deployed in Afghanistan, came as a nasty shock to Britain, regional allies such as Israel, and to many in his own administration and Republican party. Although he had threatened such action in the past, his wiser, more experienced advisers had succeeded in restraining him – until last week, when the president finally got away from the White House “grown-ups” and went rogue.
Trump’s move proved the final straw for James Mattis, the defence secretary and last of the old guard, whose relationship with the president was already strained. In his resignation letter, Mattis did not specifically mention Syria and Afghanistan but he warned that Trump was placing US security at risk by letting down and denigrating America’s friends and allies.
Trump and Democrats play blame game over government shutdown
I am proud to shut down the government…I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not gonna blame you for it.”—Donald Trump, December 11

President calls it a Democratic shutdown, while Democrats chide Trump’s ‘temper tantrum’
The US awoke on Saturday to a partial government shutdown after Democrats in Congress refused to fund Donald Trump’s border wall and the president in turn refused to sign budget legislation. A battle to apportion blame duly followed.
Related: Call it a miracle: how strangers got two caravan families across the border
Call it a miracle: how strangers got two caravan families across the border | US news | The Guardian
Maria and Juan – both from Honduras – were fleeing not only poverty, but horrific violence. Gang members in San Pedro Sula had extorted Maria’s two brothers for months. When they were unable to pay, she said, the gang burned down their house and butchered them with machetes. “My brothers had no money because they were helping me with Javier,” she’d told me. “They died helping my son.” The killers had even attended the funeral to send Maria a message that she was next.
Source: Call it a miracle: how strangers got two caravan families across the border | US news | The Guardian
CDC Candida Auris Update – December
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| Credit CDC |
#13,754
In June of 2016 the CDC issued a Clinical Alert to U.S. Health care facilities about the Global Emergence of Invasive Infections Caused by the Multidrug-Resistant Yeast Candida auris.
C. auris is an emerging fungal pathogen that was first isolated in Japan in 2009. It was initially found in the discharge from a patient’s external ear (hence the name `auris’). Retrospective analysis has traced this fungal infection back over 20 years.
Since then the CDC and public health entities have been monitoring an increasing number of cases (and hospital clusters) in the United States and abroad, generally involving bloodstream infections, wound infections or otitis.
Adding to the concern:
- C. auris infections have a high fatality rate
- The strain appears to be resistant to multiple classes of anti-fungals
- This strain is unusually persistent on fomites in healthcare environments.
- And it can be difficult for labs to differentiate it from other Candida strains
The CDC has published their November update on their C. Auris surveillance page, where they show – as of November 30st – 493 confirmed cases and 30 probable cases, across 12 states.
New York, New Jersey, and Illinois continue to lead the pack, making up 95% (n=472) of the 493 confirmed cases. Additionally, 899 patients have been found to be colonized with C. auris by targeted screening conducted in six states with clinical cases.
December 21, 2018: Case Count Updated as of November 30, 2018
Candida auris is an emerging fungus that presents a serious global health threat. C. auris causes severe illness in hospitalized patients in several countries, including the United States. Patients can remain colonized with C. auris for a long time and C. auris can persist on surfaces in healthcare environments. This can result in spread of C. auris between patients in healthcare facilities.
Most C. auris cases in the United States have been detected in the New York City area, New Jersey, and the Chicago area. Strains of C. auris in the United States have been linked to other parts of the world. U.S. C. auris cases are a result of inadvertent introduction into the United States from a patient who recently received healthcare in a country where C. auris has been reported or a result of local spread after such an introduction.
Candida auris was made nationally notifiable at the 2018 Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) Annual Conference. For the updated case definition and information on the nationally notifiable condition status, which will go into effect in 2019, please see the 2018 CSTE position statement[PDF – 16 pages].
As depicted the the following CDC map, C. auris is very much a global problem, although limited surveillance prevents us from knowing just how widespread this fungal infection really is.
For more information visit the CDC’s Information for Laboratorians and Health Professionals page, including:
Resources
Information for Laboratorians and Infection Preventionists
- Information for Infection Preventionists – Print only version[PDF – 2 pages]
- Information for Laboratory Staff – Print only version[PDF – 2 pages]
Patient Education




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