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Posts Tagged ‘Infectious disease’

Rare Strain of Bacteria Kills Researcher in California

A rare strain of bacteria infected and led to the death of a researcher at a Veteran’s Affairs infectious diseases lab in San Francisco.  California Occupational Safety and Health Administration spokesman Peter Melton, said that the unnamed 25 year old man had been handling a bacteria linked to bloodstream infections.

He will likely join the Dead Scientist List. http://www.stevequayle.com/dead_scientists/UpdatedDeadScientists.html Malcolm Casadabam died last year doing research on the Plague. https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/malcolmcasadabanplaguedeadscientistslist/

He was working with fellow researchers to develop a vaccine for a bacterial strain that causes septicemia and meningitis.  Hours after he left work, the germ that he was studying  took his own life.  After leaving work on Friday night, two hours later he told his girlfriend he felt sick with a headache, fever and chills.

NOT UNTIL SATURDAY MORNING DID THE SYMPTOMS GROW WORSE WITH A BODY RASH

He asked friends to take him to the hospital but fell unconconcious in the car and had no pulse upon arrival, dying.  Dead within 24 hours.

A state laboratory has confirmed that the San Francisco worker was infected with the Neisseria meningitidis bacterium, the same germ he had been handling at the laboratory for weeks and months before his death. It also confirmed that the rare strain he and fellow researchers were studying — Serogroup B — was the same one found in his body.

His friends and co-workers are getting preventive antibiotics, as are some 60 health workers who treated him at the hospital. The bacteria spreads through respiratory exposure such as sneezing and coughing or kissing.  Achoo.  Bless you.  What kind of hospital risks 60 health workers to infection?  If he arrived without a pulse, why were so many workers trying to revive him?

Meningococcal septicaemia typically causes a purpuric rash that does not lose its color when pressed with a glass (“non-blanching”) and does not cause the classical symptoms of meningitis. This means the condition may be ignored by those not aware of the significance of the rash. Septicaemia carries an approximate 50% mortality rate over a few hours from initial onset. Many health organizations advise anyone with a non-blanching rash to go to a hospital as soon as possible.  Note that not all cases of a purpuric -like rash are due to meningococcal septicaemia; however, other possible causes need prompt investigation as well.-WIKI

Other possible causes for a rash.  Oh, how about the H1N1 flu shot and the virus itself?  Visit the number one article on Ahrcanum- https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/swine-flu-rash-hives-symptoms/ 

PLAGUE DRUG APPROVED 

On April 29, 2012,  U.S. regulators approved use of a powerful Johnson & Johnson antibiotic to treat plague, an extremely rare, sometimes-deadly bacterial infection. The Food and Drug Administration also approved Levaquin, known generically as levofloxacin, to reduce risk of people getting plague after exposure to the bacteria that cause it. Called Yersinia pestis, the bacteria are considered a potential bioterrorism agent.

Plague mainly occurs in animals. People can get it from bites from infected fleas or contact with infected animals or humans. About 1,000 to 2,000 human cases occur worldwide each year. The FDA approved Levaquin for plague after tests on African green monkeys infected with the bacteria in a lab found 94 percent of the monkeys given Levaquin survived.

GREEN MONKEYS

Wait, wasn’t it tests on green monkeys that may have unleashed not only Polio, but AIDS?  Did the monkey survive the plague or the Levaquin? The FDA added that human clinical testing would not be ethical or feasible. No surprise there. What human would willingly consent to being infected with a deadly bacteria? Scientists instead tested the drug on primates, an act that drives animal rights groups crazy.

Levofloxacin was first patented in 1987.  World sales as of Levaquin in 2010 exceeded $1.3 billion.  Tuskegee experiment was discovered after 40 years of silence.  Who is going to speak for another dead scientist, especially one who was an employee of the U.S. government?

From the NCIRE Website –

The Veterans Health Research Institute has one mission and one goal: Veterans Health. We are the

leading nonprofit research institute in the United States devoted to advancing Veterans health

research.

So why were they doing tests on such a virulent strain of bacteria?  Now from –

BOSTON (CBS) – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be releasing bacteria into the MBTA tunnels to test the safety of the subway.  The DHS has installed sensors in the MBTA system to detect biological agents and they’ve been testing to see how the air moves.  Now they want to release particles in the tunnels to see how well the sensors work.  Federal officials say they test the subway sensors by releasing dead bacteria called B-subtilis. They say it is used in food supplements, has been rigorously tested and has no adverse health effects for low exposure in healthy people.

Um, ok.

Sources:

http://www.ncire.org/about.phphttp://www.drugpatentwatch.com/ultimate/preview/tradename/index.php?query=LEVAQUIN

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/323894#ixzz1totHQFDv

https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-04-29/markets/31458261_1_yersinia-pestis-bacterial-infection-plague#ixzz1topU4Xrqh

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20535129/deadly-infection-claims-san-francisco-va-lab-worker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neisseria_meningitidis

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-04-29/markets/31458261_1_yersinia-pestis-bacterial-infection-plague

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/jul/tuskegee/

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/04/30/homeland-security-to-test-biological-sensors-in-mbta-tunnels/

Stay tuned and have a good day, one day it will be your last.  God Bless.

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The Swine Flu Report that began in April 2009 is athttps://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report

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CAIRO, Egypt —http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iran/story/80348.html An award-winning Iranian nuclear scientist traveled to Saudi Arabia earlier this year to perform a religious pilgrimage. He never returned. Shahram Amiri’s mysterious disappearance is turning into a Middle Eastern whodunit involving nuclear secrets and political intrigue, with a new round of accusations emerging this week and the U.S. government still refusing to comment.

There are two big questions: Was Amiri spirited away by Saudi-backed American covert agents? Or did the scientist seize the chance to defect to the West, offering sensitive information in exchange for asylum?

hat tip to http://pimpinturtle.com/

Timothy Hampton, 47, a scientist involved in monitoring nuclear activity, was found dead last week(November 1, 2009)  at the bottom of a stairwell in Vienna….  Under a year ago, an American died at the IAEA in strikingly similar circumstances, his body being found at the bottom of a stairwell. posted at https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/dead-scientists-list-grows/

Additional scientists and researchers who have died in extraordinary circumstances can be found at https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/ft-detrick-lab-missing-9000-virus-vials-scientists-still-dying-from-unnatural-causes/

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Open wide, say ahhh and check out more posts from Ahrcanum including our Swine Flu report that began in April and is updated regularly at https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

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Add Timothy Hampton to the List of Dead Scientists in The New World Order. 

A British nuclear expert who fell from the 17th floor of a United Nations building did not commit suicide and may have been hurled to his death, says a doctor who carried out a second post-mortem examination.  Timothy Hampton, 47, a scientist involved in monitoring nuclear activity, was found dead last week at the bottom of a stairwell in Vienna….  Under a year ago, an American died at the IAEA in strikingly similar circumstances, his body being found at the bottom of a stairwell.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1224377/British-nuclear-experts-17th-floor-UN-death-plunge-suicide.html#ixzz0VeGpsFNr

Additional scientists and researcher who have died in extraordinary circumstances can be found at https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/ft-detrick-lab-missing-9000-virus-vials-scientists-still-dying-from-unnatural-causes/

 

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The town of Ziketan, in the ethnically Tibetan Chinese province of Qinghai was under quarantine  last month not for the Swine Flu, but after three deaths from the pneumonic plague.http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=8250776&page=1

The bacteria responsible yersinia pestis , is the same bacteria blamed for the bubonic plague, which wiped out millions of people in Europe in the fourteenth century. Fleas will spread the bubonic plague when they bite rats, injecting the bacteria into the animal’s bloodstream, but will bite humans when a rat is not available.  In some cases, those bacteria will find a way into the lung, turning bubonic plague into the more contagious pneumonic plague.http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=8250776&page=1  Y. Pestis is a zoonotic disease which means that it is a disease of animals with accidental involvement of humans.

There are 3 main clinical forms of the plague those being Bubonic, Pneumonic and Septicemic. For more information check http://www.newsrx.com/library/topics/Plague.html 

“Left untreated, Bubonic Plague has a 50% mortality rate, where Pneumonic and Septicemic are nearly always fatal. 75% of those afflicted with Bubonic Plague will parish within a few days and out of those afflicted with Pneumonic Plague 90% will parish within 24 hours. 80% of patients with Bubonic Plague will also become septic, 5-15% develops pneumonia, and a smaller proportion develops meningitis. Out of those suffering from Bubonic Plague 10-15% can present with primary sepsis or gastrointestinal symptoms. The Y. Pestis bacteria has a P-3 level containment rating with the CDC. This puts it as one of three of the most dangerous diseases known to man.”

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/84122/a_look_into_the_history_and_links_between_pg3.html?cat=5

There has been significant concern over the return of plague as a potential biological weapon. In 1347, the Tartars catapulted bodies of plague victims over the city walls during the siege of Kaffa, and, in World War II, the Japanese dropped bombs containing fleas inoculated with Yersinia pestis to infect their enemies with the deadly illness. During the Cold War, the Soviets succeeded in aerosolizing the bacteria and in creating strains of multidrug-resistant Yersinia. Aerosolized Y pestis, causing primary pneumonic plague, has been recognized by bioterrorism experts as having one of the highest potentials as a bioterrorism agent due to its extremely high mortality, its high uptake into enzootic and epizootic animals as well as humans, and its ability to be spread over a large area. It has been classified as a Category A select agent by the CDC.   http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/829233-overview

By it’s name, the University of Medicine and Dentistry located in Newark, N.J., you would never know that it is a bioterror research lab.  It is run by the Public Health Research Institute, a leading center for research on infectious diseases.  

Officials discovered two weeks ago a failure to account for three of 24 mice that had been injected with a bacterium that causes various forms of the plague, including bubonic plague, inside the high-security facility located in the middle of the city of Newark. The injections were part of a government funded bio-defense project to develop vaccines against biological weapons of mass destruction. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=1128953&page=1

In Colorado June 2009, “Tests show bubonic plague is present among prairie dogs in a field near the city’s airport, and county health officials are investigating the death of a 28-year-old man who had plague-like symptoms.http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117382&page=1

Also in Colorado in 2007,  A zoo monkey was found dead after eating a squirrel that was infected with the plague. 5 squirrels and a rabbit were also found dead, at the same zoo. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/254751/bubonic_plague_kills_zoo_monkey_in.html?cat=70

Interestingly, “Dr. Stephen O’Brien of the National Institutes of Health in Washington D.C. set out to discover why some individuals recovered on their own from the pneumonic plague and why some individuals seemed to be totally immune. He centered his research in an English town called Eyam. Eyam survived the plague with several instances of individuals whom even though in close contact never became ill. What he discovered was a mutation on the CCR5 molecule called Delta 32.  Research is currently being done on the CCR5 Delta 32 mutation to fight the AIDs virus and further study will no doubt reveal further advantages and disadvantages of possessing either one copy or both of the mutation Delta 32.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/84122/a_look_into_the_history_and_links_between_pg5.html?cat=5

A mouse with bubonic plague and maybe AIDS?  A tasty meal for a cute little furry kittycat with fleas, that the cute little girl just petted and then sucked her thumb.

There will not be an eradication of plague.  While we have antibiotics to help plague victims, and antivirals for influenza -viruses and bacteria mutate as seen by the Novel H1N1 Swine Influenza.  No cure for that either.

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Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself .  Our disclaimer-Swine Flu Conspiracy theory can sometimes be triggered by real world events.  https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

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In searching out how A/H1N1 has come to exist or mutate into existence, my antenna are turning toward Gilead Sciences Inc., the makers Tamiflu.

  • Gilead Science 50% of the Gilead Sciences Inc. stock is owned by  Donald Rumsfeld, Tony Blair, Cindy McCain,  FBI Division 5 William Morris Agency, Tom Brokaw.  Brokaw has replaced the late Tim Russert as host of NBC’s alleged interview show “Meet the Press”.  Retired Republican Senator William Frist of Tennessee has major investments in the bird flu vaccine, virus. http://www.newsfollowup.com/veterans_anthrax.htm 
  • Two French biochemical students, Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, joined the list of dead scientists when they were murdered by Israeli Mossad-British intelligence assassination teams on June 29, 2008. Both Bonomo and Ferez were studying at the prestigious London Imperial College researching the origins of bird flu and the link to the alleged vaccines….The two researchers had discovered that the alleged bird flu vaccine, H-7, which was designed to neutralize and stop the H5N1 avian flu virus, had been spliced using DNA to actually create a vaccine and an illness producing virus at the same time. The French students had also discovered that the bird flu vaccine, i.e. a virus, had links to U.S., British and Israeli laboratories associated with the noted Mossad agent, Dr. Philip M. Zackerie.  http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bio-chemists_murdered_149.html

    Israeli microbiologist, Dr. Zackerie known as “Dr. Zack,” worked for the U.S. bio-weapons lab at Ft. Detrick, Md. where I wonder by some coincidence is where the last Swine Flu Outbreak Occurred.  He was a consultant at the FBI linked company Gilead Sciences Inc. of Boulder, Colo. Gilead Sciences has been linked to the 9-11 anthrax strain and to the bird flu vaccine.

    Blogger Tom Heneghan asserts at http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=147509065&blogId=486979763 “that U.S. Army investigators are looking into the actual theft of disease samples tied to the Swine Flu virus that are missing from the bio lab at Ft. Detrick, Maryland.

    This is the same bio lab where researchers study deadly pathogens, including Ebola, Anthrax and Plague and that the operational team unleashing the Swine Flu was a joint U.S.-Israeli Mossad group that transported the Swine Flu in vials from Fort Detrick, Maryland to Fort Dix, New Jersey and on to Mexico City.

    He goes on to note that White House Chief of Staff and former head of the North American Israeli Mossad, Rahm Emanuel, has direct control over the U.S. Treasury, working hand in hand with current U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

    Coincidentally or Ironically depending on how you look at it the Army did announce last week that, “An inventory of potentially deadly pathogens at Fort Detrick’s infectious disease laboratory found more than 9,000 vials that had not been accounted for.” https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/ft-detrick-lab-missing-9000-virus-vials-scientists-still-dying-from-unnatural-causes/

    It is not as if the U.S. and other countries have not been remiss in planning for an influenza pandemic.  There are government stockpiles of small pox vaccines and antiviral drugs from Roche AG and Gilead Sciences Tamiflu, and Glaxo Smith Kine, Niota’s Relenza and who knows what else.  Scientists are working feverishly with numerous announcements that a vaccine will be ready soon.  Novartis announced recently that it has developed the first vaccine batch against A/H1N1.  Obama and HHS have ordered millions worth of vaccine ingredients from its five corporate suppliers and if I recall, nearly one billion in stimulus money targeted toward the flu. 

    Numerous sources are reporting that while A/H1N1 and H3N2 virus are jumping borders it looks like the seasonal H1N1 has mutated into a form that resists Tamiflu, although it is still susceptible to Relenza supposedly.  sourced from   http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=7368116&subject=economic&action=article

    “Investors are in a bit of a conundrum. There’s potential for the companies to make some extra revenue, but investors are going to have to hope that the swine flu pandemic gets worse from The Motley Fool http://www.fool.com/investing/international/2009/06/12/be-careful-what-you-wish-for.aspx who outlines the major pharma companies most likely to benefit.

    As it turns out, “Scientists have established the first case of the new H1N1 influenza strain showing resistance to Tamiflu, the main antiviral flu drug,” according to Reuters –http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE55S3UM20090629

    “It is well known and expected that influenza virus can mutate spontaneously. The resistance has not changed the capability of the virus to transmit or cause disease, and the assessment is still that this is a relatively mild influenza,”said David Daigle, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    This relatively described mild influenza has killed 231 and infected 52,000+ as reported by the CDC, http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_06_22/en/index.html but that is only the reported cases.

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    Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself .  Our disclaimer-Swine Flu Conspiracy theory can sometimes be triggered by real world events.  https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

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     An inventory of potentially deadly pathogens at Fort Detrick’s infectious disease laboratory found more than 9,000 vials that had not been accounted for, Army officials said yesterday, raising concerns that officials wouldn’t know whether dangerous toxins were missing.   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/17/AR2009061703271.html

    You got to be shitting me, right?  No.

    The probe began in February 2009,  just months before Swine Flu A/H1N1 came to the public eye and a Pandemic Status issued earlier this month.  Coincidence?

    When the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center at Fort Detrick is fully operational in March[ sic 2009], about 150 scientists in the lab will be tasked with protecting the country from a bioterrorist attack through prevention or containment. Another goal is to allow investigators to fingerprint biological agents such as viruses and bacteria, quickly tracing their source and catching the offender. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102203082.html?sid=ST2009061703604

    Visit Ft. Detrick on line , http://www.detrick.army.mil/ whose motto is,  “We Care.”  Apparently not enough to care about locking down the world’s worst viruses where they have their own threat status currently at :

    FPCON ALPHA

    Applies when there is an increased general threat of possible terrorist activity against personnel or facilities, the nature and extent of which are unpredictable.

    Unpredictable?  Who would have predicted loosing track of up to 9,000 vials of who knows what kind of viruses? 

    Among them the Ebola virus, anthrax bacteria and botulinum toxin, and less lethal agents such as Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus and the bacterium that causes tularemia. Most of them, forgotten inside freezer drawers, hadn’t been used in years or even decades. Officials said some serum samples from hemorrhagic fever patients dated to the Korean War. The overstock and the previous inaccuracy of the database raised the possibility that someone could have taken a sample outside the lab with no way for officials to know something was missing. http://cotocrew.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/msm-inventory-uncovers-9200-more-pathogens/

    Several FredCoBio companies won funding to support product development activities with Ft.  Detrick scientists according to- http://fredcobio.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/ft-detrick-tech-transfer-funds/.  Considering most tests are with virulent pathogens we would hope that stricter security is in place.  With Obama on the heels of computerizing all health records, just maybe he can order someone to keep track of little things like viruses who research is paid for with our tax dollars.

    After Fort Detrick anthrax researcher Bruce E. Ivins killed himself in July, the FBI announced that he alone was responsible for anthrax mailings that killed five people and sickened 17 others in 2001. 

    Dr. Ayaad Assaad an Egyptian-born toxicologist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the original suspect does not believe Ivins killed himself. ” You also have to tie into this the large numbers of dead microbiologists that have appeared since around the summer before these events, when the New York Times revealed the existence of the covert anthrax weapons programs run by the CIA, and that too is in the public record.” http://noworldsystem.com/2008/09/14/original-anthrax-patsy-says-ivins-didn%e2%80%99t-kill-himself/

    Dead Microbiologists include: [http://www.rense.com/general39/death.htm]

    Dr. Benito Que, a cell biologist working on infectious diseases like HIV, who was found comatose outside his laboratory at the Miami Medical School. He later died. Police say the attack was possibly the result of a mugging.” 

    Dr. Wiley, A Harvard biologist and  expert on how the human immune system fights off infections and had recently investigated such dangerous viruses as AIDS, Ebola, herpes and influenza .  His body was found after  more than a month since his rental car was left parked on a bridge over the Mississippi River at  hydro-electric plant in Louisiana 300 miles downstream.

    Dr. Vladimir Pasechnik, a former microbiologist for Biopreparat, the Soviet biological-weapons production facility was found dead.

    Dr. Robert M. Schwartz was found murdered in Leesberg, Virginia. Dr. Schwartz was a well-known DNA sequencing researcher. He founded the Virginia Biotechnology Association where he worked on DNA sequencing.

    The head of the microbiology sub-faculty of the Russian State Medical University, Victor Korshunov has been killed.

    Dr. Tanya Holzmayer, a pioneering Russian born genomic scientist who had co-invented a tool that has helped find hundreds of molecular targets to combat cancer and HIV was found shot dead by a  former colleague .

    David Wynn-Williams, an award-winning microbiologist died when he was struck by a vehicle while out jogging. In 2000 he was appointed leader of the Antarctic Astrobiology Project, which explores the effects of environmental stress at the limits of life on Earth

    Are these scientists a patsy in a larger cover up? A time line of 46 mysterious deaths of scientists continues here http://www.stevequayle.com/dead_scientists/dead.scientists.chron.html and 86 dead scientists listed here http://theoneall.blogspot.com/2009/05/now-88-dead-scientists-and.html

    It is not only microbiologists who are dying in extraordinary circumstances.  On June 13, 2009 the carcass of Indian famous nuclear scientist Lokanathan Mahalingam found from Kali River. The scientist had been mysteriously disappeared from the Kaiga Atomic Power Station on June 8, 2009. The Kaiga plant is located near one of the biggest naval bases, Project Seabird. http://pakistanfront.blogspot.com/2009/06/abducted-indian-nuke-scientist-found.html

    “Lack of oversight and runaway spending are exacerbated by the Bush administration’s disrespect for the internationally-recognized Biological Weapons Convention. In short, reduced pressure on weapons labs to issue declarations and allow inspections means less accountability – and more opportunities for secrecy and abuse.” http://www.heatherwokusch.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=67  

    Indeed, does it take a genius to put two-and-two together?

    Updated Novemer 1, 2009- 

    A British nuclear expert who fell from the 17th floor of a United Nations building did not commit suicide and may have been hurled to his death, says a doctor who carried out a second post-mortem examination.  Timothy Hampton, 47, a scientist involved in monitoring nuclear activity, was found dead last week at the bottom of a stairwell in Vienna.  Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1224377/British-nuclear-experts-17th-floor-UN-death-plunge-suicide.html#ixzz0Ve8yrMQ8

     

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    Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself.

    https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

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    swine_flu_map1 

    Flu maps look so pretty with all the colors.  My favorite is The Global Disease Health Map http://healthmap.org/swineflu.  It tracks everything from the seasonal and H1N1 Swine Flu to Chicken Pox, with only 8 cases reported.  Too bad every dot is disease. Rhiza Labs offers a map here http://www.swineflumap.us/.  Another here  http://swineflumaps.com/ , Pediatrics offers this http://pediatrics.about.com/od/swineflu/l/bl_swine_flu_map.htm, The Wall Journal Tracking map is here http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-SWINEFLUMAP0904.html, The New York Times map is here, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/04/27/us/20090427-flu-update-graphic.html cbcnews Canada offers http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/04/27/f-swine-flu-map.html

    Whatever map you select, the numbers of H1N1 Swine Flu will vary by source; but Victoria, Australia  now has the highest recorded per capita rate of swine flu in the world and is being blamed for exporting the virus around Australia. It has the fourth highest number of infections worldwide after the US, Mexico and Canada, but the highest per capita load. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25603115-2862,00.html?from=public_rss.  Sydney, Australia is reporting Patient One.  Six-year-old Nicholas Darcy is the recipient of the first Australian “community transmission” of swine flu – catching the disease from someone with no known links to a host country or source.  http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25548525-5001021,00.html?from=public_rss NO KNOWN LINKS is a pretty scary prospect. 

    While virus knows no borders, the number of new cases appears to be tapering off and I wonder if it is just the calm before the storm.  Previous flu outbreaks like H3N2  Hong Kong Flu, and the 1918 Spanish Flu had a tapering off period that led to full pandemic status. “New viruses sometimes arise late in spring, morph during the summer, and come back in the fall in a more virulent, severe strain says http://hamptonroads.com/2009/06/each-new-outbreak-medical-sleuth-case .

    Epidemiology began in 1854, when London physician John Snow suggested removing the handle from a water pump after noting victims of a cholera outbreak had used it. 

    While sanitation and science is much improved to prevent H1N1 Swine Flu, are we still only 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon and the concept of the small world phenomenon? You’ve probably heard of the Six Degrees concept. Any one person (including  Kevin Bacon) is connected to any other person through six or fewer relationships, because it’s a small world.  A world so small that Swine Flu has reached nearly every Continent, save Greenland and Antarctica. A six year old provides proof he was not six degrees away from the flu.

    Sixdegreeslogo

    SixDegrees.org harnesses two important online trends: the exponential growth of social networks and the increasing interest in using the web for raising money for charity among family and friends. Through SixDegrees.org, people can upload their own photos and stories and fundraise for the charity of their choice with their own charity badges and AIM Pages.  http://www.sixdegrees.org/ Truly worthwhile.

    The trend of previous illnesses asks if  the strain will mutate and change to become more virulent; is it becoming resistant to anti-virals like  Tamiflu? Who is getting sick and where? How old are the infected?  What is the the death rate and infection rate?  How do we begin to deal with a massive outbreak? 

    No one is immune, even New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who traveled on Friday to Shanghai, China, on an economic development trip, was informed early Sunday that a passenger on the airplane in which he was traveling was confirmed to have signs and symptoms of an influenza-like illness, suspected to be of the H1N1 — or swine flu — subtype.  He is in precautionary quarantine. http://www.wdsu.com/news/19683611/detail.html

    Trust for America’s Health, The Center for Biosecurity, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation teamed up publishing a review of  the initial response to the swine flu called Pandemic Flu: Lessons from The Frontlines http://healthyamericans.org/report/64/pandemic-flu-frontlines that outlines some basic procedural maneuvering.  It reviews 10 early lessons learned from the response to the H1N1 (swine) flu outbreak, 10 ongoing core vulnerabilities in U.S. pandemic flu preparedness, and case studies of challenges communities around the country faced when responding to the outbreak.

    Experts predict a severe pandemic flu outbreak could result in up to 1.9 million deaths in the United States, approximately 9.9 million Americans needing to be hospitalized, and an economic recession with losses of over $680 billion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product says TFAH- Trust for America’s Health http://healthyamericans.org/pandemic-flu/.   Recent economic challenges will be nothing compared to a full blown Pandemic.

    State and Federal officials in the U.S. are proposing  S. 1143, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-1143 a Public Health Workforce Act to to establish various programs for the recruitment and retention of public health workers and to eliminate critical public health workforce shortages in Federal, State, local, and tribal public health agencies and health centers.  I imagine this bills primary goal is make sure America has the people and resources to vaccinate to people with mass inoculations but in pure socialistic tendency, the bill “…may give hiring priority to any individual who has qualified for and is willing to execute a contract to participate in the Program.”  The private sector gets overlooked, yet again. 

    Obama begins his world tour to promote socialized government Healthcare with his Organizing For America group.  Obama recently asked Congress for another $2 billion in supplemental funds to fight the novel H1N1 influenza epidemic, on top of $2 billion requested a month ago, and also proposed to tap federal economic stimulus funds for up to another $3.1 billion for the same purpose according to CIDRAP –http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/jun0509funding.html 

    Flu Wiki http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=About.About shares flu knowledge support and extends information to advance both preparation for and the ability to cope with events as they unfold primarily without reliance on the government.

    Sadly Alberta farmer Arnold Van Ginkel, whose swine farm was Ground Zero for the Influenza A (H1N1) in Canada voluntarily, culled all his 2,000 plus herd which was earlier quarantined by federal health authorities according to http://www.vitabeat.com/alberta-farmer-whose-swine-farm-started-influenza-a-h1n1-in-canada-culls-herd/v/10342/.  Again, so much for Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, this was just One.

    Lastly, one bit of good news, a new H5N1 recombinant vaccine virus has been developed by the WHO Collaborating Centerhttp://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/17890/new-recombinant-h5n1-vaccine-virus-available.   Influenza sequences are available in GenBank as soon as they are processed at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genomes/FLU/SwineFlu.html .  Now if they can only identify how this all got started in the first place. 

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    Open wide, say ahhh and check out these posts on the A/H1N1 Swine Flu from Ahrcanum, where the conspiracy spreads as fast as the virus itself .  Our disclaimer-Swine Flu Conspiracy theory can sometimes be triggered by real world events.  https://ahrcanum.wordpress.com/swine-flu-report/

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