Ebola in Uganda:
New Ebola fatalities push Uganda toll to 25: official from PhysOrg.com
A dreaded Ebola outbreak has killed two people, bringing the toll to 25 in western Uganda, an official said Saturday, as health teams battled to contain the virulent strain in the region.
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With the outbreak earlier in the year in DRC, and this outbreak, this is a big year for Ebola. Some time soon, someone is going to have to go and figure out where this disease resides in the wild. I'm betting on it being a plant virus that reaches human populations through a number of different routes, including but not limited to fruit bats. I will be very interesting to see how this particular strain, which is very different in its presentation from other strains, relates at a phylogenetic level from what is already know. (If, indeed, it ends up actually being Ebola proper as opposed to something closely related).
Father of bird flu victim tests positive: China from PhysOrg.com
The father of a man in China who died this week of bird flu has also tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the disease, the country's health ministry reported on Friday.
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Britain warns of homeopathic risks from PhysOrg.com
A top British health official says people who use homeopathic medicines could be causing themselves more harm than good.
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Medicine & Health
Comments
Nice to see the UK government making sensible scientific statements against homeopathy. However, the message seems rather diluted by the appearance of 3 woo-ful "sponsored links" * in between the headline and the body of the article.
* "Homeopathy for the family - Safe, natural homeopathic medicines for the entire family"
"New Diabetes Treatment - High Blood Sugar can be controlled for about 80 cents/day."
"Restore Natural Health - Learn How Alkalizing Your Body Fights Disease & More - Free Ebook."
Posted by: Theo Bromine | December 9, 2007 3:39 PM
H5N1 avian flu: Spread by drinking water into small clusters:
Human to human and contact transmission of influenza occur - but are overvalued immense. In the course of Influenza epidemics in Germany recognized clusters are rarely (9% of the cases in the season 2005).
In temperate climates the lethal H5N1 avian flu virus will be transferred to humans strong seasonal in the cold via cold drinking water, as with the birds feb/mar 2006.
Recent research must worry: So far the virus had to reach the bronchi and the lungs in order to infect humans. Now it infects the upper respiratory system (mucous membranes of the throat e.g. when drinking and mucous membranes of the nose and probably also the conjunctiva of the eyes as well as the eardrum e.g. at showering). In a few cases (Viet Nam, Thailand) stomach and intestine by the H5N1 virus were stricken but not the bronchi and the lungs. The virus might been orally taken up, e.g. when drinking contaminated water.
The performance to eliminate viruses of the drinking water processing plants in Germany regularly does not meet the requirements of the WHO and the USA/USEPA. Conventional disinfection procedures are poor, because microorganisms in the water are not in suspension, but embedded in particles. Even ground water used for drinking water is not free from viruses.
In temperate climates the strong seasonal waterborne infections like norovirus, rotavirus, salmonellae, campylobacter and - differing from the usual dogma - influenza are mainly triggered by drinking water dependent on the drinking water temperature (in Germany minimum feb/mar – maximum august). There is no evidence that influenza primary is transmitted by saliva droplets. In temperate climates the strong interdependence between influenza infections and environmental temperatures can’t be explained with the primary biotic transmission by saliva droplets from human to human with temperatures of 37.5°C. There must be an abiotic vehicle like cold drinking water. There is no other appropriate abiotic vehicle. In Germany about 98% of inhabitants have a central public water supply with older and better protected water. Therefore in Germany cold water is decisive to virulence of viruses.
In hot climates/tropics the flood-related influenza is typical after extreme weather and natural after floods. Virulence of Influenza virus depends on temperature and time. If young and fresh H5N1 contaminated water from low local wells, cisterns, tanks, rain barrels or rice fields is used for water supply water temperature for infection may be higher as in temperate climates.
Dipl.-Ing. Wilfried Soddemann
eMail soddemann-aachen@t-online.de
http://www.dugi-ev.de/information.html
Epidemiologische Analyse: http://www.dugi-ev.de/TW_INFEKTIONEN_H5N1_20071019.pdf
Posted by: Dipl.-Ing. Wilfried Soddemann | December 11, 2007 3:03 AM
I am come from china.I search health wirh goole and come ,my english is Poor.I wish make friend with.
Posted by: media360 | December 23, 2007 9:07 AM