Home » Posts tagged 'disease' (Page 2)

Tag Archives: disease

We tend to think about a disease that infects humans or even animals that results in widespread crisis. However, what is also unfolding is a rise in a disease that infects the food supply. Wheat leaf rust is a fungal disease that affects wheat, barley and rye stems, leaves, and grains. This is now beginning to appear as a PANDEMIC since scientists have shown that the first appearance of wheat stem rust disease that appeared in Britain about 60 years ago and had reappeared since 2013, was caused by the same virulent fungal strain that was responsible for recent wheat stem rust outbreaks in Ethiopia, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden.

We are beginning to see PANDEMICS in a disease that also infects agriculture. This is not a trend we want to see given our computer is projecting a rise in food prices going into 2024. This crop disease is on the rise and can seriously disrupt our food supply. The cocoa farms in southwestern Nigeria, which is the nation’s primary growing region, has been hit with the outbreak of a fungal disease identified as dieback. This disease simply kills the plant.

How A North Korean Electromagnetic Pulse Attack Could Kill Millions And Turn America Into A Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland

November 29, 2017

How A North Korean Electromagnetic Pulse Attack Could Kill Millions And Turn America Into A Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland

This is why North Korea’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile is so important. North Korea had test fired a total of 22 missiles so far this year, but this latest one showed that nobody on the globe is out of their reach. In fact, General Mattis is now admitting that “North Korea can basically threaten everywhere in the world”, and that includes the entire continental United States. In addition to hitting individual cities with nukes, there is also the possibility that someday North Korea could try to take down the entire country with an EMP attack. If the North Koreans detonated a single nuclear warhead several hundred miles above the center of the country, it would destroy the power grid and fry electronics from coast to coast.

I would like you to think about what that would mean for a few moments. Suddenly there would be no power at home, at work or at school. Since nearly all of our vehicles rely on computerized systems, you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere and nobody would be able to get to you. And you wouldn’t be able to contact anyone because all phones would be dead. Basically, pretty much everything electronic would be dead. I am talking about computers, televisions, GPS devices, ATMs, heating and cooling systems, refrigerators, credit card readers, gas pumps, cash registers, hospital equipment, traffic lights, etc.

For the first couple of days life would continue somewhat normally, but then people would soon start to realize that the power isn’t coming back on and panic would begin to erupt.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Scarlet Fever Outbreak In England Leaves Researchers Confused: ‘We’re Concerned’

November 29, 2017

Scarlet Fever Outbreak In England Leaves Researchers Confused: ‘We’re Concerned’

scarletfever

Scarlet fever cases are now at 50-year-high sparking concerns for researchers, as they are baffled as to how “Victorian-era” diseases are making a comeback. The disease has been on the rise since 2014, and researchers are failing to find the cause.

Scarlet fever hit its highest level in England for 50 years, with more than 17,000 cases reported in 2016 according to research in the Lancet. The infection is most common in children under the age of 10 and although highly contagious (being spread easily with a cough) is easily cured with a round of antibiotics. But that, in and of itself, raises concerns of the disease becoming resistant to antibiotics, creating a global pandemic.

Doctors are urging the public to be aware of symptoms, which include a rosy rash, and seek help from their doctor. Data for 2017 suggests the rate of infection may be falling, but experts remain cautious, saying it is “too early to tell.” Normally, first world nations have a better chance of handling an outbreak such as this, but England is on the verge of losing control over this scarlet fever outbreak.

A joint investigation by public health authorities from across England and Wales found that the incidence of scarlet fever tripled between 2013 and 2014, rising from 4,700 cases to 15,637 cases. In 2016, there were 19,206 reported cases, the highest level since 1967. The majority of the outbreaks were in England.

“We are concerned – it’s quite a dramatic rise,” said Dr. Theresa Lamagni, head of streptococcal surveillance at Public Health England, who led the study. “We’ve always seen cases of scarlet fever – it’s just the scale in the past has been much lower than the last few years.” Dr. Lamagni described the soaring number of cases of scarlet fever as “baffling”, adding that no underlying causes had been identified.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

A Crash Course in Preparedness – Week 2 – Medicine, Sanitation, and Surviving Disaster Diseases

September 22, 2017

A Crash Course in Preparedness – Week 2 – Medicine, Sanitation, and Surviving Disaster Diseases

Welcome back to week 2 in our Crash Course into Preparedness. Last week we discussed the basics of survival and gear needed for a short-lived event. One of the comments from last week’s class mentioned that it isn’t hard to prepare, you just have to start. I couldn’t agree more! My only addition I would make to this comment is in order to start you must prioritize your needs and know what you’re planning for. This week, we are taking the same concept from last week – prioritizing, planning and preparing to another facet of disaster planning and highlighting the more dirty side of preparedness – medical and sanitation needs.

Some of the greatest threats in an emergency occur after the disaster. Lack of accessible clean water following major disasters can quickly escalate and create secondary problems in a post SHTF situation. Additionally, those unsanitary conditions can exacerbate the spreading of diseases, infections and health risks. In this preparedness course, we will cover the most common issues that occur following a disaster that relates to hygiene, sanitary and medical condition.

Sanitation, good hygiene, and medical preparedness all go hand-in-hand. But as you will see after reading this guide, it takes a lot of planning and a lot of preparation. Simply put, there are many wrong turns a person could take in the aftermath of a storm and their health could suffer as a result. Therefore it is paramount that you understand the magnitude of these types of disasters and how to avoid them. As Ready Nutrition writer, Jeremiah Johnson noted in a recent article, “hygiene protects you from germs and diseases, as well as preventing the body from falling apart.” In the aftermath of disasters, this needs to stay at the forefront of our priorities.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Migrations Always Bring Infectious Diseases

July 25, 2017

Migrations Always Bring Infectious Diseases

A new report by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), has confirmed that there has been a sharp rise in disease since 2015 with the arrival of the refugees in Germany. The disease is tuberculosis and just being exposed to a person in the same restaurant carries the rise of you becoming infected as well. Of course raising this topic will cause many to call it racism. Yet in fact, travel to Asia and if you even look sick, they pull you over and will send you to quarantine.

Back in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue as they say and returned with more than discovering a new continent. He and his crew brought back a new disease to Europe – Syphilis. New skeletal evidence confirmed that Columbus and his crew brought back syphilis to Europe. In turn, Europeans brought disease to America that wiped out Indians.

Take AIDS or HIV. Scientists have identified the origin of HIV tracing it to a specific type of chimpanzee in West Africa. It was probably transmitted to humans and mutated into HIV when humans hunted these chimpanzees for meat.

Gaëtan Dugas (1953 – 1984), was a Canadian flight attendant who became regarded as “patient zero” for AIDS in the United States, although that was disputed by others claiming there were others around the same time. Nevertheless, regardless of who brought it from Africa to America, someone did. Such disease travels historically with migrations. The reintroduction of tuberculosis to Europe can end up being a serious epidemic in the years ahead.

Why Pandemics Are Our Own Damn Fault

April 3, 2016

Why Pandemics Are Our Own Damn Fault

A review of Sonia Shah’s brilliant new book on 21st century disease threats we all face.

Shah

Science writer Sonia Shah’s new book ‘Pandemic’ offers a critical warning. Photo by Glenford Nunez.

An American science journalist, Sonia Shah has published earlier books on malaria and the testing of pharmaceuticals in poor countries. She must have understood the challenge of her new book, Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, From Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, and what it would take to organize a vast body of research — not only that, but to make that research understandable to a lay audience.

She has succeeded brilliantly. On page one, she describes her flight from Haiti to Florida, delayed because another passenger had come down with cholera just as he took his seat on the plane. By page two, I knew I was in good hands and I was not disappointed by the time I reached the extensive documentation. This is the best single book I have yet read about the disease threats we all face in the 21st century.

I say this as a blogger who since 2005 has posted over 45,000 times about disease outbreaks and the political and scientific responses to them. If nothing else, the experience has taught me that organizing information about diseases is a very tough job. That may be why so many outbreaks seem to come out of nowhere — we have no idea of their backstory.

Shah builds her book around the backstory of a single disease: cholera. But in explaining it, she takes us on a superbly guided tour of many other diseases. Each may have its own symptoms but all, she argues, rely on humans to spread them.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How Forest Loss Is Leading To a Rise in Human Disease

February 23, 2016

How Forest Loss Is Leading To a Rise in Human Disease

A growing body of scientific evidence shows that the felling of tropical forests creates optimal conditions for the spread of mosquito-borne scourges, including malaria and dengue. Primates and other animals are also spreading disease from cleared forests to people.

In Borneo, an island shared by Indonesia and Malaysia, some of the world’s oldest tropical forests are being cut down and replaced with oil palm plantations at a breakneck pace. Wiping forests high in biodiversity off the land for monoculture plantations causes numerous environmental problems, from the destruction of wildlife habitat to the rapid release of stored carbon, which contributes to global warming.

But deforestation is having another worrisome effect: an increase in the spread of life-threatening diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. For a host of ecological reasons, the loss of forest can act as an incubator for insect-borne and other infectious diseases that afflict humans. The most recent example came to light this month in the Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases, with researchers documenting a steep rise in human malaria cases in a region of Malaysian Borneo undergoing rapid deforestation.

CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/AFP/Getty Images

An area of forest in Indonesia that was cleared to make way for an oil palm plantation.

This form of the disease was once found mainly in primates called macaques, and scientists from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene wondered why there was a sudden spike in human cases. Studying satellite maps of where forest was being cut down and where it was left standing, the researchers compared the patchwork to the locations of recent malaria outbreaks. They realized the primates were concentrating in the remaining fragments of forest habitat, possibly increasing disease transmission among their own populations.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Europe Question in 2016

January 4, 2016

The Europe Question in 2016

NEW YORK – At the cusp of the new year, we face a world in which geopolitical and geo-economic risks are multiplying. Most of the Middle East is ablaze, stoking speculation that a long Sunni-Shia war (like Europe’s Thirty Years’ War between Catholics and Protestants) could be at hand. China’s rise is fueling a wide range of territorial disputes in Asia and challenging America’s strategic leadership in the region. And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has apparently become a semi-frozen conflict, but one that could reignite at any time.

There is also the chance of another epidemic, as outbreaks of SARS, MERS, Ebola, and other infectious diseases have shown in recent years. Cyber-warfare is a looming threat as well, and non-state actors and groups are creating conflict and chaos from the Middle East to North and Sub-Saharan Africa. Last, but certainly not least, climate change is already causing significant damage, with extreme weather events becoming more frequent and lethal.

Yet it is Europe that may turn out to be the ground zero of geopolitics in 2016. For starters, a Greek exit from the eurozone may have been only postponed, not prevented, as pension and other structural reforms put the country on a collision course with its European creditors. “Grexit,” in turn, could be the beginning of the end of the monetary union, as investors would wonder which member – possibly even a core country (for example, Finland) – will be the next to leave.

If Grexit does occur, the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU may become more likely. Compared to a year ago, the probability of “Brexit” has increased, for several reasons. The recent terrorist attacks in Europe have made the UK even more isolationist, as has the migration crisis. Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Labour is more Euroskeptic.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Global Health Crisis Will Crush the Global Economy

January 2, 2016

The Global Health Crisis Will Crush the Global Economy

The scale of the global epidemic of obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes are truly staggering.

Though evidence of a looming global healthcare crisis is plainly visible, few seem to realize the consequences will be catastrophic to individuals, households and national economies.

Here is a list—by no means exhaustive—of major health issues threatening hundreds of millions of people globally.

Air & Water Pollution

Photos such as these provide graphic evidence that air and water pollution are serious health hazards in many developing nations around the world:

Source: Kyodo News

Source: Independent.co.uk

The statistics are equally horrendous: roughly 40% of all deaths in Pakistan result from polluted drinking water, 500 million people in China lack clean drinking water, and in India, 90% of human waste flows untreated into rivers.

Though the winter smog in Chinese cities is infamous, many other Asian nations suffer from equally poor or even worse air quality:

The health consequences of severe air pollution are many, and a rising number of deaths are attributable to air pollution:

(Sources)

Air and water pollution do not stop at borders, and so severe pollution in developing economies has become a health issue in neighboring developed economies as well.

Ageing Populations

As populations age, health costs rise while the working-age population that must support higher healthcare expenses declines, burdening the middle-aged workers who must support the elderly and the young. Caring for a rapidly expanding population of elderly retirees burdens governments and economies as well as households: as income is taxed to pay for care, there is less money available for other programs and investing in future productivity.

We all know why healthcare costs rise as the population of elderly retirees grows: chronic non-communicable diseases go hand in hand with age. The costs of treating these lifestyle/ageing diseases (metabolic syndrome, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.) soar as the population and incidence of these diseases both rise.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Wicked problems and wicked solutions: the case of the world’s food supply

July 13, 2015

Wicked problems and wicked solutions: the case of the world’s food supply

Can you think of something worse than a wicked problem? Yes, it is perfectly possible: it is a wicked solution. That is, a solution that not only does nothing to solve the problem, but, actually, worsens it. Unfortunately, if you work in system dynamics, you soon learn that most complex systems are not only wicked, but suffer from wicked solutions (see, e.g.here).

This said, let’s get to one of the most wicked problems I can think of: that of the world’s food supply. I’ll try to report here at least a little of what I learned at the recent conference on this subject, jointly held by FAO and the Italian Chapter of the System Dynamics Society. Two days of discussions held in Rome during a monster heat wave that put under heavy strain the air conditioning system of the conference room and made walking from there to one’s hotel a task comparable to walking on an alien planet: it brought the distinct feeling that you needed a refrigerated space suit. But it was worth being there.

First of all, should we define the world’s food supply a “problem”? Yes, if you note that about half of the world’s human population is undernourished; if not really starving. And of the remaining half, a large fraction is not nourished right, because obesity and type II diabetes are rampant diseases – they said at the conference that if the trend continues, half of the world’s population is going to suffer of diabetes. That’s truly impressive, if you think about that for a moment.

So, if we have a problem, is it really “wicked”? Yes, it is, in the sense that finding a good solution is extremely difficult and the results are often the opposite than those intended at the beginning. The food supply system is a devilishly complex system and it involves a series of cross linked subsystems interacting with each other.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Think About This On Your Next Commute: Traces of Anthrax, Bubonic Plague Found in NYC Subway

February 7, 2015

Think About This On Your Next Commute: Traces of Anthrax, Bubonic Plague Found in NYC Subway

Think about this the next time you grip a New York City subway pole: A new study has found that 48 percent of all DNA on the subway’s surface “matches no known organism.”

A study, published Friday by Cornell University, noted that “hundreds of species of bacteria are in the subway, mostly harmless. More riders bring more diversity.” This suggests there’s a “vast wealth of unknown species that are ubiquitous in urban areas” that New Yorkers touch every day.

It also found that one station that was flooded during Hurricane Sandy a few years ago to this day, “resembles a marine environment.”

In likely stressing out more commuters, the study, titled “Geospatial Resolution of Human and Bacterial Diversity with City-Scale Metagenomics,” also found traces of the bubonic plague and anthrax.

The Cornell Researchers spent about 18 months examining the entire subway system. Among the organisms that were identified, there were “1,688 bacterial, viral, archaeal, and eukaryotic taxa, which were enriched for harmless genera associated with skin,” the authors said.

Samples from trains, parks, waterways, subway stations, and trains (all the surfaces, including seats, poles, ceilings, floors, windows, and doors) were taken.

A bacteria heatmap was posted on the interactive website, PathoMap.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How vaccine hysteria could spark totalitarian nightmare

February 7, 2015

How vaccine hysteria could spark totalitarian nightmare

Gov. Chris Christie has been vilified for making a very simple statement – that parents (and presumably patients themselves) should have the freedom to choose whether to vaccinate their children. I have been asked for years what I thought about vaccination, so let me lay out the issues.

Before getting into the science, lets discuss the philosophy:

1. The voices shrieking to forcibly vaccinate people are the same voices shrieking to support a woman’s right to choose abortion under Roe v. Wade. If a woman’s body is sacrosanct, if she has the right to choose to deliver a child or not, if she has total authority over her body, how can she not have the right to accept or refuse a vaccination?

2. Medical ethics are clear: No one should be forced to undergo a medical treatment without informed consent and without their agreement to the treatment. We condemn the forced sterilization of the ’20s and ’30s, the Tuskegee medical experiments infecting black inmates and the Nazi medicine that included involuntary “Euthanasia,” experimentation and sterilization. How can we force vaccination without consent? Vaccination is a medical treatment with risks including death. It is totally antithetical to all ethics in medicine to mandate that risk to others.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/how-vaccine-hysteria-could-spark-totalitarian-nightmare/#qrMtcraBoYTFAEA4.99

Tag Archives: disease

Content

Post categories

Economic Links

Energy/Resource Links

Environmental Links

Geopolitical Links

Liberty Links

News Links

Other Links

Survival Skills

Post Archives by Category

Post navigation

Latest Posts