Category: Pale Horse

Dozens in China infected with Langya virus; Chinese medical portal censored over herbal remedy doubt

(AFP) – August 11, 2022

Dozens of people in China have fallen ill with a new virus that is also found in shrews, a report has said, but there is so far no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

The infections were found in China’s eastern Shandong and central Henan provinces, affecting 35 people, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine this month.

The virus is called Langya henipavirus or LayV, and patients reported symptoms that include fever, fatigue, cough, nausea and headaches.

Some people also developed blood cell abnormalities and impaired liver and kidney functions, the report said.

Research findings suggested shrews may be a natural reservoir for the pathogen.

“There was no close contact or common exposure history among the patients, which suggests that the infection in the human population may be sporadic,” according to the report.

But it also cautioned that its sample size “was too small to determine the status of human-to-human transmission for LayV”.

Patients were mostly farmers and cases were found with help from a detection system for people with acute fever and a history of animal exposure, it added.

Further investigation is needed to better understand illnesses associated with the virus, according to the researchers in China, Singapore and Australia who were involved in the paper.

https://www.terradaily.com

Polio Fears Rise in New York Amid Possible Community Spread

Newsmax – August 5, 2022

New York state health officials issued a more urgent call Thursday for unvaccinated children and adults to get inoculated against polio, citing new evidence of possible “community spread” of the dangerous virus.

The polio virus has now been found in seven different wastewater samples in two adjacent counties north of New York City, health officials said.

So far, only one person has tested positive for polio — an unvaccinated adult in Rockland County who suffered paralysis.

But based on earlier polio outbreaks, “New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected,” the state’s health commissioner, Dr. Mary T. Bassett, said in a statement.

“Coupled with the latest wastewater findings, the Department is treating the single case of polio as just the tip of the iceberg of much greater potential spread,” she said. “As we learn more, what we do know is clear: the danger of polio is present in New York today. We must meet this moment by ensuring that adults, including pregnant people, and young children by 2 months of age are up to date with their immunization — the safe protection against this debilitating virus that every New Yorker needs.”

The polio patient in Rockland County is the first person known to be infected with the virus in the U.S. in nearly a decade. Wastewater samples collected in June and July in adjacent Orange County also contained the virus.

Polio, once one of the nation’s most feared diseases, was declared eliminated in the United States in 1979, more than two decades after vaccines became available.

A majority of people infected with polio have no symptoms, but can still shed the virus and give it to others for days or weeks. A small percentage of people who get the disease suffer paralysis. The disease is fatal for between 5-10% of those paralyzed.

https://www.newsmax.com

CDC Warns Rare, Deadly Bacterial Illness Is Now in the US

Newsmax – July 28, 2022

A bacteria that causes a rare but serious disease has been discovered in soil and water samples in the Gulf Coast region of Mississippi after two people who live near each other fell ill.

In a notice issued Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised Gulf Coast residents, particularly those with certain health conditions, to take precautions against Burkholderia pseudomallei and prevent a disease it causes called melioidosis.

Symptoms of melioidosis can include fever, joint pain and headaches. It can also cause pneumonia, abscesses and blood infections.

Melioidosis is fatal in about 10% to 50% of people who are infected worldwide, and it typically surfaces in tropical and subtropical areas, such as South and Southeast Asia, northern Australia, Puerto Rico and parts of Central and South America.

Unfortunately, the environmental conditions found in the Gulf Coast states are conducive to the growth of this bacteria, the CDC noted.

Though it is a serious illness, risk to the general population still remains low, the CDC added.

One of the two known cases happened in 2022. The other occurred two years earlier. That they lived in close geographic proximity but were unrelated to each other prompted state health officials and the CDC to test household products, soil and water in and around both patients’ homes, with their permission.

Three of the samples from soil and puddle water in 2022 tested positive for the bacteria. Public health officials now believe the bacteria has been present in the area since at least 2020.

People who live in that area and have health conditions such as diabetes, chronic kidney disease, chronic lung disease or consume excessive amounts of alcohol should avoid contact with soil or muddy water, especially after heavy rains, the agency said.

https://www.newsmax.com

Why we should all be worried about a vulture apocalypse

– July 18, 2022

A catastrophic decline of vulture populations in Africa and Asia is causing alarm among researchers, who fear that a “cascade” effect could lead to the spread of deadly old and new diseases, including plague, anthrax, and rabies.

For thousands of years, the birds have been synonymous with death and gluttony. “Where the corpse is, vultures will gather,” Jesus is quoted as saying in Matthew 24. But in reality, the birds serve us in ways that we are only just beginning to understand – helping to keep ecosystems and pathogens in check.

If the lion is the king of the savannah, the vulture is the hardworking, unsung grounds keeper. A flock of vultures can wipe a dead antelope clean in about 20 minutes, stopping the carcass from turning into a toxic soup leaking into water sources. Maggots and bacteria are the only things more effective at disposing of dead meat.

The birds’ digestive systems are thought to be tough enough to stop bacterial colonies of the plague, anthrax and botulism in their tracks. Some researchers believe vultures indirectly keep rabies infections in check by depriving rats and feral dogs of bountiful food. Certain species may even help disinfect the ground near carcasses with their highly acidic excrement.

But now, many vultures and other raptor species are diving beak first into the abyss. In the 1990s, vulture populations on the Indian subcontinent plummeted by about 99 per cent. Seven out of eleven of the species found in Africa are now on the verge of extinction.

“Vultures and other medium to large raptor species are probably the most threatened group of vertebrates on the planet,” said Shiv Kapila, director of the Naivasha Raptor Centre, 60 miles from the Kenyan capital. “The rate of decline is staggering. We still don’t know nearly enough about what all this means. We’re working on borrowed time,”

“If you screw up natural equilibriums that have developed over tens of millions of years, you can get what we call a trophic cascade effect,” he added, reaching up and giving Yusef, a seven-year-old Rüppell’s vulture with a broken wing, a helping hand down from the ledge.

“If you get rid of a hugely important component of an ecosystem – like a vulture which hoovers up dead meat – diseases can proliferate because they’re not being kept in check,” Mr  Kapila said.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk

CDC: US infants are falling sick with a life-threatening virus that triggers fever, delirium, seizures, and sepsis

Hilary Brueck – July 13, 2022

Federal health officials in the US are warning doctors and parents that a dangerous virus is spreading across the US causing fevers, seizures, confusion and other “sepsis-like” issues that can be life-threatening for young infants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that parechovirus is currently circulating in “multiple” US states. So far, the CDC has only collected positive samples of PeV-A3, which is the specific type of parechovirus that is most often associated with severe disease. At least one newborn is dead in Connecticut.

Baby Ronan was less than two weeks old when his mom starting noticing he was becoming “very angry,” and “crying a lot,” WTNH New Haven reported.

His chest turned red, and then his face too, and at 14 days old he was admitted to the hospital, where he started having seizures. At 34 days old, the child died.

There is no known treatment for parechovirus. Older children who get infected may “only have mild illness,” like a cold, while others may remain completely asymptomatic during their infection, and feel nothing at all, the CDC says.

https://www.insider.com

CDC Warns: ‘One of the Worst Outbreaks of Meningococcal Disease Among Gay and Bisexual Men in U.S. History’

Michael W. Chapman – June 27, 2022

(CNS News) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a statement that it is working with the Florida Department of Health to “investigate one of the worst outbreaks of meningococcal disease among gay and bisexual men in U.S. history.”

So far, there have been “24 cases and 6 deaths among gay and bisexual men,” reported the CDC in its June 22 press release.

Meningococcal disease refers to any illness caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis, said the CDC. “These illnesses are often severe, can be deadly, and include infections of the lining of the brain and spinal cord (meningitis) and bloodstream.”

The disease is spread to other people “by sharing respiratory and throat secretions (saliva or spit),” said the health agency.  “Generally, it takes close (for example, coughing or kissing) or lengthy contact to spread these bacteria.”

To counter spread of the disease, the CDC is “recommending gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men get a meningococcal vaccine (MenACWY) if they live in Florida, or talk with their healthcare provider about getting vaccinated if they are traveling to Florida.” The also recommend routine vaccination for people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

“Getting vaccinated against meningococcal disease is the best way to prevent this serious illness, which can quickly become deadly,” said José R. Romero, M.D., director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

“Because of the outbreak in Florida, and the number of Pride events being held across the state in coming weeks, it’s important that gay and bisexual men who live in Florida get vaccinated, and those traveling to Florida talk to their healthcare provider about getting a MenACWY vaccine,” said Romero.

https://www.cnsnews.com

Study sounds alarm over antibiotic resistant bacteria

RT – June 30, 2022

A new strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found among European pigs is increasingly spreading to humans and causing infections, warn University of Cambridge researchers in a study published on Tuesday.

The new strain of Livestock-associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) is believed to have emerged among European livestock in the last 50 years due to widespread antibiotic use in farming, leading to concerns that livestock in Europe could become a reservoir of antibiotic-resistant human infections.

“Historically high levels of antibiotic use may have led to the evolution of this highly antibiotic-resistant strain of MRSA on pig farms,” said Dr. Gemma Murrayn who worked on the study, adding that this LA-MRSA is “extremely stable” and has spread across different livestock species.

The strain, called CC398, was found to be the most dominant type found among pigs and other livestock in Europe and a growing cause of MRSA infections in humans, regardless of whether or not they had direct contact with livestock.

The study notes that in the case of Danish pig farms, the proportion of MRSA-positive herds had increased from 5% in 2008 to 90% in 2018.

While the EU has recently banned the use of zinc oxide, which was used to prevent diarrhea in piglets, over its environmental impact and promotion of antibiotic resistance, the Cambridge researchers warn that efforts to reduce the use of antibiotics may only have a limited impact on the spread of the strain due to its increased stability.

https://www.rt.com

First outbreak of highly infectious polio has just been detected in UK, Health officials declare national incident

Ricky Scaparo – June 22, 2022

Polio is spreading in the UK for the first time in decades, officials claim. Health bosses urged Brits to check their children’s jabs are up to date after picking up signs of the virus being passed between individuals.

According to TheSun, Experts have detected the same bug in London sewage samples since April – a clear signal of a community outbreak. No cases have yet been confirmed in the UK and the UKHSA said samples were found in East and North London. These chiefs say ‘suggests it is likely there has been some spread between closely-linked individuals’. Because of this, they said these cases could be shedding the virus strain in their feces.

Investigations are currently ongoing and there have not yet been any cases of paralysis reported. Medics today said that the emergence of polio in the UK reminds us that it has not yet been eradicated. The last case of polio being contracted in Britain was in 1984 and the country was declared polio-free in 2003.

Before a vaccine was introduced in the 1950s, epidemics would result in thousands of people being paralyzed annually and hundreds of deaths. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) experts believe a traveler – likely from Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Nigeria – shed the virus in their stools after being given the oral polio inoculation.

“Vaccine-derived poliovirus has the potential to spread, particularly in communities where vaccine uptake is lower. On rare occasions it can cause paralysis in people who are not fully vaccinated so if you or your child are not up to date with your polio vaccinations it’s important you contact your GP to catch up or, if unsure, check your red book.

“Most of the UK population will be protected from vaccination in childhood, but in some communities with low vaccine coverage, individuals may remain at risk.

“We are urgently investigating to better understand the extent of this transmission and the NHS has been asked to swiftly report any suspected cases to the UKHSA, though no cases have been reported or confirmed so far.”

According to Sky News, The virus presents a risk to anyone who has not been vaccinated, especially children and young adults. The national uptake of the childhood polio vaccine is high but in London, rates are much lower.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

‘It’s Life or Death’: The Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens

Matt Richtel – May 3, 2022

Depression, self-harm and suicide are rising among American adolescents. For one 13-year-old, the despair was almost too much to take.

One evening last April, an anxious and free-spirited 13-year-old girl in suburban Minneapolis sprang furious from a chair in the living room and ran from the house — out a sliding door, across the patio, through the backyard and into the woods.

Moments earlier, the girl’s mother, Linda, had stolen a look at her daughter’s smartphone. The teenager, incensed by the intrusion, had grabbed the phone and fled. (The adolescent is being identified by an initial, M, and the parents by first name only, to protect the family’s privacy.)

Linda was alarmed by photos she had seen on the phone. Some showed blood on M’s ankles from intentional self-harm. Others were close-ups of M’s romantic obsession, the anime character Genocide Jack — a brunette girl with a long red tongue who, in a video series, kills high school classmates with scissors.

In the preceding two years, Linda had watched M spiral downward: severe depression, self-harm, a suicide attempt. Now, she followed M into the woods, frantic. “Please tell me where u r,” she texted. “I’m not mad.”

American adolescence is undergoing a drastic change. Three decades ago, the gravest public health threats to teenagers in the United States came from binge drinking, drunken driving, teenage pregnancy and smoking. These have since fallen sharply, replaced by a new public health concern: soaring rates of mental health disorders.

In 2019, 13 percent of adolescents reported having a major depressive episode, a 60 percent increase from 2007. Emergency room visits by children and adolescents in that period also rose sharply for anxiety, mood disorders and self-harm. And for people ages 10 to 24, suicide rates, stable from 2000 to 2007, leaped nearly 60 percent by 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

https://news.yahoo.com

At least 18 have died from spreading Tick-borne virus that causes ‘nose-bleed fever’

Ricky Scaparo – June 1, 2022

“Nose-bleed fever” is as gruesome as it sounds. More technically called Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, the tick-borne virus has been detected in some 120 people in Iraq since January — including 18 who have died from the disease — health officials have warned, fearing an escalating spread.

The onset of illness causes rapid and severe internal and external bleeding in infected patients, including through the nose, hence its nickname “nose-bleed fever.” Though the virus is hosted in ticks, most individuals pick it up by coming in contact with infected animal blood — usually occurring among those who work with livestock and in slaughterhouses.

The virus is not novel, but it is rare — and apparently spreading at an unprecedented rate throughout Iraq. Between 10 and 40 percent of cases will die from the disease. Aside from profuse bleeding and potential death, early symptoms include fever, body aches, dizziness, neck pain, headache, and sore eyes. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, sore throat, and brain fog have also been observed in infected patients, according to the World Health Organization.

The virus also called Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, has been known to cause severe symptoms in patients. In some cases, sufferers have reportedly encountered internal and external hemorrhaging, resulting in blood loss. Iraqi officials say that almost one-third of all deaths, thought to be around 18, have come in the last two weeks, sparking fears of an uncontainable outbreak.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) patients become infected with the virus following contact with the blood of infected animals, including ticks. The virus is not novel, but it is rare and apparently spreading at an unprecedented rate throughout Iraq.

https://endtimeheadlines.org