naturalnews--2019-02-20--Governments warned to stockpile antibiotics to prepare for the coming global pandemic

(Natural News) A new report is urging government officials to begin stockpiling antibiotics in preparation for a potential global influenza pandemic, claiming that doing so will ultimately end up saving authorities tens of billions of dollars.  The first study yet to model the financial value of stockpiling antibiotics, the analysis claims that the world can save between $3 and $4 billion simply by preparing now for a worst-case scenario, rather than reacting to it once it arrives.  Somewhere between 50 and 100 million people are said to have died during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic – not necessarily from the virus itself, but from secondary bacterial infections. Had antibiotics been around at that time, many lives could have been saved, experts claim.  “Most people don’t realise that what kills people during a pandemic is not just an influenza virus, but a secondary bacterial infection,” says Ramanan Laxminarayan, the director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy in the United States, and senior author of the new study.  “In many instances we don’t have effective antibiotics, (and) this is a problem that keeps people awake at night.”  For more news about influenza and the potential for another major flu pandemic, be sure to check out Influenza.news.  Published in the journal Health Economics, the paper’s conclusion is based on a mathematical framework that estimates how much it would likely cost to treat people affected by an influenza pandemic after the fact, versus having antibiotics on hand in advance.  100% organic essential oil sets now available for your home and personal care, including Rosemary, Oregano, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Clary Sage and more, all 100% organic and laboratory tested for safety. A multitude of uses, from stress reduction to topical first aid. See the complete listing here, and help support this news site.  Based on this analysis, the suggestion is for governments to purchase both new and existing antibiotics now, as doing so will save them money in the long run as opposed to the much higher economic costs associated with handling a high death toll following the ravages of a pandemic.  “Make no mistake, it’s inevitable that there will be another flu pandemic – it may happen next year, or in the next 15 years, but it is inevitable and we cannot prevent it,” says Laxminarayan. “There is huge value in stockpiling and withholding antibiotics so we are prepared.”  Part of Laxminarayan’s plan also involves encouraging governments to invest in more antibiotics research, particularly with regards to their long-term potential for treating a future flu pandemic. Doing this would encourage drug companies to develop new antibiotics for such purposes, greatly curtailing the fallout from a pandemic.  “If a framework like this came into being, it would act as a mechanism to drive innovation from drugs companies,” he says. “Antibiotic resistance is a problem on a day to day basis, but it is really during a pandemic influenza that we will see the real scale of the problem. We must prepare.”  As we’ve previously reported, the constant tampering with nature that goes on in pharmaceutical laboratories where flu vaccines are made has many people concerned that the next flu pandemic won’t be random and unpredictable, but rather a direct consequence of such activity.  As earlier reported by Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, genetic butchery in the form of flu virus manipulation “may have pandemic potential” – meaning these viruses researchers are playing with in an attempt to develop new vaccines is like playing with fire.  “The work they are doing is absolutely crazy,” Lord May, the United Kingdom’s former chief science advisor, is quoted as saying about all this genetic tampering. “The whole thing is exceedingly dangerous. Yes, there is a danger, but it’s not arising from the viruses out there in the animals, it’s arising from the labs of grossly ambitious people.”


eveningstandard--2019-05-03--HIV-suppressing drug can stop virus being sexually transmitted study finds

HIV-suppressing drug can stop virus being sexually transmitted, study finds

Scientists say an end to the "HIV pandemic" could be in sight after a study found that effective treatment can prevent sexual transmission of the virus.  Researchers tested 1,000 gay male couples - one HIV positive and taking antiretroviral drugs to suppress the virus and the other HIV negative - and found no cases of transmission over eight years.  Experts said the results were a "powerful message" that should be spread widely.  "Our findings provide conclusive evidence for gay men that the risk of HIV transmission with suppressive ART (antiretroviral therapy) is zero," said Professor Alison Rodger, from University College London, who co-led the research.  "This powerful message can help end the HIV pandemic by preventing HIV transmission, and tackling the stigma and discrimination that many people with HIV face," she added.  "Increased efforts must now focus on wider dissemination of this powerful message and ensuring that all HIV-positive people have access to testing, effective treatment, adherence support and linkage to care."  The study, published in The Lancet journal, reported that the couples had sex without condoms around 77,000 times. The researchers said about 472 transmissions of HIV would have been expected without the treatment.  The scientists added that ART proved just as effective for gay couples as it had for heterosexual couples.  Over the eight years, a total of 15 men were infected with HIV, but DNA testing showed the virus did not come from their main partner.  Professor Anna Maria Geretti, from the University of Liverpool's Institute of Infection and Global Health, who led the study's genetic analysis work, said: "We used cutting-edge technology to analyse the genetic strains of the virus in the rare cases where a new HIV infection occurred.  "Our work was key because we were able to show that there was no relation between the virus strains of the two people in the couple. In other words, in all cases of new HIV infections, the new virus was so different from that of the HIV-positive partner that it must have come from somebody else."  Dr Michael Brady, medical director at HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust, said it was "impossible to overstate the importance of these findings".  "The study has given us the confidence to say, without doubt, that people living with HIV who are on effective treatment cannot pass the virus on to their sexual partners. This has incredible impact on the lives of people living with HIV and is a powerful message to address HIV-related stigma."


newyorkpost--2019-03-29--HIV-positive woman becomes first to donate kidney to another patient with virus

Saquon Barkley isn’t here for the continued criticism of Eli...


sputnik--2019-04-15--Ebola Virus Death Toll in DR Congo Hits 803 - Officials

"As of Sunday, April 14, 2019, [Ebola virus infection] totals to 1,251 cases [1,185 confirmed and 66 possible], 803 deaths", the ministry wrote on Twitter late on Sunday.  On 12 April, the death toll stood at 764, while number of infection cases amounted to 1,206, according to the ministry’s figures.  On Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) humanitarian organization issued a warning, saying the situation in the DRC was worsening as people had stopped seeking relief assistance due to loss of trust in Ebola responders.  The Ebola virus is a deadly disease that is spread through blood and body fluid. Symptoms include fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, sore throat, diarrhea.  READ MORE: No Grounds to Declare Emergency of Int'l Concern Amid DRC Ebola Outbreak — WHO


sputnik--2019-08-02--Final 3 Weeks of July See 260 New Ebola Victims in DR Congo - UN Health Agency

"In the 21 days from 11 July through 31 July 2019, 71 health areas within 18 health zones reported new cases … within North Kivu and Ituri provinces", the report said. "During this period, a total of 260 confirmed cases were reported".  The number of new cases per week has recently ranged between 79 and 91, the report added.  "As of 31 July 2019, a total of 2713 EVD [Ebola Virus Disease] cases were reported, including 2619 confirmed and 94 probable cases, of which 1823 cases died (overall case fatality ratio 67 percent)", in the past year the report said.  At present, Ebola cases are confined to rural areas of North Kivu and Ituri provinces in the nation’s northeast, with the exception of four cases in Goma, a city of about 2 million on the nation’s border with Rwanda, according to the release.  Last week, Rwanda closed down border crossings near Goma only to reopen the crossings after several hours.  UN officials have warned that border closings drive victims into hiding, where they continue to spread disease.


tass--2019-02-01--Siberian scientists wrap up Ebola vaccine trials

NOVOSIBIRSK, February 1. /TASS/. Specialists at the Novosibirsk State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR have completed trials of a vaccine against the Ebola virus disease, which claimed the lives of over 11,000 people in Africa recently, said Nikolai Krasnikov, Head of the Administration of Koltsovo Science City near Novosibirsk where the research center is located, at the TASS press center on Friday.  "Our scientists have wrapped up clinical trials of the Ebola vaccine this year. Now it is ready for use," he announced.  The World Health Organization describes the Ebola virus disease (EVD, formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever) as "a severe, often fatal illness in humans. EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%." Symptoms include a sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, a headache and a sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, a rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding. The infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and the tissues of infected animals or people. The incubation period lasts from two to 21 days.  The virus was first registered in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1976, with outbreaks reported from Sudan, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, and Cote d’Ivoire. The latest Ebola epidemics in West Africa in 2014-2016 killed more than 11,300 people, with more than 28,600 contracting the disease. The most lethal outcomes were reported in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.  Russian doctors and scientists have played an important role in fighting Ebola. In 2017, reports said that an Ebola vaccine had been developed by the Novosibirsk-based VECTOR Research Center.  Founded in 1974, VECTOR is one of the world’s largest research centers. Initially, it studied the causative agents of such deadly disease as anthrax and tularemia to create biological weapons based on them. Currently, the center develops tools for diagnosing and treating infectious diseases. Its specialists, in particular, are developing vaccines against swine flu, HIV and Ebola.


telesurtv--2019-09-24--DRC Gives Green Light to Second Ebola Vaccine Amid Criticism

The World Health Organization ([WHO](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/WHO- Declares-Ebola-an-International-Emergency--20190718-0026.html)) announced Monday that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will introduce the use of a second vaccine to control and in the long term eradicate the Ebola pandemic that has caused more than 2,000 deaths since it restarted in August 2018 in the country's eastern North Kivu and Ituri provinces.  > _**RELATED:**_  >  > [_**DRC: New Drug 'Cures' Two Ebola Patients, Brings Hope to Nation**_](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/DRC-New-Drug-Cures-Two-Ebola- Patients-Brings-Hope-to-Congo-20190816-0016.html)  “The health authorities in the DRC have announced plans to introduce a second experimental Ebola vaccine, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson (J&J), from mid- October,” the WHO said in its statement, adding that the vaccine will be provided “to targeted at-risk populations in areas that do not have active Ebola transmission.”  The new experimental vaccine will complement the current one produced by U.S. pharmaceutical group Merck, whose product will continue to be provided to health workers and people at high risk of infection.  Last July, the WHO recognized a shortage of the Merck vaccine, while J&J says it has 1.5 million doses of its vaccine to introduce to the market, meaning that if DRC wants to immunize people in other parts of the country it will need more supplies from both pharmaceutical giants.  J&J’s vaccine introduction has sparked controversy among DRC health officials. The country’s health minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga presented his resignation in July after President  [Felix Tshisekedi](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news /DR-Congos-Tshisekedi-to-Release-700-Political-Prisoners-20190314-0003.html) stripped him of the management of the pandemic.  Kalenga had denounced the creation of parallel chains of authority and the interference in the management of the response to the epidemic, but also the urging from foreign actors to introduce the second vaccine to be tested in DRC.  The former minister had expressed that the vaccine currently used proved its efficiency since it is estimated to be 97.5 percent effective, with the capacity to protect a person up to 12 months.  "It would be fanciful to think that the new vaccine proposed by actors, who have shown an obvious lack of ethics by voluntarily hiding important information from medical authorities, could have a significant impact on the control of the current outbreak," the ex-official had stated recalling that some medical organizations have willingly hidden vital data from the country’s health authorities.  > _**RELATED:**_  >  > [_**Rwanda Closes Border with DRC to Control Ebola Outbreak**_](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Rwanda-Closes-Border-with- DRC-to-Control-Ebola-Outbreak-20190801-0016.html)  While J&J states on its website that it has tested the product on more than 6,000 volunteers in several trials, defenders including the WHO and the international medical organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF), have urged for its use, arguing that all "available tools and resources" must be mobilized to end the epidemic.  Backers of the use of the experimental vaccine proposed to use it to vaccinate and protect people outside the outbreak zone.  Health expert and United States law professor Lawrence Gostin welcomed on Monday the decision to introduce the experimental vaccine. "We need a major increase in vaccination coverage in the DRC ... [so] it must be rapidly implemented," Gostin told Al Jazeera.  "It is well within the power of DRC health authorities to educate the public without confusing them about the differences in the vaccines. The bottom line is simple; they are both very effective vaccines," he added.  Ebola’s crisis grew rapidly since it resurfaced 13 months ago, and is [the second largest](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ebola-Outbreak-in-DR- Congo-Now-Second-Largest-in-History-20181130-0010.html) one just behind the crisis that hit West Africa in 2014.  Active armed groups and communities’ profound distrust in the medical health teams have so far hindered the efforts to stop the outbreak. However, and among the unrest, health workers have managed to vaccinate around 225,000 people with the Merck vaccine.


theblaze--2019-03-25--Second worst outbreak of Ebola in history hits the Congo more than 1000 infected

Second worst outbreak of Ebola in history hits the Congo; more than 1,000 infected  Hundreds of people have already died from the outbreak


thedailymirror--2019-05-15--Terrifying Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo now out of control

'Terrifying' Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo now 'out of control'

A terrifying Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo is out of control and could result in thousands of new infections.  Over a thousand people have died in the new outbreak which has spread through the north-eastern parts of the war-torn nation since mid 2018.  Health experts have warned the outbreak is so bad that it could rival the one that devastated three different African countries between 2013 and 2016.  Aid agencies and other international response teams have struggled to contain the spread of disease due to regular fighting between armed militias which has plagued the country for decades.  At least 298 cases of the disease have been encountered in the past month alone and the fatality rate of the disease is at 67% percent, higher than any other previous outbreaks.  Around 99 health workers were also infected of which 34 have died.  “Whether it gets to the absolute scale of west Africa or not, none of us know, but this is massive in comparison with any other outbreak in the history of Ebola and it is still expanding," Jeremy Farrar of the Wellcome Trust told the Gaurdian.  "It’s remarkable it hasn’t spread more geographically but the numbers are frightening and the fact that they are going up is terrifying.”  David Miliband, from the International Rescue Committee, says the situation is out of control, despite the availability of a proven vaccine.  “The situation is far more dangerous than the statistic of 1,000 deaths, itself the second largest in history, suggests and the suspension of key services threatens to create a lethal inflection point in the trajectory of the disease,” he said.  DR Congo’s North Kivu province is at the centre of the crisis but attempts to vaccinate locals have been hampered by the presence of armed groups.  An Ebola treatment centres resulted in the death of one assailant when it was attacked by Mai-Mai rebels last week.  WHO director general Dr Matshidiso Moeti said: “Cases are increasing because of violent acts that set us back each time.”  Last month a WHO epidemiologist, Dr Richard Mouzoko, was killed by armed men during an attack on the Butembo University Hospital.


thedcclothesline--2019-06-20--The incubation period lie about Ebola and why America is vulnerable to an Ebola outbreak from inf

The “incubation period” lie about Ebola, and why America is vulnerable to an Ebola outbreak from infected migrants

(Natural News) It’s a huge, dangerous lie. City officials in San Antonio, Texas, are claiming that no migrants from the Ebola-infected Republic of Congo could possibly be carrying Ebola into the United States because “Ebola has a 21-day incubation period,” they say. And the migrants have been walking for more than 21 days. Therefore, they cannot possibly have Ebola.  The “officials” saying this are either grossly incompetent or deliberately lying. (By the way, it also begs the question of how migrants from Africa “walked” to the U.S. / Mexico border. Can they walk on water?)  For starters, Ebola’s incubation period only averages 21 days. It can be 40+ days in some people, and that’s according to the World Health Organization. As previously reported by Natural News:  • 95% of Ebola incubations occur from 1 – 21 days   • 3% of Ebola incubations occur from 1 – 42 days   • 2% of Ebola incubations are not explained  Furthermore, migrants from the Republic of Congo could have been infected by other carriers who perished before reaching the U.S. border. Infected migrants could enter the USA on, for example, day 10 of their own incubation period. Or day 30. By the time they begin to explode with symptoms, they will have already been transported by bus to any one of dozens of U.S. cities that are currently receiving these migrants.  Surely medical personnel aren’t so stupid that they don’t understand the basics of infectious disease, symptomless carriers and incubation times. Surely doctors must know that magically declaring “zero risk” among people who come from a region of the world that’s known for producing symptomless carriers of Ebola isn’t a valid conclusion. Yet they draw these conclusions nonetheless, putting all of America at risk in order to appease the open borders pushers who seem to want America to be overrun with illegal immigrants.  Watch my short explanation video to learn more:  See more breaking news videos at Brighteon.com, the free speech alternative to YouTube. Read more news about migrants being bused across America at Migrants.news.


theguardianuk--2019-02-12--Ebola vaccine offered in exchange for sex say women in Congo

Ebola vaccine offered in exchange for sex, say women in Congo

An unparalleled Ebola vaccination programme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has become engulfed in allegations of impropriety, amid claims that women are being asked for sexual favours in exchange for treatment.  Research by several NGOs has revealed that a deep mistrust of health workers is rife in DRC and gender-based violence is believed to have increased since the start of the Ebola outbreak in August.  The research, presented at a national taskforce meeting in Beni, follows calls by international health experts urging the World Health Organization to consider issuing a global alert in relation to the outbreak. The experimental vaccine has been described by the WHO as “highly, highly efficacious” and hopes have been pinned on it controlling the outbreak.  In one study cited, multiple respondents raised concerns over individuals offering Ebola-related services, such as vaccinations, in exchange for sexual favours.  The risk of exploitation by frontline Ebola workers was also mentioned by several focus groups.  Concerns were raised over a reported increase in stigma and violence facing women. Some women are blamed for failing to prevent the spread of the disease, according to the research by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), whose study was cited in the presentation.  Women, who are responsible for caring for the sick and ensuring that children wash their hands, faced a rising workload, with many feeling traumatised and exhausted, the recent meeting was told. One participant in a focus group said women are isolated during their periods, and are being accused of having the virus.  The IRC has since said those claims were based on preliminary findings. The charity, which consulted more than 30 focus groups, added in a statement that it is still analysing research: “We will take the findings and work with partners to address concerns raised and ensure that women and girls are protected.”  Trina Helderman, senior health and nutrition adviser for Medair’s global emergency response team, said the Ebola response should have established a higher standard of protection for women.  “This region of DRC has a long history of sexual violence and exploitation of women and girls. Though shocking, this is an issue that could have been anticipated,” said Helderman. “Humanitarian actors should have been more prepared to put safety measures in place to prevent this from happening.”  On Thursday, the health ministry urged people to report anyone offering services such as vaccinations or other treatment in exchange for money.  The ministry said it was aware of separate rumours, spread on social media, that women working on the Ebola response had been given jobs in exchange for sexual favours. In a statement, it said it took such claims seriously, and advised that women should only meet with recruiters wearing an official badge.  The warnings come as international health experts urged the WHO to consider issuing a global alert in relation to the outbreak. Writing in the Lancet, they said the response had been complicated by a “storm of detrimental factors”, including political instability, conflict and large numbers of people on the move.  Since August, there have been 811 Ebola cases, and 510 deaths as a result of the virus. The WHO has warned that there is a very high risk of the outbreak spreading not only across DRC but to Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan. There are also concerns that the source of transmission is unclear in one in five cases.  Suspicion of authorities and health agencies has further hampered efforts to contain the response, said Eva Erlach, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The agency has analysed feedback from thousands of people living in Ebola-affected areas.  “Across all locations there are lots and lots of people who do not think that Ebola is real, that it is just a way for humanitarian organisations to make money, or that it was just used to postpone elections,” said Erlach.  Last week, agencies were urged to work closely with women’s groups and local community leaders to build trust in services.  Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for the WHO, which supports the Ebola response, said most community engagement activities are already led by national DRC experts who work closely with local networks. There are around 20 dialects spoken in North Kivu and Ituri, he added.  “Together, we continually adapt and work to improve our response to adjust to local challenges in this delicate social, political, economic context,” he said.  Jasarevic added that sexual exploitation is a grave concern, and said the agency continually monitors its services.  “A large part of the communication effort with communities is to inform them that all Ebola services are free,” he said. “We will continue to check and improve measures we have in place to prevent, monitor and report on any such incidents. More can always be done.”


theguardianuk--2019-05-03--Ebola death toll in Congo to pass 1000 World Health Organization warns

Ebola death toll in Congo to pass  1,000,  World Health Organization warns

The number of people killed by the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is expected to exceed 1,000 on Friday, the World Health Organization has warned.  Weekly infections have been rising since late February, with attacks by armed groups and a failure to win community trust undermining the response to the epidemic.  Since the outbreak began in August, 1,510 cases have been recorded in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, according to figures released by the DRC’s ministry of health on Thursday, while 994 people have died of the disease.  An experimental vaccine, thought to be highly effective, is being offered to frontline workers as well as known contacts of Ebola patients and, in turn, their contacts. But this resource-intensive strategy depends on response teams having safe and quick access to affected areas.  In a statement released this week, the World Health Organization warned the security situation remains volatile and “a major impediment” to such work.  Reported cases of Ebola underwent a “considerable, although not unexpected rise” following an attack on Butembo hospital last month, in which Dr Richard Valery Mouzoko Kiboung, an epidemiologist, was killed, the WHO added. Each time facilities are attacked, services are wound down, further aggravating the epidemic.  More than half of Ebola infections so far have affected women, and almost three in 10 involve children under 18 years of age, according to available data.  Repeated attacks on health centres, as well as the high number of patients not seeking help from specialist Ebola workers, have prompted calls for agencies to do more to address community mistrust.  “The sad reality is that community engagement is not at the centre of the government’s and WHO’s strategy for the Ebola response,” said Tamba Emmanuel Danmbi-saa, humanitarian program manager for Oxfam in DRC, who added that far greater emphasis and funding have been allocated to medical aspects of the response.  “We are talking about a context where people have been subjected to continuous armed attacks, people have lost loved ones, properties and are in perpetual situation of displacement.”  The wider needs of communities have received little attention from international donors, said Danmbi-saa: “With Ebola, now they see all these donors, all these actors are coming, inundating their communities and villages – for a threat that is not visible.”  This has contributed to suspicions and rumours about Ebola, not least beliefs that it is a money-making business for agencies, or that the disease does not really exist.  “The Ebola crisis itself has exposed the enormous gaps in the humanitarian response,” added Kimberly Bennett, advocacy manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council in DRC. “There has been an extensive neglect of communities.”  The humanitarian response plan for DRC, which is funded separately to the Ebola response, requires $1.6bn (£1.2bn) but is only 12% funded. Among people who have been displaced by conflict in North Kivu, almost 90% are living on just over a meal a day, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.  On Thursday, the health ministry announced a further 10 deaths from Ebola, seven of which were community deaths, meaning people had not sought care from an Ebola treatment centre.  Delays in isolating patients and vaccinating contacts at risk, as well as high transmission rates within general health facilities, have all contributed to growing case loads.  WHO teams have met with local residents as part of efforts to empower communities, and the organisation said it has had some success in persuading people to accept care from Ebola teams.  The risk of the disease spreading nationally or across borders remains very high, according to a WHO assessment.  On Friday, 18 humanitarian groups warned that tens of thousands of people have fled to the border with Uganda, following violence in Kamango, Beni territory, near to the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu.  The NGOs, including Oxfam, said they had received reports that people have been prevented from crossing the border at sixteen official crossings. Some are crossing illegally and not being screened before entering Uganda, while others have been forced to return to villages they fled, where there is a risk of further violence.  The WHO has appealed for greater resources to support the Ebola response and said on Friday that there is a funding gap of £54m.


theguardianuk--2019-05-15--Ebola in the DRC everything you need to know

Ebola in the DRC: everything you need to know

With more than 1,600 cases and almost 1,100 deaths, the outbreak in the eastern DRC is the second largest in history. It has a 67% fatality rate and 10 months after it began, the case numbers are still escalating. It is disproportionately affecting women (55% of cases) and children (28%). The WHO says the national and regional risk levels are very high and containment of the spread to North Kivu and Ituri provinces is unlikely, unless a break in the fighting makes it safe for health workers.  Ebola hemorrhagic fever is caused by a virus that has a reservoir among forest animals, including monkeys and bats. It is spread through body fluids, which is why carers – mostly female relatives and nursing staff – are particularly at risk. It causes fever, aches and diarrhoea and attacks the immune system, causing blood clotting cells to malfunction so that victims bleed extensively and die if their immune system cannot fight off the viral infection.  Drugs are still experimental. Patients are isolated and treated by nurses wearing full protective body suits and masks who try to boost their immune response. Friends and relatives are quarantined for 21 days. Patients have their temperatures taken every day, because a rise beyond 37.5C is the first sign of infection. Prevention measures include washing hands at every opportunity and safe burial practices, with no touching or washing of the body, as is traditional in some cultures.  The 2013 and 2016 outbreak in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea spread for months through forest regions in west Africa where Ebola was unknown before the emergency was recognised. It escalated when it emerged in towns and cities, with 28,600 cases and 11,300 deaths.  DRC successfully stamped out nine previous Ebola outbreaks in rural areas within a matter of a few months. There was concern that the previous outbreak between May and July 2018 in Équateur province might spread to towns via the Congo river but it was stopped after 53 cases and 29 deaths.  Aid agencies, infectious disease experts and the WHO say it will be very hard to bring this outbreak under control, even though they have had vaccines and experimental drugs from the outset.  There is almost no functioning state in much of eastern DRC. There is an almost total lack of basic services such as power, education, roads, healthcare, and the authority of the government only extends to the edges of urban areas.  The president, national assembly and other institutions in Kinshasa are a four-hour flight away.  Most people in the region live hand to mouth, growing their own vegetables or scraping enough to make a living from day labour, gathering wood for charcoal and a small amount of trade. Police are corrupt, predatory and violent. In rural zones, militia and armed bands provide security and employment opportunities but also steal, rape and kill at will. It is one of the most hostile environments faced by aid and health workers anywhere in the world.  Mistrust of officials and foreigners is harming efforts to tackle the disease and conspiracy theories are rampant. Some believe the outbreak is fake news spread by rapacious NGOs and the UN to justify their presence in the country and allow the extraction of valuable mineral resources. Others believe the outbreak was deliberately created for the same reason. Some locals wonder why money is poured into fighting Ebola when many more people die each year of malaria without any similar international interest.  Many people also fear going to Ebola treatment centres, choosing instead to stay at home and risk transmitting the disease to carers and neighbours. Insecurity also has prevented vaccination teams from getting to some areas, further limiting the health response.


theguardianuk--2019-05-15--Terrifying Ebola epidemic out of control in DRC say experts

'Terrifying' Ebola epidemic out of control in DRC, say experts

An Ebola epidemic in a conflict-riven region of Democratic Republic of Congo is out of control and could become as serious as the outbreak that devastated three countries in west Africa between 2013 and 2016, experts and aid chiefs have warned.  New cases over the past month have increased at the fastest rate since the outbreak began last year, as aid agencies struggle to enact a public health response in areas that have suffered decades of neglect and conflict, with incredibly fragile health systems and regular outbreaks of deadly violence involving armed groups.  “I’m very concerned – as concerned as one can be,” said Jeremy Farrar, the head of the Wellcome Trust, who called for a ceasefire to allow health teams to reach the sick and protect others in the community.  “Whether it gets to the absolute scale of west Africa or not, none of us know, but this is massive in comparison with any other outbreak in the history of Ebola and it is still expanding. It’s remarkable it hasn’t spread more geographically but the numbers are frightening and the fact that they are going up is terrifying.”  A six- to nine-month ceasefire, brokered by the UN, the Red Cross or similar bodies, is vital to stopping the spread, he said. “There was violence in west Africa, in Freetown and Monrovia, but this is on a different scale and it is coming from multiple sources.”  More than 1,600 people have been infected with the Ebola virus in the North Kivu region of DRC and more than 1,000 have died so far – the great majority women and children. At least 10 months since the outbreak began, the numbers are rising steadily and the fatality rate is higher than in previous outbreaks, at about 67%.  Returning from a visit to his teams in the region, David Miliband, the head of the International Rescue Committee, called for a “reset” in the response. “The situation is far more dangerous than the statistic of 1,000 deaths, itself the second largest in history, suggests and the suspension of key services threatens to create a lethal inflection point in the trajectory of the disease,” he said. “The danger is that the number of cases spirals out of control, despite a proven vaccine and treatment.”  IRC teams, who have had three triage units in health centres burned down, have warned that the situation in North Kivu is increasingly volatile and is making progress against the disease impossible. Last week, fighters from the armed Mai-Mai rebel group attacked a treatment centre in Butembo, one of the towns at the centre of the crisis. This week, two patients were killed during an assault on a treatment centre in Katwa, the second such incident in the town this month.  The WHO director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has also voiced profound disquiet. In March, Dr Tedros said the Ebola outbreak was contracting and would be over in six months. After a visit at the end of April with the regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, he said he was deeply worried about the situation. “Cases are increasing because of violent acts that set us back each time,” he said.  The pair went to Butembo, where a WHO epidemiologist, Dr Richard Mouzoko, was killed by armed men while he and colleagues were working on the Ebola response.  “We are entering a phase where we will need major shifts in the response,” said Dr Tedros. “WHO and partners cannot tackle these challenges without the international community stepping in to fill the sizeable funding gap.” Only half of the currently requested funds have been received, which could lead to WHO and partners rolling back some activities when they are most needed.  Those on the frontline in North Kivu fear no end is in sight. Whitney Elmer, a country director for Mercy Corps, one of the humanitarian NGOs working on preventing the spread, said there had been “a drastic change in the security situation”, which was causing a big rise in the number of cases.  Elmer said there had been about 400 cases over the past month – the highest figure for that time period since the outbreak began – and the number of new cases was increasing at a much higher rate than seen previously.  “We are very concerned,” she said, adding that there was real potential for the outbreak to spread to neighbouring Rwanda or Uganda.  Frontline workers say there has not been enough community involvement and that bringing in armed police and especially cancelling elections in the region have provoked hostility and suspicion. “The overall strategy has been to go full force to do things as quickly as possible,” said Elmer. She added that it was vital that local people and organisations were included in decision-making.  Médecins Sans Frontières, whose volunteer doctors have been at the forefront of every Ebola outbreak, agreed that the failure to engage communities had been a disaster.  “We are very concerned and the signs around the outbreak response are not good right now,” said Kate White, one of its emergency managers.  New cases should be picked up by routine surveillance and testing the contacts of people who fall ill. “But what we see right now is that the majority of confirmed cases are coming through community deaths. It’s a very worrying sign,” she said. “It means communities are not aware or not active participants in the response. People die in their communities and they have the ability to transmit the virus to as many people as possible.”  She said agencies needed to have the local people actively working against Ebola. “Anything else is a band-aid solution.”  WHO recently announced an expansion of the vaccination guidelines and the introduction of a second vaccine to try to protect people. Experimental drugs have also been given to 700 people, although nobody yet knows how successful they have been. But unless it is possible to reach affected communities with vaccines and drugs, the new technologies are useless.  “The tragedy is that we have the technical means to stop Ebola, but until all parties halt attacks on the response, it will be very difficult to end this outbreak,” Dr Tedros tweeted on Friday.


theguardianuk--2019-06-03--DRC set to exceed 2000 Ebola cases in second largest outbreak ever

DRC set to exceed 2,000 Ebola cases in second largest outbreak ever

Aid agencies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are set to announce that more than 2,000 people have been infected with Ebola since the outbreak was declared in August last year.  So far, there have been 1,994 confirmed and probable cases of infection with the virus, making the outbreak the second largest in history. New cases are being reported at a rate of around 10 every day. Some 1,339 people have died  Violence by armed groups and community mistrust have severely undermined attempts to halt the epidemic, forcing health workers to suspend vaccination and treatment work.  Last week, DRC’s military forces killed 26 rebels from one local militia in a clash near the city of Beni.  The acute insecurity has prevented vaccination teams from getting to some areas, while many people fear going to Ebola treatment centres, choosing instead to stay at home and risk transmitting the disease to carers and neighbours.  In some areas, health workers are afraid to wear protective equipment because they fear they will be targeted by armed groups, the World Health Organization has said.  “Community members do not trust medical staff and aid organisations, and are not coming into health facilities when they show Ebola symptoms,” said Tariq Riebl, emergency response director of the International Rescue Committee.  “In Butembo, the current epicentre of the outbreak, doctors and nurses are being threatened and health centres attacked regularly, hampering the response and forcing the IRC and other aid agencies to frequently suspend operations.”  Some in the affected communities believe the outbreak is fake news spread by rapacious NGOs and the UN to justify their presence in the country and allow the extraction of valuable mineral resources. Others believe the outbreak was deliberately created for the same reason.  “To say that things are not going well is an understatement. It’s time the international community wakes up to the severity of this crisis,” said Riebl.  Aid workers are concerned by the accelerating spread of the disease. It took 224 days for the landmark figure of a thousand confirmed and probable cases to be reached. But it has taken only 71 days to reach almost 2,000 such cases in the outbreak.  Though a decline in the number of new confirmed Ebola virus disease cases was reported last week, experts said the figures should be interpreted with caution given the complex operating environment and fragility of the security situation.  The UN has been urged by charities to ramp up Ebola prevention work in DRC to the highest level of emergency response.  Only three crises – Yemen, Syria and Mozambique – are treated as the equivalent of a level-three response, activated when agencies are unable to meet needs on the ground.  Last month, the UN announced several measures to strengthen its response, including the appointment of a new emergency coordinator, David Gressly.  Aid agencies, infectious disease experts and the WHO say it will be very hard to bring this outbreak under control, even though they have had vaccines and experimental drugs from the outset.  There is almost no functioning state in much of eastern DRC and an almost total lack of basic services such as power, education, roads or healthcare. The authority of the government only extends to the edges of urban areas.


theguardianuk--2019-08-30--Ebola kills girl 9 in Uganda as outbreak approaches 3000 cases

Ebola kills girl, 9, in Uganda as outbreak approaches 3,000 cases

A nine-year-old Congolese girl who tested positive for Ebola in neighbouring Uganda has died of the disease, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that the current outbreak was approaching the grim milestone of 3,000 cases and 2,000 deaths.  Her death makes her the fourth case to cross into Uganda amid the continuing struggle to contain the deadly outbreak.  “She passed on at around eight o’clock this morning,” said Yusuf Baseka, health director in Kasese, a district in southwestern Uganda along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  The child was diagnosed after exhibiting symptoms at a border crossing in Kasese on Wednesday.  Eddy Kasenda, Ebola representative in the Congolese border town of Kasindi, said the girl’s body would be repatriated for burial.  “We are finalising the administrative formalities so that the body is repatriated and buried here in Congo, her native country,” said Kasenda. “We are collaborating with the health services of neighbouring Uganda and we will strengthen the sanitary measures here in Kasindi.”  Although cases of cross-border contamination have been rare, this case highlights the risk of Ebola spreading across borders into neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. Borders in the region are often porous, and many people travelling at night use bush paths to cross over.  More than 25% of fatalities from the disease have been children in an epidemic with a higher than usual death rate.  “This has been a particularly deadly outbreak, with a mortality rate of 67%, far higher than the 55% average case fatality rate for Ebola,” Heather Kerr, Save the Children’s country director in DRC, said in a statement warning that the epidemic was still “not under control”.  “The youngest are the hardest hit – well over 500 children have died, many more have lost at least one of their parents or can no longer go to school because schools are closed or they have to work to make ends meet.”  Joyce Moriku Kaducu, state minister for primary health, said on Thursday: “The ministry of health, with support from partners, have dispatched a rapid response team to Kasese to support the district teams to continue with various activities including case management, community engagement, contact tracing, psychological support and vaccination, among others.”  “The ministry of health re-echoes its call to the general public to cooperate with the health workers, immigration and security officials to ensure effective screening at all points of entry to prevent the spread of Ebola to other parts of the country. The ministry of health reassures all Ugandans … the disease will be contained.”  An average of 80 people per week are sickened by the virus, with the Congo’s North Kivu province being the hardest hit.    Insecurity has been one factor in a region where rebel groups have fought for control of mineral-rich lands for decades. Ebola also has spread because of mistrust by communities who have also staged attacks against health workers.  Many people in eastern Congo don’t trust doctors and other medics.  “Many people are afraid to seek treatment for illnesses, worried they will be sent to an Ebola treatment centre where they fear they could contract the disease. As an actor within the response, we must assume our own responsibility,” said Bob Kitchen, vice-president of emergencies at the International Rescue Committee.  “One year into the response, the lack of community acceptance remains the single greatest obstacle to containing the outbreak. Building trust with the community doesn’t just mean dialogue with the affected population. It means working with the community to adapt the response and address the overall needs they are facing inside and outside of the Ebola outbreak.”  In June, a family of Congolese with some sick family members crossed into Uganda via a bush path.  Two of them later died of Ebola, and the others were transferred back to Congo.  Uganda has had multiple outbreaks of Ebola and hemorrhagic fevers since 2000.  The WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will travel this weekend to Congo with UN secretary-general António Guterres and senior officials, including Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa. On Friday he called on partners to increase their presence in the field.  “Our commitment to the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is that we will work alongside them to stop the Ebola outbreak,” said Tedros.  “Our commitment also means strengthening the health systems to give them all the other things they need. Building strong systems is what will protect people, communities and the world.”

Peter Beaumont and Samuel Okiror in Kampala


theguardianuk--2019-12-13--Spike in Ebola cases alarms health officials in DRC

Health officials are investigating an alarming spike in Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with many blamed on a single individual who appears to have contracted the disease for a second time this year.  Amid the struggle to bring the 16-month outbreak under control, the World Health Organization noted an almost 300% increase in cases in the last three weeks, with 17 of 27 linked to a single chain of transmission.  According to officials, it appears to be the second time the person has been documented as suffering from Ebola in six months. An investigation is being held to understand the circumstances around the case.  Ten cases were notified on Wednesday in Mabalako, North Kivu province, where the individual is believed to be from, after another six on Tuesday, according to officials who noted that three out of the six were practitioners of traditional medicine.  The spike – and the worrying circumstances behind it – appears to buck a trend towards a declining number of cases, although security issues in the key zones of Beni, Biakato and Mangina had recently paralysed the response after violent attacks on health workers.  Among the possibilities being examined are reinfection with the disease – which would ring the most serious alarm bells as no case of reinfection has ever been recorded before – or a relapse.  While rare cases of relapse have been documented, in which a person who has recovered from Ebola gets its symptoms again, reinfection would mean a person who has recovered has been infected anew with the virus by another person, a circumstance so far undocumented.  Experts have long been anxious about the risk of recurrence because the virus can persist for months in areas of the body that are immunologically protected, including semen, vaginal fluids, sweat, aqueous humour, urine, breast milk and even spinal fluid after initial onset and recovery.  That has led researchers to speculate about the continued risk of transmission in individuals not showing any symptoms, including through sexual activity, leading to reactivation of the illness.  Reinfection, relapse and recurrence are all sources of acute concern in controlling the outbreak, as Ebola survivors are employed widely in treatment centres in DRC on the assumption they cannot usually recontract or transmit the disease.  In July another patient died from what was also presumed to be a relapse or reinfection, calling into question the assumption that Ebola survivors have lifelong immunity from the virus.  According to figures from the African Union as of 8 December, the Ebola outbreak in DRC has claimed 2,209 lives since it broke out, with 3,327 recorded cases.


theindependent--2019-01-04--New Ebola case reported in Sweden with patient isolated in Uppsala hospital

A man suspected of suffering from the deadly Ebola virus is being treated in isolation in a Swedish hospital.  The patient is in Uppsala University hospital, in the city north of Stockholm, after vomiting blood, and had reportedly returned from a three week trip to Burundi in East Africa.  In a statement, the Uppsala authorities said it was so far “only a matter of suspicion”, adding: “Other diseases are quite possible.”  The hospital in the town of Enkoping where the patient was first admitted had its emergency room shut down and staff who treated the patient were “cared for”, AP reports.  The patient was later transferred to the infection clinic in Uppsala. Test results are expected later today.  “The patient came in Friday morning and reportedly was vomiting blood which may be a symptom of Ebola infection,” hospital spokesman Mikael Kohler told local newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning.  There is no known Ebola outbreak in Burundi, but it borders the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been fighting an outbreak for almost six months.  The disease has killed 356 of the 585 people known to have been infected.  The epidemic in a volatile part of Congo is the second worst ever, according to the World Health Organisation.  The largest outbreak was in 2013-2016 in West Africa, where more than 28,000 cases were confirmed and over 11,000 died by the time the WHO declared the epidemic over.  The haemorrhagic fever's virus is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of those infected.  Symptoms can appear similar to those of flu, before the onset of vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash and internal and external bleeding. It is often fatal.  All major outbreaks have been in Africa, though isolated cases have been reported outside the continent.  In August 2014, British volunteer nurse William Pooley became the first Briton to contract Ebola after working in Sierra Leone. He was flown back to the UK for emergency treatment and went on to make a full recovery.  The same year, Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey was also contracted the virus after returning from Sierra Leone and fell severely ill, spending several weeks in London’s Royal Free Hospital.


theindependent--2019-06-20--Ebola is killing people but rumours about Ebola are killing even more

This is a tale of two epidemics. Only one of them is real. The real one is Ebola. Ebola is a virus that kills people. This is a fact. But we fear facts as much as we fear disease. We prefer reassuring falsehoods to facts. And it’s so easy, you can deny practically anything. All you have to do is add the little word “not”. We’ve had Holocaust denial and climate change denial. Now we have Ebola denial.  The virus, named after the Ebola river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo near where it first appeared in 1976, has an approximately 80 per cent mortality rate. ie not good odds: you have a one-in-five chance of surviving if you get it.  The disease is not just hard to eradicate, it has a habit of triggering a second parallel virus, of the virtual kind, but just as insidious and potentially lethal, a rumour cloud around Ebola, made up of myth, moonshine, conspiracy theories, and paranoia. So the Red Cross finds itself fighting on two fronts, against the real thing and, at the same time, an outbreak of fake news.  Butembo, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, is at the epicentre of the 10th outbreak of Ebola, currently counting 2071 cases. The Red Cross – working alongside the World Health Organisation and Médecins Sans Frontières – has sent in volunteers to help tackle the disease. But, as is common in these situations, they have run into a wall of misunderstanding, misinformation, and resistance.  The resistance, usually no worse than verbal abuse or a refusal to take advice, can sometimes take the form of violence. One senior epidemiologist has been killed in 2019 and clinics have been attacked. Ironically, the very people trying to treat the illness are perceived as causing it.  So pervasive is this second epidemic, the virus of suspicion and scepticism, that radiates out from the first, that the Red Cross has tried to draw up “rumour maps” to keep track of it, because one of the facts in this swirling fog of misinformation is that the second one makes the first one worse. The spread of rumour only serves to increase the spread of the disease.  Modern medicine is not all about doctors and nurses and pills and potions, it’s also about information management, which boils down to two things: disseminating scientifically backed facts, and trying to contain the transmission of false beliefs.  Ebola is probably caused by fruit bats (and eating other infected animals) and certainly spread by physical contact with the body fluids of victims. The other epidemic is definitely generated by humans. The word itself, epidemic (from the Greek, epi- “upon” or “against” or “around”, and demos, the people) suggests that we are complicit in the process.  “It’s mainly spread by word of mouth,” says Thuong Nguyen, who is French-Vietnamese and the information management coordinator for the Red Cross. “But there is an extensive phone network in DRC, and people use Whatsapp. There are whole groups dedicated to talking about Ebola.” False information radiates outwards, relatively unchecked. “If you’re the fifth person in the chain, or the 50th, it’s not easy to check your sources.” The denser the population, the faster the rumours spread.  Nguyen initiated the rumour mapping project in August 2018. She says the whole point was to get a cool and quantitative take on rumour. “We didn’t want to start a rumour about the rumours. There are so many rumours already, we didn’t want to be part of that. We had to be specific.”  There is a perfectly practical reason for gathering and collating the information: Red Cross medics need it “in order to be able to carry out their operation”: to know what people are thinking as well as how they are feeling.  Nguyen emphasises that “the majority of people” believe that Ebola is real. But she and her team of 880 “community engagement volunteers” have detected 33,016 separate rumours, observations and beliefs across 17 health zones in DRC. Only 8 per cent of them consist of flat-out denial: the wishful idea that Ebola does not exist.  But there are a lot of more complicated, more conspiratorial versions of denial. Seven per cent of the rumours invoke supernatural theories to do with witchcraft and demons.  A much larger proportion of the rumours tend to point the finger of blame at health professionals rather than witches. Another 21 per cent maintain that Ebola is being used to exploit communities for influence or money; 13 per cent express a lack of confidence in medical services, with a suspicion of doctors harming people; and a hardcore of 4 per cent explicitly hold that Ebola is engineered by foreigners with some murderous or malevolent intent.  “The Ebola outbreak won’t be over until the population rises up against the response team.” This is a real quote (translated from Swahili) coming from someone in the DRC recorded by the Red Cross engagement team. There is a constellation of fanciful ideas: “Doctors are killing people”; “Ebola is a business”; “the virus is made to eliminate the Congolese”; “there are fake tablets that kill”.     But probably the dominant theme is how to fight back against the spread of Ebola, mainly by attacking the health professionals. Doctors in the field have to worry not only how to protect themselves from the virus but also from the relatives of people who have been victims.     One informant said: “We are in the process of determining how to catch some of the doctors and nurses from the response team to inject them with the blood of a vaccinated person and see how their body responds.” Another: “Everyone who works in the response team will be tracked down.”  Ombretta Baggio, 46, the coordinator of community engagement and accountability for the International Red Cross Ebola response, spoke to The Independent from Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the DRC. She reckons that “rumour mapping” should really be called “community feedback”. “The media tends to over-dramatise. You have to remember, it’s not all ‘fake news’. Rumour is only part of the data. Alongside the rumours there are a lot of reasonable questions to which we try to provide answers.”  But she agrees that there is “an epidemic of fear, which is motivating people to do things that are not healthy and that fuel the Ebola epidemic”. Baggio points out that the DRC is “volatile environment” with “a complex political dynamic”. After a two-decades-long conflict, elections have recently taken place in the region. People fear not just foreigners but anyone from outside their province. They tend to trust their neighbours, and are proportionately suspicious of outsiders.  Baggio says that the great advantage of the rumour mapping project is that “we have a very clear picture of what the main concerns are”. The principal object of most people’s fear and loathing is the ETC, the Ebola Treatment Centre, dedicated to trying to halt Ebola and often staffed by foreigners or people perceived as foreigners.     The fact that the frontline health professionals have to wear full body suits to protect them against the virus probably doesn’t help. They look like aliens who have just landed. It is at one of these treatment centres that a doctor was killed in May by armed militia. “The treatment centre is seen as a place where you go to die,” Baggio says. “Where you are isolated and injected on purpose with a virus.” Inevitably, it makes the patient and the family and relatives fearful.  In terms of treating the illness itself, there is a limited amount of vaccination available in the DRC. “We are using an experimental vaccine,” says Ombretta. “With a high level of success.” It’s not mass vaccination. The Ministry of Health and WHO work to create a “ring” around the individual case.     As soon as anyone is identified as having contracted the disease, an emergency response team goes in to vaccinate all the immediate contacts of the victim and then the contacts of those contacts. But not everyone understands or appreciates what they are doing. Some think that they are being injected with the disease, others want to know why only some are being vaccinated and not others.  Thuong Nguyen’s priority is what they call Safe and Dignified Burial. “Our role is to ensure that when a loved one dies the family and the community doesn’t get infected.” Local funeral customs here prescribe a process of washing the dead before burial. All of which is normal and reasonable, except in the case of Ebola, since even a corpse can be infectious.  Contact with bodily fluids can be fatal. Nguyen says that a “safe team” is required to manage the process without incurring further dead bodies. One of the recent developments has been the use of transparent body bags to counteract rumours that body bags were being filled with rocks or dirt while the actual bodies were being spirited away to have their body parts harvested for sale.  One of the problems with such an infectious disease as Ebola is that victims can spread the disease inside hospitals. Working with the Ministry of Health and Unicef, the Red Cross helped to set up a system of “triage points” in front of hospitals, a form of medical customs control to check if you’re carrying the disease. Instead of just walking in the front door of the hospital you have to pass through this antichamber to be checked and assessed first. If you show any symptoms you’re taken to a different room for further analysis.  Similarly, there are things that can be done to prevent the spread of rumour, the meta-epidemic accompanying Ebola. They call the measures deployed to fight back against viral thinking “sensitisation”. The Red Cross is, in effect, trying to inoculate the population against rumour, using methods as simple as knocking on doors and explaining or giving seminars in schools. Radio shows, mobile cinemas, and plays performed in rural communities dramatise the problem and its solution.  Ombretta Baggio adds that the Red Cross has to “find compromises that go beyond the bio-medical response”. She suggests that the existing Ebola Treatment Centres need to be streamlined and integrated into the existing health network to overcome “the fear of the unfamiliar and the unknown.” “After so much conflict in the country, the Congolese people are used to looking after themselves. They want to own the treatment.”  With strict measures of isolation and body disposal in place, Ebola can be contained. But what about the other epidemic? Can that be contained? “At the moment we are holding it at bay,” says Nguyen. They’re not winning, but they’re not losing either. The “alerts” about cases coming from the Congolese themselves have quadrupled from 20 to 80 per cent.  Baggio makes the point that “it’s easy to blame the community for spreading lies”. In other words, at its crudest, we believe or imply that the Congolese people themselves are responsible for Ebola, or at least for making it worse. But it’s important not to scapegoat some people for the crime of scapegoating other people. For one thing, there is a rationale for the irrational.     There are conspiracy theories, but there are also actual conspiracies. The subtle Nestlé scheme for replacing breast milk in Africa with its products, at the expense of child deaths and illness, is only one among many similarly exploitative plots and plans. Neo-imperialism harks back to actual empires. The DRC, for example, was once the colonial “possession” of Belgium. King Leopold, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, robbed the country blind in search of rubber and other commodities. People really were being killed and mutilated on a regular basis for commercial gain.  Rumour is not a war against truth. It thrives and metastasises and proliferates in the cracks and crevices of solid, hardcore information. “This is why we have community engagement,” says Nguyen, “to fill in the gaps, to inform the community of the things that we do know. Facts rather than beliefs.”    Shakespeare described rumour as “the many-headed monster”, so it’s nothing new. Post-truth has always been with us, but the greater the population and the most extensive the communications networks, the greater the opportunity for rumour to flourish. The “meme” was originally conceptualised by Richard Dawkins not as a “viral” image on social media but rather as an idea or behaviour that multiplies and spreads just as genes, or cells do, independently of individual intentions.  And, again, there is a good reason why some ideas spread more than others: they simply have a better narrative. They become, in effect, bestsellers. The story from science, involving – possibly – bats, is less engaging or compelling than a story involving cold-hearted ruthless bad guys from abroad trying to do down the locals. Sound familiar?  It seems like every country around the world is blaming some other country (or some other ethnicity) for their problems. It’s always foreigners who are to blame. In the US, it’s Mexicans and Muslims; in Brexit-infected Britain, it’s Europe. In India, it’s Pakistan; in Pakistan, it’s India. We’re all looking for scapegoats. In the DRC, doctors are blamed for injecting people with Ebola; in the US and Europe we have anti-vaxxers, who claim the MMR causes autism and fear the needle more than they fear measles and mumps.  Perhaps there is a biological or cellular basis for the spread of rumour. If we could compare the map of Ebola with the map of the rumour epidemic that is parasitic upon it, we would find them surprisingly similar. Rumour is essentially a public health issue. The fundamental reality of information is that it generates misinformation and disinformation (the more deliberate version we also call fake news). Information doesn’t care about truth, it doesn’t mind if it is prefixed by mis- or dis-, it only cares about multiplying and propagating. Exactly like a virus. Information is contamination.  Andy Martin teaches at the University of Cambridge and is the author of ‘Reacher Said Nothing: Lee Child and the Making of Make Me’


birminghammail--2019-01-31--Boy becomes first NHS patient to receive revolutionary new cancer drug

An 11-year-old boy has become the first NHS patient to receive a pioneering new cancer therapy that uses the body's own immune system to fight the disease.  Yuvan Thakkar, from Watford, received the drug Kymriah, a type of immunotherapy called CAR-T cell therapy, at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London last week.  Yuvan has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), which can be cured in around 90% of children who undergo conventional chemotherapy.  However, Yuvan's cancer has failed to respond to two rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, meaning he has few options left.  Now, experts at GOSH have given him Kymriah (also known as (tisagenlecleucel), which was approved for use on the NHS after a deal was struck between NHS England and the drugs firm Novartis to offer it at a reduced price.  Previously, CAR-T cell therapy was only available to patients as part of research trials.  The treatment involves taking the patient's own T cells (a type of immune cell) from their blood and genetically engineering them in the laboratory so they recognise and fight cancer cells.  Millions of these genetically engineered CAR-T cells are grown in the laboratory and then given back to the patient via an infusion into their bloodstream.  Each dose of Kymriah is a customised treatment created using these own T-cells.  In Yuvan's case, his T cells were first extracted in November last year, and shipped to laboratories in Rotterdam and Texas, where they underwent the complex editing procedure.  Research has shown that CAR-T can lead to a cure or extended survival for a high number of patients, although not everyone benefits.  In clinical trials in the US, around 50% to 62% of patients survive without leukaemia for 12 months or more.  Yuvan, a keen cricket fan, was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2014.  Despite treatment and a bone marrow transplant last year, he was still found to still have leukaemia.  Yuvan's parents, his mother Sapna, and father Vinay, said in a statement: "When Yuvan was diagnosed it was the most heartbreaking news we had ever received.  "We tried to stay hopeful as they say leukaemia in children has 90% cure rate, but sadly, his illness relapsed.  "This new therapy is our last hope. It means a rebirth to us if this treatment works and we hope it really does.  "We are so glad that we at least have this new option now.  "If he had relapsed a year ago it would have been a different story."  Yuvan said, "I really hope I get better soon so I can visit Lego House in Denmark. I love Lego and am building a big model Bugatti while I'm in hospital."  Professor Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, said: "It's fantastic news that children and young people like Yuvan can receive CAR-T cell therapy on the NHS, giving another option when their cancer returns.  "This is an incredibly complex treatment to give, Yuvan's cells were processed in both Europe and the US, and needed collaboration across borders to get the T-cell infusion back to London so he could be treated.  "The UK was one of the first countries in the world to approve CAR-T cell therapy, showing that the NHS remains at the forefront of innovation when it comes to new cancer treatments.  "More research is underway so that we can identify who's most likely to benefit from CAR-T cell therapy, as well as how to further refine the technique, so as many as possible can benefit."  Side-effects from CAR-T can occur and patients need to be kept in isolation following treatment.  CAR-T can cost around £280,000 per patient, although NHS England has brought down this price during negotiations.  As well as GOSH, the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will offer the treatment to young people with leukaemia.  Another type of CAR-T cell therapy, called Yescarta, has been approved on the NHS for adults with aggressive types of lymphoma.  Dr Sara Ghorashian, consultant in paediatric haematology at GOSH and Yuvan's doctor, said: "We are so pleased to be able to offer patients like Yuvan another chance to be cured.  "While it will be a while before the outcome of this powerful new therapy is known, the treatment has shown very promising results in clinical trials and we are hopeful that it will help."


birminghammail--2019-07-07--Baby diagnosed with cancer after going to the doctor over a cold

The devastated parents of a baby girl battling leukaemia have told how she was first diagnosed after 'a simple cough and cold'.  At only seven months old, little Phoebe Ashfield had already undergone lumbar punctures, bone marrow aspirations and a high dose of chemotherapy.  Parents' Emma, 26, and Jordan, 26, had their hopes raised when Phoebe responded well to treatment.  But now the couple have told of their heartbreak after they discovered their tot had relapsed - just four months into treatment.  They are desperately urging everyone to sign a stem cell register - in a bid to save the youngster's life.  "If you don’t save my daughters life then you can save someone else’s life so me and her dad are begging you please sign up," said mum Emma Wyke.  "Phoebe was diagnosed on January 18 with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.  "She was only seven months old. She has undergone lumbar punctures, bone marrow aspirated and high dose of chemotherapy.  "Before she was diagnosed she just had a simple cold and chest infection. On January 14, I took her to Sandwell hospital and at first they thought it was anemia until they looked at her bloods.  "We were told she had cancer on the morning of January 15, 2019 and on that afternoon we were transferred to Birmingham children’s hospital.  "Which is where she has undergone her treatment.  Phoebe turned One at the end of May and was responding well to her treatment, when her parents were delivered another devastating blow:  "On June 5, she had a routine lumbar puncture, which is where they take a sample of spinal fluid and then inject her with chemotherapy.  "It was there when they looked at the spinal fluid when they saw the leukaemia blast cells once again meaning she had relapsed just four months into her treatment.  "We were devastated and we were told that she would need a transplant.  "If you don’t save my daughters life then you can save someone else’s life so me and her dad are begging you please sign up.  "It takes five minutes and they can send you a pack out in the post to swab your mouth. And the all you do is send it back, it’s as simple as that."  On July 13, there will be a registration day at Tipton Sports Academy, on Wednesbury Oak Road and also at Dudley Tesco Extra on Town Gate Retail Park, Birmingham Road.  Alternatively you can apply online to receive your swabs in the post  - https://www.dkms.org.uk/en/register-now

newsdesk@birminghamlive.co.uk (Charlotte Paxton, Charlotte Regen)


fortune--2019-08-28--The Diseases That Are Increasingly Killing Americans Brainstorm Health

The Diseases That Are Increasingly Killing Americans: Brainstorm Health

A new study in the journal JAMA helps break out exactly what is, and isn't, killing Americans.  Heart disease is far and away the number one killer in this country (some 1 in 4 deaths are associated with it). But cancer, lung diseases, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes aren't far behind.  Here is the good news-bad news situation, according to the report: "While cardiovascular disease (CVD) death rates declined by approximately 36% from 2000 to 2014, CVD remains the leading cause of mortality among US adults. Annual declines in CVD mortality slowed between 2011 and 2014 (0.7% fewer CVD deaths per year), and it appears unlikely that strategic goals from the American Heart Association (20% reduction by 2020) will be achieved."  Put into simpler terms, diabetes and high blood pressure are still killing millions of people. And communities of color continue to be disproportionately affected by this reality.  Read on for the day's news.  Peloton goes from confidential IPO to actual IPO. The digitally-connected exercise firm Peloton (the one with the fancy, in-home bikes and treadmills that connect you online with coaches) is going public (again… sort of). Peloton had already filed for a confidential IPO earlier this year. But now it’s going the whole hog and filing for a Nasdaq public offering. The year of the digital health IPO continues!  (Fortune)  Investors seem pretty OK with the J&J opioid ruling. Shareholders don’t appear to be sweating the $500 million-plus judgment levied against Johnson & Johnson for its alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic. J&J shares are up nearly 2% since the landmark ruling announced Monday, which has been seen as a milestone in dozens of cases levied against drug makers and distributors for aggressively selling pain products. Why? The decision (contested by J&J) could have involved significantly more money. (Fortune)  Why 20,000 AT&T Workers Went on Strike, by Aaron Pressman  Hello, This Is Artificial Intelligence. How Can I Help You? by Jonathan Vanian  An Unwanted Side Effect for Tech Companies Going Public, by Rey Mashayekhi


hitandrun--2019-08-23--That Vaping-Linked Lung Disease Might Not Really Be Linked to Vaping

That 'Vaping-Linked Lung Disease' Might Not Really Be Linked to Vaping

There's a bit of panic brewing in the press over lung problems that could be linked to vape products. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) "reports more than 150 cases of possible vaping-linked lung disease," says The Hill. Others make even bolder claims.  "More than 100 vapers have contracted a severe lung disease," The Verge reports. "Vaping lung disease: CDC reports 153 cases," says USA Today. Ars Technica warns that "vaping-linked lung disease cases" have jumped "from 94 to 153 in 5 days."  But read closely, and it becomes apparent that nobody actually knows if vaping is causing this mystery disease or not. Nobody even knows if there is a disease, or how many people actually have it. That's what the CDC is at the beginning of investigating.  For now, all officials know is that states keep reporting people with cases of mysterious lung and chest problems. "Many states have alerted CDC to possible (not confirmed) cases and investigations into these cases are ongoing," says the CDC. Symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing—all common issues that can stem from a range of causes and ailments.  "The CDC and impacted states haven't identified a cause," notes The Verge. Nor has it actually verified suspected cases.  Those reporting the problems all say they have used vape products—albeit not what sort. Which leaves us with another possibility: that some particular faulty product or line of products is indeed causing trouble, but that this is not an issue with vaping at large.  We know that some patients in potential cases used THC-containing vape products, not nicotine-containing e-cigarettes. The Vapor Technology Association told The Hill that no nicotine e-cigarettes have been linked to the lung issues:  In actuality, we don't know at all what folks with many of the suspected cases were smoking, nor what other habits they may have shared, such as any history of regular cigarette or marijuana smoking. We don't—and this is pretty damn crucial—even know if all of these patients suffer from the same affliction at all.  The fact that cases have spiked dramatically in the brief time since news of this "vaping lung disease" started spreading suggests we may have a different sort of contagion on our hands. Perhaps people who vape have been starting to freak out upon hearing the "lung disease" news and either suddenly noticed new symptoms (which also sound a lot like symptoms of a panic attack) or began interpreting ongoing symptoms in a new way.  Or maybe vaping is going to kill us! That's certainly possible. The point is that right now, anything is possible. And until we know more, it's irresponsible for folks to spread panic about products that have been helping many people leave more dangerous habits behind.  Ken "Popehat" White tries to dispel some of the most common delusions about the First Amendment. "If you've read op-eds about free speech in America, or listened to talking heads on the news, you've almost certainly encountered empty, misleading, or simply false tropes about the First Amendment," writes White at The Atlantic. "Those tired tropes are barriers to serious discussions about free speech. Any useful discussion of what the law should be must be informed by an accurate view of what the law is."  White tackles popular tropes like "you can't shout 'Fire!' in a crowded theater" (wrong!), "hate speech is not free speech" (wrong!), and more. "Many free-speech issues that are controversial politically and culturally, by contrast, are utterly banal legally, and the Court has offered no signs of change," he points out.  "It's a credit card, not a 'virtual interface.' There is nothing novel about a credit card." At Forbes, writer Frances Coppola throws some water on tech-media hype about the new Apple Card and its purported potential to "disrupt" traditional banking:  A credit card is, as its name suggests, simply a line of credit which is drawn upon when using a card to make purchases. Apple's card may be fancy (and fragile), but behind it is a bog standard credit facility, just like every other credit card in the world. So the question is, who is issuing that facility? Credit card facilities are provided by banks. Cards may be branded by a retailer, but the actual issuer is always a bank…. Apple Card's strapline "Created by Apple, not a bank" implies that the credit line is provided by Apple itself. If that were the case, then Apple Pay would be groundbreaking. It would mark Apple's transformation into a bank—and a bank of such a size and reach would indeed eat the lunch of existing banks. Sadly, the strapline is misleading to the point of dishonesty….The card that is "created by Apple, not a bank" is actually issued by—a bank."  That's right, Goldman Sachs is behind the "no bank" Apple Card.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown (elizabeth.brown@reason.com)


naturalnews--2019-04-10--Study links intestinal fungus to alcoholic liver disease

(Natural News) You might want to think twice before gulping down another bottle of beer because a new study has found that heavy alcohol drinking can hike the levels of intestinal fungi and worsen alcoholic liver disease. Findings of a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation linked intestinal fungi to an increased risk of death for patients with alcohol-related liver disease. The results also suggested that there’s another culprit in liver damage aside from alcohol: fungi that commonly live in your gut. The study showed that antifungal treatment can significantly worsen the detrimental effects on the liver.  “Not only is this the first study to associate fungi and liver disease, we might be able to slow the progression of alcoholic liver disease by manipulating the balance of fungal species living in a patient’s intestine,” said senior author Bernd Schnabl, MD, Associate Professor of Gastroenterology at UC San Diego School of Medicine.  Liver cirrhosis is the 12th leading cause of death due to disease in the U.S. One of the causes of cirrhosis is chronic alcohol abuse. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, drinking more than three alcoholic drinks (like beer and wine) a day for years can increase the risk of cirrhosis in men while drinking more than two alcoholic drinks every day for many years puts women at risk for the disease. Going beyond these over the course of 10 years can lead to cirrhosis.  To conduct the study, researchers gave mice alcohol every day for eight weeks and observed an overgrowth of certain fungi types in the intestines. However, researchers were able to protect the mice from alcohol-induced liver disease by treating them orally with an antifungal compound called amphotericin B. Oral amphotericin B isn’t absorbed in the bloodstream, which means it only acts inside the intestine and doesn’t cause systemic side effects. Mice with alcohol-related liver disease who received the antifungal compound showed lower levels of fat accumulation and liver damage. Plasma levels of the liver enzyme called alanine aminotransferase were reduced by about 55 percent while liver triglycerides levels went down by approximately 21 percent.  The power of the elements: Discover Colloidal Silver Mouthwash with quality, natural ingredients like Sangre de Drago sap, black walnut hulls, menthol crystals and more. Zero artificial sweeteners, colors or alcohol. Learn more at the Health Ranger Store and help support this news site.  “This work demonstrates that alcoholic liver disease is exacerbated not only by bacteria, but also by fungi. Therefore, therapeutic strategies that target both need to be translated into clinical practice,” said co-author Derrick Fouts, PhD, Professor of Genomic Medicine at J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI).  What all these mean is that drinking alcohol can trigger intestinal fungi and potentially lead to liver damage. Fungi produce a sugar called beta-glucan which travels to the surrounding organs, like the liver, and trigger an inflammatory response that kills the cells. This leads to alcoholic liver disease. Excessive drinking can spike gut fungi and beta-glucan and contributes to further liver damage.  Another experiment found that people who are dependent on alcohol have a significant overgrowth of a certain type of fungus called candida. This was concluded after researchers collected and observed the stool of eight healthy people and 20 alcohol abusers and have various stages of liver disease. Researchers also analyzed blood samples from a different group of patients with alcoholic liver disease and found that those who have high levels of antibodies that recognize fungus were more likely to die in the next five years. Of the 27 patients, 14 were found to have high fungi levels while 13 were classified as low. Thirty-seven percent of the high-fungi group died after five years while 77 percent of the low-fungi group survived.  Fungi naturally thrive in the intestines, so there’s nothing we can do about that. However, we can always limit our alcohol intake if we want to save our liver and prevent diseases. Take care of your body by drinking moderately.


naturalnews--2019-05-30--Studies reveals conventional cancer treatments can be as dangerous as the disease itself

(Natural News) Chemotherapy has been the go-to treatment for cancer since the late 1940s. Nearly eight decades ago, researchers examining the therapeutic effects of mustard gas on lymphoma declared that this toxic chemical could significantly reduce the size of tumors for a few weeks after treatment. To this day, doctors continue to insist that chemotherapy represents the cancer patient’s best chance at survival.  Rather than focusing on encouraging people to maintain a healthy weight, exercise regularly, quit smoking, drink in moderation and make other necessary lifestyle changes – the only proven way to prevent cancer – the medical establishment pushes the narrative that early detection and conventional treatments like chemotherapy are the best way to lower cancer death rates.  But do the facts support their contention? Not at all. As reported by BBC News, cancer is on the increase around the world, and so is the number of people it kills each year. Between 2012 and 2018, the number of patients diagnosed with cancer annually rose from 14.1 million to 18.1 million, while the number of fatalities increased from 8.2 million to 9.6 million.  So, why the increase? A large contributing factor is likely the fact that far from being the miracle cure it’s touted to be, chemotherapy kills many of the very people it is supposed to cure.  As recently as 2015, cancer drugs represented a $100 billion a year industry, and that figure is set to double to $200 billion in the next few years. Livestrong reports that an eight-week course of chemotherapy can cost a patient as much as $300,000.  The power of the elements: Discover Colloidal Silver Mouthwash with quality, natural ingredients like Sangre de Drago sap, black walnut hulls, menthol crystals and more. Zero artificial sweeteners, colors or alcohol. Learn more at the Health Ranger Store and help support this news site.  Chemotherapy is a massive cash cow for investors; perhaps that is the reason researchers keep coming up with new “treatments” rather than actively searching for a cure?  Nonetheless, no matter how hard medical practitioners push these chemicals as the best treatment plan for cancer patients, the reality is that all chemotherapy is dangerous – so dangerous in fact that studies have found that these treatments are as lethal as the disease they are supposed to treat.  Back in 2006, a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reported that 61 percent of women who were treated with chemotherapy for breast cancer were hospitalized in the year following treatment for a variety of reasons.  The researchers found that in the year following the women’s initial diagnosis, the women on chemotherapy were much more likely to be hospitalized or go to the emergency room for any cause. Only 42 percent of the women not being treated with chemo went to the ER or were hospitalized, compared to 61 percent of the chemo patients. Most hospitalizations were for fever and infections, or for low blood cell counts and dehydration.  Even worse, a more recent study, conducted by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York, found that chemotherapy often increases the aggressiveness of cancer cells, causing tumors to spread throughout the body.  Many are given chemotherapy before surgery, but the new research suggests that, although it shrinks tumours in the short term, it could trigger the spread of cancer cells around the body.  It is thought the toxic medication switches on a repair mechanism in the body which ultimately allows tumours to grow back stronger. It also increases the number of ‘doorways’ on blood vessels which allow cancer to spread throughout the body.  Another study, conducted by Public Health England and Cancer Research UK, which examined the number of people who died in the 30 days immediately after undergoing chemotherapy, found “an alarming mortality rate that was directly associated with the chemotherapy treatment.”  Clearly, chemotherapy is far from the “miracle treatment” it’s claimed to be. Ultimately, the best way to treat cancer is to prevent getting it in the first place by making the best possible lifestyle choices every day. Learn more at Cancer.news or Chemo.news.


naturalnews--2019-06-02--Ohio hospital spreading deadly infectious disease through its water systems

(Natural News) In April of this year, Natural News reported how U.S. hospitals were releasing deadly superbugs into the open air, infecting both patients and individuals in the local community with a deadly fungal strain known as candida auris. As I wrote then:  It’s happening right now. And this pandemic has been silently spreading over the last four years, with virtually zero media reports, very little information from the CDC, and a coordinated cover-up by the hospitals of the western world to keep patients in the dark while they’re being infected and killed by a deadly pathogen.  Now, patients in an Ohio hospital have been infected with Legionnaires’ disease after the hospital was found to be circulating a potentially deadly bacterial strain through its water supply. Local media is reporting the details of the outbreak, and Dr. Amy Acton, who heads up the Ohio Dept. of Health, is reportedly leading the investigation into what happened.  InfoWars has covered the full story and reports the following (source):  SEVEN DIAGNOSED WITH LEGIONNAIRES’ AT NEW OHIO HOSPITAL  Seven patients have been diagnosed with the deadly Legionnaires’ disease at an Ohio hospital that’s been open just over a month, according to reports.  Health officials have begun to disinfect the building’s water lines to stop the spread and are scrambling to identify the source of the bacteria, according to a Friday statement from Dr. Amy Acton, director of Ohio’s Department of Health.  “To protect patients, employees, and visitors, we have acted swiftly today after my team discovered a connection between three confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in former patients at Mount Carmel Grove City,” said Dr. Acton. “Working in collaboration with Franklin County Public Health, I issued an adjudication order to immediately reduce the risk of further infection.”  Mother Nature's micronutrient secret: Organic Broccoli Sprout Capsules now available, delivering 280mg of high-density nutrition, including the extraordinary "sulforaphane" and "glucosinolate" nutrients found only in cruciferous healing foods. Every lot laboratory tested. See availability here.  “It is our understanding that hospital officials have begun implementing the steps outlined in the order, tonight.”  Specific maneuvers outlined in the statement include but aren’t limited to the following, according to local media:  – Flush all hot and cold water lines and fixtures throughout the entire seven-floor, 200-bed facility.   – Implement immediate remediation practices to disinfect hot and cold water lines and fixtures.   – Ensure the two on-sight cooling towers are cleaned and serviced.  Legionnaires’ disease is described as a severe form of pneumonia and is contracted by inhaling airborne water droplets containing the Legionella bacteria, which is why authorities are targeting the hospital’s water supply.  Similarly, this brings to mind a recent superbug fungal outbreak that spread rapidly throughout U.S. hospitals, mainly New York and New Jersey.  During this outbreak in 2017, there were at least 61 reported cases of the deadly fungus that touts a 60% mortality rate and has the potential to become widespread due to conventional antibiotics being ineffective in treating it.  At the time, reported cases of the fungal superbug, called Candida auris, skyrocketed a staggering 800% from several months prior.  “It’s acting like a superbug,” said Paige Armstrong of the CDC. “Without appropriate infection control and really a rigorous response, [it] could lead to even more cases in the United States.”  Watch the full candida auris mini-documentary here, via Brighteon.com, and stay informed about the threat of deadly superbugs at Superbugs.news.  A shorter podcast explanation is available here: