Category: Health & Medicine

CDC Monitoring 110 Possible Coronavirus Cases in 26 States

More than a hundred people across 26 states are being monitored for possible cases of the new coronavirus, health officials said Monday.

The number of possible cases of the dangerous virus nearly doubled to 110 cases over four days, up from the 63 previously reported to be under surveillance, according to CNBC.

“We understand that many people in the United States are worried about this virus and how it will affect Americans,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

“Every day we learn more, every day we assess to see if our guidance or our response can be improved.”

Five patients diagnosed with the virus in the US after traveling to the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began, officials said.

All of the patients are hospitalized and their close contacts are being monitored for symptoms.

“At this time in the U.S., this virus is not spreading in the community,” Messonnier said, according to ABC News. “For that reason we continue to believe that the immediate health risk from the new virus to the general public is low at this time.”

Meanwhile, the death toll from the virus has climbed to 82 in China and has reached over 2,800 cases, as local officials struggle to contain the epidemic, the Guardian reported.

The US State Department issued a new travel advisory Monday, urging people to “reconsider travel” to China out of growing concerns about the virus.

Report: Protective Masks Are Useless – Coronavirus Also Spreads Through The EYES

As infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists race to contain the outbreak of the novel coronavirus centered on Wuhan, China, they’re getting back up that’s been possible only since the explosion in genetic technologies: a deep-dive into the DNA of the virus known as 2019-nCoV.

Analyses of the viral genome are already providing clues to the origins of the outbreak and even possible ways to treat the infection, a need that is becoming more urgent by the day: Early on Saturday in China, health officials reported 15 new fatalities in a single day, bringing the death toll to 41. There are now nearly 1,100 confirmed cases there.

More bad news came in as expert claims that deadly coronavirus can be spread through the EYES after he contracted the disease, despite wearing a protective mask.

Dr. Wang Guangfa has now theorized the similar coronavirus may be transmitted through the eye after testing positive following an eye infection.

Mr. Wang was a leading figure in the fight against SARS virus that gripped China in 2003.

The doctor now says he believes he contracted the virus due to not donning protective eyewear.

Teresa Zhan, a pharmacist in Manhattan’s Chinatown, had not seen protective face masks sell out in her 10 years as an employee until this week, when China’s coronavirus arrived in the United States just days before Lunar New Year celebrations.

More than a dozen pharmacies in the tiny district had run out of face masks or only had a few left on Friday. Pharmacists said hundreds of locals had rushed to buy masks for protection from the newly discovered coronavirus that has killed 26 people in China and infected at least 800 others, including a case in Chicago and another near Seattle.

 

A ‘High-Level Exercise’ Conducted 3 Months Ago Showed That a Coronavirus Pandemic Could Kill 65 Million People

Just over three months ago, a “high-level pandemic exercise” entitled “Event 201” was held in New York City.  On October 18th the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, in conjunction with the World Economic Forum and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, brought together “15 leaders of business, government, and public health” to simulate a scenario in which a coronavirus pandemic was ravaging the planet.  The current coronavirus outbreak that originated in China did not begin until December, and so at that time it was supposedly just a hypothetical exercise.  The following comes from the official page for this event…

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted Event 201, a high-level pandemic exercise on October 18, 2019, in New York, NY. The exercise illustrated areas where public/private partnerships will be necessary during the response to a severe pandemic in order to diminish large-scale economic and societal consequences.

I find it quite interesting that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was involved, because they are also financial backers of the institute that was granted a U.S. patent for “an attenuated coronavirus” in November 2018.

It appears that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been quite interested in the threat posed by coronaviruses for quite some time.

Eric Toner, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, spearheaded putting “Event 201” together.  In his scenario, a coronavirus outbreak had begun on Brazil’s pig farms…

Toner’s simulation imagined a fictional virus called CAPS. The analysis, part of a collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, looked at what would happen if a pandemic originated in Brazil’s pig farms.

Even though the outbreak was quite limited at first, Toner’s scenario ultimately showed that a coronavirus pandemic could kill 65 million people…

The pretend outbreak started small: Farmers began coming down with symptoms that resembled the flu or pneumonia. From there, the virus spread to crowded and impoverished urban neighborhoods in South America.

Flights were canceled, and travel bookings dipped by 45%. People disseminated false information on social media.

After six months, the virus had spread around the globe. A year later, it had killed 65 million people.

Let us certainly hope that this current outbreak does not evolve into that sort of a nightmare.

Chicago Coronavirus Patient Receiving Treatment at Hoffman Estates Hospital

This is the second confirmed case in the U.S. , the first being in Washington State (watch out up there oh Phat One!) Another pair of suspected cases in Texas are a student at Texas A&M and a student at Baylor Uni. That’s not to mentions the dozens of people who were exposed during the flights to here.

The woman diagnosed with coronavirus in Chicago has been receiving treatment at a suburban Hoffman Estates hospital, a hospital system spokesman said.

The Chicago resident in her 60s returned from Wuhan, China — the epicenter of a recent outbreak — on Jan. 13 and was later hospitalized, a state epidemiologist with the Illinois Department of Public Health said.

The patient was last reported in stable condition and was being monitored in isolation at AMITA Health St. Alexius Medical Center Hoffman Estates, according to a news release.

The newly discovered virus, identified by Chinese authorities, has killed at least 41 people, sickened hundreds and prompted lockdowns of cities ahead of China’s most important holiday.

The Chicago woman did not have symptoms while traveling earlier this month but “later presented symptoms consistent with novel coronavirus” and was hospitalized in isolation, according to Allison Arwady, commissioner with the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Virus-hit Wuhan has two laboratories linked to Chinese bio-warfare program
Virology institute there has China’s only secure lab for studying deadly viruses

Shades of Captain Tripps we hope not.

The deadly animal virus epidemic spreading globally may have originated in a Wuhan laboratory linked to China’s covert biological weapons program, according to an Israeli biological warfare expert.

Radio Free Asia this week rebroadcast a local Wuhan television report from 2015 showing China’s most advanced virus research laboratory known the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Radio Free Asia reported.

The laboratory is the only declared site in China capable of working with deadly viruses.

Dany Shoham, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who has studied Chinese bio warfare, said the institute is linked to Beijing’s covert biological weapons program.

“Certain laboratories in the institute have probably been engaged, in terms of research and development, in Chinese [biological weapons], at least collaterally, yet not as a principal facility of the Chinese BW alignment,” Mr. Shoham told The Washington Times.

Work on biological weapons is conducted as part of a dual civilian-military research and is “definitely covert,” he said in an email.

Mr. Shoham holds a doctorate in medical microbiology. From 1970 to 1991 he was a senior analyst with Israeli military intelligence for biological and chemical warfare in the Middle East and worldwide, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Could Scientists ‘Hack’ the Zika Virus to Kill Brain Cancer?

I seem to remember a disaster movie starring Will Smith……….
and a re-engineered virus that cured cancer……..

The mosquito-spread Zika virus known for its links to brain damage in babies born to infected mothers has the potential to target and destroy brain cancer, scientists have found.

New research has revealed that the Zika virus breaks into brain cells by using a special molecular key, and scientists think the virus could be tweaked so that it infects only brain cancer cells, leaving  healthy cells unharmed.

The aggressive brain cancer glioblastoma often defies standard cancer treatment because the disease transforms normal brain cells into stem cells. While typical neurons stop dividing after so many replications, stem cells can reproduce indefinitely and grow a whole new tumor from just a handful of cells. Patients typically survive less than 20 months after being diagnosed with glioblastoma; even if the cancer can be forced into remission, the tumors typically regrow and take the life of the patient within 12 months.

But where standard treatments fail, the Zika virus may offer a new strategy to wipe out the deadly disease, according to a pair of studies published Jan. 16 in the journals Cell Reports and Cell Stem Cell.

“While we would likely need to modify the normal Zika virus to make it safer to treat brain tumors, we may also be able to take advantage of the mechanisms the virus uses to destroy cells to improve the way we treat glioblastoma,” senior author Dr. Jeremy Rich, director of neuro-oncology and of the Brain Tumor Institute at UC San Diego Health, said in a statement. (Rich and his colleagues authored the Cell Stem Cell paper.)

Iran rocket attack on Iraqi military base injured 11 US service members, official reveals

Inter-cranial brain injury, ‘TBI’, due to explosive shock wave concussion has been a major trademark of the war. Maybe it’s been that way since – maybe – WW1, but our medical technology has finally caught up with being better able to diagnose, and we hope, treat it.

Eleven U.S. service members were flown out of Al Assad Air Base in Iraq and treated for concussion symptoms after Iran‘s rocket attack targeting two Iraqi military bases earlier this month, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command revealed Thursday night.

President Trump and U.S. officials had said earlier that no Americans were killed or injured in the Jan. 8 attack.

Several U.S. troops “were treated for concussion symptoms from the blast and are still being assessed. As a standard procedure, all personnel in the vicinity of a blast are screened for traumatic brain injury, and if deemed appropriate are transported to a higher level of care,” Capt. Bill Urban, the Central Command spokesman, said Thursday.

He said that although no U.S. service members were killed in the attack on Al Assad Air Base, “in the days following the attack, out of an abundance of caution, some service members were transported… to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, others were sent to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, for follow-on screening. When deemed fit for duty, the service members are expected to return to Iraq following screening. The health and welfare of our personnel is a top priority and we will not discuss any individual’s medical status. At this time, eight individuals have been transported to Landstuhl, and three have been transported to Camp Arifjan.”

This Year’s Flu Shot Doesn’t Match What’s Circulating.

Yeah,  just what pop at 95 needs to hear.

There’s more bad news about the flu: The main strain of flu that’s circulating right now doesn’t exactly match what’s in this year’s flu shot, according to a new report.

However, the strain in the vaccine may still be close enough to offer some protection, officials said.

The news comes amid a particularly severe flu season in the U.S.; the season started early, and it’s unclear if flu activity has peaked yet.

At the start of the season, officials noticed something very unusual: The main strain of flu virus circulating was a type called influenza B. Typically, influenza B does not cause as many cases as influenza A strains (H1N1 and H3N2) and tends to show up later in the flu season, not at the beginning. Indeed, the last time influenza B dominated flu activity in the U.S. was during the 1992-1993 flu season, according to the new report.

Obamacare individual mandate ruled illegal

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate runs afoul of the Constitution now that it is no longer a tax.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, remanded the case back to the lower court to evaluate whether other parts of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, can still stand.

“There is no other constitutional provision that justifies this exercise of congressional power,” wrote Judge Jennifer Elrod, a Bush appointee. . . .

After facing a number of legal battles, the Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate in 2012, saying it was a tax under the Constitution’s taxing powers.

But in 2017, as part of the Republican majority’s tax overhaul bill, the penalty for failing to purchase healthcare coverage was changed to zero — leading to the current legal battle over whether the individual mandate can still legally stand as a tax.

All Secure: A Special Operations Soldier’s Fight to Survive on the Battlefield and the Homefront

One of the most highly regarded Tier One Delta Force operators in American military history shares his war stories and personal battle with PTSD.
As a senior non-commissioned officer of Delta Force, the most elite and secretive special operations unit in the U.S. military, Command Sergeant Major Tom Satterly fought some of this country’s most fearsome enemies. Over the course of twenty years and thousands of missions, he’s fought desperately for his life, rescued hostages, killed and captured terrorist leaders, and seen his friends maimed and killed around him.

All Secure is in part Tom’s journey into a world so dark and dangerous that most Americans can’t contemplate its existence. It recounts what it is like to be on the front lines with one of America’s most highly trained warriors. As action-packed as any fiction thriller, All Secure is an insider’s view of “The Unit.”
Tom is a legend even among other Tier One special operators. Yet the enemy that cost him three marriages, and ruined his health physically and psychologically, existed in his brain. It nearly led him to kill himself in 2014; but for the lifeline thrown to him by an extraordinary woman it might have ended there. Instead, they took on Satterly’s most important mission-saving the lives of his brothers and sisters in arms who are killing themselves at a rate of more than twenty a day.
Told through Satterly’s firsthand experiences, it also weaves in the reasons-the bloodshed, the deaths, the intense moments of sheer terror, the survivor’s guilt, depression, and substance abuse-for his career-long battle against the most insidious enemy of all: Post Traumatic Stress. With the help of his wife, he learned that by admitting his weaknesses and faults he sets an example for other combat veterans struggling to come home.

“The Greatest Failure is the Failure to Try.” Tom Satterly CSM(Ret)

September 2004 Yusufiyah, Iraq

The Blackhawk helicopter hovered in the dark above the house on the outskirts of Baghdad while eighteen Unit operators slid down ropes forty feet to the roof. The small arms fire my troop and helos had been taking since our arrival a few minutes earlier intensified as the last man landed and joined the others.

Directing the assault from a field thirty meters north of the target house, I watched through my night vision goggles as the aircraft began to pull up and away. At that moment, above the fierce barking of assault rifles and machine guns, I heard the all-too-familiar whoosh and saw the red trail of an RPG as it was launched skyward.

The grenade struck the Blackhawk on its rotor blades and exploded. The elite Night Stalker pilots had been through it before and knew they wouldn’t make it to back to base. They aimed for a field five hundred meters from the house to put the injured bird down.

The Blackhawk hit hard but remained upright, intact, and didn’t burst into flames. But the pilot and crew immediately came under heavy fire from the enemy who were running in all directions from the house.

I thought, “here we go again.” Just thinking of the words, I was about to radio over the command station sent a chill through me. “We have a Blackhawk down!”

 

 E. coli outbreak alert:
Do not eat any romaine lettuce from Salinas, California

Based on new information, CDC is advising that consumers not eat and retailers not sell any romaine lettuce harvested from the Salinas, California growing region.

  • Most romaine lettuce products are labeled with a harvest location showing where they were grown.
  • This advice includes all types of romaine lettuce harvested from Salinas, California such as whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, and packages of precut lettuce and salad mixes which contain romaine, including baby romaine, spring mix, and Caesar salad.
  • If you have romaine lettuce at home:
    • Look for a label showing where the romaine lettuce was grown. It may be printed on the package or on a sticker.
    • If the label says “Salinas” (whether alone or with the name of another location), don’t eat it, and throw it away.
    • If it isn’t labeled with a growing region, don’t eat it, and throw it away.
    • If you don’t know if the lettuce is romaine or whether a salad mix contains romaine, don’t eat it, and throw it away.
    • Wash and sanitize drawers or shelves in refrigerators where romaine lettuce was stored. Follow these five steps to clean your refrigerator.
  • If you are buying romaine lettuce at a store:
    • Look for a label showing where the romaine lettuce was grown. It may be printed on the package or on a sticker.
    • If the label says “Salinas” (whether alone or with the name of another location), don’t buy it.
    • If it isn’t labeled with a growing region, don’t buy it.
  • Restaurants and retailers should check the label on bags or boxes of romaine lettuce, or ask their suppliers about the source of their romaine lettuce.
    • Look for a label showing where the romaine lettuce was grown. It may be printed on the package or on a sticker.
    • If the label says “Salinas” (whether alone or with the name of another location), don’t sell or serve it.
    • If it isn’t labeled with a growing region, don’t sell or serve it.