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8 posts tagged disease
120 students and staff have tested positive for tuberculosis in Longmont, Colorado.
Thankfully, they have the latent form of the disease which is very treatable. But the tremendously high rate of isolated infection has shocked public health officials.
Longmont High School currently has about 1,200 students and 120 staffers. So far, 906 people have been tested.
The outbreak started with one student back in December showing signs of the active type of TB. This spread to about 40% of their class, and it further spread from there. The initial student is recovering well.
If you’re wondering, yes, TB could indeed be the global pandemic that eventually wipes out mankind.
As we previously reported, the World Health Organization believes tuberculosis is a much greater threat than you might imagine.
In a scary statistic, this nasty disease has infected 1 out of 3 people on the planet. Most people have the latent strain, like the majority of folks in Longmont,
The dormant strain can activate into an active virus at any time if not properly treated.
A mysterious epidemic is quietly devastating Central America.
More than 24,000 people have been killed since 2000, striking thousands more with chronic kidney ailments at a magnitude not seen anywhere else in the world.
The outbreak is centered in El Salvador and Nicaragua, but scientists have received reports stretching as far north as southern Mexico and as far south as Panama.
Symptoms of the disease come on suddenly and by the time they’re noticed, it’s often too late.
Manual laborers are struck far more often than others, especially construction workers, and the region’s sugar crop workers.
Chronic dehydration is a common thread for those afflicted, but it’s a condition not isolated to this region, adding to scientific bafflement.
- Scary stuff - Mystery disease kills thousands in Central America
Scientists have recreated the bird flu with even more deadly implications.
Normally the virus (H5N1) is transmitted through human contact with infected birds, but the man-made strain is airborne, easily traveling from one human to another.
Created by U.S. and Dutch scientists, there is reasonable fear that the engineered virus could fall into the wrong hands.The virus is currently housed in the Netherlands.
The big argument: Should this research be released through scientific journals for further study?
Apparently the danger is so strong that the combined science and journalism community has called a 60-day moratorium to allow debates on regulating the potentially dangerous research.
To be clear: This virus now exists and could literally kill tens or hundreds of millions of people if released.
So yes, we do like the idea of keeping this particular research safer than most.
The Jensen Farms listeria outbreak is now the second largest in US history.
Cheese was the culprit back in 1985, where 29 people died from listeria and another 142 were sickened.
Unfortunately, experts say the toll in this case will continue to rise as listeria can take as long as two months to appear after the tainted food is consumed.
As of October 10, the growing outbreak includes:
- Death toll: 23
- Miscarriage: 1
- Confirmed cases: 112
- Number of states affected: 25
Listeria primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns, and adults with weakened immune systems.
The FDA is working to determine how the cantaloupes became contaminated with Listeria.
