The fight against malaria may someday include ridding mosquitoes themselves of the parasites that cause the disease.

In the lab, treating female mosquitoes with an antimalarial drug stopped parasites from developing inside the insects. Mosquitoes were exposed to the treatment when they landed on a drug-coated glass surface for as little as six minutes, comparable to how long mosquitoes stop on protective bed nets as they hunt for a meal, researchers report online February 27 in Nature.


Treating mosquitoes may be a new way to fight malaria

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Two attacks on Ebola treatment centers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have forced the international aid group Doctors Without Borders to close the facilities, it said on Thursday, warning that the outbreak was not under control.

In the first attack, on Sunday night, unidentified assailants threw stones at a treatment center in Katwa, in northeastern Congo, and set fire to the structure. They destroyed much of the building, equipment and patient wards, and the brother of a patient died, though the circumstances were unclear.


‘Crippling’ Attacks Force Doctors Without Borders to Close Ebola Centers in Congo

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A New, More Powerful Strain Of Flu Has Just Hit Colorado

Ah, maybe we all ought to think again on that one.

The CDC says the milder strain of influenza that had been nailing people from just after Thanksgiving through early February is now being replaced by a stronger, nastier strain. It’s one that makes people a lot sicker than the previous circulating bug.

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Measles has been in the news recently, so I thought this article might act as a warning. https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-madagascar-measles/without-vaccine-hundreds-of-children-die-in-madagascar-measles-outbreak-idUKKCN1QP0MK

Why these parents haven't been charged with child neglect and/or for the cost of the medical care is beyond me... (perhaps they have been for the latter, I hope.)

Unvaccinated 6-year-old boy was Oregon's first tetanus case in almost 30 years

A report showed that a 6-year-old unvaccinated boy from Oregon was with tetanus, the state's first case of its kind in nearly 30 years.

The young boy contracted the disease after he cut his forehead while playing outside on a farm, according to a report released by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday that details the 2017 case.
....
In total, the boy required nearly “8 weeks of inpatient care, followed by rehabilitation care, before he was able to resume normal activities,” the CDC said in the report.

Excluding the costs of air transportation, inpatient rehabilitation and ambulatory follow-ups, inpatient charges for the boy totaled $811,929.

But despite “extensive review of the risks and benefits of tetanus vaccination by physicians,” the boy’s parents declined a second dose of the tetanus-fighting medication and “any other recommended immunizations.”

Emphasis mine.

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More than 900 people have been sickened by the Ebola virus since it began spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in early August. The outbreak, now the second-largest ever recorded, shows no sign of slowing—fuelled, aid workers and government officials say, by a toxic cocktail of violence and mistrust.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/violence-propels-ebola-outbreak-toward-1-000-cases/

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YIKES :-(

(CNN)More than 2,000 people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody are being quarantined amid an outbreak of mumps and other diseases.
The numbers of immigrants in custody with a contagious diseases has spiked in the past year. For the previous two years, the agency has not encountered a single case of mumps among its detainees.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/11/politics/ice-custody-disease-quarantine-health/index.html?cid=web-alerts&nsid=54634021

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Measles cases have cropped up across 12 states over the last ten weeks — nearly two decades since the highly contagious disease was said to be eradicated in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some 228 measles cases were reported to the CDC in the U.S. between Jan. 1 and March 7, more than half of the 372 cases that were reported during all of 2018. Outbreaks, defined as three or more cases, have been reported in six areas: Washington, New York City, New York's Rockland County, Texas, Illinois and California.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/12/measles-cases-reported-in-12-states-outbreak-spreads-in-brooklyn.html

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Feel bad for these guys. :(


US warship quarantined at sea due to virus outbreak

A US warship has essentially been quarantined at sea for over two months and has been unable to make a port call due to an outbreak of a viral infection similar to mumps.
Twenty-five sailors and Marines aboard the USS Fort McHenry amphibious warship have been diagnosed with parotitis, which causes symptoms similar to mumps, according to US military officials.

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A federal judge has turned down a request to let more than 40 unvaccinated children return to classes in a suburban New York school, while there's a measles outbreak in the area.
Since December 7, the students from Green Meadow Waldorf School in suburban Rockland County just north of New York City, have had to stay home from school, in response to an exclusion order issued by the Rockland County Department of Public Health.
Green Meadow is a K-12 school with about 300 students enrolled.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/health/new-york-judge-bars-unvaccinated-children-trnd/index.html

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Drug-resistant superbugs may have found a new foe in the Irish soil



As antibiotic-resistant bacteria become more common and more deadly, the solution to this relatively new problem may come from a bit of old Irish folklore and tradition.

For microbiologist Gerry Quinn, the search for new medications led back to his childhood home in Ireland. On a hunch, he followed up on some folklore his family had passed on to him: Old timers insisted that the dirt in the vicinity of a nearly 1,500-year-old church in County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, an area once occupied by the Druids, had almost miraculous curative powers.

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Eating 300 mg of cholesterol or eggs increase risk of heart disease among American adults, reports a new study

Are eggs good or bad ? The debate continues as a new study published in JAMA Network reports that eating 300 mg of cholesterol or eggs increase risk of heart disease among American adults.

Cholesterol is a common nutrient in the human diet and eggs are a major source of dietary cholesterol.

https://medibulletin.com/are-eggs-good-or-bad-new-study-links-eggs-to-heart-disease/

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Eating 300 mg of cholesterol or eggs increase risk of heart disease among American adults, reports a new study

Are eggs good or bad ? The debate continues as a new study published in JAMA Network reports that eating 300 mg of cholesterol or eggs increase risk of heart disease among American adults.

Cholesterol is a common nutrient in the human diet and eggs are a major source of dietary cholesterol.

https://medibulletin.com/are-eggs-good-or-bad-new-study-links-eggs-to-heart-disease/

And as is usually the case, there is much more to the story for a balanced understanding...

See for example:


The Nutrition Source - Eggs

Long-vilified for their high cholesterol content by well-meaning doctors and scientists researching heart disease, eggs now seem to be making a bit of a comeback. So what changed?

While it’s true that just one large egg yolk has 200 mg of cholesterol—making it one of the richest sources of dietary cholesterol—eggs also contain additional nutrients that may help lower the risk for heart disease. In addition, the moderate amount of fat in an egg, about 5 grams, is mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. It’s also crucial to distinguish between dietary cholesterol and cholesterol in the blood, which are only weakly related...

... it’s important to look at eggs not only on their own, but in context of the entire diet, especially when compared to foods they may replace (and vice-versa)...


A New Spin on Eggs

... research in more recent years has largely exonerated eggs and even suggested that they may provide some heart (and other) benefits...


Eggs and your health

... In most studies so far, "an egg a day does not have a negative impact on health," says Eric Rimm, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Instead of worrying about eggs, focus on eating an overall healthy diet and getting regular exercise. An average of one egg a day can be part of that lifestyle...


Sooo...

My interpretation of all that is to enjoy your eggs.

BUT ALSO from my experience: Keep off the processed 'fast foods'. Enjoy some good exercise and enjoy some good non-stressed time for yourself.


Life is too short not to enjoy your life :-)

Keep searchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Life is too short not to enjoy your life :-)Martin

One study on Chinese says up to 1 egg okay.
One study on Americans says 2 eggs too many.
Both of these studies are of large populations, so they are not likely to be wrong.
Is it DNA? Is it something else in the diet?

NEW YORK (CNN) — Many people start their day with a cup of tea. But those who drink it piping hot could be increasing their risk of esophageal cancer, according to a new study.

Researchers found that tea drinkers who liked their beverage to be warmer than 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) and consumed more than 700 ml of tea per day -- about two large cups-- had a 90% higher risk of esophageal cancer, when compared to those who drank less tea and at cooler temperatures.

https://www.ksl.com/article/46514513/drinking-very-hot-tea-almost-doubles-risk-of-cancer-new-study-says

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I got a page that says "forbidden" with the link https://www.ksl.com/article/46514513/drinking-very-hot-tea-almost-doubles-risk-of-cancer-new-study-says
Anyway. It's not a new study. In 2012 this study was published.
Epidemiologic differences in esophageal cancer between Asian and Western populations.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22507220?dopt=Abstract

Squamous cell cancer continues to be the major type of esophageal cancer in Asia, and the main risk factors include tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, hot beverage drinking, and poor nutrition. In contrast, esophageal adenocarcinoma predominately affects the whites, and the risk factors include smoking, obesity, and gastroesophageal reflux disease. In addition, Asians and Caucasians may have different susceptibilities to esophageal cancer due to different heritage backgrounds.

WARNING!!! DON'T TRY THIS!!!

Both my mother and father smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. Include my mother's maternal grandmother also smoking. All lived into their early 90's in relatively good health until their last year.

DNA?

So...

Note for your one (extreme example), we have the more general case of:

Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking

... Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. This is nearly one in five deaths...

... More than 10 times as many U.S. citizens have died prematurely from cigarette smoking than have died in all the wars fought by the United States...


And the rest of the stats get even worse... That adds up to a sad lot of very miserable debilitation leading into an early lingering dreadful death. It also smelly stinks.

I watched my great-grandfather die of emphysema. He was unable to leave his room yet kept smoking. Finally, he could no longer breathe.

(I then as a child continually destroyed all my grandfather's cigars and cigs until the family persuaded that he gave up.)


So yes, there are multiple environmental factors and lifestyle and DNA effects involved. But why give yourself such a hard time?

Why kill yourself for the selfish criminal profits of the Tobacco Industry...?

Enjoy life!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Why kill yourself for the selfish criminal profits of the Tobacco Industry...?

The nicotine buzz, it's very addictive.

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Why kill yourself for the selfish criminal profits of the Tobacco Industry...?

The nicotine buzz, it's very addictive.

Especially when the nicotine is 'specially formulated' to maximize the 'hit' to make you really buzz...

All to ensnare you into addiction all the more profitably...

For the profit of others who care nothing for your sad painful impoverished demise...


Instead: Enjoy life!
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)