What animal is linked to covid, and where do they live?

What animal is linked to covid, and where do they live?

Human, Planet Earth.

Bacteria that can cause deadly infections found in U.S. soil and water for the first time.

A potentially deadly type of bacteria previously found only in parts of Southern Asia, Africa or Australia has been detected for the first time in soil and water samples in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

The bacteria, Burkholderia pseudomallei, can cause an illness called melioidosis that has proven fatal in half of cases worldwide.

About a dozen cases are discovered each year in the U.S., usually among people who had traveled overseas.

On Wednesday, however, the CDC announced the bacteria had been found in soil and water samples along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, and issued a health alert to physicians nationwide to be on the lookout for symptoms of melioidosis, which can be vague, including cough, fever and chest pain. In more severe cases, the illness can lead to disorientation, pneumonia-like illness and seizures....

China shows what can be done to save lives from COVID, even with their poor roll-out of vaccinations:


Covid in China: Million in lockdown in Wuhan after four cases
wrote:

Almost one million people in a suburb of Wuhan - China's central city where the coronavirus was first recorded - have been placed under lockdown.

Jiangxia district residents have been ordered to stay inside their homes or compounds for three days after four asymptomatic Covid cases were detected.

China follows a "zero Covid" strategy, including mass testing, strict isolation rules and local lockdowns. This has resulted in far fewer deaths than in many other countries...

... China has seen more than 2.2 million cases and 14,720 deaths since the pandemic began in 2019.

Those numbers look very much more healthy than for too many in other parts of the world!

Stay safe folks!!
Martin

---

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

A trail begins on an alternative to silicon implants that could be good news for breast cancer patients and those who arn't satisfied with what they have.

World-first breast implant trial in Australia aims to provide safer alternative to silicone.

...In simple terms, scientists use a 3D printer to create a scaffold that looks like an intricately woven breast implant.

It's made from the same material used for dissolvable stitches.

Surgeons insert the scaffold into the breast area and inject it with the patient's own fat.

The scaffold then acts as a web that helps bind everything in place.

Over the two years after insertion, the scaffold will completely dissolve.

In its place will be the patient's own newly-formed tissue and collagen, which should prevent the fat from being reabsorbed into the body — a common problem with fat grafting....

Well I hope that Chinese authorities are more open about this than they were with COVID-19.

New Langya virus infects 35 people in China.

Doctors in China have sounded the alarm over a newly detected virus.

“Langya” virus has infected 35 people so far in two provinces in eastern China, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said.

The virus - officially named Langya henipavirus (LayV) - is entirely novel, meaning it has not infected humans before, The Sun reported.

However, it is in the Henipavirus family, of which two species have been identified before - the Hendra virus and Nipah virus.

These produce often severe and fatal illnesses in people - and there are no vaccines or treatments.

Henipavirus is classified as biosafety Level 4 with case fatality rates between 40 and 75 per cent, according to the data from World Health Organization.

None of the 35 patients who are infected with the new Langya virus have died, and none have been serious, according to the Global Times.

In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), scientists in China reported that the patients were tested because they were febrile.

Their symptoms were most commonly fever, fatigue, a cough, loss of appetite, muscle pain, nausea, headache and vomiting....

How have people missed vaccinating their children against this?!!!


Urgent polio boosters for London children
wrote:

All children aged one to nine and living in Greater London will be offered a polio vaccine after the virus was detected in sewage.

The virus, which can cause paralysis, has been found 116 times in London ... since February.

The urgent immunisation campaign will see nearly a million children offered the vaccine - including those already up to date with their jabs...

US doctor issues warning of many undiagnosed polio cases
wrote:

A health official in New York State has told the BBC there could be hundreds or even thousands of undiagnosed cases of polio there.

It follows an announcement last month that an unvaccinated man had been paralysed by the virus in Rockland County, New York.

His case has been linked genetically to traces of polio virus found in ... London and Jerusalem.

Developed countries have been warned to boost vaccination rates...

... "There isn't just one case of polio if you see a paralytic case. The incidence of paralytic polio is less than 1%," she said. "Most cases are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, and those symptoms are often missed. "So there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands of cases that have occurred in order for us to see a paralytic case."...

That is one nasty disease we very much do not want to see coming back...

Stay healthy folks!
Martin

---

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

Here we go again?...


"Bush meat" -> Market -> Humans...

Langya: New virus infects 35 people in eastern China
wrote:

Scientists are tracking a new, animal-derived virus in eastern China that has infected at least several dozen people.

The novel Langya henipavirus (LayV) was found in 35 patients in the Shandong and Henan provinces. Many had symptoms such as fever, fatigue and a cough.

They are thought to have contracted the virus from animals. There is no evidence so far LayV can transmit among humans.

Researchers detected the virus predominantly in shrews...

... LayV is a type of henipavirus, a category of zoonotic viruses which can jump from animals to humans. Zoonotic viruses are very common but have attracted more attention since the start of the Covid pandemic...

Stay healthy folks!!
Martin

---

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

"Bush meat"

Animals bred under very dubious conditions, sold in even more dubious conditions, slaughtered - well yes, butchered in the gutter.....

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

We continue to suffer ongoing consequences of the ongoing covid pandemic:


Ambulance calls for most serious conditions hit record
wrote:

Last month saw the highest number of ambulance callouts for life-threatening conditions since records began...

... Nearly 30,000 patients waited more than 12 hours to be admitted to hospital. The number is up 33% on the previous month and the highest since records began in 2010...

... 6.7 million people are still waiting for hospital treatment...

... the total backlog will continue to increase for some time...

Thousands more NHS beds to be created in England {for} this winter
wrote:

England's health chiefs say they will create an extra 7,000 beds to tackle "substantial" pressures this winter.

It comes after government scientific advisers warned that "high numbers of beds may be needed for respiratory patients"...

... this could be the first winter where there is likely to be combined pressures from Covid and flu...

"... when the time comes, book in for your Covid and flu vaccines if you are eligible."

Sir Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, welcomed the additional measures but said extra staff were key.

He said: "Without any significant government intervention to retain and rapidly increase the workforce any plan will fall short. They all need people to deliver them, and it's people we're really lacking."

"facing intense pressure" is far too bland a deadly euphemism...

Stay healthy folks!!
Martin

[Edit}Spelling[/Edit]

---

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

The anti-vax crew is absolutely responsible for the return of old diseases that were once eradicated in the modern world.

Polio found in New York City wastewater, indicating a silent spread.

We have a concentrated mob of them down the hill from here in the Northern Rivers region of this state and they're popping these old diseases out on a regular basis these days because of their moronic stupidity. :-(

Another health warning is out for those who attended a music festival down in anti-vax central last month (well that is where most of them live).

A child becomes the third case of meningococcal disease linked to Byron's Splendour in the Grass Mud.

..A child from Northern NSW is the latest positive case of the potentially deadly illness to be contracted after attending the music festival near Byron Bay in northern New South Wales in July.

The new case follows the death of a Sydney man in his 40s last week from the contagious bacterial disease and the infection of another person who attended the festival.

New South Wales Health is urging people who were at the event between July 21 to 24 and their close contacts to watch for symptoms and act immediately if they appear.

Symptoms include fever, joint pain, and a rash of red-purple spots.

Children under five years and and those aged 15 to 25 are at the greatest risk of contracting the disease.

While considered rate, there have been 17 cases of meningococcal disease reported in New South Wales, so far this year...

The good and the bad and the ugly?...

We have for the latest:

UK ONS 5th August 2022
wrote:

The estimated number of people testing positive for COVID-19:

• In England, ... 2,106,000 [people] ..., equating to 3.86% of the population, or around 1 in 25 people.
  
  
• In Wales, ... 108,800 [people] ..., equating to 3.58% of the population, or around 1 in 30 people.
  
  
• In Northern Ireland, ... 109,800 [people] ..., equating to 5.98% of the population, or around 1 in 17 people.
  
  
• In Scotland, ... 260,800 [people] ..., equating to 4.95% of the population, or around 1 in 20 people.
  

And we also have:

Sky News - Covid-19: UK first country to get new jab targeting Omicron
wrote:

15 Aug 2022 Pharma giant Moderna has announced the UK will be the first country to receive the next-generation Bivalent ["double action"] COVID-19 vaccine.

BBC News - Covid: UK first country to approve dual-strain vaccine
wrote:

... Originally those aged 50-65 were not going to be jabbed. However, the immunisation campaign has been expanded because of the fast spread of variants, uncertainty about how the virus will mutate and the expectation that we will be more social and give virus a helping hand this winter - including at Christmas.

However, most people under 50 will not be boosted this winter. The focus is preventing those most at risk from becoming seriously ill rather than stopping the young passing the virus on to older relatives...

So... Have we 'given up' on vaccinating the youth and sacrificing the old for the sake of stirring the economy?

And our health service and good health be damned??...

Why is this not more prominent in the news?...


All a very deadly game of politics and good health...

Stay healthy folks!
Martin

---

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

Meanwhile, by the power of Science, we have ever more ways out of the worldwide pandemic... If?...


DW News - A look at the latest research in COVID treatments | COVID-19 Special
wrote:

14 Aug 2022 - In some parts of the world COVID restrictions are being lifted, but in others new infections are rising again. That makes research into effective treatments all the more important, including protein-based drugs and alternative vaccines.

Stay healthy folks!
Martin

---

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

Mmmm for that one...

Will "up the nose" work better for more people?

And help stop infections in the first place??


Stay healthy folks!
Martin

---

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

So... Have we 'given up' on vaccinating the youth and sacrificing the old for the sake of stirring the economy?

The over 65's have already got their 4th jab, or could have if they took up the offer, months ago, I had mine in June, so with 6 months between jabs not due until next year.

The 50 - 65 year olds are just the next batch, which were not at much risk, if they have had three jabs.
It is only because this new jab is better with the new variants that it is being offered.

Can an old vaccine be of help with COVID?

Trial finds 100-year-old tuberculosis vaccine offers protection against COVID to high-risk patients and may help with other infectious diseases.

Data from a trial seeking to determine whether multiple injections of a tuberculosis vaccine developed in the 1900s could protect high-risk diabetes patients from COVID produced some positive results, according to a study in Cell Medicine Reports.

The trial tracked COVID infections among a group of 144 participants, all of whom had Type 1 diabetes, with two-thirds receiving at least three doses of BCG, or Bacillus-Calmette-Guerin, shots, which protect people by bolstering the immune system, according to the study, as the New York Times reported.

The results found just 1% of the 96 people who got the BCG shots developed COVID, while 12% of the placebo recipients contracted the illness.

“The BCG group also displays fewer infectious-disease symptoms and lesser severity, and fewer infectious-disease events per patient, including COVID-19,” the authors wrote. “There were no BCG-related systemic adverse events. BCG’s broad-based infection protection suggests that it may provide platform protection against new SARS-CoV-2 variants and other pathogens.”

The BCG shots are still given to infants in parts of the world that continue to record TB cases....

But I think that larger trials are needed 1st to be sure.

Are we moving into a game of complacency, despite still silly high numbers of infection?...


Covid infections keep falling in August across UK
wrote:

... 1.4 million people would have tested positive for Covid that week - 2.2% of the [UK] population [(one in 45 in England)] - a drop from 1.7 million the previous week...

... It follows a rise in infections, caused by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants of coronavirus, in early July...

... From the end of August, most hospital patients and care home residents will only be offered tests if they have symptoms. NHS and social care staff in England will also not be offered lateral flow tests unless they fall sick...

... The advice in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland differs - it is currently recommended that NHS staff take regular lateral flow tests even if they do not have symptoms...

YET.

We know that Omicron SARS2 is highly infectious and the infection has already been widely spread before any symptoms show...

Which is the main reason we have a worldwide pandemic.

... For my cynical mind of repeated management ineptitude: Is this a dumb spreadsheet trick to try to keep more health staff at work despite shortages and the staff themselves getting ill?...


Stay safe folks?...
Martin

---

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

Triple Threat...

The first case of a person being simultaneously infected with coronavirus, HIV, and monkeypox has been reported after a man returned from a five-day holiday in Spain and sought initial treatment for a sore throat.

The patient, an Italian male, developed a series of symptoms — including fatigue, fever, and a sore throat — nine days after returning from his vacation where he engaged in unprotected sex, the UK Independent reports.

How is this now so far out of the news?...


US life expectancy falls to lowest level since 1996
wrote:

US life expectancy has fallen to the lowest level seen since 1996, continuing a steep decline largely driven by the Covid-19 pandemic...

Reading elsewhere recently, we have:

The WHO reporting that covid has now killed over 1 Million people worldwide, and the pandemic continues;

Here in the UK, part of the extra 16% deaths that we are suffering is due to an increase in cardiac patients and the NHS being overstretched;

And whether or not to wear face masks has been made a political statement rather than good healthy sense...

An interesting aside to the cardiac connection is that covid is known to attack your heart.


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

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