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Thursday, July 09, 2009
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The Plague
LIBYA’S NEIGHBORS BRACE FOR THE BLACK PLAGUE
Countries in North Africa are boosting precautionary measures in heightened efforts to prevent bubonic plague from spreading to their territories.
According to the London-based Al-Quds Al-‘Arabi, Algeria has documented 50 cases of the plague, some within 15 kilometers (9 miles) of the border with Libya, where two people have died of the disease. As a result, Algiers has tightened medical surveillance on its borders with Libya.
Officials there fear that Bedouin are crossing the borders from the Illizi province into Libya and passing the disease back into Algeria, according to local Algeria and Moroccan press.
Rodents in the area have been seen bearing the disease, Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO), told The Media Line. “But it hasn’t infected people for 25 years,” she said. “They’re still investigating the cause. It‘s likely exposure to fleas. It’s not pneumonic plague, which can be transmitted from one person to the other. It stops at the person who gets infected.”
Health authorities in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco are also taking extra measures to contain the disease, Al-Quds Al-‘Arabi reported. Earlier this month, Egypt closed its border with Libya following confirmed reports that around 13 people were infected with the bubonic plague in the Libyan coastal city Tubruq, 93 miles from the Egyptian border.
The Libyan media reported between one and three fatalities from the disease, and Bhatiasevi said the Libyan authorities were being extremely supportive, cooperative and open with the investigation. She added that they have also launched awareness campaigns in the area.
Algeria and Libya share a border 982 kilometer (610 mile) long, and a large, unsupervised passage of people and goods flow through the border daily.
Additionally, the bubonic plague scare coincides with reports of the outbreak of dozens of cases of swine flu in these countries.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health placed Sallum, the port city bordering Libya, under quarantine, and health checks were conducted on everyone returning from Libya. Egypt also sent two high-level delegations to the area, to set up a field laboratory and an isolation facility outside Sallum.
Hospitals in the region were put on high alert and additional ambulances were sent to the area as an additional preventive measure.
Some believe the outbreak could be connected to the consumption of camel meat or caused by camel fly bites. Outbreaks connected to the consumption of contaminated camel meat were reported in the past in Libya, Jordan and more recently in Saudi Arabia in 2005.
The WHO describes the plague as a disease of wild rodents. The plague is spread from one rodent to another by fleas and then to humans via the bite of infected fleas or during the handling of infected hosts.
If diagnosed early, bubonic plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics.
The bubonic plague, a disease that attacks the lymphatic system, is also known as the ‘Black Death’, as black bumps sometimes appear on the victim’s skin.
If the bacteria reach the lungs, the patient develops pneumonia, which is transmissible from person to person through infected droplets spread by coughing.
Pneumonic plague, one strand of plague, is one of the most deadly infectious diseases and patients can die 24 hours after infection. As noted, this is not the strain that is currently being documented in Libya.
In the fourteenth century, 75 million people - a third of the European population at the time - perished from bubonic plague, and to date, it has claimed close to 200 million lives.
By Rachelle Kliger on Monday, June 29, 2009
Countries in North Africa are boosting precautionary measures in heightened efforts to prevent bubonic plague from spreading to their territories.
According to the London-based Al-Quds Al-‘Arabi, Algeria has documented 50 cases of the plague, some within 15 kilometers (9 miles) of the border with Libya, where two people have died of the disease. As a result, Algiers has tightened medical surveillance on its borders with Libya.
Officials there fear that Bedouin are crossing the borders from the Illizi province into Libya and passing the disease back into Algeria, according to local Algeria and Moroccan press.
Rodents in the area have been seen bearing the disease, Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization (WHO), told The Media Line. “But it hasn’t infected people for 25 years,” she said. “They’re still investigating the cause. It‘s likely exposure to fleas. It’s not pneumonic plague, which can be transmitted from one person to the other. It stops at the person who gets infected.”
Health authorities in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco are also taking extra measures to contain the disease, Al-Quds Al-‘Arabi reported. Earlier this month, Egypt closed its border with Libya following confirmed reports that around 13 people were infected with the bubonic plague in the Libyan coastal city Tubruq, 93 miles from the Egyptian border.
The Libyan media reported between one and three fatalities from the disease, and Bhatiasevi said the Libyan authorities were being extremely supportive, cooperative and open with the investigation. She added that they have also launched awareness campaigns in the area.
Algeria and Libya share a border 982 kilometer (610 mile) long, and a large, unsupervised passage of people and goods flow through the border daily.
Additionally, the bubonic plague scare coincides with reports of the outbreak of dozens of cases of swine flu in these countries.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health placed Sallum, the port city bordering Libya, under quarantine, and health checks were conducted on everyone returning from Libya. Egypt also sent two high-level delegations to the area, to set up a field laboratory and an isolation facility outside Sallum.
Hospitals in the region were put on high alert and additional ambulances were sent to the area as an additional preventive measure.
Some believe the outbreak could be connected to the consumption of camel meat or caused by camel fly bites. Outbreaks connected to the consumption of contaminated camel meat were reported in the past in Libya, Jordan and more recently in Saudi Arabia in 2005.
The WHO describes the plague as a disease of wild rodents. The plague is spread from one rodent to another by fleas and then to humans via the bite of infected fleas or during the handling of infected hosts.
If diagnosed early, bubonic plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics.
The bubonic plague, a disease that attacks the lymphatic system, is also known as the ‘Black Death’, as black bumps sometimes appear on the victim’s skin.
If the bacteria reach the lungs, the patient develops pneumonia, which is transmissible from person to person through infected droplets spread by coughing.
Pneumonic plague, one strand of plague, is one of the most deadly infectious diseases and patients can die 24 hours after infection. As noted, this is not the strain that is currently being documented in Libya.
In the fourteenth century, 75 million people - a third of the European population at the time - perished from bubonic plague, and to date, it has claimed close to 200 million lives.
By Rachelle Kliger on Monday, June 29, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Happy Father's Day
Yesterday was Father's Day. We had a great first Father's Day together. It was different than other Father's Day because it was my first Father's Day as a family with a child. It's different. To all you father's out there, I hope you had a great day!
Dad, I love you!
Dad, I love you!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
JP's Paintball Solution
Breaking News - Good Samaritan tags inconsiderate drivers with Paintball
The subject of inconsiderate drivers always comes up in conversation around here. Living in a big city with a LOT of people on the roads increases the probability that you will run into drivers that have no consideration for the lives of others.
JP, a friend of ours, has an especially low tolerance for "Stupid, inconsiderate" drivers (SID). He was telling us about an incident that happened a couple of days ago where a driver illegally tried to pass him on a two-way road. One lane for each way. We all know there are legal and unspoken rules and for passing people on these types of roads, and this particular road had a double yellow line meaning, NO PASSING.
On this day, the stupid inconsiderate driver (SID) starts to pass a line of cars by crossing the double yellow line. When the SID did this, JP could see that there was on coming traffic in the lane the SID was speeding in. Being a SID the driver did not slow down or try to get back into the correct lane. Instead SID increased his speed straight towards the on comming traffic in an effort to pass all of the cars that were ahead of him in the "correct" lane. You can all imagine the secnerio and have probably seen and/or done the same thing once or twice.
As the SID increased his speed and came to the begining of the line of cars he wanted to pass, the on coming traffic was almost on top of him. As the SID swirved back into the correct lane, barley missing the on coming car, he cut another unsuspecting person off causing them to slam on their breaks. This, in turn, caused a ripple effect, scaring and endangering the lives of others. As is typical of a SID.
Of course that story started us all talking about our similar experiences and what we should do in those cases. JP came up with this plan:
Needed:
1 Paintball gun
300 brightly colored paint balls pellets
Directions:
1.Carry a paint ball in your car.
2.Keep an eye out for SIDs
3.When you spot an SID breaking the laws of the road, tag their car with the brightly colored paint balls. Note: In a big city this will be at LEAST 3 cars a day (maybe more in Houston).
4.Repeat steps 1-3 until you see your story on the evening news. Average time for this to happen: a week.
Example: "Paintballer bandit tags stupid inconsiderate drivers (SID) around town"
5.Write a letter to the news stations letting them know that people who are getting tagged are breaking the law and are inconsiderate to the rest of us.
Expected result:
Other people who are tired of dealing with SIDs will also tag law-breakers until it becomes know that tagged cars are cars of SIDs. (Personal Opnion, include Drunk Drivers) This will make having a tagged car mean you don't follow the law and therefore; cause the SID social embarrassment.
Whin no time SIDs will be completely eliminated. All in all a peaceful way to promote intolerance for potential killers.
Disclaimer: This is a joke and is not serious in any way. We know this is against the law and have no intention of doing it, nor do we suggest any one else do it.
The subject of inconsiderate drivers always comes up in conversation around here. Living in a big city with a LOT of people on the roads increases the probability that you will run into drivers that have no consideration for the lives of others.
JP, a friend of ours, has an especially low tolerance for "Stupid, inconsiderate" drivers (SID). He was telling us about an incident that happened a couple of days ago where a driver illegally tried to pass him on a two-way road. One lane for each way. We all know there are legal and unspoken rules and for passing people on these types of roads, and this particular road had a double yellow line meaning, NO PASSING.
On this day, the stupid inconsiderate driver (SID) starts to pass a line of cars by crossing the double yellow line. When the SID did this, JP could see that there was on coming traffic in the lane the SID was speeding in. Being a SID the driver did not slow down or try to get back into the correct lane. Instead SID increased his speed straight towards the on comming traffic in an effort to pass all of the cars that were ahead of him in the "correct" lane. You can all imagine the secnerio and have probably seen and/or done the same thing once or twice.
As the SID increased his speed and came to the begining of the line of cars he wanted to pass, the on coming traffic was almost on top of him. As the SID swirved back into the correct lane, barley missing the on coming car, he cut another unsuspecting person off causing them to slam on their breaks. This, in turn, caused a ripple effect, scaring and endangering the lives of others. As is typical of a SID.
Of course that story started us all talking about our similar experiences and what we should do in those cases. JP came up with this plan:
Needed:
1 Paintball gun
300 brightly colored paint balls pellets
Directions:
1.Carry a paint ball in your car.
2.Keep an eye out for SIDs
3.When you spot an SID breaking the laws of the road, tag their car with the brightly colored paint balls. Note: In a big city this will be at LEAST 3 cars a day (maybe more in Houston).
4.Repeat steps 1-3 until you see your story on the evening news. Average time for this to happen: a week.
Example: "Paintballer bandit tags stupid inconsiderate drivers (SID) around town"
5.Write a letter to the news stations letting them know that people who are getting tagged are breaking the law and are inconsiderate to the rest of us.
Expected result:
Other people who are tired of dealing with SIDs will also tag law-breakers until it becomes know that tagged cars are cars of SIDs. (Personal Opnion, include Drunk Drivers) This will make having a tagged car mean you don't follow the law and therefore; cause the SID social embarrassment.
Whin no time SIDs will be completely eliminated. All in all a peaceful way to promote intolerance for potential killers.
Disclaimer: This is a joke and is not serious in any way. We know this is against the law and have no intention of doing it, nor do we suggest any one else do it.
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