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More Dengue Fever Reported in Eastern Cuba

Sun, 2012-08-26 22:31 — Kathy Gilbeaux

miamiherald.com - by Juan O. Tamayo - August 20, 2012

A vocational school has been turned into a makeshift hospital to handle the overflow of Dengue patients.

An outbreak of dengue fever in eastern Cuba has reportedly forced authorities to turn a vocational school into a hospital, while a city racked by a cholera epidemic now also faces an increase in the mosquito that carries dengue.

Medical personnel in the eastern city of Camaguey said the Maximo Gómez vocational school for sciences is being used as a hospital, and a local university building will be turned into a treatment center if the outbreak spreads.

“We have a huge outbreak of dengue here, and if things continue to be bad — we already are at the level of epidemic — I think they may quarantine us,” one local medical worker told relatives in Miami. “Don’t worry too much, but this is bad.”

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Poland Bans GE Corn, Monsanto Buys Bee Research Firm

Thu, 2012-08-16 16:56 — Kathy Gilbeaux

       

ecorazzi.com - by Linda St.Cyr - May 15, 2012

Active protests in Poland have led to a ban on Monsanto’s Mon810 corn. Monsanto’s corn has been genetically engineered to produce a mutant version of the insecticide Bt. Beekeepers saw the link between the corn and the deaths of honeybees.

So what did Monsanto do? It bought a leading bee collapse research organization, Beeologics, to study the collapse disorder that is thought to be a result—at least in part– of Monsanto’s own creation.

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ProMED - African Swine Fever - Ukraine (03): Europe, Threat

Sun, 2012-08-12 23:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

thepigsite.com - August 8, 2012

ANALYSIS - The spread of African Swine Fever from the Caucasus to the east coast of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine presents an alarming and concerning situation, writes Chris Harris.

The latest outbreak, discovered at the end of July and confirmed through PCR tests on samples taken from back yard pigs in the Zaporozhye region, is worrying because it represents not so much a gradual spread of the disease, but a dramatic jump.

The outbreak has occurred 170 kilometres from the Russian border.

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African Swine Fever in Ukraine

[DEFRA's International Disease Monitoring Preliminary Outbreak
Assessment "ASF in Ukraine" (Reference: VITT/1200 ASF) of 2 Aug 3012 ,
including a map and references, is available at
<http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-diseases/files/poa-asf-ukraine-20120802.pdf>. - (3 page .PDF file)

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Situation Report

Almost a billion go hungry worldwide

Wed, 2012-08-08 13:57 — Corey Watts

photo courtesy of Harry Borden/Oxfam

www.independent.co.uk - August 5, 2012 - by Sarah Morrison

An unparalleled number of severe food shortages has added 43 million to the number of people going hungry worldwide this year. And millions of children are now at risk of acute malnutrition, charities are warning. One week ahead of David Cameron's "hunger summit", they say that unless action is taken urgently, many more could fall victim.

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US farmers urge Obama administration to suspend ethanol quota amid drought

Tue, 2012-08-07 10:55 — Maeryn Obley

Keith Beall harvests drought-stressed corn beyond the reach of the field's irrigation system, in Eatonton, Georgia. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA

Image: Keith Beall harvests drought-stressed corn beyond the reach of the field's irrigation system, in Eatonton, Georgia. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA

guardian.co.uk - July 30th, 2012 - Suzanne Goldenburg

The Obama administration was urged on Monday to stop diverting grain to gas amid warnings of an "imminent food crisis" caused by America's drought.

US government forecasts of a 4% rise in food prices for US consumers because of the drought have sharpened criticism of supports for producing fuel from corn-based ethanol.

Meanwhile, research published last week by the New England Complex Systems Institute warned of an "imminent food crisis" because of the diversion of corn stocks to ethanol.

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Climate change the cause of summer's extreme weather, Congress told

Mon, 2012-08-06 23:04 — Maeryn Obley

guardian.co.uk - Suzanne Goldenburg - August 1st, 2012

Drought, wildfires, hurricanes and heatwaves are becoming normal in America because of climate change, Congress was told on Wednesday in the first hearing on climate science in more than two years.

In a predictably contentious hearing, the Senate's environment and public works committee heard from a lead scientist for the UN's climate body, the IPCC, on the growing evidence linking extreme weather and climate change.

"It is critical to understand that the link between climate change and the kinds of extremes that lead to disaster is clear," Christopher Field, a lead author of the IPCC report and director of global ecology at the Carnegie Institute for Science, said in testimony.

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Avian Flu Makes Jump to Seals, May Pose Threat to Humans

Wed, 2012-08-01 22:42 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Susan Steinhauser

AMA - BulletinHEALTHCARE.com

mBio - Emergence of Fatal Avian Influenza in New England Harbor Seals

Many outlets reported on new research, published online July 31 in the journal mBio, which documents a mutated form of avian flu in seals. The sources all discussed the significance of the development, focusing on the risk the transmission of bird flu to mammals poses to humans.

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mBio - Emergence of Fatal Avian Influenza in New England Harbor Seals

Abstract

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Situation Report

India Power Outage Spotlights Energy Planning Failure

Tue, 2012-07-31 18:15 — Maeryn Obley

New Delhi train passengers sit stranded in a darkened train idled by the massive power outage that swept across India on Tuesday.

Image: New Delhi train passengers sit stranded in a darkened train idled by the massive power outage that swept across India on Tuesday.

Marianne Lavelle, Jeff Smith and Rebecca Byerly - July 31st, 2012 - news.nationalgeographic.com

In one of the world's worst power blackouts ever, more than 600 million people across India lost electricity Tuesday, the second massive grid failure in as many days, raising questions whether the government's failure to modernize and bolster its energy delivery system had finally left the nation at the breaking point.

Rail service was halted, streets were clogged at intersections with darkened traffic lights, and people sweltered without air conditioning in temperatures above 90°F (32°C), as authorities worked to restore power and pinpoint the cause of the problem. The outage that began Monday lasted 15 hours, and only shortly after service was restored, at 1 p.m. Tuesday, a far larger system collapse swept across the nation's northern and eastern grids.

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Most Power Restored After India Hit by Second, Even Larger Outage

Tue, 2012-07-31 17:48 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

Heavy traffic backs up at a toll gate along a highway on the outskirts of New Delhi as power outages leave half of India without power Tuesday, July 31.

cnn.com - by Harmeet Shah Singh - July 31, 2012

New Delhi (CNN) -- India suffered its second huge, crippling power failure in two days Tuesday, depriving as much as half of the vast country, up to 600 million people, of electricity and disrupting transport networks for several hours.

The first power grid collapse, on Monday, was the country's worst blackout in a decade. It affected seven states in northern India that are home to more than 350 million people.

But Tuesday's failure was even larger, hitting eastern and northeastern areas as well. Both blackouts cut power in the Indian capital, New Delhi, and left people sweltering in high heat and humidity.

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The Ecology of Disease

Tue, 2012-07-31 17:15 — Maeryn Obley

The Ecology of Disease cover, by Olaf HajekImage: The Ecology of Disease cover, by Olaf Hajek

Jim Robbins - July 14th, 2012 - nytimes.com

There's a term biologists and economists use these days — ecosystem services — which refers to the many ways nature supports the human endeavor. Forests filter the water we drink, for example, and birds and bees pollinate crops, both of which have substantial economic as well as biological value.

If we fail to understand and take care of the natural world, it can cause a breakdown of these systems and come back to haunt us in ways we know little about.

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