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  • WHO set up Zika emergency team

    The World Health Organization has set up a Zika "emergency team" after the "explosive" spread of the virus.

    Zika virus has been linked to thousands of babies being born with small brains in Brazil.

    WHO director general Margaret Chan said Zika had gone "from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions" and was "heart-breaking".

    The team will meet on Monday and decide whether Zika should be treated as a global emergency like Ebola.

    Brazil reported the first cases of Zika in South America in May 2015. WHO said estimates suggested 1.5 million people had been infected in the country.
    The virus has since spread to more than 20 countries in the region.

    Dr Chan said: "The level of concern is high, as is the level of uncertainty, questions abound, we need to get some answers quickly.

    "For all these reasons, I have decided to convene an Emergency Committee.

    "I am asking the Committee for advice on the appropriate level of international concern and for recommended measures that should be undertaken in affected countries and elsewhere."
    http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35427493

    Also, brief summary of zika and the latest rapid outbreak
    http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35370848


    It seems Africa and Asia have long lived with the virus and immunity is stronger there, early negative effects in those continents would easily have gone unnoticed, recently the virus spread island hopped across the pacific and now has found itself a large, susceptible population in the Americas in a modern world where adverse effects are better tracked.

    However there is concern of possible confirmation bias
    The release of new figures apparently finding fewer cases of microcephaly in Brazil than first feared is adding force to calls for more research into the link between the rare birth defect and the spreading Zika virus.
    http://www.thepublicopinion.com/news...674ecdf5c.html

    The WHO is under pressure after the ebola crises, and a strong response is expected.

  • #2
    We used to call it microencephalopathy. Obviously the had to shorten the name to make it more worthy of panic.
    In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

    Leibniz

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Parihaka View Post
      We used to call it microencephalopathy. Obviously the had to shorten the name to make it more worthy of panic.
      I thought it was microencephalitis?
      "There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not there any more." -Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Stitch View Post
        I thought it was microencephalitis?
        That's brain inflammation. - itis
        In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

        Leibniz

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        • #5
          Originally posted by tantalus View Post
          The WHO is under pressure after the ebola crises, and a strong response is expected.
          Yes, there's an Olympics on soon & people from important countries are at risk. Better jump on this before someone who matters gets sick.
          sigpic

          Win nervously lose tragically - Reds C C

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          • #6
            Here it is $599.99

            http://www.lgcstandards-atcc.org/Pro...All/VR-84.aspx

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Versus View Post
              Yes indeed. We know that kids with small heads lead perfectly normal lives. we know the zika virus is apparently harmless, apart from a mild fever. We know that its time for WHO's budget round, and we know that there's nowhere near a causal link between zika and infants with small heads. But there's money in panic, for WHO, for drug companies, and for researchers. Oh, and abortions. There's money in selling third world countries abortion services. Gotta love the UN.

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              Last edited by Parihaka; 04 Feb 16,, 06:14. Reason: damn spell check
              In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

              Leibniz

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Parihaka View Post
                Yes indeed. We know that kids with small heads lead perfectly normal lives. we know the zika virus is apparently harmless, apart from a mild fever. We know that its time for WHO's budget round, and we know that there's nowhere near a causal link between zika and infants with small heads. But there's money in panic, for WHO, for drug companies, and for researchers. Oh, and abortions. There's money in selling third world countries abortion services. Gotta love the UN.

                [ATTACH]40893[/ATTACH]
                Ah...I get it....like SARS, the bird flu, H1N1, none were big threats but made out to be. Money is far better spent on combating malaria and cholera.
                "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

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                • #9
                  Oh, and abortions. There's money in selling third world countries abortion services. Gotta love the UN.
                  Thankfully El Salvador don't play that abortion shit.
                  To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

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                  • #10
                    Public health officials said Monday they've learned a lot more about Zika since the White House asked Congress for $1.9 billion to combat the mosquito-borne virus and are increasingly concerned about its potential impact on the United States.

                    "Most of what we've learned is not reassuring," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought."

                    She said the virus has been linked to a broader array of birth defects throughout a longer period of pregnancy, including premature birth and blindness in addition to the smaller brain size caused by microcephaly. The potential geographic range of the mosquitoes transmitting the virus also reaches farther northward, with the Aedes aegypti species present in all or part of 30 states, not just 12. And it can be spread sexually, causing the CDC to update its guidance to couples.

                    And researchers still don't know how many babies of women infected with Zika will end up with birth defects, or what drugs and vaccines may be effective.

                    "This is a very unusual virus that we can't pretend to know everything about it that we need to know," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "I'm not an alarmist and most of you who know me know that I am not, but the more we learn about the neurological aspects, the more we look around and say this is very serious."

                    That assessment, delivered to reporters at the White House on Monday, comes the week after the White House informed Congress it was moving more than $510 million previously earmarked for Ebola prevention toward Zika prevention efforts.
                    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...irus/82894878/

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