Read This First, 1.Anoxic Event, 2. Autism Mythology, 3. Biodisaster of War, ↕4. Mosquito Borne, 5. BioEconomics, 6. Withholding Information, 7. Food and Humours, 8. Celebrity Effect, 9. Ebola DRC, 10. Global Health Funding, 11. Cicadas Mystery, 12. Early to Cicadas 13. Summer Warning is Here, 14. Threatened Boston Mass a Cure, ↕C. Communications.
-1. Jurassic Drop in Ocean Oxygen Lasted a Million Years. Dramatic drops in oceanic oxygen, which cause mass extinctions of sea life, come to a natural end – but it takes about a million years. The depletion of oxygen in the oceans is known as anoxia. Scientists believe the modern ocean is on the edge of anoxi, and it is critical to limit carbon emissions to prevent this. Ocean Anoxia: Can the Oceans Suffocate, Carbon Pollution Is Suffocating Ocean Life and Speeding up the next Mass Extinction. [Map, Map, Art].
-1.1. #Document Slow Onset Crises: A Review of Surge Practices. Emergencies that gradually crescendo into disasters can be difficult to prepare for and respond to. This report examines the challenges of responding to slow onset events – such as refugee crises, drought, or food shortages – and how resources that are normally deployed in surge events might also be used for progressive disasters. The report suggests a variety of ways governments and humanitarian agencies can craft policies that trigger response to slow onset disasters and allow surge capability to be used. As noted many times before biodisaster is usually a slow on set, unnoticed until in accelerates, and even then may be denied.
-2. The history of Autism(Search) is an interesting parademic, oen that is not necessarily related to a biodisaster. It probably existed before being recognized, possibly from parents hiding or allowing the child or changeling to die, resorting the magical explanations and cures. With more time people began looking for more rational explanations ( genetics, environment, psychology), though many people still use magical ones, which are not limited to anti-vax parademic but include other ones such as crystal children and GAPS. Anti-vax was around before vaccine was erroneously associated with vaccine, but the vaccine myth has proved to be durable in the face of continued uncertainty to the cause. Eventually this complex problem will be deciphered, but at the same time those with autism are finding their own voice, many asking “what problem”. What Causes Autism. What We Know, Don’t Know and Suspect. ASAN Condemns White House Autism Proclamation 170402-3.2↓, Autism Rights Movement. ¶ At this point it is not possible to predict if Autism will ever be understood, much less if a cure will be found. However, given the persistence of medical scams and pseudoscience in the face of testable evidence, and that there are those who have a vested ideological and financial interest in the concept. It is predictable that if a cause(s) is ever found for Autism the anti-vax will eventually have to drop that narrative, but to only replace it with another. How Fashion Helped Defeat 18th Century Anti-Vaxxers. The Time Anti-Vaxxers Argued That Vaccines Would Turn Kids into Cows, [Cartoon] 170430-7.4, 150111-32 et al↓. There are already indicators of what the next emergent anti-vax myth will be, transhumanism, a variation of anti-GMO and luddite [Cartoon]. Vaccines Are “Transhumanism” That Subverts Evolution (2012), Beware. Vaccines Will Sap and Impurify Your Precious Bodily DNA (2012). Robots & Us: The Augmented Self. CRISPR Creator Jennifer Doudna on the Promises, and Pitfalls, of Easy Genetic Modification. The Anti-Vaccine and Anti-GMO Movements Are Inextricably Linked and Cause Preventable Suffering.
-3. Ceaseless Middle East Wars Forcing Change in Approach to Medical Care by causing a region wide health crisis that goes beyond war wounds to heightened resistance to antibiotics and a collapse in vaccination drives, leading to a resurgence of diseases tamed in peacetime. Not to mention direct intentional and indirect collateral biome and ecological damage, Modern Warfare Causes Unprecedented Environmental Damage. Once again this is another problem that is not a new or emergent problem, Environmental Warfare and Ecocide – Facts, Appraisal, and Proposals (1973). War in and of itself is a biodisaster and a parademic, without the use of any bioweapons. Even When Wars End in the Middle East, Superbugs and Aggressive Cancers Caused by Conflict Fight on. 11, 170129-5↓.
-3.1. The Effect of Explosive Remnants of War on Global Public Health: a Systematic Mixed Studies Review Using Narrative Synthesis. The effects of explosive remnants of war (ERW), defined here as landmines (victim activated explosive traps that target people and vehicles), unexploded ordnance (UXO; explosives that have been fired, dropped, launched, or projected during a conflict yet remain unexploded), and abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO; explosives that have not been used or have been left behind or dumped by a party in an armed conflict and are no longer under the control of the party that left them behind or dumped them), are disproportionately borne by citizens of low income and middle income countries (LMICs). ERW pose a threat to people's health and human rights in more than 60 LMICs. Annual casualty numbers are falling, from 9220 casualties in 1999 to 6461 in 2015, thanks to the widely ratified 1997 Mine Ban Treaty and continuing commitment from the international community. ERW casualties are usually maimed rather than killed and although the exact number of survivors is unknown, from 1999 to 2015, 72 739 people were injured by ERW but survived, many with subsequent long term psychological and physical sequelae. Additionally, the wider long term effects of ERW (referred to in this study as reverberating effects) are a social and economic burden to victims, their families, the wider at risk community, and health systems. Despite their importance, these effects have not been systematically examined on a global scale before. This was a topic between and within Civil and Military agencies years before 1990. I recall apresentation I did as a military officer (and in uniform) for an NGO before the time in this study where that became a heated talk. Some in the NGO audience were under the impression that the military had magical devices that could find land mines and disable them. They said that local people had to locate these with slow work using sticks. I explained that there was no such technology unless one wanted to drop tons of explosive force on the area, and even that would not be a guarantee there would not still be UXO. I further explained that the military had the same technology as the locals, using wooden sticks and working very carefully. Mines are designed to not be found, to kill people, and that metal or active sensors could set them off. I stated that land mines were a toxic waste left over from warfare, another reason not to have wars. ¶ It is not unusual for a decade of more lag between observations in the field, to written findings and eventually action taken to at least partially solve the problem. United States Landmine Policy. Ottawa Treaty. The United States Pledges to Give up Landmines, Just Not Everywhere. Lethal Relics from WW1 Are Still Emerging.
↕4. Outbreak of Zika Virus Infection in Singapore: An Epidemiological, Entomological, Virologial, and Clinical Analysis. An outbreak of Zika virus infection was detected in Singapore in August, 2016. Report of the first comprehensive analysis of a national response to an outbreak of Zika virus infection in Asia. The outbreak shows the ease with which Zika virus can be introduced and spread despite good baseline vector control. Disease surveillance, enhanced vector control, and community awareness and engagement helped to quickly curb further spread of the virus. These intensive measures might be useful for other countries facing the same threat. Cuba Reports a Surge of Zika but Still Fewer than Neighbors, Cuba Says Zika Tally Rises to Nearly 1,900 Cases.
-4.1. Deaths from Chagas Disease under Reported. Chagas disease, affecting millions of people in Central and South America, is classified as one of the 17 most important neglected diseases by the World Health Organization. Now, researchers have found that even the non symptomatic stage of Chagas infection, which can last for many years, more than doubles a person's risk of death. As assumption in parademic is that numbers or either under or over reported. There are not sufficient resources to confirm each case, especially if there are large numbers that a changing quickly. There are also motivations to both over and under report.
-4.2. In medical jargon this is a syndemic or multiple coinfections, in parademic syndemic means multiple co occurrence of biodisasters. Mosquitoes That Spread Zika Virus Could Simultaneously Transmit Other Viruses. Aedes aegypti, the primary mosquito that carries Zika virus, might also transmit chikungunya and dengue viruses with one bite. The findings shed new light on what's known as a coinfection, which scientists said is not yet fully understood and may be fairly common in areas experiencing outbreaks. Study Suggests Zika Mosquitoes Can Spread 3 Viruses in 1 Bite. U.S. Zika Burden Could Cost Billions in Medical Care, Lost Productivity.
-5. Stocks Erase Gains as Health Care Sector Slides. The S&P 500 was also weighed down by the retreat in healthcare stock. The sector was the day’s biggest loser, notching a 1.1 per cent decline. Within this, Biogen shares fell more than 5 per cent $276.75 after analysts at Morgan Stanley and Leerink downgraded the stock. Illumina and Amgen shares also figured among the top 10 worst performers on the S&P 500. The sell off comes as an outline of Trump’s budget plan included a proposal to cut HHS spending by 18 per cent or about $15bn, including a $5.8bn cut from the NIH. However it did spare some of the more controversial aspects of the budget, like Medicare. This apophenia, perception of random fact have meaning. Charts are drawn that are absolutely accurate, but are not measuring that they say they are. These can be skewed by limiting data input, adding data input, changing period covered, design of the chart, et cetera. Fortunes can be lost of gained by economic forecasts, but cause and effect are difficult to identify much less causally link, in fact the cause can be the forecast. In truth one can state that according to such as such data interpreted in such a way indicates that this trend will happen, but it remains unknown if the cited cause is the actual one or one that happened to occur at the same time, and if analyzing why a predicted result did not happen one still is unsure if there is an actual link. Biodisaster are not hard linked to economic ups and down, but these do reflect parademic. Economic may create the circumstances that cause a biodisaster 170514-4.2↓ and then used to create benefits from a biodisaster 170430-4.1↓. There is a harder link between fear, panic, opportunities, profit motive, ability to exploit and parademic or bioeconomics. One of the first indicators of a parademic that can be noted are economic, but whether the influence is positive or negative depends on the particular circumstances and the geographic and temporal space from the bioevents. Overall the stock market recently has been a roller coaster, resembling a biodisaster’s short intervals between waves. Increasing frequency and height of highs and lows indicates instability in a biome, this may also be true of economic systems. What is known is that in economic downturns education and public health tend to the first areas that are cut for funds.
-‡. Magical Thinking, Meteorology and Economic Forecasting. The Constant Disappointment of Economic Forecasts. The Art of Forecasting: From Ancient to Modern Times. Bad Economic Forecasts Are like Bad Weather Predictions, They Leave Us out in the Cold. Feelings First Voters Have Found a Voice in Donald Trump. An Economics of Magical Thinking. The New Astrology, by fetishising mathematical models, economists turned economics into a highly paid pseudoscience. No One Should Be Freaking out about Stocks, Analysts Say. Dow Finishes Strong as Trump Fears Recede. ¶ Vaccine A Force More Powerful than Anti-Vaxxers. Economics. The Case of the Anti-Vaccine Elitism. Anti-Vaccine Movement Is a Present Day Tragedy. Following the Money 7↓. Web Giants Profit from Anti-Vaccine Fraud’s Video. The Myth of Big Pharma Vaccine Profits – It’s Not What They Say it is. 3 Things That Explain America’s Vaccine Hysteria, are sites that profit off inaccurate fear mongering about vaccines by selling supplements, books, DVDs, and other products. Meet the Internet Entrepreneur Profiting off the Anti-Vaxxer Movement. Dr. Joseph Mercola Ordered to Stop Illegal Claims. ¶ Stocks Investors Are Getting Worried about the Trump Confidence Economy, Here Are 3 Reasons Why Trump Drama Isn't Rattling the Bull Market, Stocks tank, Dow drops 250 points as Trump concerns rattle Wall Street, Jack Welch: Impeachment Proceeding Would Blow the Market Away. Public Divides over Environmental Regulation and Energy Policy. Global Health Spending Good for U.S. Security and Economy. Wall Street Wonders What’s next after Trump Jolts Markets. Trump Turmoil Could Lead Investors to Rethink Risk Appetite. Dow Closes down 370 Points as Political Drama Jolts Wall Street, but still no evidence there is an actual link, but there are indicators that there is some stock manipulation to drive prices down to take advantage of the low market The Short and Distort: Stock Manipulation in a Bear Market. • A similar manipulation occurred during Ebolaphobia, Ebola & The Stock Market: Repercussions of Panic, Ebola Stocks: 2 to Sell, and 5 to Consider Buying, How Cocoa Traders Make Money on the Ebola Scare, Long Shadow of Fear in an Epidemic: Fearonomic Effects of Ebola on thePrivate Sector in Nigeria. White House Drama Threatens to Upstage Health Care Efforts. ¶ Health Impacts Are You Suffering From Trump Fatigue Syndrome (Video). 170326-1.3, 170220-1.5 -1.9 -2.3 -6 et al -6.8 et al, 170219-C, 161127-2.1↓. Nearly 700 Positions Are Vacant at CDC Because of Hiring Freeze.
-5.1. Not infrequently efforts to improve a national economy lead to biodisaster and harm to health, and there will always be people who are willing to take the health risk and those who are willing to sacrifice others health for their personal gain. Why Black Lung Disease Is Deadlier than Ever Before. As President Trump prepares to send miners back to work, a once obsolete illness is once again ravaging coal country. Where Health Care Won't Go: A Tuberculosis Crisis in the Black Belt. It was a miserable January morning in Marion, Alabama, last year, with temperatures 20 degrees below average and freezing rain that sliced sideways. But that did not dissuade the people lining up outside the Perry County Health Department. There is no hospital in town. The nearest one, 20 minutes away in Greensboro, has minimal resources. In Rural Tennessee, a Hospital Turns to Crowdfunding to Stay Afloat.
-5.2. Progress Reducing US Uninsured Rate Comes to a Halt. Maybe the only good news the White House will have this week, Tempers Flare and Confusion Swirls at Rattled White House.
-6. This is a different perspective about security classification, which is of parademic interest because it is the basis of determining if information should be withheld from disclosure or not. Usually classification in based on the perception of damage that information could cause damage, usually using vague definitions. In an internet world these definitions are obsolete. Definitions based on the layers and measures of security protection given to information is more useful . There are multiple flavors of intelligence classification, from “Confidential” (which is often in the public record already, just not acknowledged or currently uncertain if it should be shared), to “Secret” (usually, though not always available if you know where to look, or are willing to wait a few days), to “Top Secret” which tells whence the information was derived the loss of which means one no longer can get the information. The Terrible Cost of Trump's Disclosure. This leaves out proprietary, information that gives a competitive advantage, not unlike Top Secret. ¶ The decision to share or not share information is often times based on perception of risk to a nation’s government and economy, not on the risk of what happens to the global populations and economy if it is not shared. ¶ There is also the complication of if the information is real or not, and if fake but damaging can it be refuted by sharing contrary information that needs to be protected. This is a fact that conspiracy theory depends on, just the fact that something is secret fuels a conspiracy theory, disproving a negative is difficult, and in some cases disproving is perceived as potentially causing more harm than the real information. How Trump Gets His Fake News. The president rarely surfs the web, but his staff have made a habit of slipping news stories on his desk – including the occasional internet hoax. “Fake but Accurate” Is the Trump Administration’s New Defense of its Lies. Goodbye, alternative facts; hello, fake but accurate.
-‡. The “Fake but Accurate” Climate Change News Delivered to Trump? It’s Fake All the Way Down. Is Fake Medical News the Next Pandemic. Trump Doesn’t Believe in Climate Change, but It’s Going to Drown Mar-a-Lago, The Biggest Threat to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. Climate Change, [Map, Photo]. Looming Floods, Threatened Cities. China and India Are Surpassing the Climate Goals the US Can't Be Bothered to Meet.
-Quote: I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day. – Donald Trump. This in contradicted by earlier statements that he does not need intelligence briefings and directives to find who is leaking information [Tweet]. Possibly he is referring to what he gets from a staffer who does attend the briefing and passes on a shorter version. Internal Memo Shows Donald Trump's Daily Intelligence Briefings Are, Um, Very Dumbed Down. Another possibility it that Trump is intentionally misleading the Russians with disinformation, by playing up his reputation as a braggart and already sharing classified information with the Russians, 170219-T↓.
-A. Though the potential loss of life and property is a disaster the lack of clean water, contaminated water for water borne diseases Cholera 101: An Ancient Disease Keeps Cropping Up, and left over pools for breeding mosquitoes are a biodisaster Protecting Water as a Lifeline in Disaster, The Slums of Buenos Aires Are Too Wet and Too Dry, Water Is Getting Much, Much More Expensive in These 30 Cities, Up to 60 Days Without Water. Quake Prone Cities Aim to Improve Countermeasures, America Has a Water Crisis No One Is Talking about 11.2, 11.3, 170312-4.2.2↓. How Did Climate Change Affect That Extreme Weather Event (Video). ¶ Moreover measures to protect from the aftermath of a disaster are threatened by climate change Arctic Stronghold of World’s Seeds Flooded after Permafrost Melts. No seeds were lost but the ability of the rock vault to provide failsafe protection against all disasters is now threatened by climate change, 170409-2 -2.4, 160821-3↓+. Water rise can also threaten survival bunkers. The Arctic “Doomsday” Seed Vault Is Supposed to Ensure the Future of Humanity. It Just Flooded. It was not in our plans to think that the permafrost would not be there. Norway to Boost Protection of Arctic Seed Vault from Climate Change. After Breach, Humanity’s ‘Doomsday’ Seed Vault IsStill Safe for Now. Is the fact that some water seeped into the “fail safe” seed vault no big deal, or are we as a human race doomed to die, starving and cropless, in the event of global catastrophe. The answer is a bit more measured. There are no guarantees about humanity, but the seed vault is probably going to be fine. No One Lives on this Remote Pacific Island — but It’s Covered in 38 Million Pieces of Our Trash. [CGI, CGI] WALL·E.
-6.1. Humans Rely More on 'Inferred' Visual Objects than 'Real' Ones. In a study about whether humans typically handle 'filled in' information differently to real direct sensory information, or whether we treat it as equal. Participants were asked to choose between two striped visual images, one 'real' and one inset in the blind spot, displayed using shutter glasses. Surprisingly, participants mostly chose the stimulus inside the blind-spot as the 'real' continuous image. Not sure why this was a surprise. Information that is easily filled in is easier to assimilate into existing mental frames, while “real” information that contradicts mental templates is often times rejected. Take for example this [Chart]. Chances are that one provided missing information with “I” and “A”, not “A” and “I”, and one would argue against the second solution doesn’t make sense, though it is true in neurobiology. Sometimes the fill in is obvious [Letter], requires special knowledge [Chart, Equation], stimulates an imaginative projection [Draw, Draw] or it is ambiguous [Cartoon, Cartoon], Science Acceptance: Don’t Underestimate the Power of a Good Cartoon. There are also examples where something is missed [Photo] or remembered incorrectly [Drawing] CNN Misreports “Classic Study on Race”, which also has errors in it. Both the CNN story and the Fact Check misrepresent the information. Donald Trump and the Rise of Tribal Epistemology.
-6.2. Essential Information: Uncertainty and Optimal Control of Ebola Outbreaks. Early resolution of uncertainty during an epidemic outbreak can lead to rapid and efficient decision making, provided that the uncertainty affects prioritization of actions. The wide range in caseload projections for the 2014 Ebola outbreak caused great concern and debate about the utility of models. By coding and running 37 published Ebola models with five candidate interventions, we found that, despite this large variation in caseload projection, the ranking of management options was relatively consistent. Our study shows that the uncertainty that is of most interest epidemiologically may not be the same as the uncertainty that is most relevant for management. If the goal is to improve management outcomes, then the focus of study should be to identify and resolve those uncertainties that most hinder the choice of an optimal intervention. By simplifying multiple alternative models into a smaller number of relevant groups could streamline the decision making process and may allow for a better integration of epidemiological modeling and decision making for policy. A similar concept could be applied to sharing parademic information that is relevant to the epidemiological needs – In the case of Ebola, susceptible, exposed, infectious, hospitalized, funeral, and removed – with decision makers. Pandemic Outbreaks: A New Approach Promises to Speed up Response.
-A. Information Sharing Topic Collection. These resources highlight guidance and lessons learned on information sharing that can help emergency health planners identify stakeholders to incorporate into the information flow, develop rules and elements for sharing, and exchange information to ensure a common operating picture. This Topic Collection concentrates on the information shared, and not on the actual "hardware" or physical elements of the information sharing systems.
-6.3. Despite Factors That Should Put it Ahead of Game, U.S. Health Ranking Is an Embarrassment. The newly created Healthcare Access and Quality Index (not exactly the same as the National Health Security Preparedness Index 170312-1.3↓ shows how well countries use their healthcare systems to stop preventable deaths. The inaugural version of the index finds huge disparities both between countries, and within them. Access to quality healthcare, the study shows definitively, is often the difference between life or death. For Americans, the results aren’t heartening. ... Not all diseases kill Americans with equal power, however. Despite recent skepticism about the efficacy of vaccines, diseases that they prevent — like tetanus and measles — kill significantly fewer Americans than those that require ongoing prevention and care, like hypertension and diabetes (both of which kill far fewer people in Andorra). US Preparedness Index Finds Sluggish, Uneven Progress, How U.S. Health Care Measures up, India Ranks below Lanka, Bangladesh on Healthcare Index. Healthcare Access and Quality Index Based on Mortality from Causes Amenable to Personal Health Care in 195 Countries and Territories, 1990-2015: a Novel Analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015, [Map Top 1990, Bottom 2015, Chart], Healthcare Access and Quality Has Improved Globally, but Inequality Between Countries Has Grown. One is tempted to speculate that some current members of government may insist that the original Lancet article and the articles that stem from it are all fake news. They can cite the retracted Wakefield article as proof of this. Preventing Outbreaks: U.S. Investment in Global Health Security Training.
-7. How Coffee, Chocolate and Tea Overturned a 1,500 Year Old Medical Mindset. The humoral system dominated medicine since the Ancient Greeks, but was no match for these beverages. All of these arrived around the same time in the mid 16th century. These exotic beverages presented physicians of the day with a significant problem: How did they fit into the predominant medical theory of the time, the humors. The concept of humors is that human body was composed of four humors, or fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. The key to this pseudomedical system was balance. Every individual, the thinking went, had a unique humoral composition, and if their body fell out of equilibrium, illnesses befell them (we still see vestiges of this theory today with “natural” nutritional cures ‡). ¶ The first way physicians would treat illness was with food; surgery and cauterizing were a last option. Every food had its own humoral affiliation, which changed slightly based on preparation (if it was cooked or spiced). Foods could be hot, cold, dry or moist, with each characteristic mapping onto the fluids of the body. Foods were categorized on their humoral powers. The way this worked in practice was that doctors would prescribe specific foods to adjust their patient’s humoral balance. So if someone displayed too much heat, a fever, they might receive a bloodletting treatment and be instructed to eat cold foods, like salad or vegetables. If a person experienced indigestion from eating too much, they could take a hot and dry prescription, like pepper and wine. ¶ Coffee, tea and especially chocolate proved troublesome. All three were dietary chameleons, seeming to change in form and quality at will. Some thought [chocolate] is fatty, therefore it’s hot and moist, but other physicians said that if you don’t add sugar, it’s bitter and astringent, so it’s dry and good for phlegmatic disorders. How can something be both dry and moist or hot and cold. If one substance could cure any illness, what did that say about the rest of humoral theory. As new medical paradigms began entering physicians’ diagnostic vocabulary in the 17th century, humoral theory began to fall apart. Some doctors now looked at the body as a series of mechanical parts, fitting together like a well oiled machine. Others saw it in terms of its chemistry. ¶ Tradition is a stubborn thing. For decades, plenty of doctors continued to draw on humors for their medical practice, persisted in keeping the humoral system and resisted people who argued against it. In mercenary terms, it’s a matter of people preserving their medical monopoly. It’s also probably a matter of conviction (again something we still see, usually referred to in parademic as medical scam, quacks ‡). In the 19th century, numerous discoveries struck the final blow to the humoral system. Physiology and anatomy advanced. Disciplines like pharmacology began investigating how drugs affected the body, and the discovery of microorganisms revolutionized how doctors viewed illness. With the invention of more powerful microscopes, they could hypothesize about how bacteria mightdisrupt a healthy body, destroying the notion that an imbalance of humors was the source of disease. [Cartoon, Cartoon].
-‡. The Effects of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Vaccination Intentions, Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, and “Green Our Vaccines”: Anti-Vaccine, Not “Pro Safe Vaccine”. Balance Your Evil Humors the Food Babe Way. On Traditional Healing Practices: Subjectivity and Objectivation in Contemporary Therapeutics. Are Food Allergies Overdiagnosed. Acupuncture Versus Science, Linguistic Edition. Morbid Curiosity Now Accounts for 79% of Nation’s Snack Food Purchases. The Four Humors - The Ancient Origins of Personality Testing. And There's the Humor of It: Shakespeare and the Four Humors. Confused about What’s Healthy. Despite (or because of) a flood of information, Americans get a failing grade in nutrition literacy.
-7.1. How Plagues Help Scientists Puzzle Out the Past. Like many bioarchaeologists, I have a fondness for plagues. They upend the natural order of things, cutting across the normal risk factors for ending up in archaeological samples and giving a snapshot, captured in death, of not just the old and the infirm but also a sample of the whole (unlucky) population. The tragedy of mass causalities exposes lives that would, statistically, rarely be unearthed, including the adolescents and adults who form the bulk of a living population, so rarely represented in a cemetery.
-8. The Charlie Sheen Effect on HIV Testing. On Nov. 17, 2015, actor Charlie Sheen publicly disclosed he was HIV positive. In previous research, scientists found that Sheen's disclosure corresponded with millions of online search queries for HIV prevention and testing. A follow up study finds it also led to more sales of in home HIV testing kits. This opens an avenue for monitoring of personal biomes. If tests are devised that can be done in private it is more likely they will be done. However this does not mean that people will take the necessary precautions to protect others. The Unintended Consequence of Angelina Jolie's Viral Breast Cancer Essay.
-9. Continuation of 170514-8.3↓. Will Vaccine Help Curb New Ebola Outbreak in the DRC. The Population of Likati Called to Observe the Rules of Hygiene to Counter the Epidemic of Ebola. As DRC Ebola Cases Grow, Expert Sees Parallels to Guinea. Tackling Ebola Outbreak in Remote Congo Presents Huge Challenge. As Ebola Outbreak Grows, Question of Using Vaccine Becomes More Urgent, experts question why DRC officials have been slow to request deployment of the vaccine. According to WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) recommendations, the vaccine should be promptly deployed if a confirmed case of Ebola occurs that matches the Zaire strain used to make the vaccine which is the case in DRC. Given that it’s unlicensed, the vaccine must be used in a clinic study, and SAGE specifically suggests countries use the same ring vaccination design used in the Guinea trial that vaccinates people who came in contact with cases, and frontline responders like doctors, nurses, and funeral staff. ¶ Every country at risk of Ebola virus should have approved the use of the vaccine months ago and it should be given to contacts and frontline responders as soon as possible. This gets down to granular planning. The initial response should be overwhelming so we never give an outbreak a chance to do what it did in West Africa. We want to throw everything at it in reasonable way and a vaccine is part of that. But the question of why approval and request has not been made yet is not answered. That may be a later question to find out why. Historically the DRC isolated an area to prevent spread until it burned out, meaning the population in the hot zone either died or survived, A Tale of Two Outbreaks: Why Congo Conquered Ebola. I disagree that there was no connection between the Zaire Ebola and West African. Because of the method used by the Congo the animal reservoir was never eliminated and traced. Ebola probably had migrated to West Africa long before it was first identified. Suspected Cases of Ebola Rise to 18 in Democratic Republic of Congo. 400 Contacts Being Traced in Congo’s Ebola Outbreak. WHO: Ebola Vaccine Could Be Deployed Within a Week. ¶ This is an example where a story was being tracked, but added to a previous stub until a point was reached where it was useful to bring forward the ADDED material. This is something to keep in mind if considering requesting more information on a topic from Pardemic Notes.
-10. More than Half of Eligible US Travelers Not Receiving Measles Immunization. Lack of concern about disease risk most common reason travelers refuse MMR vaccination when recommended. 53 % of individuals seeking pre travel consultations at clinics across the country who were eligible to receive the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine were not vaccinated during the clinic visit. ¿Traveling Abroad, Born Before 1989? You May Need a New Measles Vaccination. These people are likely to bring malaria back, which is the concern. Not that they would get sick, but they will bring the disease back and make others sick. Unknown if this MMR refusal applies to other vaccines, CDC Finalizes Vaccine Recommendation for Adults Traveling to Areas with Cholera.
-11. G20 Health Ministers Seek to Avert Return to Pre Penicillin Era, 3↑, 170507-6↓, if leading nations do not cooperate to combat the threat from antibiotic resistant(Search) bugs and means are not found to finance research into new, more effective medicine. New Drug Industry Alliance Will Tackle Antibiotic Resistance. G20 Health Ministers Agree to Tackle Antibiotics Resistance. Secretary Price Attends First G20 Health Ministers Meeting. No Free Lunch, G20 Health Ministers Find at First Meeting. A 'Superbug' Fungus Is Spreading Across the US.
-11.1. But the question if the US is part of the solutions needed for Global Health is still up in the air. How Trump’s Science Cuts Could Hurt States That Voted for Him, ¶ Lawmakers Shoot down Trump's Proposed Cuts to Medical Research. Biomedical Research Benefits Bring House Members, NIH Leaders Together. Searching for solutions to illnesses and conditions spanning lifetimes and nations, while supporting the development of scientific careers, providing jobs and contributing to economies across America, leaders from the NIH who came to Capitol Hill brought much to unite, and little to divide the Republican and Democratic committee members who came to hear them. Trump Reportedly Considering New Cuts to Biomedical Research, a cap on what the NIH spends on overhead, a move that critics say will “disembowel” many research institutes. ¶ Fogarty International Center, A Linchpin of Global Health Research. Small but mighty, the Fogarty International Center has had an oversized impact on improving health around the world for the last half century. By providing funding to advance international health research and train health researchers from the US and low and middle income countries, its efforts have benefitted patients worldwide, including the US. 170416-1.2, 170319-5.1↓. Ironically US Health Official Lauds Liberia's Progress in Preventing, Detecting, and Response to Infectious Disease Threats which was possible in part because of US funds, assistance and aid. Should America Keep Giving Billions of Dollars to Countries in Need, especially in situations such as the Combined Wealth of 5 Richest Nigerians Could Lift Country out of Poverty
11.2. Science Diplomacy Is More Vital than Ever. The US appears to be plunging headlong into a new era of isolationism. The White House wants to pull out of international agreements, including the Paris climate deal 6A↑ and the North American Free Trade Agreement. Cities Can’t Sign Treaties, but They Can Fight Climate Change. The Mayor of Los Angeles says his city will stay in the Paris Climate Agreement even if the US doesn't. Energy Companies Urge Trump to Remain in Paris Climate Agreement. Clock Is Ticking for WHO Decision over Taiwan. A showdown is looming at next week's annual meeting of the WHO in Switzerland. For almost a decade, Taiwan – despite not being a member of the UN – has been permitted to attend WHO events as an observer. But, so far, its invitation for this year's event in Geneva has not arrived. The Global Health Law Trilogy: Towards a Safer, Healthier, and Fairer World. Global health advocates often turn to medicine and science for solutions to enduring health risks, but law is also a powerful tool. No state acting alone can ward off health threats that span borders, requiring international solutions.
11.3. Public to EPA on Cutting Regulations: NO. As part of President Trump's executive order to review "job killing regulations," the Environmental Protection Agency last month asked for the public's input on what to streamline or cut. It held a series of open mic meetings, and set up a website that has now received more than 28,000 comments, many of which urge the agency not to roll back environmental protections. 6A↑.
-12. This could become an interesting watch item. The probability is that until something is definitively known there will be speculations ranging from similar to mass die offs(Search) to speculations of ties to climate change. Cicadas Are Awakening 4 Years Early. It’s Not a Sign of the Apocalypse but a Scientific Mystery. Reports in Baltimore and the Washington, DC, metro area indicate that a small group of the cicadas — a group called Brood X — are emerging from the ground to molt, mate, and make noise. They weren’t supposed to return until 2021. No, this isn’t a sign of the impending apocalypse. (We think. We hope...) But entomologists are confused as to why portions of the brood, which have only been underground for 13 years of their 17 year cycle, are waking up and swarming. It’s just one more mystery of these amazing creatures, which have an uncanny ability to keep time. This Isn’t a Cicada Year, So Why Are They Now Showing up Across the mid Atlantic. Periodical Cicadas [Photo].
-12.1. Big Pharma's Newest Marketing Tactic: Infiltrating Soap Operas like General Hospital. The long running show wrote a rare disease into its plot at the behest of a pharmaceutical company. The headline does not correspond with the content. Of more parademic interest is why the attention. This product placement or disease awareness has been done for years with medical treatments. In fact product placement can get bizarre, General Hospital Does Some Bizarre Doctor Strange Product Placement. Television is a powerful medium for health messages. Advocacy organizations have long used soap operas to educate the public about disease threats, and public health campaigners have also embedded their health messages into children’s shows like Sesame Street. But Big Pharma’s disease awareness campaigning is more problematic. “It blurs the line between advertising and a public health message,” Schwartz said. Low testosterone, restless leg syndrome, ADHD — in her research she’s found all these diseases have had pharma backed disease awareness campaigns behind them that contributed to over diagnosis. [Cartoon]. Doctors Turn Sales Representatives in Live Surgery Telecasts. Overwrought Marketing. Ads, Not Research, Create Some Pharma Best Sellers. How a Drug Ad Made its Way into ‘General Hospital’.
-13. For parademic notes of official arrival of summer is the annual warning of swimming hazards. Each year the warning is a caution of worse biothreats than the year before. Crypto Outbreaks in Swimming Pools on the Rise. With summer quickly approaching, there's some nasty news to consider before heading to the pool. Outbreaks of a parasitic infection tied to swimming pools and water parks are on the rise, with twice as many outbreaks in 2016 as in 2014, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Don't Drink the Water. Diarrhea from U.S. Swimming Pools Rising. ¶ Coming this Summer: More Ticks and a Deadly New Tick Borne Disease, Tick Scientists Confirm 2017 Summer Will Be Best on Record.
-14. Follow up on 170514-8‡↓. Antivaxers Threaten to Dox Boston Herald Employees over the Newspaper’s Use of Imagery Much less Offensive than What Antivaxers Use on a Daily Basis. The editors of the Boston Herald used the idiom “hanging offense”, intentional hyperbole used to make a point. I daresay that even antivaxers know it’s intentional hyperbole. The reaction was very much predictable, incredibly disingenuous, and utterly hypocritical, given the rhetoric routinely used by antivaxers. No one seriously believes that the Boston Herald is calling for the deaths of antivaxers, despite their history of even worse language, would seize upon this bit of verbiage as a pretext to lose their friggin’ minds. The Violent Rhetoric of the Antivaccine Movement: “Vaccine Holocaust” and Potential Impending Attacks on Journalists. I mentioned in 170514-9 that antivax has a tendency to attack back.
-‡. Why Minnesota Lost a Battle Against Anti-Vaccine Campaigners. In Minnesota, a Measles Outbreak Exposes the Gaps in Public Health. The Check must Have Finally Cleared, Or: Mawson’s Incompetent “Vaxed/ Unvaxed” Study Is Back Online. Anti-Vaccine Activists Are Playing with Fire in Minnesota. 66 Measles Cases in Minnesota.
↕C. Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Corner [Logo]. Newsletter Archive.
Communication Mistakes to Avoid. CERC is built around six main principles: be first, be right, be credible, promote action, express empathy, and show respect. But under the time pressure and urgency of an emergency, progress towards building credibility and getting people to accept and adopt protective health behaviors can be undone in an instant by simple mistakes. Here are some common pitfalls communicators need to avoid. • Mixed messages from multiple experts. • Information released late. • Paternalistic attitudes.
-C.1. Benefits of Improved Health Care Communication Education and Training. Research has consistently demonstrated the benefits of communication education and training for health care providers. Efficient health care provider to patient communication is important and has multiple impacts on various aspects of health outcomes. These impacts include measurable positive correlations with outcomes such as (a) better health outcomes, (b) higher rates of patient compliance to therapeutic regimens, (c) higher patient and clinician satisfaction and (d) a decrease in malpractice risk. Although research and practical experience has demonstrated the importance of communication education and training between health care provider and patient, academic programs (as well as professional training initiatives, for the teaching of communication theory and research as well as communication knowledge, skills and abilities) continue to lag.
-C.2. Application of Real Time Global Media Monitoring and ‘Derived Questions’ for Enhancing Communication by Regulatory Bodies: the Case of Human Papillomavirus Vaccines A total of 4230 news items were identified, containing personal stories, scientific and policy/process-related topics. Explicit and implicit concerns were identified, including those raised due to lack of knowledge or anticipated once more information would be Published. Fifty Derived Questions Were Generated and Categorised into 12 Themes. The evaluation demonstrated that providing the media monitoring findings to assessors and communicators resulted in (1) confirming that public concerns regarding CRPS and POTS would be covered by the assessment; (2) meeting specific information needs proactively in the public statement; (3) predicting all queries from journalists; and (4) altering the tone of the public statement with respectful acknowledgement of the health status of patients. ¶ The study demonstrated the potential utility of media monitoring for regulatory bodies to support communication proactivity and preparedness, intended to support trusted safe and effective vaccine use. Derived questions seem to be a familiar and effective format for presenting media monitoring results in the scientific regulatory environment. It is suggested that media monitoring could form part of regular surveillance for medicines of high public interest. Future work is recommended to develop efficient monitoring strategies for that purpose. Press Conference Speaker Guide for Scientists. How to Answer Difficult Media Questions.
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