The News and Current Events Category
Plague Strikes Town in China
Who said the plague is dead? It wasn’t me. For the full article, visit this page at abc news about the plague.
There are couple of points here:
1 – China quarantined the town. If the outbreak had been in the USA, would the Federal, State or local Government been able to do the same thing?
Anyone remember the Swine Flu, and how the President refused to close the borders? So the new disease was able to spread freely. Good thing the swine flu was not as deadly as it was made out to be.
Lets say that there was an outbreak of the plague in New York city, would the entire city be quarantined? Probably not. People would still be allowed in and out, leaving gateways for the disease to spread.
2 – This is an ancient killer that people today may not take seriously. Most people do not realize that modern medicine has its limits. For some diseases, there is no cure, but some people do not learn that until its too late.
Lets say that there was an outbreak of a new disease in New York – would the city be closed, and would the people take the situation seriously?
Just a little food for thought.
March Giveaway from Safecastle
Safecastle Royal Buyers Club—The Premier Crisis Preparedness Buyers Club in the World
SurvivalistBoards.com is the most dynamic preparedness-related forum on the internet today, in my opinion. I’m sure many of you agree.
I’m Vic–owner of one of the fastest growing crisis-preparedness companies in the business, Safecastle LLC. I just want to say I am excited to become a supporting part of this online community. We’ve been around a good long time and we are recognized far and wide as providing some of the very best products and value anywhere in the preparedness marketplace. We stand behind our products and with our customers all the way.
Joining up with Kev and all the rest of you, we wanted to make a nice statement about our commitment. As such, I decided to go big in this March Giveaway, with retail value of Safecastle prizes awarded exceeding $6000.
Here’s the deal …
A total of 363 prize winners, some of the prizes include:
Free Lifetime Safecastle Royal Buyers Club Memberships–10 awarded each day thru the month of March (value $29 each)
$50 Safecastle Royal Gift Certificates
Katadyn Vario water filters — $90 value each
Bury ‘Em Tubes — choice of 6M, 6S, or 6L– value $175-200 each
Voltaic Converter Solar Backpack—value $207
9-Tray Excalibur Dehydrator, 3900 Model, black–value $275
Four Cases of Storage food–winner’s choice (one case for each of four winners)–each case, value of up to $325
Quik-Pak Foldable Bike Trailer—value $350
QUEST Mission Rigs–value $400 each
Country Living Grain Mill–$456 value
Follow this link and get the full details on how to enter the March Safecastle Survival Gear Giveway.
Texas Department of State Health Services Recalls Oysters
The Texas Department of State Health Services ordered a recall today of all oysters harvested from San Antonio Bay after reports that people in two states outside Texas have been sickened by norovirus after consuming the oysters. DSHS has received no reports of the illness in Texas related to these oysters.
Oysters harvested in San Antonio Bay between Nov. 16 and Nov. 25 are included in the recall. Consumers who purchased oysters Nov. 16 or later that have a label showing they came from San Antonio Bay are advised to dispose of the oysters and not eat them. The virus has not
affected other seafood.
Noroviruses are a group of viruses that cause gastroenteritis. Symptoms usually include vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and stomach cramping. Symptoms usually begin 24 to 48 hours after consuming the oysters and last one to two days. Norovirus typically is not life threatening and does not generally cause long-term effects.
DSHS has received reports that about a dozen people in North Carolina and South Carolina have gotten sick with norovirus after consuming oysters from San Antonio Bay. State health officials in those states, with assistance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are investigating those cases.
San Antonio Bay is currently closed to the commercial harvesting of oysters.
For the official press release from the DSHS website, follow this link about the Oyster Recall.
Consumers Warned Not to Eat Certain Imported Dried Plums
The Texas Department of State Health Services is warning consumers not to eat certain imported dried plums and products containing imported dried plums because they have elevated levels of lead.
Most of the products typically are sold as salted or candied treats in Asian and Hispanic markets but also are available in other retail outlets. DSHS officials believe the dried plums came from Asia, but an investigation to identify specific sources is ongoing. Test results from the DSHS laboratory in Austin show that the dried plum products or products containing dried plums contain lead levels ranging from 0.11 parts per million to 30.3 parts per million.
Health officials say lead should not be consumed in any amount but DSHS used a U.S. Food and Drug Administration established maximum of 0.1 parts per million for candy as a guide in assessing elevated lead levels in the dried plums and dried plum products.
A list of products and product photographs are available online at: www.dshs.state.tx.us/foods/. Consumers are advised to discard any of the products and to check the Web page periodically for updates. More dried plum products may be added as pending laboratory test results become available.
DSHS is working with the FDA and with health officials in California and New York, where some of the product distributors are located, in an investigation. DSHS also is working with Texas distributors on product recalls.
Officials emphasized that the warning does not apply to dried plums, or prunes, from the United States.
Lead can accumulate in the body over time. Too much can cause health problems, including delayed mental and physical development and learning deficiencies. Pregnant women, infants and young children especially should avoid exposure to lead. People concerned about blood lead levels should contact their physician or health clinic to ask about testing.
See this link to the Texas DSHS website for the list of affected foods.
Contest for a PC game
Over that the Elite Gamers forum there is a contest going on for 2 PC games.
1st place prize – Any Steam game or game bundle worth $50 or less.
2nd place prize – Any Steam game or game bundle worth $25 or less.
Check out this thread on how to enter the contest and win a PC game.
Swine Flu causes rush of ER rooms in Texas
The Texas Department of State Health Services has stated that people should use some kind of caution when going to the Emergency Room (ER). Please do not go to the ER unless you are experiencing at least one of the following symptoms:
* Difficulty breathing
* Dehydration symptoms (such as dizziness when standing, absence of urination, or in infants, a lack of tears when they cry)
* Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
* Purple or blue discoloration of the lips
* Unexplained confusion, unresponsiveness, sudden dizziness or seizures
* Severe or persistent vomiting.
Emergency rooms all over the State of Texas have been overloaded by people who think they have the Swine Flu. And in reality, most of the cases are seasonal allergies or mild colds.
Mexicos response to the swine flu
Health officials in Mexico first noticed unusual cases of flu and pneumonia in mid – late March, 2009. The World Health Organization in notified in late March, and again on April 9th. But the WHO did not take action until late April.
Here is the article on WHO may have dropped ball with Swine Flu.
Between late March, and late April, what did the health officials of Mexico do? I do not remember seeing anything about a travel advisory to Mexico be posted because of unusual cases of flu and pneumonia. No real action was taken by Mexico, or the World Health Organization until the swine flu had already spread outside of Mexico and containment was impossible.
And now, Mexico has criticized quarantines in other nations.
Nations have a right to defend their borders, and this includes against the invasion of viruses. There is a lot more here then just a nation that put some people in quarantine. The health officials of Mexico have displayed a serious disregard for public health. And not just for the citizens of Mexico, but for people all over the world.
Perhaps the doctors and government officials in Mexico have never heard of the flu outbreak of 1918 where an estimated 20 – 50 million people died.
Those quarantines are supposed to help stop another outbreak like what happened in 1918, and what happened to London in 1665 – 1666 with the Bubonic Plague. But for some reason its supposed to ok for people to spread the swine flu?
The entire world is very lucky this swine flu has between a 1% – 10% fatality rate. Because by the time the government of Mexico took any kind of action, the outbreak was impossible to contain. And now, its as if the Mexico government does not care if the virus continues to spread. The government officials of Mexico should be ashamed of their selves for their conduct. Overall, they have displayed an immature and unprofessional attitude about this whole swine flu situation.
And now the big question. Is this what we can expect in the next outbreak? What if the next virus is more deadly then the swine flu? Will the next country that the outbreak comes from display a relaxed attitude like the Mexican government did? If so, the people all across the world could be in for a big surprise if a deadly virus ever breaks out.
Swine Flu reported in Hong Kong
Hong Kong has reported its first case of swine flu. Police were quick to quarantine the entire hotel and all 300 guest inside. The quarantine is supposed to last for 1 week. There is no information whether that is a business week, which is 5 days. Or a full week, which is 7 days.
The victim is a 25 year old man who had recently traveled to Mexico.
No other cases in Hong Kong have been reported at this time.
WHO may have dropped ball with Swine Flu
On Yahoo News an article has been posted stating that the World Health Organization was slow to respond to notifications about alarming occurrences of flu and pneumonia in Mexico.
Cases in Mexico may have started as early as late March. The World Health Organization was notified on April 9th of the Swine Flu H1N1 outbreak. But the WHO did not take action until laboratories in the U.S. and Canadian identified the virus. Which was on April 24.
This means that almost a month pasted from first notification until the first response action was taken.
It seems that nothing has changed in the past 25+ years. In the early 1980s the Center for Disease Control was notified of a strange illness that was killing gay men in different parts of the USA, but mostly in California. Very little to no action was taken until the virus was isolated. During that time the HIV continued to spread. And today, more then 21 million people have been killed by HIV and the complications caused by AIDS.
From the death toll of the swine flu, it looks like the virus has around a 1% fatality rate. If the virus would have had a death rate of bubonic plague, or small pox, in the past month over a thousand people would have died in Mexico alone.
Mexico officials ask citizens to close nonessential businesses
Officials in Mexico have asked citizens to close all nonessential businesses for 5 days. Besides the closing of businesses, citizens have been asked not to leave their homes unless its necessary.
Yahoo news posted the article that is being referred to – Mexico shuts nonessential services amid swine flu
This is just my opinion, but if the swine flu continues to spread, we can expect to see this kind of stuff on a global scale. What would it be like for cities such as New York to impose a quarantine or curfew?
Most Americans have never had to deal with this kind of situation before. What kind of civil unrest (and panic buying) would happen if cities across the USA were told to close?
Some of the “further down the road” considerations are items that we use in everyday life. Free trade as destroyed the manufacturing base of the USA. This means that when Mexico shuts down, so does a large part of the USA.
Houston, Texas supplies about 20% of the nations fuel. What would happen if Houston were put under a quarantine? And all citizens were asked to stay at home. The entire nation, if not the entire world would be affected.