Simultaneous Measles Outbreaks in Eugene and Montreal

Quebec already has its hands full dealing with a massive algae problem, now there's a measles outbreak in Montreal:

"The greater Montreal area has 14 confirmed cases of measles, most of them adults.

Dr. Horacio Arruda of Quebec's Health Department says 12 of the cases involve adults between the ages of 22 and 39. Arruda said at a news conference in Montreal today that the virus was likely brought into Quebec by people who were traveling.

The other two cases involved children under the age of five who hadn't been vaccinated.

Arruda says anyone who has symptoms, including red spots, fever, coughing and sneezing, must contact public health officials."


Meanwhile, Eugene, Oregon is also experiencing a measles outbreak, uhm, of... well... two people:

"Lane County Public Health officials announced Monday they have confirmed a second case of measles in Eugene.

A 21-year-old Eugene man was treated at Sacred Heart Medical Center May 26 with a fever and rash after he returned from a trip in Japan. He was diagnosed with measles.

After he arrived in Eugene May 22, he socialized with another Eugene man, also in his early 20s, public health officials said. The second man became infected May 28.

"They partied together the night the first young man arrived here from Japan," said Dr. Sarah Hendrickson with Lane County Public Health.

Betsy Meredith, a Lane County Public Health nursing supervisor, said she fears more people will come down with measles."

-----------------------------------------------------

So it looks like Japan has some hot hot measles action that our vaccinations just can't handle. I wonder if the Montreal cases originated from someone who visited Japan.

I'm just really curious as to what Lane County Public Health means when they say "socialized" and "partied"... eh? EH?!?

JAPAN!!!!!!

Updated WHO figures on H5N1

Coming on the heels of the news that the Chinese soldier with bird flu has died, and also an Indonesian teenager has died of H5N1, the WHO has released the latest tally of Bird Flu Deaths and Cases Total by Country.

	DEATHS	CASES TOTAL
AZERBAIJAN	5	8
CAMBODIA	7	7
CHINA	16	25
DJIBOUTI	0	1
EGYPT	14	34
INDONESIA*	79	99
IRAQ	2	3
LAOS	2	2
NIGERIA	1	1
THAILAND	17	25
TURKEY	4	12
VIETNAM	42	93
TOTAL:	189	310

* - I added the latest Indonesian case (and death) into the list as it had not been added to the official WHO list.

The total deaths to cases ratio leaves us with a mortality rate of 60.967%, meaning about 6 out of every 10 bird flu cases result in death.

However, a more accurate mortality rate can be derived from averaging the mortality rate of all countries reporting H5N1 cases, which I went ahead and calculated.

The average mortality rate for the 11 countries reporting cases is 60.05%, and the median is 64% (which happens to be China, who I guess wants to be in the middle of everything)

I think the big surprise here is that there's a country out there named Djibouti. Seriously, I've never heard of it before! Here's the CIA World Factbook entry about it. Apparently it's a North African country next to Somalia that is "slightly smaller than Massachusetts."

Idiots Fightened By Protein Manipulation

The "let's censor science" crowd is back at it again! Ok, so the study in question is pretty awesomely about making things infectious that previously weren't, but that is not the point. What is the point? I will get to that. First the background from the Washington Post:


Researchers in Germany reported yesterday that they had altered the DNA of a disease-causing bacterium to enable it to infect a species it cannot normally sicken -- a double-edged advance that experts said could deepen scientists' understanding of human diseases but could also speed the development of novel bioterrorism agents.

The change in infectiousness -- the first of its kind ever engineered from scratch -- poses no direct threat to human health, scientists said, because the microbe already causes a human disease: the food-borne illness called listeriosis.

The change allows that microbe to sicken mice, a species it has no natural capacity to infect.

Still, the work has biosecurity implications because it could, in theory, be applied in reverse, endowing a bacterium that causes a serious animal disease with an unprecedented ability to sicken people.

Several experts said they were disappointed that the report, in today's issue of the journal Cell, does not mention those implications.

Also worrisome to some is that Cell's editors did not seek outside advice on whether publication of the study would pose a security threat. Although in this case the consensus appears to be that the study would have easily passed muster, several prestigious U.S. organizations have called for such reviews when "dual use" microbiological advances are submitted for publication.

Echoing the recommendations of the National Academies, the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity -- part of the National Institutes of Health -- has called for extra layers of review before the publication of research that shows how to "alter the host range . . . of a biological agent."

Emilie Marcus, Cell's editor, said she has "a somewhat dissenting opinion" about the value of such reviews. "Issues were discussed and raised" internally, she said.

------------------------------------

HEY GOVERNMENT! SCIENCE DOESN'T FUCKING WORK FOR YOU OR GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU THINK!!!!!

In fact, Science doesn't even necessarily work for the betterment of humanity. Science is about understanding how things work. Then scientists, once they figure out how something works, publish an article about how it works.

I'd like to give a big round of applause to Emilie Marcus for rejecting outright the idea of "reviews" on what can be published in a scientific journal. I think that's what a board of editors is for. I don't think Stable Isotope Quarterly has been publishing troop positions in Iraq, and last I checked Elsevier hasn't released a "How to make weapons-grade anthrax FOR DUMMIES" book.

The pinheaded bureaucratic morons of the world think that the 400 year old tradition of free and global exchange of scientific knowledge is suddenly a bad thing because we are now FIGHTING TERROR!!!!

I think the culturing of XDR-TB is a bit more pressing biosecurity issue than the possibility that a terrorist sect will spend several years studying the protein structures of exotic animal diseases with the intention of infecting humans with them...

I mean come on, get a fucking grip people. These people make bombs out of cow shit and a briefcase. If you can't do it in a college biology lab they're not going to be messing about with it. Let the grown-ups make science progress so we can maybe figure out new ways to fight diseases other than throwing synthetic fungus at them.