Pestilences

[Shammu]

WHO Confirms Human-to-Human Bird Flu Case
Officials Say No Immediate Risk of Further Spread; Health Experts Remain Vigilant
Reuters

GENEVA

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Thursday a single case of human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 bird flu virus in a family in Pakistan but said there was no apparent risk of it spreading wider.

A statement from the U.N. agency said tests in its special laboratories in Cairo and London had established the "human infection" through presence of the virus "collected from one case in an affected family."

But it said a WHO team invited to Pakistan to look into an outbreak involving up to nine people, from late October to December 6 had found no evidence of sustained or community human-to-human transmission.

No identified close contacts of the people infected, including health workers and other members of the affected family, had shown any symptoms and they had all been removed from medical observation, the WHO added.

The outbreak followed a culling of infected chickens in the Peshawar region, in which a veterinary doctor was involved. Subsequently he and three of his brothers developed proven or suspected pneumonia.

The brothers cared for one another and had close personal contact both at home and in the hospital, a WHO spokesman in Geneva said. One of them, who was not involved in the culling, died on November 23.

His was the human-to-human transmission case confirmed by the WHO. The others all recovered.

"All the evidence suggests that the outbreak within this family does not pose a broader risk," the WHO spokesman told Reuters. "But there is already heightened surveillance and there is a need for ongoing vigilance."

It was the first human-to-human case of H5N1 transmission in Pakistan, while others have been confirmed in Indonesia and Thailand in similar circumstances of what the WHO calls close contacts in a very circumscribed area.

Global health experts fear the virus -- which has killed 211 people out of 343 infections reported since 2003 -- could mutate into a form that spreads easily from one person to another, possibly triggering a pandemic that could kill millions.

WHO Confirms Human-to-Human Bird Flu Case
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tick tock tick tock.......

[nChrist]

GOOD NEWS!

1:  Romans 3:10 NASB  as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."

2:  Romans 3:23  NASB  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

3:  Romans 5:12  NASB  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned--

4:  Romans 6:23  NASB  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

5:  Romans 1:18  NASB  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

6:  Romans 3:20  NASB  because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

7:  Romans 3:27  NASB  Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.

8:  Romans 5:8-9  NASB  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

9:  Romans 2:4  NASB  Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

10:  Romans 3:22  NASB  even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;

11:  Romans 3:28  NASB  For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

12:  Romans 10:9  NASB  that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

13:  Romans 4:21  NASB  and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

14:  Romans 4:24 NASB  but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

15:  Romans 5:1  NASB  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

16:  Romans 10:10  NASB  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

17:  Romans 10:13  NASB  for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."

Thanks be unto GOD for HIS unspeakable GIFT!, JESUS CHRIST, our Lord and Saviour forever!

[Shammu]

Valley fever hits epidemic numbers from Texas to Northern California

Jesse McKinley, New York Times

Sunday, December 30, 2007

(12-30) 04:00 PST Coalinga, Fresno County -- When any of the 5,300 inmates at Pleasant Valley State Prison begin coughing and running a fever, doctors do not think flu, bronchitis or even the common cold.

They think valley fever; and, more often than they would like, they are right.

In the past three years, more than 900 inmates at the prison have contracted the fever, a fungal infection that has been both widespread and lethal.

At least a dozen inmates here in Central California have died from the disease, which is on the rise in other Western states, including Arizona, where the health department declared an epidemic after more than 5,500 cases were reported in 2006, including 33 deaths.

Endemic to parts of the Southwest, valley fever has been reported in recent years in a widening belt from South Texas to Northern California. The disease has infected archaeologists digging at the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and dogs that have inhaled the spores while sniffing for illegal drugs along the Mexican border.

In most cases, the infection starts in the lungs and is usually handled by the body without permanent damage. But serious complications can arise, including meningitis; and, at Pleasant Valley, the scope of the outbreak has left some inmates permanently disabled, confined to wheelchairs and interned in expensive long-term hospital stays.

About 80 prison employees have also contracted the fever, Pleasant Valley officials say, including a correction officer who died of the disease in 2005.

What makes the disease all the more troubling is that its cause is literally underfoot: The spores that cause the infection reside in the region's soil. When that soil is disturbed, something that happens regularly where houses are being built, crops are being sown and a steady wind churns, those spores are inhaled. The spores can also be kicked up by natural events like earthquakes and dust storms.

"It doesn't matter whether you're custody staff, it doesn't matter if you're a plumber or an electrician," said James Yates, the warden at Pleasant Valley. "You breathe the same air as you walk around out there."

The epidemic at the prison has led to a clash of priorities for a correctional system that is dealing with below-average medical care and chronic overcrowding.

Last fall, heeding advice from local health officials and a federal receiver charged with improving the state's prison medical care, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation delayed plans to add 600 new beds out of concern that the construction might stir up more spores.

Prison officials blame the construction of a state hospital nearby for causing a spike in valley fever. The construction was under way from 2001 to 2005, and valley fever hit its peak here in 2006, when the disease was diagnosed in 514 inmates.

This year, about 300 cases have been diagnosed among inmates at the prison, which sits along a highway lined with almond groves and signs advertising new "semi-custom homes."

Felix Igbinosa, the prison's medical director, said "the No. 1 reason" is thought to be the soil disturbance from new construction.

The delayed expansion here was part of a $7.9 billion plan signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last summer to relieve overcrowding in the state's prisons. Pleasant Valley was built in 1994 to house 2,000 inmates.

California reported more than 3,000 cases of valley fever in 2006, the most in a decade. Explanations for the spike have included increased residential development and changes in weather patterns that have resulted in increased blooms of the fungus.

Other prisons in the Central Valley of California have had increases in the number of fever cases in recent years, but in none has the rate of infection been higher than at Pleasant Valley, where about 1 inmate in 10 tested positive in 2006.

Even allowing for the nearby construction, experts say they do not know why the disease is so rampant here.

"Is the soil surrounding Pleasant Valley different?" asked Demosthenes Pappagianis of UC Davis, a professor of medical microbiology and immunology who has been studying valley fever for more than 50 years. "There's a lot we still need to know about it."

Early symptoms of the disease, which is clinically known as coccidioidomycosis, mimic the flu, with symptoms that include a cough, lethargy and a fever. Most of those who become infected recover with little or no treatment and are subsequently immune.

In about 2 percent to 3 percent of the cases, the disease spreads from the lungs and can attack the bones, liver, spleen and skin.

For the 11,000 noninmate residents of Coalinga, about 200 miles southeast of San Francisco, the disease has been a fact of life for generations. "We just deal," said Trish Hill, the city's mayor. "You don't do stupid things like go out on windy days or dig in the dirt."

Inmates appear to be especially susceptible to the disease, in part because they come from all over the state and have not developed an immunity.

California corrections officials are preparing new guidelines for prison design, including ventilation and landscaping.

"Prisons tend to have a lot of bare dirt, and that has some security benefit," said Deborah Hysen, the corrections department's deputy secretary of facility planning. "But in the case of valley fever, you want to really contain the soil."

At Pleasant Valley, officials say the outbreak of valley fever places a burden on the institution, requiring guards to escort inmates to local hospitals, where stays can last months and result in medical and security costs of $1 million and more, said Igbinosa, the medical director.

The disease also affects inmate morale, doctors say.

Gilbert Galaviz was convicted of murder and is serving a sentence of 25 years to life. Galaviz had been at Pleasant Valley for a week or so when he started to feel sick. "I couldn't breathe," he said. "My chest starting hurting, I had pain all over like somebody beat me up, and I would sweat bad at night."

The cause was valley fever. After six months, Galaviz is still weak, having lost 30 pounds, and is barely able to complete a lap in the prison yard. In early December, he was attacked and his jaw broken.

"It wouldn't have been like that if it hadn't been for valley fever," Galaviz said, his jaw still wired shut. "They wouldn't have got me. It would have been the other way around."

Valley fever hits epidemic numbers from Texas to Northern California

[Soldier4Christ]

CDC seeks 44 on flight with TB patient 
30-year-old woman now hospitalized in San Francisco Bay area

Health officials were searching Monday for dozens of airline passengers who may have come in contact with a 30-year-old woman infected with a hard-to-treat form of tuberculosis on a flight from India.

The 30-year-old woman, who authorities declined to identify, was being treated at a Bay Area hospital. Officials said the chances that she had infected anyone else were minimal.

The woman arrived in San Francisco on Dec. 13 aboard an American Airlines flight that she boarded in New Delhi. The flight stopped in Chicago before continuing to San Francisco International.

"She did have symptoms on the flight," said Santa Clara County Health Director Dr. Marty Fenstersheib. "She was coughing."

Health officials said she was diagnosed with TB in India, but boarded the flight anyway. Such passengers are typically barred from boarding flights originating in the United States, but U.S. officials have little authority over who boards incoming international flights.

About a week after the flight landed, the woman showed up at the Stanford Hospital emergency room with advanced symptoms of the disease. Hospital spokesman Gary Migdol said the woman is in isolation and is in stable condition.

The woman will remain hospitalized until she tests negative for the disease, which will take at least two weeks, Fenstersheib said. Her stay could last longer because she has a strain of the disease that resists the most common antibiotics, he said.

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are asking health authorities in 17 states to contact 44 people who sat within two rows of the woman and urge them get checked for tuberculosis. The risk of infection is far lower than passing on influenza or the common cold, doctors said.

"TB requires pretty constant contact with someone," Fenstersheib said. About 1 percent to 2 percent of all tuberculosis cases are of the multi-drug resistant variety, he said.

CDC spokeswoman Shelly Diaz said the agency has not received any reports back. Diaz said it will take more than eight weeks to receive definitive results.

In May, a TB patient caused an international health scare when he flew to Europe for his wedding. There has been no evidence that the man spread the disease.

[HisDaughter]

The government needs to bring DDT back to get these little critters under control.

The government needs to return to God.

[Shammu]

The government needs to return to God.

AMEN sister AMEN!!!!

[nChrist]

The government needs to return to God.

ANOTHER AMEN SISTER YVETTE!

Mankind really didn't learn very much from Adam, and it appears that most of mankind is determined to suffer the consequences of sin and death. Much of mankind has become so skilled in disobedience and defiance of GOD that it's easy to say that much of mankind's misery and disease even in this short life is self-imposed. In effect and reality, much of mankind suffers from self-imposed torture and arrangement for their own eventual execution. Some men brag about medical and scientific advances that have enhanced the quality and length of life, but this is really just a bunch of hogwash and man's vanity speaking. Mankind needs to think about the Garden of Eden and know what the natural order under GOD could have been. Mankind brags about living 80 years now, but think about what it was in ancient times. There's also a misery index to consider for those years. There is a statistical difference that's great when just comparing 50 years ago. Doing things UNDER GOD is the natural order!

Love In Christ,
Tom

   

[Shammu]

Avian flu fears spark chicken cull
Judy Siegel-Itzkovich and Jpost staff , THE JERUSALEM POST    Jan. 3, 2008

Agricultural Ministry workers were observed on Friday clad in protective gear as they worked to cull as many as 4,000 chickens in the Binyamina area.

The cull orders came following the outbreak of the human-lethal H5N1 strain of the avian flu in the petting zoo of a Binyamina kindergarten.

All kindergarten and veterinary staff were given preventative treatment on Thursday, even though authorities were keen to emphasize that there was no reason to seriously fear for their health.

At one point a 4-year old girl was hospitalized with flue like symptoms, only to be diagnosed as suffering from unrelated pneumonia.

The kindergarten itself was opened Friday afternoon, after disinfection and cleaning procedures were completed.

Eighteen chickens have been found dead from bird flu in a Binyamina kindergarten's animal corner on Thursday.

The kindergarten teacher alerted the district health office when she discovered the chickens had died - but not the ducks or pigeons - and the authorities closed the kindergarten for a day. Magen David Adom announced that it would prepare for the possibility of human infection. MDA teams across the country were instructed to refresh procedures and ensure the presence of protective measures and sterilization substances in their ambulances.

Teams in the Binyamina area received briefings on disease symptoms and cautionary steps. In addition, MDA has prepared special enclosed beds, resembling large incubators, to allow safe transfer for people suspected of infection.

The Health Ministry, meanwhile, reiterated basic guidelines to prevent bird flu infection. Consumers should buy food products only in recognized, licensed stores under veterinary supervision, hands should be washed thoroughly before and after handling food and raw foods, including eggs, should be fully cooked.

Symptoms of bird flu (H5N1 virus) include an unexplained acute lower-respiratory infection. People who have been in contact with other poultry - not those in the Binyamina kindergarten, but within three kilometers of it - should be alert to any symptoms of fever within a week of contact with the fowl. If a fever of over 38 degrees Celsius develops, one should go to a hospital emergency room and tell staff about the possibility of bird flu.

Ministry officials said it had no other reports of fowl deaths in the area. The ministry said it had not changed the level of alertness to bird flu, which is not a human epidemic. Only if the virus results in human-to-human infection will the authorities be worried, and this has not happened.

Avian flu fears spark chicken cull

[Shammu]

Norovirus reaches epidemic levels
January 12, 2008

Brendan Montague, The Sunday Times

The winter vomiting bug norovirus has struck 2.8million people, with health professionals braced for another rise as people return to schools and offices.

The virus - which causes projectile vomiting, diarrhoea, mild fevers and headaches - is striking down more than 200,000 a week, according to official estimates.

Three hospitals have been placed on red alert, while hundreds of wards up and down the country have been closed to new patients as the number of beds being taken up by bug victims reaches critical levels.

Schools have even begun sending warning letters to parents explaining the symptoms while employers are calling on staff to stay away from work 48 hours after they have recovered to stem the spread of the virus.

The rate of new cases being confirmed has reached the levels of reports during the massive outbreak five years ago, when officials announced an epidemic.

Norovirus can prove deadly for vulnerable people, such as children and the elderly. The impact of the bug has been exacerbated by a new outbreak of flu with those most at risk now being given antiviral drugs by their doctors.

NHS Direct, which patients can telephone for health advice, has been inundated with people calling with symptoms of the norovirus.

Helen Young, the clinical director, said: “We are seeing an increasing number of calls about diarrhoea and vomiting. Norovirus is a major issue for the whole NHS right now and we urge anyone who has symptoms to engage in good hygiene to prevent it spreading further and to drink plenty of fluids.”

The number of reports of norovirus is expected to rise over the next six weeks, as children return to school and employees head back to work after the Christmas break.

A spokesman for the Health Protection Agency said it was too early to say if the disease had reached its peak. A statement said: “This season we have seen an increase in reports of norovirus cases, almost double the number reported for the same period last year.

“The self-limiting infection usually only lasts a few days, hence the majority of cases are not reported to the clinician.”

The Health Protection Agency has confirmed that 1,922 laboratory samples tested positive for norovirus.

The agency expects 1,500 cases in the community for every one found in its labs, bringing the total number to 2.8million infected people – or a million new cases each month.

Lincolnshire health officials have placed three hospitals on red alert following a 20 per cent rise in infections over expected levels.

George Briggs, the general manager for emergency care at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We have had a 20 per cent increase in the number of people being referred to us by GPs with illnesses.

“We have had some with cold and flu and we have had some with the norovirus. We expect an increase in the winter, we always do, hence we put some beds to one side. We didn't expect a 20 per cent increase.”

Boots, the High Street chemist, has also reported a 50 per cent rise in the sale of anti-diarrhoea treatments compared to last year.

The Norovirus started to appear a month earlier than expected this year and has already exceeded the levels of the record 2002 to 2003 outbreak, when 935 cases were confirmed by tests.

Over the last four years, Britain has seen the bug arrive and spread quickly in late November to December and then peak in January before falling to insignificant levels by the spring.

However, the number of reports would have to increase dramatically or continue into the summer for an epidemic to be declared.

Norovirus reaches epidemic levels

[Shammu]

Plague a growing but overlooked threat: study

By Michael Kahn Tue Jan 15, 10:45 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Plague, the disease that devastated medieval Europe, is re-emerging worldwide and poses a growing but overlooked threat, researchers warned on Tuesday.

While it has only killed some 100 to 200 people annually over the past 20 years, plague has appeared in new countries in recent decades and is now shifting into Africa, Michael Begon, an ecologist at the University of Liverpool and colleagues said.

A bacterium known as Yersinia pestis causes bubonic plague, known in medieval times as the Black Death when it was spread by infected fleas, and the more dangerous pneumonic plague, spread from one person to another through coughing or sneezing.

"Although the number of human cases of plague is relatively low, it would be a mistake to overlook its threat to humanity, because of the disease's inherent communicability, rapid spread, rapid clinical course, and high mortality if left untreated," they wrote in the journal Public Library of Science journal PloS Medicine.

Rodents carry plague, which is virtually impossible to wipe out and moves through the animal world as a constant threat to humans, Begon said. Both forms can kill within days if not treated with antibiotics.

"You can't realistically get rid of all the rodents in the world," he said in a telephone interview. "Plague appears to be on the increase, and for the first time there have been major outbreaks in Africa."

Globally the World Health Organization reports about 1,000 to 3,000 plague cases each year, with most in the last five years occurring in Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The United States sees about 10 to 20 cases each year.

More worrying are outbreaks seem on the rise after years of relative inactivity in the 20th century, Begon said. The most recent large pneumonic outbreak comprised hundreds of suspected cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006.

Bubonic plague, called the Black Death because of black bumps that sometimes develop on victims' bodies, causes severe vomiting and high fever. Victims of pneumonic plague have similar symptoms but not the black bumps.

Begon and his colleagues called for more research into better ways to prevent plague from striking areas where people lack access to life-saving drugs and to defend against the disease if used as a weapon.

"We should not overlook the fact that plague has been weaponized throughout history, from catapulting corpses over city walls, to dropping infected fleas from airplanes, to refined modern aerosol formulation," the researchers wrote.

Plague a growing but overlooked threat: study

[Shammu]

S.F. gay community an epicenter for new strain of virulent staph
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer

Monday, January 14, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- A new variety of staph bacteria, highly resistant to antibiotics and possibly transmitted by sexual contact, is spreading among gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles, researchers reported Monday.

The study released online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found the highest concentrations of infection by the drug-resistant bug in and around San Francisco's Castro district and among patients who visit health clinics that treat HIV infections in gay men in San Francisco and Boston.

The culprit is a form of MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bug that was once confined to hospitalized patients but, since the late 1990s, has been circulating outside medical settings, afflicting anyone from injection-drug users to elementary school students. A strain called USA300 has been a leading cause of MRSA infection in this decade, and an exceptionally drug-resistant variant of it is now on the loose, researchers say.

The study estimated that 1 in 588 residents living within the Castro neighborhood 94114 ZIP code area is infected with that variant, which is resistant to six types of commonly used antibiotics. The risk of contracting this difficult-to-treat bug is 13 times greater for gay men than for the rest of the city's population, researchers found.

"We probably had it here first, and now it is spreading elsewhere," said Binh An Diep, a researcher at San Francisco General Hospital and lead author of the report. "This is a national problem, and San Francisco is at the epicenter."

The germ typically causes boils and other skin and soft-tissue infections and, despite its resistance to some drugs, is still treatable by surgical drainage and several classes of antibiotics. What is unusual in this case is the high percentage of infections - up to 40 percent - occurring in the buttocks and genitalia.

Although researchers have stopped short of declaring this form of staph a sexually transmitted disease, the infections are found where skin-to-skin contact occurs during sexual activity.

Most of the infections are limited to the skin surface, but the bacteria can invade deeper tissues or disseminate through the bloodstream. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, various forms of MRSA are causing 95,000 of these more costly and potentially life-threatening infections - and 19,000 deaths - annually in the United States.

Until last year, staph infections had never been linked to sexual activity. Early last year, New York City physicians traced three instances of staph infection apparently spread by sexual contact. Their report was published in February in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

A month later, doctors from the Albany Medical Center in New York reported in the Journal of Urology three cases of multi-drug-resistant staph in the groins of three patients - one of whom developed a form of rapid-tissue destruction popularly known as "flesh-eating bacteria" disease. The patients recovered after treatments with surgery and antibiotics.

San Francisco General Hospital physicians have been battling an aggressive strain of MRSA, called USA300, since 2001. The most recent study estimates that this strain alone is infecting about 2,000 city residents a year.

But the latest problem is being caused by a new variant of USA300 that was first detected in a San Francisco patient in 2003. Among the six antibiotics it is resistant to are three that are normally considered for treatment of suspected MRSA. The study estimated that 200 cases of this highly drug-resistant variant are turning up in San Francisco each year, mostly among gay men.

"We are nowhere near the peak," Diep said. "The peak will occur when it spreads into the general population."

Diep said there is reason to believe that the more drug-resistant strain will make that leap because it is just a slight variant of USA300, which became one of the most common strains of MRSA in the United States only a few years after it was first detected.

The latest study focuses on the spread of the more drug-resistant strain in San Francisco and Boston, but reports of the bug are turning up in New York and Los Angeles.

Just why the new, more drug-resistant variety is concentrated among gay men is not yet known. Patients infected with HIV appear to run a higher risk of infection, but the study suggests that gay men are being infected with the staph germ regardless of whether they are HIV-positive.

One factor that could be in play is a medical history of heavy use of antibiotics, which creates conditions for breeding drug-resistant strains. Any patient, HIV-positive or not, who has had high previous exposure to antibiotics might be more susceptible.

The good news is that, once the public is aware of the risk, there are ways to prevent the spread of drug-resistant staph. It can be as simple as soap and water.

"Taking a shower after sexual contact may minimize contamination," said Dr. Chip Chambers, director of infectious diseases at San Francisco General, a co-author of the study. "Ordinary soap will do. It dilutes the concentration of bacteria. You don't need antibacterial soap."

Chambers stressed that some people, no matter how fastidious, could be more prone than others to staph infections. They could have unknown genetic traits or a history of antibiotic use that raises the risk.

"Despite one's best efforts, it is still possible, of course, to get a staph infection," he said. "This is why if one has a cut or open wound that it is important to clean it out and keep it clean."

The new variant of USA300 is resistant to the antibiotics erythromycin, clindamycin, tetracycline, Cipro-like antibiotics and drugs in the penicillin family. It also does not respond to mupirocin - a gel that is often used to kill MRSA growing in people's noses.

That still leaves a variety of antibiotics that will kill the new USA300 strain, but they tend to be more expensive and require intravenous drips. One common oral antibiotic, Bactrim, is still effective against it.

Chambers also pointed out that researchers at San Francisco General have shown that many skin sores and boils caused even by these drug-resistant strains of staph often can be treated without any antibiotics, just by surgical drainage of pus.

One of the paradoxes of bacterial infections is that using antibiotics to treat them is one of the quickest ways to promote antibiotic resistance. Although the drugs sometimes are essential, overuse is weakening their effectiveness worldwide.

S.F. gay community an epicenter for new strain of virulent staph

[Shammu]

Homosexuals, sodomites, or any other name you chose to call them by, are not gay (which means happy), talented, special, or even gifted. What homosexuals and homosexuality are, is an evil abomination in the eyes of God's creation.

Romans 1:22, 24, 26-27, Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves]. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin], 26 For this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one,27 And the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another--men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own [a]bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution.

Many churches and many Christians and believers in God have gotten lazy and relaxed in taking a stand for what is right and what is of God. Because of this, homosexuality is running rampant in an ever-increasing number. Well enough is enough. It is time to take a stand and stand up for what is right. Homosexuality is a sin!! Standing up and speaking against this vile sin does not make you homophobic as the homosexuals would have you believe. Homophobia is a fear of homosexuals. As children of the one and only eternal and loving true God, we have nothing to fear from these sinners. In fact, it is they who are afraid of us. They are afraid of us because we stand up against them and proclaim homosexuality for what it is, a vile and evil sin against God!!

1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality,

1 Timothy 1:9-10 Knowing and understanding this: that the Law is not enacted for the righteous (the upright and just, who are in right standing with God), but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinful, for the irreverent and profane, for those who strike and beat and [even] murder fathers and strike and beat and [even] murder mothers, for manslayers,10 [For] impure and immoral persons, those who abuse themselves with men, kidnapers, liars, perjurers--and whatever else is opposed to wholesome teaching and sound doctrine

No matter how much rambling on I do, or quoting of the Bible I do, in the end, in any "debate" over homosexuality within the church, it boils down to this.............

To our guest on the forum, GOD said it is WRONG do you understand !!

[nChrist]

Homosexuals, sodomites, or any other name you chose to call them by, are not gay (which means happy), talented, special, or even gifted. What homosexuals and homosexuality are, is an evil abomination in the eyes of God's creation.

Romans 1:22, 24, 26-27, Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves]. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin], 26 For this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one,27 And the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another--men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own [a]bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution.

Many churches and many Christians and believers in God have gotten lazy and relaxed in taking a stand for what is right and what is of God. Because of this, homosexuality is running rampant in an ever-increasing number. Well enough is enough. It is time to take a stand and stand up for what is right. Homosexuality is a sin!! Standing up and speaking against this vile sin does not make you homophobic as the homosexuals would have you believe. Homophobia is a fear of homosexuals. As children of the one and only eternal and loving true God, we have nothing to fear from these sinners. In fact, it is they who are afraid of us. They are afraid of us because we stand up against them and proclaim homosexuality for what it is, a vile and evil sin against God!!

1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality,

1 Timothy 1:9-10 Knowing and understanding this: that the Law is not enacted for the righteous (the upright and just, who are in right standing with God), but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinful, for the irreverent and profane, for those who strike and beat and [even] murder fathers and strike and beat and [even] murder mothers, for manslayers,10 [For] impure and immoral persons, those who abuse themselves with men, kidnapers, liars, perjurers--and whatever else is opposed to wholesome teaching and sound doctrine

No matter how much rambling on I do, or quoting of the Bible I do, in the end, in any "debate" over homosexuality within the church, it boils down to this.............

To our guest on the forum, GOD said it is WRONG do you understand !!

AMEN!

Brother, I'm sad to say that millions apparently don't understand, even though GOD made it exceptionally plain in the Old and the New Testament. Many millions of people have already died from dreaded diseases caused by this immoral, abnormal, and banned by GOD behavior. In fact, millions die slow and painful deaths every year, and the numbers are still growing. So, I'll conclude that they either don't understand or they just don't care. In fact, there are organized efforts to increase this abomination, suffering, and death. SADLY, their efforts are succeeding! The consequences are horrible, and they involve more than this short life. Bluntly, it's impossible to find anything positive or normal about this tortured lifestyle!

[Shammu]

India battles to contain 'very serious' bird flu outbreak
Jan 18 05:29 AM US/Eastern

Health workers in eastern India battled Friday to contain a "very serious" bird flu outbreak, amid reports the virus had spread to new areas and local people were resisting a mass poultry cull.

Officials in the densely-populated state of West Bengal said chickens were still on sale despite a ban, while New Delhi called in paramilitary troops to prevent birds being smuggled out.

"The situation is very, very serious in 102 villages in three districts of Birbhum, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur," West Bengal animal resources development minister Anisur Rahaman said.

"Villagers are resisting culling operations. Chickens are on sale despite a ban and reports of poultry deaths from new places keep coming," he added.

But he said there had been no reports of human cases since the outbreak of the disease," adding that he would visit the affected areas on Saturday.

In New Delhi, a home ministry official said the paramilitary Border Security Force had been called in to stop chickens being smuggled into Bangladesh, where the virus has also broken out.

But West Bengal health services director Sanchita Baksi said villagers were throwing chicken carcasses into rivers and ponds, increasing the risk of the virus spreading.

"And in some areas, villagers are feasting on dead chickens and are reluctant to disclose if there are any chickens or ducks in their backyards.

"Thousands of people are in danger," she warned, adding that local hostility was hampering efforts to cull the birds.

The cull began Wednesday after the agriculture ministry confirmed the deaths were due to the deadly H5N1 strain.

The federal government has sent advisories to states neighbouring West Bengal in a bid to contain the spread of the disease.

More than 62,000 chickens and ducks have died over the past the past week in the three districts affected, West Bengal animal resources development director Dilip Das said.

"It will take at least 20 days to reach our target to slaughter 350,000 chickens and ducks," he said.

Baksi said there were reports other birds had also been infected.

"We are worried over the reports that crows and hawks are dropping dead in some bird-flu affected areas, she said.

"We are trying to tell the people not to touch any birds lying in the those places.

Humans are typically infected by coming into direct contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the deadly virus may mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans.

Wild migratory birds have been blamed for the global spread of the disease, which has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003.

The outbreak is the third in India, home to 1.1 billion people, since 2006.

India battles to contain 'very serious' bird flu outbreak

[Shammu]

Kansas Man May Have Died From Mad Cow-Related Disease

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

WICHITA, Kan. —  A Kansas man may have died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob, a rare disease that turns brain tissue spongy, health officials said.

The disease also affects the central nervous system.

Health officials said they did not know when or how the Kansas man got the disease, citing its incubation period of years. It also will not be known until testing is complete in several weeks what form of disease he carried.

The 53-year-old Colby man, whose identity was not released, died Friday at Wesley Medical Center, where he had been a patient since December.

Wesley spokesman Paul Petitte said the diagnosis for now is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD. That can be confirmed only through the testing of brain tissue, which will be done through the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center.

Kansas has an average of three CJD cases a year, said Joe Blubaugh, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environment.

One form of the disease, called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob, is related to mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and may come from eating infected beef or from blood transfusions. The human form of mad cow disease has never been seen in the United States in someone not exposed in another country.

Most cases of classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob occur spontaneously, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In rare cases, it also can be hereditary.

Nationwide, one to two people per million have a spontaneous case of CJD each year, according to the CDC. Between 250 and 300 cases of CJD are reported each year.

“We have no idea of how he possibly contracted this,” said attending physician Richard Liepins.

The man worked in a meatpacking plant “quite a few years ago,” Liepins said. He was also an elk hunter.

Chronic wasting disease, found in some deer and elk, is another form of spongiform encephalopathy. It is known to spread from animal to animal, but so far there’s no concrete evidence that it can be transmitted to humans.

Kansas Man May Have Died From Mad Cow-Related Disease
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And some people wonder why we pray before eating.