Prophecy, Drought, Earthquakes, Famine, Pestilence, War, and Strange Weather.

[Shammu]

World Prepares for Total Solar Eclipse

By KWASI KPODO
Associated Press Writer

http://hosted.ap.org/photos/G/GFX54803271820-big.jpg

 ACCRA, Ghana (AP) -- Tourists and scientists were gathering at spots around the world for the first total eclipse in years, a solar show that will sweep northeast from Brazil to Mongolia and blot out the sun across swathes of the world's poorest lands.

The last such eclipse in November 2003 was most visible from Antarctica, said Alex Young, a NASA scientist involved in solar research.

Wednesday's eclipse will block the sun in highly populated areas, including West Africa. NASA said it won't be visible from the United States.

In Togo, authorities imported hundreds of thousands of pairs of special glasses that consumers cleared rapidly from shelves in the capital, Lome. Villagers in the interior will not have access to the eyewear and officials called on them to stay home.
   
   

"Please, do not go out and keep your children indoors on solar eclipse day," Togo's minister for health said in a message broadcast on state television.

Day will turn to night in the eclipse's route and a corona - the usually invisible extended atmosphere of the sun - will glow around the edges of the moon as it comes between the earth and the sun.

"Imagine if your hair was to stand up from static electricity, that's kind of what the corona looks like all around the sun," NASA's Young said. But the corona's light can burn eyes.

In Ghana, where the effect will be particularly visible, people were spending about $1 for "solar shades" - paper-rimmed glasses with dark plastic lenses that resemble eyewear used for viewing three-dimensional movies.

NASA said Turkey will be the best spot to view the eclipse, and tens of thousands of tourists were expected along the Turkish Mediterranean coast. Astronomers from NASA and Britain's Royal Institute of Astronomy were also going to an ancient Roman amphitheater in Turkey to view the phenomenon.

The moon is expected to first begin blocking out the sun in the morning in Brazil before the eclipse migrates to Africa, then on to Turkey and up into Mongolia, where it will fade out with the sunset.

Superstition will follow around the world, as it has for generations.

One Indian paper advised pregnant women not to go outside during the eclipse to avoid having a blind baby or one with a cleft lip. Food cooked before the eclipse should be thrown out afterward because it will be impure and those who are holding a knife or ax during the eclipse will cut themselves, the Hindustan Times added.

Total eclipses are rare because they require the tilted orbits of the sun, moon and earth to line up exactly so that the moon obscures the sun completely. The next total eclipse will occur in 2008.

World Prepares for Total Solar Eclipse

[Shammu]

New Category 5 monster off of Australia; 'Glenda' winds of 160 mph

I figured y'all like a map, of the newest Tropical Cyclone Gelenda



New Category 5 monster off of Australia; 'Glenda' winds of 160 mph

[Soldier4Christ]

Death toll rises after avalanche in Far East
   


PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMVHATSKY, Far East, March 29 (RIA Novosti, Oksana Guseva) - An avalanche on the Far East Kamchatka peninsula claimed its third victim Wednesday as a woman's body was recovered from under the snow, emergency service officials said.

A spokesman said the body had been identified as local resident Svetlana Kabanova, whose husband and son are still missing.

A group of 10 people riding snowmobiles near a volcano about 35 miles south of regional capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, was hit by an avalanche Sunday. Two young men died, one was hospitalized, and two people are still missing. Four people managed to escape the slide.

The region around the volcano and the Paratunka River is known for its frequent avalanches. Snow as deep as 9 meters (about 30 feet) lies on the volcano until mid-summer, making it popular for winter-sports enthusiasts and tourists.

[Soldier4Christ]

Storm Spawns Tornado In Merced

MERCED, Calif. Monday's storm dumped rain, hail and snow across Northern California and also triggered a tornado in Merced County.

It damaged a barn just west of Highway 99 tearing the roof off and sending it flying about a hundred feet away.

A storm chaser who saw the tornado says he saw the roof peel off, spin around twice, and land on some power lines.

CBS 13 followed the storm with our vipir doppler radar and tracked where this tornado touched down and the rotation in the storm.

[Shammu]

World Views Total Solar Eclipse

By KWASI KPODO, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 33 minutes ago

ACCRA, Ghana - Schoolchildren clapped and cheered as the first total eclipse in years plunged Ghana into daytime darkness Wednesday, a solar show sweeping northeast from Brazil to Mongolia.

During the rare heavenly alignment, all that could be seen of the sun were the rays of its corona — the usually invisible extended atmosphere that glowed a dull yellow for about three minutes, barely illuminating the west African nation.

Automatic street lights flickered on, authorities sounded whistles and schoolchildren burst into applause across Ghana's capital, Accra. Many in the deeply religious country of Christians and Muslims said it bolstered their faith.

"I believe it's a wonderful work of God, despite all what the scientists say," said Solomon Pomenya, a 52-year old doctor. "This tells me that God is a true engineer."

The last such eclipse in November 2003 was best viewed from Antarctica, said Alex Young, a NASA scientist involved in solar research.

"Imagine if your hair was to stand up from static electricity, that's kind of what the corona looks like all around the sun," Young said. But directly looking at the sun can damage the eyes without proper protection.

About 12,000 tourists from 40 countries and 20,000 Libyans trekked out to three viewing spots in Libya — one on the border with Egypt and two deep in the desert, Libya's Tourism Ministry said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his wife and several ministers joined 8,000 tourists and astronomers from six countries in Solloum, Egypt. The town lay nearly dead center in the path of the total eclipse, giving spectators nearly four minutes of darkness starting at 12:38 p.m.

In Iraq, Sunni and Shiite Muslims were summoned to their mosques during the partial eclipse for a special prayer reserved for times of fear and natural disasters. Dozens shut down shops and left offices to gather in mosques, particularly in the southern city of Basra, home to many devout Muslims.

Even in Baghdad, which has been wracked by violence in recent days, people congregated to look at the sky. Inside mosques, they shouted "God is great."

A total eclipse could be seen in Nalchik, Russia, about 870 miles south of Moscow. People on the streets screamed, some with fear and some in wonder, and they were joined by the cawing of crows when the city fell into darkness and temperatures plunged suddenly.

In Turkey's Mediterranean town of Side, hundreds streamed down a main street, some carrying tripods, to an ancient Greek temple dedicated to Apollo.

It was "spiritual and emotional," said Brian Faltinson of Victoria, Canada, who was in Turkey to witness his second eclipse. "It just about made me cry."

Joaquim Boix traveled to Turkey from Barcelona, Spain, saying he became addicted to eclipses after seeing one in Germany.

"It's fantastic," Boix said. "It's the color, the metallic blue-green color on the skin of the people. The sky with the stars in the background. Usually you watch the stars in a black background. ... The background is blue. It's a special feeling."

Astronomers and scientists from NASA and the San Francisco-based Exploratorium science museum gathered in Side. "It's one of those experiences that makes you feel like you're part of the larger universe," said NASA astronomer Janet Luhman.

NASA said the best spot to view the eclipse was along the Turkish Mediterranean coast, and Turks welcomed the many tourists after a recent bird flu outbreak and protests over the caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

"It should happen more often," said Hamza Bikmaz who was selling eclipse T-shirts outside the theater.

West African governments scrambled to educate people about the dangers of looking at the eclipse without proper eye protection.

Authorities imported hundreds of thousands of pairs of special glasses that sold rapidly in Togo's capital, Lome. But villagers in the interior did not have access to the eyewear, and officials urged them to stay home.

Superstition accompanied the path of the eclipse, as it has for centuries.

One Indian newspaper advised pregnant women not to go outside during the eclipse to avoid having a baby who is blind or having a cleft lip. Food cooked before the eclipse should be thrown out because it will be impure, and those holding a knife or ax during the event will cut themselves, the Hindustan Times added.

In Turkey's Tokat province, wary residents set up tents outside despite assurances from scientists that there was no evidence of a link between earthquakes and eclipses.

In August 1999, an earthquake in northwestern Turkey killed some 17,000 people just six days after a solar eclipse.

Total eclipses are rare because they require the tilted orbits of the sun, moon and Earth to line up exactly so that the moon obscures the sun completely. The next total eclipse will occur in 2008.

World Views Total Solar Eclipse

[Shammu]

Powerful Cyclone Glenda threatens Western Australia coast
CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) — A severe cyclone with winds exceeding 155 mph menaced northern parts of Western Australia on Wednesday, less than two weeks after a storm devastated homes and crops on the other side of the country.
Glenda (upper left) is moving slowly along the northwest coast of Australia with 155 mph winds.       Glenda (upper left) is moving slowly along the northwest coast of Australia with 155 mph winds.    
Australian Bureau of Meteorology/Japan Meteorological Agency satellite

Some oil and gas operations and key iron ore ports closed ahead of the arrival of Cyclone Glenda in an area known as "cyclone alley" because it is regularly swept by storms at this time of year.

The storm was downgraded later on Wednesday to a category four, one below the most powerful grade for cyclones, and was about 186 miles north of the town of Port Hedland and moving slowly west, the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre said.

"Tomorrow's really the day where things could happen," said forecaster Adam Conroy from the center in Perth, the capital of Western Australia.

The remote Pilbara region under threat is home to around 10,000 people and includes Woodside Petroleum's $10 billion North West Shelf liquefied natural gas project at Karratha, about 800 miles north of Perth.

"Residents of the central and west Pilbara coast are warned of the risk of very destructive winds with gusts exceeding 250 km per hour during Thursday as this very dangerous cyclone nears the coast," the Bureau of Meteorology said on its website.

Australia's northeastern coast was devastated last week by Cyclone Larry. It blew roofs off houses, uprooted trees and decimated sugar and banana crops, causing damage worth up to $1 billion.

Woodside said on Wednesday that it had suspended production at its 100,000-barrel-per-day Cossack oilfield in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday as the sixth cyclone of the season approached.

Oil and gas producer Santos Ltd. shut its Mutineer-Exeter oil field on Monday and BHP Billiton's Griffin oil field has been closed since Saturday, after it was threatened by a smaller storm.

Mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both have operations in the Pilbara, which has large deposits of iron ore.

Rio said its port operations at Dampier and Cape Lambert had shut and ships had gone out to sea, while BHP said it was loading its last ship and port operations at Port Hedland would close shortly.

Powerful Cyclone Glenda threatens Western Australia coast

[Soldier4Christ]

Cyclone Glenda crosses northwest Australian coast

PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - A severe tropical cyclone gathered speed on Thursday before it crossed the remote northwest Australian coast with winds of up to 250 kmh (155 mph) after hundreds of people had been evacuated.

Tropical cyclone Glenda had already shut oil and gas rigs and disrupted iron ore shipments in the region, while thousands of people secured their homes as they prepared to ride it out.

Few reports of damage were received soon after Glenda roared ashore near the iron ore port of Dampier and the smaller towns of Mardie and Onslow in the sparsely populated and ruggedly beautiful Pilbara region of Western Australia state.

"Very destructive gusts to 250 kmh are expected near the cyclone centre, and are occurring on the coast in the vicinity of Mardie and Onslow," Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said in its latest cyclone update at 4 p.m. (9 a.m. British time).

It said destructive winds would extend inland overnight and on Friday.

Glenda is a category-four storm, one below the most powerful grade, and hit in an area known as "cyclone alley" because it is regularly swept by storms at this time of year.

State officials breathed a sigh of relief after the cyclone spared the iron ore and tourism town of Karratha, about 1,550 km (950 miles) north of the state capital Perth. About half the region's 14,000 people live in Karratha.

Emergency workers said Glenda had gathered speed and crossed the coast south of Karratha hours earlier than expected, cutting roads and bringing down power lines. Karratha was still hit by destructive gusts up to 130 kmh (80 mph), they said.

FLOODING

"I believe the roads are closed in that area already, so movement around there is very limited," emergency services official Bill Rose told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

The Pilbara region, which was put on red alert, includes Woodside Petroleum's A$14 billion (5.74 billion pound) North West Shelf liquefied natural gas project at Karratha.

About 500 people had earlier been evacuated from the town as Glenda bore down on the coast.

It was feared Glenda could be as destructive as Cyclone Larry, which destroyed homes and crops on Australia's northeastern coast earlier this month.

Meteorologists also warned of dangerous flooding from abnormally high tides and damaging waves in a region already awash from five previous cyclones this season.

"Residents between Dampier and Onslow are specifically warned of the potential of a very dangerous storm tide as the cyclone crosses the coast," the Bureau of Meteorology said on its Web site (www.bom.gov.au).

Local television had earlier showed residents battening down as the cyclone approached, fastening steel grilles over their windows or tying caravans down with thumb-thick wire cables as rain and strong winds whipped through Karratha and nearby towns.

Woodside had already suspended production at its 100,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Cossack oilfield in the Indian Ocean, while oil and gas producer Santos Ltd. has shut its 40,000 bpd Mutineer-Exeter oil field.

BHP Billiton's 10,600 bpd Griffin oil field has been closed since Saturday. BHP and fellow mining giant Rio Tinto both have operations in the Pilbara, which has large deposits of iron ore, and have shut port operations.

Rio said on Tuesday bad weather meant the company would fall 5 million tonnes short of its first-quarter iron ore output target. It still expected 2006 output to rise 14 percent on last year's 158 million tonnes.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Dozens die in western Iran quakes
At least 66 people have been killed and 980 injured by several earthquakes in western Iran, officials said.

The quakes, with magnitudes of up to 6.0, centred on remote villages between the industrial towns of Doroud and Boroujerd in the province of Lorestan.

About 330 villages have been damaged - some completely flattened, Lorestan's disaster control committee chief said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for aid to be rushed to the victims, and prayed for the injured.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US was prepared to offer humanitarian assistance to Iran.

Lorestan's governor said hospitals were full to capacity and he called for assistance from surrounding areas.

 Ali Barani, head of Lorestan's disaster control committee, told Reuters news agency the number of casualties was not expected to rise significantly because initial tremors on Thursday night had provided a warning to residents.

The first tremors, with magnitudes of 4.7 and 5.1, hit at about 0105 on Friday (2135 GMT on Thursday), the official Irna news agency reported.

Many villagers fled their houses in fear and set up tents outside for the night.

Telephone lines, electricity and gas supplies had been cut in some areas, Doroud's governor told Irna.

Iranian television pictures on Friday showed images of flattened houses, with residents scrabbling through rubble with their bare hands.



"We are afraid to get back home. I spent the night with my family and guests in open space last night," Doroud resident Mahmoud Chaharmiri told the Associated Press news agency by telephone.

There were also reports of quakes in the cities of Arak and Shazand in the central Markazi province, but no casualties or damage were reported.

In a message issued after the earthquakes, the president said the nation was "deeply moved by the killer quakes in the cities of Doroud and Boroujerd which took the lives of many civilians".

"It is imperative to mobilise all the existing facilities to assist the injured civilians and address their needs immediately," he said.

Flimsy houses

Ms Rice, on a visit to Britain, told reporters the US was "always prepared to extend humanitarian assistance to people around the world".

"If you remember, the United States extended earthquake assistance to Iran at the time of the Bam earthquake and I am quite certain we would be more than prepared to do the same."

Experts say the earthquake is moderate in scale; in the past such tremors have killed thousands in rural areas of Iran, where houses are built with brick and often poorly constructed.

Iran straddles a major geological fault line and is regularly struck by powerful earthquakes.

Some 40,000 people died when the ancient city of Bam was levelled by an earthquake in December 2003.

In February 2005, more than 600 people died in a 6.4 magnitude quake centred in a remote area near Zarand in Iran's Kerman province.

Another powerful quake hit Kerman in November 2004, killing 400.


 Recent major Iran earthquakes
21 Feb 2005: 612 die when 6.4 magnitude quake hits Zarand, Kerman province
26 Dec 2003: 40,000 killed when 6.7 magnitude quake devastates Bam
10 May 1997: 7.1 magnitude quake kills more than 1,500 near Afghan border
28 Feb 1997: 5.5 magnitude quake kills about 1,000 in north-western Iran
21 June 1990: About 40,000 killed by 7.7 magnitude quake. Caspian regions of Gilan and Zanjan devastated.
11 June 1981: 6.8 magnitude quake destroys town of Golbaf, killing more than 1,000

[Soldier4Christ]

 Rivers keep rising in flooded North Dakota
One woman drowns in ditch

FARGO, North Dakota (AP) -- Swollen by a combination of melting snow and heavy rain, the rising Red River and its tributaries threatened homes in North Dakota and Minnesota on Sunday.

One woman died Saturday in a water-filled ditch in Grand Forks County, North Dakota, where she apparently fell while trying to walk home after her car stalled on a flooded road, authorities said.

Volunteers filled and stacked sandbags Saturday to protect homes in both states.

Mayor Bruce Furness said Fargo was preparing for a flood crest next week of 37 to 38 feet, well above the official flood stage of 18 feet. However, he has said that would threaten only about 30 homes -- compared with about 130 flooded in 1997.

Along with the sandbagging, the mayor said Saturday there were signs the river's rise is slowing.

"We're feeling better today than we did yesterday," Furness said.

On the Minnesota side of the Red River valley, the Buffalo River went over its banks and the Rev. Brad Lewis had to use a canoe to get around his five-acre farmstead, about 15 miles south of Fargo near Sabin, Minnesota.

Authorities in Minnesota's Norman County closed highways on the west and south sides of the town of Ada because of flooding Saturday and residents of vulnerable homes were sandbagging, dispatcher Joel Andersen said.

The town of Hendrum, just over 20 miles north of Moorhead on the North Dakota line, was bracing for a record flood stage, expected to hit Tuesday.

"We've been having a couple of cooler nights, and that's helped things out quite a bit," Andersen said. "It could be a possibility that we get rid of this, but it could go the other way. Anything could happen."

The National Weather Service also predicted major flooding at Grand Forks, saying the Red River could rise to about 47 feet there by next Friday. Flood stage in Grand Forks is 28 feet, but residents are protected by a huge dike that was started after the 1997 disaster.

Heavy rain that fell in the region Thursday worsened the snow-melt flooding and closed at least 35 bridges and more than 25 county roads in Richland County, south of Fargo, said county engineer Tim Schulte.

He warned people not to drive around barriers. "Just because you think the road's there -- it might not be," he said.

The rain was part of a line of damaging thunderstorms that rolled across the Midwest. On Friday, the storms knocked out power to 4,000 customers in Michigan, and tornados touched down in Michigan, northwestern Ohio and in central Indiana. The twisters damaged homes and businesses, but caused no serious injuries.
Severe weather expected in Midwest

Severe weather is expected Sunday in western Indiana, most of Illinois, southern Iowa, and into eastern Missouri, forecasters said.

Conditions are expected to be ripe for supercell thunderstorms which are often capable of producing tornadoes, strong wind gusts and hail.

The Ohio, Tennessee and Mississippi Valleys are also at risk for severe storms.

Another cool wet Pacific storm will push into the Northwest bringing rain and high elevation snow. Higher elevations will also see extremely strong winds, with gusts over 100 mph expected on ridges and mountain peaks.

In the East, temperatures will likely be above average for this time of year, and skies will remain clear for most of the day. Some showers and snow showers could linger through New England and into Maine in the morning.

Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Saturday ranged from a low of 12 degrees at Bridgeport, California, to a high of 96 degrees at Laredo, Texas.

[Soldier4Christ]

Mumps strikes 245 in Iowa

As of March 30, a total of 245 confirmed, probable and suspect cases of mumps have been reported to the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), according to the state health agency.

Cases of mumps started to show up in January 14, and peaked from March 18 to 26. So far, cases of mumps have been found in thirty six counties in Iowa. No outbreaks in schools or daycare were reported.

Patients, 23 percent of them are attending college, are on average 21 years old with 34 percent 18 years old. According to the Iowa state mumps update, 5 percent of patients did not get M MR vaccine shots, which contains a mumps v accine. 66 percent received two shots while 14 percent received one shot. It is unknown whether the remaining 15 percent received mumps shots. It is also unknown why so many people who got vaccine shots still got mumps.

Most of mumps cases are located in the counties of Dubuque (94), Johnson (35), Black Hawk (27), Linn (16), Jefferson (7), Buchanan (7), Scott (5), Greene (4) and no more than 3 cases have been reported in each of the remaining counties.

Mumps is an infection of the salivary glands caused by a virus which replicates in the nasopharynx and lymph nodes of the infected person. The symptoms include fever, headache, muscle ache, and swelling of the glands close to the jaw. The average duration of symptoms is seven days.

Symptoms reported in the Iowa cases include parotitis (77 percent), fever (34 percent), sub/max swelling (42 percent), sore throat (34 percent), headache (11 percent), cough (10 percent) and orchitis (5 percent). There is onecase encephalitis.

Mumps can cause complications including meningitis, inflammation of the testicles or ovaries, the pancreas and deafness (usually permanent).

Mumps is contagious and can be spread by coughing and sneezing or through direct contact with infected droplets or saliva such as kissing. "It is generally transmitted from about 3 days before symptoms appear to about 4 days after, although the virus has been isolated from saliva as early as 7 days before to as late as 9 days after onset of symptoms," the Centers for Disease control and Prevention (CDC) says.

Mumps v accine is commonly used to prevent this disease. Men born before 1957 and women who born before 1957 who are not having more children, have already had r ubella vac cine, or have a positive r ubella test do not have to have M MR (m easles, mumps, r ubella) vacci ne.

People who have been infected with mumps and had blood tests that show they are immune to M MR. Those who had two doses of M MR or one dose of M MR plus a second dose of m easles va ccine do not need any further vac cine shot.

Those who had one dose of MM R and are not at the high risk of mumps also do not have to get mumps v accine shot.

People who need to get mumps vaccine s hots include college students, hospital workers, international travelers or women at childbearing age.

The Iowa state has reported the cases of mumps to the CDC, which has released the detailed report at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm55d330a1.htm

[Soldier4Christ]

 Mumps Cases Discovered In Wisconsin

County health officials in Grant county say two adults have contracted mumps.
They won't say how old the adults are, but say they are not elderly.
Wisconsin had 12 confirmed cases of the mumps last year.
But this is the first time Grant County has seen cases in several years.
Health officials in Iowa have reported almost 250 mumps cases.
They say the breakout started in Eastern Iowa and is moving West.
Jeff Kindrai of the Grant County health department won't say how the adults may have contracted the virus, only that they're being treated.
"They've both been followed up on by the health department. They are in isolation probably until the early part of next week or until their symptoms subside."
Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska have also reported one or two suspected mumps cases.
Mumps is an infection of the salivary glands. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle soreness, and swollen glands close to the jaw.
People born before 1957 are thought to have been exposed to it as a child and should be immune.
Kids usually get vaccinated at 10-12 months, and again at 4-6 years.
If you're experiencing some of the symptoms or want the vaccine, contact your physician or your local health department.

[Soldier4Christ]

Mumps reported in county

By Mike Belt

It appears the mumps have struck in Douglas County.

During the past two weeks, six probable mumps cases have been reported in people ages 19 to 26, according to the Douglas County Health Department.

“In this part of the climate, winter and spring are the peak season for mumps,” said health department nursing director Barbara Schnitker.

The number of cases is more than the county usually sees but still not unusual, Schnitker said.

Mumps is an acute viral disease that results in swelling and discomfort of the jaw. Fever and headache also can be present. Mumps is spread through direct contact with infected bodily fluids.

Individuals with swelling in the jaw area for two days or more without apparent cause should see a physician. An individual could be contagious seven days before swelling to nine days after, health experts said. People diagnosed with the mumps should stay home from school or work.

There has been one confirmed mumps case this year in Kansas and that was in Saline County, Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said.

There is another possible case in Norton County, she said. Typically Kansas has no more than three cases a year, she said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Mumps Cases Move into Nebraska

incoln – The Nebraska Health and Human Services System has confirmed several cases of mumps in Adams County. Potential cases in Jefferson County and Hamilton County are also being investigated.

Health officials say mumps is a highly contagious disease. Mumps is an infection of the salivary glands and is spread through coughing or sneezing or through direct contact with saliva or mucus.

The Iowa Department of Public Health confirmed 219 cases of mumps so far this year. Officials say the people with mumps in Adams County, Nebraska had connections to Iowa.

"It looks like mumps has basically crossed state lines," said Dr. Tom Safranek, Nebraska’s State Epidemiologist. "Mumps is something we haven’t seen for awhile. But it can be a nasty virus infection that lasts seven to 10 days."

According to Safranek:

Nebraskans under the age of 30 who followed the K-12 and college entry requirements have probably been vaccinated. Law requires two doses of the mumps (MMR) vaccine before a child can enter school or college.
Nebraskans over the age of 65 are likely to have natural immunity to the virus. Many in this age group may have gotten mumps as a child.
However, Nebraskans 30-65 years old may not have gotten the disease or the vaccine. This age group is most at risk for catching the virus.
Health officials say mumps vaccine isn’t usually targeted towards adults. However, healthcare providers may want to review their mumps vaccination status. Also, antibiotics are not an option because mumps is a viral infection. Officials say the best thing people can do to protect themselves is practice good hygiene, like covering your cough and sneezes and washing your hands.

Symptoms of mumps usually include:

Swollen glands under the jaw
Fever
Headache
"If you look like you have chipmunk cheeks because your glands are swollen or if you’ve been exposed to someone who’s had mumps and are feeling sick, you should give your healthcare provider a call," Safranek said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Polio on the rise again. Polio Vaccine not effective enough.

Nigeria's struggle to beat polio

In a small house in Nasarawa, a district of the northern Nigerian city of Kano, a mother mops the brow of her 18-month old boy called Osman.

The child has a fever and is crying.

Two days earlier he'd been diagnosed with Acute Flaccid Paralysis after he lost the use of one of his legs. Tests are expected to confirm that he too has polio.

His mother Jamilah says he's never been vaccinated because her husband refused to allow it.

"Please," she says, "don't let him become a cripple."

But it is probably too late. There is no cure for polio.

Outside the house it is easy to see how Osman contracted polio. Like many parts of Nigeria, there are open sewers running along the streets.

Children are everywhere playing games in the streets and running through the sewers. Polio is passed on through faeces. For every paralysed child there are 200 carriers.

On the rise

In most parts of the world three or four doses of polio vaccine, administered as a small baby, are enough to provide protection.

But in Nigeria there is so much polio virus around that children under the age of five have to be immunised over and over again.

 Even seven or eight times is not enough. This is very difficult to achieve.

Rates of non-compliance are high, and even though vaccination rounds are done several times a year children keep getting missed.

There have been some successes though.

In Nigeria polio is now largely confined to just eight states in the north of the country. But there the numbers of victims are rising, not falling.

Confirmed cases grew from 781 in 2004 to 801 in 2005. So far this year there have been 31 new polio victims and tests are awaited on 55 other suspected cases.

Nigeria now accounts for more than half the world's polio victims.

Training

In the classroom of a dilapidated school in Kano in the north, mothers sit at the desks, being trained in how to be a vaccinator.

A whole army is needed for the vaccination rounds, as teams of women go from door to door immunising children. They appear to know their stuff.

"It doesn't harm the child - it has no overdose," says one mother.

Another chips in: "It's a booster, to boost the immunity. Even if they take it a thousand times it won't harm them."

The rest of the class applaud.

In Nigeria only women can enter Muslim households if the husband is not present, so all the vaccinators are women, and they are paid a small amount of money for their time.

In parts of northern Nigeria more than 50% of the children have never been vaccinated against polio, and often their parents refuse to cooperate because of mistrust and suspicion.

For more than a year from mid-2003 the northern states stopped the vaccination programme altogether after rumours swept the country that the polio vaccine caused Aids and that it was all part of a western plot to sterilise Muslim girls.

Many still believe these scare stories and its one of the main reasons why people still refuse to vaccinate their children

Doors marked

Nafiu Baba Ahmed, Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, has 16 children and none of them have been immunised against polio.

"There are greater risks than polio," he says.

"I think either this is an imaginary thing created in the west or it is a ploy to get us to submit to this evil agenda."

The suspension if the immunisation programme was a disaster for those like the World Health Organization trying to eradicate polio.

In Nigeria polio cases exploded and 18 countries previously declared polio free were re-infected, all with virus originating from Nigeria. Now that vaccinations have restarted the fall-out is still being felt.

At six in the morning the vaccination teams start to assemble. They grab cold boxes and vials of vaccine are passed from battered old refrigerators to the boxes.

Slowly, amid the noise and the chaos, they move off heading for their designated areas.

On the streets they move from door to door, checking everywhere, and putting chalk marks on the walls to indicate where children have been vaccinated and where parents have refused.

They'll be revisited later in an attempt to win them over. Children who are immunised get a black mark on their little finger.

Sweeps

Most parents seemed to welcome the visitors and understand the need to vaccinate over and over again. But many were tired and harassed by the constant visitations. These sweeps take place several times a year.

One mother who had taken her children to the local health centre to be immunised refused to cooperate this time.

"I saw a poster in the health centre which said children need to be vaccinated four times," she said.

"My children have been vaccinated four times. Why do you people keep coming round month after month?"

Other parents ask why the concentration on polio?

"What about malaria?" they ask. "Malaria kills far more people than polio."

In other places there were problems with the vaccinators themselves. Many are not properly trained and some can't write.

Hardest battle

They are supposed to record immunisations and refusals on paper, but often when the paperwork is returned a 100% success rate is recorded, which experts say is impossible.

In one area there were large numbers of children out on the streets and almost all of them had not been vaccinated.

Later when the paperwork for the same area was checked, the team had claimed they'd successfully immunised almost all the children.

But WHO is confident that Nigeria will soon turn the corner and that the numbers of polio cases will start to decline later this year.

In world history only one disease, smallpox, has ever been completely eradicated.

Eighteen years ago, a deadline to get rid of polio was set for the year 2000.

We are now six years too late and the experts are finding that the last few skirmishes of the battle are the hardest ones to fight.

[Soldier4Christ]

Taiwan cleans up after strong earthquake


Taiwan's southeastern region of Taitung cleaned up on Sunday after a strong earthquake and a series of aftershocks hit the area. About 50 people sustained minor injuries.

A 6.4-magnitude quake hit the sparsely populated region of Taitung, 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of the capital, Taipei, on Saturday. An aftershock measuring 4.7 hit the area shortly afterward, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

About 50 people were treated at hospitals for minor injuries and later released.

Further tremors measuring 4.8 and 4.2 later struck the region, and more aftershocks were expected within the next two weeks, the bureau said.

Because the quake hit at a relatively limited depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), the tremor was felt on most of the island.

Damage reported

Reports surfaced of broken water pipes and power lines and people stuck in elevators, but the problems were solved by Sunday.

Cable stations on Sunday showed staff at supermarkets picking up goods strewn all over the floor and sweeping up broken glass.

Cracks appeared in the walls of Taitung city's main fire station and the building was evacuated, fire department official Huang Wen-hsu told reporters.

In the southern city of Kaohsiung, a brick wall around a military camp collapsed, but no injuries were reported.

Quakes frequently rattle Taiwan, but most are minor and cause little or no damage. However, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in central Taiwan in September 1999 killed more than 2,300 people.