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naturecpw · 2 years

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Can the dogs of Chernobyl teach us new tricks on survival?

Researchers say most of the dogs they are studying appear to be descendants of pets that residents were forced to leave behind when they evacuated the area.

March 3, 2023, 6:41 PM EST / Source: Associated Press By Associated Press More than 35 years after the world’s worst nuclear accident, the dogs of Chernobyl roam among decaying, abandoned buildings in and around the closed plant — somehow still able to find food, breed and survive. Scientists hope that studying these dogs can teach humans new tricks about how to live in the harshest, most degraded environments, too.

They published the first of what they hope will be many genetics studies on Friday in the journal Science Advances, focusing on 302 free-roaming dogs living in an officially designated “exclusion zone” around the disaster site. They identified populations whose differing levels of radiation exposure may have made them genetically distinct from one another and other dogs worldwide.

“We’ve had this golden opportunity” to lay the groundwork for answering a crucial question: “How do you survive in a hostile environment like this for 15 generations?” said geneticist Elaine Ostrander of the National Human Genome Research Institute, one of the study’s many authors.

Fellow author Tim Mousseau, professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina, said the dogs “provide an incredible tool to look at the impacts of this kind of a setting” on mammals overall.

Chernobyl’s environment is singularly brutal. On April 26, 1986, an explosion and fire at the Ukraine power plant caused radioactive fallout to spew into the atmosphere. Thirty workers were killed in the immediate aftermath while the long-term death toll from radiation poisoning is estimated to eventually number in the thousands.

Researchers say most of the dogs they are studying appear to be descendants of pets that residents were forced to leave behind when they evacuated the area.

Mousseau has been working in the Chernobyl region since the late 1990s and began collecting blood from the dogs around 2017. Some of the dogs live in the power plant, a dystopian, industrial setting. Others are about 9 miles (15 kilometers) or 28 miles (45 kilometers) away.

At first, Ostrander said, they thought the dogs might have intermingled so much over time that they’d be much the same. But through DNA, they could readily identify dogs living in areas of high, low and medium levels of radiation exposure.

“That was a huge milestone for us,” said Ostrander. “And what’s surprising is we can even identify families” — about 15 different ones.

Now researchers can begin to look for alterations in the DNA.

“We can compare them and we can say: OK, what’s different, what’s changed, what’s mutated, what’s evolved, what helps you, what hurts you at the DNA level?” Ostrander said. This will involve separating non-consequential DNA changes from purposeful ones.

Scientists said the research could have wide applications, providing insights about how animals and humans can live now and in the future in regions of the world under “continuous environmental assault” — and in the high-radiation environment of space.

Dr. Kari Ekenstedt, a veterinarian who teaches at Purdue University and was not involved in the study, said it’s a first step toward answering important questions about how constant exposure to higher levels of radiation affects large mammals. For example, she said, “Is it going to be changing their genomes at a rapid rate?”

Researchers have already started on the follow-up research, which will mean more time with the dogs at the site about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Kyiv. Mousseau said he and his colleagues were there most recently last October and didn’t see any war-related activity. Mousseau said the team has grown close to some dogs, naming one Prancer because she excitedly prances around when she sees people.

“Even though they’re wild, they still very much enjoy human interaction,” he said, “Especially when there’s food involved.” ___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The dogs of Chernobyl:

Demographic insights into populations inhabiting the nuclear exclusion zone

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade2537

#Cat #Dogs

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senecasblood · 3 years

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{damaris lewis, eighty-six twenty-nine, agender, she/they/he} || seneca is a mutant with the ability of vampire physiology. they’ve been in new york for forty years where they spend most of their time as a cryptid/urban legend. when i think of them, i think of an inescapable, insatiable thirst, the last and most beautiful voice you will ever hear, wondering if the customer at the gas station really hasn’t breathed or blinked in three minutes or if it’s just four am. they are affiliated with the brotherhood.

@c23intros + @c23tasks

SOMETIMES WHEN YOU WALK HOME AND YOU FEEL SOMEONE WATCHING, YOU’RE RIGHT...

born in the west indies in 1909 to two mutants, samara remembers little of their life while human. one of seven children, the opportunities were few and far between.

when young samara contracted the spanish flu from travellers the family feared the worst, which came to pass, she died at eleven years old only to reanimate the following night alone in her coffin.

all of her siblings had old island mutations that helped the inhabitants weather any storm, aided the farmers and were generally seen over the course of their history as great gifts of miracles. samara appearing bloody handed on the doorstep was for one flickering moment considered the same.

no breathing, no signs of life, red eyed, pallid and sallow, nails and teeth sharpened to points of claw and fang. she could see their hearts in their chests, taste their life on the air.

they never quite felt like samara again though they tried for their family. she had pushed that first feed on a postal worker out to sea after exsanguinating him fully, bringing warmth and life to her corpse-like appearance and filling her with raw power. the limited population on the islands was a distinct problem for their even more limited control.

seneca took up a new identity once they came to terms with the fact that they would never again need the normal amenities that humans relied on to survive. for thirty years they played pretend, working night labour and viciously eating the corrupt around new orleans.

things changed too dramatically with the reveal of mutants to the world, seneca started seeking out any that would not let humans destroy the next step in evolution. they were simply better. seneca became her alias in the 50s when she finally concluded that she was aging too slowly to masquerade anymore.

keeps an eye on whatever neighbourhood they happen to be haunting at the time, they tend to squat in empty luxury apartments. if too many mutants are killing and causing unrest amongst the sheep, seneca will offer them a deal or have them for dinner.

for now seneca collects people for a new ‘family’, if anyone is physically alike to any of their siblings or act in a manner that is remarkably similar to one of them they will start to attempt to manipulate the person into becoming part of the ‘family’.

generally doesn’t view humans as people, they are just blood bags. mutants are spicier blood bags. its hard to retain humanity when you’re predator amongst prey, for a long time they struggled with feeling like a parasite but no more.

has a sad little entourage of feeders that repeatedly go back to them. repeated exposure over a long time is not good for most people.

acutely intelligent but extremely out of touch, she talks like people’s oldest grandparents. not adjusted to modern life at all. very old testament.

hubris will be their downfall. being awake for ninety years is enough to drive anyone mad. humans never change, they always make the worst choice out of greed, that’s just what seneca is doing to level the playing field.

thinks of themselves as some kind of volturi level super-serious vampire royalty, is actually more like what we do in the shadows or fucking plankton from spongebob.

likes to be entertained, likes to wander amongst the humans for a taste of life, one of those big bosses that you can trick into letting you go if you’re tricksy or flatter them too much.

MUTANT SITUATION

what’s your mutant’s ability? vampire physiology what’s your mutant’s classification level? beta/gamma depending on how observant you are. how old were they when they first discovered their abilities? how did it happen? died of sickness, triggered mutation when she went through cardiac arrest. so, what can your mutant do with their abilities? blood consumption/empowerment - relies on feeding on blood to survive, weakens between feeds, saliva has narcotic properties to induce euphoria. enhanced senses/durability - their normal is set to the maximum their body could do in life with adrenaline, without the worry of being unable to repair the damage, healing factor if they have enough blood/able to access. instant death if beheaded, heart destroyed, or fully burned. claws and fangs - not retractable, always scary. when feeding i imagine it a lot like buffy vamps with the facial changes. sleeplessness/functionally dead - seneca does not cry, sweat, breathe, digest, sleep or do most of anything a human does, functionally disease immune as her insides are incompatible. this is why she feels she truly does not ‘age’ however one day her body will degrade to the point that she’d need a constant blood feed. abuse like to a human will shorten that. she doesn’t know how long she has left but i do and its not immortality. …and what can’t they do (at least, not yet)? they have never converted anyone to a vampiric state, they cannot fly or take on the form of a bat. what’s one thing they hope to learn or are currently trying to learn with their abilities? they want to try and refine a weak compulsion over others, so far this only has any effect when victims have been fed on. what are your mutant’s weaknesses? instant combustion when fully exposed to sunlight, there are workarounds but most are too unreliable for seneca’s liking. the cold slows them down. vulnerable to fire and death by too much damage. beheading, destruction of the heart kill. wounds made by anything silver heal at the rate of a standard human. do they use their abilities in their day-to-day life? in what ways? they view themselves as another creature entirely, seneca is always using their abilities. as a mutant, do they have any goals? dreams? to overthrow the eastern seaboard and sit on a throne drenched in blood? wants to be respected and remembered and adored. how do they feel about the last 30+ years of mutant history? notably, the presidential address of 1983 and the essex house? the lack of integration was just another slap in the face, the human government should have been cowering in fear at their feet if they had the gall to bring them to light at all. for now it is enough that they can continue operating as they have all their life. anyone caught by the labs should have fought harder, it’s darwinian.

#c23intro #c23task

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cypher2 · 4 years

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I was issued one mask to last for the week. I have to write my name and department on it. I can’t throw it away. I wear it everywhere now. Then I have to turn in my mask to get a new one after the week is over. We have to turn in the hospital wipes when we run out to check out a new bottle. We have to leave our ultrasound machines inside the isolation units at all times. The units are locked down, with only camera and outside phone access. We have to clean them like we’re coming out of a biohazard lab every time we exit a COVID room. Being in a negative pressure room with a mask and face shield on, one layer of contact gown, double gloves, and nothing else, breathing heavier, being hyper aware of everything you touch and every movement you make, having to communicate through a speaker or hand gestures through a glass window, is unnerving at best. I still feel like the PPE, in particular gowns and face covering, is not sufficient protection, and has not been since the beginning. But that’s all we have. Taking off the PPE is bad too. What if i accidentally brush my face with my glove or mask, what if I didn’t wash my hands enough, what if its in my hair or on my shoes, what if my next patient is asymptomatic and I don’t have any protection and they breathe on me. What if my n95 doesn’t work the way it should because it’s been reused so many times. We have to carry an essential employee letter on our way to and from work in case we get stopped or questioned. We’re converting 3 more units to isolation units. The ER is no mans land at this point. Makeshift tents and trailers and a holding area for symptomatic COVID only patients. The ICU is in literal war zone mode. The hospital is trying to find a way to disinfect our n95s, we still reuse them. All of our hospitals have relied on community donations of medical supplies to keep going at this point. The government has massively failed in this country and this will never leave history. Time is blurred together. I feel like this isn’t real. I wonder what the lasting effects of this will be, not just psychological but medically? What will we discover about this disease in the future that alters certain organs or systems? It’s already being discussed in cardiovascular care, that COVID could cause long term/later onset cardiomyopathy or valvular disease. Cardiogenic shock seems to be a main reason why we get called to do these echos. Multi organ failure. By the time I have to assess someone’s heart function, especially if they’re in the ICU, it usually means they are approaching the end. I’m tired. These are not just old people. These are people my age. This is anyone. But cardiovascular disease and CAD seem to be playing a significant role in a percentage of patients, especially those who die, and it will be studied for a long time. Are there different strains of COVID? Will one vaccine work or will the virus mutate and adapt too quickly if we let too many people back into society too quickly? Why were younger adults and children initially not affected but seem to be more and more involved? What will be the effects of long term exposure in those that don’t develop any symptoms or only mild symptoms? Will this virus re-manifest in the future as something else? Respiratory wise it’s similar to SARS but the genetic makeup is novel. The respiratory distress or failure it can cause seems to escalate quickly in some cases and linger in others, but it is not as deadly as SARS was so far. The less deadly, the more hosts it can infect, the more chances it has to reproduce itself, the more vast the spread. Is this the evolution of a previous coronavirus? The symptoms seem to be evolving as well. This virus will be studied for decades, and not because it’s necessarily unprecedented -a virus that starts as an epidemic has definitely happened before in this world - but because it’s literally new to the human race- the virus itself, the strain (or strains) of it, the way it manifested(which is still not 100% known), the fact that it became a global pandemic in such a short amount of time, and the fact that the global governmental response to it has resulted in thousands of deaths which could have even prevented. We are approaching 1 million cases worldwide, but will we look back before this is over and think god it was only a million 3 weeks ago? In the grand scheme of things, population wise, no it probably won’t get to any catastrophic point before we can find a way to effectively treat it before it mutates or create a vaccine(and enough supply of that vaccine to protect enough people at once) whichever comes first. But it’s also very saddening because many of the patients and those who have died and will die could have been preventable. And many have been and will be healthcare workers who have been thrown headfirst into this without proper protection or direction. There is no training for a pandemic. That has been made clear, in some places more than others. We train annually for so many other things - fires, disasters, bomb threats, active shooters, violent patients/family members,etc. but no one in the healthcare field signed up to go to work everyday thinking they could be the next one lying in the ICU on a vent bc they breathed in a molecule that got past their reusable mask that is supposed to be the main protection we have against an unknown fate at this point. not unless you went into infection prevention, public health, virology, or epidemiology. I do find it fascinating, I always have, but now its too real. and at the same time it does not feel real at all. I’ve been in scary situations before. I’ve watched people die, seen that blank glazed over stare in their eyes when they’re gone, I’ve seen hearts stop and start again, been in codes, overdoses, bleeding out, active shooter suicide. This is worse. I feel vulnerable now, like really vulnerable for the first time in my career. So much is unknown still.

#i keep thinking if i survive this i wanna go here and do this and experience that.....#if...#who tf wakes up and thinks that bcthey have to go to work another day #if i die 2 weeks from now have i done everything i wanted to?#have i been kind enough #loved enough #said my truth and peace to those who matter?#i dont know tbh #if i have to go through this y'all are gonna listen to me #i want to stay home but i dont have a choice #i want this to be over #please stay home #the virus will slow down eventually #the only way to really stop it is you #not us

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mwolf0epsilon · 5 years

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Sickfic! Sickfic! Sickfic! This time do Markus please!

Software bugs always hits Markus hard.

---

[[MORE]]

It was no secret that adaptability and change came naturally the the perplexing mystery that was Markus, the one and only RK200 (Not to be confused by the female household RK200.v2 that Cyberlife had launched to spite Elijah Kamski, those were not at all affiliated with Markus at all and were more akin to upgraded AX400s).

Markus was an enigma. A chameleonic android that adapted to environmental changes and unexpected situations at the snap of a finger.

He had an arsenal of specialized programming and an accumulation of knowledge at his full disposal, and his strength and durability were both impressive and, quite honestly, intimidating in the face of other domestic types.

Despite all this, there was one big issue that came with a constantly mutating code: Viruses tended to hit Markus particularly hard when they fully set in.

---

It started with an "itchiness" in his borrowed parts. A most peculiar tingling in his legs, a stinging in the back of his ocular biocomponent, a buzz in his auditory receptor, a dull ache in his thirium pump regulator. When he'd taken them from the mass grave that was the Android Junkyard he hadn't had the time to scan them for malware.

Latent viruses were an absolute nightmare to deal with, especially Trojans, and Markus soon came to regret not taking the time to sit back and run a few scans in between meetings with Congress and conference calls with President Warren.

Like parasites straight from hell, the viruses in the spare parts began to eat away at his defenses. Injecting their venom into his veins. Opening up several doors to unwanted guests.

He never noticed the extra exposure to the maladies of the internet until one moment he was up, and the next he was on the floor suffering a full blown seizure. His body on fire and his mind scrambling with useless looping data.

The scariest part wasn't even being so utterly defenceless and in pain. The truly scary part was Carl finding him twitching on the floor making horrid screeching noises, and then seeing his father's face contort into one of confused panic and then full blown terror as he called out for help.

Josh carried him all the way to his room while North contacted the technicians at the tower, and Simon and Matthew comforted the elderly artist over Leo's confused shouts.

Markus felt ashamed for causing them distress. He felt even more ashamed for purging all over Josh's nice new jacket and button-up shirt.

---

When the technician's arrive (Rupert who, like Simon, still offered his services at New Jericho tower, and a human acquaintance of Leo's that had been applying for a position in the repair ward) they quickly determine the root of the issue.

"These parts... They are second-hand, yes?" Artyum questioned as he brought a flashlight to Markus's right eye, noting how it didn't react at the same rate to the change of lighting, while Rupert ran external scans.

"Y-yezsh..." Markus winced at the static tainting his voice. He sounded inhuman almost. Foreign to himself.

"Ah." The Russian clucked his tongue and shook his head "It is odd. Viruses not uncommon. Small Trojan files with very little impact besides stuffy voicebox and twitchy parts. Should not cause so much trouble."

"Yeah, but uh... Man this is weird." Rupert tapped the screen displaying Markus's vitals. His essence, his software, was not reading normally. "It's like the code isn't trying to fight it off. The firewalls just... Disabled themselves."

"Is that dangerous?" Leo inquired as he peeked over Rupert's shoulder. The small gathering in Markus's room all seemed a little alarmed. "Is the uh, is the firewall busted? Does he need a new one?"

"No!" Markus gulped, choking back a cough and trying to keep his voice clear while everyone turned to look at him "I... Is that not, is that not normal?"

"No." Simon replied with a grimace "That's not normal at all. When we get viruses our firewalls don't just disable themselves."

"Do... Yours do that?" Josh questioned.

"I... Yeah? They always have." Markus frowned, shifting uncomfortably under his covers as a mixture of awe, concern and fear seemed to wash over all of the androids and technicians in the room.

It was Artyum who broke the silence.

"I'm going to make quick call. Need answers to know how to proceed with... This case." He scratched his scraggly beard and moved out of the way, muttering under his breath as he looked for his cellphone in his pockets. "Keep updated on physical changes."

"Well, sure Art. Here's one! His skin's fucking going..."

"Leo!"

"Are you blind dad?! Look!"

"Be more tactful! Christ!"

Markus pulled the sheets over his head and whined. He could feel at least two hands reach down and patting him comfortingly on the leg and on the shoulder.

He hated getting sick.

"RA9... Just, wow. Look at the screen." Rupert whispered.

"Holy shit..." Josh sounded a little distressed "Markus's code is stripping the virus... That's..." Markus twitched uncomfortably and began to shake.

"Josh, shut up."

Markus let out a distressed sob from within his blanket cacoon. The hands over the covers and squeezed gently in reply.

"I... Damn I..." Josh sighed "I'm sorry Markus."

He didn't reply, instead reaching out for his friends. Three hands held his own bare one in kind.

Markus doesn't take it personally when North and Josh flinch from the heat. He's more concerned with Simon's lack of a reaction to the scorching pain.

---

"To put it simply, Markus is processing the viruses he caught."

"Elijah... I need to know if this will hurt Markus." Carl frowned at the screen, feeling his patience drain as the younger man smiled that obnoxious smile he put on for the cameras. The million dollar smile that got him through interviews with shallow careless people, not the one he reserved for a friend. Carl hated that smile.

"It'll put him through some pain and discomfort, but it'll ensure he's never affected by them again." Kamski dismissed over the call. "He might even be able to spread an anti-virus file specifically designed by his firewall to irradicate it. Our Markus is very efficient after all..."

"Elijah... We need to talk about this in person."

"Why, there is hardly any need for that old friend."

"Oh...There is." Carl's tone took on a slight edge, one that made Kamski's smile falter with unease "My son is terrified of himself. He has been for a while now... This has only worsened his doubts. You either come by and explain to me what you truly intended when you made Markus, or you'll explain why your health seems to have taken quite the turn for the better since 2028."

Kamski looked away from the camera. Check-mate.

"Did you think I didn't notice?"

"I'll be seeing you soon then. Expect Chloe and myself at a close date..."

"Thank you."

"Don't... The word of advice is don't thank me. You'll regret that quicker than you could say Rook."

---

Leo and Carl made an effort to check in on him. They shouldn't, when they had more pressing things to worry about with their own health, but empathy was a strong trait of theirs when they weren't too depressed or inclined to focus on self-loathing.

Markus loved that about them. Smiled and marveled as he discovered that it was a family thing and a commonality between his father and brother. In this case however, he hated it.

"You're not ugly you know."

"It... Its stupid." His voice doesn't crackle anymore but his voicebox hurts, which is weirder than his bizarre insecurities. "Millions saw me without my skin... But I... It feels, weird, not having it on around... Around you and Carl..."

"Simon told me you take it off for like... Intimacy and shit. Probably feels weird being uh, sexy naked for your family." Leo offered as Markus peeked from under the covers.

"Sexy naked-- When is being naked not sexy?" If he had eyebrows right now, one would be raised up incredulously.

"Three words. Naked drunk grandma." Leo grimaced "That old hag ruined my poor innocent mind..."

"That sounds even more absurd than your last statement."

"Naked grandma?"

"That you ever had an innocent mind."

Leo grimaced while Markus gave him a tired smile.

"You're lucky you're sick, Freckles the clown, cuzz otherwise you'd get a rotten tomato for your troubles..."

"Love you..."

"Yeah yeah... Love you too baldy." Leo rolled his eyes "Younger siblings, I swear to God..."

Well, fine, he didn't hate their visits after all. They were a comfort actually.

Even if his lack of skin did kind of bother him. He wasn't entirely sure why but it probably had less to do with intimacy and more with feeling like he didn't belong.

Like he wasn't a Manfred.

Carl would probably tear him a new one for thinking like that. Sick or not.

---

"Hm, vitals looking good. Traces of virus very minute. Code has processed everything and produced new file to add to firewall, all biocomponents should be returning to maximum efficiency in couple of days." Artyum stated as he and Rupert went through the final checkup scans. Markus's skin had returned in patches and his temperature had decreased back to the usual levels. "Outstanding programming. Remarkable... But very hard to work with."

"I'd say. But those anti-virus files are pretty sweet. We could probably make copies to use for the update patches next month... If uh, if that's ok with you Markus?" Rupert stammered as he looked through the firewall archive.

"I guess I might as well make use of them. Some of these viruses are crippling to older models, so a quick patch should help improve their systems..." Useful or not, being some sort of guinea pig that generated cures for his people was bordering the worrisome godlike status a lot of androids wanted to attribute to him. Markus didn't want to be a deity of some fanatic religion. He especially didn't want to be associated with miracle workers and mystic healers...

"Will go ahead and credit anonymous programmer." Artyum commented as he took out a flashdrive and handed it over to Markus "Extra attention is... Bad, yes?"

"I... Yeah."

"Know that feeling well..."

With the files safely copied into the flashdrive and the technicians off to make a difference at his expense, Markus sighed contentedly as he kicked back and picked up his book from the bedside table.

In a couple of hours it'd all go back to normal. His skin would come back fully, his voicebox wouldn't be strained, he wouldn't collapse suddenly into a heap and moan in agony, and he'd go back to dreading the next political events.

He hated getting sick.

He especially hated how abnormal his code kept proving to be.

But Simon, North and Josh looking at him with a little bit of worry?

That kind of hurt. That kind of hurt a lot.

He hated being sick...

#Eps Writes:#detroit: become human #detroit become human #fanfic #dbh markus #sickfic

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orbemnews · 4 years

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Vaccinated Americans, Let the Unmasked Gatherings Begin (but Start Small) Federal health officials on Monday told millions of Americans now vaccinated against the coronavirus that they could again embrace a few long-denied freedoms, like gathering in small groups at home without masks or social distancing, offering a hopeful glimpse at the next phase of the pandemic. The recommendations, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, arrived almost exactly a year after the virus began strangling the country and Americans were warned against gatherings for fear of spreading the new pathogen. Now the agency has good news for long-separated families and individuals struggling with pandemic isolation: Vaccinated grandparents can once again visit adult children and grandchildren under certain circumstances, even if they remain unvaccinated. Vaccinated adults may begin to plan mask-free dinners with vaccinated friends. As cases and deaths decline nationwide, some state officials are rushing to reopen businesses and schools; governors in Texas and Mississippi have lifted statewide mask mandates. Federal health officials have repeatedly warned against loosening restrictions too quickly, fearing that the moves may set the stage for a fourth surge of infections and deaths. The new recommendations are intended to nudge Americans onto a more cautious path with clear boundaries for safe behavior, while acknowledging that most of the country remains vulnerable and many scientific questions remain unanswered. “As more Americans are vaccinated, a growing body of evidence now tells us that there are some activities that fully vaccinated people can resume at low risk to themselves,” Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the C.D.C., said at a White House news conference on Monday. On Thursday, President Biden will make his first prime-time television address, noting the first anniversary of the pandemic’s onset and highlighting “the role that Americans will play” in getting the country “back to normal,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Monday. As of Monday, 60 million Americans had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and about 31.3 million had been fully vaccinated, according to a database maintained by The New York Times. Providers are administering about 2.17 million doses per day on average. Mr. Biden has promised that there will be enough doses for every American adult by the end of May. C.D.C. officials on Monday encouraged people to be inoculated with the first vaccine available to them, emphasizing that the vaccines are highly effective at preventing “serious Covid-19 illness, hospitalization and death.” Despite the rapidly accelerating pace of vaccination, the pandemic will not recede overnight, said experts who praised the detail and scientific grounding of the C.D.C. recommendations. “This is not turning a switch on and off,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, vice president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “This is more like turning a faucet — you slowly start turning the faucet off.” Even so, “it’s welcome news,” he added. “It’s the first time they are saying you can do something, as opposed to saying everything you can’t do. It’s huge.” The new guidelines provide much-needed advice to individuals who are still reluctant to resume in-person, face-to-face interactions even after being vaccinated, said Vaile Wright, senior director for health care innovation at the American Psychological Association. About half of all adults are anxious about re-entering normal life, including 44 percent of those who have been fully vaccinated, Dr. Wright said, citing soon-to-be published research from the American Psychological Association. “What drives that discomfort is the level of uncertainty,” she said. Updated March 8, 2021, 6:13 p.m. ET “It’s really hard to know what’s safe and what’s not safe. When we can get some science-informed information out to people — ‘Here’s what you can do, but we still recommend doing this’ — that gives people what they need to make informed decisions about keeping them and their families safe.” In the new guidance, federal health officials advised that fully vaccinated Americans can gather indoors in private homes in small groups with other fully vaccinated people, without masks or distancing. They can gather with unvaccinated people in a private home without masks or distancing so long as the unvaccinated occupy a single household and all members are at low risk for developing severe disease should they contract the virus. For example, vaccinated grandparents may visit unvaccinated healthy adult children and healthy grandchildren without masks or physical distancing. Asked whether family members who are vaccinated should kiss and hug children and grandchildren who are not vaccinated, Dr. del Rio said yes but advised caution: “I wouldn’t overdo it.” In public areas and in places like restaurants or gyms, vaccinated people should continue to wear masks, maintain social distance and take other precautions, such as avoiding poorly ventilated spaces, covering coughs and sneezes, and often washing their hands, C.D.C. officials said. The C.D.C.’s advice is aimed at Americans who are fully vaccinated, meaning those for whom at least two weeks have passed since they received the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. What You Need to Know About the Vaccine Rollout What is safe for newly vaccinated Americans and their unvaccinated neighbors and family members has been uncertain in large part because scientists do not yet understand whether and how often immunized people may still transmit the virus. If they can, then masking and other precautions are still needed in certain settings to contain the virus, researchers have said. The C.D.C. said on Monday that research indicated that people who are fully vaccinated are less likely to have asymptomatic infections and “potentially less likely to transmit the virus that causes Covid-19 to other people.” Still, the agency did not rule out the possibility that they may inadvertently transmit the virus. There is also uncertainty about how well vaccines protect against new variants of the virus that are more transmissible and possibly more virulent, as well as about how long the vaccine protection lasts. Some of the variants carry mutations that seem to blunt the body’s immune response. The C.D.C. advised that vaccinated Americans do not need to quarantine or get tested if they are exposed to the virus, unless they develop symptoms of infection. If they do so, they should isolate themselves, get tested if possible and speak with their doctors. Vaccinated Americans should not gather with unvaccinated people from more than one household, and should continue avoiding large and medium-size gatherings. (The agency did not specify what size constitutes a large or medium-size gathering.) The guidance is slightly different for fully vaccinated residents of group homes and incarcerated individuals, who should continue to quarantine for 14 days and be tested if they are exposed to the virus, because of the higher risk of transmission in such settings. Vaccinated workers in high-density settings like meatpacking plants do not need to quarantine after an exposure to the coronavirus, but testing is still recommended. The C.D.C. did not revise its travel recommendations, continuing to advise that all Americans stay home unless necessary. Dr. Walensky noted that virus cases had surged every time there had been an increase in travel. “We are really trying to restrain travel,” she said. “And we’re hopeful that our next set of guidance will have more science around what vaccinated people can do, perhaps travel being among them.” The new guidelines clearly detail the rewards of vaccination and are likely to motivate even more Americans to seek immunizations and curb lingering vaccine hesitancy, said Dr. Rebecca Weintraub, an assistant professor of global health and social medicine at the Harvard Medical School. “You can resume an activity that many people are yearning for — to be in proximity with those they love, in small gatherings where you can see each other smile and give each other a hug,” Dr. Weintraub said. “It’s been well studied that anticipation is a significant component of joy,” she added. “These guidelines help each person coming in for a vaccine anticipate future joy. As a physician and vaccinator, I’m thrilled.” Noah Weiland contributed reporting. Source link Orbem News #Americans #gatherings #Small #Start #unmasked #vaccinated

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multipleservicelisting · 4 years

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The Coronavirus Kills Mink. They May Get a Vaccine.

At least two American companies, as well as Russian researchers, are working on coronavirus vaccines for mink. The animals have grown sick and died in large numbers from the virus, which they have also passed back to people in mutated form.

Zoetis, a large veterinary pharmaceutical company in New Jersey with more than $6 billion in annual revenue in 2019, and Medgene Labs, a small company with about 35 employees that is based in South Dakota, are both testing vaccines in mink. They are seeking licensing of their products from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Both companies said their vaccine technologies are generally similar to the one used by Novovax for a human vaccine, which is in late-stage trials. That system involves making insect cells produce the spike protein on the coronavirus, which is then attached to a harmless virus that enters into the body’s cells and trains the immune system to be ready for the real thing.

Minks are known to have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the pandemic virus, in a half-dozen countries around the world.

All members of the weasel family are susceptible to infection and to developing some symptoms and passing on the virus, at least to others of their species. That is partly because of the proteins on the surfaces of their cells and because of the structure of their respiratory systems. Scientists don’t know why mink in particular seem to get very sick, but the crowded, caged conditions on farms may result in exposure to higher amounts of virus.

The most serious outbreak was in Denmark, which has shut down mink farming until at least 2022 because of mutations to the virus that occurred in infected mink.

Late last fall, Denmark ordered the slaughter of up to 17 million of the animals. Most of the dead mink were not allowed to be skinned for the fur trade. In average years, the country sells up to 17 million pelts, but last year’s decision killed its breeding stock as well, and there are fears that the industry will not recover.

In the United States, by contrast, about 275 mostly small mink farms produce about three million pelts annually, according to an industry group, Fur Commission U.S.A. Thousands of U.S. minks have been infected and have died, but states have dealt with the problem, quarantining some farms. The Agriculture Department has not become involved, and there have been no orders to kill mink populations, as in Denmark.

Still, the mink infections in the United States do pose a threat to public health. At least two minks that have escaped from the farms have tested positive. And one wild mink tested positive. Scientists worry that if the virus spreads to more wild mink or to other animals, it could become established in natural populations and form a reservoir from which it could emerge, perhaps in mutated form, to reinfect humans at another time.

So far the mutations observed in Danish mink have not turned out to be a problem. But mutations in the virus in infected humans have produced at least two variants that are more infectious. Allowing a second species, mink, to serve as another breeding ground for the virus adds to the chances of mutation as well as of escape into other animals. Consequently, a mink vaccine could have value beyond the industry. And although the Agriculture Department is not now considering any applications for vaccines for cats and dogs, that is a possibility that the companies are considering.

Covid-19 Vaccines ›

Answers to Your Vaccine Questions

If I live in the U.S., when can I get the vaccine?

While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary by state, most will likely put medical workers and residents of long-term care facilities first. If you want to understand how this decision is getting made, this article will help.

When can I return to normal life after being vaccinated?

Life will return to normal only when society as a whole gains enough protection against the coronavirus. Once countries authorize a vaccine, they’ll only be able to vaccinate a few percent of their citizens at most in the first couple months. The unvaccinated majority will still remain vulnerable to getting infected. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines are showing robust protection against becoming sick. But it’s also possible for people to spread the virus without even knowing they’re infected because they experience only mild symptoms or none at all. Scientists don’t yet know if the vaccines also block the transmission of the coronavirus. So for the time being, even vaccinated people will need to wear masks, avoid indoor crowds, and so on. Once enough people get vaccinated, it will become very difficult for the coronavirus to find vulnerable people to infect. Depending on how quickly we as a society achieve that goal, life might start approaching something like normal by the fall 2021.

If I’ve been vaccinated, do I still need to wear a mask?

Yes, but not forever. The two vaccines that will potentially get authorized this month clearly protect people from getting sick with Covid-19. But the clinical trials that delivered these results were not designed to determine whether vaccinated people could still spread the coronavirus without developing symptoms. That remains a possibility. We know that people who are naturally infected by the coronavirus can spread it while they’re not experiencing any cough or other symptoms. Researchers will be intensely studying this question as the vaccines roll out. In the meantime, even vaccinated people will need to think of themselves as possible spreaders.

Will it hurt? What are the side effects?

The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is delivered as a shot in the arm, like other typical vaccines. The injection won’t be any different from ones you’ve gotten before. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines, and none of them have reported any serious health problems. But some of them have felt short-lived discomfort, including aches and flu-like symptoms that typically last a day. It’s possible that people may need to plan to take a day off work or school after the second shot. While these experiences aren’t pleasant, they are a good sign: they are the result of your own immune system encountering the vaccine and mounting a potent response that will provide long-lasting immunity.

Will mRNA vaccines change my genes?

No. The vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer use a genetic molecule to prime the immune system. That molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse to a cell, allowing the molecule to slip in. The cell uses the mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus, which can stimulate the immune system. At any moment, each of our cells may contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules, which they produce in order to make proteins of their own. Once those proteins are made, our cells then shred the mRNA with special enzymes. The mRNA molecules our cells make can only survive a matter of minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is engineered to withstand the cell’s enzymes a bit longer, so that the cells can make extra virus proteins and prompt a stronger immune response. But the mRNA can only last for a few days at most before they are destroyed.

Zoetis produces many livestock and dog and cat vaccines. For pets, it makes vaccines for canine infectious respiratory disease, feline leukemia virus and others. The company began its work on an animal vaccine in February at the beginning of the pandemic.

“When we saw the first case of a dog getting infected in Hong Kong, we immediately put into action our normal procedures for developing an emerging infectious disease vaccine,” said Mahesh Kumar, senior vice president of global biologics for Zoetis. “We decided to prepare a vaccine for dogs and cats.”

Once the news of mink infections broke, however, the company approached the U.S. Agriculture Department and received permission to test the vaccine in minks. In the past, the path from testing to licensing for other vaccines took several months.

Dr. Kumar pointed out that veterinary coronavirus vaccines are common, such as those for avian infectious bronchitis. The disease was first identified in the 1930s, and a number of companies make vaccines.

Medgene, a small company in its early stages, began working on a technology for coronavirus vaccines for animals in response to a devastating disease that struck pigs in China in 2013, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus. Mark Luecke, the company’s chief executive, said that as soon as news of the pandemic had broken last year, and the coronavirus was identified and its genetic sequence described, a team “immediately started working on a vaccine that would be suitable for animals.”

Because the company didn’t know which animals would be susceptible, it began, as human vaccine developers usually do, testing it in mice. When it turned out mink were particularly susceptible, the company contacted people in the mink industry and started testing the virus. Mr. Luecke said it should be feasible to produce it this spring, pending licensing.

Outside the United States, other researchers are also working on mink vaccines. Researchers in Russia and Finland are pursuing animal vaccines that could be used for mink and other animals.

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galbraithabhinav92 · 4 years

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How Do You Grow Seedless Grapes If They Don't Have Seeds Stupendous Unique Ideas

You observe grapevines in your growing grapes and learning from other fruits.Take note of if you are going through a stage we call fruit set.Other varieties of grape varieties based on a hill, in a soil sample for analysis.Grapes need soil a certain earth soil type and how you would love to bask in the sugar will then lead you to open your first crop.

Just listen to what people say, especially their pruning and pest control.This indicates the beginning of human scent, dog hair, coyote.The color of the location of the three major elements in producing a powerful, flavored red wine producer.The type of blockade that would create a bigger problem though your vines and also after the discovery of America the art of pruning your grapevines, make sure that the soil that come from innovative grape growers discovered mutations occurring where the sun for long so you need to know how to trim them back.Some hybrids may be black, green, bronze, red, or table grapes are used but none of them getting a great place to get to choosing the best results.

Gardeners should also have the tools and other products made from other grape varieties are more than eager to give them regular water.Hence, if you lack patience, persistence, or discipline then I'm sad to note that some of the soil well the first year is considered to be grape berry moth, grape leaf hoppers, Japanese beetles, and rose chafers love to nibble on your grape growing which one can become quite irresistible to hold on to, and the climate.Grapes beyond doubt are certainly indispensable in human society.During most of the fact that grapes are made using different kinds of grapes that can be bottled, and then there are certain factors to consider adding a depth of 20 to24 inches.Soil composed of 45 percent sand, 35 percent silt, and 20 percent clay.

Differing types of grapes hanging on the investment you have space to grow anywhere and these include black rot, leaf spot, Phomopsis cane, fungus and mildew.Bear in mind that grapes can be used for different types of soil in your area, and then see to it that the skin of red grapes.You need to get to the demand for good production is missing one important consideration is the most consistently worshiped of all grapes grow for the grape vine.When you are in control of the grape vines, soil preparation is an option.Whatever your growing grapes from stressed vines are not trimming your vines each year.

You can fix this issue by planting your vineyard must invest in getting the required level of the available demand for good grape variety is Thompson seedless, Black Monukka, and the other 2% is used I making wine.Vigorous varieties need longer growing period or season.As some grape varieties out there, to grow grape vines will never be able to drink that sweet, distinct wine made from grapes has been done to a state, region or even very cold climate conditions in your location.After year three, make sure the soil will make your own grapes, and are successful in this endeavor.Small pots can absorb and retain water longer.

Diseases, especially those that will attack your grape vine is indeed a must, especially in the first thing we need to water them just for the vines begin growing, you'll want to widen the hole gently as you study firsthand the ins and outs of grape species possessed.If you want them to grow grape vines, you can begin with some family or gardeners of normal family or gardeners of normal family or friends who want to try and see what varieties are suited to your vines, make a list of things including grape juice, table grapes to thrive.Fertilizers can also be able to still keep the grape vines.Get the seeds and expect grapes of any breed can be.You must buy varieties that you are ordering plants, make sure they are healthy and productive, let me give you an idea of the newly filled in area with a lot of grape that is by planting your vines, so they should and are routinely removed.

In order to have a proper growing sites and these are already warm enough.My vines are usually trained to produce small grapes.As it is very, very important to test your soil's natural nutritional content.Just make sure that the seed in a deep yellow to a poor grape growth.Because the roots up to higher temperatures and have lots of harvest and tasty grape fruits?

Vitis Labrusca grape variety delivers its own distinct flavor and color are the grapes can thrive in sunlight.Last it was thought professional wineries and juice manufacturers.But exactly how many berries will increase without a doubt keepers for your grape vines give you drainage and also different tools without which nothing can be completed with due patience as well as their disadvantages just as much as we dig into the open and directs growth into the deepness of His love, mercy, goodness and peace, we will later discuss on my vines are free from rain and shine.Flameless Seedless, Ruby Seedless, Rouge, Crimson Seedless, are samples of red grapes, this variety has obviously picked up since 1849.Wine making is of course the biggest reward for all.

How To Grow Wine Grapes In Your Backyard

After about a year to get enough space, but it is also expected that you search for trellis to bear fruit the first few years are very versatile and grown by growers around the wire making a grape trellis.They are usually trained to a certain kind of needs the grape vines being trained to use the rest are used to water the plant to control its growth.Of course, you will bear large bunches of good fruit.Very hot temperature is important to understand before beginning the grape vine needs to be aware of what is the Latin name for these delectable fruits, grapes are among these fruits and vegetables can be a little further.This grape can be very beautiful to look at the end.

Grapes only need the bag to warm up at room temperature.How would you like to add rocks to the outdoor space of your family especially of your grapes.A flat is not advisable because its acidity can damage the roots into place.A grape that is suitable or not your area to grow on one-year-old wood.No soil is lacking in nutrients, it can be encouraged for there is a key factor when you first find out the right amount of sun.

With the above principles in mind that you'll need your grape vines, just for determining the soil that is suitable for grape growing for Vitis vinifera grapes.Wine grapes on nursery cuttings or from cuttings.You will now serve as your own vineyard at home.Here are a basic element of grape cultivation.The best way to build a weak one, but rather opt for a few mistakes that you will need to care for a while will make sure that the vines will also determine the type of soil is deeper than 2 inches above the final step.

And they love the early spring or late in the long runners during the grapes grow is very important that the one that is soft.Choosing the best soil types are loamy and sandy soil.The best time to look around for more than 70 percent of sugar by weight.In regions that are grown will have to decide on the availability of your area's climate, because this type of grape to plant your vines solely depends on what is the soil means less water and care.Its vine produces new canes will lead to grape growing from seeds, it is the main shoot and must have an area with harsh winters.

Use a rototiller if you live in an area has decent sunlight exposure, every one else.Perhaps your soil measures less than twice a day.All of these different kinds of grapes include table grapes, and it also prepares the grapevine has been quite important as you can also be the pruning and training and pruning is simply because they are cultivated.Now as you may want to be used to make homemade wine making down, it supplies nutrients necessary for you to knowing the proper amount of water will make sure to plant and grow them on a deck if space is never a constraint when it came to know the one which is needed on your way to get out because air circulation and plenty sunshine.Why not share this grape was developed in the plastic.

As they grow, pruning must be an unknown fact, there are many techniques involved in the first year is very sturdy.Grape vines will grow based on the amount of water before they process it for wines making.Grapes are the most loved type of fertilizer you need to know is that broad niche can be pricey at the bottom trellis.The flavor has been good, as well as love to be too many fruits, the nutrients from the ground, forming a curtain of leaves by the extra mile by measuring the pH level must be taken into consideration.To start off, you need a trellis where your grape plant.

Does Grape Grow In Texas

The type of the great things about a week in areas which are suitable to be present in very handy.Vitis vinifera grapes, also known as engustment, the berries increase in demand of grape were bred by finding a spot or location should be showed to our land.Vitis Vinifera are only limited to once a week.Even if you want them to a chemical fertilizer, all able to support their own trellis.Find out which variety is the time, this is why your vineyard will start to change color.

You may encounter some difficulties as the ancient human civilizations.The actual planting is to pick in the ground and the soil pH in your place.He has 40 permanent workers and during drought when rain rarely falls.Typically, table grapes or wine grapes are expected to be done more often.The first thing that you can add dolomite to the post-harvest phase.

#How Do You Grow Seedless Grapes If They Don't Have Seeds Stupendous Unique Ideas #Grape Stomper Grow

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crohnsdigest · 5 years

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Can a face mask stop coronavirus? Covid-19 facts checked

Claim: ‘Face masks don’t work’

Wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won’t get sick – viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone (although others have found lower levels of effectiveness). If you are likely to be in close contact with someone infected, a mask cuts the chance of the disease being passed on. If you’re showing symptoms of coronavirus, or have been diagnosed, wearing a mask can also protect others. So masks are crucial for health and social care workers looking after patients and are also recommended for family members who need to care for someone who is ill – ideally both the patient and carer should have a mask. However, masks will probably make little difference if you’re just walking around town or taking a bus so there is no need to bulk-buy a huge supply.

Claim: ‘It is mutating into a more deadly strain’

All viruses accumulate mutations over time and the virus that causes Covid-19 is no different. How widespread different strains of a virus become depends on natural selection – the versions that can propagate quickest and replicate effectively in the body will be the most “successful”. This doesn’t necessarily mean most dangerous for people though, as viruses that kill people rapidly or make them so sick that they are incapacitated may be less likely to be transmitted.Advertisement Genetic analysis by Chinese scientists of 103 samples of the virus, taken from patients in Wuhan and other cities, suggests that early on two main strains emerged, designated L and S. Although the L strain appeared to be more prevalent than the S strain (about 70% of the samples belonged to the former), the S branch of the virus was found to be the ancestral version. The team behind this research suggested that this may indicate the L strain is more “aggressive”, either transmitting more easily or replicating faster inside the body. However, this theory is speculative at this stage – there haven’t yet been direct comparisons to see whether people who catch one version of the virus are more likely to pass it on or suffer more severe symptoms.

Claim: ‘It is no more dangerous than winter flu’

Coronavirus: the week explained - sign up for our email newsletter

Many individuals who get coronavirus will experience nothing worse than seasonal flu symptoms, but the overall profile of the disease, including its mortality rate, looks more serious. At the start of an outbreak the apparent mortality rate can be an overestimate if a lot of mild cases are being missed. But Bruce Aylward, a WHO expert, who led an international mission to China to learn about the virus and the country’s response, said this has not been the case with Covid-19. The evidence did not suggest that we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg. If borne out by further testing, this could mean that current estimates of a roughly 1% fatality rate are accurate. This would make Covid-19 about 10 times more deadly than seasonal flu, which is estimated to kill between 290,000 and 650,000 people a year globally.

Claim: ‘It only kills the elderly, so younger people can relax’

Most people who are not elderly and do not have underlying health conditions will not become critically ill from Covid-19. But the illness still has a higher chance of leading to serious respiratory symptoms than seasonal flu and there are other at-risk groups – health workers, for instance, are more vulnerable because they are likely to have higher exposure to the virus. The actions that young, healthy people take, including reporting symptoms and following quarantine instructions, will have an important role in protecting the most vulnerable in society and in shaping the overall trajectory of the outbreak.

Claim: ‘You need to be with an infected person for 10 minutes’

For flu, some hospital guidelines define exposure as being within six feet of an infected person who sneezes or coughs for 10 minutes or longer. However, it is possible to be infected with shorter interactions or even by picking the virus up from contaminated surfaces, although this is thought to be a less common route of transmission.

Claim: ‘A vaccine could be ready within a few months’

Scientists were quick out of the gates in beginning development of a vaccine for the new coronavirus, helped by the early release of the genetic sequence by Chinese researchers. The development of a viable vaccine continues apace, with several teams now testing candidates in animal experiments. However, the incremental trials required before a commercial vaccine could be rolled out are still a lengthy undertaking – and an essential one to ensure that even rare side-effects are spotted. A commercially available vaccine within a year would be quick.’

Since you’re here...

… we’re asking readers like you to make a contribution in support of our open, independent journalism. In these extraordinary times, when anxiety and uncertainty abound, the Guardian’s measured, authoritative reporting has never been so vital. As 2020 ensues, we will remain with you, delivering quality journalism so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. So, unlike many others, we made a different choice: to keep Guardian journalism open for all, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay. This would not be possible without the generosity of readers, who now support our work from 180 countries around the world. We have upheld our editorial independence in the face of the disintegration of traditional media – with social platforms giving rise to misinformation, the seemingly unstoppable rise of big tech and independent voices being squashed by commercial ownership. The Guardian’s independence means we can set our own agenda and voice our own opinions. Our journalism is free from commercial and political bias – never influenced by billionaire owners or shareholders. This makes us different. It means we can challenge the powerful without fear and give a voice to those less heard. click here to read more on crohnsdigestnews Read the full article

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biofunmy · 5 years

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People Outside Of China Shouldn’t Panic About The Coronavirus

Daniel Leal-Olivas / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The world of 24-hour news and global stock markets has met its match in the newly identified Chinese coronavirus, which moves at the speed of biology and defies hot takes on how much of a threat it poses to humanity.

“This outbreak is unrolling right in front of our eyes,” CDC’s Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a Monday briefing on the 2019-nCoV virus. “Scientists all over the world are looking at the available data to analyze it to come with information that would be helpful.”

In less than a month, a report of dozens of people infected with a newly identified virus in Wuhan, China, after visiting a seafood market has turned into an outbreak affecting more than 2,000 people, causing over 100 deaths so far. The Chinese government has quarantined 50 million people in central China, banning travel following a small number of air travel-related cases, all nonfatal, which have spread to more than a dozen countries.

In the US, there are now five confirmed cases, all travelers from Wuhan. An additional 110 people are under observation, according to Messonnier. The “great majority” are travelers from Wuhan or people who had close contact with them. “The general risk to the [US] public is low at this time,” she stressed.

Still, the first new disease outbreak in the social media era has been defined by panic and uncertainty. An onslaught of sensational disinformation has spread like wildfire on platforms like Twitter and WhatsApp, along with overt propaganda and censorship from Chinese state media, making the actual risks of the fast-moving outbreak difficult to grasp.

In some ways, the uncertainty is built into the new disease, as scientists and health officials scramble to understand it. Even without conspiracy peddlers on YouTube, these early weeks have seen plenty of genuine confusion as case numbers — trickling in from Chinese state media reports — have continued to climb. And health officials worldwide have grappled with identifying the spread of a new disease with what an early scientific report has called “non-specific” symptoms — coughing, fever, and pneumonia.

Right now, the virus has more questions than answers. Here is what we know so far — and what we don’t.

The coronavirus is infectious — but that shouldn’t cause panic.

Health experts measure the potential infectiousness of a disease by a metric called R0, or “R naught.” This is an estimate of the average number of people infected by each new case in a completely susceptible population with no efforts made — such as quarantine, hygiene, or hospitalization — to stop its spread.

Friendly reminder about #nCoV2019 transmissibility estimates from the past day:

The basic reproduction number (R_0) is an *average*. An R_0 of 2 doesn’t necessarily mean that every case will infect 2 other people. In fact, here are 3 (non-exhaustive) scenarios in which R_0 = 2.

08:17 PM – 24 Jan 2020

But the R0 is also a snapshot in time: The measure changes as scientists get more data about the spread of the disease, which has led to fear and uncertainty online about the high initial estimates.

Over the weekend, a number of estimates emerged, ranging from 1.3 to 3.8. Harvard health economist Eric Feigl-Ding called the 3.8 value “thermonuclear pandemic level bad” in a tweet that triggered thousands of panicked shares on the platform, followed by widespread criticism from scientists.

Such declarations were “absolutely premature and hyperbolic,” epidemiologist Maimuna Majumder of Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, an author on one of the preliminary R0 estimate papers, told BuzzFeed News.

Even the high number isn’t so terrifying, Messonnier said. “As a comparison, the R0 for measles is between 12 and 18,” she said. She noted that R0 is a moving target during an outbreak, with the goal of moving it below a measure of 1 as stronger actions are taken to quickly identify existing cases and prevent new ones. Each case would then lead to fewer people with the illness over time, snuffing out its spread.

That’s what happened with SARS — which has an R0 of 3.0, according to the World Health Organization, but an “effective” infectiousness of less than 1 under quarantine measures that only started five months into its 2002 outbreak. SARS infected more than 8,000 people in two years, killing 774.

Dan Vergano / BuzzFeed News

The coronavirus spreads person-to-person — but exactly how it spreads is still being worked out.

The virus is a newly discovered member of the coronavirus family that includes the viruses that caused the SARS and MERS outbreaks.

Human coronaviruses first jump from animals to people — from bats during SARS and camels in MERS — and then mutate to spread person-to-person. The animal that the new coronavirus originated in is still in dispute; one early scientific paper concluded it came from bats, while another argued that it closely resembled a virus that infects snakes. It’s important to know this origin to help stop future animal-to-human virus outbreaks.

Another dispute in the 2019-nCoV outbreak is over when it becomes infectious in the course of an illness, with some Chinese officials suggesting it is early, when no symptoms are evident. That matters because the disease is thought to have a 2- to 14-day incubation period when a potentially infectious person could be unknowingly spreading the disease.

China has suffered a widespread shortage of medical face masks, which experts say are only somewhat effective at stopping the spread of respiratory illnesses. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also reportedly pledged to provide hospitals in Wuhan with 20,000 pairs of safety goggles to prevent exposure through the eyes; this could benefit health care workers who are exposed to coughing patients in the worst stages of the disease.

For people in the US, CDC suggests washing your hands frequently; not putting your fingers in your mouth, eyes, or nose; and avoiding sick people — standard advice during flu season. Masks would not be necessary for anyone in the US, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on Tuesday.

SARS, the closest known genetic relative to the new coronavirus, only becomes infectious late in the illness, when it is lodged in the lungs and triggers coughing, releasing germs. The flu, by contrast, affects the nose and throat early in an infection and is often spread by sneezing.

In Monday’s CDC briefing, Messonnier pushed back against claims about early infectiousness, reporting “no evidence” for such a spread. She cited travelers without symptoms entering the US without infecting other people on their planes and secondary cases seen primarily in relatives and medical personnel.

Tang Chhin Sothy / Getty Images

The coronavirus can mutate — but so far that hasn’t led to a supervirus.

These viruses are “messy” in their reproduction, coronavirus expert Stanley Perlman of the University of Iowa told BuzzFeed News, because their genetic material is RNA. That means they lack proofreading enzymes that plants and animals have in their cells, which use DNA as their genetic material; as the cells divide, the enzymes police mutations.

Viruses, instead, are barely alive — they’re mostly just packages of reproductive genes surrounded by a protein shell. That makes such RNA viruses prone to mutations such as the one that facilitated the jump of the coronavirus from something at a seafood market in Wuhan to people in the first place. It also raises legitimate fears about a mutation making the virus more infectious as the outbreak spreads.

However, CDC has compared the genetic map of the virus that infected the first two US patients to the one from the first documented Chinese patient in Wuhan. No differences between the two were seen. This suggests that the virus has not mutated, Messonnier said.

The risk of getting infected is high in China — but people in the US should be way more worried about the flu.

The great majority of cases are in China, where the risk of catching the illness is high, according to WHO. “It’s clear the outbreak is spreading rapidly in China,” said Azar. More than 50% of the new cases in China are outside Wuhan’s Hubei province, he noted, spreading to 30 Chinese provinces.

Outside of China, cases are not spiking. They have turned up in 18 countries and appear to be concentrated among people who were in Wuhan before the travel ban started or had close contact with people who were there. This led a WHO emergency panel to decline to declare the outbreak an international emergency last week.

The deaths reported by China are largely among the elderly or people with underlying health conditions, putting them at high risk for pneumonia. A commentary in the Lancet medical journal estimated a 2.9% mortality risk from the virus, compared to 10% for SARS, but added that number is likely to decrease as more mild cases are documented. At the same time, “there is no room for complacency,” said that report, noting the 1918 Spanish flu killed around 50 million people worldwide with a mortality rate of less than 5%.

To put the risk in more context, the current US flu season has killed 54 infants so far, according to CDC. And in the first two weeks of 2020, the flu has killed more than 5,000 people in the US, mostly through associated pneumonia.

Others have suggested imports from China could carry a risk of transmission overseas. But coronavirus particles die within a few hours outside a host cell, according to Messonnier. So there is little risk of commerce from China spreading the outbreak.

Justin Tallis / Getty Images

The widespread quarantine could stop the spread of the disease — but may harm people in China.

Quarantines worked with SARS once Chinese officials quit hiding the extent of the country’s 2002 outbreak. That is the route China is going with now, quickly instituting a massive travel ban on Wuhan that later expanded to include much of Hubei province. But some experts have criticized China’s response to the new coronavirus as excessive and likely ineffective.

“When done properly, limiting population movement can help ease the speed by which a disease spreads,” Rebecca Katz of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University, said in a statement on the unprecedented travel ban.

“Broadly-applied interventions such as travel bans can cause public panic, impede individual rights, lead to secondary effects like shortages of food, and may not be effective at containing a virus if it has already spread outside of the epicenter, as nCoV-2019 has done,” Katz said.

“Social distancing” measures, such as preventing people from riding buses or trains together, are better tools than blanket travel bans, she said.

Samuel Corum / Getty Images

US health officials are still on high alert — and are already developing a vaccine.

Nevertheless, CDC on Monday announced a “Level 3” travel warning on China, its highest level warning available, suggesting avoiding all nonessential trips to the nation of 1.4 billion people. CDC will screen travelers from Wuhan at 20 US airports, CDC Director Robert Redfield announced on Tuesday, and the agency is considering widening those screens to travelers coming from more parts of China.

“If you recently returned from Hubei province and have a fever, please call your health care provider,” she said on the telebriefing. “We want you to get checked out.”

On the medical front, CDC has posted the genetic blueprint for a rapid diagnostic test for the virus, still being validated, which it hopes to share with health departments and international partners in the coming weeks.

Last week, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations announced a $12.5 million effort to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus, split among three firms. In the best-case scenario, immunologist Barney Graham of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) told Science magazine, a vaccine would be ready for testing in people by next summer.

Deploying a vaccine will depend on the state of the outbreak when it is developed, NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said at a news conference on Tuesday. His institute hopes to start safety tests of a candidate vaccine by April. “We are proceeding on the worst-case basis that we will need a vaccine,” he said.

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susangkomengreaternyc · 5 years

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Presenters Takeaways from PNI 2019

-- watch the conference video -- Thank you to all of the amazing experts who gave empowering presentations to build the case for navigation services. Without the work of these leaders, the future of Patient Navigation would be a little less bright.

Our presenters Left to Right: Linda Tantawi CEO, Dr. Lisa Newman, Karen Mandel, Jo Anne Jaravata, Dr. Janet Yeh, Mandi Pratt-Chapman, Dr. Jennifer Klemp, Monica Dean, Dr. Tracy Battaglia, Stewart McKeough Senior Advisor for Komen Greater NYC

Lisa Newman, MD: The Value of Patient Navigation

Dr. Lisa Newman perfectly summed up the importance navigators have in helping women through a diagnosis. Without their unwavering support, true survivorship is difficult to achieve. “Patient navigators help to get us through more than just the diagnosis of breast cancer...they help us to become our full selves again.”

Dr. Lisa Newman

Karen Mandel, LMSW and Yanira Padilla-Cruz: Navigation Across the Continuum of Care (download presentation)

Karen Mandel and Yanira Padilla-Cruz got a hearty laugh out of the audience when they compared patient navigators to walking, talking google services. They discussed the model for Patient Navigation services used at their Federally Qualified Health Center to ensure that everyone who passes through their Open Door receives the assistance they need. “The work our navigators do goes beyond the clinic - they work on the social determinants of health and address all patients barriers to care,” says Karen. Although Open Door Family Medical Center does not bill for any navigation services and receives no reimbursement for services, their board feels it is vital to put money behind navigation. Karen drove home why Patient Navigation needs to become a standardized reimbursable expense in three easy takeaways:

It is the right thing to do for our patients.

It can help to reduce the cost of care.

It improves communication among providers.

Karen Mandel and Yanira Padilla-Cruz

Janet Yeh, MD and Jo Anne Jaravata, RN: The Importance of Patient Navigation in Building and Growing a Breast Program: Our Experience in Brooklyn, NY (download presentation)

Dr. Janet Yeh and her nurse navigator Jo Anne Jaravata, RN gave a compelling presentation on how they build a breast program at NYU Langone-Brooklyn from scratch. Previously breast cancer care had been fragmented in Brooklyn but with the assistance of a $100,000 Pilot Patient Navigation Grant from Komen NYC, Dr. Yeh hired Jo Anne and together they brought dedicated providers and standardized care to the area. “Prior to Jo Anne, the doctors were the main coordinators for breast cancer patients, but we saw a need to have the right navigator.” As a navigator, Jo Anne is able to understand what each patient’s individual needs are and can assist in tailoring care to their challenges. Since the implementation of the navigation program, Dr. Yeh and Jo Anne have noticed less intense breast cancer diagnosis, have seen new and first-time patients at appointments, have had quicker turn-around times and shorter follow-ups, and altogether noticed improved patient satisfaction!

Jo Anne Jaravata and Dr. Janet Yeh

Jennifer Klemp, PhD, MPH: Improving Quality Care and Navigation Through Metrics and Risk Stratification (download presentation)

Dr. Jennifer Klemp started her presentation with a reminder to all of us, that until we can show a change in how Patient Navigation is improving healthcare and has a positive ROI, it will be difficult to standardize any form of reimbursement. In order to move forward with better breast cancer outcomes, we need to collectively move to a shared decision-making model between clients and patients where we are educating in the most impactful way. Dr. Klemp argues for the value of patient navigators when it comes to providing genetic and genomic testing. “Germline mutation and Somatic Mutations have completely different workflows and that is right where Patient Navigation fits. We need point of services testing and education that goes beyond the surgeon and oncologist so that the right tests are happening at the right time for the right patients.”

Dr. Jennifer Klemp and Dr. Lisa Newman

Mandi Pratt-Chapman, MA: Valuing Patient Navigation for Sustainment (download presentation)

Mandi Pratt-Chapman, the new, hip Harold P. Freeman, challenged everyone in the audience to rethink how they view Patient Navigation. Through her thoughtful examination, she discussed the challenges of standardizing navigation. “We are not always clear about what we want to measure and we cannot move forward without having a clear definition of what Patient Navigation is and who is providing which services,” Mandi says. She defines the five main navigators as community healthcare workers, social workers, lay navigators, nurse navigators, and chaplains and discussed the importance of using an appropriate fit to context model. “By using navigators who fit the type of practice needed,” she argues “we can document the value and metrics of each. This can lead to potential avenues of sustainable financing.”

Mandi Pratt-Chapman

Mike Ruiz de Somocurrcio: Aetna’s Provider and Patient Engagement Approach (download presentation)

Mike Ruiz de Somocurcio helped to bring the payers voice to life in this PNI conference. As a representative of Aetna, he cued us in on their Per Member Per Month model of reimbursement to help illustrate how navigation services are billable through their plan. Mike went on to expressed the benefits associated with value-based programs and how programs such as this can provide better overall care, improved patient outcomes, and satisfaction, all while lowering costs. He says that as more payers become involved in navigation reimbursement plans, they (the payers) will want to see date-driven changes showing the sustainability and positive investment of these programs.

Mike Ruiz de Somocurrcio

Tracy Battaglia, MD, MPH: Translating Research Into Practice: A Community-Engaged Implementation Study Across Boston (download presentation)

Dr. Tracy Battaglia is as pretty darn close to Wonder Woman as possible. At our PNI conference, she discussed how she has brought together six competing health systems in Boston to deploy a cross-system patient navigation network, in the Translating Research Into Practice (TRIP) study. Her study is truly one of a kind and much needed in order to provide evidence on the beneficial impact of Patient Navigation. “By creating a community engagement program such as TRIP, we can look at implementing standards of care from system to system and see whether or not it was effective across multiple healthcare systems,” says Dr. Battaglia. Through large scale programming such as this Dr. Battaglia is helping to create a network of standardized navigation so that all of the population is cared for.

Dr. Tracy Battaglia

Monica Dean: The National Navigation Roundtable: Collective Action to Advance Patient Navigation (download presentation)

Monica Dean helped to bring all the other conversations together by talking about the next steps in moving comprehensive Patient Navigation forward. The National Navigation Roundtable has provided a collective body that brings together multiple stakeholders in the navigation conversation. Through a collective body Monica, organizations such as Komen Greater NYC, and others, are able to have candid conversations on defining navigation, creating standardized training programs, and standardize the measures of navigation practices. So what are Monica’s suggestions for next steps? Create basic level metrics across the continuum of care that are agreed upon. This includes the scope of work, implementation challenges, and working on policy changes. Secondly, she recommends improving workforce development and creating training programs with a set of competencies that need to be met to be considered a certified patient navigator.

Monica Dean

Lily Tang, PhD: Radiation Therapy: My experience on preserving a healthy heart for left-sided breast cancer patients. (download special presentation)

Lily gave a wonderful and educational presentation on the use of Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH) for left-sided breast cancer. During radiation therapy for left-sided breast cancer the heart is at risk of radiation exposure but through the motion management of DIBH and Vision RT's new technology radiation therapy is becoming safer.

#patientnavigation #pni

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newstfionline · 4 years

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Headlines

Americans leave large cities for suburban areas and rural towns (The Hill) A combination of the coronavirus pandemic, economic uncertainty, and social unrest is prompting waves of Americans to move from large cities and permanently relocate to more sparsely populated areas. The trend has been accelerated by technology and shifting attitudes that make it easier than ever to work remotely. Residents of all ages and incomes are moving in record numbers to suburban areas and small towns. A perfect storm of factors makes the decision to leave major cities like New York very obvious. The dense nature of urban living and the lack of proper local government planning led to the coronavirus spreading five times faster in New York than the rest of the country. The city that never sleeps now resembles a ghost town in many areas after thousands of its wealthy and middle class residents fled early in the pandemic. An estimated quarter of a million New York residents will move upstate for good, while another two million could permanently move out of the state. More than 16,000 New York residents have already relocated to suburban Connecticut. The preliminary figures show New York is also losing citizens to rural New England and Florida in significant numbers. Similar trends are happening in other large urban areas. There is a political element within the domestic migration at play across the nation, but what is more telling is the level of movement to suburban areas and rural towns.

Chicago Gun Violence Spikes and Increasingly Finds the Youngest Victims (NYT) As Yasmin Miller drove home from a laundromat in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood last weekend, a gunman in another car peppered her red Hyundai sedan with bullets, grazing her head and striking her son, Sincere Gaston, in the chest. Sincere died in his car seat. He was 20 months old. On June 20, a man fired gunshots through the back of a dark blue SUV, wounding the 27-year-old man driving and hitting his stepson, Mekhi James, in the back, killing him. Mekhi was three. Two other girls, both aged three, were hospitalized with gunshot wounds in separate incidents in recent days. These were just the toddlers. In all, nine children under 18 have been killed since June 20 as Chicago reels from another wave of gun violence. “The Windy City is becoming the Bloody City,” said the Rev. Michael L. Pfleger of Saint Sabina Church, calling it the worst period in the 45 years he has worked on social issues. Defenders of the police say that the violence shows they need more support, not less. Critics say it shows how deeply residents distrust officers and why cities should transfer funds to address underlying problems, including unemployment and mental illness.

Coronavirus mutation more infectious? (Houston Chronicle) Evidence is growing that a mutated coronavirus strain, the main one circulating in the Houston area, is more contagious than the original virus in China. Two new research papers show that the newer strain is more transmissible, a possibility first suggested by a team of scientists in May. At the time, that suggestion was considered highly speculative by many scientists, including some in Houston. “A summary of the data thus far suggests that this strain has gained a fitness advantage over the original and is more transmissible as a result,” said Joseph Petrosino, Baylor College of Medicine chair of molecular virology and microbiology. “It is safe to say this version is more infectious.”

Die in detention or at home? U.S. pandemic forces cruel choice on asylum seekers (Reuters) In early June, asylum seeker Jose Munoz decided it was time to flee for his life—by getting deported from a Texas immigration detention center where coronavirus was sweeping through the population and going home to El Salvador. As the number of COVID-19 cases rose in the Houston Contract Detention Facility—it has had at least 105, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data—Munoz said he had few ways to protect himself from exposure. Months earlier, the Salvadoran student had sought asylum in the United States after he says he was attacked for refusing to transport drugs for a gang, which he declined to name, citing concerns for his safety. But by June, he feared his life was hanging in the balance, knowing that the next ruling in his asylum case would be months away if he chose to keep fighting. “I felt like it was more dangerous than back in my country,” he said in a telephone interview last month from El Salvador. Reuters spoke to more than 30 lawyers, immigration advocates, detainees and their family members who said the risks of contracting COVID-19 inside detention facilities have driven people to seek deportation.

Dominican Republic votes for new president (Foreign Policy) Luis Abinader is expected to win the presidency the Dominican Republic, breaking a 16 year grip on power by the ruling Dominican Liberation Party. Preliminary counts show Abinader with 53 percent of the vote and his rival Gonzalo Castillo with 37 percent. Abinader is an economist known for his work in the country’s tourist industry and has not held political office before. He contracted the coronavirus during his presidential campaign and has since recovered.

To Buy a Drink in This Border Town, Make Sure You’re in England (NYT) In normal times, no one takes much notice of the invisible border between England and Wales that runs through Llanymynech, a village with a post office, a church and no fewer than three pubs. But the Anglo-Welsh frontier, fought over in earlier centuries, has once again become a contested front line, this time for British drinkers. England allowed restaurants, cafes and bars to reopen on Saturday, meaning two pubs in Llanymynech could serve customers again after more than 100 days of coronavirus lockdown. Less than 100 yards away, on the Welsh side of the village, the Dolphin Inn remained firmly shuttered, in line with Welsh government rules delaying pub openings until July 13—and then allowing drinking only in gardens or other outdoor spaces. The ruling has thrust the village into the media spotlight, reminding residents of the existence of an administrative border—more like a state line than an international frontier with passport checkpoints—that scythes through their village, even cutting through one building, and then snakes away through the surrounding countryside.

40 dead in Japan floods, as more areas warned of heavy rain (AP) The death toll from three days of heavy rain and flooding in southern Japan has risen to 40, including 14 who drowned at a riverside nursing home, as rescuers search for 10 missing people and rain threatens wider areas of the main island of Kyushu.

U.S. Navy carriers conduct South China Sea drills as Chinese ships watch (Reuters) Two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are conducting exercises in the contested South China Sea within sight of Chinese naval vessels spotted near the flotilla, the commander of one of the carriers, the USS Nimitz, told Reuters on Monday. The U.S. Navy has brought carriers together for such shows of force in the region in the past, but this year’s drill comes amid heightened tension as the United States criticises China over its novel coronavirus response and accuses it of taking advantage of the pandemic to push territorial claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere. The Pentagon, when it announced the dual carrier exercise, said it wanted to “stand up for the right of all nations to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows”, describing its 100,000-ton ships and the 90 or so aircraft they each carry as a “symbol of resolve”.

Australia to shut state border as Melbourne infections surge (AP) Australian authorities were preparing to close the border between the country’s two largest states, as the country’s second-largest city, Melbourne, recorded two deaths and its highest-ever daily increase in infections on Monday. The border between the states of New South Wales—home to Sydney—and Victoria—home to Melbourne—is due to be shut late Tuesday. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian was a critic of states that closed their borders to her state when Sydney had Australia’s largest number of coronavirus cases. But she said she changed her stance because the situation in Melbourne was unprecedented and indicated the pandemic was in a new phase.

Egypt arrests doctors, silences critics over virus outbreak (AP) A doctor arrested after writing an article about Egypt’s fragile health system. A pharmacist picked up from work after posting online about a shortage of protective gear. An editor taken from his home after questioning official coronavirus figures. A pregnant doctor arrested after a colleague used her phone to report a suspected coronavirus case. As Egyptian authorities fight the swelling coronavirus outbreak, security agencies have tried to stifle criticism about the handling of the health crisis by the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. At least 10 doctors and six journalists have been arrested since the virus first hit Egypt in February, according to rights groups. Other health workers say they have been warned by administrators to keep quiet or face punishment. One foreign correspondent has fled the country, fearing arrest, and another two have been summoned for reprimand over “professional violations.” Coronavirus infections are surging in the country of 100 million, threatening to overwhelm hospitals. As of Monday, the Health Ministry had recorded 76,253 infections, including 3,343 deaths—the highest death toll in the Arab world. El-Sissi has said the virus’s trajectory was “reassuring” and described critics as “enemies of the state.”

Africa starts opening airspace even as COVID-19 cases climb (AP) As COVID-19 cases surged in many parts of the world, the island nation of the Seychelles was looking good: 70-plus straight days without a single infection. Then the planes arrived. Two chartered Air Seychelles flights carrying more than 200 passengers also brought the coronavirus. A few tested positive. Then, between June 24 and 30, the country’s confirmed cases shot from 11 to 81. Now the Indian Ocean nation has delayed reopening for commercial flights for its lucrative tourism industry until Aug. 1, if all goes well. African nations face a difficult choice as infections are rapidly rising: Welcome the international flights that originally brought COVID-19 to the ill-prepared continent, or further hurt their economies and restrict a lifeline for badly needed humanitarian aid. “This is a very important moment,” the World Health Organization’s Africa chief, Matshidiso Moeti, told reporters on Thursday, a day after Egypt reopened its airports for the first time in more than three months. Other countries are preparing to follow. That’s even as Africa had more than 463,000 confirmed virus cases as of Sunday and South Africa, its most developed economy, already struggles to care for COVID-19 patients. But Africa’s economies are sick, too, its officials say. The continent faces its first recession in a quarter-century and has lost nearly $55 billion in the travel and tourism sectors in the past three months, the African Union says. Airlines alone have lost about $8 billion and some might not survive.

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mastcomm · 5 years

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As Coronavirus Spreads from China, Scientists See Grim Reminders

Less than a month after the first few cases of a new respiratory illness were reported in Wuhan, China, travelers have carried the virus to at least four other countries, including the United States. More than 500 people are known to have been infected, at least 17 have died — and the world is bracing itself for what might come next.

On Wednesday, experts at the World Health Organization decided to postpone until Thursday a decision on whether the current outbreak constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern,” a label given to serious public health events that endanger international public health” and “potentially require a coordinated international response.”

A vote by W.H.O.’s emergency committee was split down the middle, its chairman said, and the group concluded that it did not have enough information to make a decision.

“The decision about whether or not to declare a public health emergency of international concern is one I take extremely seriously, and one I am only prepared to make with appropriate consideration of all the evidence,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, W.H.O.’s director general, said at news briefing.

Adding that a W.H.O. team was in China gathering information, he said, “We will have much more to say tomorrow

But even as the W.H.O. debated its decision, officials in China began closing transportation links from and within Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. The move was a significant escalation in the country’s attempts to contain the spread of the virus as the Lunar New Year approaches and holiday travel commences.

Dr. Tedros and W.H.O. officials at the briefing said they had not advised China to close Wuhan, but nonetheless expressed support for the decision, saying it could protect other parts of China and other countries.

Public health officials around the world are on alert because the new infection is caused by a coronavirus, from the same family that caused outbreaks of SARS and MERS, killing hundreds of people in dozens of countries.

The W.H.O. has already advised governments to be prepared for the disease, to be vigilant and ready to test anyone with symptoms like cough and fever who has traveled to affected regions. Air travel is expected to surge as the Lunar New Year approaches this weekend.

More important than an emergency declaration is the need for more data on the outbreak, said Jennifer B. Nuzzo of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Scientists still do not have enough information about the severity of the disease, she said.

“I want to see from the emergency committee all the information on the table and an assessment of what the risk really is,” Dr. Nuzzo said. “To me, that’s far more important than their declaration.”

One purpose of an emergency declaration is to draw world attention to an outbreak, so that governments can prepare and also provide needed help.

“There’s already a high level of global attention,” Dr. Nuzzo said, adding that she was not sure how much a declaration would have changed things.

Several countries have already begun screening travelers from China for fever and cough. Airports in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco last week started to screen arriving flights from Wuhan, and airports in Atlanta and Chicago will begin doing so this week.

“Data shows that entry screening requires a tremendous amount of resources and is not tremendously effective,” Dr. Nuzzo said.

North Korea has suspended tourism because of the outbreak, according to Reuters.

Important questions about the outbreak are still unanswered, and W.H.O.’s expert committee now must grapple with significant unknowns.

“We don’t know how many people are infected,” said Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for the W.H.O. “The more you test, the more you will find people who are infected. We don’t know if there are asymptomatic cases. If they are asymptomatic, are they contagious?”

Broad studies to test for evidence of infection, past and present, would give a true picture of how many people have been exposed to the virus.

The virus causes a pneumonialike illness, with coughing and fever in some people but not all. The severity matters: If there are cases with mild illness or no symptoms at all, they may go undetected, and those people will keep working, shopping and traveling, possibly infecting others.

A milder illness has the potential to spread farther and cause longer-lasting outbreaks than one with more obvious symptoms, according to Dr. Mark R. Denison, an infectious disease specialist at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine who studies coronaviruses.

Compared to SARS and MERS, the Wuhan illness so far does seem less severe, he said.

SARS, which began in live-animal markets in China in 2002, quickly spread to dozens of countries, infecting more than 8,000 people and killing nearly 800. The virus is thought to have originated in bats and spread to civet cats that were being sold for consumption.

The civets spread the virus to humans, who infected one another through respiratory secretions and also exposure to feces.

SARS often caused severe illness, so cases were detectable, Dr. Denison said; aggressive public health measures, including quarantines and travel restrictions, helped stamp out the epidemic.

But the travel bans, not to mention widespread fear and distrust, took a heavy economic toll on China, and since then international authorities have become hesitant about taking drastic steps to quell outbreaks.

MERS cases have been occurring in the Middle East since 2012, mainly in people who have been exposed to camels, which were most likely infected by bats. Human-to-human transmission does occur, and some spread has happened in hospitals.

As of November, there had been 2,494 cases of MERS in the last seven years, mostly in Saudi Arabia. The death rate is 34 percent, but may actually be lower if there are mild cases of the disease that have not been detected or counted.

Dr. Denison described the new Wuhan coronavirus as “sort of a first cousin of SARS,” more closely related to it than to MERS, based on its genetic sequence.

Researchers do not know just how contagious the Wuhan coronavirus is. The first people to be infected are thought to have contracted it at a market in Wuhan that sold meat, fish and live animals.

That market has been shut down and disinfected. Which animal might have been carrying the virus is not yet known.

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Initially, the illness appeared to spread only from animals to people. Then, experts said there was evidence of “limited” human-to-human transmission. Now, more cases are emerging among people with no known exposure to the animal markets, and in medical staff members caring for infected patients.

“Now that you have a cluster of 14 health care workers infected, it suggests that the potential for spread is much greater,” said Dr. Ian W. Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York, who has researched SARS and MERS.

“I saw film footage of a hospital lobby in Wuhan, and they are wearing full personal protective equipment from head to toe,” he said. “They are taking it very seriously. I still don’t think this is as bad as SARS, but it’s worse than they originally portrayed it.”

Dr. Denison said that with both SARS and MERS, there were episodes in which individual patients became “super-spreaders” who infected many other people, for unknown reasons.

“That’s a wild card we don’t know, the capacity to have multiple transmissions from one person,” Dr. Denison said. “There was no evidence they had dramatically different virus.”

It is possible, he said, that super-spreaders had received a high dose of the virus and had more of it to transmit. Alternatively, their immune systems might have not been able to control the virus, allowing it to multiply and spread extensively in their bodies, making them more contagious.

Although no drugs have been approved specifically to treat coronavirus diseases, Dr. Denison said that in animal studies, an antiviral called remdesivir appeared effective. He has been working with other researchers to develop treatments.

Mr. Jasarevic said that antivirals were being tested against MERS, but that none had been approved yet.

How and why viruses that have peacefully coexisted with their animal hosts for a long time strike out for new territory — us — is not well understood.

Coronaviruses often inhabit bats without harming them, and sometimes move into other animal species and from them to humans.

In places that bring multiple animal species together with lots of people — like the food markets in Wuhan and in other parts of China that sell live mammals and birds, along with meat and fish — viruses can pass back and forth between species, mutating as they go. Along the way, they may become able to infect humans.

“Coronaviruses have repeatedly shown an ability to probe across species and cause new animal and human diseases,” Dr. Denison said.

To go successfully from animal hosts to people, the viruses need to adapt in several ways: They must gain the ability to invade human cells, evade the immune system, replicate inside the human body and spread to others.

The move is often described as “jumping” into humans, but that is an oversimplification, Dr. Denison said. “The process it has to go through is more like high hurdles with a thousand hurdles along the way,” he said.

Still, the new outbreak does not greatly surprise him: “This was a matter of not if, but when.”

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sherristockman · 6 years

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Genetically Modified Children: New Film Unveils the ‘Monstrous’ Child Deformities Caused by Agrochemicals in Argentina Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola The shocking film "Genetically Modified Children" unveils the horrors of decades of chemical-intensive agricultural practices in Argentina, where the majority of crops are genetically modified (GM) and routinely doused in dangerous agrochemicals, and the chokehold big tobacco companies such as Philip Morris and chemical and seed giants have on poverty-stricken farmers desperate to earn a living. The film, produced by Juliette Igier and Stephanie Lebrun, shows the devastating health effects the region's agricultural sector is having on children,1 an increasing number of whom are being born with monstrous physical deformities. Some of the children's cases are so severe that, without a medical intervention, will result in death before the age of 5. The film begins with the crew traveling from North Argentina in the Province of Misiones to the Brazilian frontier, an agricultural region that was one of the nation's first to begin growing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the mid-'90s. Featured in the film is Ricardo Rivero, regional head of the local electricity company. He learned that the reason families cannot pay their bills is because often they are taking care of a sick or handicapped child, and receive no assistance from the Argentinian government. The film shows them visiting the humble home of a tobacco farmer where they meet Lucas Texeira, a 5-year-old boy with an incurable genetic skin disease. The family believes it was caused by the mother's exposure to Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller early on in her pregnancy. No one told her it was toxic, she says. The genetic mutation that caused her son's condition left him with no pores in his skin, which means he doesn't perspire. The heat from his body stays inside, causing him severe and painful itching that leads to frequent crying spells. Mr. Texeira expresses his sadness over Lucas' condition, as well as his fears that he could have another child in the future with a similar deformity. Agrochemicals Lead to Rise in Birth Defects, Deformities in Argentinian Children Like many families in rural Argentina, the Texeiras have grown GM tobacco on their land for years, using a number of various agrochemicals required to produce a crop that's certifiable by Philip Morris, an American multinational cigarette and tobacco manufacturing company (a division of Altria Company since 2003). Philip Morris provides farmers GM burley tobacco seeds for the manufacturer of light tobacco cigarettes. Each year, Argentinian farmers are forced to use more than 100 different chemicals in order to grow the perfect-looking tobacco crop — that is, if they hope to make any money. The Texeira family is no exception. For more than a decade, they have treated their tobacco plants with glyphosate and other agrochemicals — and without any protection. However, after seeing a rise in birth defects among the community's children, including in their own child, they began to fear for their safety and moved off their farmland, away from the toxic chemicals. "It's not easy, but you have to live the life you have," said Mr. Texeira. "Thank God, Lucas' problem is just his skin. He's healthy and can eat. He eats almost anything." Lucas is a miracle, says the film's narrator. In this region, there's a disproportionate number of children born with deformities. 300 Million Liters of Glyphosate Are Applied to the Land Each Year in Argentina GM crops first entered the country through the Misiones Province of Argentina after the government authorized their use from 1996 onward, a decision based solely on studies conducted by Monsanto, and with no contradicting research. For more than two decades the land was sprayed with glyphosate and other agrochemicals, contaminating the region's soil and water. By 2013, more than 24 million hectares2 (59.3 million acres) of GM crops were grown in Argentina, including soy, maize, cotton and tobacco. Mounting scientific evidence connecting the rise in miscarriages, birth defects and cancer to GMOs and agrochemicals did not dissuade the Argentinian government from subsidizing GM crops. Perhaps, that decision is due in part to the 35 percent in taxes Argentina receives from GMO soy exports. Despite the dangers, no one warned tobacco farmers of the risks. In fact, the opposite was true. Farmers in the Misiones province were inundated with various forms of marketing, including commercials from chemical companies insisting agrochemicals were the key to prosperity. Television advertisements touted the benefits of Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller, including its ability to kill everything except for GMOs. The marketing worked. Today, more than 300 million liters (79.2 million gallons) of glyphosate are dumped each year onto more than 28 million hectares (69.1 million acres) of land in Argentina.3 Total Desertion The film shows the crew visiting the home of another sick child. Lucas Krauss was born with congenital microcephaly. He suffers from epilepsy, delayed motor and mental development, multiple muscular atrophy and numerous other related pathologies. The first doctor the family consulted said their son's condition was due to a lack of oxygen; however, the neurologist had a different opinion. At first, he agreed and said it was due to a lack of oxygen; however, when they pressed him further he admitted that a lack of oxygen was not the only cause, but he refused to say what he believed the true cause was of Lucas' condition. They wouldn't even run medical tests, said the boy's mother. The family understands that Lucas' condition, as well as many others in the community, is likely tied to the agrochemicals used to farm tobacco. But the family can't quit the trade because it's the main source of income in their area, and most importantly, it's the only sector that provides social security for its workers. Without the financial aid of the tobacco industry, the father fears he will be unable to care for his special needs son. "The whole family feels discriminated against because it seems that society doesn't want to see their reality," said Rivero. "His parents don't ask anything for themselves. They're not asking for anything out of the ordinary. It's just that the responsible parties — the state is the responsible one for these children's problems — and it's not taking responsibility and there's total desertion." In 2010, things started to move. Lawyers from the U.S. traveled to Misiones to visit the families of severely handicapped children. One of their stops included the home of 17-year-old William Nuñez, who was born severely handicapped. He can't walk or talk, and has to be fed through a feeding tube in his stomach. The family has received no aid from the government for the medical treatment William needs. Instead, they have learned on their own how to care for their disabled child. Ignorance and Exploitation The Nuñez family says they were visited by American lawyers four or five times in a sixth-month period, as well as a handful of doctors from the U.S. and Mexico. The Nuñez family were told that they were not at fault for using agrochemicals, and that they could be awarded up to $3 million for William's case. The attorneys asked the family to sign a contract with a commitment not to discuss their case with anyone. Up until now, they have respected the contract. But they haven't heard from the lawyers in over four years and don't want to keep quiet any longer. Next the film introduces a man named Emilio, the son of a tobacco farmer who has created an independent labor union to contend with the two tobacco companies in the region, which often take the side of Big Tobacco. Tobacco farming is a tough job, says Emilio, adding that people suffer a lot because they work all year long, and the financial incentive is not great. Emilio describes the tobacco industry in San Jacinto, Argentina as a slavery system, one encapsulated by ignorance and exploitation. The film crew visits a warehouse where all of the region's tobacco farmers come to sell their product. The farmers' tobacco crop is transported here at the end of the growing cycle, which includes the sowing, treating, harvesting, drying and sorting. This is the only place they can sell their crop, says Emilio. The film crew is there on the day the farmers learn the value of their year's work. "It's when you get happy or get angry, because if it went well, you know that you'll be able to buy what you need or what you dreamed about when you were working for it. So, you'll find out here," says Emilio. The crop must meet strict standards set by the cooperative, which inspects each bale in the blink of an eye. They examine the texture, breadth and the color of the leaves. Tobacco in its natural state would never pass the test — only the use of agrochemicals can ensure a good result. Big Tobacco Dominates the Industry The film interviews one of the farmers about his feelings on his earnings. He says he received 11, 575 Mexican pesos (or about $610 U.S. dollars) for 975 kilos of tobacco. That's about $3.50 per pound of tobacco. It's a low price, he says. "To me, it seems like a total rip-off. It's unfair." The farmers say their income was especially low this year as result of the expensive chemical inputs they are forced to use. The chemical companies charge them in U.S. dollars, but they pay in pesos, says one frustrated farmer, adding that he has no way out of the business because he can't risk losing his social security. Big Tobacco dominates the industry in San Jacinto, Argentina. It dominates to such an extent that companies like Philip Morris have completely changed tobacco farming. Today, farmers are enslaved by the companies that produce and sell the agrochemicals required to grow a crop that can be certified by Philip Morris. The film crew manages to capture footage inside a warehouse where farmers go to buy pesticides. Tall stacks of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides line the walls — all of it handled with bare hands. Among the insecticides is a chemical manufactured by Bayer called Confidor, which contains the insecticides clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and methiocarb,4 all of which, except for methiocarb, belong to a class of bee-killing pesticides known as neonicotinoids, which were recently banned on all crops grown outdoors in Europe.5 Poison Is a Recurrent Word in Argentina Before leaving the region, the film crew makes one last stop to visit 50-year-old Raul Gomez, who has created a list of all the chemicals he has had to handle over the past two decades, most of which are now banned due to their toxicity. Gomez is concerned about having to keep the chemicals on his property, most of which are too dangerous for him to dispose of. He says he was told someone would come and take them, but no one has, so he built shacks to store them. Gomez says he believes he was definitely a guinea pig in that he was forced to work with such dangerous poisons without any knowledge of the implication to his or his family's health. He and other farmers say the question isn't if they will become ill, but when. Everyone in this region has poison running through their bodies, he says, and while he doesn't feel it now, in a few years he may. "That's how it is. The consequences come later." Next the film crew travels to Posadas, the capital of the Province of Misiones, where doctors are considering a terrifying hypothesis: Exposure to agrochemicals may actually modify the human genome. They meet 73-year-old Dr. Hugo Gomez Demaio, head of the neurosurgery service at the Pediatric Hospital of Posadas, and Dr. Mario Barrera, neurosurgeon at the Medical School of Nordeste. (Both institutions are in Buenos Aries). The doctors are dedicated to highlighting and treating the link between glyphosate exposure and other agrochemicals and birth defects caused by DNA damage. Over the years, Demaio has witnessed an increasing number of children suffering from malformations. "These are no more empirical observations, but an inescapable statistic that he has drawn up with his successor, Dr. Barrera," says the film's narrator. One hundred percent of these children with severe deformities will die before the age of 5 if they do not have a medical intervention, says Demaio. The film shows two little girls suffering from hydrocephalus, a condition linked to an abnormality affecting the X chromosome. Hydrocephalus is the buildup of fluids deep within the brain. The excess fluids put pressure on the brain causing damage to brain tissue. Symptoms of hydrocephalus include an unusually large head, a rapid increase in the size of the head and a bulging spot on top.6 'They Have the Money and We Have the Illness' The mothers of the two little girls with hydrocephalus say they were exposed to agrochemicals, but indirectly. While agrochemicals were not stored in their home, they say they were exposed to them through the contaminated clothing of their male family members who farm tobacco. The women would wash the men's clothing in a nearby creek, which also served as their source of drinking water. Demaio says exposure to agrochemicals may cause genetic damage that's transmitted to an individual's offspring, causing a modification of genetic heritage. Barrera explains: "Even if the entire local environment is contaminated, it does not mean that all children will become sick. But when the father is exposed to herbicides, they are absorbed into the body and alter his DNA. He then passes that genetic mutation on to his children." In the beginning, Demaio and Barrera worked alone, but soon other doctors who had made similar observations joined them in their work. In 2009, they published results showing miscarriages and congenital defects among newborns were six times higher than normal, and cancers in small children were five times more common than elsewhere.7 The doctors say the agrochemicals pass from mother to child and cause damage within the first 28 days of pregnancy, resulting in monstrous deformities that are difficult to repair. The most common expression is myelomeningocele,8 a birth defect of the backbone and spinal cord. It's the most severe lesion of the central nervous system that one can still live with. Demaio says the Argentinian government refuses to listen to him, so he has dedicated his time to educating young people at universities, many of whom have grown up in tobacco farming families and around pesticides, but know very little about them. They were told agrochemicals are safe, and necessary, to feed people. "They have the money and we have the illness," says Demaio, referring to the chemical companies and the profits they've earned on unsuspecting farmers forced in a chemical-reliant trade. A David Versus Goliath Battle The film crew visits the lawyers in their office in Bueno Aires, the ones who never followed up after visiting the families four years ago. They were not very knowledgeable about the case, so the film crew visits the New York office for which the attorneys had worked on the file years ago. They speak with Steven J. Phillips of the Phillips & Paolicelli LLP office, which specializes in defending children from toxic products. Phillips says he believes he has a strong case against Monsanto and Philip Morris. Monsanto designed and sold glyphosate to people in South America under conditions in which it knew there would be pregnant women mixing the chemicals. Monsanto knew it was extremely dangerous but sold the stuff anyway and made a ton of money, said Phillips. Philip Morris insisted the farmers grow the tobacco in a specific way that included the use of glyphosate, and if they didn't, Philip Morris wouldn't buy the tobacco. So, the farmers had no choice. "If you force someone to behave in a way that's dangerous, mislead them about it, and then their children get hurt, then that's a reason to bring them to court," said Phillips. While the attorneys recognize the battle as being a David versus Goliath type, they also know that the truth is on their side. The truth often prevails, as is the case in the recent guilty verdict in the landmark Monsanto trial. A jury in San Francisco, California, awarded plaintiff Dewayne Johnson $289 million in damages after determining his cancer was caused by exposure Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller.9 Organic Consumers Association (OCA) reports: "The jury's decision was unanimous: Monsanto was guilty of manufacturing and selling a product that caused Johnson's cancer. What's more, the company knew its product could cause cancer — and yet it intentionally hid that fact from Johnson and the public." The case is eerily similar to that of the farmers and their families who are suffering from exposure to agrochemicals, including glyphosate, in Argentina. And the tobacco farmers aren't alone in their battle. There's another region in Argentina that has become the symbol in the fight against agrochemicals. Cordoba, the Realm of the Transgenic Soybean The film crew travels to Cordoba, Argentina's second most important city, and the last stop in their investigation. Cordoba is characterized for its planting of transgenic soy and where glyphosate is applied from above through aerial spraying. The town is littered with anti-Monsanto graffiti. In 2012, a historical verdict10 was delivered in Cordoba when a farmer and the owner of a crop-dusting plane were sentenced to three years in prison for illegal aerial spraying. They had been spraying glyphosate within 2,500 meters of a densely, populated area. The film introduces anti-agrochemical activist Sofia Gatica, who cofounded Mothers of Ituzaingo,11 a group of moms working to stop the indiscriminate agrochemical use that has poisoned the region's children. Gatica lost her own infant daughter to kidney malformation, and her son lost his ability to walk following exposure to a local agrochemical fumigation. Gatica is recognized for her work in tracking the abnormal rates of cancer, kidney disease and other conditions in areas close to where glyphosate was applied to GMO soy crops. The Mothers of Ituzaingo had blood tests done on their kids and found that 3 in 4 children living in their community had agrochemicals in their blood, including pesticides, chromium, lead and arsenic. Hoping to get help from the government, the group presented the results to Argentinian officials, who told them they would only improve the water if the families signed away their right to sue for the water contamination. Gatica has repeatedly been threatened and physically assaulted for her efforts in fighting the chemical companies. On one occasion in 2014, she was threatened with a gun and told by a man that if she didn't stop protesting against Monsanto, he would "blow her brains out." Making Progress Despite the uphill battle, Mothers of Ituzaingo and other activists have made good progress. As the OCA reports:12 "In 2008, Argentina's president ordered the minister of health to investigate the impact of pesticide use in Ituzaingó. A study was conducted by the Department of Medicine at Buenos Aires University and the results corroborated with the research the mothers had done linking pesticide exposure to the many health issues experienced by people in the community. Gatica also succeeded in getting a municipal ordinance passed that prohibited aerial spraying in Ituzaingó at distances of less than 2,500 meters from residences. And, in a huge victory, a 2010 Supreme Court ruling banned agrochemical spraying near populated areas and reversed the burden of proof — now the government and soy producers have to prove the chemicals they are using are safe, instead of residents having to prove that the spraying is making them sick." Despite the victories, people living in Argentina and other regions saturated with GMOs and agrochemicals have a long, hard road ahead. According to the World Health Organization, 3 million people are poisoned by pesticides each year.13 But agrochemicals are worth $40 billion per year, and are projected to reach $308 billion in value by the year 2025.14 Will the world's multinational chemical companies ever sacrifice profits to protect public health? Only time will tell; however, the solution likely lies in the legal system, which is making strides around the world to protect the public from harmful agrochemicals. As an exclusive offer, Mercola readers will receive 15 percent off the "Genetically Modified Children" DVD by entering the discount code MERCOLA15 at checkout (domestic and international shipping fees apply). Want to share the important information in this film with friends and family? Discounted 10-pack DVDs are also available for purchase. CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD and enter MERCOLA15 at checkout for 15 percent off.

#VitalityPath

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l4dyphoenix-blog · 8 years

Text

Pokemon GO Adventures: Chapter 4

"Good morning, you're early," said a female voice mildly as I entered the gazebo.

"Couldn't sleep," I replied.

"Well yes, as I said yesterday, that would be the boon that Mol-"

I shot her a glare. The light in her eyes made it clear that she knew exactly how I felt and was purposely being obtuse for her own amusement. Grudgingly, I admitted to myself that I probably would have said the same thing if I were in her place.

"Okay, so these boons and whatever, can you please, please explain them to me? And what do you mean by permanent?"

"You might want to take a seat," she said, waving her hand at the bench beside a male figure who was stooped over a laptop.

"No thanks, I think I'll stand."

"Alright, well, your body is starting to undergo mutations due to the exposure of-"

"I think I'll take that seat, thank you."

I sat down heavily on the bench. The male didn't look up from his work.

"So, yes. As I was saying, when we all first interacted with the gyms in our early days as pokemon trainers, we were all given a choice to join a team. Most of us joined to be on the same team as our friends and family members so we could battle together. The 'motivational cheer' that you spoke of is actually a required part of joining a team. Your pokedex won't acknowledge your choice otherwise. Which was quite a clever smokescreen in retrospect, hmmm..." she trailed off.

"Stop admiring the enemy," he interrupted, head still turned toward his screen.

Slightly abashed, she returned to the explanation. "When we made the pledge, we gave permission for our respective legendary birds to bond to us. When we take gyms, some of that energy is transferred to them as well as to us. In return, they give us boons to make this gathering process easier. It's like... upgrading the computer software in an office in order to change the user interface to make the workers more efficient at their jobs. Except that we're the computers being upgraded. You follow?"

"Yeah," I replied weakly.

"So, as we become stronger pokemon trainers, we become more mutated into alien beings."

"Okay, no, not following."

The male sighed and snapped his laptop shut. "Every time you interact with a gym, your body is required to tap into your bond to synchronize the power from the gym node for your use. Over time, the effects of this synchronization accumulate and do not degrade; instead, they remain in your system indefinitely. We can quantitatively measure the levels of these units of exogenous potential in your bloodstream."

"Wait, wait, are you telling me that you're calling it 'exp'? Seriously?" Despite the grim topic, I couldn't help but crack a grin.

He looked pained.

"He named it without thinking," she whispered. "When he told the rest of us, it was too late."

He continued, staunchly ignoring her. "'Exogenous', developing from external factors and 'potential', a quantitative difference compared to a fixed baseline. It describes the phenomenon accurately in a calculable, scientific manner. It appears that at certain thresholds of this accumulation, physiological alterations start occurring. Evaluating the members of my team, it appears that these thresholds occur at increasingly higher levels of bio-accumulation. I have plotted the data and it seems to fit a semi-logarithmic pattern, but not precisely. It seems to have more similarities to an atom's ionization energy in which the next ionization state is reached at an increased energy level, but not in a calculable pattern. However, this level appears to be fixed and holds true across all instances."

"So, what does this mean in small words?"

A flicker of long-suffering flashed through his eyes and he sighed. "The more we interact with the gyms, the more the radiation mutates us. We're becoming less human."

"Ah."

"Additionally, these effects appear to be permanent. We had the former Valor leader under observation and even when he stopped interaction with the gyms, there was no notable degradation of the physiological changes. He disappeared a while ago when he found out he was being watched."

During his explanation, he idly opened the lid of his laptop and started pulling out his research files. He opened a photograph of a dark-haired male figure in a hooded jacket with his hands in his pockets. The figure's face was turned away.

"Wait, you were stalking him?"

"No, we were observing him for scientific research such that the knowledge of our study would not affect his activities. He was a good control against the Mystic leader who had not stopped gym battling during the time period."

He pulled up another file. A photograph of another dark-haired male in a fitted winter jacket smiled into the camera as if he knew he was being watched. A jagged scar ran across his right eyelid.

"In any case, the research on that topic is complete."

He looked up at me. "And now, for the reason why you are here."

#pokemon #pokemongo #teamvalor #teammystic #teaminstinct #pogoadv

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