This Really Makes Me Want To Do Something

ThailandTom

It is that 'nodding disease' in Uganda, it is getting worse and there is nothing that is being doen or can be done so it seems. There is no cure or even no explanation for why this is happening to these poor kids. I really want to get up and do something, but if scientists cannot find a solution, what on earth am I or anyone else meant to do...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17589445

Lady_Alison

I'm wondering why the CDC hasn't said more about the disease?

Is it viral...viruses are smaller than bacterium and can pass thru things...

I'm not a microbiologist but I bet it's viral.

Lady_Alison

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nodding_disease#section_1

Bekenze

I posted this like a week ago.

ThailandTom

I am pretty sure it is a virus as well. I am also perplexed to why there has been little done about it. It can easily mutate at any time, maybe making it more contageous or affect not just children. Viruses mutate constantly, they have tiny spikes if you will that surround the virus molecule, and they change places and change in numbers making the virus a different strain each time they pass through a host.

ThailandTom

I posted this like a week ago.

Yes you posted something that related it to zombies which got a lot of zombie talk. This is an advanced update about exactly what is going on over there.

Lady_Alison

It is currently not known what causes the disease, but it is believed to be connected to infestations of the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus, which is

prevalent in all outbreak areas. [10] O. volvulus, a nematode, is carried by the black fly and causes river blindness. In 2004, most children suffering from nodding disease lived close to the Yei River, a hotbed for river blindness, and 93.7% of nodding disease sufferers were found to harbour the parasite — a far higher percentage than in children

without the disease. [11] A link between river

blindness and normal cases of epilepsy, [12] as well

as retarded growth, [13] had been proposed previously, although the evidence for this link is

inconclusive. [14] Of the connection between the worm and the disease, Scott Dowell, the lead investigator into the syndrome for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stated: "We know that [Onchocerca volvulus] is involved in some way, but it is a little puzzling because [the worm] is fairly common in areas that do not have

nodding disease".

Lady_Alison

A super bug...sorry bekenze but this still should be brought up...more on a curious humanitarian effort than how it relates to zombism

ThailandTom

A super bug...sorry bekenze but this still should be brought up...more on a curious humanitarian effort than how it relates to zombism

No of course, when this topic was first brought up I was quite taken back by the way some people were in a way, glorifying the whle thing into some super cool zombie story. When in fact this causes a wide spread suffering and is a huge problem that nobody to date has an answer to.

Lady_Alison

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2012/03/19/mckenzie-uganda-nodding-disease.cnn

ThailandTom

Thanks for the video Alison. What really gets me is the fact that surely there are scientists out there who have the knowledge to work on this and find a solution, or at least a concrete reason to why this is happening.. It makes me want to get into bio-chemistry even more. But yes, it did annoy me I must say when people started talking about how cool it is that there are zombie like people, zombies exist etc. Anyway rant over. This needs to be addressed and it needs to be done soon!

Lady_Alison

I think you mean "microbiologist"...those are the scientists trying to investigate this illness.

Lady_Alison

I find microbiology quite fascinating too!

Houston has many microbiologist working in the medical center. They have active pathogens they work with everyday...Ebola, Spanish influenza, various of highly contagious diseases...if one gets loose....it's like a bomb!

ThailandTom

My ex-friend back in the UK, his mother was a microbiologist and he always use to joke that if there was ever a huge outbreak, he was okay for a vaccine quicker than everyone else, and he would only give me one for money But yes, microbiologists.

ThailandTom

I use to be scared of the notion that terrorists may get their hands on smallpox one day, my generation were never vaccinated :-/

Lady_Alison

Microbiology is something I'm thinking about when I go back to school. I like germs. Yes, microbiologist should be able to make penicillin at the very least in a post apocalyptic world...but if you work for the CDC you are certainly the first to be vaccinated..

I don't know who the last generation was to be vaccinated against small pox...I'm going to look it up!

Lady_Alison

It says that small pox was eradicated in 79... if it does come back, it will go by a different name...the west Nile virus was called encephalitis or yellow fever.

Small pox has been around for 10,000 years!

ThailandTom

I knew small pox had been around for years and years, but there are many people who if it was unleashed, they would get it. It also had a strange gestation period where the symptoms come on long after you have contamianted people. The feeling os small pox is like your skin is on fire and 1/3 of the people infected die from it. If you do not die you end up with horrible scars. Also Alison, I happen to be allergic to penicillin!!! But good luck with your hopes of getting to that position, it is highly paid I guess my hypochondrias and researching in detail every drug I took over 9 years has paid off, or may pay off.. I hope so Here are some small pox shots, yummy.

Invincible_summer

@ThailandTom Jeesus gorram christ could you post a warning next time?!?!! :eek2:

ThailandTom

To be honest, I think we should all know about such things, these things and worse happen daily. The buddha taught we are all bags of bones, why shouls this make you feel disgusted. Take the middle way if you can. Feel for the people involved.. I could still eat lunch whilst viewing these pics personally, maybe I am juts not right, who knows. But there is smallpox

Invincible_summer

To be honest, I think we should all know about such things, these things and worse happen daily. The buddha taught we are all bags of bones, why shouls this make you feel disgusted. Take the middle way if you can. Feel for the people involved.. I could still eat lunch whilst viewing these pics personally, maybe I am juts not right, who knows. But there is smallpox

I'm not saying don't post the pictures, I'm not saying people should be ignorant about these things. I'm saying that you could at least warn people that you're going to post something graphic.

ThailandTom

Sorry @Invinsible_summer (I very nearly by mistake called you invinsible warning lmao). But yes you are right, I guess some people cannot handle such images. Thanks for the future posts in advance

Lady_Alison

I don't think it was graphic.. maybe you can ask fede to change the op title ans add "graphic"

ThailandTom

I don't think it was graphic.. maybe you can ask fede to change the op title ans add "graphic"

I think it may be graphic to some people, I don't know. But I did not find it graphic. I have quite a desesatized mind however. It is only people with smallpox... If federica thinks it is a good idea to add 'graphic' then sure go ahead

Lady_Alison

Concerns about terrorists releasing a class a bioterrorism agent have created enough pressure to really introduce new vaccines for small pox, botulism, plague, and telaremia. Smallpox vaccines are now given to first responder, healthcare providers and the military. New vaccines are being tested and given out to these who are the first line in defense

Earlier vaccines for anthrax, tularemia, botulism, and plague, have been hard to give or ineffective.

ThailandTom

Thanks for the update cheif

Kwantum_Kev

I had never even heard of this - very intriguing, albeit very sad too and somewhat scary. I found this comment from the article to be quite interesting :

"So maybe it is their spirit which is making these children sick"

In any case, I will definitely send healing energy that way. It is always hard to see children suffer. It's hard to see anyone, but children are especially hard.

Many Blessings,

KwanKev