Previous Knowledge about variation of Influenza

Summary
      This article created by Sarah Kanpton and Ben Riley-Smith, journalists from The Telegraph, described how the World Health Organization (WHO) knew about the newest strain of the flu last march. The WHO's Global Influenza Surveillance Response System gained knowledge about the variant strain early last year through collaboration of 142 laboratories in 112 countries. Circulation of the influenza A subtype viruses have increase hospital visits throughout the Northern hemisphere in the current winter months. Although health officials state that there was no way possible to predict that the variation would become the dominant strain, questions are still being asked as to why the information was withheld. A new study done on the effectiveness of the flu vaccine stated that the vaccine has only protected 3.4 percent of people, whereas about half of the people who get the vaccine are protected in typical scenarios. In defense of why the vaccine was not up to par Dr. Skinner, Head of the Vaccine Vector Group at Imperial College London, stated  "Although the virus was detected in March there was no real way of knowing whether it would become established as a significant player in the northern hemisphere in the winter,”. In addition he said, “Moreover, there are supply issues, so effectively you get one chance per year. If you delay, say to restart with a new virus, then even if you managed to produce as much, you probably wouldn’t be able to roll it out through GPs and clinics in time for the season.”

Analysis
   This article sheds light on the power of global authorities to choose to release information or withhold it. I believe that it is the responsibility of the WHO to inform the public of specific information regarding vaccines and new forms of the flu. The article also brings to the forefront just how powerful the influenza virus can be and how quickly mutations can occur. Dr. Skinner stated that although this variation of the flu was known, starting over with a new virus would have posed problems in getting the vaccine out in time for the season. Though that may have been the case the public still should have been made aware so that they could have taken stricter precautions during the winter season to protect themselves.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11395085/Flu-vaccine-health-officials-knew-of-dangerous-new-strain-last-March.html

Phylicia Smith
2/6/2015
8:52pm 

Blog 10: China Bird Flu Count Rises

          The current bird flu scare in China continues to spread.  Another case of the bird flu has been reported, which takes the total infection count to 83 people.  Seventeen people have already died from the H7N9 strain of the virus.  Before March, this strain had not been detected in humans, only in the common bird form.  The World Health Organization is still exploring the possibility whether the virus can be spread between people.  Although many of the people infected have been exposed to poultry, the majority of the cases have had no known contact with poultry.  A representative from WHO stated that they needed to establish where the virus was living and which animal was its reservoir so that they could ultimately figure out how it's being transmitted to people.  One boy has been confirmed to be an asymptomatic carrier of the virus which means that he tested positive for the illness but did not display any symptoms.  This discovery was worrying because it can make the spread of the infection more difficult to monitor, experts say.  Authorities are monitoring those exposed and hoping to find out more information on the virus as soon as possible.
          This article is important because containment of the virus to the smallest location possible is the key to preventing a possible pandemic.  It makes matters even more complicated due to the fact that experts do not know what is carrying the virus and how people are contracting it.  It is important that they push forward to find out all that they can in order to prevent the further spread of the infection.  When a virus like this occurs, this is a time for unity of countries in order to protect our future.  Hopefully once experts find the cause and spread of this virus, then they can do something to help the people who are infected and take precautions to prevent its further spread.
         

Jessilyn Bulla
April 20, 2013
3:30 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/18/world/asia/china-bird-flu/index.html?hpt=he_c2

Blog #10

The fatal bird flu has already killed seventeen people in China and an inspection is occurring now to find the cause.  There are four cases that are currently being investigated for possibly being human to human transmission of the bird flu.  It is not definite that these particular families got the flu from each other but tests are still being done.  The new virus is known as H7N9 and it is possible that it doesn’t come from poultry but other animals instead.  Several researchers from Geneva, the United States, and China have come together to help figure out what the likely sources are for this deadly flu.  Feng Zijian is a Chinese expert on this disease and he has noted that about forty percent that have acquired this virus claimed to never have come in contact with any type of poultry.  Since the World Health Organization was notified of the flu outbreak there have been eighty- three cases of infection and seventeen deaths.  Pigs have been tested to find out if they were the source of the outbreak but none of the tests came out positive.  One thousand poultry markets, habitats and farms from throughout China were tested for the flu and only thirty nine tested positive.  Three separate families were affected by the H7N9, both children and adults and two of the adults ended up dying.  This has caused officials to believe that the outbreak is from the same infected bird.  This is once again a global issue because it has already affected a significant amount of people from another country.  H7N9 can also be spread to other groups of people and depending on the cause and the source it may spread quicker than expected.  Something like this could also lead to other issues as well and China needs to get a hold on H7N9 before it turns into a bigger problem.

Antiqua Thurston 4/19/13 12:30

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/world/asia/china-finds-no-sustained-evidence-of-human-to-human-flu-link.html

Blog 10: H7N9 bird flu poised to spread

The H7N9 avian flu is said to be expanding now to other parts of China. Where until now the virus was only in Shanghai and close by regions, there have been new cases found in the northern part of China and new cases in the center area. The spread of communal disease is made very easy when there is a high population. China is the perfect place for the spread of disease due to the amount of people living there. Is it even a wonder why this flu is already spreading with all the precautions taken to control it? The Beijing Municipal Health Bureau announced the first asymptomatic case. After coming in contact with a 7 year old who has been hospitalized with the virus, they tested positive despite showing no symptoms. Officials fear that this may suggest that the virus may be more widespread than the numbers show. By having mild cases, this could be worrying because reduced virulence can point to further genetic adaptation of the virus, which in turn has a greater potential to spread. As of Monday, April 15, there were 63 infections and 14 deaths reported, up from 24 cases just a week prior. These numbers are becoming troubling to experts. An issue with this virus is that it has several mutations making it more adapted to humans. Chinese authorities have already identified H7N9 in birds in live bird markets in Shanghai and other cities. Even with surveillance of other animals, the animal reservoirs remain largely unknown. Until they find out how many animals of which species have the virus and how genetically diverse it is, they won’t know how big of threat H7N9 poses. 

http://www.nature.com/news/h7n9-bird-flu-poised-to-spread-1.12801

Page Odom

4/18/13

2:29 PM

Blog 9: Your Birthday and Your Immune System

          Scientists have hypothesized that the month in which babies are born can affect how their immune system develops and even how vulnerable they are to autoimmune diseases.  Scientists studying the neurological disorder, multiple sclerosis, have been puzzled by the "birth month effect" in which the rates of the disease are lowest for those born in November.  Some believe that insufficient levels of vitamin D (on the mom's part), which the skin produces when exposed to sunlight, can have an effect on this.  Babies born in May are gestated during the colder, darker months, while winter babies are in utero during the spring and summer.  Vitamin D stimulates a specific type of immune cell know as auto-reactive T-cells.  T-cells are white blood cells that fight off pathogens like bacteria and viruses, but auto-reactive T-cells are those that mistake the body's own cells as foreign and attack them as if they were an unwanted infection.  Researchers in the UK studied 50 babies born in May and 50 babies born in November.  They found that babies born in May had vitamin D levels 20% lower than those born in November and almost double the amount of auto-reactive T-cells.  It's not clear yet whether supplements of vitamin D could help to lower the rates of disease, but more research is being done to figure out whether pregnant women should take more vitamin D in order to strengthen their babies immune systems.
          This article is important because if researchers and scientists could determine if there is a direct relationship between conception months and immune systems, then it could potentially be a breakthrough at fighting the many diseases present in our society.  Vitamin D is a very important vitamin that is stressed in our society as one we need to stay healthy.  Although many people think that you can achieve vitamin D through the tanning bed, it is only the sun that can naturally provide you with the right amounts of vitamin D.  This article proves another important reason why we need more of the vitamin.  If studies could prove that more vitamin D could show significant improvement and strength to a baby's immune system, then pregnant women would be more motivated to take in the vitamin.  With stronger immune systems, babies could fight off many diseases that infants are targeted with.  Our infant mortality rate in the United States is surprisingly high and nobody would want their child to fall victim to this.  These studies are important because they could save the lives of our children in more ways than one.

Jessilyn Bulla
April 12, 2013
3:50 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/health/birthday-immune-disorders-time/index.html?hpt=he_c2

Blog 9: China praised for transparency during bird flu outbreak

This week’s blog is a follow up on the H7N9 flu in China. After reading this article, I got the since that China handles things, such as crisis’ and major issues, way differently than the U.S. According to the article, China is making improvements on its promptness of diseases and with informing the family of the diseased. There was one case where it was unclear if authorities had informed the family of a patient when it was discovered he had the virus. The patient’s family only found out that he was one of the first victims of this new virus, when friends alerted him to official media reports. This was more than two weeks after he fell sick and died due to lung failure. A woman who had answered the phone at the hospital in Shanghai told a family member when they called that it is not the faculty’s responsibility to notify relatives about the diagnosis. The Communist Youth Daily newspaper commented on the issue with “The transparency of information from the government is still being called into question by the public, and the actions the government has taken have not convinced the public.” It was also recognized as a good accomplishment that the information for this recent outbreak was given for public knowledge. Beijing shared sampled with the WHO and provided timey infections and death. This is a huge improvement from the 2003 SARS outbreak, where some patients were taken out of hospitals in Beijing and driven around the city to keep them out of sight while an investigating team from the WHO toured health facilities. I find they have had much improvement over the years when dealing with diseases and outbreaks and hopefully they will continue in this matter to help prevent further outbreaks.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57579081/china-praised-for-transparency-during-bird-flu-outbreak/

Page Odom

4/11/13

9:41 PM

Blog #10

Drug addiction is a huge problem that that people struggle with all over the world.  There is a place called InSite in downtown Vancouver where street addicts can come and safely use their drug of choice.  There are twelve booths located in this facility and it opens at ten in the morning and closes at four in the morning every day.  About eight hundred people come in and out and use the services everyday so it is serving a good purpose.  Every drug addict that comes to this facility has an official alias to protect their identity and to keep them safe.  Someone might question why they need “safety” when they are using drugs which are inflicting harm on themselves.  At the end of the day they are still human beings and they still have feelings and emotions whether on drugs or not.  There is always medical staff on hand in case anyone overdoses and to also help them find veins to use.  It is difficult for specifically drug addicts who have been using for a long period of time to find decent veins to use.  The medical staff helps them find veins in a safer way then if they were in the street or another unsafe place.  Although Vancouver is a nice place to live the police have stated that it has over five thousand intravenous drug addicts.  It may seem like a contradiction but many drug addicts use this resource and it helps maintain their lives.  InSite offers a place to use drugs but it also gives addicts clean needles which in turn decreases the rate of HIV, hepatitis C and more.  If these drug addicts were in the street using drugs they would use dirty water surrounded by unhealthy areas and possibly sharing dirty needles as well.  Vancouver had the highest rate of HIV of the developed world in 1997 and this is one solution to help decrease that rate.  This is definitely a global issue but also a moral issue in some people’s point of view. InSite is sustained with Canadian taxpayers but many have issues with this idea of helping and allowing drug addicts to continue to use drugs.  On the other hand the Canadian government wants to prevent higher medical costs’ in the future by allowing drug addicts a safer place to use drugs.  Although the majority of government officials are against this facility they have still been allowed to stay open in a long battle in court.  The approved to keep the facility open because it allows drug addicts the same health care benefits that regular, non- drug addicts receive.  Providing equal access to medical care is something that every citizen is supposed to have and this was the court’s reasoning.  There are several injection sites located in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Norway, and Australia.  Although the best thing to do is to abstain from drugs altogether, many people have been using drugs for years and just can’t seem to get clean.  For those people places like InSite is their best option at staying somewhat healthy while being addicted to drugs.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/11/world/americas/wus-canada-drug-safe-haven/index.html?hpt=he_c2

Antiqua Thurston   4/11/13 9:25

Blog 10 China Escalates Its Response to Outbreak of Avian Flu

With a sixth death being confirmed from an avian-borne virus, Chinese officials have increased their response on Friday, warning people to avoid live poultry, sending virologists to chicken farms across the country and slaughtering more than 20,000 birds at a wholesale market in Shanghai where the virus, known as H7N9, was detected in a pigeon. Health officials around the world are monitoring the outbreak, which has killed almost half of the fourteen people that were diagnosed with the virus. What they fear most is that the disease will mutate so that it can spread from human to human; there has not been a confirmed case of transmission between humans. John Oxford, a professor of virology at Queen Mary, University of London, warned of a potential pandemic should H7N9 become mutated therefore allowing human-to-human transmission. “On my earthquake scale, I’m quite concerned because influenzas have a greater history of emerging and spreading.”

The importance of this article is to raise awareness to this disease and hopefully prevent the spread of it.  As the article stated influenzas can be very dangerous because they have the potential to spread so easily. Hopefully China will gain control of the virus before it can spread any further throughout the country and before it can spread to individuals in other countries.  The article was flawed in that it did not present any solutions to treat the virus, potential solutions may help other countries if the virus was to spread outside of China. If a solution is not found then the virus will spread to other individuals in China and eventually to other countries.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/world/asia/china-escalates-response-to-avian-flu-outbreak.html?ref=health&_r=0

Bria Gill
4/7/13
12:53

Blog 8: Canadian Cancer Patients Get Weak Doses of Chemotherapy

          This article informs the public about cancer patients receiving lower than normal doses of chemotherapy in Canada.  Close to 1,200 patients received these feeble doses of chemotherapy to treat their ongoing illnesses.  The government agency, Cancer Care Ontario, reported that 990 patients were affected at 4 different hospitals and another 186 patients were under dosed at a main hospital in New Brunswisk, Canada.  The supplier of these affected drugs was identified to be Marchese Hospital Solutions.  A spokesperson for the supplier extended the company's deepest apologies and stated that chemotherapy preparation and delivery was such a complex process that there were sources for potential error.  The spokesperson also stated that they had put in many sources to minimize the potential for error and that the company would continue to do so.  The problem with the drugs was first identified by a pharmacy technician.  The consequences for the patients remained unidentified as it was said that each patient and each treatment is different.  The under dosing was estimated to be between 3% and 20% less than what it should have been.  The patients and their families are being notified of this situation.
          This article is very important as it raises concerns about how potentially life-saving drugs are handled.  Although the article did not elaborate on the patients' reactions, it can be inferred when patients depend on medical teams and suppliers to provide them with the best possible care.  It is not the doctor's fault in this situation, however the doctors could see consequences when it comes to their credibility for relying on this supplier of medicine.  Internationally, this could cause upset to many people as quality health care is a system of trust in a way.  Patients rely on their doctors and medical team to do everything they can to make them better and if the suppliers supporting the doctors are not doing their part, then people could begin to have concerns about the health care they are receiving in general.  This is a very unfortunate situation and hopefully the patients who were under dosed will not be subjected to further health risks from this one mishap.  It is understandable that nothing is perfect, but hopefully drug suppliers can use this situation to reevaluate their processes for monitoring the drugs that they supply to hospitals in order to prevent future occurrences
.
Jessilyn Bulla
March 5, 2013
3:25 am
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/02/health/canada-patients-under-dosed/index.html?hpt=he_c2

Blog # 9

            Approximately forty percent of the global population is dying prematurely due to outdoor population in China.  China has had one point two billion premature deaths due to outdoor pollution.  The data for this analysis was found and presented from the Lancet which is a British medical journal.  In 2010 researchers considered pollution to be the fourth risk factor for death while after was high blood pressure, smoking, and dietary dangers.  Air pollution was marked seventh on the global list of risk factors of death while outdoor air pollution was marked as the sixth most frequent cause of death in South Asia.  In the year 2010 air pollution was the cause of death for three 3.2 people in China so it is clear that air pollution is having a significant impact on China’s population.  Similar to China, India has had 620,000 untimely deaths that were caused by outdoor air pollution.  Although this number isn’t as large as China but it is still enough when referring to valuable human lives.  India and China are both cities that are heavily packed with people and outdoor air pollution is one issue that they struggle with.  There was a study done with the World Bank and Chinese State Environmental Protection Administration and they found that in China three hundred and fifty to four hundred thousand people die early every year.  China has realized that outdoor air pollution has become a huge threat to their population.  Some steps have been made to address this problem and one example is to present new fuel standards.  This isn’t a solid answer to their problem because power and oil companies that are owned by the state tend to not follow protocol of environmental policies to reduce costs.  This is definitely a global issue because outdoor air pollution has been the cause of such a large number of deaths in South Asia and is still harming people now.  Because of the large number of deaths this is having a substantial impact on the population in South Asia.  I remember a few discussions we had in class about the population in China and how their population has a gap because they already have a one child policy.  This is causing different changes to occur within their population which in turn is resulting in a global issue. 

Antiqua Thurston 4/3/13 8:32

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/world/asia/air-pollution-linked-to-1-2-million-deaths-in-china.html

Blog 8: China Announces 4 New Flu Cases

            I am sure many people remember the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. That was a respiratory illness found in pigs. There are many strains of swine flu, all of which can be dangerous. On Tuesday, China announced that four more people had been infected with a new strain of bird flu. This same strain was believed to have killed two Shanghai residents last month and left one in critical condition. The two who died were both male ages 27 and 87, while the critically ill patient was a 35 year old woman. All three were from the Shanghai area. The four reported on Tuesday were all from Jiangsu Province, just in different cities. Of the four, three are female and one is male and they range from ages 32 to 83. Two of them even began developing flu symptoms on March 19^th. This strain of bird flu is identified as H7N9. It had not been found in humans until the Shanghai case. A strain from 2003, H5N1, killed hundreds of people in Asia and led to the deaths of tens of millions of birds. This specific case was troubling because there is no vaccine for the H7N9 strain. One of the four infected with the H7N9 strain is a poultry butcher and in past strains, the cases involved infected poultry. A random fact the article brought up was that around the same time the new four cases came up, 15,000 dead pigs were found in the Huangpu River. There was no link found between this and the H7N9 strain but the explanation has still not been found.

            Any kind of influenza is nothing to joke around with but with all the new strains coming out, it is important to keep up with the news and pay attention during flu seasons. It is more common in Asian populations but that doesn’t mean it won’t affect others.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/world/asia/china-announces-new-flu-cases.html?_r=0

04/02/13

6:00 PM

Blog #8

Dr. Kurt Hoffman took a trip to Tanzania in the 1970s and realized that there was an issue with the way women cooked for their families.  In developing countries women and children cook by using traditional hearth fires inside their huts.  He was shocked when he saw all the smoke that was inside the huts.  He was even more surprised when he returned 30 years later representing the Shell Foundation.  He decided then and there that this was a problem that needed to be addressed.  The Shell Foundation has joined with the Envirofit International to create the first model of a clean burning wood stove.  Their main focus is to issue the new product to India, Brazil, Kenya and Uganda.  Dr. Hoffman has focused on the issue of indoor pollution in the past because he participated in the Breathing Space program in 2002 through the Shell Foundation.  Eighty percent of rural families throughout developing countries cook using solid fuels such as wood, dung, coal, and crop residues. Although there is no specific census for this subject this is still the main way women cook in developing countries.  The reason this is hazardous for their health is because it causes risk for the environment which goes along with other issues such as malnutrition, lack of poor sanitation and clean water.  Although these issues primarily affect the poor residents in developing countries, it also includes the wealthy.  A lot of the wealthy people choose to cook on open fires or traditional biomass stoves because they may live in an area that doesn't have modern fuels or electricity.  Approximately 1.6 million people die every year of health issues resulting from indoor toxic air.  It affects mostly women because in developing countries women and children are the individuals who cook and spend countless hours surrounded by this toxic air.  One million of the 1.6 million are children who die from pneumonia while more than half a million women die too soon due to chronic obstructive pulmonary issues such as bronchitis and emphysema.  Researchers have found that indoor pollution also causes a higher risk occurrence of tuberculosis, cataracts, partial blindness, low birth weight, and high blood pressure.  This was a result of a five year study the doctors conducted in Guatemala on them cooking on improved stoves versus open fires.  This is a global issue because it is affecting women and children in large numbers throughout the developing world.  It is a part of other issues that people experience especially in poor areas of these countries.  Cooking on open fires causes a lot of health risks and even untimely deaths and that is big problem.  This is one of the main health/disease issues that could possibly affect children even without including death as the most serious effect. 

Antiqua Thurston   3/29/13 6:39

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/science/22stov.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Blog 9 Drug- Resistant Tuberculosis Knocks at Australia's Door

Australia’s first death from XDR-TB, a drug resistant tuberculosis, which is nearly incurable, has alarmed health officials. It has also added heat to a debate over how to treat immigrants with dangerous diseases.   Tons of small Australian islands mingle with islands belonging to Papua New Guinea, one of the world’s poorest nations. A World Health Organization report found serious drug shortages, and Australian television showed XDR patients mingling with others in an Australian hospital tuberculosis wards, raising the risk of spreading resistant strains. Treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis, when it works, can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Experts reported that the same problem exists on the borders between the United States and Mexico, and between Finland and Russia.  

The importance of this article is to raise awareness of the dangers of immigrants carrying diseases from one country to another. It discussed how the issue is not just in Australia but in other countries around the world such as the United States and Finland. Our society should be more educated on these dangerous diseases so people will get tested and treated for these diseases before they take the disease to another country. The article was flawed in that it did not present any suggestion to alleviate the problem of immigrants carrying diseases from one country to another. If a solution is not found, many more immigrants will bring diseases from one country to another, therefore spreading dangerous diseases such as tuberculosis even more.   

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/health/drug-resistant-tuberculosis-knocks-at-australias-door.html?ref=health

Bria Gill

3/26/13

5:30 A.M

Blog 8 Cell Therapy Shows Promise For Acute Type of Leukemia

A treatment that genetically alters a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer, has produced remissions in adults with an acute leukemia that is usually lethal. The treatment is experimental, and has been used in only a small number of patients and did not work in all of them. But experts consider it a highly promising approach for a variety of malignancies, including other blood cancers and tumors in organs like the prostate gland.  The treatment uses patients own T-cells, a type of blood cell that normally fights viruses and cancer. The patient’s blood is run through a machine that extracts T-cells and returns the rest of the blood to the body. Researchers then do some genetic engineering; they use a disabled virus as a “vector” to carry new genetic material into the T-cells which reprograms them to recognize and kill any cell that carries a particular protein on its surface.

This article was flawed in that it did not provide enough evidence to support the fact that the T-cell treatment will be a viable solution to those who have acute leukemia. When you present an article that deals with a disease such as acute leukemia, the article should be backed up with evidence that supports your claims.  The study that the author included only has five participants, the reader can not a good idea whether the treatment actually is effective or not based off so little participation. If the treatment will work, it will be help patients who suffer from acute leukemia to hopefully live longer lives since now the disease is lethal.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/health/altered-t-cell-therapy-shows-promise-for-acute-leukemia.html?ref=health&_r=0

 

Bria Gill

3/24/13

12:57 A.M

 

Blog 7: Healing Process After Rape Never Ends

          This article talks about a teenager who was raped by two classmates at a party.  The two classmates were convicted this past week of first degree rape and will spend a year in juvenile detention and could possibly be kept in custody until they are 21 (they are 16 and 17 right now) if authorities decide to do so.  Both will also have to undergo treatment and register as sex offenders.  But, the consequences could be worse for the victim, a 16 year old girl.  Her life was threatened on social networks this week and she has been bullied and attacked on the internet since the conviction.  The article stated that the defense attorneys attacked her character during the trial because she had been drinking at the party where the incident happened.  It has been a very trying time for the victim.  Studies have shown that victims of rape are very likely to develop depression and post traumatic stress disorder.  A lot of victims cope with their emotions by turning to drugs and alcohol.  This is a serious problem not only in the United States, but also in many other countries.  The after effects of rape are sometimes worse than those that happen at the time of the incidents.  Victims are more likely to commit suicide and struggle with emotional disorders brought on by the rape.  The victim in this case is a perfect example of this claim.
          This article is important because there are conflicts like this that happen everyday in our society.  Although the victim is supposedly given "justice" but having the offenders punished, the victim is still traumatized and will always remember what happened.  There are many programs that help victims cope like therapy and such instead of dependence on alcohol and drugs like what happens in many cases.  This situation is important to the health of our nation because it fuels drug and alcohol abuse and strongly increases the risks of mental disease in victims.  Prescription drugs cannot ever fully correct these problems.  More and more young people are being diagnosed with mental illness and situations like these are only contributing to that statistic.  It is important for young people to be aware of their surroundings and pay special attention when put in positions like this whether they are at parties or a bar or club or really anywhere that is new and unfamiliar.  I think that there can never be too many programs that help make young people more aware of these risks and the seriousness of these situations.  I think our judicial system does a good job of punishing those who commit these crimes, although it is still at the expense of the victims.  Trials are always hard on the victims as they have to relive the experience and a lot of times the defense questions the victims' credibility.  This has been said to be a main reason why a lot of victims don't stand trial and drop the charges.  I think that if anything needs to be improved it should be something in this aspect as no victim should be criticized   They are after all, the victim.  Hopefully young people can learn earlier on ways to prevent a situation like this and if they are ever unfortunately put in a situation, they will be able to know that they have support and can always work to get better through the help of others.

Jessilyn Bulla
March 23, 2013
4:50 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/health/rape-survivors-future/index.html?hpt=he_c2

Blog #7

On February 28, 2013 a thirty nine year old man was hospitalized in Saudi Arabia and unfortunately died two days later.  It was later confirmed that the man had the novel corona virus  which is a new SARS like virus.  The world health organization has found fifteen cases of the novel corona virus including nine fatalities. The World Health Organization (WHO) is trying to determine other possible sources of exposure because the man that recently died didn't have any known contact with any individual that had this unexplained virus.  The Novel corona virus is in the same family as SARS but it is still unknown SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.  Between the years of 2002 and 2003 SARS has made thousands of people sick and caused hundreds of deaths.  The known symptoms of the novel corona virus include fever, coughing, and acute respiratory infection.  Some deadly symptoms are kidney failure and pneumonia.  Although the first cases have been discovered in the Middle East, there have been some reports found in the United Kingdom.  Even though the virus is difficult to obtain it is still a very serious virus.  One positive aspect is that unlike the SARS outbreak there hasn't been a spread of the infection between the infected patients and the caregivers.  The Center for Disease Control has conducted research with bats and it was revealed that the virus originated from animals just like SARS.  Because it can eventually spread to the United States the CDC is working with the WHO to keep the virus under control.  This issue is definitely a global issue because like the SARS outbreak, it can travel from person to person over time.  Because it is a virus it is very possible for it to be spread to a large number of people and that is one main characteristic of a global issue.  The fact that this virus could potentially spread to the United States makes this is a serious issue.  Even though you can’t catch the virus from someone directly across of a room, it can still infect anyone.

 Antiqua Thurston        3/22/13 4:44

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/13/health/new-coronavirus-case/index.html

Blog 7: U.K.: Public O.K. with creating babies from 3 people

            With technology rapidly advancing, people are coming up with new ways to reduce the chances of having kids with some sort of disorder. In vitro fertilization, which is when an egg is fertilized by sperm outside the body and then transferred to the woman’s uterus with the intention of a successful pregnancy, has been around since 1978. Since then, researchers in Britain are now looking at creating babies with three different people. Britain actually has laws against the alteration of a human egg or embryo before transferring it into a woman. However, such treatments, like the one being conducted now, are only allowed for research. After researchers are finished, they will pass their findings to the government in hopes of them changing the law. The reason for researchers in Britain putting such focus on this is due to their high rate of mitochondrial disorders. Each year about one in 200 children in Britain is born with a mitochondrial disorder. A mitochondrial disorder is when there are “faults in a cell’s energy source that are contained outside the nucleus in a normal female egg.” This fault in the genetic code can later result in serious diseases including muscular dystrophy, mental retardation, epilepsy, and heart problems.

            To try to lower the rates of this disorder, scientists came up with creating a baby from three people – two biological mothers and a father. However, this seemed inaccurate because there were only traces of genetic material from one of the women. The procedure included using an egg from one woman with the mitochondrial defects and the sperm of the father. Scientists then take that embryo into an emptied egg from a second woman with healthy mitochondria. I feel like this procedure will possibly cause problems one day due to the fact there is a third party. Nevertheless, it does give hope to the women who are afraid to have kids due to their possibility of passing down genetic issues. 

Page Odom

3/21/13

3:18 PM

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/03/20/britain-fertility-dna/2003221/

Blog 6: Surrogate Offered $10,000 to Abort Baby

 This article is about a controversial surrogacy case.  Chrystal Kelley met a couple through a surrogacy agency who already had three kids and were excited for a fourth, yet the mother could not have anymore children.  Kelley was at first excited to be able to give this couple a new baby.  The first five months went smoothly with the family supporting her at doctor's visits and doing anything they could to make Kelley more comfortable.  Then, during the five month ultrasound, doctors noticed abnormalities with the baby and that her heart was unusually small.  After being referred to specialists, it was determined that the baby had a cleft lip and palate, a cyst in her brain, and serious heart defects.  The parents did not want to bring a child into the world to suffer and they wanted Kelley to have an abortion.  Kelley refused, and this was the start of a complicated custody battle up until the time the baby was born.  In the end, Kelley, after moving to a state with surrogacy laws in her favor, was awarded custody of the baby which she gave up for adoption to a couple who specialized in taking care of children with special needs.  The baby has a long road ahead of her, but she has a good support system and parents who will take care of her.
          This article is important because it proves the many controversies we have over abortion.  Laws are different in each state for abortion, custody, and surrogacy.  The lack of consistency causes even more problems in situations like this one.  A lot of people, especially other surrogates, have attacked Kelley on social networks saying that she was not the child's mother and it was not her decision.  Kelley feels confident she made the right decision and replies to them by saying that it was her body and technically her decision and right.  Lawyers jumped to support Kelley in her fight for her rights.  Abortion and custody rights are still controversial worldwide and more laws are changing as time goes on.  This is just one of the many situations that doesn't always consider the health of the mother or baby.

Jessilyn Bulla
March 9, 2013
4:30 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/04/health/surrogacy-kelley-legal-battle/index.html?hpt=he_c2

Blog #6

Antiqua Thurston

There is a great need to prevent HIV/AIDS in Africa because there is such a large population with this disease.  Many of the Africans that live in the southern region of Africa didn't take the new vaginal gel and medicine properly so it didn't work as planned.  In the year 2010 a study found that a gel including tenofovir an antiretroviral drug would possibly prevent women from spreading HIV.  It was given to women to use before and after sexual intercourse.  There is a current research study that is working to test this vaginal gel on five thousand women in Uganda, South Africa and Zimbabwe.  Along with the gel researchers were testing two other pills and found out that more than half of the women weren't taking their medication.  In the year 2009 the U. N. Program on HIV/AIDS estimated that thirty- four percent of people in the world live with HIV are in the ten of the Southern African countries.  Southern and eastern Africa is the major parts of Africa that are heavily affected with HIV.  The group that is most susceptible to the disease is unmarried, single women that are under the age of twenty- five years old.  Researchers also realized that the reason the study wasn't a success as seen in other studies is because the women did not firmly stick to taking the medications properly.  This is definitely a global issue because HIV/AIDS is an issue that is trying to be solved all over the world.  In every country there are a percentage of individuals with this disease whether large or small.  The goal for researchers is to create a product that will prevent the transmission of AIDS all while making it affordable and convenient.  With a global issue of this kind the product needs to be easy access for individuals especially the ones that live in low income areas and have lower socioeconomic statuses. 

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/257161.php  3/8/13 1:22

Blog 7 African Trial of H.I.V Drug Fails

Scientists reported failure in a large African trial of three different ways to protect women against H.I.V. The failure was not due to the methods of prevention which were  two different pills and a vaginal gel, but to the fact that the women did not use the methods consistently. The study followed more than 5,000 women in South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Although almost all the women in the study made their monthly clinic visits and the majority of the women said they were using the pill or gel, blood tests suggested that only twenty- five percent of the women actually were.

The article was flawed in that it did not mention any specific reasons as to why the women did not use the pills or vaginal gel to protect them from H.I.V.  This disease is a major global issue especially in the African countries in which they carried out the study and there may be some underlying issues as to why they did not use the prevention methods, other than they did not desire to. Prevention methods would be greatly beneficial to Africa and it would seem that there would have been more participation from the women in the study. Perhaps further investigation as to why the women did not use the prevention methods will yield better results for the next study.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/health/african-trial-of-hiv-drugs-fails.html?ref=health&_r=0

Bria Gill
3/7/13
3:53