Blog 12: Hospital Death in Ireland Renews Fight Over Abortion

After a woman’s died whose life could have been saved by an abortion Ireland is beginning to rethink their law on the total ban of abortions. The woman’s name was Savita Halappanavar was seventeen weeks pregnant when she went to the University Hospital of Galway because she was having back pain. After examination she was informed that she was having a miscarriage and that the fetus had no chance of surviving. She requested to have an abortion but because the heart was still beating it would be illegal. Three days later the heartbeat had stopped and the fetus was removed but she had gotten the blood disease, septicemia, and never got better, she died on October 28^th. Although in 1992 the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was allowed when there was a high risk the law has still not been passed.

This article is significant because it shows that although abortion is a major ethical issue in some cases it should be allowed. It should be up to the mother in the end whether or not she decides to keep her baby because it is her body. If a fetus has absolutely no chance of surviving and is putting the mother in so much health danger that she may die then the baby should be aborted. Without this law put in to place in Ireland than many women may be in the same chance that Savita Halappanavar was in and may die because they are not allowed to abort their babies when their lives are in grave danger. I believe that abortion should be legal in all countries but not everyone agrees. Abortion should at least be legal when the mother has a high risk of dying and should also be allowed when there is no way that the fetus will survive. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/world/europe/hospital-death-in-ireland-renews-fight-over-abortion.html?_r=0

Blog 11: As Dengue Fever Sweeps India, a Slow Response Stirs Experts’ Fears

There is an epidemic of dengue fever in India that is causing a growing alarm. The government have refused to acknowledge the size of the problem that is threatening millions of people. India is the focus of a mosquito- borne plague that is spreading across the globe. It was reported in a few countries in the 1950’s. Now the epidemic has spread throughout half the world. It is a tropical disease that is only life- threatening for a small percentage of the people infected. Many Western tourists are returning from vacations with dengue fever now that it has reached the shores of United States and Europe. In India, contributions to the epidemics growth include areas of standing water and hospitals have become overrun with patients. Officials say that over 30,000 people have been infected with the dengue fever just through October.  Under reporting of the disease contributed to the diseases spread. There have also been discouraged efforts to clean up the sources of the diseased. This has also caused a slowed effort in the search for a vaccine. This disease is also able to hide in plain sight because many people who are infected only show mild symptoms of fatigue. 20 percent of those infected have more serious flu like symptoms such as high fever, vomiting, skin rash, and muscle aches that can be so powerful the disease has the nickname of backbone fever.

This article is significant because there are a number of people who are un diagnosed and do not know that their infection could cause an increase in this illness. Without the proper care for the disease and vaccine the disease will continue to spread not only throughout India but throughout the world. Something needs to be done to stop the dengue fever from spreading and to help others recover from this illness.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/world/asia/alarm-over-indias-dengue-fever-epidemic.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Blog 10: Officials debate whether to scrap malaria program

An expensive malaria program that would provide cheap drugs for poor patients may not happen after health official fought over the effectiveness of the program. In 2010 the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria was started. This program cost four hundred and sixty million dollars and was started to subsidize artemesinin combination drugs which is said to be the most effective malaria treatment.  A report released by Oxfam said that the program was a failure because they didn't follow those who received the drug so there was no proof whether or not it worked. According to the World Health Organization “improving the rational use of malaria drugs was not a specific strategic objective. Another journal said that the program was effective way to lower the price of the drugs and made them available to everyone. After the program had begun there was a bigger supply of the drugs but it didn’t measure whether or not it lowered the cases of malaria. The Global Fund called it “a practical approach to fighting disease” and that these malaria drugs were not available in in many African countries before this program.

This article is significant because a program that has made the most effective drug that prevents malaria available might be stopped. Without this program malaria might still be a major problem. Although the program has not measured how effective the drug they are using is the program has still been able to get the medicine out there to people who need it. The program has been using the most expensive medicine but it is also said to be the most effective. A way to keep the program going but lower the costs would be to make a cheaper drug available to people. The downside to this would be that it wouldn’t be the most effective drug. But the program could still be open, costs could be lowered, and medicine to prevent malaria would still be available.  

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/10/31/officials-debate-whether-to-scrap-malaria-program

Blog 9: Amid Cutbacks, Greek Doctors Offer Message to Poor: You Are Not Alone

Ever since the debt crisis has taken hold the health care in Greece has changed dramatically. Before this, Greece had a typical European health system, employers and individuals contributed to a fund where the government was able to provide universal health care. People who became unemployed received health care for a year and were still treated by hospitals if they still could not afford to pay after their benefits expired. After Greece signed a supplemental loan agreement to avoid financial collapse Greek people are now forced to pay all health costs out of pocket after their benefits expire.  The change to the health care system has caused people to seek health outside the health care system. Many people are now being referred to an underground movement that has sprung up to take care of the uninsured. Dr. Giorgos Vichas is responsible for this new movement.  Dr. Vichas has set up a network to help uninsured cancer patients and other ill people by using spare medicines donated by pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, and even families of cancer patients who have died. Although this method is working not Dr. Vichas says that it will only work for a matter of time because people eventually will no longer be able to donate. They are pressuring the state to take responsibility again. Dr. Vichas says that he has never imagined being so overwhelmed with people in need.

This article is significant because it shows what has happened to the health care system in Greece. Greece has stopped paying for health care for people who are unemployed after their unemployment benefits have run out. Because Greece has done this they are forcing people to pay for their own health care and these people who cannot afford it are being ignored. Although people are banning together to help the unemployed it cannot last forever. Without Greece taking responsibility for its people in need they will die. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/world/europe/greek-unemployed-cut-off-from-medical-treatment.html?pagewanted=2

Blog 8: Document on Calorie Figures in Gaza Blockade Stirs Dispute

In Jerusalem the Israeli military calculated the number of calories the citizens of Gaza needed to consume in order to avoid malnutrition during the blockade imposed on the Palestinian territory from 2007- 2010. The Defense Ministry released this document under a court order on Wednesday. The military insisted that they have never used these guidelines to restrict the flow of food but calculations have shown that limits have been imposed on food imports. There has been further evidence to conclude that Israel has used food as a weapon. A military spokesperson said that the calculation was made to be used as a safeguard to avoid humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The document was made public after and Israeli rights group battled to make it public. Israel calculated that the daily requirement was 2,279 calories per person. This is in line with the World Health Organization guidelines. The Goal of this policy was to wage an economic warfare so Gaza’s economy would freeze and create pressure on the Hamas government. The result after this document was released was that military officials enforced the blockade to allow frozen salmon and low-fat yogurt to be sent through. Underground tunnels have been built so go around the blockade. Food has been smuggled from Egypt to Gaza.  

                This article is significant because it shows that the Israeli military used food as a weapon. Despite the calorie count that says will stop the people of Gaza from becoming malnourished the military limited imports through the blockade. Because of the limitation of food imports people were unable to receive the food that they needed to have the correct nutrients to help them survive. Food shouldn't be used as a weapon given that it is a necessity to survive. 

Belfast Clinic for Abortions Due to Open

A British nonprofit organization called DUBLIN is opening an abortion clinic in Ireland. This will be the first abortion clinic to ever open on the island of Ireland. Anti-abortion campaigners are having a furious reaction to this announcement and are planning to pressure the local politicians to refuse to grant an operating license. The founder of an anti-abortion group called Precious Life claims that organizations that make profits from the deaths of unborn children are not welcome in Ireland. The church, the government, and the church will go against the abortion clinic too. Mari Stopes International is behind the proposed clinic and currently gives advice to women who want to get abortions. This new clinic will limit the abortion to the first nine weeks of pregnancy which is different from the twenty-four weeks that is allowed across the rest of Britain. These terminations would involve taking pills rather than a surgery.   Right now abortion is allowed only under limited circumstances in the case that the mother’s long-term physical or mental health is threatened.

This article is significant because women should have the option to abort their baby. It is not up to the church to decide whether or not abortions are okay. As of now abortion is only given the option for women if they have severe medical conditions. Abortion isn’t allowed in Ireland even in the case of rape and I think that all women should have the option of having an abortion if they want to. The church should not make the final decision of who is and who is not allowed to have an abortion.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/world/europe/abortion-clinic-to-open-in-northern-ireland.html?_r=0

Potentially Deadly VirusBlog 6: New Virus Related to SARS Appears to Be Not Easily Spread

In the article Potentially Deadly Virus Related To SARS Appears To Be Not Easily Spread Marc Santora talks about how a new virus related to SARS is not appearing to be easily spread between persons. The officials say that the virus first surfaced in the Middle East and are encouraging health workers to be on the look out for anyone with acute respiratory system and only to test for the virus if the patient is severely ill. The virus is not yet named but belongs to the coronavirus family. It is the same family of virus as the common cold. Although it is believed to be that the disease is not easily transferred from person to person the World Health Organization is continuing to watch the situation.  There are only two cases confirmed of this disease so far and both of the victims had kidney failure. Public health officials have not enforced any travel restriction but they will be closely watching because of the Muslims preparing for the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

This article is significant because the full damage of this disease is not yet known. Although it is thought to be not easily spread through people there is still a risk of it potentially harming the human population until it is known how the disease is being spread.  Without having the full knowledge of this disease it has the possibility of being detrimental to the human race. The World Health Organization is monitoring the disease closely to make sure that it will not get out of hand. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/world/new-virus-may-be-dangerous-but-seems-not-easily-spread.html?_r=0

Blog 5: Spain Recoils as Its Hungry Forage Trash Bins for a Next Meal

This article talks about the growing hunger problems in Spain, especially a city called Girona. In the city of Girona it was becoming so common to see people looking through trash bins instead of going to local soup kitchens or food banks. It became so common that the city made the decision to put padlocks on the trash bins. An official in Girona, Eduardo Berloso said that he made this suggestion so the hungry would be encouraged to go to the local soup kitchens and food banks. Others said he put the padlocks on to protect Girona’s image because it is a popular town for tourists.  Hunger is becoming such a problem because the employment rate is over fifty percent in Spain and it is still growing because jobs and salaries are still being cut. On top of this the government has recently raised the value- added tax three percent. This comes to a total of twenty- one percent on most goods, making it even harder for people of Spain to provide for themselves and their families.

The author of this article, Suzanne Daily not only uses facts to show the increase in people who are unable to buy food. She also uses other people personal experiences with scavenging for food in Spain. In doing this more people are able to relate to the article because an increase in the hungry is not only happening in Spain but it is happening around the world. The unemployment rate is rising everywhere, making it harder for people to be able to afford food. The city the article mentions, Girona, is more concerned about their image rather than the well- being of the people. I feel that America often times is like this too. America has a tendency to try and hide people who are in desperate need of basic necessities to try and reassure not only the world, but the people who live in America as well that everything is fine. It isn't fine though. People are struggling and without help it isn’t going to get any better, it will only get worse. This article is significant because it shows that many places are struggling and it takes all people to work together to truly make a change and improve the increase in hungry people around the world. 

Blog 4: In Sri Lanka, breakthroughs, setbacks and a spiritual touch

 The article discusses the chronic kidney disease and how it has struck 15 percent of the north central region in Sri- Lanka for the past two decades. It has been unknown as to what causes the disease but after extensive research scientists have related it back to pesticides in their food. It is still unknown what pesticides are contaminating their food so deaths due to kidney disease are still continuing. The outbreak of the kidney disease began in the 1990s and has continued since then. Scientists have come up with many theories to explain the outbreak but none have been pinpointed as the exact cause so confusion was spread across villages about what is causing the outbreak. In 2008 the World Health Organization began a study to figure out what had caused the outbreak. For over three years no information was given about the study; it wasn’t until this year that the government released partial findings that concluded that exposure to low concentrations of cadmium and arsenic is the cause of the epidemic. A toxicologist at the Karolinska Institute refutes this information and says that based off of the information the group has released nothing can be concluded and the levels of exposure that were described are not enough to cause chronic kidney failure. The results that the government released have no explanation of how the food is contaminated. A suspect of the cause is the agrochemicals which are used in the areas rice patties but that theory remains unproven. Since it cannot be proven farmers still apply tons of agrochemicals to the rice patties in Sri-Lanka. Within the article is also tells how Buddhist monks are donating their kidneys and how this has inspired people to donate their kidneys as well.

When reading this article I was amazed that the government was not revealing the information from the study to help the people stop chronic kidney disease which has been harming the people in Sri-Lanka since the 1990s. It was three years before any information was given to the people from the study that they did. Keeping this information from the people is keeping them from stopping the disease from harming them. Thankfully, there are people who are willing to donate their kidneys to save as many lives as they can but there are still more that can be saved.

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/09/18/10857/sri-lanka-breakthroughs-setbacks-and-spiritual-touch#!0

                

Waning Protection after Fifth Dose of Acellular Pertussis Vaccine in Children

Before a child reaches the age of seven in the United States they receive five doses of the acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine. It was unknown how long the child would be protected after their fifth dose of the DTaP vaccine. A study was done to see how long their protection of the vaccine lasted after their fifth dose of the DTaP vaccine. In order to do this they assessed the risk of pertussis in California from 2006-2011 which included a large outbreak of pertussis in 2010. The study compared children from the age’s four to twelve who had pertussis with two sets of controls which were: those who were negative for pertussis and those who closely matched controls from the general population of health plan members. Logistic regression was used to examine the risk of pertussis in relation to the duration of time after the fifth dose of the DTaP vaccine.  The results concluded that the children who were positive for pertussis were more likely to have received the fifth DTaP vaccine dose earlier and the children who were negative for pertussis. This resulted in the conclusion that children who receive the fifth dose of the pertussis vaccine and other doses after that were still at risk of getting pertussis because the protection against it went down.

                Many children are at risk each year of having pertussis. Parents count on the DTaP vaccine to protect their children from getting pertussis and after so many vaccines it is no longer as effective. This effects American’s because more children are becoming at risk for pertussis after the fifth dose of the DTaP vaccine. This affects people in other countries whose children are beginning to receive the vaccine for pertussis because the parents need to know that it will not be as effective the more times it is received.  

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200850

Blog 2: West Nile Virus Cases, Deaths Still On Rise

In this article Ann Curley discusses the still rising number of deaths and cases of the West Nile Virus. This summer cases of the West Nile virus are at an all- time high. There have not been this many cases since 1999. Just this past week the number of West Nile Virus Cases have risen 25%. On Tuesday 1,993 cases of the virus have been reported this includes 87 deaths. This number is significantly larger than last week where there 1,590 cases including 66 deaths. The number of cases and deaths are expected to keep rising until October. The majority of these cases are found in Texas, South Dakota, Mississippi, Michigan, and Louisiana. Texas has the largest outbreak of 46% and is the worst year ever for the West Nile virus. The CDC thinks that a possible reason that the cases of the virus are so high because of Hurricane Isaac. Even though the West Nile virus does not normally increase because of natural disasters many people spent more time outdoors this summer because of the loss of their homes and during the recovery effort were more likely to be in contact with infected mosquitos. Ariel spraying has been used to reduce the density of mosquitos in some areas of Texas. The density of mosquitos has decreased 93% in areas that have been sprayed consecutively rather than areas that have not been sprayed at all. Curley ends the article by giving tips on how to avoid mosquito bites.

The west Nile virus is often seen in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East. The West Nile virus was first seen in America in 1999 and the highest numbers of cases have been seen this year since 1999. In the article Curley only talks about how the West Nile Virus is impacting America it still affects the world and is significant on a global scale. If the West Nile virus is not brought under control soon the mosquitos carrying the virus could travel to other countries and affect the people there.   
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/05/health/west-nile-virus/index.html

Blog 1: Guinea Worm is Poised to Become the Second Human Disease to be Eradicated

            The Guinea worm is a parasitic infection found in the drinking water. It is often found in Asia and Africa. When water containing the Guinea Worm is ingested it begins to grow and can grow up to three feet within a year. Eventually the worm will leave its victim through a burning blister. When water is splashed over the blister the worm releases eggs in the victim and the process starts all over again. The only way to truly get rid of the worm is to wrap it around a stick and slowly pull it out. Thanks to volunteer efforts this disease will most likely be the second to be eradicated and the first to be eradicated without a vaccine. Volunteers have been handing out straws with a cloth covering over them to keep the worm from being ingested and they have been teaching the villagers to avoid infection. There have been only 291 cases this year and as the number is continuously dwindling it is becoming hardest and most challenging time of all. It takes a lot of effort to be sure that every worm has been taken care of.

            When Jimmy Carter paired up with the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to eradicate the Guinea worm in 1986 there were 3.5 billion cases of Guinea worm across 21 countries that year. This year so far there were only 391 cases worldwide. It is amazing to think that this disease is almost eradicated thanks to volunteers who helped the people in the villages rid themselves of the disease. This is a significant event because it will be the second disease to be eradicated and the first to be eradicated without the help of a vaccine. It was a rare chance that solely volunteer work would solve the problem of this disease but it shows what can be done when people are willing to step up and lend a hand.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/guinea-worm-is-poised-to-become-the-second-human-disease-to-be-eradicated/2012/08/27/6b3452f4-dbdc-11e1-af1d-753c613ff6d8_story.html