Nocere – Earth Disasters

A child in the US that had been diagnosed with the swine flu has died. It is the first US human death caused by the H1N1 type of virus.

Dr. Richard Besser, the current director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  in the US is quoted as  Wednesday , “I can confirm the very sad news out of Texas that a child has died of the H1N1 virus.”

So far there have been 64 cases of Swine Flu in the US and 6 of them of them have been found  in Texas according to the CDC.

Mexico has had seven confirmed deaths from the swine influenza.  Besides the US and Mexico, even tho there are 112 cases of the swine flu around the world, no other deaths have been reported.

“Given what we’ve seen in Mexico, we have expected that we would see more severe infections and would see deaths,” Besser said.

The child was approximately 2 years of age.   This is a story that is changing as I write it.

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The World Health Organization suspects Swine Flu which is a new flu virus that can cause a respiratory epidemic had claimed 60 lives and infected 800 others in Mexico. Majority of cases were in the capital, Mexico city and some isolated cases in central areas of the country.

Strategic Health Operation Centre had been set up by WHO which operates during periods of acute public health risk. The WHO spokeswoman also said this unusual ‘ end – of Season influenza activity’ started to be noticed from the end of March in Mexico. Up till now, there has been 800 suspected to go down with flu-like disease, which had claimed 57 lives in Mexico city area.

The epidemic is claimed to be under controlled by Mexican Health Minister. Mean while the local authorities are trying to determine what strains is this virus.
As for precaution, school has been closed down in affected areas and people are urged to avoid huge crowd and body contacts such as shaking hands and kissing.

The experts in US reported the new form of Swine flu as a combination of pig, bird and human viruses, after seven people had been infected in Texas and California. However the CDC said none of the seven victims had been in contact with pigs which is the conventional spreading route for Swine virus.

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Initially, Australian officials have deemed the affected zone to be along the eastern coastal area, and have marked the area as disaster zone. Now, the situation is far from what they have expected. The spillage consists of not just ammonium nitrate fertilisers, but is a mixture of both chemical components and oil. The oil was released into the sea after containers containing the fertiliser hit the hull of the ship before falling into the sea. Thereby, leakage of oil occurred which caused further contamination.

Authorities fear that if such drastic condition is not treated, large numbers of marine wildlife would be affected. Time is definitely a factor since the discharge is not ordinary harmless compounds, but consists of components that are toxic. In addition, nitrate fertilsers promote algae bloom that would compete and block off oxygen supply to marine fishes.

Planning is still undergoing to restore the water condition, while officials continue to stress the consequences if the pollution is left unattended.

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Often, ships transporting chemicals such as petroleum must take extreme caution to prevent accidental spillage. Inadvertently, when such incident occurs, much recovery work has to be done. Part of Australia’s eastern coastal region was reported to have been contaminated by chemical spillage, while the area is currently being blocked off.

Issue with regards to the recovery work is still into further discussion. The company responsible for the spillage is liable for cost of clearing up the contaminated area. According to officials, the spilled chemical – ammonium nitrate, is a type of fertiliser that could promote the growth of algae on the surface of the water. As such, recovery work has to progress fast, otherwise massive algae growth could reduce oxygen supply in the water that might ultimately lead to suffocation of marine fishes.

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