Health

submitted by John Carroll

As the chikungunya virus spreads through the Caribbean islands, travelers and even U.S. residents need to take precautions.

healthline.com - by Dana K. Cassell - May 7, 2014

Chikungunya (pronounced chik-en-gun-ye) is a viral disease transmitted to humans by the bites of infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which are found across the globe. .

. . . Originally believed to be a “tropical” disease, experts were surprised when an outbreak occurred in northeastern Italy in 2007. Now it has spread farther—to 14 Caribbean island countries since it was first detected on the island of St. Martin in December 2013.

Mosquitoes May Spread the Virus to the Southeastern U.S.

Because the Caribbean islands are close to the U.S., there is some concern that chikungunya will spread to the U.S., perhaps via Florida.

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CLICK HERE - CDC - Chikungunya in the Americas

nytimes.com - by Sheri Fink - October 27, 2013

WHEN the floodwaters rose around New Orleans hospitals after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, doctors wondered whom to rescue first. Sick babies? Critically ill adults? The elderly?

More than seven years later, as Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, Bellevue Hospital’s basement filled with millions of gallons of floodwater from the East River. The physician heading the intensive care unit was told that most backup power was likely to fail. She would have six power outlets. Which of her 50 patients should get one?

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In this Oct. 2008 photo provided by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation is a little brown bat with fungus on its nose in New York. Michigan and Wisconsin wildlife officials said Thursday, April 10, 2104 that tests have confirmed the presence of the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats in the U.S. and Canada. The disease has now been confirmed in 25 states following today's announcements in Michigan and Wisconsin. (AP Photo/New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Ryan von Linden)

ap.org - by JOHN FLESHER and TODD RICHMOND - April 10, 2014

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A fungal disease that has killed millions of North American bats is spreading and now has been detected in half of the United States, officials said Thursday. . .

. . . "It doesn't affect people or other animals" . . . but "bats save the agricultural economy $22.9 billion a year by gobbling crop-damaging insects and reducing the need for pesticides. They also eat mosquitoes, some of which carry West Nile virus."

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How much would the draft Chemicals in Commerce Act recently proposed by Illinois Rep. John Shimkus (left) protect public health? Not much.

huffingtonpost.com - by Elliott Negin - April 4, 2014

Americans have long been unwitting subjects in an uncontrolled experiment.

For decades, U.S. manufacturers -- with the federal government's blessing -- have been producing tens of thousands of untested, potentially toxic chemicals, many of which wind up in our bodies. These substances include suspected neurotoxins, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, and thousands of other chemicals for which there is little or no information.

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STUDY - The Lancet Neurology - Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity

Shimkus Unveils Discussion Draft of Chemicals in Commerce Act