bleach vs mad deer disease

it's deer hunting season, and the bad news is that some deer in the USA are affected with Chronic wasting disease, caused by a prion that is similar to the mad cow disease (vCJD) that was found in the UK several years ago.

the prion family of neurological disease has variations that affect many animals: not all are infectious to humans.

To date, about 260 cases of vCJD, mostly in the United Kingdom, have been reported related to consuming beef but none in which the disease was acquired in the U.S.

Other TSEs are found in specific kinds of animals. These include BSE, mink encephalopathy, feline encephalopathy, and scrapie, which affects sheep and goats. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) affects elk and deer and is increasingly prevalent in certain areas in the United States. To date no transmission of CWD to humans has been reported. top

there are now reports that bleach might stop the spread by deactivating, but not killing, the prion of CWD LINK

Bleach isn’t the cure-all for CWD. It only works on nonporous surfaces, but it’s the first thing scientists have discovered that inactivates the abnormal prion that’s wreaking havoc on cervid herds. What’s more, we know the concentration and exposure time for bleach to be effective. And it works any time, today or in three weeks, because, unfortunately, the prions don’t disappear.

Chronic wasting disease in deer/elk has been spreading in the USA.

CWD is affecting many deer and elk in the USA... and some worry it will cross the species barrier to infect humans similar to how mad cow disease spread to humans (who ate brain/nerve tissue in meat from the infected cows).

so if you are a deer hunter in an area where there is CWD, how do you butcher the meat?

so far there has not been proof it spreads to humans, but macaq monkeys and squirrels might be able to be infected.  link2

and there have been cases from eating squirrels in the USA.

In 1997, a number of people from Kentucky developed vCJD. It was discovered that all had consumed squirrel brains, although a coincidental relationship between the disease and this dietary practice may have been involved.^[39]

LiveScience report on a case in NewYork state also associated with eating squirrel.

So is there a link between CWD in deer and CJD in humans?

Creutzfeldt–Jakob_disease

CJD is caused by a protein known as a prion.^[5] Infectious prions are misfolded proteins that can cause normally folded proteins to become misfolded.^[4] Most cases occur spontaneously, while about 7.5% of cases are inherited from a person's parents in an autosomal dominant manner.^[4] Exposure to brain or spinal tissue from an infected person may also result in spread.^[4] There is no evidence that it can spread between people via normal contact or blood transfusions.^[4] 

translation: You can't get regular CJD easily from contact with a patient with that disease (unless you are incontact with infected tissue/blood), but that might not be true in the variant version (vCJD) aka mad cow disease.

,
,,the mad cow disease that affected humans in the UK was called Varient CJD (wikipedia) from eating beef contaminated with brain/nerve tissue and also from blood transfusions if the donor had the infectious prions in their blood.

the good news: Not everyone who was infected got the disease: there is a genetic link to whether or not you were susceptible.

the bad news: it could take up to 50 years to develop the disease.

In New Guinea, a disease Kuru was known to be caused by cannibalism, where the family ate part of the brain of the dead: forbidding the practice was thought to have eliminated it, but now there have been new cases reported. Were these new cases from a long latent period, with the disease appearing 50 years later from modern mortuary practice, or from secretly continuing the practice?

Measles: outbreaks

they were hoping that Measles would be eliminated world wide.

Latest outbreak: Samoa with 6 dead according to the NYTimes.

more at the UKGuardian which doesn't have a paywall:

Since then, at least six deaths, mostly infants under the age of two, have been linked to the outbreak, the health ministry said in a statement late last week. Of the 716 suspected cases of measles, 40% required hospitalisation....

Measles cases are rising globally, including in wealthy nations such as the US and Germany, where some parents shun immunisation mostly for philosophical or religious reasons, or concerns, debunked by medical science, that such vaccines could cause autism.

this is in Samoa: American Samoa is not involved (yet...) because it's vaccination rate is higher (90 percent).
sigh.

And after the Dengue vaccine scandal, some parents didn't get their kids vaccinated here int the Philippines, so we had an outbreak too

Sudden cardiac death in athletes

a good article at Runner's world LINK lancet article about NDE LINK headsup FR LINK

the history of Insulin

Dying alone in Japan

There is a bestselling manga in Japan called "stargazing dog" about a middle aged man who was fired from his job due to downsizing, had his wife and children leave him, and ended up dead of neglect in the middle of a field.

the author insists it was not a sad book.

A manga titled “Stargazing Dog” starts with the discovery of the skeletal remains of the protagonist who lost his job and family and died in an isolated field with his dog at his feet. However, Takashi Murakami, 54, author of the manga, said this is not a tragic story. “He was not unhappy at all,” Murakami said of the protagonist. Murakami objects to characterizations of people who die alone as sad “losers in life” who have not prepared for death. Of course, the author says, people who do not want to die alone should receive help and support. What he objects to is the classification that all isolated deaths indicate the person has lived an unhappy life.

most of those who die, die alone in their own homes, neglected by their families.

The author feels society has unfairly attached labels to those who die alone and those who die surrounded by loved ones.

WINNERS, LOSERS OF LIFE “The ‘winners’ might be the group of people who can disperse the risks and avoid living in isolation,” said Midori Kotani, 50, president of a research center for senior citizens who specializes in clinical thanatology.

Eight years ago, Kotani, who also teaches at Rikkyo Second Stage College in Tokyo, lost her husband. His death spurred Kotani to form a group to help people maintain their lifestyles after their partners die. “If you want to avoid isolation or a lonely death, it is important to connect to people other than family members who can be relied upon when you are still vigorous,” Kotani said.

Akihisa Kono, 50, who runs a surgical hospital in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, saw many lonely death cases when he was a medical examiner in the prefecture. Kono said that Japan’s wealthy and convenient society helps to free us from the troubles of meeting people face-to-face.

But, he added, “The communication skills of people are worsening regardless of age, which widens the disconnect within a community and between generations and leads to isolation.” Since the first half of the 1990s, the number of “muen botoke,” people who die alone and go unnoticed, even by their children or relatives, has been rising in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.

The number started surging after fiscal 2005. Alarmed by the trend, the city four years ago started supporting “Shukatsu” (preparing for death) for people who live alone and are financially strapped. Kazuyuki Kitami, a social worker at the welfare division of Yokosuka city, said changes in society are fueling the trend in lonely deaths. “It is not about losing bonds but rather the environment has made it easier to sever bonds,” Kitami said.

He said sharp social changes can be traced back to two time periods: in 1990, when the average family size shrank to three members or fewer, and the 2000s, when the use of cellphones spread. People now have fewer immediate relatives to connect with, and human relationships are maintained chiefly through smartphones.

Those who find themselves with few real-life connections may die alone, and their families or relatives might not care, he said. “What generates such an atmosphere that even relatives don’t receive the remains? I think we need to think about that question,” Kitami said.

and it's not just the eldely who disappear

Ebola, Measles and Diarrhea killing children.

StrategyPage writes about the Ebola epidemic in the DRC/Central Africa.

The good news:

international and Congolese health workers have a new weapon in their arsenal. Two days ago 11,000 doses of the new American Ad26-ZEBOV-GP vaccine arrived in North Kivu province. North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri are the three provinces in the epidemic’s epicenter. Another 39,000 doses will arrive shortly. As of October 20, there were 3,243 Ebola virus cases and 2,185 deaths in Congo. Uganda has had four confirmed cases and three deaths. 

the bad news:

 Sadly, in 2019 measles has killed more people in Congo than Ebola. So far over 4,100 Congolese have died this year from measles. Estimates are that Congo had over 200,000 total measles cases in 2019. Over 140,000 of those cases were children under the age of five years. (Austin Bay) 

there was a push to eliminate measles from the world (similar to how smallpox was eradicated in the recent past).

This 2014 article discussed some of the problems of getting the vaccine into the chaotic DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo).

So what are some of these bottlenecks? First, access to routine vaccination services is extremely limited. The population is spread over large geographic areas with very limited road and public transport networks. Second, in several provinces, health clinics perform poorly due to shortages of health staff, ill-equipped health structures, irregular supplies of vaccines and inadequate cold chain equipment for vaccine storage.8,9 Third, the logistics challenge of accessing children in distant areas is overwhelming.

the article goes into details about the logistical problems.
One problem with measles vaccine is that since it is a "live" attenuated virus, it needs refrigeration. So if it gets warm, it deteriorates and doesn't work. That alone is a major problem.

and when I read in the article that there are reports of a alot of measles despite the reports of a high rate of vaccinations.

I not only wonder if the vaccine had been kept cold and had been given properly, but if the health care workers just faked the data to get paid.

and that doesn't even mention little things like roaming gangs who steal medical equipment, rob health care workers, and terrorize locals, or that many people are fleeing the war between insurgencies and government troops.

nor does it mention the propaganda war against vaccinations. This has been notorious with both polio and measles, usually in Muslim countries where the Mullahs take a half baked anti vax conspiracy theory from the web and tell their people not to get their kids vaccinated.

But these rumors are also complicating the ability to control the ebola epidemic. (something mentioned in the SP article)

The government and medical aid organizations are battling rumors that Ebola is a hoax. ... Many locals refuse to believe Ebola is what local and foreign doctors say it is. Traditional healers and the few Islamic terror groups in the area also oppose efforts to use modern medicine to treat Ebola. The traditional healers see it as a threat to their livelihoods while the Islamic terrorists believe Western medicine is really an infidel (non-Moslem) plot to poison Moslems or Africans in general.

Opponents to Ebola treatment encourage violence against those providing this treatment and that has led to some deaths and a considerable amount of violence.

Then we have this complaint: the upsurge in measles cases might have been partly because health resources have switched from vaccinating for Ebola rather than routine childhood vaccinations.

A combination of factors – increased violence, growing mistrust towards medical teams in the wake of the Ebola outbreak as well as the diversion of resources to deal with Ebola – have resulted in reduced vaccination coverage in general.

....Community mistrust towards the outbreak response team has been cited as one of the challenges. Another is the high levels of insecurity due to battles between the army and armed groups. This has affected access to health services by communities.

you don't say.

and from my experience, a lot of the "measles" deaths won't be reported: often the children would die of croup, pneumonia a week or two after the measles rash disappeared.

And then there is the problem of tuberculosis: Measles causes "anergy", meaning your resistance against tuberculosis goes down, and then you can die of TB. TB also is seen when the immune system is weakened by malnutrition, HIV, malaria, or other infectious diseases. 

and yes, malaria remains a major killer of children and adults in the area.

and don't forget that one of the major killers of young children is various forms of gastroenteritis, or diarrhea disease, usually viral, which usually is because of lack of clean water.

Sigh.

There are ways to fight all these diseases (been there, done that: baby clinics, digging wells, village health workers with WHO rehydration fluid, supplying chickens and cheap protein supplements and nutrition villages), but when there is a war and the roads are not safe, when clinics are robbed or medical personnel are killed, then the plan collapses.

been there, done that too. 

Sigh.

cross posted from my main blog

Military suicide

strategyPage has a long essay on PTSS, suicide, and the military, and how the military is trying to control the epidemic.

LINK

Military epidemiologists (experts on medical statistics) have long sought to convince people outside the military that the rise in suicide rates within the military has little to do with the stress of combat and mostly to do with the stresses of military life during wartime or peacetime. In other words, the increased suicides were not concentrated among the combat veterans, who make up less than 15 percent of those in the military but are more evenly distributed among all service personnel.

For example, during the last decade over 75 percent of suicides were among troops who had never gone overseas. The military, especially the army, has long documented all deaths and the Department of Defense in 2013 released a study of all suicides since 2001, when more troops saw combat, to 2008, when the heavy fighting in Iraq ended.

A similar study for 2009-2012 suicides found little change. The researchers also point out that the reasons for suicides in the military are quite similar to those for civilian suicides, especially when victims are of the same age, education, and other factors as their military counterparts. In other words, periods of intense combat for the military have little impact on the overall suicide rate because so few troops are exposed to combat.

These revelations were not well received by the mass media which makes much of the rising suicide rate in the military but pays less attention to rising suicide rates among civilians of the same age and education. That was 9 per 100,000 in 2001 but had risen to 17.5 in 2013 and by 2016 was 26 per 100,000 men aged 25-44, which is the age of most men in the military.

This was declared to be a health emergency, and to a certain degree, it was. What was missed in all the discussion was that the higher suicide rate in the military is usually below the rate for civilians of military age.