tagged w/ Ebola Virus
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Mother Jones - http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/03/gorillas-extinct-mid-2020
In March, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) announced that gorillas in the Congo may be extinct by the mid-2020s, a drastic change from its 2002 projection which had 10 percent of the original range surviving in 2030.
The culprits behind the demise of one of the world's brightest primates: poaching, logging, mining, the Ebola virus, and...cell phones.
Adam Hochschild's piece in the March/April issue of Mother Jones http://motherjones.com/toc/2010/03, describes how the Congo's vast natural resources are continuously pillaged to feed foreign interests to the detriment of locals, their environment, and now gorillas.
'Militias have seized large chunks of gorilla land and logged and mined it. They have done so because the illegal trade in timber and in metals such as gold and coltan -- used in cell phones -- generates between $14 million and $50 million a year for them.' --- CNN reports
'This is a tragedy for the great apes and one also for countless other species being impacted by this intensifying and all too often illegal trade. Ultimately it is also a tragedy for the people living in the communities and countries concerned. These natural assets are their assets: ones underpinning lives and livelihoods for millions of people. In short it is environmental crime and theft by the few and the powerful at the expense of the poor and the vulnerable.' --- Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UNEP
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/03/gorillas-extinct-mid-2020Mother Jones - http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/03/gorillas-extinct-mid-2020... more
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A Canadian scientist was stopped at the U.S. border last week after authorities found 22 vials used in Ebola research from Canada's National Microbiology Lab in his possession, officials said Wednesday.
The incident has sparked controversy and serious questions about security protocols at the Winnipeg lab that contains some of the world's most deadliest pathogens.
Konan Michel Yao, 42, was apprehended by U.S. officials as he attempted to enter the United States at the Pembina, N.D., border crossing from Manitoba on May 5.
Yao faces U.S. criminal charges for smuggling and is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals service.
Dr. Frank Plummer, scientific director general of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, said the vials did not contain any infectious pathogens.
Canada's public health agency did not know the vials were missing until it was contacted by the RCMP, which had been alerted by U.S. border service, Plummer said.
Click link for videoA Canadian scientist was stopped at the U.S. border last week after authorities found... more
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The Ebola virus, which causes a deadly hemorrhagic fever, has surfaced for the second time in less than two years in south-central Congo, where there have been 36 suspected cases, 12 of them fatal.The Ebola virus, which causes a deadly hemorrhagic fever, has surfaced for the second... more
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"Researchers discovered that the compound is wrapped in benign carbohydrates that mask the virus's deadliness, allowing it to elude immune system scouts. (The human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, that causes AIDS also has this trait.) The good news: the discovery could pave the way for drugs designed to see through that protective coating—and trigger the immune system to attack."
The implications that the Ebola virus and the HIV/AIDS virus contain the same cloaking mechanism to trick your immune system is pretty intersting. Is one step closer to a cure for ebola one step closer to a cure for AIDS?"Researchers discovered that the compound is wrapped in benign carbohydrates that... more
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Scientists like recreating harmless strains of lethal viruses. And now they've done it with the Ebola virus. By removing a single gene from the virus, it stops replicating. This achievement has the potential to aid research into a making a vaccine or cure.
Red Flag!! "One expert said the new method may not yet be a fail-safe way of dealing with the virus."
Uhm, great. It's the Ebola virus. I have all sorts of bad virus outbreak movie scenes rolling through my head right now. Scientists like recreating harmless strains of lethal viruses. And now they've... more
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