Monday, June 10, 2019

What is Going on Here?


This morning I read with incredulity the following news:

Rana, P (2019, Monday June 10). HIV Hits Children of Pakistan. The Wall Street Journal, A18.

...Over six weeks of testing, more than 600 children, most of them between 2 and 5 years old, tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS, while nearly all of their parents tested negative... Before the tests, just over 1,000 children were registered positive in the entire country...
..."It's just the tip of the ice-berg. I suspect infections are in the thousands, not hundreds," said Imran Akbar Arbani, the doctor who diagnosed the first case...."

How did hundreds, if not more, young children get infected with the AIDS virus when their parents are free from it?

An article in the International News offers the World Health Organization's explanatory framework:
The WHO team of experts believe the possible drivers of the outbreak could be ‘unsafe practices of blood transfusion’, ‘re-use of injection needles and syringes’, ‘mother to child transmission’, ‘improper disposal and reuse of hospital waste, ‘tattooing using unsafe needles’, ‘circumcision in males using unsafe blades’ and ‘ear and nose piercing using unsafe needles’.
If these unsafe practices are responsible for the infections with AIDS virus then wouldn't we see more similar outbreaks in similar locales?

There is something fishy about this story but the more pressing question is how will these children be cared for?

The article notes that India is sending anti-virals and that other organizations such as the WHO pledge support (see here) but this is not enough for such a tragedy whose effects grow every day as the latest news is reporting 751 infected.

CHILD SAVING 

In the 19th century, "child saving" emerged as a logic of government that was pursued across the twentieth century.

There were many problems with child saving policies as they were historically conceptualized and enacted administratively, but the overall idea remains salient: Children are the seeds of our collective future. 

Human life should never be disposable and we should especially value our most vulnerable expressions. The love we are capable of for our own children should be extended to other people's children as well.

(and of course that love should be extended to the flora and fauna of our eco-sphere, upon which all life depends - the challenge of course is learning to cultivate a garden of diverse and sustainable life)



 


7 comments:

  1. probably one in 10 has chagas in the south and southwestern USA now because kssing bugs are everywhere. Chagas infects dogs and cats. Many refugees have it. It is in the blood supply. It is like heart worms in dogs . Slowly eats out the heart. Hard to test for. Few drugs available for it in america. The bugs came on cruise ships and ships and some refugees. its epidemic from caloifornia to the east coast to mexico central america and brazil where it started . The parasite is related to tse tse fly sickness in africa . very hard to kill.

    Chagas in Tennesssee report 4 years ago news 5
    https://youtu.be/XnqcezFyHis

    How can you be so naive Majia? Elisas and antibodiy lab tests are not foolproof most are very flawed in this fake goddamned nomans land with one of the most bogus and worst medical aystems in the woorld where doctors are bribled by pceu companies and laboritories testing outfits and shakled by bean counting private insurance. They misdiagnose half of their patienst and try to sell people gadgets and get worthless lab tests to blood suck people more.

    There are many people with Hep C in murica that do not know it. Even after getting bogus tests for it. The only way they could find out for sure is biopsy and, how many would do that.

    Chagas is almost undetectable. It is the most neglected troppical disease in the United states now. You are brainwashed and should know better!Chagas is commonly spread to humans and other mammals by the blood-sucking "kissing bugs" of the subfamily Triatominae. These insects are all over the Usa now and in europe. The disease is also be spread through blood transfusion, organ transplantation, eating food contaminated with the parasites, and by vertical transmission (from a mother to her fetus).[1] Diagnosis of early disease is by finding the parasite in the blood using a microscope is hard Chronic disease is diagnosed by finding antibodies for T. cruzi in the blood but the elisa and antibody tests are not very effective especially in chronic chagas

    Prevention mostly involves eliminating kissing bugs and avoiding their bites or bed-nets. Early infections are treatable with the medication benznidazole or nifurtimox which are extremely toxic like chemotherapy and not even avaliable in the USa or latin america anymore. Medication becomes less effective the longer a person has had Chagas disease When used in chronic disease, medication may delay or prevent the development of end–stage symptoms. Benznidazole and nifurtimox cause temporary side effects in up to 40% of people including skin disorders, brain toxicity, and digestive system irritation.

    movements have increased the areas where ] Chagas disease was first described in 1909 by the Brazilian physician Carlos Chagas, Chagas disease is classified as a neglected tropical disease. It affects more than 150 other animals
    The kissing bug vector does not do well in cold climates but with global warming and climate change it is thriving in the United States now


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please reblog or retweet this if you thing there shoulf be a global ban on Trophy Hunting

      https://mobile.twitter.com/JamesMelville/status/1137833670822289408

      Delete
    2. rememberin Ktty Tucker. Anti-nuclear activist, behind thw Karen Silkwood case.

      https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/kitty-tucker-death-anti-nuclear-power-activist-karen-silkwood-kerr-mcgee-meryl-streep-dead-a8862361.html

      Delete
    3. Halting Holtec A Challenge for Nuclear Safety Advocates
      by JAMES HEDDLE
      "The loading of 3.6 million pounds of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel has been indefinitely halted at the San Onofre independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI), operated by Southern California Edison and designed by Holtec International."
      https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/06/07/halting-holtec-a-challenge-for-nuclear-safety-advocates/

      Delete
  2. My thoughts went to the most horrifying conclusion.....after 1600 pedophiles were just rounded up in the USA. It seems those with power and privilege can no longer get their power trips in normal ways, and insist on having sex with children. I think it is also part of the mutual assured blackmail that has led to our horrific government.

    ReplyDelete
  3. https://www.theepochtimes.com/nationwide-operation-leads-to-arrests-of-nearly-1700-suspected-child-sex-predators_2959132.html?ref=brief_News&utm_source=Epoch+Times+Newsletters&utm_campaign=b19815848d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_06_11_09_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4fba358ecf-b19815848d-239050469

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pedophiles are bad. There are abusive, foster parents who do things like that. There are instances of adopted kids, that are abused in that way. Awful. This is supposed to be a more civilized, humanitarian society but many aspects of it are reminiscents of the decadence and sickness of older empires.

      There are priviledged, decadent politicians on both sides, caught involved in that sickness.

      Delete

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