From measles to E. coli to a Superbug

Superbug

We've dealt with the backward-thinking anti-vaxxers into an E. coli outbreak and now along comes a superbug that threatens to kill all of us. The CDC says already over 600 are infected in the U.S. It first learned of Candida auris in 2016 with the number of cases now at 617 stretched over New York City, New Jersey and Chicago in the U.S. and another 20 countries worldwide. It appears that "Multiple factors have created the perfect storm" for Candida auris.

What is most scary is the fact that it is potentially a deadly multidrug-resistant fungus and even worse...

"can survive on cooler surfaces like skin, potentially remaining for a long time, enabling it to act more like bacteria than a fungus."

The difficulty in treating Candida auris is identifying the fungus. It requires "specific technology and a culture of blood or other bodily fluids." Because of the colonization of hosts over several months, "perhaps indefinitely," it can...

"spread between people and to various objects over the course of time before entering the bloodstream and spreading throughout the body, causing serious invasive infections such as bloodstream, wound, and ear infections."

“Healthy people typically don’t get infected," but should be very careful around those who are infected, practicing maximum personal hygiene. And here's the real shocker, the CDC reports that "30 to 60% of people who have gotten C. auris have died." In some cases "standard laboratories have trouble identifying the bug and it can sometimes even be misidentified," according to the CDC. But because it affects those in the health care community, there is a need to identify it quickly.

The CDC says the C. auris infection has been diagnosed in people of all ages affecting a wide range of areas and wounds. In other words, the public beware!

Major out break of E. coli in U.S. says CDC

E. coli

First there were the anti-vaxxers, who have spread measles, mumps and chickenpox all around the country with their uninformed and downright stupid opinions that vaccines will cause harm when, in fact, solid science has proven them wrong. There's also a mysterious fungus thriving in the U.S. that we'll address in another post. But today it's all about E. coli that is running amok in Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.

Federal health officials have not identified a food item, grocery store or restaurant chain as the source of these infections, claims CNN. It's being investigated by the CDC, state health departments, the US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service and the US Food and Drug Administration and the mystery of its source is even more troubling. E. coli likely has no connection to measles, but the coincidence of this all at once.

Since no source has been identified, CBS says, "the CDC is not recommending that consumers avoid any particular food item due to E. coli, while health officials continue to investigate the source of the illnesses." Here's what happened in the U.K. in 2015...

"A strain of E. coli became a potentially fatal infection in the UK around 30 years ago, when it acquired a powerful toxin, a gene study has revealed. ... E. coliO157 strains can produce molecules called shiga-toxins, which are linked to more serious human infections."

"Symptoms of HUS include fever, abdominal pain, pale skin tone, fatigue and irritability, unexplained bruises or bleeding from the nose and mouth, and decreased urination. These complications are more common in young children under 5, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems." And there lies my question, people with other diseases have weakened immune systems, thus, they are more prone to E. coli. It could be a vicious circle.

UPDATE: E. coli mystery solved: Ground beef is source of outbreak, CDC says

Racism! Racism! Racism! Will it ever end?

A Louisiana Sheriff Deputy's son, no less, Holden Matthews, 21, has torched three black churches, and says he was influenced by "black metal" music. The three churches were in the heart of south central Louisiana's Cajun and Creole country and were burned in the span of 10 days. Apparently they don't know this wacko's motive but you might look to his upbringing, especially in this state. It also has a very high rate of gun violence.

And Matthews isn't the brightest, leaving a 2-gallon gas can at the scene and was witnessed leaving the handiwork driving his truck. I guess the man doesn't like Baptists since all three churches were of that denomination. That, of course, plus the fact that he hates blacks. Matthews was active in social media...

"On a Facebook page that appears to belong to Matthews, he was active in black metal and pagan pages. Although both scenes are predominately apolitical, both have large neo-Nazi fanbases. Matthews commented on two memes about Varg Vikernes, a far-right (and self-described former neo-Nazi) metal musician who served 15 years in prison for burning churches in Norway and killing a fellow metal musician."

Which brings up the connection today between so much violence in the world and social media. This country is so engrossed with protecting 1st Amendment rights that one often wonders just where those limits should be set. In other words, is it time to evaluate the 1st Amendment and impose guidelines on when a person has gone too far? Like advocating hate and violence against others. Unfortunately, the current Congress doesn't have the balls to address this. 

Dimwitted celebrities just don't get it

Lori Loughlin freaked out

Lori Loughlin and her spacey daughter Jade are really not worth more attention in the media, but the fact that the well-to-do believe they are above the law is taking front and center. Only a person who thinks they are in this position would slough off an investigation into their illegal activities, saying publicly they thought the prosecutors were just bluffing. But now that jail time draws nearer, Loughlin is "freaking out" with the idea of spending time in the slammer.

The Root says...

"Lori Loughlin thought that her being a wealthy white woman legal defense would save her. Yeah…she thought. But reality comes at you fast."

And what about her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli? Did she tell him to keep his mouth shut and she, the big wealthy Hollywood celebrity, would handle this? A source says she has been in complete denial, ignoring...

Legal experts who have been offering repeated warnings in recent days about what would happen if Loughlin refused to play ball.

The fact that Felicity Huffman pled guilty and offered such a great statement of remorse and contrition is a very bad sign for Lori Loughlin, reported one legal expert. He believes by fighting her case she could even lengthen her stay in prison. And now Loughlin and her husband have been charged with new violations, including money laundering facing up to 40 years in prison, if convicted. All this to get an under-performing kid into the U. of Southern California.

Big Trump supporters--what else?--she and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, "were among 50 who were allegedly involved with bribing and colluding with college administrators and athletic coaches to guarantee acceptance for their kids." More from Root...

"Loughlin and Giannulli paid a combined $1 million to scam their daughters into University of Southern California. The fallout has shook the infrastructure of illegal factions within schools across the country."

It will be interesting now to see just how far prosecutors take this case, considering the fact that we have such a host of well-known celebrities and a prestigious university involved. Should there be preferential treatment involved, it will be yet another check mark in Bernie Sanders book on the issue of the 1% controlling this country.

Could dementia explain Donald Trump's bizarre behavior?

All of a sudden the Internet is buzzing over Donald Trump's cognitive health, and people who know him are talking...

"Joe Scarborough, who has known Trump for years, said in 2017 that Trump's mental confusion reminded him of his mother, who had Alzheimer's for 10 years."

Just reported in USA Today, the event occurred two years ago and you have to wonder, with Trump's recent antics, has he worsened? Yes, says Scarborough...

“It's getting worse, and not a single person who works for him doesn’t know he has early signs of dementia,"

 Do we need a person with his finger on the button whose cognitive health is going downhill? Donald Trump shouldn't be in the White House in this condition, he needs to be in a hospital receiving medical care. Psychologist John Gartner, writing in USA, says that President Donald Trump is undergoing significant cognitive decline and must be tested for dementia. Gartner is a clinical psychologist who taught at Johns Hopkins University Medical School for 28 years. 

Gartner's concerns have grown over the months "while following the continued decay of the president’s speech patterns." He cites Trump's "choosing the incorrect words," and "the substitution of a word with a nonword that preserves at least half of the segments and/or number of syllables of the intended word." Gartner says both of these are signs of Alzheimer’s, reported in Salon. And then Gartner recalls examples...

"the president demanding to know the 'oranges' of the Mueller probe, as well as references to 'midtowm' and 'midturn' elections.

But The Young Turks do the best job of expressing the real Donald Trump in this video in descriptions only this group could perform. But don't get me wrong, this is serious and needs the immediate attention of Congress.

 

New Zealand makes U.S. look like the idiots we are

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

The United States is controlled and powered by a gang of double-digit gun nuts, both in the American public and in the U.S Congress. New Zealand, on the other hand, sees the problems and source of gun violence and does something about it. Their parliament votes 119-1 to ban assault weapons. Don't know who the single hold-out was but you can probably bet he is a follower of the American NRA's Wayne LaPierre. Vox says...

"The swift action comes after last month’s mass shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which a white supremacist killed 50 people."

And there you have the difference between a country (the USA) that values guns over the lives of innocent adults and children, and another country (New Zealand) that identifies their problem--guns--and does something about it. It is very hard to understand how this nation can stoop so low as to favor its weaponry over human lives, with the evidence of gun violence screaming at us daily. It is perhaps one of the sickest cultures of any country in the world.

The U.S. reaction to daily gun violence is a very tiring "thoughts and prayers" response which is regularly regurgitated from Washington and the National Rifle Assn. Both have come to realize what bullshit this is, and each is now at a loss of what to do. So, they do nothing. Here's how New Zealand handles guns...

"people first have to obtain a license to legally purchase, own, and possess a gun. That all typically takes months to get through. some types of firearms, like handguns and certain semiautomatic rifles, require “endorsements” from police and separate permits to purchase. The licenses have to be renewed every 10 years, and police can revoke a person’s license if that person is believed to no longer be fit for ownership and may pose a threat. Gun sellers are also licensed and regulated by police."

WOW! If the United States had this kind of control, how many lives would have been saved in the last several years? Homicides by firearm per 1 million people: New Zealand 1.6; United States 29.7. But on the other hand, Glock has just hired top gun nut Chuck Norris to promote its line of weaponry, which is certain to impress enough people to go out and buy even more guns. But, then, that is the American way, isn't it?

The hidden danger of anti-vaxxers-unknown exposure

Darla Shine-dumbest of anti-vaxxers

They're everywhere, but we don't know who they are. I am talking about anti-vaxxes in business healthcare and education. Here's the scenario. You walk into your favorite retail location, picking up items as you shop to look at. What you don't know is the fact that the sales clerk that just put several of these things on display has an unvaccinated kid at home with the measles, and mom has been touching her all morning. Bingo, you are exposed to the measles.

The same plot is carried out in a doctor's office or hospital, then at the university or in the library. My point is that you simply don't know when you have come in contact with one of these anti-vaxxer individuals that might be carrying all sorts of diseases. It happened to me, in a doctor's office. The receptionist was bragging that she didn't vaccinate her kids, in front of the rest of the staff, and I, of course, was telling her how wrong she was. We no longer go to this doc.

Like I said, these anti-vaxxers are everywhere and of course in the Donald Trump administration. The wife of former Trump White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, Bill Shine, is one of these dimwits. Wife, Darla Shine, came up with this absurd idea, and keep in mind it is during the period when new measles cases were breaking out daily...

"she said that not being vaccinated and actually contracting the measles or mumps was a huge advantage, a hardiness builder that could help a person fight off cancer down the line."

I have heard the statements of a lot of anti-vaxxers, but this one takes the cake for inherent stupidity. And this is what the world of these freak propagandists listen to and then go viral with it in social media. Facebook, at least, had the sense to curb what appeared to be complete damaging misinformation. But there is nothing like word of mouth and these morons are out there in force spreading their diseases both verbally and physically.

The terrible truth is these spreaders of calamity are here to stay, says Scientific American. So, the only thing we can do is shun them like the plague and BEWARE!