Indonesia Reports New Human Bird Flu Infection
Indonesia reported a new human bird flu infection on Saturday, and Taiwan joined other Asian governments in announcing it wanted to produce the anti-viral drug Tamiflu to treat human infections.
The Indonesia announcement came a day after the health minister said her country will begin producing and stockpiling Tamiflu because of fears of a human epidemic, the Associated Press reported.
On Friday, the country had also announced outbreaks of bird flu in poultry throughout the capital, Jakarta. And authorities destroyed 400 fowl in an area of Jakarta near the home of a young girl who died from the disease. So far, avian flu has been spotted in 23 of Indonesia's 30 provinces and has killed seven people
Indonesian health officials on Saturday confirmed that a 16-year-old boy had tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus, bringing to 12 the number of human cases reported in the country.
A senior Health Ministry official said the boy, from the town of Bandung, 90 miles south of Jakarta, probably had contact with infected chickens.
At least 68 people have died from the virus in Asia since 2003, most in Vietnam. Almost all cases have been linked to contact with infected poultry.
Indonesia and Vietnam, meanwhile, have secured permission from Swiss-based drug manufacturer Roche Holding AG to make Tamiflu, while other countries are in talks with the company.
In Japan, officials announced Friday that they are preparing a bird flu vaccine prototype. The prototype could help speed the development of a human vaccine should the H5N1 virus mutate into a form that could pass between humans, Tomohiko Arai, head of a government panel on science, told the AP.
Salmonella Outbreak Prompts Ontario Bean Sprouts Recall
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has ordered a province-wide recall of all mung bean sprout products distributed by a Toronto-based manufacturer after a salmonella outbreak affecting hundreds was linked to the vegetable.
The recall order was issued after 15 Kingston residents developed salmonella poisoning after eating the sprouts.
Toronto Sun Wah Trading, Inc. (also known as Hollend Enterprises, Inc.) has recalled all mung bean sprout products from grocery store shelves, distributors and restaurants, the Toronto Star reported.
Dr. Sheela Basrur, Ontarios chief medical officer of health, confirmed the province is experiencing an outbreak of salmonella. Since the beginning of November, there have been 269 cases of laboratory-confirmed cases of salmonella poisoning throughout the province, and the number is increasing.
A spokesperson for the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, which supplies about 85 per cent of groceries on shelves to more than 25,000 grocery stores across the country, said all member stores and distribution centers pulled all bean sprout products off their shelves even before a province-wide recall was issued.
Salmonella poisoning, which can spread from person-to-person, can spawn numerous symptoms including diarrhea, nausea and fever. The bacteria, which can be found in the intestines of poultry and cattle, can contaminate food if it comes in contact with unclean water, animal manure or an infected food handler.
Study: CO2 Levels Highest in 650,000 Years
Tiny air bubbles preserved in Antarctic ice going back millennia suggest levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide are higher now than at any time over the past 650,000 years, researchers say.
Increasing levels of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" that trap the sun's heat are thought to be caused by human activity and are the main cause of global warming.
"There's no natural condition that we know about in a really long time where the greenhouse gas levels were anywhere near what they are now," geosciences expert Edward Brook, of Oregon State University, told the Associated Press.
The new data was conducted by the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica and published Friday in the journal Science.
While skeptics have dismissed recent warming as part of the "natural cycle," the ice samples suggest today's warming trend is "over a factor of a hundred faster than anything we are seeing in the natural cycles," researcher Thomas Stocker of the University of Bern, Switzerland, told the AP.
Florida Couple Awarded $60M After Hospital Negligence
A U.S. federal judge has awarded a record $60.9 million to a Florida couple whose son suffered serious brain damage during his birth at a Navy hospital two years ago, the Associated Press reported Friday.
Raiza Bravo and Oscar Rodriguez, a Navy serviceman, sued the federal government, claiming doctors at Mayport Naval Station obstetric clinic, in Mayport, Fla., waited too long to perform a Cesarean section to deliver their son, Kevin.
The 12-day trial ended with U.S. District Judge Jose A. Gonzalez ruling that the doctors and nurses who attended the child's birth were negligent.
The award is thought to be the largest ever made under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which covers suits filed by private citizens against negligent conduct by government employees.
"It's like a mix of feelings, it's been sweet and bitter," Bravo told the AP. "Nobody's going to bring back my son's life."
South Korea Stands By Disgraced Cloning Scientist
The South Korean government said on Friday it will continue to support cloning and stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk, who resigned his posts Thursday after admitting that eggs used in his research came from his own team of researchers.
Health Ministry official Kim Sung-soo said Hwang's group will receive another $3 million to continue its research until 2009. "We still believe it is crucial to build a srong infrastructure for stem cell research if South Korea is to produce a strong advance in the area," Kim told the Associated Press.
Hwang became a national hero in South Korea after helping to produce the world's first cloned human embryos.
"I am very sorry that I have to tell the public words that are too shameful and horrible," he said at a press conference in Seoul on Thursday.
International ethical standards forbid the use of ova from women working in a researcher's lab, due to concerns that these eggs might be given under duress.
The South Korean health ministry insists that female researchers donated their eggs without Hwang's knowledge and before the country passed new bioethics laws in January.
Suspicions as to the eggs' origins first arose late in 2004 when the journal Nature questioned Hwang, who denied at the time that the ova had come from his own researchers. Hwang now admits to lying to the journal.
The researcher -- who earlier this year created Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog -- said he will resign as chairman of the newly created World Stem Cell Hub, which was created to produce stem cell lines for research.
Food Fact:
Fillet buster.
When trying to decide on the freshest fish, a few simple rules will help end the debate. First, let your nose by your guide. Fresh fish should smell like seawater, not "fishy." Fillets should look moist, not slimy or dried out. Fish has a reputation as "brain food," and while eating it hasn't been shown to actually increase your IQ, it's certainly smart to eat fish often. Fish is a protein with little artery-clogging saturated fat. Lean, white-fleshed fish, such as cod or flounder, has about one gram of fat and 125 calories in a 4-oz. portion.
Fitness Tip of the day:
Exercise? It's in the bag.
Road trips won't stop you from exercising -- if you know what to pack. Find a little room in your suitcase for exercise tubes, a great compact tool for weight training and resistance exercises when away from home or your gym. If you travel a lot, ask a fitness pro to design an on-the-go exercise program.
FAQ of the day:
Why cut back on calories if I have diabetes?
Listen to your doctor. Cutting back on calories will improve your blood sugar, blood cholesterol profile and blood pressure -- classic signifiers of insulin resistance syndrome -- whether or not you lose weight. Even if you are eating only slightly more calories than you are burning each day, you are overloading your system, which is triggering an inherited tendency for Type 2 diabetes. If you continue to take in your current number of calories from middle age on, the imbalance will get worse, and your risk of heart disease will go up.
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