posted 04-24-2002 01:07 PM               

By PHILIP BRASHER, AP Farm Writer

WASHINGTON (April 22, 2002 6:40 p.m. EDT) - The Food and Drug Administration's top official on Monday called for eliminating an illness spreading through deer and elk populations that's similar to mad cow disease.

Chronic wasting disease is one of a family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Unlike mad cow, which can be a transmitted to humans, chronic wasting disease is not consider a threat to human health.

Cattle are only believed to have contracted the disease when injected with the infectious agent in a laboratory, scientists say. Studies indicate cattle are unlikely to contract the disease by natural means.

"We probably should try to eradicate it. There's no reason you couldn't stop it," Deputy FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford said. "It's not something you want in the livestock herds."

Crawford, a veterinarian, is running FDA until a new commissioner is appointed.Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is linked to a human illness called new variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, the first U.S. case of which was reported last week. The victim, who lives in Florida, is believed to have contracted it in Great Britain. Mad cow disease has never been found in the United States.Chronic wasting disease was believed until a few years ago to be largely confined to wild deer and elk in a small area of Colorado. But it has now been discovered in wild deer and captive elk herds in Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana and Saskatchewan.

FDA is working with the Agriculture Department to determine how extensively chronic wasting disease has spread, and is considering new regulations, Crawford said."There's every reason to be concerned that we control it and confine it now that we have the opportunity," said Crawford.

Experts believe the disease spread from Colorado, where it was first identified in 1967, through the shipping of captive elk to farms and ranches in other states and Canada. Wildlife then contracted the disease from the farm-raised elk.

The federal government, which leaves the regulation of wildlife to the states, needs to work with state governments to restrict the shipping of deer and elk, said William Hueston, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Animal Health and Food Safety. There are "a patchwork of regulations across the nation," he said.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission held an emergnecy session last month to bar the importation of white-tailed deer because of the threat of chronic wasting disease.

The Agriculture Department agreed last year to reimburse elk ranchers for animals that were destroyed because they were either infected or exposed to the disease.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman discussed the disease Monday with Wisconsin officials during a visit to the state.

"We're working with the states to find the best ways of dealing with it. Obviously, we would be working with our federal counterparts on it, too," Veneman spokesman Kevin Herglotz said.There is no known cure or treatment for chronic wasting disease, and the only way to determine for certain that an animal is infected is to kill it and examine its brain. http://nandotimes.com/healthscience/v-text/story/373214p-3003492c.html

Mysterious virus causes alarm in Greece
By THEODORA TONGAS, Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (April 23, 2002 7:40 p.m. EDT) - Greece's health ministry on Tuesday ordered all schools and universities closed through the end of the week, after 13 more people appeared to be suffering from an unidentified virus that has claimed three lives.As concern grew, lines of people fearing they might be infected got longer at hospitals and medical clinics as concern.

Experts at the ministry's Special Infections Control Center met to discuss how to deal with infections as they awaited the results of tests to identify the virus. They were expected by Wednesday.The new cases announced Tuesday brought to 32 the number of people believed afflicted since officials began keeping count on April 18.

Most have been in Athens, home to nearly half Greece's 11 million people.All 13 people were reported suffering from inflammation of the heart, known as myocarditis. Other symptoms include high fever, muscle pain and respiratory problems.One suspect is the common Coxsackie virus.

In 1997, myocarditis caused by a strain of the Coxsackie virus was responsible for killing 30 children in Malaysia over the course of three months.While asking the public not to panic, Health Minister Alekos Papadopoulos encouraged people to avoid crowds in closed spaces and practice good personal hygiene.Papadopoulos said all educational facilities from preschools through universities would close beginning Wednesday "for purely preventative reasons."The city of Athens also shut down its day-care centers, though all three of those who have died have been adults."Despite the fact that cases among children are few in relation to adults and the danger is reduced, the measure is taken to restrict its possible spread," the minister said.Schools were preparing to close for the weeklong Orthodox Holy Week in advance of Easter on May 5.
http://nandotimes.com/healthscience/v-text/story/375305p-3014079c.html

posted 04-24-2002 08:55 PM               

Black mold cleanup shuts school
Classes may resume Friday at McKenny Elementary in Detroit

By Hawke Fracassa / The Detroit News
Thursday, March 7, 2002

DETROIT -- The district shut the McKenny Elementary School today so a classroom with black mold in it can continue to be scrubbed, cleansed and tested.

Officials will decide this afternoon whether to allow the school's 600 students to return to class on Friday after studying test results from the room, district spokesman Stan Childress said.

"School was closed only as a precautionary measure to assure the safety and health of students and staff," Childress said. "We are not closed indefinitely."

Childress said officials do not believe any children have been harmed by the mold.

"The risk has been very, very minimal, but if parents are concerned they should see their family physician," he said.

The mold is believed to come from a leaking pipe that was discovered earlier this week during a classroom renovation, as workers lifted floor boards. An air-quality company's analysis revealed the problem and the classroom was isolated and cleaned, Childress said.

Laboratory tests on the same room delivered to the district after class let out Wednesday afternoon showed "a very low level of Stachybotrys," or black mold, was still in the room, Childress said.

The first form of black mold found by the air-quality company was identified by Childress as "Aspergillius/Tencillium."

The decision to temporarily close the school at 20833 Pembroke came from the district's Department of Environmental Health and Safety, Childress said.

"Once final ... clearance has been granted, a letter of re-occupancy approval will be provided to parents and staff," Childress said. "We likely will re-open Friday but will know that when the results are back at 4 p.m. (today). We will make an immediate decision then."

To clean the classroom, Childress said, workers are using a solution similar to bleach and are mixing it with water to disinfect the room.

"They're washing everything down so that any surface that has a contaminant is taken care of," Childress said. http://detnews.com/2002/schools/0203/08/d08-434700.htm

And here's the latest news from Afghanistan.

Afghans Fight Against Locusts
By BURT HERMAN

DAR-E KALAN DISTRICT, Afghanistan (AP) _ In this Afghan offensive, village men are digging trenches to fight a relentlessly advancing enemy whose hunger for territory is both legendary and insatiable: locusts.

Northern Afghanistan, which has endured poverty, war, drought and hunger, is now facing its worst plague of locusts in nearly 30 years, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization officials say.

The insects are threatening the part of the country hit hardest by three years of drought just as it is finally blooming with crops _ and with peace.

Locusts are not new here, but they have thrived while many Afghans have been spending more time killing each other than combatting their common six-legged foe.

The end of the drought and a mild winter also helped locusts breed, said Andrew Harvey, an FAO official in northern Afghanistan's main city, Mazar-e-Sharif, and the general in the agency's war against the pests.

Aid groups have declared an emergency situation and are racing against time in the "locust triangle" _ a region between the northern cities of Kunduz, Pul-e-Khumri and Samangan where the insects are most concentrated.

By late next week, the locusts, now just able to hop, will finish growing wings and take to the skies, becoming much harder to control.

"We're really anxious that people don't see their last effort of growing crops go down the jaws of locusts," Harvey said.

On Friday, a leaping horde of thousands of brown locusts was eating its way across hills green with a light stubble of fresh growth in Dar-e Kalan district, 50 miles southeast of Mazar-e-Sharif. Clusters of the bugs piled on to any piece of greenery they could find across their twisting line of advance, which extended hundreds of yards across the valley.

In their way stood a group of about 50 men from local villages. As a tractor dug a small trench ahead of them, the men waved pieces of plastic, scarves and blankets to herd the swarm into the hole where they crushed them with their feet.

Abdul Ghafar, 50, an Islamic studies teacher, took the day off Friday to fight against what he labeled nothing less than "the enemy of the people of Islam."

"We have to kill all the locusts. We have gardens, we have shops, we have houses in the city," he said. "They will eat everything."

Unlike in the past, the United Nations is not offering food as payment to those who work in the fields, said Farhana Faruqi, the top U.N. official in northern Afghanistan.

"We've come out of a state where we didn't have a recognized political government," she said. "One of the tasks of gover

That has worked here in Samangan province, where authorities have called on residents to close their shops for the past week and a half to help the anti-locust effort.

But further south in Baghlan province, potentially at most risk in the locust triangle, local officials have been slow to respond.

The manual effort "makes a difference _ how big of a difference depends on how many people you can motivate," said Jonathan Brass, an agriculturalist with the Irish aid agency GOAL, which is helping fight the locust menace. "Every day they're out doing this, they're not earning anything."

Habib Noor, a 65-year-old who said he has been a farmer for 50 years, was heading home Friday afternoon with a crew of about 50 men after battling locusts since sunrise. He pulled out a small stump of bread _ his only food for the day all day. The only water for the men working hours in the bright sun was held by a few boys carrying half-gallon jugs.

"I'm hungry, I have to eat something," Noor said. "They should give us something for doing this."

The men do have help from chemicals this year, unlike in the past. The first big shipment of pesticide arrived Thursday, a month after it was ordered from Rome.

The most effective way to spread the pesticide is with truck-mounted sprayers that can cover 12 acres a day. But there's been a problem finding pickup trucks: About 10 vehicles stripped of their tires and engines lie rusting in back of the FAO office in Mazar-e-Sharif, looted during violence when the Taliban were ousted from the city in November.

The FAO has been trying to rent pickup trucks, but has found it hard because they are also the preferred means of transport for Afghan soldiers. "The only pickups have guys with machine guns in the back of them," Harvey lamented.

Aid officials in northern Afghanistan have been discussing the locust problem for months, but it was not until Tuesday that the United Nations held an emergency meeting and asked aid groups to pool their efforts.

posted 04-25-2002 05:19 PM               

19:00 24 April 02
Fred Pearce

Plastic bottles floating across the oceans may carry more than a message - they could be carrying the seeds of ecological chaos for wherever they end up.In a survey of the beaches of 30 remote islands, David Barnes of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK, has found that a rising tide of plastic debris has now replaced wood as the major shoreline debris. And riding on the back of the rubbish are alien stowaways such as worms, barnacles and various larvae.

According to Jeff McNeely, chief scientist at the World Conservation Union "after clearance of native vegetation, alien invasions are the second most important cause of diversity loss". Barnes has shown that that human rubbish is now more important than natural debris in transporting alien species invading new territories. "It more than doubles the rafting opportunities for invading species," he says.

Slow boat
He believes it could well be more important than the contents of ships and aircraft, previously regarded as humankind's prime means of spreading species round the globe. "Compared to boats, man-made debris is longer-lasting, more pervasive and travels more slowly - all factors that could favour survival of colonists," says Barnes.

His study covered islands from Spitzbergen in the Arctic to Signy in the Antarctic, and from Galapagos in the Pacific to Ascension in the Atlantic. "The highest proportion of man-made rubbish is in the Southern Ocean", says Barnes. He says the amount of debris in the Southern Ocean may have risen a hundred-fold in the last decade. And in these water, warmer temperatures caused by global warming are encouraging greater survival among tropical invaders floating south.

posted 04-26-2002 10:27 PM               

ATHENS, Greece- Reports of new infections by an unidentified, potentially fatal virus declined Friday, prompting the Greek government to lift restrictions meant to stop the virus' spread. So far, three people, all adults, have died from the infection. Health Minister Alekos Papadopoulos said only two new cases involving symptoms of myocarditis, or heart inflammation, were reported Friday, compared with five on Thursday and seven Wednesday.

Papadopoulos said educational facilities, including day-care centers, that closed earlier this week to prevent the possible spread of the virus can reopen Monday. So far, 46 people are believed to have been infected since officials began keeping count last week. Most have been in Athens.

The victims have been reported as suffering from myocarditis. Other symptoms include high fever, muscle pain and respiratory problems. Papadopoulos said that while tests have not confirmed the identity of the virus, it is not a new type. Experts said up to 70 different virus strains were being considered. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2002/apr/26/042603758.html

CDC Eyes Bacteria in Ohio Outbreak
Today: April 26, 2002 at 5:40:19 PDT

ATLANTA- Bacteria stirred up by metalworking fluid may have caused an outbreak of respiratory problems at an Ohio brake manufacturer that left more than 100 people sick, the government said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that 107 workers at the TRW Inc. plant in Mount Vernon missed work in 2000 and 2001 because of respiratory illness, including symptoms of asthma and bronchitis. About 400 people work at the plant.

An investigation found high levels of a species of bacteria in metalworking fluid at the plant, the CDC said. Machinists probably were exposed to airborne particles of the fluid, the agency said.

More tests were needed to determine whether the bacteria caused the sicknesses, one of the largest work-related respiratory outbreaks among machinists in the United States. Since the outbreak, the plant has steam-cleaned its machines and improved ventilation. No new respiratory cases have been identified at the plant since April 2001, the CDC said.

Many of the affected employees returned to work, but some are still showing respiratory symptoms and have not returned, said Dr. Douglas Trout of the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The CDC urged machinists, their employers and unions to use protective equipment and to watch for any unusual respiratory problems. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2002/apr/26/042603400.html

Mont. Expands Killing of Bison
Today: April 26, 2002 at 13:55:27 PDT

BOZEMAN, Mont.- For the first time in nearly five years, the state of Montana this week began slaughtering bison that wander from Yellowstone National Park without testing the animals first for disease.

A state-federal bison management plan allows the slaughter without testing if the herd at Yellowstone surpasses 3,000 animals. The current population is estimated at 3,300, the highest since the winter of 1996-97, when nearly 1,100 bison were killed by state and federal management officials when they left the park and entered Montana. As of Friday, only 32 of the more than 100 animals that were outside the park had been killed, said Karen Cooper, a spokeswoman for the Montana Livestock Department.

State officials fear the bison will spread brucellosis to Montana cattle. The disease can cause cattle to abort their calves. During the spring, bison leave the park in search of forage. Normally, authorities use snowmobiles and helicopters to herd them back into the park. Those that cannot be herded back are captured and tested for brucellosis.

Infected animals are sent to slaughter. The others are set free. Mike Mease, co-founder of the protest group Buffalo Field Campaign, called the killings an atrocity. "I'm sure they're going to capture and kill everything they can this year," he said. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2002/apr/26/042604258.html

posted 04-27-2002 11:24 AM               

MILAN, Italy- Some headaches may be linked to infection with a common bug and daily doses of friendly bacteria could ward them off, preliminary research suggests.

A study presented Friday at an infectious diseases conference found that about 18 percent of chronic migraine sufferers were infected with the stomach bug helicobacter pylori and antibiotics appeared to clear the headaches. Adding the friendly bacteria Lactobacillus seemed to work even better, leaving most people migraine-free for a year and lessening the intensity and frequency of recurring headaches in the others, the lead researcher said.

Experts were cautiously receptive to the idea but said the findings were too tentative to draw any firm conclusions. Helicobacter pylori, the bug that causes gut ulcers, has recently been linked to a growing list of diseases, including heart disease, autoimmune diseases and skin conditions.

In the study, Italian scientists divided 130 patients who had migraines and were infected with helicobacter pylori into two groups. One group was given a three-week course of antibiotics and the other got the three weeks of antibiotics plus Lactobacillus, a friendly bacteria, or probiotic, found in yogurt and other dairy products.

The probiotic group took three Lactobacillus doses a day for three months, then dropped their intake to one dose a day for the next nine months. One month after starting treatment, both groups were similar in terms of headache symptoms and bacteria colonization.

However, after one year, significant differences were found, said the study's leader, Dr. Maria Gismondo, head of the clinical microbiology laboratory at the University of Milan. "We found that eradication of headache and bacteria was more significant in the group treated with antibiotics and Lactobacillus, and relapse in the people who took Lactobacillus was very low, but not in the people not getting Lactobacillus therapy," she said.

At the end of the year, 50 percent of the people who got the antibiotics alone were still getting migraines. That compared with 20 percent in the group who took the probiotics for a year.

Headaches in the probiotic group occurred less often, were milder and went away more quickly than they did in the antibiotics group. The infection findings were similar. After a year, the bacteria were 40 percent fewer in the group who took antibiotics and 70 percent fewer in the group getting the combination treatment. "Our understanding is that Lactobacillus could be used, not to cure or eradicate H.pylori, because it is not an antibiotic, but to prevent relapse of H.pylori infection, and headache."

However, headache expert Dr. Peter Goadsby, professor of clinical neurology at the Institute of Neurology and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, reserved judgment. He said the fact that the study did not involve a group getting dummy pills makes the findings less reliable. The study cannot rule out the "placebo effect," whereby people get better purely because they believe the pills they are taking are working, not because the pills are actually doing anything.

posted 04-30-2002 12:11 PM               

Three people on Maui have died since the beginning of the year from the rare Group A Streptococcal bacteria infection, also known as flesh-eating bacteria, the state Department of Health reported today. Another three people were also reported to have had the disease.

Three individuals became ill shortly after wound exposure and died within a few days to a week, according to Dr. Paul Effler, interim chief of the department’s Communicable Disease Division. The Department of Health issued an alert today but no one from the department was available to provide details. It was not known why the alert was issued today, where on Maui the people were exposed to the bacteria nor precisely when this occurred.

In each case, the victims were healthy people with no significant medical histories, he said.

The flesh-eating bacteria causes necrotizing fasciitis, which destroys muscles, fat and skin tissue. The bacteria can enter the body through any type of skin wound, such as ocean-reef cuts, abrasions, punctures, bug bites, stings, splinters, tears or burns.

Early symptoms of infection include fever and severe pain, warmth, swelling or redness around the wound.

Proper and immediate wound care is important to reduce the likelihood of further cases, he said.

posted 05-01-2002 06:14 PM               

Wildfire in Southern Arizona Threat

HUACHUCA CITY, Ariz.- A southern Arizona wildfire had charred up to 32,000 acres of dry grass and oak brush in southern Arizona on Wednesday, forcing evacuations and knocking out power to an Army base.

Firefighters saved up to 100 buildings but couldn't contain the blaze, which had moved to within about 1 miles of Huachuca City. No injuries were reported.

Deputies went door to door Wednesday through the town of about 2,000, just north of the Army's Fort Huachuca, handing out notices warning residents that evacuations were possible.

On the west side of the sprawling military base, 75 to 100 homes had been evacuated Tuesday and those residents still weren't being allowed to return, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Joan Vasey said Wednesday.

Fort Huachuca closed three schools on the base Wednesday and all non-emergency personnel were urged to stay home, said base spokeswoman Tanja Linton.

The electricity went out early Wednesday at Fort Huachuca when the fire damaged power lines, Linton said. Crews from Tucson Electric Power worked to restore power but could be hindered by the fire, she said.

There was no danger to the post and the blackout had not affected the use of the fort's airfield by firefighting aircraft, said another military spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Marian Hansen.

The fire, about 14 miles long and 3 miles wide, was still only 5 percent contained, and firefighters were trying to cut lines on the blaze's flanks, according to Forest Service officials.

The fire began Monday in rugged terrain on the Coronado National Forest. The cause was unknown.

About 500 firefighters and support personnel were in the area.

"I've been here 17 years and I've never seen anything like it - I've never seen Arizona this dry," said Steve Dickens, who couldn't get to his home because a nearby road was blocked by fire.

In southern New Mexico, firefighters were trying to slow down a wildfire in the Sacramento Mountains that briefly threatened several structures before turning toward a wooded area.

The fire, burning in two canyons about 20 miles southeast of Cloudcroft, had charred about 600 acres of mostly Douglas fir in very steep terrain, Lincoln National Forest fire information officer Joe Garcia said Wednesday.

The fire was about 10 percent contained and there was no estimate when it would be fully contained, Garcia said. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2002/may/01/050103593.html

posted 05-02-2002 08:27 AM            

Gives you lots to think about. Don't know how accurate these statements are, but something is definitely going on. Pole shift anyone?

posted 05-04-2002 05:27 PM               

Squirrel Attack
03-May-2002

Stanford University students are being traumatized by squirrels. The campus squirrels have begun bizarre suicidal death leaps into the path of oncoming student bikers. "Yesterday, I was riding my bike along Escondido Road, when all of a sudden, my friend Katie screamed at me," says Vauhimi Vara. "When I turned around, it turned out I had almost biked over a dead squirrel ... It was quite traumatic."

"It's really hard to even ride your bike on campus," says Katie Founds. "They're always leaping in front of you."

"It's pretty scary, actually," says Walter Shen. "They got these huge claws ... like Spiderman up the walls."

Squirrels are also invading campus dorms. "A squirrel just got in my room the other day," Shen says. "They just got in and ate a whole bag of my Chips Ahoy cookies."

They’re also getting into people’s computers. "They got into one of the residences, and they started typing on the keyboard," Shen says. "They ran over the person's laptop keyboard. They actually somehow renamed the person's hard drive."

"Sometimes, they get in and they leave feces and urine everywhere," Shen says. "They eat up people's furniture."

posted 05-05-2002 12:39 AM               

May 1, 2002

STAMFORD -- Two women walking dogs in the Mianus River State Park were menaced by several coyotes this week.

No injuries were reported, but animal control officials said the incident should serve as a warning to people that they should use a leash when walking their dogs in the woods, said Lynn DellaBianca, manager of the city's animal shelter.

"We encourage people to keep a tight reign on their animals. Coyotes do prey on small dogs," DellaBianca said.

Police and animal control officers responded to the park on the Stamford-Greenwich border at about noon Monday after receiving a report of coyotes possibly killing a dog, DellaBianca said.

They were met by two women in the Merriebrook Lane area who said they were hiking in the woods with two Collie-type dogs when two or three coyotes started following them, according to DellaBianca.

DellaBianca said the coyotes were probably scouring for food when they focused on the women's dogs.

"The coyotes spooked the dogs. One of the dogs ran off into the woods," DellaBianca said.

The dog later ran out of the woods unharmed and was found by a police officer.

The coyotes didn't attack the women or the dogs, but the animal control officer had a difficult time trying to scare them away.

Although the city has a leash law, DellaBianca said it is a difficult ordinance to enforce out in the woods. She said people should use leashes for their animal's own protection. Residents should also keep a close watch on their pets in areas where coyotes have been seen.

Coyotes, who started appearing in Connecticut in the 1950s, pose little risk to humans, state wildlife officials have said. http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-coyote6may01.story

This incident occurred in Mianus River Park and not Mianus River State Park. The park itself is over 220 acres of land where I do the majority of my archaeological research and also do trail maintenance and wildlife habitat rehabilitation with one of my organizations. - I've been going out there since 1992 and something like this has never happened there before and up until this incident, no coyotes have ever been seen anywhere near the park.

posted 05-08-2002 06:16 PM               

Here's an article that was posted by IZAKOVIC in the chemtrail section.

THE CASE OF THE MISSING BIRDS

Ornithologists waiting for the first swallows to announce a new spring in western Europe are faced with a quandary: there are no birds for them to observe.

The case of the missing swallows raises the issue as to exactly what is happening to the world’s climate and what are the long-term effects to the environment of new agricultural policies.

The French Museum of Natural History has carried out investigations in recent years and has published a report which states that in the last twenty years, the populations of 27 species of birds have reduced drastically, among these swallows and sparrows. The French swallow population, it is calculated, has decreased by 87% in the last 13 years.

Investigators in the United Kingdom, also, lay the blame on intensive farming methods, namely the use of insecticides, as being directly responsible for the disappearance of large numbers of larks and finches. As insecticides are sprayed on to crops, the birds which feed on these insects are either poisoned or starved and this creates knock-on effects throughout the food chain.

Helder Costa, the President of the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds, said that there are indications all over Europe that the numbers of certain species of birds are decreasing sharply and added that the results of various studies will be presented in a meeting in Prague next September.

posted 05-09-2002 01:51 AM               

With twelve national teams and several hundred thousand supporters due to converge on Korea at the end of May, there are fears that some could carry the virus back home, or to FMD-free Japan, which is co-hosting the tournament.

David Paton, at the UK's Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright says: "I would advise people to avoid contact with farm animals in Korea, and when they return home. And they shouldn't bring any animal products back with them."

The 2001 outbreak of FMD in the UK led to the slaughter of millions of animals. Numerous sporting events were cancelled to try to halt the spread of the disease. But Andreas Herren, spokesman for the world football association FIFA, says those were mostly sports that involved animals, such as horse racing. "The World Cup will go ahead as planned," he told New Scientist.

Blowing in the wind

The first FMD outbreak was in early May, at Anseong, 100 kilometres south of the capital, Seoul. All 8420 pigs on the farm were destroyed and movements of animals and vehicles for 20 km around were limited.
However, unlike in the UK, the Korea outbreak has infected pigs, which cough out 100 times more virus than sheep or cattle. Soon after the first outbreak, another farm at Jinchon was infected. It was 25 km further south - outside the restricted zone - suggesting airborne spread.

Daejeon, the venue for matches involving South Africa, Spain, Poland and the US is 30 km south of Jinchon. But if this outbreak strikes throughout the country, as the one in 2000 did, all 10 Korean venues could be surrounded by sick animals.

Joint favourites France and Brazil begin the tournament in Korea and will almost certainly progress to matches in Japan, taking their travelling supporters with them.

Jabs versus slaughter

The World Organisation for Animal Health in Paris has confirmed that the virus is the Pan-Asian O virus that hit the UK in 2001, and Korea and Japan in 2000.

Korea contained that outbreak by vaccinating animals, but had recently stopped vaccinating again. Pirbright plans to sequence the virus from the two outbreaks. This could show whether the current one is a fresh invasion, or a leftover that somehow survived vaccination - though proving that would be difficult.

posted 05-14-2002 12:18 PM               

Gov't confirms 4th mad cow case

Monday, May 13, 2002 at 17:30 JST

TOKYO — A Hokkaido cow was confirmed Monday to be infected with mad cow disease in the fourth case detected in Japan since last September, health ministry officials said.
A panel of experts appointed by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry made the confirmation based on data gathered from a pathological examination, as well as from a Western Blot examination, a more elaborate screening for the disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the officials said.

The health ministry earlier said the cow — a 6-year-old female Holstein — was born at a dairy farm in the town of Ombetsu in eastern Hokkaido on March 23, 1996, and raised there. (Kyodo News) http://japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=215374

'Plague of rats' hits West London
by Colin Freeman

The streets of one of London's wealthiest boroughs are suffering a mass outbreak of rats.

Now Kensington and Chelsea council may sue Thames Water Utilities to force it to introduce tougher measures after recording a "growing incidence" of rat complaints. A cluster of streets in the Earls Court area are now festooned with the creatures, with some horrified residents reporting them scurrying around outside their basement flats.

The Tory-run council blames a decision seven years ago by TWU to scrap its policy of "routine baiting" in its vast network of sewers. Critics say it was done partly to save cash. Now there are around 1,000 complaints a year in the borough.

Council deputy leader Daniel Moylan said: "In our view, the sewers aren't being properly looked after. We have written to TWU several times, asking them to re-introduce sewer baiting. But so far that hasn't happened. We still hope to persuade them but, if not, we may have to be more forceful via legal action."

The council cannot force the company to bait the pipes, as they do not count as "premises", but borough lawyers are looking at a new claim of "common law nuisance". Any case will be watched closely by other local councils, many of whom have made similar complaints to water companies nationwide.

A TWU spokeswoman said: "We have found that it is much more efficient to control rats by responding to sightings rather than just routinely bait our sewers."

Kensington and Chelsea council plans to put TWU's claims to the test by asking them for information on exactly which areas have been baited - comparing them to a specially-drawn "ratmap" of rodent hotspots. http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=583761&in_review_text_id=551380

Tuesday, May 14, 2002

Cat goes on rampage in Nova Scotia, evicts owners

DARTMOUTH, Nova Scotia, May 13 (Reuters) - A Canadian family had to flee for safety after their pet Siamese cat went on a rampage, tearing at clothes and skin and driving them out of the house, police said on Monday.

The shaken group called police in the eastern port city of Dartmouth after taking refuge on their lawn on Sunday evening.
"Earlier in the afternoon, the cat had attacked the babysitter," police Sgt. Don Spicer told Reuters. "The residents went to check on the cat and, essentially, the cat went crazy on them as well.

"It attacked the father and ripped his pants as well as the flesh underneath," Spicer said.

It took police officers, armed with a blanket and a clothes hamper, 20 minutes to corner the cat. Spicer said Cocoa the cat was eventually secured in a pet carrier and handed over to the family who took it to the veterinarian.

It was not yet known what caused the cat's frenzy.

"We've been called to deal with a snake or various animals for one reason for another. But this is the first time that I can recall an actual cat going berserk," Spicer said.
Another police officer said Cocoa was "a Siamese cat with an attitude problem." http://webcenter.newssearch.netscape.com/aolns_display.adp?key=200205131628000265733_aolns.src

posted 05-15-2002 04:44 PM            

Iowa farmer mauled to death by cow

Associated Press

Published May 13, 2002
VINTON, Iowa -- A farmer was mauled to death by a cow while trying to rescue the animal's newborn calf from the mud.

Bruce Schulte, 50, of rural Norway died Saturday, shortly after calling his mother on his cell phone, Sheriff Kenneth Popenhagen said.

Schulte had tried to move the calf out of some mud it was lying in. The cow charged him, kicking and mauling him, the sheriff said.

Dr. John Schiltz, state veterinarian, said cows can be very protective of their offspring, but it is unusual for one to turn on a farmer.

The sheriff would not say what happened to the cow and calf.