Month: May 2018

The UN children’s fund warned the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo threatens the health and well-being of children, and special care must be taken to help them survive.  Ebola is highly contagious, killing between 20 and 90 percent of its victims, and the UN children’s fund is engaging communities in the fight against Ebola.  UNICEF spokesman, Christophe Boulierac said schools are crucial for minimizing the risk of transmission among children. “UNICEF is scaling up prevention efforts in schools across all three affected health zones,” he said. “This includes on-going efforts to install hand washing units in 277 schools and supporting awareness raising activities reaching more than 13,000 children in Mbandaka, Bikoro and Iboko.”  Previous outbreaks of Ebola in DRC and most recently in the horrific epidemic in West Africa have shown the high-level of trauma experienced by children at the loss of family members.   Boulierac told VOA orphaned children often become social outcasts because of their association with this fatal disease. “There is as you mention, rightly, the risk of stigma and the risk that the child when his father, his care-giver, his mother is affected; the child is psychologically affected,” he said. Boulierac said UNICEF is taking preventive measures, including providing trained therapists to families affected by the Ebola outbreak and helping children cope psychologically with the trauma of losing loved ones. …

Real-world debates permeate this year’s Venice Biennale on architecture, from commemorating spaces once part of the U.S. slave trade to maintaining the delicate status quo at religious sites in the Holy Land. The sprawling exhibition, which opens Saturday for a six-month run, reflects not only on the political implications of what gets built but also on the empty spaces in between. “We have to be aware of the political issues in order to make buildings which protect, in so far as we can, the status of the human being in the world,” said Shelley McNamara, co-curator with Yvonne Farrell of the main exhibition, “Free Space.” “We are acutely aware of the things that are threatening the quality of life of human beings.” Israeli Pavilion The Israeli Pavilion, subtitled “structures of negotiation,” outlines the consequences of multiple claims on revered religious places and how daily use defines monuments. It doesn’t comment on how the Trump administration’s recent decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv might impact the Middle East conflict. But the curators agreed it is easy to draw inferences. “What we know is that sometimes political events have a very heavy impact on the status quo of the holy places and vice versa, and even if the equilibrium of the status quo in the holy places is for some reason violated it has an influence on the political situation,” said the pavilion’s co-curator Tania Coen Uzzielli. Take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, revered …

Gene therapy could potentially allow doctors to cure some of the deadliest types of cancer and rare hereditary diseases with one injection. The FDA recently approved the use of three anti-cancer drugs, all based on genetically modified human cells. Scientists say up to 80 percent of all types of cancer will respond to gene therapy treatments in the future. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as Daria Dieguts reports. …

Scientists who track pollution have discovered traces of antibiotics and the pain reliever oxycodone in some Puget Sound mussels. KIRO-TV reported this week that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife obtained clean mussels from Penn Cove on Whidbey Island and put them in different areas to test for water contamination. Scientists worked with the Puget Sound Institute to analyze the data and discovered three out of 18 locations came back positive for trace amounts of oxycodone. State Fish and Wildlife biologist Jennifer Lanksbury said the contamination most likely came through wastewater treatment plants. She said the chemicals might be having an impact in fish and shellfish in the areas. Mussels at a restaurant or store are safe to eat because they come from clean locations, Lanksbury said. …

A coalition of conservation groups sued the Trump administration on Thursday, accusing the government of slashing protections for migratory birds. At issue is the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which the National Audubon Society and other plaintiffs say has been undermined. In the past, the act helped hold parties responsible for actions that killed or injured migratory birds. But in December, the Trump administration said energy companies and other businesses that accidentally kill migratory birds will no longer be criminally prosecuted. “As you can imagine, many causes of bird fatalities — including oil spills — could fall into this ‘unintentional’ category, so we’re taking the administration to court,” David Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement. Plaintiffs also include the American Bird Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Defenders of Wildlife. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Defendants are the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Daniel Jorjani, the Interior Department’s principal deputy solicitor. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, representing the government in the lawsuit, declined to comment. Representatives for the Fish and Wildlife Service, interior and justice departments also declined comment. The Trump administration’s December move, in a legal memo from the Interior Department, reversed a longstanding practice at the agency and a last-minute rule implemented by the outgoing Obama administration. It came after several appeals courts ruled …

The World Health Organization (WHO) says people diagnosed with Ebola must be kept isolated to prevent the spread of the highly contagious disease. The WHO has updated the number of Ebola cases since the outbreak started in the Democratic Republic of Congo on May 8, confirming 31 of 52 probable and suspected cases, including 22 deaths. The escape of two Ebola patients earlier this week from a treatment center in Mbandaka, a city of more than one million people, has raised fears of a rapid spread of the disease. The families of the patients reportedly helped them leave. World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic called the incident very unfortunate, but not unexpected. “It is only human that people want to be with their loved ones and family want them to be at home in what could be the last moments of life,” he said.  “… Keeping a sick person at home not only decreases the chances of survival for this person, because this person is not receiving supportive treatment. It is also putting at risk the whole family.” Ebola is highly contagious. The virus is transmitted through direct contact with infected bodily fluids. The fatality rate is between 20 percent and 90 percent. Jasarevic said it is important to improve efforts to engage with communities so they understand how the virus is spread and how they can protect themselves from becoming infected. “People who fall sick go to an isolation unit and receive treatment because that treatment will significantly increase …

Two Ebola patients who fled a hospital quarantine area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo later attended a prayer meeting, potentially exposing at least 50 participants to the dangerous virus. The incident demonstrates the risks of limited public awareness of Ebola and how the virus spreads. So governments and aid groups are boosting efforts to educate the public as part of a broader response to an Ebola outbreak that as of Thursday was suspected in 52 cases of hemorrhagic fever. Of those, 31 have been confirmed as Ebola, with 13 likely and eight possible, the DRC health ministry said. The death toll was revised from 27 to 22, but it’s expected to grow. “We try to raise awareness and tell people that, no matter their beliefs, it is crucial for patients to remain in health centers for treatment,” the health minister, Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga, told VOA in a phone interview. “This is part of the community awareness campaign, and it must continue and reach all groups in the population. “Religious and traditional leaders must be involved, because there are many beliefs surrounding the Ebola virus,” Kalenga said, later adding that a pastor helped officials find one of the patients who fled. ​How it starts, spreads The disease, initially transmitted to humans from wild animals such as fruit bats, monkeys and forest antelope, spreads through direct contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids. Early symptoms can include fever, sore throat, fatigue, muscle pain and headache. Symptoms can take up …

A British university student has created a range of watercolor paints made from discarded cosmetics. An example, she says, of how the so-called ‘circular economy’ can help improve the environment. It could also be a way for cosmetics companies and retailers to reduce waste and make more money. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. …

Lava entered the ocean from a third flow Thursday, marking the third week of a Hawaii volcano eruption that has opened up nearly two dozen vents in rural communities, destroyed dozens of buildings and shot miles-high plumes of ash into the sky. Low lava fountains were erupting from a nearly continuous 2-mile-long (3.22-kilometer) portion of the series of fissures that have opened in the ground, scientists said Thursday. The fountains were feeding channelized lava flows down to the coast. The eastern-most channel split, creating three ocean entries. Since the eruption began May 3, Hawaii County has ordered about 2,000 people to evacuate from Leilani Estates and surrounding neighborhoods. Hawaii officials have said they may need to evacuate 1,000 more people if lava crosses key highways and isolates communities in the mostly rural part of the island where the Kilauea volcano is erupting. A blocked highway would cut people off from the only route to grocery stores, schools and hospitals. The U.S. Marine Corps said Thursday that it has sent two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters from a base near Honolulu to help if more evacuations become necessary. Each helicopter can carry 50 passengers. 20 vents, 50 buildings The volcano has opened more than 20 vents in the ground that have released lava, sulfur dioxide and steam. The lava has been pouring down the flank of the volcano and into the ocean miles away. Lava has destroyed 50 buildings, including about two dozen homes. One person was seriously injured after being hit …

Two dying Ebola patients were spirited out of a Congo hospital by their relatives on motorcycles, then taken to a prayer meeting with 50 other people, potentially exposing them all to the deadly virus, a senior aid worker said Thursday. Both patients were vomiting and infectious and died hours after the prayer session in the river port city of Mbandaka, Dr. Jean-Clement Cabrol, emergency medical coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), said. Democratic Republic of Congo is racing to contain an outbreak of the disease, which spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids including vomit and sweat. The Health Ministry said late Thursday that a new case had been confirmed in the town of Bikoro and another in the nearby village of Iboko, where the epidemic is thought to have started. This brought the total number of confirmed cases to 31, it said in a statement, out of 52 suspected cases. Ninth outbreak in Congo Congo’s ninth recorded outbreak of the disease is thought to have killed at least 22 people so far, according to government figures released Wednesday, fewer than the last estimate of 27, after some of those deaths turned out not to be Ebola. “The escape was organized by the families, with six motorcycles as the patients were very ill and couldn’t walk,” Cabrol told a news briefing in Geneva after returning from the affected region. “They were taken to a prayer room with 50 people to pray. “They were found at two in the …

A pill could soon radio signals from inside your gut to help doctors diagnose diseases from ulcers to cancer to inflammation, according to a new study. Scientists have developed a small, ingestible capsule that mixes synthetic biology and electronics to detect bleeding in the digestive tract. The system can be adapted for a range of medical, environmental and other uses, the researchers say. The biological part of the pill uses bacteria engineered to glow when exposed to heme, the iron-containing molecule in blood. The electronic side includes a tiny light detector, computer chip, battery and transmitter that sends data to a cellphone or computer. “A major challenge for sensing in the GI tract is, the space available for a device is very limited,” said Massachusetts Institute of Technology electrical engineer Phillip Nadeau. Using very low-power electronics that Nadeau and his colleagues designed, they fit all the components into a capsule about 3 centimeters long by 1 centimeter wide. It’s still a bit big to swallow, but Nadeau says it likely can be engineered to a third that size. The engineered bacteria are contained in chambers covered by a membrane that lets small molecules in, but does not let the organisms out. The researchers say the bacteria can be engineered to die if they accidentally leak from the capsule; or, future models may just use the key enzymes, rather than whole bacteria. In laboratory tests, the pill successfully distinguished pigs fed small amounts of blood from those not given blood. The capsule …