'Made in China' - Chinese made Plastic Rice Arrives in Haiti.

'Made in China' - Chinese made Plastic Rice Arrives in Haiti. (HS).

Authorities in Haiti are just beginning to come to grips with the growing prevalence of plastic rice, said to have been imported from China, first discovered in Haiti in early November 2016. Deputy Abel Descolliens (Mirebalais(1)/PHTK) and the Mayorship of Mirebalais have seized upon the issue only after a family in the town had one of their children, who had consumed the product, fall ill. 

The Mirebalais Mayor’s Office, headed by Lochard Laguerre, told a journalist from Radio Tele Zenith FM that an investigation was underway to determine how much and from what source from which the plastic rice was brought into Haiti. The journalist said Deputy Descollines’ office said it would be bringing the matter before members of the Chamber of Deputies to exact a response. Neither elected to speak directly on the matter during a segment on the Train Matinal, weekday mornings news and politics broadcast.  

The family which was affected by their daughter consuming the rice said it was purchased from a neighbor. The mother intended to make a blended rice juice with it. A female child had consumed some of the first batch of jis diriz, rice juice, before the family discovered something wrong. They discovered that the rice, by the manner of its consistency when other batches of the juice were cooled in the refrigerator, was not a natural produce.  

The provisional administration of President Jocelerme Privert has not addressed the plastic rice detected in the Haitian market. A video was posted nearly 7 weeks before the Mirebalais incident on November 7, 2016. In both instances, consumers were attempting to make jis diriz. It appears by this method of preparation, the plastic properties of the rice become more profound. It leads one to believe consumers commonly cooking the rice could possibly consume it unknowingly.  

The alert over plastic rice in Haiti is the first consumer-initiated quality control scare since the 2012 scandal of salami. The imported meat product from the Dominican Republic was found to contain high levels of feces. In 2010, it was from a United Nations peacekeeper base in Mirebalais that the water sources in Haiti would be contaminated with cholera. Deaths from cholera, which had never been detected in Haiti before, topped 10,000 in the first five years. 

The BBC reported on December 21, 2016 that Nigerian officials had confiscated 2.5 tons of plastic rice that was smuggled into the country by an unscrupulous businessman. The Nigerian customs service said the fake rice was intended to be sold in markets during the festive season.

Dutch aid ship Pelikaan forced to quit Haitian port as crowd threaten security.

Dutch aid ship Pelikaan forced to quit Haitian port as crowd threaten security. (curacaochronicle).

PORT AU PRINCE - A ship carrying much-needed aid for stricken Haiti has had to turn back because of a lack of port security.

The Dutch government ship HNLMS Pelikaan has 35 tons of food, shelter and hygiene kits from Curaçao to help after Hurricane Matthew, and is permanently stationed in the area for just this sort of operation.

But thousands of people gathered on the shore at Jeremie Port, and with minimal security or no organized way to distribute the aid the ship was forced to leave.

Post-Hurricane flooding has reactivated the cholera UN peacekeepers brought to Haiti after its 2010 earthquake, and Matthew has added a further 175,000 to the homeless list.


Close to one and a half million people need urgent humanitarian aid.

Chikungunya in the Caribbean: It's been here before.

Chikungunya in the Caribbean: It's been here before.HT: Crof.

Via Emerging Infectious Diseases: Reappearance of Chikungunya, Formerly Called Dengue, in the Americas. The abstract:

After an absence of ≈200 years, chikungunya returned to the American tropics in 2013. The virus is maintained in a complex African zoonotic cycle but escapes into an urban cycle at 40- to 50-year intervals, causing global pandemics. 

In 1823, classical chikungunya, a viral exanthem in humans, occurred on Zanzibar, and in 1827, it arrived in the Caribbean and spread to North and South America. In Zanzibar, the disease was known as kidenga pepo, Swahili for a sudden cramp-like seizure caused by an evil spirit; in Cuba, it was known as dengue, a Spanish homonym of denga. 

During the eighteenth century, dengue (present-day chikungunya) was distinguished from breakbone fever (present-day dengue), another febrile exanthem. In the twentieth century, experiments resulted in the recovery and naming of present-day dengue viruses. 

In 1952, chikungunya virus was recovered during an outbreak in Tanzania, but by then, the virus had lost its original name to present-day dengue viruses.

Jamaica: Guillain-Barré syndrome cases spike with chikungunya.

Jamaica: Guillain-Barré syndrome cases spike with chikungunya. HT: Crof.

Via the Jamaica Observer: GBS cases spike with CHIKV. Excerpt:

The University Hospital of the West Indies in St Andrew saw about five cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) between October and November 2014. According to consultant neurologist Dr Francene Gayle, on average, she has seen one case of GBS per year since she has been at the health facility. 

The consultant neurologist told the Jamaica Observer that the chikungunya virus that swept across the island late last year and has left several with lingering joint pains caused a spike in the number of GBS cases. 

"I must tell you that, on average, since I have been back, I have been home three years, so on average, I see maybe one case of GBS per year at the University Hospital of the West Indies," Dr Gayle disclosed. 

"But with CHIKV, between October and November, we saw about five cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, so it resulted in a spike in the number of cases that we would normally see annually." 

GBS is a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. The symptoms generally include weakness and tingling in the limbs before spreading, and eventually resulting in paralysis. 

Speaking to Your Health Your Wealth in a recent interview, Dr Gayle said there are a few causes but the commonest cause is post-viral illness. The consultant neurologist explained that influenza as well as a particular bacteria known as campylobacter jejuni can bring on GBS. 

She also spoke specifically to the Jamaican context. "In our Jamaican context, chikungunya virus is also associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome," Dr Gayle said. "Viruses, on a whole, what they do is that your body mounts an attack against the infectious agent and, unfortunately, there are various proteins on the surface of the viruses that your immune system targets. 

"These same proteins have similar proteins on the nerve linings and so the antibodies that are produced to fight these viral infections can actually be mediated against those proteins on the nerves within the body," she continued. "And so the nerves get damaged as a bystander."

Lindsay Lohan battles Chikungunya virus, while the Caribbean are under assault by chikungunya in 2014.

Lindsay Lohan battles Chikungunya virus, while the Caribbean are under assault by chikungunya in 2014.. HT: Crof.


Sounds exotic. And not something you want to catch.

After Lindsay Lohan wrapped up her two-month run in Speed-the-Plow in London at the end of November, she was ready for some rest and relaxation.

She headed for someplace tropical. But the trip to paradise has soured a bit. During her French Polynesian trip with longtime friend Patrick Aufdenkamp, she contracted the Chikungunya virus.

She has been tweeting and Instagramming photos about her trip.

Being sick is no fun. But happy new year everyone. Be safe. Love all. Make a difference and keep your… http://t.co/V7i2F8KnTz
— Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) December 29, 2014

Before I got chikungunya 😥😰😪 use Big spray please 🙏 God bless. http://t.co/8xg2gNWBz5
— Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) December 28, 2014

Via Caribbean360.com: 2014 year in review: Caribbean rocked by Chikungunya. Excerpt:

Three general elections and continued socio-economic problems may have made the headlines in the Caribbean in 2014, but it was the Chikungunya virus, the mosquito borne disease that really caught the attention of the region over the past 12 months. 

In addition, while no cases had been recorded, Caribbean countries were putting in place various measures to deal with the deadly Ebola virus that have killed more than 7,000 people in West Africa and spread also by the same mosquito responsible for the Chikungunya virus. 

A crippling mosquito-borne virus with a tongue twisting name, Chikungunya first appeared in the Caribbean towards the end of 2013. But by the end of 2014, every Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country had recorded cases of the virus caused by the aedes aegypti mosquito that causes a dengue-like sickness. 

Symptoms include a sudden high fever, severe pain in the wrists, ankles or knuckles, muscle pain, headache, nausea, and rash. Joint pain and stiffness are more common with Chikungunya than with dengue. The symptoms appear between four to seven days after the bite of an infected mosquito. 

The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) warned the Caribbean has not yet felt the “full impact” of the disease. 

“There is an estimate in excess of 600,000 cases in total, most of those being from the bigger countries like the Dominican Republic and Haiti with 37 deaths in total. So it continues to spread,” said CARPHA’s executive director Dr. James Hospedales. 

Dr. Hospedales said that with a population of 17 million people, the region is still in the early stages of the virus, warning “the full bloom of Chikungunya virus is yet to come. 

“I am saying because everybody in this part of the world and there is no resistance to this virus and we have an abundance of the vector and we have a lot of movement. In six months it has moved to all the islands and we can expect further increases in levels of cases because of what has happened elsewhere in the world where in some countries you find a 30 per cent attack rate of the entire population within a year or so.”

More in detail info on Chikungunya can be read here. 

Chikungunya in the Americas: Might as well call it a million cases (or more)

Chikungunya in the Americas: Might as well call it a million cases (or more). HT: CROF.

PAHO has published a December 5 update on its Chikungunya page.

We are now at week 49, and as usual many of the countries are weeks or months behind: Haiti has stood its ground since week 28 (64,695 suspected cases), when the real total must be at least an order of magnitude higher.

Still we learn that as of week 49 the US had 11 local cases and 1,900 imported cases. 

The Dominican Republic, as of week 41, has 498,916 cases. El Salvador, on the American mainland, had 135,226 cases as of week 47.

 

All told, PAHO says, we have 975,678 suspected cases in the Americas, plus 18,892 that people took the trouble to confirm. 

 

ECDC reported the first autochthonous chikungunya cases in the Americas on December 20. The virus deserves our congratulations, however grudging, for having made so much of its opportunity in one short year. 

 

For its reporting on chikungunya, however, PAHO does not.

Just imagine once it starts spreading in the US!

Mexico detects first case of mosquito-borne chikungunya virus

Mexico detects first case of mosquito-borne chikungunya virus. HT: Crof.

Via Reuters: Mexico detects first case of mosquito-borne chikungunya virus. Excerpt:

Mexico has detected its first domestic case of the painful mosquito-borne viral disease chikungunya in the southwest of the country, the state government of Chiapas said on Saturday. 

Chikungunya is spread by two mosquito species, and is typically not fatal. But it can cause debilitating symptoms including fever, headache and severe joint pain lasting months. 

The government of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, said an 8 year old girl became the first person to contract the disease in Mexico, and that she was treated in hospital in the town of Arriaga. The girl has since been released. 

There is no commercial vaccine for the virus, which was detected for the first time in the Americas late last year. 

Chikungunya has already appeared in much of the Caribbean, Central America and the United States. A handful of people have had the virus in Mexico, having contracted it abroad. 

In September, El Salvador said it had detected nearly 30,000 cases of the virus. In the United States, locally transmitted infections - as opposed to infections in Americans traveling abroad - were reported for the first time this year.

WHO on chikungunya in France, 4 cases of chikungunya locally-acquired infection.

WHO on chikungunya in France, 4 cases of chikungunya locally-acquired infection. HT: Crof.

WHO has published Chikungunya – France. Excerpt:

On 21 October 2014, WHO was notified by the National IHR Focal Point for France of 4 cases of chikungunya locally-acquired infection in Montpellier, France. The cases were confirmed by tests conducted by the French National Reference Laboratory for arboviruses on 20 October 2014. This is the first time that locally-acquired transmission of chikungunya has been detected in France since 2010. 

The 4 cases of chikungunya infection occurred within the same family, with symptoms onset between 20 September and 12 October. The cases live in Montpellier in the vicinity of a chikungunya case imported from Cameroon. The cases have no history of travel out of their district of residence in the 15 days prior to the onset of symptoms.

Chikungunya is a viral disease that is rarely fatal and is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. Symptoms of chikungunya include high fever and headache, with significant pains in the joints (ankles, wrists), which can persist for several weeks.

The symptoms appear between 4 and 7 days after the patient has been bitten by an infected mosquito.

The name, chikungunya derives from a word in Makonde language roughly meaning “that which bends up”, reflecting the physique of a person suffering from the disease.

First local chikungunya case reported in Costa Rica.

First local chikungunya case reported in Costa Rica. HT: Crof.

Via The Costa Rican Times: 1st Indigenous Case of Chikungunya in Costa Rica Reported. Excerpt:

This afternoon I went to do my dishes and in one of my plastic cups was a dead Aedes mosquito. It was the first time I had actually seen one not in a picture. Dengue & Chikungunya are the only things that frighten me about living in Costa Rica. 

The first reported case of the Chikungunya virus that was confirmed to originate within the borders of Costa Rica has come to pass. 

There have been other Chikungunya victims, but they all acquired the virus overseas before coming to Costa Rica. 

The first case of the Chikunguna Virus being caught on Costa Rican soil occurred  in Parrita in the Puntarenas Province which is located about 30 minutes from Jaco. 

The woman who tested positive for the first indigenous case of the virus was tended to by officials of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund. The Costa Rican Institute for Research and Education on Nutrition and Health performed the test. 

The other 15 victims found to have the virus in Costa Rica came from the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The local woman became sick after hosting a Dominican at her home. This guest was sick but the symptoms went unaddressed. 

The government plans to spray in areas where the patient was, to kill the mosquitoes that might infect others.

Hmmm....I've been posting quite a bit about Chikungunya these last months because i see a huge threat to the US, when this arrives in the US Wetlands.More on chik-V here and here.

Eurosurveillance: "Unprecedented" concurrent outbreaks of dengue, chikungunya, Zika virus in the Pacific

Eurosurveillance: "Unprecedented" concurrent outbreaks of dengue, chikungunya, Zika virus in the Pacific. HT: Crof.

Via Eurosurveillance: Concurrent outbreaks of dengue, chikungunya and Zika virus infections - unprecedented epidemic wave of mosquito-borne viruses in the Pacific 2012-2014. The abstract:

Since January 2012, the Pacific Region has experienced 28 new documented outbreaks and circulation of dengue, chikungunya and Zika virus. 

These mosquito-borne disease epidemics seem to become more frequent and diverse, and it is likely that this is only the early stages of a wave that will continue for several years. 

Improved surveillance and response measures are needed to mitigate the already heavy burden on island health systems and limit further spread to other parts of the world. 

Hmmm....In case you are wondering which mosquitoes carry Chikungunya....The same type that carry West Nile virus, north America be warned!

Hmmm....I've been posting quite a bit about Chikungunya these last months because i see a huge threat to the US, when this arrives in the US Wetlands. More on chik-V here and here.

PAHO: Almost 800,000 chikungunya case as of October 17 (it says here)

The Pan American Health Organization has posted its regular Friday update on chikungunya in the Caribbean and neighboring nations. 

We are now up to epidemiological week 42, but some countries are weeks if not months behind. If not for Ebola taking all the attention, this would be a big scandal.


The regional total is 759,742 suspected cases, plus 12,327 confirmed, plus 1,708 imported. But the Dominican Republic is still at week 38 (486,306 suspected cases, just 84 confirmed). Next door, Haiti hasn't bothered to report since week 28, so we know of only 64,695 cases when the true number must be closer to a million.

So it goes, week after week with no explanation. Download the PDF if you like, but don't bother to print it out. Paper is more valuable.

Jamaica: 10-year-old dies from chikungunya complications.

Jamaica: 10-year-old dies from chikungunya complications. HT: Crof.

Chikungunya continues to spread in the Caribbean. The Jamaicans are taking it especially badly, and have invented their own term for it. Via the Jamaica Observer: 10-year-old dies from ChikV complications.

A 10-year-old student of the Alpha Primary School in Kingston died Friday as a result of complications brought on by the chikungunya virus, the Education Ministry has confirmed. 

A ministry release Friday afternoon said that Akaliah Anderson, who had reported to school for only one day (September 1, 2014), had revealed symptoms of the chikungunya virus. 

It was reported that her condition had not improved and she was subsequently admitted to the hospital. She reportedly developed further complications including a swollen spleen and liver. 

Little Akaliah died Friday. 

The Education Ministry said it was saddened by Akaliah’s death and extended condolences to her family and school community.  

A team of counsellors from the ministry will be providing emotional support to Akaliah’s family, students, teachers and administrative staff at the institution, the release said. 

“This incident brings into sharp focus the need for school administrators, parents and the entire citizenry of Jamaica to begin the clean-up process in our communities – home, school, workplaces – in order to eliminate the spread of the ChikV caused by the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes,” Education Minister Ronald Thwaites said.

Hmmm....I've been posting quite a bit about Chikungunya these last months because i see a huge threat to the US, when this arrives in the US Wetlands. More on chik-V here and here.

Update:

PAHO: Almost 800,000 chikungunya case as of October 17 (it says here)

The Pan American Health Organization has posted its regular Friday update on chikungunya in the Caribbean and neighboring nations. 

We are now up to epidemiological week 42, but some countries are weeks if not months behind. If not for Ebola taking all the attention, this would be a big scandal.


The regional total is 759,742 suspected cases, plus 12,327 confirmed, plus 1,708 imported. But the Dominican Republic is still at week 38 (486,306 suspected cases, just 84 confirmed). Next door, Haiti hasn't bothered to report since week 28, so we know of only 64,695 cases when the true number must be closer to a million.

So it goes, week after week with no explanation. Download the PDF if you like, but don't bother to print it out. Paper is more valuable.

Jamaica in "national emergency" due to chikungunya outbreak

Jamaica in "national emergency" due to chikungunya outbreak. HT: Crof.

I've been aware of this problem, but Ebola keeps crowding it out. Via the Caribbean Journal: Jamaica in “National Emergency” Due to Chikungunya Virus Outbreak. Excerpt:

Jamaica Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller says the country is in a “national emergency” over the outbreak of the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus in the country. 

The virus, which is similar in symptoms to Dengue fever, often leads to fever and severe joint pain that can last from a few days to, in some cases, for years, though it is rarely fatal. 

The disease has spread across the Caribbean region after initially appearing in St Martin in late 2013, but has hit Jamaica particularly hard. 

“I want to stress that we are in a NATIONAL emergency,” Simpson Miller said at a briefing on Tuesday. “I have therefore, assumed a lead role in mobilizing the nation and national resources.” 

She said she sympathized with those across Jamaica who had come down with the painful illness. 

“I understand that some MPs even as we speak are out with the virus,” she said. “I want to commend MPs, Mayors and Councillors who have been active in encouraging your constituents to get involved in the only sustainable way to control and reduce the epidemic – which is, to destroy and reduce mosquito breeding sites.” 

She said the government had called on about $4.5 million USD in state resources for national health emergency response, with the objective of reducing mosquito breeding sites by starting with the worst-affected areas. 

“This is our country,” she said. “We all have a stake and a vested interest in protecting it and in keeping our people safe and healthy.”

According to PAHO, Jamaica last week had just 325 suspected cases, plus 52 confirmed and 2 imported. It sounds as if far more cases are involved than those. Hmmm....I've been posting quite a bit about Chikungunya these last months because i see a huge threat to the US, when this arrives in the US Wetlands.More on chik-V here and here.

Pan American Health organization 748,403 chikungunya cases as of October 10

Pan American Health organization 748,403 chikungunya cases as of October 10. HT: Crof.

PAHO has updated its Chikungunya numbers. (Click through the link and download the PDF in the upper right corner of the page.) It's becoming an increasingly irrelevant document.

Ostensibly this brings us up to week 41, and the total is now 748,403 (suspected) cases. They're suspected because no one bothers to test for it now.

But they're also suspect numbers because so many of them are weeks or even months behind.

The US *is at week 41, all right, with 11 locally acquired cases and 1,326 imported. But Canada hasn't troubled to report since week 32, when it had 8 imported cases.

Where the disease is rapidly spreading, the Dominican Republic counts 486,306—as of week 38. Haiti next door remains The Land That Time Forgot, stubbornly stuck in week 28 and 64,695 cases.

So it goes: Cuba, week 33; Puerto Rico, week 37; Dominica, week 28; Grenada, week 26. Colombia is almost up to date at week 40 and 6,092 cases, as is Ecuador with just one imported case. Jamaica's at week 40 with 325 cases, but given the "Chik-V" political uproar there, the real number must be much higher.

The disparity in updates might be tolerable if PAHO at least bothered to explain why some countries don't report promptly. 

Three-quarters of a million cases since last December? I wouldn't be surprised if the true number were double that or even higher.

*Hmmm.....Just think when Chik-V gets hold in the U.S. Wetlands.

Haiti: 50% of the population could be affected by the chikungunya epidemic

Haiti: 50% of the population could be affected by the chikungunya epidemic. HT: Crof.

Via HaitiLibre.com: 50% of the population could be affected by the chikungunya epidemic. Excerpt and then a comment:

The chikungunya epidemic, which began in late 2013 in the Americas, was detected for the first time in Haiti in May and its rapid spread has led the Haitian government to officially declare a medical emergency. 

To date, Haiti has recorded more than 65,000 cases of chikungunya and those responsible for public health, estimate that up to 50% of the population could be affected by the epidemic. 

Unlike many other diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, no vaccine is available to prevent chikungunya. Common symptoms include fever and joint pain, which can be severe and disabling. 

On Wednesday, the First Lady, Sophia Martelly, visited accompanied by Dr. Florence Guillaume, Minister of Public Health and Population (MSPP) and Dr. George Dubuche, the Director General of the Ministry, went to the Direct Relief warehouse in Port-au-Prince, where drugs to treat one million people will be distributed to 904 public health sites to the population, and others Direct Relief partner hospitals. 

The shipment contains more than 6.1 million Defined Daily Doses of pain relievers, oral rehydration packs, antibiotics, IV solution, malaria tablets, and mosquito spray. This distribution comes in the midst of a rainy season, expected to cause a wave of new cases.

In other words, over five million people could fall ill with chikungunya in Haiti.

Others affected would be the family members who depend on the income and care of relatives who fall ill. Economically, chikungunya may do more damage than cholera has after almost four years: at least 706,291 cases and 8,584 deaths. (Typically, those are MSPP's latest numbers—from August 27.)

Hmmm....I know i'm one of the few who posts about Chikungunya, but if this gets hold in the US wetlands you'll see an epidemic of biblical proportions. Read up on it and prepare.

Video - Miss World Philippines Megan Young in tears after floor collapses of orphanage while she's visiting.

Video - Miss World Philippines Megan Young in tears after floor collapses of orphanage while she's visiting.Read the full story here E24/7.