African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)

African trypanosomiasis, or the sleeping sickness, is a parasitic disease that can be found in humans and animals that is caused by the protozoa of the species Trypanosoma brucei and which is transmitted by the tsetse fly. This disease is endemic in some regions of sub-Saharan Africa spreading across 36 countries and possibly affecting up to 60 million people. An estimated 50,000-70,000 people are currently infected. It has been believed by many that various cases go unreported. This "sickness" has claimed 48,000 lives in 2008.




The symptoms of the sleeping sickness occur in two stages. The haemolymphatic phase is categorized by fever, headaches, joint pains, itching, and swelling of the lymph nodes. The second phase is the neurological phase. The parasite invades the central nervous system by passing the blood-brain barrier. Confusion, reduced coordination, disruption of the sleep cycle causing daytime slumber and night-time insomnia are common symptoms in this phase. If this disease is not treated, then it can be fatal. The damage is irreversible when in the neurological phase.

Tsetse Fly

"Pet parasite"--Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease that is caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. It infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the cat family. Animals are infected by eating infected meat, by ingestion of feces of a cat that has itself recently been infected, or by transmission from mother to fetus. Human infection can result from blood transfusions or solid organ transplants, carelessly handling cat litter that leads to accidental consumption of infectious particles, eating contaminated soil, or from eating raw or undercooked meat.





Up to 1/3 of the world's population is estimated to have Toxoplasma  infection. 400 to 4,000 cases of congenital toxoplasmosis occur in the United States each year. Congenital toxoplasmosis can cause sever consequences like mental retardation, blindness, and epilepsy in infancy or much later in life.


During the first few weeks of post-exposure, the infection typically causes a mild flu-like illness or no illness. It rarely causes any symptoms in healthy adults. People with weakened immune systems like AIDS patients or pregnant women can become seriously ill and the parasite can prove fatal. It can cause encephalitis and neurologic diseases and can also affect the heart, liver, inner ears, and the eyes. The acute symptoms of toxoplasmosis are flu-like. Swollen lymph nodes or muscle aches and pains that last for one month or more are some of the symptoms.


Link to see the distribution of toxoplasmosis in the world:
http://www.nationmaster.com/red/graph/mor_tox-mortality-toxoplasmosis?=10&b_map=1


Life cycle of toxoplasmosis:

TABLE 2
Possible Signs and Symptoms of Congenital Toxoplasmosis in Infancy and Later in Life*

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Abnormal spinal fluid

Anemia

Chorioretinitis

Convulsions

Deafness

Fever

Growth retardation

Hepatomegaly

Hydrocephalus

Intracranial calcifications

Jaundice

Learning disabilities

Lymphadenopathy

Maculopapular rash

Mental retardation

Microcephaly

Spasticity and palsies

Splenomegaly

Thrombocytopenia

Visual impairment

List of predominant parasites and infectious diseases for each continent

North America

Parasites:                        
Beaver Fever                  
Trichinella Spiralis           
Tapeworms                    
Roundworms

Infectious diseases:
Chicken pox
Strep throat
Hepatitis
Pneumonia
HIV/AIDS
Influenza            
                  
South America

Parasites:                            
New World Hookworm
Dwarf tapeworm
Threadworm
Filaria
Onchocerca volvulus


Infectious diseases:
Typhoid fever
Cholera
Malaria
HIV/AIDS
Dengue fever

Asia

Parasites:
Brugia malayi
Paragonimus westermani
Schistosoma westermani
Wuchereria bancrofti

Infectious diseases:
Typhoid fever
Cholera
Malaria
TB

Africa

Parasites:
Onchocerca volvulus
Schistosoma haematobium
Schistosoma mansoni
Wuchereria bancrofti


Infectious diseases:
Cholera
Malaria
River blindness
TB
Hep B and C
HIV/AIDS
Dengue fever

Europe


Parasites:
Fasciola hepatica
Diphyllobothruim Latum

Infectious diseases:
HIV/AIDS
TB
Influenza
Hep B and C

Australia

Parasites:
Hymenolepis nana


Infectious diseases:
HIV/AIDS
Influenza

Antarctica

Parasites:
Monogenea sp
Copepoda sp


Infectious diseases:
Parapox virus

Natural Catastrophic Event Fact Sheet

www.mercer.edu/enp/porter.docx

Global Warming...NOT!

   Global Warming? I don't think so...
"Some of the scientists, I believe, haven't they been charging their opinion a little bit on global warming? There's a lot of differing opinions and before we reach I think it's best to have the full accounting, full understanding of what's taking place." -George W. Bush, presidential debate, Oct. 11, 2000.


For years people have been worried about this phenomenon called global warming. The increase in temperature over the years, glaciers melting, and an increase in tornado activity has got everyone on the global warming kick. But can we really blame this on so called "global warming?" Does it even exist? Where is the proof? If you are like me, I like to see some proof before I jump on the band wagon. So I will explain some of the arguments that say global warming doesn't exist. They are pretty convincing.


"Global warming is indeed a scam, perpetrated by scientists with vested interests, but in need of crash courses in geology, logic, and the philosophy of science." -Martin Keeley, BBC News, Dec. 6, 2004


1. Many scientists do not believe human activities threaten the Earth's climate. There is a list of more than 17,000 scientists that have signed a petition made by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine stating there is not sufficient enough scientific proof that greenhouse gases that have been released by humans is, or ever will be, causing catastrophic heating of the atmosphere and disturbing the Earth's climate. 


Link to see the petition:
www.oism.org


2. The most reliable sources of temperature data disprove the global warming threat. Satellite readings of temperatures show there hasn't been any warming happening since they started to chart temperature 23 years ago. These readings are accurate to the 0.01 degree Celsius. 




3. The global climate computer models are too crude to predict future climate changes. All of the predictions are based on computer models instead of historical data. 




4. The IPCC did not prove that human activities are causing global warming. The following is a statement the IPCC published in their latest report named Climate Change 2001:


"The Earth's atmosphere-ocean dynamics is chaotic: its evolution is sensitive to small perturbations in initial conditions. This sensitivity limits our ability to predict the detailed evolution of weather; inevitable errors and uncertainties in the starting conditions of a weather forecast amplify through the forecast. As well as uncertainty in initial conditions, such predictions are also degraded by errors and uncertainties in our ability to represent accurately the significant climate processes."




5. A modest amount of global warming, if it is proven that it could occur, would be beneficial to the natural world and to human civilization. The temperatures during the the Medieval Warm Period allowed the Vikings to settle in the inhospitable Greenland. The Climatic Optimum was warmer than the Medieval Warm Period and was a time in which civilizations were being built. There is good reason to believe that a warmer climate could have a similar effect for the advancement of our civilization today.


6. Efforts to quickly reduce human greenhouse gas emissions would be expensive and wouldn't stop the Earth's climate from changing. The Kyoto Protocal called for the United States to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 7% below the levels projected in the 1990s by the year 2012. In order to meet this goal, that would require higher energy taxes and more regulations causing the nation to lose 2.4 million jobs and $300 billion in annual economic input. If all of the countries participated in the Kyoto Protocal, then the global temperature would decrease by only 0.14 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. This is such a small change and a long time coming. 



7. The efforts by state governments to reduce greenhouse gases emissions are even more expensive and threaten to break state budgets. After raising spending in the 1990s, the cumulated projected deficit is $90 billion. Reduction programs are not showing any impact and they cost a lot of money.


"With all of the hysteria, all of the fear, all of the phony science, could it be that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people? It sure sounds like it." -James M. Inhofe, speech in U.S. senate, June 28, 2003. 


Global temperature proxies (sediments, boreholes, pollen, oxygen-18, stalagmites, magnesium to calcium ratios, algae, cave formation, etc. over a wide geographical range) show a warming trend starting around 1700, with warming and cooling periods about the trend.
The timing is all wrong for the theory of manmade global warming:

• Temperature increases started in 1700, and the underlying rate of increase has been roughly steady (though there have been warming and cooling fluctuations around the trend).
• Human emissions of carbon dioxide were negligible before 1850, and really only took off after 1945.

If human emissions of carbon dioxide caused global warming, then there would be massive and accelerating global warming after 1945 and almost no global warming before 1945. Obviously this is not the case.