PAKISTAN POLIO OUTBREAK WORSENED BY MILITANT ISLAMISTS BAN

 

An outbreak of polio in Pakistan is putting in question vaccination programs in the area.

Although the vaccine is available to the inhabitants of the remote area where the outbreak occurs, the mothers of the children who could be affected are afraid of availing themselves of the service for fear of retaliation from Islamic militants. 

Many mothers in North Waziristan are afraid that if they are caught with the vaccine in their possession, they could risk being killed or at least punished by the militants. 

The problem is that these small pockets of infection could cause a larger spread of the epidemic, if the children are not immunized.  And the worse part as far as transmission of the disease is concerned is that the highest risk season is approaching, making the problem even more urgent.  

Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio is endemic, and cannot be successfully eradicated save through intensive vaccination campaigns. 

In fact, the numerous cases that have been recorded so far have all been in the majority in the semi autonomous areas, leaving great doubt as to the successful contrast to the spread of the disease this year.  

The problem is that the Taliban has banned the vaccinations and the workers who administer them in both north and south Waziristan.  Some of the opposition is due to the drone strikes, some of it probably as a backlash to the involvement of the vaccination workers in the capture of Osama Bin Laden.    

In fact the Taliban has probably killed many workers and doctors in Pakistan.  The Taliban uses the vaccination program as an example of a 'bogey' program, one in which the US or other entities are placing chemicals in the vaccine to cause sterility in Muslim women.  

One of the solutions to get around the Taliban problem would be to travel to Peshawar, but the trek is long and expensive and out of reach for most of the impoverished people of Waziristan. 

Tribal elders in the area have tried to bring pressure on the Taliban to allow the vaccinations, but the Islamists have rebuffed such efforts.  

Source : al Jazeera/ 9.2.13

 

PHOTOGRAPHY : PLAY OF LIGHT

PHOTOGRAPHY : LUNAR EXAGGERATION

PHOTOGRAPHY : THE PLACE WHERE LIGHTNING LIVES

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO QUIT: SCIENTISTS REITERATE THEIR FINDINGS OF THE ADVANTAGES OF SMOKE CESSATION

Doctors' advice has always been consistent: it is never too late to quit smoking.  

There is a caveat to this advice, however.  Certain damage may be irreversible if quitting comes too late, such as hardening of the arteries or narrowing of the arteries, but as far as the risk of developing cancer, and even heart attack and death, all these are mitigated once smoking stops.

This is a significant finding, because many people believe that if they have been smoking for decades, that cessation offers few advantages.  Therefore, these finding renew the effort by doctors to prompt their patients to give up the habit. 

Heart disease is the greater killer among us.  It causes almost 600,000 deaths per year, at least until 2010.  Most heart attacks occur when deposits of cholesterol break free from the arterial wall and become lodged in the heart or other artery, or simply constrict the artery to an extent that does not allow the blood to flow, forcing the heart to strain and eventually produce a heart attack. 

A recent study, published under the acronym CONFIRM ( Coronary CT evaluation for Clinical Outcomes: An International Multicenter Study), has pointed to the following : 

1 - Severely blocked arteries were observed to be more common in those people who were current or past smokers, vs those who never smoked. 

2 - Current and past smokers have one and a half more times the incidence of extreme narrowing of the arteries in two of the most important arteries, and twice the incidence of narrowing in all three major heart arteries.

3 - Heart attacks and deaths were twice the rate in current smokers than in people who had never picked up the habit. 

In past smokers however or in those who had quit smoking, the rate of death were the same as those who had never smoked.  And that fact cut across all lines, gender, age and risk factors, indicating how effective smoking cessation can be, even in those people at risk for coronary death or to those who stop at a late stage in their lives. 

Of course smoking cessation is favorable to any age, but especially to those who quit early. In twenty years from the moment of cessation, the patient in effect has reversed all its chances of developing lung cancer.  But even the fact that the risk of death is halved, at a late stage in the patient's life or after decades of smoking, is an outcome that should be given great consideration. 


Partial Source : MNT/ 9.2.13