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Wednesday 15 July 2009

H1N1 Pig Flu, Swine Influenza Virus

April 29th, 2009, in News & Issues, by Patung

The swine flu scare, H1N1, effects on tourism and industries, and whether it is manmade.

A new mongrel variant of the swine influenza virus, similar to Spanish Flu, (influenza A subtype H1N1) that has struck Mexico and now spread to the United States and many other countries has Indonesia preparing for its possible arrival.


Real time map of swine flu cases.
Key – Pink markers are suspect. Purple markers are confirmed or probable. Deaths have no dot in marker. Yellow markers are negative.

In general the reaction has been calm. Health minster Siti Fadilah Supari says the fatality rate for H1N1 is only 6%, compared to 80-90% for H5N1, or bird flu. Nevertheless she says 80 hospitals in the country have prepared special facilities to deal with any outbreak.

Siti Fadilah Supari
Siti Fadilah Supari

Ever suspicious Siti Fadilah Supari said there was a chance swine flu was man-made:

I’m not sure whether the virus was genetically engineered but it’s a possibility

She also said Indonesia was too hot for the virus: [1]

H1N1 survives in countries with four seasons. The type A H1N1 virus hopefully won’t be able to sustain itself once it enters the tropical climate of Indonesia.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a special ministerial meeting to discuss the matter and said afterwards: [2]

We have to watch the airports, especially flights originating from Mexico, United States, and other pig flu affected countries.

While in Bali tourism authorities pleaded with the national government to not impose any hasty travel bans. Ngurah Wijaya of the Bali Tourism Board said surveillance at airports was sufficient for now. Visitor arrivals to the island were still normal, at 2,500 to 3,000 per day, said Ida Bagus Subhiksu of the Tourism Department. [3]

Farmers, Pigs & Pork

Drh Sigit Hanggono of the East Java Livestock Office (Dinas Peternakan (Disnak)) said he was worried the livestock industry would be harmed by the swine flu issue, and that the matter was overblown. [4]

Of the same department but in North Sumatra Drh Hj Teti Lubis said Disnak would try to educate the public about swine flu, so as to minimise the risk that irresponsible people would cause trouble for pig farmers and consumers of pork, considering that the disease was passed person to person, not via contact with pigs or pork. [5]

Pig farmers in Boyolali, Central Java, complained that pork prices have fallen 15% in recent days, largely because many producers are trying to offload what they have quickly. [6]

Indonesia is a large exporter of pork, mainly to Singapore, but as of writing no bans have been placed on this trade by partner countries. Indonesia has however banned the import of pork, however this trade is small.

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Cigarette Smoking and Cardiovascular Diseases

AHA Scientific Position

Cigarette smoking is the most important preventable cause of premature death in the United States. It accounts for more than 440,000 of the more than 2.4 million annual deaths. Cigarette smokers have a higher risk of developing several chronic disorders. These include fatty buildups in arteries, several types of cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (lung problems). Atherosclerosis (buildup of fatty substances in the arteries) is a chief contributor to the high number of deaths from smoking. Many studies detail the evidence that cigarette smoking is a major cause of coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack.
How does smoking affect coronary heart disease risk?

Cigarette and tobacco smoke, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes are the six major independent risk factors for coronary heart disease that you can modify or control. Cigarette smoking is so widespread and significant as a risk factor that the Surgeon General has called it "the leading preventable cause of disease and deaths in the United States."

Cigarette smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease by itself. When it acts with other factors, it greatly increases risk. Smoking increases blood pressure, decreases exercise tolerance and increases the tendency for blood to clot. Smoking also increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery.

Cigarette smoking is the most important risk factor for young men and women. It produces a greater relative risk in persons under age 50 than in those over 50.

Women who smoke and use oral contraceptives greatly increase their risk of coronary heart disease and stroke compared with nonsmoking women who use oral contraceptives.

Smoking decreases HDL (good) cholesterol. Cigarette smoking combined with a family history of heart disease also seems to greatly increase the risk.
What about cigarette smoking and stroke and peripheral arterial disease?

Studies show that cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for stroke. Inhaling cigarette smoke produces several effects that damage the cerebrovascular system. Women who take oral contraceptives and smoke increase their risk of stroke many times. Smoking also creates a higher risk for peripheral arterial disease and aortic aneurysm.
What about cigar and pipe smoking?

People who smoke cigars or pipes seem to have a higher risk of death from coronary heart disease (and possibly stroke), but their risk isn't as great as that of cigarette smokers. This is probably because they're less likely to inhale the smoke. Currently there's very little scientific information on cigar and pipe smoking and cardiovascular disease, especially among young men, who represent the vast majority of cigar users.
What about passive or secondhand smoke?

The link between seconhand smoke (also called environmental tobacco smoke) and disease is well known, and the connection to cardiovascular-related disability and death is also clear. About 22,700 to 69,600 premature deaths from heart and blood vessel disease are caused by other people's smoke each year.

Thursday 21 May 2009

Second Hand Smoking Facts

The EPA reported the following about Secondhand smoke.

3,000 nonsmoking adults die of diseases caused by exposure to second hand smoke every year.

Secondhand smoke causes coughing, phlegm, chest discomfort and reduced lung function in nonsmokers.

US infants and children under 18 months of age suffer some 150,000 to 300,000 respiratory tract infections (lung diseases such as pneumonia and bronchitis) every year, leading to 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations.

Children exposed to secondhand smoke at home are more likely to have middle-ear disease and reduced lung function.

Some 2 to 5 million US children suffer from asthma; of these, about 20 percent experience more asthma attacks and more severe attacks than their fellow young asthmatics, due to secondhand smoke.

Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds, including carbon monoxide ( which poisons the human body), ammonia, formaldehyde, and other poisons. 4 of the chemicals – benzene, 2-naphthylamine, 4-aminobiphenyl, and polonium-210 are classified by the EPA as known carcinogens—cancer causing agents.

The EPA has classified secondhand smoke as a carcinogen since 1992.

More than 10 million young people aged 12-18 live in a household with at least one smoker.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke were 25 percent more likely to have coronary heart diseases compared to nonsmokers not exposed to smoke.

According to the EPA, approximately 50-75 percent of children in the United States have detectable levels of cotinine, the breakdown product of nicotine, in their blood.

Seldom Known Smoking Facts in History

History Smoking

Over 2,000 years ago, South American Cultures began using tobacco. Brazilian peoples invented cigarettes by rolling tobacco leaves in paper.

The First Europeans to use tobacco were sailors.

Christopher Columbus took tobacco leaves back to Queen Isabella of Spain.

People used to believe Tobacco had medicinal value. A French Ambassador named Jean Nicot brought Tobacco plants to Portugal in 1559, telling friends it was useful in treating wounds, asthma and cancer.
The words nicotine and nicotiana come from Jean Nicot's last name.

In earlier times, tobacco was called herba panacea- meaning cure-all herb. Some people even believed that smoking cleaned out the lungs.

Several Countries outlawed tobacco use in the 1600s. In Turkey during that period, tobacco users could be tortured or killed. In China, a person caught with tobacco might be beheaded. In Russia, tobacco users who were caught a second time were killed.

Tobacco was extremely important to Spain and the American colonies. It was a major crop and became so valuable that it could be used in place of money. People in Virginia planted it in every square of soil they could find. In fact, the Virginia Company, which sponsored the early colony, had to pass a law requiring people to grow food also, and not just tobacco.

Until the 1700's, pipe smoking was the preferred method of tobacco use. Then people began using dry snuff or chewing tobacco instead. By the 1800's, cigarettes became more fashionable but had to be rolled by hand and were extremely expensive.

The first report to link smoking to certain diseases was published in 1859.

Thomas Edison and Henry Ford both declared tobacco use should be banned.

After World War I, a group of tobacco companies banded together and denied that tobacco causes any harmful effects.

In the 1920's, the makers of Lucky Strike Cigarettes wanted to appeal to women who were watching their weight by using the slogan “Reach for a Lucky instead of a Sweet”

During World War I and World War II, soldiers were given cigarettes as part of their rations.

Thursday 24 July 2008

Bill Gates and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Wednesday that they would spend $500 million to stop people around the world from smoking.

By DONALD G. MCNEIL JR
Published: July 24, 2008

The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco will kill up to a billion people in the 21st century, 10 times as many as it killed in the 20th.

This time, most are expected to be in poor countries like Bangladesh and middle-income countries like Russia. In an effort to cut that number, Mr. Bloomberg’s foundation plans to commit $250 million over four years on top of a $125 million gift he announced two years ago. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is allocating $125 million over five years.

Since 1999, the Gates Foundation has spent more than $2 billion on AIDS programs and about $1.2 billion on malaria. Mr. Gates has just left his Microsoft post for full-time foundation work and said he intends to form partnerships with other philanthropists.

The announcement was made at a joint news conference at TheTimesCenter in Midtown Manhattan attended by foundation staffers and foreign students enrolled in a tobacco control program at Johns Hopkins University that is supported by Mr. Bloomberg. He has campaigned against smoking for years, but this is a new direction for the Gates Foundation.

Thanking Mr. Gates, Mr. Bloomberg said, “I’m an optimist, but I’m also a realist.”

“All the money in the world will never eradicate tobacco,” he added. “But this partnership underscores how much the tide is turning against this deadly epidemic.” The new donations far outstrip current spending of about $20 million a year on antismoking campaigns in poor and middle-income countries, according to a recent W.H.O. report.

The $500 million would be spent on a multipronged campaign — nicknamed Mpower — that Mr. Bloomberg and Dr. Margaret Chan, director of the health organization, outlined in February. It coordinates efforts by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, the World Health Organization, the World Lung Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the foundation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

It will urge governments to sharply raise tobacco taxes, prohibit smoking in public places, outlaw advertising to children and cigarette giveaways, start antismoking advertising campaigns and offer people nicotine patches or other help quitting. Health officials, consumer advocates, journalists, tax officers and others from third world countries will be brought to the United States for workshops on topics like lobbying, public service advertising, catching cigarette smugglers and running telephone help lines for smokers wanting to quit. A list of grants is at tobaccocontrolgrants.org.

Dr. Richard Peto, an Oxford epidemiologist who leads studies on the effects of smoking in the developing world, called the announcement “excellent news.”

“I reckon this will avoid tens of millions of deaths in my lifetime and hundreds of millions in my kids’ lifetimes,” he said.

Catherine Armstrong, a spokeswoman for British American Tobacco — one of the Western tobacco companies that focuses on sales to the third world — would not comment directly on the new initiative. But she said, “We have no problem with government organizations educating people on the risks of tobacco.”

A spokesman for Philip Morris, which makes Marlboro, the world’s most popular cigarette brand, said the company agreed that children should be kept from smoking but thought that raising cigarette taxes promoted smuggling and counterfeiting.

Mr. Bloomberg, founder of the financial news company bearing his name and creator of the Bloomberg Family Foundation, has long been known for his antipathy to tobacco. During his administration, New York has adopted several antismoking measures, including a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, and significant increases in cigarette taxes.

The global campaign promises to be a struggle. Cigarettes not only are highly addictive and supported by huge advertising campaigns, they are also an important source of income for many foreign governments. In China and other countries, tobacco is a state-owned monopoly, and low- and middle-income countries collect $66 billion a year in tobacco taxes.

Only about 5 percent of the world’s countries have any antismoking measures like those the campaign envisions. But Dr. Peto said antismoking campaigns were already having some effects, even in countries where no-smoking signs are often ignored. He surveyed thousands of tobacco users in China in the 1990s — “before the government was taking it seriously,” he said — and found 4 percent who identified themselves as former smokers. Now, he said, 20 percent do.

In India, where people have long chewed tobacco but widespread smoking is more recent, Dr. Peto said he found almost no one who had quit. “India is where China was in the mid-1990s,” he said.

Smoking is not widespread in most of Africa, where only about 20 percent of men smoke, and Mr. Gates said on Wednesday that he hoped to prevent a surge in smoking there.

Waves of lung cancer deaths — which typically begin about 40 years after smoking takes hold in a society — help convince the next generation that smoking is dangerous, as in the United States in the 1960s, Dr. Peto said. And, he added, “When doctors and journalists start to take it seriously, things start to change.”

The Gates Foundation’s main focus has been global health, but up until now it has concentrated mostly on infectious diseases. Mr. Gates said he had been “looking at” tobacco deaths but was unsure what to do. “We were thrilled when Michael and his experts took the lead,” he said.
More Articles in Health »

Thursday 5 June 2008

Why do we need a total ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship?

1. The tobacco industry spends billions of dollars each year spreading its marketing net as widely as possible to attract young customers, targeting youth in fun and familiar environments, at the movies, on the Internet, in fashion magazines, and at music concerts and sports events.
2. The tobacco industry uses increasingly creative tactics to boost the sale of its products. Adverts on billboards, in magazines and on the Internet, comprise only one strand of the complex tobacco marketing net. The industry also ensures its products are highly visible in movies, on television and in the world of fashion. Tobacco companies sponsor sports and entertainment events, hand out branded items and organize numerous popular promotional activities in an attempt to win and keep their customers.
3. Only total bans can break the tobacco marketing net. The industry has numerous ways of targeting youth and partial bans merely allow companies to shift their vast resources from one promotional tactic to another.

Why are tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship a threat to young people?

The more exposed to tobacco advertising young people are, the more likely they are to use tobacco. The tobacco industry falsely associates use of its products with desirable qualities such as glamour, energy and sex appeal as well as with exciting activities and adventure.

Widespread tobacco advertising “normalizes” tobacco use, portraying it as being no different from any other consumer product, and making it difficult for young people to understand the hazards of its use.

Young people underestimate the risk of becoming addicted to nicotine and the tragic health consequences that can follow.