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A power failure knocked out the security system at a federal germ lab in Fort Collins for 13 hours Monday and disabled freezers housing thousands of vials of plague and other potential bioweapons. A backup generator kicked on when the power failed. But an electrical short prevented the backup power from being routed through the building, said Colorado State University spokesman Brad Bohlander. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory was without power for 13 hours, beginning at 3:07 p.m. Monday, Bohlander said. CSU owns the building and leases it to the government.No germ collections were...

Researchers at Rockefeller University in New York found people who have higher levels of certain acids on their skin are 100 times more attractive to the female Aedes aegypti, the type of mosquito responsible for spreading diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika. The findings, published Tuesday in the journal Cell, could lead to new products that could mask or alter certain human odors, making it harder for mosquitoes to find human blood and potentially curbing the spread of disease. SNIP Experts have found people seem to become more attractive to mosquitoes when they're pregnant or after they've...

Californians may not know it on sight, but there’s going to be something different about their mosquitoes this summer. An invasive species of the bite-prone insects has been genetically modified in an attempt at controlling disease spread. According to Smithsonian, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved plans by biotech firm Oxitec to release 2.4 billion male Aedes aegypti mosquitos in both California and Florida that have been altered so their genes can only participate in producing surviving male offspring. (Females will die before reaching adulthood.) The insects will be introduced as eggs, which will then hatch when exposed to...

Genetically modified mosquitoes have been released for the first time in the United States as part of an experiment to combat insect-borne diseases such as Dengue fever, yellow fever, and the Zika virus. UK-based biotechnology firm Oxitec, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said it released the mosquitoes in six locations in Monroe County’s Florida Keys: two on Cudjoe Key, one on Ramrod Key, and three on Vaca Key. It’s part of an effort to help tackle a disease-transmitting invasive mosquito population—the Aedes aegypti mosquito species—that’s responsible for “virtually all mosquito-borne diseases transmitted to humans,” according...

The biotech firm Oxitec has released its genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys, with the goal of suppressing wild, disease-carrying mosquito populations in the region. This is the first time genetically modified mosquitoes have been released in the US. Oxitec previously released its modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Brazil, the Cayman Islands, Panama, and Malaysia, and the company reported that local A. aegypti populations fell by at least 90 percent in those locations, Live Science previously reported. A. aegypti can carry diseases such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever, and releasing modified mosquitoes offers a way to control...

The Zika scare of 2016 could lead to a yellow fever panic this year if South Florida residents let down their guard when it comes to protecting themselves from disease-carrying mosquitoes. There hasn’t been a yellow fever outbreak in the United States in more than 100 years, but state health officials are concerned that a large outbreak in Brazil and others in South and Central America could lead to infected travelers bringing the disease to South Florida, which has the right mosquitoes and climate for it to spread. The disease is deadlier than the Zika virus. Zika raised alarms because...

Chinese tech companies have sparked controversy on social media after choosing to motivate their male employees by hiring 'programming cheerleaders'.' The 'pretty, talented' girls are hired to 'create a fun work environment' for employees of internet companies across the country, according to social media website Trending in China. 'Their job includes buying programmers breakfast, chitchatting and playing ping-pong with them... "

The grocery chain does not own the restaurant, which is operated by an independent franchise with two other locations in California, SF Gate reports. ... “Super cool that no one in your company, from concept to construction to this tweet, saw nothing wrong with this,” another detractor agreed. “I love associating the word "fever" with my lunch. Give me the shrimp pneumonia with extra sriracha,” another quipped. ... “When we finally came up with the concept, all the names we thought of just plain sucked. Buzzwords like ‘traditional’, ‘bamboo’, ‘lotus’, and ‘golden’ weren’t memorable,” the restaurant's co-founder Kelly Kim told...

With air mattresses and beach chairs tucked under their arms, they began arriving as early as midnight, lining up down the sidewalk and around the corner in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil. "Make sure you have your vaccination card and your number in hand," a public health clinic worker shouted to those lucky enough to have one of the 300 numbers that would allow them to receive a full dose of the yellow fever vaccine, good for a lifetime. ... Though the surge has largely been in rural areas, there is increasing concern that if people don't get the vaccine, the...

The yellow fever outbreak in Brazil has taken a backseat to the flu outbreak spreading globally. But, the death toll from yellow fever has now tripled and travelers are being warned. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday there are 35 confirmed cases of the disease, including a case confirmed in the Netherlands for a traveler who had recently visited Sao Paulo state. Sao Paulo even closed its zoo and botanical gardens Tuesday as the yellow fever outbreak that has led to 70 deaths is picking up steam. The big Inhotim art park, which attracts visitors from all over...

Airlines all have their own uniforms for flight attendants, but those uniforms were never a reason customers choose to fly a particular airline…until now. VietJet, a regional airline in Vietnam, has its young flight attendants dress in corporate colored bikinis, and that marketing gimmick has helped the company’s CEO, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, become the country’s first self-made female billionaire. Bloomberg reports, “With the initial public offering of Vietnam’s only privately-owned airline, Thao is set to have a net worth exceeding $1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making her the country’s first woman billionaire.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Ia1fLc8hw

Doctors are worried Brazil’s yellow fever outbreak could be as devastating an epidemic as the Zika virus, the New England Journal of Medicine reported. More than 100 people have already died from the virus, which is spread by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Initially, doctors weren’t concerned the few instances of yellow fever would turn into an outbreak because the majority of the cases, which were first reported in December, were among people living away from heavily populated urban cities and closer to Brazil’s jungles. However, the number of people contracting the virus is rising sharply, the report said.

I was attacked and censored on other forums for warning about Zika before anyone even heard of the term, now the illegal aliens and "child refugees" et all from the endemic zones have brought it to many parts of the US and spread it to local mosquito population because they were allowed in - actually invited and encouraged in - by the Obamanists, the Democrats, the cheap labor oligarchy of the Republican establishment, without health checks and firewalls across open borders. One in four in Puerto Rico will have Zika by election day in November this year which not only...

On 21 January 2016, the National IHR Focal Point of Angola notified WHO of an outbreak of yellow fever (YF). The first case with onset date on 5 December 2015 was identified in Viana municipality, Luanda province. As of 7 April 2016, a total of 1,708 suspected cases, including 238 deaths (CFR: 13.9%), had been reported from 16 of the country’s 18 provinces. >snip< A total of 581 cases have been laboratory confirmed in 59 districts of 12 provinces. >snip< The risk of spread to other provinces and to neighbouring countries remains very high. Transmission of the disease is no...

A new aggressive daytime-biting mosquito capable of transmitting debilitating and possibly deadly viruses has been found in the Los Angeles region, officials announced Wednesday. Known as yellow fever mosquitoes, the insects were found Oct. 7 and 8 in Commerce and Pico Rivera, respectively, according to the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District. The Aedes aegypti species, which has black and white stripes and grows to about a quarter-inch in size, can transmit dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever -- viruses that can cause painful symptoms including headaches and high fever, officials said. "While these debilitating viruses, so far, aren't locally...

Two Orange County candidates – facing off in a key state Senate race – pushed their platforms to win votes and encourage voter turnout in November during a forum Wednesday. County Supervisor Janet Nguyen, a Garden Grove Republican, and former state Assemblyman Jose Solorio, a Santa Ana Democrat, took part in a 34th Senate District candidate forum moderated by former television news anchor Ed Arnold at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach. A political who’s who from the county, cities and special-interest groups attended. The event was sponsored by the Orange County Public Affairs Association. Both candidates emphasized the importance...

Saucy young Beijing girls in low-cut tops and booty shorts walk their crabs down the street in Sanlitun, drawing many gawkers. We assume they didn't have time to walk their jumbo shrimp, or crayfish. Pedestrians snap pictures of the ladies and their curious "crabwalk".

I was watching a cooking show and the cast preparing a Engagement Feast for a Guy and this Smoking 1/2 Korean Girl. I have known quite a few Koreans but she looked like a semi-round rye, Viet Nam term. It kicked me back to late 1967, when driving through the front gate of Cu Chi base camp, I saw a hot smoking young lady sitting out side the gate, as opposed to squatting, waiting for someone. I had done a tour through the cat houses of Cu Chi so I knew she wasn't one of the local talent. I asked...

A new documentary, which airs tonight on PBS, explores the psychology behind yellow fever - the phenomenon that sees white men attracted to, and sometimes even obsessed with, Asian women. Filmed and directed by Debbie Lum, a fourth-generation Chinese-American from St Louis, Missouri, Seeking Asian Female looks to discover why many men see Asians as ideal wives, a concept that is 'very painful for the Asian-American community,' Ms Lum told ABC News.

Here is a dumb thing you should never do: watch the 007 caper “You Only Live Twice” with your feminist American girlfriend — a woman of color to boot. In a series renowned for its sexism, the Japan entry takes the biscuit. My date night was first upset as Bond is massaged in a bathhouse by Aki, an improbably svelte and doe-eyed assistant, who whispers that she will enjoy very much “serving under” him. The feminist girlfriend, adorable if not exactly svelte, emits a derisive snort. “What is she — a slave?” When Bond and another “sexiful” nymph, the pearl...