Posted on 01/13/2015 10:54:36 AM PST by blam
Kevin Loria
January 13, 2015
Humanity is close to eradicating a human disease from the face of the earth for the second time in history. (The first eradicated human disease was smallpox, which last infected someone in 1977.)
That's pretty incredible but it's a project that has required close to three decades of work, and it isn't finished.
On Monday, former US President Jimmy Carter announced at the opening of "Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease," a new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, that there were just 126 cases of Guinea worm disease left in the world.
In 1986, when the Carter Center began leading the effort to eradicate Guinea worm, there were approximately 3.5 million cases in 20 countries, including India, Pakistan, and Yemen, with the rest in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Now, "we know everybody who has Guinea worm," Carter said at the exhibit opening. And healthcare workers have those 126 people carefully isolated, so they shouldn't be able to infect anyone else.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
For Carter to say this..well it’s like the pot calling the kettle..not-white
Small pox ix not eradicated. It lives in labs in the USA and Russia and probably a number of other countries. There is no guarantee that it will not be released either deliberately or accidentally.
I didn't know that Jimmy Carter wasn't expected to live much longer...
Species diversity is either important, or it’s not.
If it’s laudable to drive the guinea worm to extinction for the benefit of mankind, why then is it not ok to allow the delta smelt to “maybe” go extinct so that California farmers can grow more food for man’s benefit?
Sorry chief ... can’t come in today .... yeah ... Guinea worm ... guess I got it from Fred Monday .... I dunno ... a week, maybe ... yeah .... K .... bye.
I’ve got some bad news for Mr. Carter.
I just got back from an appointment with my doctor, and...
...you guessed it...
...it’s guinea worm, alright...
Guinea worm?
Well I’ll sleep a lot better tonight!
I think a bit of a stretch comparing Smallpox to this disease. Kinda like comparing ebola to canker sores.
Thoughtful post of the day.
/src on/I am starting a save the Guinea Worm campaign. What right do us humans have to cause this species to go extinct. It is not the worms fault to survive and reproduce it must burrow into humans. When it is ready to release eggs uses acid to punch a hold through the skin. The burning causes the host to go to water releasing the eggs. Where is PETA on this?/src off/
Wish we could say the same thing about Jimmy Carter.
what is the dealt it smelt it?
“Think of it, gentlemen. Hoof-and- mouth disease a thing of the past!”, Howard Johnson
Yeah there goes #642 of excuses to the boss. Damn!
If not for some medieval reprobate mulsim ‘leaders’, polio would have been on that list as well within the last couple of years.
"Never mind that s--t, here comes Mongo!"
Wish it were izlamb.
GMTA!
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