 |
| Blaise Campoare runs like a rat |
Blaise Campoare, the ousted neo-colonial former president of
Burkina Faso is on the run again.
Sources close to the Ivorian presidency say that Compaoré
who was a puppet of France has arrived in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.
He is expected to seek asylum there to cool off as his
country struggles through a painful transition from dictatorship to some form
of democratic rule.
The choice of Morroco
is significant to the extent that the renegade African Kingdom has excellent
relations with both France and La Cote d’Ivoire.
Campoare’s friends
say that the proximity of La Cote d’Ivoire to Burkina Faso presented problem
for both Campoare and his host, Allasane Quattara.
President Quattara of La Cote d’Ivoire is reported to be
concerned that the presence of Campoare could harm relations between his
country and Burkina Faso.
Campoare is also known
to have raised security problems associated with his stay in La Cote d’Ivoire.
It appears that Morocco may become the permanent address of
former President Campoare.
Editorial
Parliament
Parliament is not just a law making body. It is an
institution which is supposed to reflect the will and aspirations of the people
of Ghana.
It is for this reason, that those of us at the Insight and
we believe all Ghanaians expect some dignity in its work.
At the very least
those who are supposed to represent us ought to conduct themselves in a manner
which reflects our collective dignity.
It is indeed, unfortunate, that some parliamentarians have
reduced proceedings in the House to theatrical tomfoolery in which they seek
permission to act out teasers.
Running Parliament is
a very expensive enterprise for the people of Ghana and those who are the
beneficiaries of our sacrifice should learn to conduct themselves in a
dignified manner.
The unnecessary drama of blames, name calling and hysterical
accusations associated with the debate on the recent cocaine bust is to say the
least most unfortunate.
Let parliamentarians
know that the people they represent and watching and listening to them.
Teachers urges to use
vernacular to teach mathematics
Mr Miracule Gavor, the Executive Director of Vedic Math
Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has suggested the use of
vernacular in the teaching of mathematics at the basic level.
He said the use of vernacular in teaching the subject would
easily attract pupils to appreciate and develop a love for it.
“The use of vernacular invites the pupils to see mathematics
closer to them and thereby eliminate the fear for the subject,” he said.
Mr Gavor was speaking at the opening of a two-day capacity
building workshop for mathematics teachers in the Upper Manya Krobo District at
Asesewa.
The workshop was dubbed, “Mathematics Skills and Performance
Improvement (MSPI) training” and was organized by the NGO with funding from
PLAN Ghana.
In a speech read on her behalf, Mrs Esther Bossman-Ammah,
the District Education Director for Upper Manya Krobo asserted that, Ghana
needed to have a strong mathematics background.
She said there could never be any effective revolution of
science education in the country without a strong mathematics background.
Mrs Bossman-Ammah called for the introduction of mathematics
specialization in all colleges of education to build a strong foundation for
the subject at the early stages.
She expressed worry over the poor state of mathematics
teaching in the district and urged the participants to take advantage of the
workshop.
“We are still faced with teachers who do not have mastery
over the subject, those who avoid certain perceived difficult topics; inability
to carry pupils along the instructional period and pupils who are ill prepared
and lacked the motivation to study the subject”, she said.
GNA
PRIVATE DEVELOPER INVADE
ACHIMOTA FOREST
By Florence A. Anim
In 1939, the Achimota forest was Gazetted as a forest reserve with the objectives of serving as a field laboratory research for schools in Accra and conserving biological diversity. Today, the 495 hectares Achimota Forest Reserve is continuously been depleted by private estate developers.
Achimota forest, the only green belt in Accra housing the Accra Zoo and which has been earmarked for an Eco park has already lost 140 hectares to urban encroachment.
To halt this, the Forestry Commission (FC) had begun the construction of a fence to prevent further encroachment on the reserve by estate developers.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Mr Samuel Afari Dartey, at a media briefing on recent happenings at the forest stated that, a private estate developer, Platinum Properties, which was acting on behalf of Nii Ako Korea, the Mankralo of Osu, had obtained judgement against the Lands Commission in respect of about 172 acres of certain portions of Achimota School land.
He said in pursuance of the execution of the judgement, the private developer had, in July this year, encroached on parts of the Achimota Forest Reserve opposite the offices of the commission near GIMPA and destroyed a portion of the forest by the Achimota-Legon road.
According to him, the developer was confronted and told that that portion was part of the Achimota Forest Reserve and did not constitute part of Achimota School land, for which it had the judgement.
He therefore, left that portion, went ahead and cleared more land belonging to the Achimota School to make up for the loss. So, in effect, it has secured the 172 acres it has wrest out of Achimota School land,” Mr Dartey said.
He said in exercising its mandate to protect the forest, the Commission has instituted action in court to stop the destruction of the portion of the forest by the private developer.
The press briefing was followed with a visit by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Forestry on last Tuesday to acquaint themselves with the happenings in the forest.
Unfortunately, heated exchanges ensued between the parliamentarians and police with the former prevented by officers of the Special Weapon and Tactical (SWAT) Unit of the Ghana Police Service from entering the enclosed area.
The police had mounted surveillance in the Forest since Monday after a near confrontation between some officers and guards of the Forestry Commission.
The Commission is accusing the Greater Accra Regional Command of aiding a private developer unduly to encroach its lands against the laws in the country whilst the police officers in return challenged the MPs for visiting the encroached area without prior permission.
In 1939, the Achimota forest was Gazetted as a forest reserve with the objectives of serving as a field laboratory research for schools in Accra and conserving biological diversity. Today, the 495 hectares Achimota Forest Reserve is continuously been depleted by private estate developers.
Achimota forest, the only green belt in Accra housing the Accra Zoo and which has been earmarked for an Eco park has already lost 140 hectares to urban encroachment.
To halt this, the Forestry Commission (FC) had begun the construction of a fence to prevent further encroachment on the reserve by estate developers.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Mr Samuel Afari Dartey, at a media briefing on recent happenings at the forest stated that, a private estate developer, Platinum Properties, which was acting on behalf of Nii Ako Korea, the Mankralo of Osu, had obtained judgement against the Lands Commission in respect of about 172 acres of certain portions of Achimota School land.
He said in pursuance of the execution of the judgement, the private developer had, in July this year, encroached on parts of the Achimota Forest Reserve opposite the offices of the commission near GIMPA and destroyed a portion of the forest by the Achimota-Legon road.
According to him, the developer was confronted and told that that portion was part of the Achimota Forest Reserve and did not constitute part of Achimota School land, for which it had the judgement.
He therefore, left that portion, went ahead and cleared more land belonging to the Achimota School to make up for the loss. So, in effect, it has secured the 172 acres it has wrest out of Achimota School land,” Mr Dartey said.
He said in exercising its mandate to protect the forest, the Commission has instituted action in court to stop the destruction of the portion of the forest by the private developer.
The press briefing was followed with a visit by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Forestry on last Tuesday to acquaint themselves with the happenings in the forest.
Unfortunately, heated exchanges ensued between the parliamentarians and police with the former prevented by officers of the Special Weapon and Tactical (SWAT) Unit of the Ghana Police Service from entering the enclosed area.
The police had mounted surveillance in the Forest since Monday after a near confrontation between some officers and guards of the Forestry Commission.
The Commission is accusing the Greater Accra Regional Command of aiding a private developer unduly to encroach its lands against the laws in the country whilst the police officers in return challenged the MPs for visiting the encroached area without prior permission.
Gnassingbe
 |
| Faure Gnassingbe |
President Faure Gnassingbe, Togolese President has called
for collaboration among West African countries, to eliminate the proliferation
of fake drugs across the sub-region.
This, he said, could be positively done through providing
adequate support to the local Pharmaceutical Companies, to produce quality
drugs to avoid the perennial importation of drugs.
President Gnassingbe made the call when he visited the
Danadams Pharmaceutical Company, as part of his three-day state visit to Ghana.
Prior to that, President Gnassingbe and host, President John
Dramani Mahama, had held a joint press conference, jointly inaugurated the West
Hills Mall, and held closed-door meetings.
He would be attending the second annual Professor John Evans
Atta Mills Lectures at GIMPA, and also jointly inaugurate a railway project at
Aflao in the Volta Region.
President Gnassingbe commended Danadams Pharmaceutical
Company for taking up the task of producing malaria and HIV/AIDs
anti-Retroviral drugs that were exported to neighbouring countries.
He appealed to Management of the company to consider
establishing a subsidiary company in Lome, Togo to make their drugs accessible
to the people there and beyond.
President Gnassingbe said there was the need for both Ghana
and Togo to fight against the sale of drugs in open market, as the practice was
inimical to the health of the people.
The Togolese President said his country would collaborate
with Ghana to fight against maritime crime and piracy along their territorial
waters in the coming years.
Dr Yaw Adu-Gyamfi, Chief Executive Officer of Danadams,
called on governments in the West African sub-region, to support pharmaceutical
companies to reduce the importation of such drugs.
He appealed to government to support them to also acquire
World Health Organization licenses to be able to produce and export to other
continents to boost their expertise.
GNA
ECG workers call for
re-instatement of Hutton-Mensah
 |
| Willian Hutton Mensah |
The Union said government had failed to assign any reasons
for the termination of the appointment of the former ECG Chief Executive Officer,
pointing out that Mr Hutton-Mensah was treated with disdain and without
respect.
Mr Bondzi Quaye, General Secretary of Public Utility Workers
Union, at a press conference in Accra, said under the stewardship of Mr
Hutton-Mensah, ECG has witnessed enormous and verifiable achievements in the
company’s recent history.
He said the company is implementing direct services
connection for customers within 24 hours, and collecting an average of 98 per
cent of sales during the tenure of the former ECG boss.
Mr Quaye said during the tenure of Mr Hutton-Mensah,
distribution losses had been reduced to about 22.8 per cent from 27.2 per cent
in 2011, adding that the PURC benchmark for distribution losses is 21 per cent,
while the international benchmark is 15 per cent.
Ghana’s disabled fund
managers violate guidelines
Madam Adwoa Esther, a mother of seven and widow gave birth
to 25-year- old James Mobey, who showed no sign of disability.
However the good expectation of a mother turned sour when
James became physically disabled when he was three-years old in a bizarre
circumstance.
Her son woke up one night to urinate and became paralysed
ever since.
Madam Adwoa Esther singled-handedly enrolled James to
Amaniampong Senior High School in Asante Mampong but could not afford to pay
his school fees of GH₵120.00 and so he was withdrawn.
Adwoa told Ghana News Agency (GNA) that she went to Asante
Mampong Municipal Assembly for GH₵150.00 of the Disability Common Fund (DCF) of
the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to pay the school fees of his son,
but was denied the fund because of the official reason that the beneficiaries
on the list are many.
“My son took to drinking hard liquor and used other
substances after he was out of school,” she said.
Hannah Owusu Dwomoh a physically challenged mother with a
child said she had to borrow GH₵800.00 from a relative to pay for a national
basketball trip to Nigeria in February this year.
She manages a provision stall and needed GH₵400.00 to
expand her business and to pay her seven- year old boy’s school fees. The boy has been driven out of school a
number of times for non-payment of school fees.
People like Adwoa and Hannah are denied of the two per cent
DCF they are entitled to because persons and committees seeing to the
management and disbursement of the money spend it without recourse to the
guidelines governing it.
The problem is also compounded because there are no
sanctions against offenders, leaving beneficiaries wallowing in abject poverty
and misery.
The Social Welfare Officer in Mampong in the
Ejura/Sekyeredumase Municipal Assembly raised a memo and withdrew GH₵1,900.00 from
the Persons with Disability (PWDs) account in Kwamang Rural Bank with cheque
number: 1121320001082191 on November 14,
2013 without the knowledge of the Disability Fund Management Committee (DFMC)
members.
The money was said to have been used to pay school fees of
children with disabilities but the list was never made available to the
committee members.
Beneficiaries mostly used the amount for travelling and
attending conferences but none of the two municipalities have ever applied the
money for skills development activity or promotion of PWDs’ rights as mandated
in the guidelines.
The disability fund management committee is mandated to vet
and approve all applications submitted by persons with disabilities but this
component of the guidelines is violated with impunity.
Quarterly reports on the use of the fund are not known to
the DFMC committee members.
The national council on persons with disability guidelines
for the disbursement and management of the district assembly common fund for
PWDs have sanctions for assembly officials who flout the guidelines but the
violation and misapplication continues.
District assembly officials hold the money in secrecy;
actual amounts transferred from the common fund administrator, bank accounts
and statements are not known to beneficiaries or officers of the Social Welfare
Department (desk officers for the fund) or the fund management committee
members.
“When the money come they [assembly officials] tell us by
word of mouth or write on a small paper, I have never seen any documents and I
don’t even know the instalments that come. Sometimes we are told the sum that
come is in bulk,” Ejura/Sekyeredumase Disability Fund Management Committee
(DFMC) Chairman, Emmanuel Kofi Antwi said.
“I was told the last disbursement was in August 27, 2013, I
made follow up to the accounts, we don’t have control over the money,
applications are not passed through the social welfare,” Ejura/Sekyeredumase
Social Welfare Officer,” Justina Moo told the GNA.
Ghana Federation of the Disabled President, Yaw Ofori-Debrah
said when the guidelines for management and disbursement of the DCF were
disbursed, there were no sanctions attached and so the district assemblies
misappropriate the fund with impunity.
There are no proper records on the disbursement of the fund;
list of beneficiaries, bank statements and accounts as well as transfer payment
documents are not made known to the DFMC, Social Welfare Officers and the
disabled persons.
Some PWDs have never benefited from the fund as sharing of
the money is fraught with discrimination – albinos and mentally ill persons are
conspicuously out of beneficiaries.
The blind, the deaf and the physically challenged are the
only known beneficiaries.
Ghana Society of Mental Health Executive Director, Humphrey
Koffie told the GNA that the destitute and mentally ill persons are being
excluded from government social intervention programmes like Livelihood
Empowerment Programme and the DACF for PWDs.
He described the situation as discriminatory and an affront
to the fundamental human rights of mentally ill persons.
Out of more than 900 applications in Asante Mampong only 18
PWDs benefited from the fourth quarter of 2013 of GH₵ 7,736.90,
equivalent to the monthly salary of a minister of state or Member of
Parliament.
The minimum given to beneficiaries was GH₵150.00 while
the maximum is GH₵400.00,
knocking nearly 900 PWDs out.
In Ejura/Sekyeredumase Municipality 62 received about GH₵300.00 each
as at August 29, 2013 and the DFMC members could not tell, which quarter or
quarters were disbursed.
Government’s delay in release of the DACF further compounds
the mismanagement of the fund, said Ofori-Debrah.
No quarter of the 2014 district assembly’s common fund has
been released and the delay or transfer of the money is encouraging
misapplication, misappropriation or mismanagement.
Alhaji Hafiz Adam, Ejura/Sekyeredumase Municipal
Coordinating Director said there is a data base for 270 PWDs indicating their
ages, sex, location and type of disabilities, but in Mampong there is no such
document or information or list of PWDs.
A GNA feature by Laary Dasmani
Are All Psychiatric
Drugs Too Unsafe to Take?
Psychiatric drugs are more dangerous than you have ever
imagined. If you haven’t been prescribed one yet, you are among the lucky few.
If you or a loved one are taking psychiatric drugs, there is hope; but you need
to understand the dangers and how to minimize the risk.
The following overview focuses on longer-term psychiatric
drug hazards, although most of them can begin to develop within weeks. They are
scientifically documented in my recent book Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal and my medical text Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, Second Edition.
Newer or atypical antipsychotic drugs:
Risperdal, Invega, Zyprexa, Abilify, Geodon, Seroquel, Latuda, Fanapt and
Saphris
Antipsychotic drugs, including both older and newer ones,
cause shrinkage (atrophy) of the brain in many human brain scan studies and in
animal autopsy studies. The newer atypicals especially cause a well-documented
metabolic syndrome including elevated blood sugar, diabetes, increased
cholesterol, obesity and hypertension. They also produce dangerous cardiac
arrhythmias and unexplained sudden death, and they significantly reduce
longevity. In addition, they cause all the problems of the older drugs, such as Thorazine
and Haldol, including tardive dyskinesia, a largely permanent and sometimes
disabling and painful movement disorder caused by brain damage and biochemical
disruptions.
Risperdal in particular but others as well cause potentially
permanent breast enlargement in young boys and girls. The overall risk of
harmful long-term effects from antipsychotic drugs exceeds the capacity of this
review. Withdrawal from antipsychotic drugs can cause overwhelming emotional
and neurological suffering, as well as psychosis in both children and adults,
making complete cessation at times very difficult or impossible.
Despite their enormous risks, the newer antipsychotic drugs
are now frequently used off-label to treat anything from anxiety and depression
to insomnia and behavior problems in children. Two older antipsychotic drugs,
Reglan and Compazine, are used for gastrointestinal problems, and despite small
or short-term dosing, they too can cause problems, including tardive
dyskinesia.
Antipsychotic drugs masquerading as sleep aids:
Seroquel, Abilify, Zyprexa and others
Nowadays, many patients are given medications for insomnia
without being told that they are in fact receiving very dangerous antipsychotic
drugs. This can happen with any antipsychotic but most frequently occurs with
Seroquel, Abilify and Zyprexa. The patient is unwittingly exposed to all the
hazards of antipsychotic drugs.
Antipsychotic drugs masquerading as
antidepressant and bipolar drugs: Seroquel, Abilify, Zyprexa and others
The FDA has approved some antipsychotic drugs as
augmentation for treating depression along with antidepressants. As a result,
patients are often misinformed that they are getting an “antidepressant” when
they are in fact getting one of the newer antipsychotic drugs, with all of
their potentially disastrous adverse effects. Patients are similarly misled by
being told that they are getting a “bipolar” drug when it is an
antipsychotic drug.
Antidepressants: SSRIs such as Prozac, Paxil,
Zoloft, Celexa, Lexapro and Viibyrd, as well as Effexor, Pristiq, Wellbutrin,
Cymbalta and Vivalan
The SSRIs are probably the most fully studied
antidepressants, but the following observations apply to most or all
antidepressants. These drugs produce long-term apathy and loss of quality of
life. Many studies of SSRIs show severe brain abnormalities, such as shrinkage
(atrophy) with brain cell death in humans and the growth of new abnormal brain
cells in animal and laboratory studies. They frequently produce an apathy
syndrome — a generalized loss of motivation or interest in many or all aspects
of life. The SSRIs frequently cause irreversible dysfunction and loss of
interest in sexuality, relationship and love. Withdrawal from all
antidepressants can cause a wide variety of distressing and dangerous emotional
reactions from depression to mania and from suicide to violence. After
withdrawal from antidepressants, individuals often experience persistent and
distressing mental and neurological impairments. Some people find
antidepressant withdrawal to be so distressing that they cannot fully stop
taking the drugs.
Benzodiazepine (benzos) anti-anxiety drugs and
sleep aids: Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, Valium, Librium, Tranxene and Serax;
Dalmane, Doral, Halcion, ProSom and Restoril used as sleep aids
Benzos deteriorate memory and other mental capacities. Human
studies demonstrate that they frequently lead to atrophy and dementia after
longer-term exposure. After withdrawal, individuals exposed to these drugs also
experience multiple persisting problems including memory and cognitive
dysfunction, emotional instability, anxiety, insomnia, and muscular and
neurological discomforts. Mostly because of severely worsened anxiety and
insomnia, many cannot stop taking them and become permanently dependent. This
frequently happens after only six weeks of exposure. Any benzo can be
prescribed as a sleep aid, but Dalmane, Doral, Halcion, ProSom and Restoril are
marketed for that purpose.
Non-benzo sleep aids: Ambien, Intermezzo,
Lunesta and Sonata
These drugs pose similar problems to the benzos, including
memory and other mental problems, dependence and painful withdrawal. They can
cause many abnormal mental states and behaviors, including dangerous
sleepwalking. Insufficient data is available concerning brain shrinkage and
dementia, but these are likely outcomes considering their similarity to benzos.
Recent studies show that these drugs increase death rate, taking away years of
life, even when used intermittently for sleep.
Stimulants for ADHD: Adderall, Dexedrine and
Vyvanse are amphetamines, and Ritalin, Focalin, and Concerta are
methylphenidate
All of these drugs pose similar if not identical long-term
dangers to children and adults. In humans, many brain scan studies show that
they cause brain tissue shrinkage (atrophy). Animal studies show persisting
biochemical changes in the brain. These drugs can lead directly to addiction or
increase the risk of abusing cocaine and other stimulants later on in
adulthood. They disrupt growth hormone cycles and can cause permanent loss of
height in children. Recent studies confirm that children who take these drugs
often become lifelong users of multiple psychiatric
drugs, resulting in shortened lifespan, increased psychiatric
hospitalization and criminal incarceration, increased drug addiction, increased
suicide and a general decline in quality of life. Withdrawal from stimulants
can cause “crashing” with worsened behavior, depression and suicide. Strattera
is a newer drug used to treat ADHD. Unlike the other stimulants, it is not an
addictive amphetamine, but it too can be dangerously overstimulating. Strattera
is more similar to antidepressants in its longer-term risks.
Mood stabilizers: Lithium, Lamictal, Equetro and
Depakote
Lithium is the oldest and hence most thoroughly studied. It
causes permanent memory and mental dysfunction, including depression, and an
overall decline in neurological function and quality of life. It can result in
severe neurological dilapidation with dementia, a disastrous adverse drug
effect called “syndrome of irreversible lithium-effectuated neurotoxicity” or
SILENT. Long-term lithium exposure also causes severe skin disorders, kidney
failure and hypothyroidism. Withdrawal from lithium can cause manic-like
episodes and psychosis. There is evidence that Depakote can cause abnormal cell
growth in the brain. Lamictal has many hazards including life-threatening
diseases involving the skin and other organs. Equetro cases life-threatening
skin disorders and suppresses white cell production with the risk of death from
infections. Withdrawal from Depakote, Lamictal and Equetro can cause seizures
and emotional distress.
Summarizing the tragic truth
It is time to face the enormous tragedy of exposing children
and adults to any psychiatric drug for
months and years. My new video introduces and highlights these risks and my
book Psychiatric Drug
Withdrawal describes them in detail and documents them with
scientific research.
All classes of psychiatric drugs can cause brain damage and
lasting mental dysfunction when used for months or years. Although research
data is lacking for a few individual drugs in each class, until proven
otherwise it is prudent and safest to assume that the risks of brain damage and
permanent mental dysfunction apply to every single psychiatric drug.
Furthermore, all classes of psychiatric drugs cause serious and dangerous
withdrawal reactions, and again it is prudent and safest to assume that any
psychiatric drug can cause withdrawal problems.
Widespread misinformation
Difficulty in stopping psychiatric drugs can lead
misinformed or unscrupulous health professionals to tell patients that they
need to take their drugs for the rest of their lives when they really need to
taper and withdraw from them in a careful manner. As described in Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal,
tapering outside of a hospital often requires psychological and social help,
including therapy and emotional support and monitoring by friends or family.
Meanwhile, there is no substantial or convincing evidence
that any psychiatric drug is useful longer-term. Psychiatric drug treatment for
months or years lacks scientific basis. Therefore, the risk-benefit ratio is
enormously lopsided toward the risk.
Science-based conclusions
Whenever possible, psychiatric drugs should be tapered and
withdrawn either as an inpatient or as an outpatient with careful clinical
supervision and a support network as described in Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal.
Keep in mind that it is not only dangerous to take psychiatric drugs — it can
be dangerous to withdraw from them. The safest solution is to avoid starting
psychiatric drugs! It is time for a return to psychological, social and
educational approaches to emotional suffering and impairment.
Psychiatrist Peter R. Breggin‘s scientific
and educational work has provided the foundation for modern criticism of
psychiatric drugs and electroconvulsive therapy. He leads the way in promoting
more caring, empathic and effective therapies. His newest book is Guilt, Shame and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative Emotions. His website is Breggin.com.
Peter R. Breggin, MD is a psychiatrist in private practice
in Ithaca, New York. Dr. Breggin criticizes contemporary psychiatric reliance
on diagnoses and drugs, and promotes empathic therapeutic relationships. He has
been called “the Conscience of Psychiatry.” See his website at www.Breggin.com
Bird Flu: How much of a threat?
When the health authorities say there is no threat at all to
humans because the H5N8 strain only affects birds, then say there is a minimal
threat, then others say that it is unlikely to spread among humans, but could
and then others, that it is quite possible that there will be human cases, it
is time to take notice.
Remember the A H1N1 outbreak in 2009, called Swine Flu
originally? The new variant of the same strain that killed between 50 and 100
million people (Spanish Flu) in 1918 was allowed to run riot, spread across the
world, while no travel restrictions were imposed, nobody was quarantined and
the World Health Organization stood back and informed us of the different
phases the virus was going through until it reached a global pandemic stage.
And then the Pharma giant Roche stepped in and sold enormous quantities of
Tamiflu (Oseltamivir).
While it is unlikely that the new Influenza A H5N8 will
cause any problems to humans if it remains as it is, the point that it could
very well mutate and create a significant health problem is being missed by the
health authorities, limited as they are to acting as voyeurs and actively or
passively (who knows?) acting as incubators for the Pharma lobby.
Influenza A H5N8 is one of the family of Orthomyxoviruses,
which causes respiratory infection in the host. The characteristics of the H
glycoprotein (Hemagglutinin, which is spike-shaped, poking out from the surface
of the virus) and the N enzyme (Neuraminidase, allowing the glycoproteins to
exit the host cell and spread) in the H5 subtype makes this type of virus more
prone to attaching and interacting with Avian cells, as there are no swine or
human components to this genome. This is why the scientific community brushes
it off as a strain of bird flu which will not attack humans or make the genetic
jump to swine/humans or swine and later, humans.
However, things are not exactly as simple as this. This type
of virus undergoes constant changes, mutations, as the virus tries to vary its
form and way of interacting to become more effective, infecting as many hosts
as possible and propagating itself as much as it can. This particular strain of
A H5N8 is currently undergoing such a process and the scientific community
agrees it is becoming more and more pathogenic (dangerous).
And while we are speaking of A H glycoprotein viruses, let
us not forget the A H5N1 which infected over 600 humans from 2003 to 2013 and
had a mortality rate of over 60 per cent. Just in 2013, 20 people were
infected, over half of these in Cambodia, and 15 died. Let us also not forget
the A H1N1 strain which appeared twice, the first time in 1918 in which it
claimed the lives of more victims than were caused by the First World War
(between 50 and 100 million) and then again in 2009, a new variant containing a
triple re-assortment of bird, swine and human flu viruses combined with the
Eurasian Pig flu virus.
And here is the rub. Non-contagious subtypes usually remain
ineffective in species outside the usual host (because they would have to adapt
their structure to enter human cells); however, they can become contagious if
they mutate, changing their genome structure allowing them to enter the host
cell of another species, and this is particularly easy if a host is infected
with two viruses at the same time: a "normal" human flu virus or
swine flu virus which has made the species jump, and an avian flu virus such as
A H5N8. In this case, it is easier for the H5N8 to "learn" from its
"colleagues".
Let us also not forget that the H5 family does have the
capacity for human-to-human transmission chains because it has happened.
The current virus appeared in the PR China, Japan and
Republic of Korea earlier in 2014 and millions of birds were destroyed. It now
appears to have been carried to Europe by migrating wild birds, appearing in
Mecklenberg, Western Pomerania, Germany on November 6 on a turkey fattening
farm (1.880 birds died), then on November 16 in the Netherlands, on a chicken
farm in Hekendorp (1,000 layer and breeding hens died and some 149.000 were
destroyed) and this week, in Nafferton, East Yorkshire, Northern England on a
duck breeding farm. 338 ducks died and 6.000 were culled. It affects mainly
chickens, ducks, geese, swans and turkeys.
The measures taken for now are to destroy all the birds on
farms as soon as the strain has been confirmed and to halt trade in poultry and
eggs, establishing a ten-kilometer protection zone around the focus of
infection, while monitoring the temperature of humans who have had direct
contact with the birds.
While the WHO has stated that this virus is "unlikely
to spread among humans", the WHO expert from the Global Influenza Program
Elizabeth Mumford stated in Geneva yesterday at a Press Conference that
"if it is circulating widely, there is no reason why we shouldn't see
human cases".
That, coupled with what I have outlined above, is my case
for concern, especially because the A H5N8 can indeed serve as an incubator for
H1N1, which it highly pathogenic.
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey*
Credit: Pravda.Ru
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