San Antonio resident is reporting to US media, he contracted Chik-v in Jamaica

This is just the kind of news that highlights the failure of the Minister of Health and the Government of Jamaica.

SAN ANTONIO – Retired U.S. Army Sgt. Donnovan Jackson spent eight years instructing soldiers in health matters all over the world, but his personal trip to Jamaica a month ago gave him a personal lesson in infectious viruses when he contracted chikungunya from an infected mosquito.

“I was being eaten alive,” said Jackson, who has a Ph.D. in public health. “Mosquitoes were everywhere and I didn’t take the time to spray down.”

http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksat/news/2014/09/30/cibolo-man-contracts-chikungunya-virus.html

USA CDC in Atlanta announces its first case of the deadly ebola on USA Mainland

The Center for Disease Control in the USA with a population of over 254 million, earlier this afternoon made it public, that they have had their first case of the deadly ebola virus in that country.

The patient was said to have left Liberia on Sept 19, 2014 with no symptoms of the deadly virus. He arrived on the USA mainland on Sept, 20, 2014 showing no signs of the deadly virus. A few days later the man sought treatment and was later quarantined as it was now suspected that he had in fact contracted the deadly virus. Today it was confirmed that the man has in fact  afflicted with the deadly disease.

Here in Jamaica , a email has been circulating (rumours maybe) of a medical practitioner who may  contracted the diseases and the MOH is hiding the information. The ministry has already denied that this the case, but given the MOH screw-up with the Chik-v , they have not been found to be credible and so now, no one is believing anything that comes out of the mouth of the minister of the ministry.

The USA is concerned about the welfare of its population and chooses to provide full disclosure, while in Jamaica, we have a tendency to “hide” information because we do not believe our people are smart enough to understand what is being said and we need to ensure we keep them in the dark to “protect” them.

Scores of CHEC workers turn up and Andrews Memorial with Chik-v like sympthoms

Andrews Memorial Hospital was abuzz with activities today as scores of CHEC workers turned up at the health facility with very obvious rashes and other chik-v type symptoms.

What was very obvious at the institution however , was the medical staff all wearing masks as they moved to deal with the many patients they had to deal with, which has lead to further speculation that their is in fact an airborne virus going around, which mimics the chik-v symptoms.

I am no medical expert, but if there is something other than chik-v that is causing isues out there, then the public needs to be aware, so they can adequately protect themslves from this one also.

This concern was further strengthen by the fact that Dr Garth Rattray who happens to be a medical doctor was struck down with chik-v like symptoms, but tested negative for the virus.

This is no time to hide information from people , it is best to be open and speak the truth so we can safeguard ourselves and our families.

.

Two suspected cases of Chikv related deaths so far

Last week we received reports of a six form student of Camperdon, who fell in is bathroom, hit is head and died. It was further learnt that the student had been home trying to recover from a suspected bout of chik-v. The youngster had become so week as a result of the virus that he was unable to stand and balance properly, when ended up costing him is life.

Today we received report of a 7 yr old younger from Papine, who displayed Chik-v like symptoms beginning on Sunday and died when he was taken to the University of the West Indies Hospital earlier.

This afternoon I was made aware of another in 8 miles Bull Bay, where an elderly lady, who passed away a few days ago having come down with Chik-v like symptoms.

With the rising number of cases of death related to Chik-v, the approach must be different if we are to prevent this virus taken a strangle hold on the country.

The Government approach to this virus has to be blamed for the rapid spread of the sickness and they must now stop the nonsense and address this issue as a matter or urgency.

Jamaica Prime Minister is missing in action once again

We have a national health crises on our hand.

The productive sector is being hard hit, education is being hard hit and so is the health sector,  our Prime Minster chooses to remian silent once again, when she should be speaking.

Madame Prime Minister, this is your stage, you are the person in charge and once again you have failed the people by sending out the others to take the blows and deflect attention from your failings as a leader.

I just cannot wait until 2016 to dump incomptenece where it belongs , in the garbage.

Ops, what that would not help as the NSWMA is not collecting garbage these days !

The country is in the worst state I have seen it in the last 35 years, thanks to the PNP .

Leptospirosis will be next unless government get it’s act together, NOW !

Jamaica is on the brink on another public health crises, which is likely to be more deadly the the present Chikv outbreak unless something is done urgenlly by the PNP government to protect and safe guard the health of the Jamaica people.

NSWMA today has stated that Jamaica can continue to experience the over bearing stench of rotting garbage as the agency needs over $3B to support its garbage collection operations and these funds are not forthcoming from the government of the day.

Is this administartion really willing to sacrifice the lives of Jamaicans, especially the poor to keep passing IMF test, or will they begin to do what is required and was elected to do, to protect the interest of the people of this country.

With the NSWMA being unable to collect garbage, the rodent population in Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine has exploded, with rodents as big as cats being observed especially in Kingston. I happened to be at one of Kingston best known hotels and was shocked to see at least two huge rats running  around the place, which left me very concerned as to what could be coming next.

Rats are know to carry the dangerous disease called leptospirosis, which can kill and has unless this garbage collection problem is urgently addressed we face the danger of having to deal with this new threat to public health.

It would appear as if the government of the day have no regard for the people of this country and have lost focus on why they were elected in the first, having now focused soley at passing IMF test at the expense of the people.

Jamaicans today stand the risk of being further exposed and with the public health system being starved of resources by the government, our lives are being being risked in the name of passing IMF test.

It will be interesting to see how Jamaicans handles this latest clear and present danger posed by rodents due to the garbage collection problems . I suspect the people will wait until those around them start dropping like flies before demanding that government does what it was elected to do and what our taxes are supposed to deliver to us.

We should not let what happened to us with the Government dithering on the Chik-v situation and DEMAND  the Portia Simpson Miller led administration takes immediate steps to prevent a full blown leptospirosis outbreak in the country.

Experimental Chikungunya Vaccine Shows Promise

An experimental vaccine to protect people from the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus has shown promise in its first human trial.

“This vaccine was safe and well-tolerated, and we believe that this vaccine makes a type of antibody that is effective against chikungunya,” said trial leader Dr. Julie Ledgerwood, chief of the clinical trials program at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/experimental-chikungunya-vaccine-shows-promise/

Are our MP’s working on the behalf of the people or the party ?

Members of Parliament on paper are said to be the peoples representative in the house of parliament, but are they really working on the behalf of the people or the party.

I cannot recall in recent memory any parliamentarian  who has been willing to challenge the party’s position especially when that position runs counter to the collective will of the people. I have been asked however, what is the will of the people, do they know what they really want, have they laid down   Key Performance Indicators for their elected representative , which must be met  between yr 1 and yr 5, in order to determine if they are fit to continue in that position.

If the MP’s are our representative and are working on our behalf, can someone explain, why the situation is as bad at it is at the national and local level, or is it that the people are comfortable with the level of representation that they are receiving.

What I see is a bunch of people who is willing to follow the party line to the end, regardless of the effect of the actions that are being undertaken by the political party is likely to have on their constituents.

I am always amused at the lengths that people will go to ensure their non-performing MP gets elected year after year and the terrible living conditions most of these people have to contend with from one generation to the next.

It must therefore be that the MP’s are in fact working on the behalf of the people and the conditions they have to live with are the conditions they want to live and are comfortable in their space.

There is therefore no need to risk being thrown from the party if the people are happy with the level on representation that is being provided by these MP’s.

I guess this explains why Jamaica is in the position is in today ” Jamaica, no problem mon”.

Our abilities to reason, can help in our decision making process

Here area few questions designed to test our reasoning abilities.

Lets see how many of these you can get right and no asking others for the answers, cheating is NOT allowed 🙂

A is B’s sister. C is B’s mother. D is C’s father. E is D’s mother. Then, how is A related to D?

(a) Grandmother (b) Grandfather (c) Daughter (d) Grand daughter

A) Grandfather	B) Grandmother
C) Daughter	D) Granddaughter

In a certain code language,

(A) ‘pit na som’ means ‘bring me water’

(B) ‘na jo tod’ means ‘water is life’

(C) ‘tub od pit’ means ‘give me toy’

(D) ‘jo lin kot’ means ‘life and death’

Which of the following represents ‘is’ in that language ?

A) jo	B) na
C) tod	D) lin

How many pairs of letters in the word ‘CHAIRS’ have as many letters between them in the word as in the alphabet?

A) 2	B) 3
C) 1	D) 4

In a row of boys, If A who is 10th from the left and B who is 9th from the right interchange their positions, A becomes 15th from the left. How many boys are there in the row ?

A) 23	B) 31
C) 27	D) 28

Find out the wrong term in the series 2, 5, 10, 50, 500, 5000

A) 5000	B) 500
C) 10	D) 50

Can you answer the above questions within 10 minutes ie 2 minutes per question.

Please post your answers in your responses below and the time taken to answer all the questions.

Remember no cheating allowed and that goes for labourites also  🙂

PS. I doubt anyone will attempt to answer the questions for fear of not being seen as smart.

Is there something else out there that is not Chik-V ?

Dr Garth Rattery writing in the Gleaner today reported that he had all the symptoms of Chik-v but his test and that of a relative with similar symptoms both returned negative results, leading him to question if their is something else out there.

People have indicated, they have no record of being bitten by mosquitos but have experienced the Chik-v symptoms, which is further heightening concerns that the virus (which ever it is) is being spread by means other than the mosquito.

So the question is, are we seeing something other that Chik-v, given that we have statements from a credible medical doctors who had all the symptoms but tested negative for Chik-v.

This question needs to be answered.

Is the epidemiology Department of the University of the West Indies Mona, looking into these cases to  try and make a determination of what is really taking place here.

What if we do in fact have something other than Chik-v that is now being spread NOT by mosquitos. If there is in fact something else, then all this cleaning, fogging etc, will do nothing to slow down the spread of this “other thing” resulting in significant cost in the future months.

Finally, what are the long term effects of Chik-v and whatever else is out there ?

Is there a new strain of the influenza out there ?