Ebola hemorrhagic fever (Ebola virus disease) facts

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a disease caused by four different strains of Ebola virus; these viruses infect humans and nonhuman primates.

It is also referred to as Ebola virus disease.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever has a short history since it was discovered in 1976. There have been a few outbreaks, including the current (April 2014) "unprecedented epidemic" in Africa.

Ebola viruses are mainly found in primates in Africa and possibly the Philippines; there are only occasional outbreaks of infection in humans.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever occurs mainly in Africa in the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Sudan, Ivory Coast, and Uganda, but it may occur in other African countries.

Ebola virus can be spread by direct contact with blood and secretions, by contact with blood and secretions that remain on clothing, and by needles and/or syringes used to treat Ebola-infected patients.

Risk factors for Ebola hemorrhagic fever are travel to areas with endemic Ebola hemorrhagic fever and/or any close association with an infected person.

Symptoms of Ebola hemorrhagic fever include an incubation period of two to 21 days, starting with abrupt fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, sore throat, and weakness; progression of symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, hiccups, and rash with more devastating symptoms of internal and external bleeding in many patients.

Early clinical diagnosis is difficult as the symptoms are nonspecific; however, if the patient is suspected to have Ebola, the patient needs to be isolated and local and state health departments need to be immediately contacted.

Definitive diagnostic tests for Ebola hemorrhagic fever are ELISA and/or PCR tests; viral cultivation and biopsy samples may also be used.

There is no standard treatment for Ebola hemorrhagic fever; only supportive therapy is available.
There are many complications from Ebola hemorrhagic fever; the prognosis for patients ranges from fair to poor since many patients died from the disease (death rate equals about 25%-100%).

Prevention of Ebola hemorrhagic fever is difficult; early testing and isolation of the patient, plus barrier protection for caregivers (mask, gown, goggles, and gloves), is very important to prevent others from getting infected.

Researchers are trying to understand the Ebola virus and pinpoint its ecological reservoirs to better understand how outbreaks occur. Researchers are actively trying to establish an effective vaccine against Ebola viruses by using several experimental methods, but there is no vaccine available currently.

Prof Dora Akunyili begins treatment in India

Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog: Prof Dora Akunyili begins treatment in India: Ailing ex-minister of Information and former NAFDAC boss, Prof Dora Akunyili who reportedly left for India on Sunday May 11th after h...

Lactose intolerant? Not all dairy is off limits

Myth: If you’re lactose intolerant, dairy is a no-no.

Truth: Chances are, you can tolerate some milk products.

Wait, what? If you have trouble processing lactose, a type of sugar found in dairy products, you’ve probably avoided milk, ice cream, and yogurt for good reason — namely, the uncomfortable symptoms that appear when you consume them. But it turns out, to the surprise of many people with lactose intolerance, that all dairy need not be off limits.

In most cases, lactose intolerance is caused by low levels of the enzyme lactase. Lactase helps your body break lactose down into the simple sugars glucose and galactose, which can then be absorbed into the bloodstream. If lactose is not broken down, it travels to your colon where intestinal bacteria ferment it, resulting in gas, bloating, and diarrhea. You are more likely to have lactose intolerance if you are of Black, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American descent; have an intestinal disorder like Crohn’s Disease or Colitis; were born prematurely; or have undergone chemotherapy. Your chances of developing lactose intolerance also increase as you get older.

Since in most cases a person with lactose intolerance has a limited ability to break down lactose rather than no ability at all, that person can tolerate some dairy — with a few considerations. Everyone has a different threshold, so the exact cutoff point for you is something you’ll have to learn by trial and error. But here are a few ways you — yes you, the one with lactose intolerance — can get some dairy back into your diet:

Yogurt: The healthy bacteria in yogurt and kefir (a yogurt-like drink) help your body to digest the lactose, meaning that many people who normally have trouble with dairy can actually handle a serving of yogurt. Strained Greek yogurt has even less lactose than regular yogurt, which makes it an extra good choice for a person with lactose intolerance. Just make sure the yogurt you’re eating has live active cultures.

Hard cheese: Thanks to the fermentation process used in cheesemaking, many aged cheeses like cheddar, parmesan, and asiago are virtually lactose free, meaning many people with lactose intolerance can eat it without experiencing any symptoms. Fresh cheeses, however, like mozzarella and cottage cheese, are higher in the milk sugar.

Lactose-free products: Several brands now offer lactose-free versions of dairy foods like milk, sour cream, and yogurt. How do they do it? Easy cheesy: They add lactase, the enzyme your body needs to break down lactose to the foods themselves.

Lactase pills: If you can’t find or don’t like products with the lactase added in, you can supplement with your own lactase any time you eat regular dairy products. This is any easy fix to safely enjoy a dairy-rich meal out or at a friend’s house; just be sure to carry lactase caplets with you so you can be ready at any time.

What about goat’s and sheep’s milk? While some people with lactose intolerance say they find it easier to process goat’s and sheep’s milk cheese, the milk from both animals contains roughly the same amount of lactose as cow’s milk. Still, it may be worth experimenting with in small amounts to see if it has the same impact on you.

Since everyone is different, and tolerance levels can change over time, only you can decide how much lactose is too much for you. Luckily, there are loads of non-dairy alternative products on the market now to make your low-lactose or lactose-free diet an easy one to adhere to. Almond-, coconut-, and soy-based nondairy milks can be a smart (and tasty) way to keep dairy to a minimum throughout your day so you can comfortably enjoy a generous sprinkle of parmesan cheese on your pasta, or a yogurt for snack.

Nigeria’s Wealthiest Own Private Jets, Avoid Spotlight

It’s difficult to estimate exactly how many private jets there are in Nigeria because most are registered in other countries, says Rady Fahmy, the executive director of the African Business Aviation Association, in a BBC report.
Aircraft in Nigeria and most of Africa are owned by individual businessmen and women, unlike North America and Europe, where private jets are usually corporate owned.
“The choice to put it under (Nigerian) individuals’ names is due to financing requirements,” Fahmy told BBC.
Most Nigerian jet owners avoid the spotlight, especially when it comes to discussing

their wealth, although within aviation circles it is common knowledge who owns what, the report said.
Nigerians have spent $6.5 billion on private jets, BBC reports. The country’s wealthiest are buying them to avoid flying on commercial airlines. Even traveling in business class can be problematic, with frequent delays and rerouting an inconvenience for everyone.
At ExecuJet Aviation Nigeria, Peter de Waal showed a BBC reporter jets lined up in a hangar with a team of engineers working on them.
ExecuJet is now authorized by major aviation companies to do maintenance on business aircraft. Previously, maintenance was done in Europe and the U.S, “but our services here can help save time and an enormous cost,” De Waal told BBC.
So who owns what? The long-range Bombardier Global Express XRS (ticket price: $50 million) is preferred by those at the top of the rich list, including Africa’s wealthiest businessman Aliko Dangote, oil baroness Folorunsho Alakija, and the mobile phone tycoon Mike Adenuga, according to CNN.
Other popular models with owners ranging from politicians to clergymen cost $39 million to $57 million including the Gulfstream G550, Bombardier Challenger 605, and Dassault Falcon 900.
BBC reporter Tomi Oladipo got a tour inside a private plane, custom upholstered in polished dark wood trim with a mini-bar and gray leather seats.
The passenger area was divided into several parts, including an area for business meetings, a private area with a large couch that can be converted into a bed, and a bathroom.
The billionaire businessman owner asked not to be identified, BBC said.
The planes are also mostly registered overseas in the U.S., Bermuda, Channel Islands,
Isle of Man and Mauritius.

Some industry insiders say they think Nigeria’s private jet owners prefer it this way because aircraft lose their resale value if they are registered in Nigeria over fears of maintenance standards.
It is difficult to ignore the tens of millions of Nigerians who cannot afford commercial air
travel, never mind owning aircraft, the BBC reports. Many Nigerians have never flown in their lives. Nigeria boasts steady economic growth but the general perception is that few are benefiting from this boom apart from its 500-plus wealthiest citizens with estimated assets of more than $50 million.

For those who can’t afford their own planes, Nigeria’s chartered flights business is also booming, attracting international companies such as Hanger8 and VistaJet, BBC reports.
Manufacturers such as Beechcraft Corp. have entered the African market and are focusing on Nigeria as the the air transport industry and business aviation boom.
“We have seen a large number of deliveries of business aircraft across the continent over the past decade,” said Scott Plumb, Beechcraft’s vice president of sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa, in a BBC interview. “We fully expect this trend to continue as a greater number of entrepreneurs and corporate entities seek to take advantage of the benefits of business air travel on the back of Africa’s strong economic growth.”
Nigeria’s larger-than-life VIPs often travel with huge entourages of friends and aides, BBC reports.
“You can sometimes see five or six cars at the same time to receive one person,” De Waal
said.

In 2013 the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority ordered a luxury tax of $3,000 every time a private jet departed. Jet owners said it was unfair and the senate quickly suspended the order, according to BBC — proof that Nigeria’s wealthy businessmen and women wield political influence.

Wife Swapping With An African Tribal Touch In Namibia

Wife swapping among Namibia’s nomadic tribes has been practised for generations but a legislator’s call to enshrine it in law has stirred debate about women’s rights and tradition in modern society.
The practice is more of a gentlemen’s agreement where friends can have sex with each others’ wives with no strings attached.
Swinging with an African tribal touch? Or “rape”, as some critics see it.

The wives have little say in the matter, according to those who denounce the custom as both abusive and risky in a country with one of the world’s highest HIV/Aids rates.

But the Ovahimba and Ovazemba tribes, based mainly in this southern African country’s arid north, contend their age-old custom strengthens friendships and prevents promiscuity.
“It’s a culture that gives us unity and friendship,” said Mr Kazeongere Tjeundo, a lawmaker and deputy president of the opposition Democratic Turnhalle Alliance of Namibia.

“It’s up to you to choose [among] your mates who you like the most … to allow him to sleep with your wife,” said Mr Tjeundo, a member of the Ovahimba ethnic group.
Concerned that HIV/Aids could be used as an excuse to stop the ancient tradition, he and others are suggesting regulations be adopted to ensure “good practice”.
Mr Tjeundo said he plans to propose a wife-swapping law, following a November legislative poll when he is tipped for re-election.

Known as okujepisa omukazendu - which loosely means “offering a wife to a guest” – the practice is little known outside these reclusive communities, whose population is estimated at 86 000.
Mainly found in the north-western Kunene region near the Angolan border, the communities are largely isolated from the rest of the country. They have resisted the trappings of modern life, keep livestock, live off the land and practice ancestral worship.

5 Important Lessons From The Biggest E-Cigarette Study

Those colorfully lit e-cigarettes are giving off way more than just "harmless water vapor," according to a comprehensive new study review by UC San Francisco's Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. Users could also be inhaling and exhaling low levels of chemicals such as formaldehyde, propylene glycol and acetaldehyde (to name a few), and this secondhand vapor could be a potentially toxic source of indoor air pollution.

While the levels of the toxins were still much lower compared to conventional cigarette emissions, the findings fly in the face of the e-cigarette industries' claims that the handheld devices are just as safe as any other smoking cessation tool.

E-cigarettes as we know them today were invented by a Chinese pharmacist, Hon Lik in the early 2000s as a smoking cessation aid. They are handheld nicotine vaporizers that deliver an aerosol made up of nicotine, flavorings and other chemicals to users. It's the chemicals in those vapors that are moving municipalities like Los Angeles, New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago and Boston to restrict "vaping" in some way.

Formaldehyde, for instance, is a carcinogen that also irritates the eyes, nose and throat. Propylene glycol can also cause eye and respiratory irritation, and prolonged exposure can affect the nervous system and the spleen. Acetaldehyde, also known as the "hangover chemical," is also a possible carcinogen.

The secondhand vapor finding is just one of several that UCSF researchers highlighted in the broadest review to date of peer-reviewed e-cigarette studies. The findings, which were published Monday in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation, include:

1. Some youth have their first taste of nicotine via e-cigarettes. Twenty percent of middle schoolers and 7.2 percent of high schooler e-cigarette users in the U.S. report never smoking cigarettes.

2. Nicotine absorption varies too much between brands. Early 2010 studies found that users got much lower levels of nicotine from e-cigarettes than from conventional cigarettes, but more recent studies show that experienced e-cigarette users can draw levels of nicotine from an e-cigarette that are similar to conventional cigarettes. Yet another study noted that the chosen e-cigarettes for the research malfunctioned for a third of participants. UCSF researchers say this indicates the need for stronger product standards and regulations.

3. Just because particulate matter from e-cigarettes isn't well studied, doesn't mean it's safe. To deliver nicotine, e-cigarettes create a spray of very fine particles that have yet to be studied in depth. "It is not clear whether the ultra-fine particles delivered by e-cigarettes have health effects and toxicity similar to the ambient fine particles generated by conventional cigarette smoke or secondhand smoke," wrote the researchers. But we do know that fine particulate matter from cigarettes and from air pollution are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory disease. And some research has found that the size and spray of fine particulate matter from e-cigarettes is just as great or greater than conventional cigarettes.

4. So far, e-cigarette use is not associated with the successful quitting of conventional cigarettes. One clinical trial found that e-cigarettes was no more effective than the nicotine patch at helping people quit, and both cessation methods "produced very modest quit rates without counseling."

5. Major tobacco companies have acquired or produced their own e-cigarette products. They're promoting the products as "harm reduction" for smokers, which allows them to protect their cigarette market while promoting a new product. Companies also using "grassroots" tactics to form seemingly independent smokers' rights groups, just like they did for cigarettes in the 1980s.

Based on the weight of the combined research, UCSF researchers end with several policy recommendations, which include banning e-cigarettes wherever cigarettes are banned, subjecting e-cigarettes to the same advertising restrictions that constrict cigarette marketing and banning fruit, candy and alcohol flavors, which are attractive to younger customers.

Pastor Tunde Bakare's Vision

During his sermon this past Sunday May 11th, pastor Tunde Bakare of Latter Rain Assembly, went hard on the American government and their offer to assist Nigeria to fight Boko Haram.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYREz_ksKlU
Watched the video and here's a summary of what he said. According to Bakare, CNN media crew coming to Abuja a few weeks ago to cover the Chibok girls story took him back to a vision God showed him during a conference he had in 2005 at Adebola House in Lagos. He said in the vision, he rode on God's back into former US President Bush's war room and saw the former president plotting on how to destabilize Nigeria. He said

he immediately started praying at the conference declaring that Nigeria is not Iraq and that Bush would be burnt in the bush while Condolezza Rice would end up in the cooking pot. He played the video of his preaching in 2005 where he shared the vision to the conference attendees.
About Isha Sesay of CNN, pastor Bakare said she's been very disrespectful to Nigerian Government officials who she has been interviewing since she came into the country, making a whole Minister of Information Labaran Maku look like a school boy and showing no regard for his office or even the government he represents. He said to some extent we would say yes she should give it to him because all of a sudden it appears we
He called out the First Lady for her recent media frenzy saying her actions made her expose her lack of education using the word sharing instead of shedding. He says one of the judgment upon a nation is that low quality people would rule over you. He said that is how low we have fallen.
He said we should chase away the foxes before we focus on the chickens. He titled his message War on Terror, War on Terrorist and War on their sponsor. He took a swipe at Pres. Jonathan for saying to the media that they knew more than him. He expressed his sadness at the President's remark during his media chat that we should not compare stealing with corruption. He said however Pres. Jonathan is still doing his best. He said Ekiti state coming 34th in the just concluded West African Examination Council (WAEC) is an indication that we have fallen, saying that the pride of Ekiti before now was an avalanche of Top academicians.
He said members of the National delegates clamoring for new states are missing the point and that creation of new states is not our problem.

On Boko Haram and the bombings that have been associated with them, he said he doubts that the men are able to assemble a bomb together. He said boko haram men are not the ones behind the sporadic bombings in Kano, that they don't have the sophistication. He said there is a
foreign orchestration of evil against Nigeria. He said the whole Chibok girls kidnapping is all conspiracy. He wondered how two hundred girls could be kidnapped, the school burnt down and no one could stop it. He wondered why the Sambisa forest cannot be invaded by the military right in our country.

According to him, this is the same Nigeria who sent military forces to Liberia. He wondered if this is not the same Nigeria when Chad citizens invaded Nigeria and killed 5 soldiers during Shagari days and Buhari rolled tanks and pursued the Chad people even into their territory and whole
world pleaded that we stop.
He said Americans are angry because Nigerian government had the guts to invade Liberia which is an American territory and they say they would teach us a lesson that we would never forget and said that is the terror that we are experiencing now. He wondered with the videos Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is releasing, he cannot be traced with the mast or live feeds of the videos.
He said the West just wants to ridicule Nigeria before the world and in the end force us to do their bidding. He expressed anger in our government asking for international help saying where was the international community when we fought our civil war.
He prayed for all those sponsoring terror in Nigeria- that their economies would fall, that God would also start trouble in their lands, they would reap multiple terror and that their youngmen and women would rise up against them. He prayed that any Nigerian ruler - Obi, Oba, Emir or politician working in support of terror in Nigeria, that the wrath of God would fall upon them and their children wherever they are and that their families shall be terrorized.
He said we the citizens should not panic and that God has preserved us including the Chibok girls that were kidnapped