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By John, on March 13th, 2005
Professor Hugh Pennington, the president of the Society for General Microbiology and professor emeritus of bacteriology at Aberdeen University warned today that British government estimates of 50 000 deaths from avian flu are based on enormously optimistic assumptions (that the death rate is no higher than for normal flu and that there is only one wave of flu) and that the government is making a mistake similar to the one made 10 years ago regarding BSE. He believes a more realistic figure is around 2 million deaths, many from pneumonia, for which there is still no effective treatment.
In the last week, 2 nurses in Vietnam have caught avian flu. Infection of health workers is a first indication, according to health experts, that the virus has become capable of jumping directly from one person to another.
The British government has ordered over 14 million doses of an anti-viral drug for delivery in two years time, which can be used to treat avian flu (at the moment there is no vaccine available, although tests are being made on experimental vaccines which are expected to offer some protection against the flu). A marginally better situation than in Germany, where risk of avian flu has been played down, with the government focussing more on the danger to German poultry, than on the risk to the human population. (I don’t recall seeing any reports in the German press about measures being taken to protect the local population against avian flu, despite the World Health Organisation’s latest warning that “The world is now in the gravest possible danger of a pandemic.”).
The current status of influenza infections in Europe is available here, by the way.
Continue reading Bird flu risk in UK underestimated
By John, on January 7th, 2005
No wonder Germany is still suffering from a “Reformstau” (backlog of social reforms). I always thought it was caused by so many lobby groups all pulling in different directions, so that movement was impossible.
Now, according to the Bildzeitung, my worst fears are confirmed – many of the German politicians are actually in . . . → Read More: Reformstau
By John, on December 7th, 2004
(You can only appreciate this, if you speak some German as well as English – thanks to Karl for sending it to me!)
When the last Kalender-sheet
flattern through the Winter-streets
and Decemberwind is blowing,
then is everybody knowing
she does come, the Weihnachtszeit.
All the Menschen, Leute, people
flippen out of ihrem Stuebel
run to Kaufhof, Aldi, Mess
make Konsum and business.
Kaufen this and jenes Dings
and the churchturmglocke rings!
Manche holen sich a Taennchen.
When this brennt, they cry: 'Attention!'
Rufen for the Feuerwehr:
'Please come quick and rescue here!'
Goes the Taennchen up in Rauch
they are standing on the Schlauch.
Continue reading The Weihnachts-Poet
By John, on October 21st, 2004
This week, a British government report on the dangers of passive smoking was leaked. The report cites passive smoking is a “substantial public health hazard”. Yesterday, Liverpool city council voted (57 votes to 7) to become the first city in the UK to ban smoking in all public enclosed spaces (such as shopping malls, . . . → Read More: Smoking on the Titanic
By John, on August 4th, 2004
Kassel is a couple of hours drive from where we live and home to the Documenta exhibition, which happens every five years – the last one was in 2002 – we visited and enjoyed it greatly.
However, that is not the only reason to go to Kassel. The natural history collection in the . . . → Read More: The wood library
By John, on July 26th, 2004
We had an invitation to visit Ingrid, an old friend of ours, who came back from a 9 year stint in London last year. She was holding a housewarming party in Korschenbroich, which is where she grew up and where her family still lives. It gave us an opportunity to try out our . . . → Read More: Weekend in NRW
By John, on July 4th, 2004
In the UK, frequent traffic jams on motorways are causing the Government to consider implementing the American idea of having dedicated lanes for cars carrying two or more persons (with fines for lone drivers caught in the wrong lane). Friends of the Earth is concerned that the scheme will be used as a reason . . . → Read More: Crowded roads
By John, on May 22nd, 2004
The Bahn (German Railways) has repainted the underpass at Oberursel station (the station I park and ride from, when I travel to work) at least 6 times in the last two years. Every time, graffiti re-appeared the day after the work was finished, and within a week or two, you would not know . . . → Read More: An end to vandalism
By John, on May 12th, 2004
A big thanks to Ole Saalmann, who let me know a couple of days ago that the Diba’s internet banking now works with Apple’s Safari web browser! He’s right – I just tried it out. That’s a huge improvement as previously it didn’t work with any of the browsers I had on my Mac, . . . → Read More: DiBa internet banking works with Safari now
By John, on May 2nd, 2004
Bad news not only for Germany, but for the EU as a whole.
Bild Zeitung reports that Gerhard Schroeder “has given up trying to cut costs and reducing social security payments(Bild Zeitung – article in German)”:http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2004/05/02/kanzler__ende__sparkurs/kanzler__ende__sparkurs.html. Cost-cutting will not resume until the economy picks up. The surprising turn-around decision was, according to Bild, . . . → Read More: Given up?
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