March 5, 2016 - CANADA - A magnitude 4.7 earthquake was detected off the west coast of Vancouver Island this morning.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the tremor hit at
10:38 a.m. PST and had an epicentre 176 kilometres southwest of Port
Hardy - near the border of the Explorer and Juan de Fuca plates. It
had a depth of 20 kilometres.
No damage can be expected given the location, and a tsunamis warning was not declared.
Thousands of small earthquakes hit B.C. every year, but only a small fraction have a magnitude of 4.0 or greater. - Vancity Buzz.
February 20, 2016 - OREGON, UNITED STATES - Portland International Airport set a rainfall record for December through February (the meteorological winter) at 25.27 inches, the National Weather Service reports.
Normal rainfall for the airport during the same period is 14.14 inches.
Records have been kept at the airport since 1940.
That's a lot of rain. And February's not over yet, so the number will climb.
Other near-record-setting areas (where records have been kept since the 1890s) include:
Vancouver with its second wettest winter (25.77 inches)
Downtown Portland's third wettest winter (31.06 inches)
and Hillsboro with its fourth wettest winter (24.74 inches).
The ranking is for the period of Dec. 1 1 through Feb. 28-29.
And the Portland area's rainy season is far from over. Keep those rain boots and umbrellas handy. - OregonLive.
December 23, 2015 - EARTH - The following constitutes two of latest reports of animal attacks on humans.
Aggressive raccoon attacks woman and her dogs in Vancouver; 4th attack in area this year
Helene recounts the violent encounter she and her dogs, Chip and Salsa,
had with a vicious raccoon. She was out for a walk in downtown
Vancouver's Coal Harbour neighbourhood around 4:30 p.m. last week when
out of nowhere a raccoon charged at her, biting her legs and then
grabbing her dogs.
"I reached in to get my two dogs out. Then the raccoon looks at me very angry and starts attacking me," she said.
Despite being overcome with fear, Helene was able to fight back.
"He was stuck on biting my legs. He was on my left leg and I was kicking him as hard as I could with my right leg."
She screamed and tried to get into her apartment, but the raccoon followed and kept charging at Helene and her dogs.
"I was afraid for my own life."
She almost made it inside, but
couldn't open the door because she was holding Chip and Salsa in her
arms while the animal continued to attack.
WATCH: Dog owner issues warning about raccoons following attack.
"When the raccoon saw that he had cornered me, he became even
more aggressive and started going up on me and reaching for my dogs."
As she frantically kicked the door, the raccoon grabbed at Salsa's
harness. Salsa slipped down and ran away in fear. After a frantic
search, Helene found her dog dead in the middle of Georgia Street. It's
believed she was hit by oncoming traffic.
Helene is hoping her traumatic experience will help raise awareness and
prevent another tragedy. It's not the first time these types of attacks
have happened in the area.In 2012, there were two unprovoked
raccoon attacks, one in Coal Harbour and another in the West End. In
2014, there was another attack in the West End, this one involving a
puppy. Still, animal control experts say attacks like these are rare. - Global News.
Young girl killed by dog in Miami-Dade, Florida
A South Florida family is coping with a terrible tragedy after a young
girl was the victim of a dog attack just days before her second
birthday.
Nyjah Espinosa, who would have celebrated her birthday on Christmas, was
visiting at her father's Miami-Dade home when his dog attacked her on
Sunday.
Espinosa's family was too distraught to speak with NBC 6 Tuesday afternoon.
NBC 6 exclusively obtained a photo of the dog authorities indicated was
involved in the attack. Animal Services described the dog as a male
American Bulldog mix that is 5 years old and weighs 95 pounds.
WATCH: 2-year-old killed in dog attack in Miami.
Neighbors said they're feeling the family's pain.
"Yeah, I seen the little girl outside playing sometimes, you know,"
Artis Townsend said. "Everybody is outside with her. They just have
family a lot outside."
"I think it's sad and you know, have to be careful where your kids are," Jerra Groce said.
County officials said the little girl was in the hallway when the dog attacked her. Police are now investigating the incident.
"On Sunday, December 20th, 2015, my granddaughter, Nyjah 'Nyny'
Espinosa, just 5 days shy of her 2nd birthday, was attacked by a
pitbull," her grandmother posted on social media. "Doctors at Miami
Children's Hospital tried to keep her with us, but were unable to do so.
Our little girl was no longer with us."
The dog remains at Animal Services while detectives investigate.
The family has set up a GoFundMe page for burial expenses here. - NBC Miami.
Portland and other areas of the Pacific Northwest would be unrecognizable if the earthquake hits as hard as predicted. flickr/R0Ng
December 2, 2015 - PACIFIC NORTHWEST - The U.S. Geological Survey says our region has seen more than 50
small earthquakes in just the last seven days, including a magnitude
3.0 quake in Stanwood on Monday morning.
"I did not feel the one today," said Farmer's Café server Kylie
Johnson. But, she said just the news of the small quake is still a bit
unsettling.
"It's true that there's been more activity than usual this week," said
seismologist John Vidale with the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at
the University of Washington.
In fact, Vidale said there's been more recent activity at Glacier Peak
since they've been monitoring siesmic activity in that area over for
the past fifty years. Recently, there was a 3.1 then a 3.5 an hour later
and then aftershocks.
"We're not considering it alarming, we're certainly watching it more
carefully in fact we look very carefully at that area and we could find
ten little aftershocks," said Vidale.
Many of the earthquakes in the region have no relation to each other
and sit on different fault lines. Scientists tell us all this activity
really has no effect on the big earthquake that experts say is due
anytime.
"So if we were hoping to let up the pressure that magnitude six would
release, we'd need a thousand magnitude threes," said Vidale.
Despite the fact that locally it's been a busy week, geologically speaking, it gives geologists no insight into what's next.
"It makes me feel like the world is just going to break apart it's scary. It's a scary thought," said Johnson.
Farmer's Café cutomer Evelyn Harrison isn't terribly alarmed. But, she
does plan to go home and prepare her earthquake kit. "I just go along
for the ride but, I probably should be more concerned than that," she
said.
You can monitor the most recent geological activity on the Pacific Northwest Siesmology Network website.
FEMA is planning for an earthquake that would devastate the Pacific Northwest, killing at least 13,000 people
To the north of California's famous San Andreas fault is a less
known, but possibly more deadly, fault line. The Cascadia subduction
zone runs some 700 miles from northern California to Vancouver.
In a deeply reported article for The New Yorker,
Kathryn Schulz tells the tale of how this fault lies dormant for
periods of 243 years, on average, before unleashing monstrous tremors.
The Pacific Northwest is 72 years overdue for the next quake, which is
expected to be between 8.0 and 9.2 in magnitude.
At the upper end of that scale, Schulz notes, we would experience "the worst natural disaster in the history of North America."(The major 2011 earthquake in Japan was a 9.0, killing more than 15,000 people.)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) already has an
emergency response plan for when this earthquake hits. Parts of FEMA's
quake expectations are truly terrifying. As Schulz writes:
FEMA projects that nearly thirteen
thousand people will die in the Cascadia earthquake and tsunami. Another
twenty-seven thousand will be injured, and the agency expects that it
will need to provide shelter for a million displaced people, and food
and water for another two and a half million.
These projections are based on a scenario that has the earthquake
striking at 9:41 a.m. February 6. (The agency isn't trying to predict
the future or saying that the earthquake will definitely occur then,
they just need a date to plan around.) The toll would be far higher on a
warm day, when more people — often huge crowds of people — are at the
beach or in the water.
When the quake does occur, its severe effects and the impacts of the
following tsunami ("It will look like the whole ocean, elevated,
overtaking land") will be felt all the way from Canada to Sacramento, in
densely populated cities like Seattle and Portland.
What's more, the Pacific Northwest is not earthquake ready. Buildings
aren't retrofitted properly and there aren't many effective emergency
warning systems or escape plans in place.
The aftermath will be devastating. Schulz writes:
By the time the shaking has ceased and the tsunami has receded, the region will be unrecognizable.
Kenneth Murphy, who directs FEMA's Region X, the division responsible
for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska, says, "Our operating
assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast."
A Search and Rescue team has found the wreckage of a
small airplane bound for Vancouver in Oregon. The plane crashed on Mount
Tom, about nine miles east of the Linn County community of Harrisburg,
Ore. (Linn County (Ore.) Sherrif's Office)
April 24, 2015 - OREGON, UNITED STATES - Searchers looking for a missing Vancouver plane found wreckage and a body Friday afternoon on a mountain in Linn County, Ore.
An Oregon Army National Guard helicopter was sent out Friday morning to help search for Vancouver pilot Lee Cheshire Leslie, 41, and his Piper PA-28. Around 1 p.m. searchers spotted a crashed airplane on Mount Tom, a heavily forested area where they had concentrated the search, the Oregon Civil Air Patrol said.
The Federal Aviation Administration had tracked the plane’s flight path to a point where the plane went off radar in the Mount Tom area, which is about 9 miles east of Harrisburg, Ore., the Civil Air Patrol said.
Searchers with the Linn County Sheriff’s Office went out to the crash site and found a body among the wreckage. The body and the plane haven’t been positively identified yet, the sheriff’s office said.
“Everything indicates that this was more than likely the plane that was missing, but we can’t confirm that at this point,” Sheriff Bruce Riley said. Plane crashes are not uncommon in Linn County, which is mountainous in some areas and has several small airports and airstrips.
The Linn County Medical Examiner’s Office will identify the body and determine cause of death.
Around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Leslie took off from Hobby Field in Creswell, Ore., about 120 miles from Vancouver’s Pearson Field. After the plane was reported overdue Tuesday night, managers of airports along the plane’s flight path were called and asked to do a ramp search to look for the tail number of the plane in question, said Civil Air Patrol Vice Commander Ted Tanory.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Office filed a missing person report and began working with the Civil Air Patrol to find the pilot and his plane. Pilots flew over the area, looking for damaged or burned foliage that might indicate where a plane had crashed.
Upon finding the downed plane, the Civil Air Patrol stopped looking for Leslie and his plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what caused the crash.
Leslie is believed to be the only person who was onboard the silver and red aircraft that was bound for Pearson Field. The pilot didn’t file a flight plan, the FAA said, nor was he required to do so.
Willy Williamson, manager of Pearson Field, said Leslie never made contact with him, anyone else at the airport or Aero Maintenance, which runs a flight school at the airport. He met Leslie a few months ago and said Leslie was relatively new to the airport.
Leslie’s Piper PA-28 is one of the most common private planes in the world, designed to be safe and easy to fly, Williamson said. - Columbian.
Wreckage of the crashed cargo plane as seen from Chopper 9. Tuesday, April 14, 2015.
April 15, 2015 - VANCOUVER, CANADA - Search crews have found the bodies of two pilots of a cargo plane that crashed in the North Shore mountains on Monday.
North Vancouver RCMP said late Tuesday that the fuselage was found in a steep, heavily wooded area at about 1 p.m. Tuesday.
The two male pilots, ages 33 and 35, from the Vancouver area, were removed from the wreckage with family members notified.
The B.C. Coroners Office is expected to release the pilots' names today.
Coroner Barb McLintock said two coroners, one from the Metro Vancouver office and another from the special identification unit, were flown close to the crash site before hiking in.
"The RCMP, along with all the various agencies involved in the search, extend their deepest condolences to the family and friends of the two pilots who died in the crash," said Cpl. Richard De Jong of the North Vancouver RCMP. "The investigation into the cause of the crash of the airplane now rests with the Transportation Safety Board."
According to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, the dead men were located near the wreckage of the twin-engined Swearingen SA-226 that disappeared en route to Prince George.
"The scene is a fairly extensive one," Naval Lt. Paul Trenholm said of the crash site.
A Cormorant helicopter conducts a search for two pilots missing in a cargo plane crash north of Vancouver.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria has confirmed that parts of a missing plane that disappeared Monday morning were found
Monday evening near Mount Seymour in North Vancouver.
Rescuers spent Tuesday morning searching in an area of Lynn Valley Headwaters Park known as the Needles. A Cormorant helicopter surveyed the scene from the air, while North Shore Rescue workers and the RCMP searched on the ground.
"Both pilots are deceased, unfortunately," Trenholm said from Victoria. "We wish that this had turned out a different way."
The plane was in pieces over a wide area.
"Our ground crews first came across portions of the wing, then finally the main body, and the tail was later identified," he said, adding the front part was eventually found.
JRCC Capt. Gregory Clarke said that the bodies were eventually discovered by North Shore Rescue team members about 18 kilometres north of Vancouver in the Crown Mountain area, northeast of Grouse Mountain and southeast of Castle Mountain in an area known as The Needles.
A search and rescue operation involving the use of ground crews and
aircraft, including several military helicopters and planes, was quickly
launched when their disappearance was confirmed by traffic
controllers. They disappeared from radar at an altitude of 9,000
feet near Grouse Mountain.
Naval Lt. Paul Trenholm said earlier Tuesday that the search was hampered by adverse terrain, and that snow made it difficult for crews.
The plane had departed Vancouver for Prince George at 6:35 a.m. Monday, but air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft at 7:10 a.m.
It was a chilly night in the North Shore mountains. Temperatures dipped to lows of between -4 and -6 degrees overnight, according to Environment Canada, and between 15 and 20 cm of snow fell in the higher elevations.
Trenholm said the search and rescue operation involved multiple agencies and groups, including the Royal Canadian Air Force. - Vancouver Sun.
January 21, 2015 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare creatures.
Hundreds of dead mackerel found in Bras d'Or Lake, Canada
The discovery of hundreds of dead mackerel in the Bras d'Or Lake has area residents wondering what caused the fish to die.
Annette Coffin, a resident of Ben Eoin, first discovered dead fish in the water in front of her home a week ago.
"Last Monday morning, there were dead fish everywhere, on the shore and
in the water," she said. "They were sort of under the ice - there was a
light coating of ice, and there were tons of them on the beach, and
when I came out and had a look they were everywhere."
Coffin
said there were at least 200 dead mackerel visible from her waterfront
home, which is located across from Ski Ben Eoin. On Monday, a week after
Coffin made the initial discovery, there were still dozens of dead
mackerel in the water near the shore, with seagulls and other birds
circling the area as they have been for days.
Having just
become a year-round resident of the area in the last few years, Coffin
checked with some of her neighbours who also spotted lots of dead
mackerel in the waters in front of their homes.
Coffin, who has
since heard reports that the dead mackerel stretch at least as far as
Big Pond, said everyone was surprised by the discovery.
"It was new to me but it was also new to some of the longtime neighbours,"she
said. "We have some people who think that with the change in the
weather - the mild November - that they didn't make it to the ocean and
that they were without oxygen and just basically froze to death when the
cold weather hit. That's one theory."
Coffin said she contacted various fisheries officials to report the situation.
"I'm pretty sure they died of natural causes but we would like to be sure because this is a protected waterway," she said.
Coffin said it's her understanding an official came to the site last
week and took a couple of the dead fish and water samples for testing.
An official with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans
directed the Cape Breton Post to Environment Canada. No one from
Environment Canada responded to calls for comment Monday.
According to the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture
website, Atlantic mackerel are found in open ocean during the winter
months where water temperatures are at or above 7 C, with the optimum
temperature range for adults being from 9 C to 12 C. In the spring, as
the water warms, schools of mackerel begin their migration to inshore
waters, like the Bras d'Or Lake. - Cape Breton Post.
Weird fish with 'rodent-like teeth' found dead on Woolacombe beach, UK
A peculiar creature with 'rodent-like teeth' has washed up on a North Devon beach.
Delphine Sutherland found the dead fish while walking at Woolacombe and
posted a photo of it on Facebook to try to find out what it was.
Ilfracombe Aquarium director Lawrence Raybone said it looked like a trigger fish,typically found around the coasts of Spain and France.
He said: "It's more commonly found by sea anglers during the summer
months while this shoaling animal is heading north on its migration
route.
"It has a powerful set of jaws with rodent-like teeth which it uses to great effect breaking the shells of crab and urchins."
The trigger fish owes its name to its long frontal spine to the dorsal
fin locking in an upright position a bit like the safety-catch of a
trigger.
This mechanism is used to wedge itself into rock crevices for safety and to express aggression or interest in a mate. - North Devon Journal.
Yet
animal experts say an increasing number of coyotes are setting up shop
in one of most dense urban labyrinths: downtown Chicago.
The seemingly incongruous marriage between coyotes and a people-packed
habitat has occurred naturally, according to Stan Gehrt, an Ohio State
University professor who specializes in coyote research in Cook County,
which includes Chicago.
Gehrt said he and his team know of no deliberate efforts to release coyotes into the downtown area.
"They're all homegrown coyotes, all born and bred in Chicago," Gehrt said.
Gehrt, who runs the Urban Coyote Research program,said the coyote population swelled tenfold during the 1990s.Coyotes are very territorial and only will tolerate so many living in a certain area.
So some animals simply were pushed out of the suburbs and had no option
but to live in the city, without the benefits of the wooded areas and
semihidden corridors they favor.
Gehrt estimates that around 2,000 coyotes call downtown Chicago home, but it's likely more than that.He says they are thriving in what was considered a less-than-ideal living situation.
"Once they got there, they experienced higher reproduction, more food,
and so now they have no reason to leave," he said. "People think animals
living in that habitat are less fit or sick, and the opposite is
actually true."
Part of the reason for their success in the city is innate: Coyotes are very adaptable animals. Recent research funded by a National Geographic committee allowed Gehrt and his team to outfit six coyotes with cameras and observe their behavior.
The footage revealed coyotes astutely waiting on passing cars so they
could safely cross streets, using sidewalks and other walkways, and even
raising a litter of coyote pups in the top of a parking deck.
Not that residents typically would see the creatures, similar in size to
dogs. Coyotes are nocturnal and likely would be seen only when moving
around to catch food, according to the Humane Society of the United
States.
But by being out of the suburbs and rural areas, coyotes are safe from two major threats: trapping and hunting.
"As long as they don't get hit by a car, they actually can live for a pretty long time," Gehrt said.
So far, Gehrt says, the risk of coyotes living close to so many humans
is minimal. But he and his researchers want to monitor their behavior in
coming years to see whether these ultraversatile animals ever get a
little too comfortable being around people.
They also are examining whether aggressive or shy coyotes are better at surviving downtown - the idea of natural selection.
In the meantime, experts say there is one easy way to keep coyotes at bay.
"Don't feed them, especially if you don't want them to be living in
your area," Gehrt said. "If you have people feeding coyotes, that could
accelerate any behavioral changes." - Chicago Tribune.
18-month-old boy killed by family dogs in Brooksville, Florida
An 18-month-old boy was killed by the family's two dogs Monday morning, according to the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies responded to the 16000 block of Cherokee Road in Brooksville
at 10:58 a.m. regarding a dog bite to a small child. Hernando County
Fire Rescue also responded to the scene.
"It is a terrible,
terrible event," said Sheriff Al Nienhuis. "Obviously even those of us
who work with death and dying and serious injuries every day, the
firefighters on scene I talked to earlier, they were heartbroken and the
deputies, as well."
Deputies said Declan Moss was playing on the porch with his grandfather watching him.
For some reason, the dogs attacked him and he died from those injuries.
The dogs are described as medium-sized, mixed breeds.
Neighbors said they always appeared to be friendly.
"The child's been out in the yard playing with the dogs before and when
the grandfather told me what happened, I was shocked. The dogs normally
got along with kids," said Charles Shorey, who lives next door.
Deputies said the child's grandfather, Gregory Moss, tried to pull the dogs off him but it was too late.
The family told authorities they've never had any problems with the dogs before and they have no idea what sparked the attack.
"I talked to the mother earlier and she was obviously devastated she
wasn't here when it occurred but she was defending the dogs and said
it's not necessarily the breed of dog," said Sheriff Nienhuis.
Shorey called the situation "heartbreaking."
"He was a beautiful kid. I feel so sorry for the mother," he said.
The sheriff's office said the dogs have been taken to the animal shelter. They aren't sure yet what will happen to them.
The investigation continues but so far no charges have been filed. - Bay News 9.
Vancouver Island man encounters cougar in Ucluelet living room
Ted Benson stares down wild animal that entered his home in pursuit of his pet cat
Ted Benson was getting ready for bed Tuesday night when his cat walked in,followed closely by a cougar.
"It
was weird, there was no sound, no nothing, it was eerily quiet and just
all of a sudden I see my cat squirt in and, next thing you know, all I
hear is claws trotting across concrete," Benson said.
"My cat wasn't sprinting at super-human top-speed and neither was the
cougar; it was like slow motion: 'Oh, there's my cat,' and then, 'Oh,
there's a big cat trying to eat it."
The 37-year-old had opened
the front door of his Norah Street home to air it out after having the
wood stove burning all evening.
He went into his bedroom around
10:45 p.m. to plug in his cellphone and was walking back into the
living room to close the door when he saw his house cat come in from
outside.
"Then,
all of a sudden, I heard claws on the cement floor and saw a big head
lunging to eat my cat," he said. "I thought it was a dog originally; a
cougar would be the last thing I'd expect."
Benson lunged at the animal to scare it away before discovering he was not dealing with a dog at all.
"As soon as I realized it was a cougar I just charged it and got as big
as I could and tried to make loud bear sounds to scare it away," he
said.
He said the situation unfolded too fast to think and his survival instincts took over.
"It was just instantaneous. I don't know what happened, I just
automatically tried to charge it and acted big because it's in my
domain, it's in my house, I've got to get this thing out of here," he
said.
"If I had of thought about it I probably would have been
attacked because I would have been scared ... it was already in predator
mode going after my cat so if I had backed up it probably would have
pounced." After his initial scare tactics failed to scare the cougar
off, Benson upped his intimidation level.
"I got louder and
tried to act more aggressive. ... I was just basically lunging at it; it
was one or two feet away at most," he said.
"You can't act
scared, you've got to definitely fight for your life. If you show you're
bigger than them and shout and try to intimidate them, they don't want
to get hurt. ... They want the easiest way to get a meal and not have to
risk their lives." Remembering a tip he had heard from loggers, Benson
kept constant eye contact with the animal.
"I remembered
loggers saying that they used to have eyes painted on the back of their
logger helmets ... a cougar won't attack if you're staring at it; I've
heard many a logger say that."
The cougar eventually sauntered off and, as it walked away, Benson got a good look at its impressive stature.
"He kind of smoothly turned around, not in a hurry, and just trotted out," Benson said.
"As it was walking away I'm like, 'Holy, that's a big cat.' You could
almost feel the physical muscle vibrations from the thing twitching with
each step it's taking as it's leaving the house."
Once the cat
was outside, Benson rushed to slam his door shut and saw Lesley Poirier
of Ucluelet Taxi honking her taxi's horn in his driveway.
"Lesley stopping in the cab and honking probably helped a lot because
that added a lot more noise and commotion where the cat was probably
like 'OK, I've got to get out of here, this could be dangerous,'" Benson
said.
He watched the departing cougar walk toward a second
cougar that was sitting in his driveway. He believes the two cougars had
been hunting together when they spotted his house cat.
The
experience was so foreign to Benson that he had a hard time accepting it
had actually happened until he heard Poirier's account of watching the
cougar walk into his house. - The Vancouver Sun.
Deep sea prehistoric frilled shark caught by fishermen in Victoria, Australia
The two-metre long fish - known as a frilled shark - was captured near Lakes Entrance in Victoria
A terrifying prehistoric shark which has 300 razor sharp teeth has been caught by a group of fishermen in Australia.
The bizarre-looking creature was captured by the bemused fishermen near Lakes Entrance in Victoria.
The dark brown two-metre long fish is a frilled shark, which is also known as the 'living fossil'.
Its
origin dates back 80 million years and is only one of two species still
alive. It is also believed to be the first time a human has seen the
fish alive.
Simon Boag, from the South East
Trawl Fishing Association (SETFA) said the group of fishermen had not
idea what they had caught.
Speaking to ABC News, he said: "It has 300 teeth over 25 rows, so once you're in that mouth, you're not coming out.
"Good for dentists, but it is a freaky thing. I don't think you would
want to show it to little children before they went to bed."
The shark captured in 700 metres deep of water, which is unusual because they normally are found at 1,500 metres.
It is now believed the shark has been sold. - Daily Mirror.
Herd of deer take over a road after escaping from wildlife park in Japan
Herd of animals take over a road in Japan
Drivers in Japan had their daily commute interrupted - when a herd of deer took over the road. The
group of animals, who had escaped from the nearby wildlife park,
decided to bed down for the night in the middle of a busy street.
Taking over one lane of the road, as well as the pavement and some
patches of grass in the area, the deer seem unconcerned as the traffic
advances towards them, and firmly stand (or lie on) their ground.
But for road users in this area, it isn't a particularly odd
phenomenon, because the animals take over this section of the highway
every year.
WATCH: Video shows herd of deer take over a road after escaping from wildlife park.
According to the YouTube user, who uploaded the six
and a half minute clip, the deer make the annual trip out of the Nara
Wildlife Park because it is cooler to rest by the roadside.
The
rogue animals can often be seen stalling traffic in late July, when
temperatures in the city of Nara have been known to reach 35 degrees
celsius. - Daily Mirror.
Hundreds of dead fish appear in a canal in San Justo, Argentina
Hundreds of fish found dead in the San Carlos Canal.
Courtesy www. fortinenses.com.ar
Deep
surprise caused the emergence of hundreds of dead fish in the Canal
channel overflowed San Antonio, which captures the waters of a wide
basin department San Justo, province of Santa Fe. The cause of death is unclear but estimates could be affiliated with the presence of toxic substances in the watercourse. On
the origin of that element is speculated that could be related to the
application of some chemical into productive fields surrounding the
mighty drain, it would have been "washed" of the rain.
Another hypothesis is the heating of the water body by the effect of
the intense sunshine of recent days, which would have altered the living
conditions of the medium affects the metabolism of fish caused his
death.
The San Antonio Canal
is overwhelmed by the large volume of water received in the last days of
abundant rains in the region, particularly on the southern fringe of
the department San Justo.
For
the natural slope of the land, the water recedes into the wide canyon
that occupies much of the interprovincial boundary between Córdoba and
Santa Fe.
The channel has two
parallel arms whose capacity was overcome by the volume of water that
entered, invading the fields on the sides of your track.
As reported portal noticiaswww.fortinenses.com.ar during the last
weekend residents of El Fortin who frequent the area near the major
regional drainage area warned the appearance of dead fish in cuentones
running to the side of Route Province 13.
Moreover, the Municipal Water Varillenses detected in an area near the
park Alvarez Luque an outcrop of groundwater that revealed subsurface
saturation after rainfall of over 200 mm that fell last week.
As a palliative to this situation it is planned to place a breast pump
to depress the web and minimize the effects that could lead to the
healthiness, especially affect the operation of septic tanks in urban
areas.
For a couple of decades
in the Rods are used this mechanism to control the level of the web,
gigantic problem now by the unusual amount of rainfall in recent times. School isolated
The "José Hernández" Cologne Malbertina School again suffers the
effects of flooding since the mass of water from the central and western
department of San Justo flows into the rural area of the town of
Devoto, where is located the educational establishment. Last year was due alter this cause the routine of classes for nearly two months. - La Manana. [Translated]
Massive fish kill along a Canal in Fort Myers, Florida, United States
A massive fish kill along the Ten Mile canal in Fort Myers.
Fishermen are reporting they've seen hundreds of dead fish floating belly up along the water way.
The highest concentration of dead fish appear to be between Landing View Road by Page Field Airport and all the way to the north of Hanson Street.
The water may be a dark murky green, but clearly something is wrong along the Ten Mile Linear Canal.
Hunter Biggs like to go fishing along the canal just about every day.
"The smell is just really terrible and I'm really sorry about these fish," says Biggs.
He and his friends considered this canal one of the best kept secrets for fishermen.
Michael Rodgers is a fisherman who is a fan of the area, too.
'So if you go up there with the right bait your going to hook up in no time. We got snook, tarpon all kinds of good fish up in these canals that get stuck there," says Rodgers.
But today, the fish are no longer thriving. They are dying.
WATCH: Mysterious fish kill in Fort Myers.
Bikers and joggers point out the trail along the canal is less than desirable right now.
"I'm jogging up and down the linear park and all i can see is dead fish in the water and the vultures are everywhere. It's pretty disgusting," Boeckman says.
With giant fish piling up along the shore line, people who treasure this canal are concerned.
Rodgers says, "I'd like to find out what caused this, whether it is nature or industrial. This is just not right. We need someone to take a look at it."
Local fishermen sent an alert to Florida Fish and Wildlife and are even taking a sample of the water to give to wildlife officials.
Fort Myers public works office could not comment because the office was closed for the holiday. - FOX4.
Great white shark attacks Florida fisherman's boat 3 times
A
shark attack was a near-miss for a fisherman in his boat while in the
waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In a video that's buzzing on Facebook, a
great white shark is seen circling a fisherman's boat and striking it
three times.
My Panhandle reports that the incident happened
Monday morning when Captain Scott Fitzgerald of Madfish Charters in
Panama City, Florida was about eight miles out in the gulf when he felt a
large bump on his boat.
The FWC has confirmed that the close
call shark attack was caused by a great white. It bit down on the boat's
trolling motor and Fitzgerald jumped up to pull the motor out of the
shark's jaws. The drama wasn't over after that. The fisherman noticed
the shark circling his boat and took a video of it with his cell phone.
After the shark struck the boat three times, Fitzgerald decided it was
time to vacate the area.
WATCH: Great White Shark Encounter
"He had the entire trolling motor in his mouth, and was moving it side to side, and it was shaking the boat," Fitzgerald says.
According to the report, the FWC is investigating what prompted the shark to attack the boat in the manner it did.
In Australia, a great white shark attacked a boat that contained two
fisherman in it. The incident occurred about an hour from Blacksmiths
Beach, Yahoo News reports.
The shark circled and swam
underneath the fisherman's small boat before its fin hit the bottom of
it. One of the fishermen said if the boat had been any smaller, it would
have taken in more water after the apparent shark attack on the boat. -
Inquisitr.
Mysterious Goo Blamed in San Francisco Bay Area Bird Deaths
The death of 100 birds in the San Francisco Bay Area has baffled wildlife officials who say the creatures' feathers were coated with a mysterious substance that looks and feels like rubber cement.
The birds began turning up on a beach Friday. Necropsies and lab tests will be done Tuesday, but results may not be known until later this week, California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Andrew Hughan said.
"We've never seen anything quite like it," Hughan said. "So it's a mystery for the moment."
Volunteers were slogging through mud and bog in the foggy, cold weather looking for dead surf scoters, buffleheads and horned grebes. The birds each weigh about 4 pounds and are roughly the size of a duck.
Dead birds have turned up on shorelines, beaches and trails in the suburbs of San Leandro, Alameda and Hayward.
"Volunteers are combing every inch of shoreline with their eyes and binoculars, running down the beach with a 20-foot pole with a net attached to it trying to save a bird," Hughan said.
International Bird Rescue Interim Executive Director Barbara Callahan said she has never seen anything like the sticky gray goo in 20 years in the business.
"The goo appears to be light gray in color and to me looks like rubber cement that's been played with all day and is sort of dirty," she said. "It has very little smell."
Officials were investigating whether the substance could be polyisobutylene, which is sticky, odorless, largely colorless, and killed thousands of seabirds in the United Kingdom in 2013.
"While on its face, this substance seems very similar to reports from the U.K. two years ago, we won't know definitively until lab tests are completed," Callahan said.
Officials believe the culprit substance was dumped into the San Francisco Bay and is not a public health or safety risk to humans. Callahan said it's likely a man-made product, meaning a pipeline might have burst or someone intentionally dumped the substance.
The International Bird Rescue center in Fairfield has received 280 birds and 242 are alive and receiving medical care and stabilization, cleaning and reconditioning. Baking soda and vinegar is used to loosen the sticky substance before washing it off with dish soap,The cost of the bird rescue is running between $7,000 and $8,000 each day with the use of full-time staff members and about 40 volunteers. - ABC News.
March 28, 2014 - CANADA - The province is ill-prepared for a catastrophic earthquake, according to Auditor General Russ Jones.
In an audit released by Jones on Tuesday,
the Auditor General found that Emergency Management B.C. – the
organization tasked with preparing government’s response to disasters –
and the provincial government have not made preparing for an earthquake a
priority.
The EMBC is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, and responds to approximately 6,000 incidents a year related to
dangerous good spills, search and rescue, major floods, fires,
landslides and avalanches.
The majority of staff time is spent on
immediate emergencies and the lack of critical long-term resources (such
as a logistics planner) and its limited funding constrain its ability
to plan for a large-scale earthquake, the audit says.
EMBC’s current operating budget for emergency activities sits around $6.2 million, about the same as in 2006 despite the fact B.C.’s population has increased by 10 per cent and its property value has doubled since then.
No significant progress been made to prepare for a catastrophic earthquake since the AG’s office first identified gaps in 1997, Jones said.
“Successive government have decided to allocate scarce public resources to meet more immediate pressing demands, rather than to adequately prepare the province for a catastrophic earthquake that may or may not occur,” said Jones in a statement. “EMBC staff is busy with daily emergencies such as floods and fires so catastrophic earthquake planning is done as a side-of-desk activity.”
The report makes nine recommendations, including one that says the government should develop long-term goals and set level of preparedness targets for EMBC to achieve in the next five, 10 and 15 years.
The Ministry of Justice responded saying it will “be taking immediate action on all nine” of the AG’s recommendations.
“It’s a tough report,” admitted Minister Suzanne Anton to media in Victoria. “What the Auditor General is missing, and what I’m going to be working on, is what’s the big picture, what is the overall structure. We do need to put that bigger picture in place.”
Her first attempt at addressing the AG’s concerns didn’t go smoothly.
Anton announced a consultation and public education campaign on earthquake preparedness on March 11 in advance of the audit’s release.
But the plan was immediately mired in controversy over the appointment of former B.C. Solicitor General John Les as co-chair.
His $140,000 contract, and questions over qualifications, was seen as a patronage appointment, leading to Premier Christy Clark quickly putting an end to his involvement.
NDP public safety critic Kathy Corrigan called Jones’ findings “damning” and criticized the government’s response.
“The only emergency that the B.C. Liberals were prepared for was a political one,” she said. - Metro News.
February 27, 2014 - VANCOUVER, CANADA - A Vancouver Island aquatic farming operation has been forced to scale
back its operations significantly following a mass wipeout of its
shellfish.
A worker harvests oysters for Taylor Shellfish in Washington, another company grappling with the effects
of ocean acidification. CREDIT: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File
Rising acidity in the sea water around Qualicum Beach has led to the death of 10 million scallops — equivalent to three years' product, and every scallop the company put in the ocean from 2009-2011, Island Scallops CEO Rob Saunders told The Parksville Qualicum Bay News.
"I'm not sure we are going to stay alive and I'm not sure the oyster industry is going to stay alive," Saunders told the newspaper. "It's that dramatic."
The disaster constitutes a $10-million loss to the business once so successful, they were featured on The Food Network.
The catastrophic loss could be related to climate change, Chris Harley, a University of British Columbia marine ecologist told The Vancouver Sun. He said that carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere are absorbed into the ocean.
Usually the pH of B.C. sea water is around 8.2, but much lower — and more acidic — numbers are being seen.
"I’ve seen pH measured down to about 7.2, so this is very much within the realm of possibility, though unfortunate and extreme," Harley told the newspaper. “We are in a hot spot in the Pacific Northwest."
Helen Gurney-Smith of Vancouver Island University told CBC News that more research is urgently needed if the local shellfish industry is to survive.
Island Scallops has joined with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans on a research project in order to try and determine if rising sea acidity is the cause of the shellfish deaths, CBC reported. - Huffington Post.
WATCH: Island Scallops Farm - Vancouver, British Columbia..
Latest Victims In A Series Of Mass Marine Die-Offs From Rising Ocean Acidity.
High acidity is being blamed for a mass die-off of B.C. scallops.
Ten million scallops that have died in the waters
near Qualicum Beach due to rising ocean acidity are the latest victims
in a series of marine die-offs that have plagued the West Coast for a
decade.
Human-caused carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere are being absorbed by the ocean and may have pushed local waters through a “tipping point” of acidity beyond which shellfish cannot survive, according to Chris Harley, a marine ecologist at the University of B.C.
Rising ocean acidity is a global phenomenon, made worse by higher natural acidity in local waters, Harley said.
“I’ve seen pH measured down to about 7.2, so this is very much within the realm of possibility, though unfortunate and extreme,” he said. “We are in a hot spot in the Pacific Northwest.”
The lower the pH, the higher the acidity. Local waters are typically a much-less-acidic 8.2.
High acidity interferes with the ability of baby scallops to form a protective shell, forcing them to expend more energy and making them more vulnerable to predators and infection.
“When the pH goes down, it’s a lot harder to build that shell and we’ve seen that in a lot of other species in the lab,” said Harley. “It interferes with everything they do, their basic physiology is affected.”
Nanaimo-based Island Scallops has shut down its processing plant and laid off 10 people, almost one third of its workforce. The company is a marine hatchery and scallop producer with more than 500 hectares in production.
That’s about 16 per cent of B.C.’s total shellfish culture.
Acidity and carbon dioxide concentrations are measured daily at the hatchery and in the ocean, said Rob Saunders, company CEO.
“In 2009 we started to notice significant problems in the hatchery and when we communicated with hatcheries in Washington, they were seeing the same thing,” he said. “Suddenly we were getting these low pH values. pH has been so stable that for a lot of years no one bothered to measure it, because it never changed. It was really startling.”
Scallop operations big and small are reporting die-offs this year. Mysterious scallop die-offs have also been reported in China since 1996.
Oyster die-offs in Washington state and Oregon dating back a decade have also been linked by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers to acidification and rising carbon dioxide levels.
Oyster larvae started dying inexplicably in 2005. Researchers found that deep water welling up from the depths of the ocean was mixing with surface water rich in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, rendering the water uninhabitable to some shellfish.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide recently passed 400 parts per million in the Earth’s atmosphere, according to recent measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory. That’s up from 280 ppm in the pre-industrial era.
It’s a phenomenon that Saunders has also noticed.
Carbon dioxide concentrations that had been stable for as long as records were kept started to climb and, rather than correcting, they stayed high. By 2011, concentrations were verging on double the normal range, he said.
“No one — not even the researchers — expected the situation to decline this rapidly,” said Saunders.
An audit of Island Scallops’ facilities early in 2013 counted 3 million scallops seeded in 2010 and seven million from 2011.
“We started gearing up for processing,” he said.
But the animals started to die soon after and by July, mortality hit 95 to 100 per cent. Other local growers faced the same fate.
“We weren’t the only ones, Cape Mudge lost 2.5 million animals and some other small growers lost 300,000,” he said.
The B.C. Shellfish Growers Association is asking Fisheries and Oceans Canada to take part in a study with B.C. growers to work out potential solutions to the problem.
Growers have been forced to artificially increase the pH of the water entering hatcheries to protect larvae, but that is little help to the shellfish once they are moved to the ocean.
“Increasingly, the acidic ocean is having an effect on survival and growth of shellfish during grow out in the ocean,” according to the industry association. “For example, in 2010, 2011, and 2012, a number of scallop farmers experienced heavy mortality in every year class exhibiting the following: varying signs of shell deformation; problems with shell deposition (darkening of inside of shell); weak or brittle shells. In 2013, mortalities reached 90% in all earlier year classes.” - Vancouver Sun.
February 19, 2014 - UNITED STATES - The H1N1 virus responsible for the 2009 global pandemic is back.
State health officials from across the country say the resurgence is
resulting in a dramatic rise in flu deaths in young and middle-aged
adults and in children this season.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images -
A sign advertising flu shots hangs in a Walgreens Pharmacy.
Public health officials are encouraging residents to get flu shots as an
aggressive strain of the H1N1 "swine flu" has killed 15 people in the
San Francisco Bay Area.
While the reported death tolls so far are only a fraction of
what they were four years ago, they are significantly higher than last
year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the flu has been killing at epidemic levels since mid-January.
With one month to six weeks to go in the flu season, which typically ends in March or April, the CDC said the number of people visiting doctors and hospitals for flu-like symptoms is declining overall, but some states are continuing to see high levels of flu activity or even increases in activity. Although the flu usually disproportionately affects the very old and the very young, this season 60 percent of those hospitalized for influenza have been age 18 to 64.
“These severe flu outcomes are a reminder that flu can be a very serious disease for anyone, including young, previously healthy adults,” CDC spokesman Jason McDonald said.
H1N1, which is also known as the “swine flu” because it was originally a respiratory illness in pigs, has been popping up in some patients seasonally for the past few years, but this is the first flu season since the 2009 pandemic in which it has been circulating so widely.
The outbreak has been especially severe in California. There have been 243 deaths of residents younger than 65 so far this year. An additional 41 cases were reported but have not been confirmed. In the 2012-13 season, there were 26 deaths by this time, and in the 2011-12 season there were nine deaths. In the 2009-10 season, there were 527 deaths.
Surveillance reports from the health departments in Virginia and Maryland show that the flu is widespread in the region, but the two states and the District of Columbia do not track adult deaths from the flu. The District has seen a surge in flu cases in the past month, with 90 percent being H1N1. Virginia reported that one child died from flu this season, while Maryland and the District had no child deaths.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, some hospitals have been so inundated with patients complaining of flu-like symptoms that triage tents have been set up on their lawns to prevent them from spreading the virus to others in the medical centers. In Sacramento, intensive care units are overflowing with those with breathing issues, water in their lungs, organ failure or other complications from the flu.
Online, residents are swapping stories via social media of people who have died of the flu, and doctors and public officials are seizing on the panic to urge the unvaccinated to get a flu shot immediately. (It takes about two weeks after the shot for the antibodies to develop.)
The death of Nancy Pinnella, a 47-year-old sales manager who worked at Sacramento’s News10, an ABC affiliate, has served as a cautionary tale to many. Pinnella left work Jan. 21 saying that she wasn’t feeling well, was hospitalized the next day and died three days later. Family members told News10 that Pinnella was in great health before she got the flu and did not get a flu shot.
Her story has resulted in an outpouring of sympathy from around the world. California’s first lady, Anne Gust Brown, wife of Gov. Jerry Brown (D), tweeted that she went to CVS and got her first flu shot ever “after reading the heartbreaking story of Nancy Pinnella.”
North Carolina also appears to be looking at a possible record year for flu deaths. The number of deaths stands at 64. Last year, the state had 59 deaths the whole season, and in 2012 it had only nine.
In a study of Duke University Medical Center patients published this month, researchers found that those hospitalized for the flu between Nov. 1 and Jan. 8 were much younger — with an average age of 28.5 years — and more likely to have serious complications than those who had H1N1 in the past. About 40 percent of the patients this year ended up needing intensive care, compared with 20 percent in 2009.
“We don’t know why, but it is worrisome,” said Jelena Catania, an infectious diseases fellow at Duke and a co-author of the study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Laurie Forlano, deputy state epidemiologist for Virginia, said that although it’s too early to draw any conclusions, there are indications that the population being affected in her state is also skewing toward young adults. She said that H1N1 was included in this year’s flu vaccine, so some of those who are coming down with the flu may not have gotten the vaccine. The vaccine’s efficacy rate is usually in the 50 to 70 percent range.
“It’s never perfect, but for some people, getting the vaccine is a matter of life and death,” she said.
Scientists have been working on a universal flu vaccine, which would provide long-term protection and remove the need to get one every year, but even the most optimistic say such a product is years away.
Meanwhile, the severity of this year’s flu is renewing the controversy over mandatory flu vaccinations.
In Rhode Island, the state has proposed a regulation that would require annual flu vaccines for children up to age 5 and would require those with exemptions to stay out of day care during outbreaks. Opponents, which include the American Civil Liberties Union, say parents should have the right to choose the best medical treatment for their children. A similar debate took place in New York City in December, when the board of health voted in favor of a mandatory vaccine for children younger than 6.
The reemergence of H1N1 in the United States comes as even more virulent strains that are combinations of several genetic strains begin to appear around the world.
In recent months, the World Health Organization has been tracking more than 300 cases, mostly in China, of people infected by a dangerous avian influenza strain, H7N9. A quarter of those infected are estimated to have died, but so far the WHO says there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.
This month, there was more alarming news: Chinese officials, writing
in the journal Lancet, said they identified yet another brand-new bird
flu, H10N8,
in a 73-year-old woman in Nanchang, a city in the southeastern part of
the country. Researchers hypothesize that the woman, the first known
death from this strain, may have contracted the virus while at a poultry
market. The scientists warned that the virus could become extremely
dangerous if it developed the ability to be transmitted from human to
human.
“The pandemic potential of this novel virus should not be underestimated,” the researchers concluded. - Washington Post.
February 07, 2014 - UNITED STATES - Winter Storm Orion will deliver some much needed
snowpack to the western mountains. Snow will continue to fall at low
elevations, creating travel problems along the I-5 corridor.
Snowfall Forecast
Orion will also bring some light snow to parts of the Midwest and Northeast this weekend.
The first in a series of disturbances moved into the Northwest on Thursday.
Up to 10 inches of snow was reported in Corvallis. A total of 3.8 inches of snow was measured in Portland, making it the fifth greatest single-day snowfall total in the city dating back to 1940.
Another disturbance will move across western Oregon Friday into early Saturday, allowing more wintry weather to affect the Willamette Valley
Friday's Forecast
Portland could see more than 3 inches of additional snow. Areas farther south, including Eugene, will also see more snow, possibly mixed with freezing rain. Travel along the I-5 corridor will be impacted once again.
Wintry precipitation will continue to affect the lower elevations of northwest Oregon into Sunday as more moisture pushes into the region. Welcome Rain and Snow in Northern California, Intermountain West
A
persistent feed of moisture and energy aloft will also focus
significant amounts of precipitation on northern California in the
coming days. This rain and snow is much needed to help ease the severe
to extreme drought conditions.
Snow levels in the northern Sierra Nevada of California will start around 4,000 feet on Friday, and then rise to near or above pass level late Saturday. By the end of the weekend, snowfall totals of up to 4 feet are possible in the higher elevations of the Sierra above 7,000 feet.
Farther inland, significant amounts of snow will also impact the Intermountain West, including parts of Idaho, western Wyoming, Utah, northern Nevada and Colorado. Snowfall totals of more than a foot are possible in the mountains into the weekend. This snow will fall in some locations that are either experiencing drought or abnormally dry conditions, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor.
The warm side of Orion will also produce heavy rainfall.
In the lower elevations of California, rainfall totals of 1 to 3
inches are possible through the weekend in the Sacramento Valley and
northern San Joaquin Valley.
Rainfall amounts of 1 to 3
inches are also expected in the Bay Area, including San Francisco and
Oakland. The higher elevations around the Bay Area and in northwest
California could see up to 8 inches of rain.
This will easily be the heaviest period of precipitation so far this winter in northern California.
Saturday's Forecast
Sunday's Forecast
Midwest into the Northeast
Upper-level energy associated with Orion will also spread light snow through the Midwest and Northeast this weekend.
Saturday's snow may affect Des Moines, Iowa, Chicago and Milwaukee. The light snow or flurries will then push into the Northeast Saturday night into Sunday.
At this time, it appears most locations will see no more than a dusting to a few inches. - TWC.
January 27, 2014 - NORTH AMERICA - Achy, shaky, hot and cold? Didja get a flu shot? Didja? “We’re seeing a lot of influenza, just like nationwide,” Lee County Health Department Administrator Cathy Ferguson said. The same is true in Whiteside County, health department officials there said. And like the rest of the nation, the H1N1, or swine flu strain, is back, Ferguson said. Typical influenza hits infants and people older than 65 the hardest.
H1N1, which caused a nationwide pandemic in 2009, tends to expand that pool to young adults, pregnant women, older children, and people with chronic diseases. Although health officials are seeing about the usual number of cases for this time of year, they are seeing it in more people younger than 65, said Joan Saunders, Whiteside County’s head of infectious diseases. Statewide, at least seven people, most in Cook County, have died this season, while 450 have been hospitalized, Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said Thursday. The flu has put at least a couple of people in the hospital in Lee County, Ferguson said. The state notifies her office of confirmed cases only when they’re bad enough to put the victim in ICU – the only cases required to be reported to the Department of Public Health, she said. Those 450 cases are barely the tip of the iceberg, though, since most people suffer through the illness alone, many without seeing a doctor. Although the season is nearly half over, it’s not too late to get immunized. The Department of Public Health recommends anyone 6 months and older get a flu shot, since the more people vaccinated, the less likely it is to spread. Vaccines, including the flu mist, still are available at the Lee County Health Department, Ferguson said. Whiteside County, which has given more than 3,000 vaccines this season, is out, though, and so is advising people to go to their local pharmacies or physicians, Saunders said. The vaccine takes about 2 weeks to take effect, so sooner is better than later. And if you do get achy, shaky, hot and cold? “Stay home!” Saunders said. - Sauk Valley.
H1N1 Fears Spur Extra Flu Vaccine Demand.
Community Health Nurse Amy Beck injects a patient with a H1N1 vaccine during a flu shot program in Calgary on Oct. 26, 2009. (Jeff McIntosh/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Canada will ship out more influenza vaccine this season than it has since the H1N1 pandemic swept the country four years ago, with nearly every province and territory placing late-season orders to satisfy a surprising surge in demand for the flu shot. The 2013-2014 season marks the first time since the pandemic that Canada has been forced to track down extra vaccine, above and beyond a five-per-cent cushion built into the country’s contracts with vaccine makers, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
“With this season – for whatever reason and we can only theorize – but there has been a lot more uptake, a lot more demand by Canadians,” said Dr. Gregory Taylor, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer. Only Nova Scotia and Nunavut declined to snap up more vaccine when Ottawa secured more than 400,000 extra doses earlier this month, according to an informal survey by The Globe and Mail. Newfoundland and Labrador increased its vaccine supply by the largest amount – 62 per cent – by requesting an extra 80,000 doses on top of the 130,000 it ordered at the start of the influenza season. Saskatchewan and Manitoba were not far behind, increasing their stockpiles by 53 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively. Canada had already ordered approximately 10.8 million doses at the start of the season, about the same size of the order it placed at the beginning of the 2010-2011 season and more than any year since, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). The demand is particularly puzzling because, as public health officials have been stressing, this has been a typical flu season. That raises a question that is as difficult to answer as the flu virus is to predict: What makes Canadians clamour for flu shots one year and eschew them the next? “It’s really quite unusual,” Dr. Michael Gardam, one of the country’s top flu specialists, said of the late-season purchases. “It’s been a very average season. ”
The prevalence of H1N1 this year could explain the surge, experts say. More than 90 per cent of the flu cases detected this year have been H1N1, now considered a regular seasonal flu virus. Some provinces have been hit harder than others: Saskatchewan, for instance, announced Friday that 16 people in the province had died of the H1N1 strain of the flu, one more than in the pandemic season of 2009-2010. “The word H1N1 is scarier than regular flu and that drives demand,” said Dr. Allison McGeer, director of infection control at Toronto’s Mount Sinai hospital. H1N1 also tends to strike people between the ages of 20 and 64. Last year, H3N2 dominated and hit more seniors. Both strains are included in this year’s flu vaccine, along with a type of influenza B. Media reports of adults in this younger age group contracting the flu, falling seriously ill and dying, prompted a stampede to flu clinics, particularly in the western provinces in the last week of December and first week of January. “It was the spike after Christmas in H1N1, the shift in morbidity and mortality to a younger age group and the media attention that that garnered,” said Dr. Perry Kendall, the provincial health officer for British Columbia. Still, January and February are not the best time to get the flu shot. Full protection does not kick in until two weeks after the shot is administered. Those who receive the vaccine today would have gone unshielded through much of the flu season. “Waiting until that moment to get your flu shot, it’s not entirely worthless, but frankly there’s a reasonable chance it’s not going to help you much,” said Dr. Gardam, who is the director of infection prevention and control at Toronto’s University Health Network. “The analogy I give is, you’ve never bought fire insurance, now your drapes are on fire and you’re frantically calling State Farm. You’re kind of too late.” - The Globe and Mail.
California Deaths From H1N1 Rise To 146.
Influenza claimed 50 more young lives in California this week, proving that a potent virus that arrived a virtual stranger in 2009 has gained the lead role in our winter dance with the disease. The H1N1 virus -- the swine flu bug -- is circulating through susceptible groups, especially among a younger generation that often goes without vaccinations and had not been exposed to this strain, health authorities said Friday. H1N1 has largely replaced last year's H3N2 strain and has already killed nearly 40 percent more people than last year's total, even though flu season has yet to reach its peak.
In California, it has claimed the lives of 95 adults younger than 65, and 51 more deaths await confirmation as flu related. That would bring the total to 146 deaths, state epidemiologist Dr. Gil Chavez reported at a Friday news conference. The nine Bay Area counties and Santa Cruz County have reported 32 flu-related deaths this season. That's a pattern similar to what was seen when H1N1 last circled the globe. "The elderly, like in 2009, are not overwhelmingly getting infected," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "They are seemingly protected from it." In contrast, at this time last year, H3N2 dominated and killed many elders -- but only nine deaths were reported among Californians under 65. The state does not track flu deaths for residents over 65, so information about the impact on that age group is mostly anecdotal. Among this year's victims were 23-year-old Matthew Walker, of Santa Rosa, a healthy young man who enjoyed windsurfing and skateboarding. The experience of losing a son, his father, Cliff Walker, told NBC Bay Area, was "a ragged roller coaster ride, with a bad ending."
All but one of this year's deaths have been linked to the H1N1 virus. Most occurred in Californians who, unlike Walker, had a pre-existing medical condition, such as chronic heart disease, asthma or a suppressed immune system, or were pregnant, according to Chavez. One of the newly reported deaths was a child who lived in Riverside County. In all, the illness has claimed the lives of three children under age 10, including one in San Mateo County. Despite such tragedies, the good news is that H1N1 is less deadly than it was during the peak of the 2009 pandemic, and that is because we're better protected, Fauci said. It is one of the strains included in the current flu vaccine, which usually shields people exposed to the virus. And many who have been sick before have developed antibodies to it. There are several reasons why younger people seem so vulnerable. Significantly, as a group, they are less likely to be vaccinated than elders. Some scientists think the genetic structure of H1N1 targets the lungs, while H3N2 tended to attack the upper respiratory system. A mutation in an amino acid called D225G might allow H1N1 to bind more effectively to lung cells, making us more susceptible to pneumonia and death. And younger people may have not acquired immunity through previous exposure. Forms of the H1N1 virus were detected in the 1930s, then in the mid-1950s and again in 1971, according to flu tracker and biomedical researcher Henry Niman of the Pennsylvania company Recombinomics, Inc. It appeared again -- in significantly altered form -- in 2009. This year, more than 95 percent of the circulating flu viruses are H1N1, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention That's much higher than in any of the previous three flu seasons. "It has knocked the other strains off the map," said Fauci. - Mercury News.
Flu Deaths In Saskatchewan Hit 16, Surpass Pandemic Year.
The number of flu-related deaths in Saskatchewan is up to 16 from 12,
surpassing the number of people
who died in the 2009 pandemic.
| shutterstock
The number of flu-related deaths in Saskatchewan is up to 16 from 12, surpassing the number of people who died in the 2009 pandemic. Fifteen people died in Saskatchewan during that H1N1 outbreak. Dr. Denise Werker, the province's deputy medical health officer, says there have been more than 1,100 lab confirmed cases of flu this year and 57 people have been admitted to intensive care. "What we are seeing is an incredible toll this season in terms of influenza and that is related most likely to the H1N1 virus, the strain that is circulating this season," she said Friday. There's an unusual shift in the people affected, Werker added. "What's interesting in terms of the admissions and deaths is that men are two times more likely to have been admitted to intensive care and to die as compared to women," she said. "And that risk is not experienced in the laboratory confirmations where we have a ratio that's 50-50 between men and women. For some reason, men seem to be more at risk for being admitted to hospital with severe illness and also to die."
Werker said there is no concrete evidence as to why men are dying more than women. She speculates that it might be because men are less likely to get vaccinated or could be more genetically predisposed. There is always the question of an underlying health condition as well. Werker noted that none of the 16 people who died were vaccinated. About 75 per cent of them had other health issues. The people who were admitted to intensive care or who died range in age from under one to 86 years old. The average age is mid-50s, she said. The doctor said she is puzzled to see the numbers in Saskatchewan, because other provinces don't seem to be having the same experience. But that might just be because Saskatchewan is more timely in reporting cases than other jurisdictions, she suggested. The flu season has probably peaked in Saskatchewan overall, Werker said, but she cautioned that influenza is just beginning to take off in the northern part of the province. "My concern is that we have just peaked and that we may get more deaths on the other side of the slope," she said. "We have an enormous opportunity to prevent more deaths by people getting vaccinated. During pandemic, our vaccine coverage rates were 50 per cent. "We have not achieved that this season." - Huffington Post.
5 More Flu Deaths Reported In San Diego.
Courtesy: County News Center.
Influenza activity in the region remains elevated, and five more deaths
have been reported, the County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA)
announced Thursday. The new flu-related deaths raise the total
reported locally this season to 12. The people who died ranged in age
from 35 to 91 years old and all had underlying medical conditions. Last
season, 65 flu-related deaths were reported in the county. For the week ending January 18, 2014, HHSA reported the following:
Emergency
department visits for influenza-like illness: 10 percent of visits
(down from 11 percent the previous week; the figure has been revised
since the last report)
Lab-confirmed influenza cases for the
week: 545 (down from 704 the previous week; the figure has been revised
since the last report)
Total lab-confirmed influenza cases to date this season: 1,965
The latest statistics involving children as of January 23, 2014:
11patients are currently at Rady Children’s Hospital with influenza.
2 patients have been admitted into the ICU (Intensive Care Unit).
In the Emergency Department, approximately 10-15% of patients we are seeing have influenza or influenza-like illness.
Since January 1, 13 patients have been admitted to our Intensive Care Unit with Influenza.
Since January 1, almost a quarter of the patients we have tested for influenza have been admitted to the hospital.
“Influenza
is widespread in San Diego and if you have not gotten vaccinated it’s
not too late to do it,” said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County public
health officer. “The predominant influenza virus circulating in San
Diego this season is Pandemic H1N1. This is similar to the flu seen in
other parts of the country.” Compared to last season, a
significantly higher proportion of young and middle-aged adults are
being reported with flu, which is expected with H1N1. More San Diegans
have required intensive care for influenza than at this time last year,
with 92 cases reported so far this season. There were 116 intensive
care cases reported for all of last season. - Patch.
H1N1 Cases Hit Central Mexico.
The state of San Luis Potosí has registered the largest number of H1N1 influenza cases so far this flu season at 250 cases, followed by Jalisco with 219, Nuevo León with 109, Mexico City with 104 and Mexico State with 91, the Health Secretariat reported on Saturday. Nevertheless, the 4 percent death rate from the H1N1 influenza in San Luis Potosí remains less than half the national average of 8.8 percent. The Health Secretariat reported that 10 people have died from H1N1 influenza in San Luis Potosí — up from five the previous week. In Hidalgo, 12 people have died from the disease and 86 have been infected, despite the fact that the previous week the Health Secretariat had reported only 23 infections and two deaths. Hidalgo Health Subsecretary Ana María Tavares advised people to immediately see a doctor if they have a fever of more than 39°C (102°F), as well as if they present symptoms such as difficulty breathing and coughing, adding that those who died from the disease waited three days to see a doctor after their symptoms first appeared. According to Tavares, between Jan. 1 and 24, 92 flu cases have been registered in Hidalgo, of which 86 correspond to the H1N1 strain. She added that six of the 12 people who have died of the disease were treated at hospitals managed by the Health Secretariat, with the other six at the hospitals run by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). Public health authorities say that cold weather is helping spread the flu and other respiratory ailments, adding that the numbers are expected to go up in the coming days. One of the disease control strategies that the Hidalgo Health Secretariat has employed to fight the disease is to install vaccination centers in shopping malls and transit centers in the cities of Pachuca and Tulancingo. - The News.
