Dengue Invades India

TALLAHASSEE, FL – The mosquito born plague, dengue is affecting New Delhi, India and is spreading around the world.  Dengue is a tropical disease that has traveled to Europe and the United States. Health officials in Miami discovered a local dengue infection last month. 

Annually one million Indians are infected with dengue. The Chief of Infectious Disease at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, Dr. Timothy Andy said, “I would say that anybody over the age of 20 in India has been infected with dengue”. 

Miami-Dade Health Communications department was contacted but available.

With high numbers of Indians sickened by dengue the government is still underreporting cases. Public hospital and confirmed laboratory results are the only cases being counted. 

Sign in New Delhi, India warning residents, FacenFact.com

Underreporting only helps with the spread of  the disease and undiagnosed Indians have increased to hundreds of million. Some officials think if the true number of those infected with dengue were revealed then it be damaging politics.  

But hospitals in India are overcrowded with patients sharing beds and walking in the hallways. Last month, 30,002 people in Indian were sickened with dengue which was an increase from 2011’s 18,860. 

Chief of the dengue branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Dr. Harold S. Margolis said the amount of cases officially reported In India is a joke. 

India’s population is 60 times larger than Sir Lanka that reported three times more dengue cases in August. An unpublished study in West Bengal shows the underreporting of Indian’s dengue cases. In Thailand children are infected with dengue at least once in childhood.  IT IS common for adults who move to India to become infected within a few months. 

Dengue can range from mild flu-like symptoms with high fever to extreme vomiting, skin rashes, and muscle and  joint pains. Doctors must attend patients around the clock and intravenous fluids are the only way a patient can survive.    

There is no vaccine available but the Indian government is spraying pesticides to kill mosquitos which spread the disease.  But few believe that will solve the problem. 

Dr. Scott Halstead said India is in trouble and that in 10 to 12 years a vaccine might be developed.

By Precious Dorch-Robinson 
With contributions from The New York Times
Photo, FacenFacts.com
Video, TheBollywoodLife

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Ningbo, China Halts Chemical Plant

TALLAHASSEE, FL – In Ningbo, China thousands of demonstrators halted the expansion of petrochemical plant. Protestors say the refinery will cause more pollution. The protest started when over a period of three days a group of  farmers blocked roads to the Sinopec factory. 

Protestors in Ningbo, China

Riots broke out on Saturday when police beat, dragged and tear gassed protestors. Thousands of middle-class residents and students wore painted masks and carried signs. Marchers retaliated against the police by throwing bricks and bottles, which resulted 100 detainments.

The expansion of the Sinopec’s refinery cost $88 billion but residents oppose it because paraxylene, a product of  the petrochemical plant is toxic. Paraxylene is an ingredient in polyester, paint and plastic bottles. Residents said the increase in pollution by the refinery results in cancer.

The protests at paraxylene plants are common in China and cause controversy within the government. In 2007, the city of Xiamen relocated the PX plant that was ten miles from downtown. Last year, in northeast china in Dailan officials told marchers a PX refinery would be shut down yet it remains open. 

 Ma Jun, director of Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs said, “Ignoring public concerns leads to confrontation.”

After the government censored protestors they simply used social media as an outlet. Smartphones and tablets helped photos and videos go viral.

Government officials announced on Sunday that they canceled the PX plant after talking with investors and they will now conduct “scientific verifications.”

Yu Xiaoming, an opposer of the chemical plant, negotiated with authorities to shut down the plant said, “The announcement is just a way to ease tensions.”

LaRae Donnellan, Florida A&M University journalism professor and FAMU's Chair of the Green Coalition said, "We need to make a fundamental change in the way we live." Donnellan said the public is sometimes very unaware of the affects of the things they throw away. "They[plastics] may be cheap to make but expensive for the health impact on people and detrimental to the communities in which people live and work." 

Protestors’ responded to the announcement by demanding demonstrators be released and that the town's mayor should resign.

By Precious Dorch-Robinson

With contributions from The New York Times

Photo, World.time.com

Video, VienTham1

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