The first time, I heard about “Coxsackievirus” was back in 1997 when I was working in Brunei. It started a panic in Sarawak when some 31 children died from this particular virus. I still remember having lunch with a second secretary and he jokingly told me, “Hey Mike, what is the more virulent form of coxsackievirus?”. Before I could answer, he chuckled and said “assfuckie”. Both of us laughed about it.
But deep down, there were real concern in Brunei and East Malaysia when it was sudden hit by this highly virulent strain. My elder son was just barely over 1 years old then and my younger son was just conceived (now that I calculated his birthdate in Feb 1998). So I was fully understood the near panic situation then.
For the record, the Coxsackieviruses were discovered in 1948-49 by Gilbert Dalldorf, a scientist working at the New York State Department of Health in Albany, New York. The virus family he discovered was eventually given the name Coxsackie, for the town of Coxsackie, New York, a small town on the Hudson River where Dalldorf had obtained the first fecal specimens.
Speaking of Albany, it brought to mind about the presently rampant bat fungal disease , the White nose syndrome (WNS), a poorly understood disease associated with the deaths of more than 5.5 million North American bats. It was first identified in a moist cave in Feb 2006 in Schoharie County (just only 60km northwest of Coxsackie town).
The 1946 – 1948 was also an infamous year for the US for the unethical experiment that deliberately infect sexually transmittable diseases, including syphilis and gonorrhea on prisoners, mental patients and SOLDIERS. This experiment was conducted in Guatemala, the present site of the new emerging BAT Influenza (Feb 2012), another possible highly contagious disease if it starts to spread. On 1 Oct, 2010, The United States issued an unusual apology to Guatemala for the experiment. In a joint statement issued by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. It said:
“The sexually transmitted disease inoculation study conducted from 1946-1948 in Guatemala was clearly unethical. Although these events occurred more than 64 years ago, we are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health. We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologize to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices. The conduct exhibited during the study does not represent the values of the United States, or our commitment to human dignity and great respect for the people of Guatemala. The study is a sad reminder that adequate human subject safeguards did not exist a half-century ago.” (link)
So, the moral of the story is that US has conduct unethical experiments on foreign soils, not to mention the Agent Orange effect in Indo-China. Often it is done much later after the war is over and many had died. However, there are also other equally worrisome weirdos raised in the US during that era. One such is the infamous cult leader, Reverend James Warren “Jim” Jones, who initially was working as a monkey salesman, back in 1954, selling monkeys door to door to supplement his income and he becomes the focus of a front-page story in The Indianapolis Star when he refuses an air shipment of monkeys because many are sick or died en route. This is the part that will scared the hell out people who read a lot. If you recall, the AID virus was first discovered in 1959 during the time when US had the practice of selling monkeys door-to-door.
AIDs – The oldest documented possible case of the then-unknown syndrome (now AIDs) was thought to have been detected in 1959, when David Carr, a 25-year-old British printer who had travelled in the navy between 1955 and 1957 (but apparently not to Africa). (link)
On 18 Nov 1978, Jim Jones, the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, conducted a mass suicide for 913 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana. Nobody knows why they did it but it was apparently for a doomsday scenario. The worrisome part is whether were they involved in biological attack given Jim Jones’ earlier career selling sick monkeys in the US. I suspect his brained-washed followers were forced to drink poison after some hideous biological job. Remember the show “The Twelve Monkeys”. (youtube trailer)
Back to the coxsackie virus in this region. The lesser virulent form is the Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is apparently stated to be caused by intestinal viruses of the Picornaviridae family. The most common strains causing HFMD are Coxsackie A virus and Enterovirus 71 (EV-71). For the children, it often manifest as red blisters or spots in the hand, foot and mouth region. However, for adults it is not to obvious but the worrisome part is that HFMD can cause inflammation of the heart region – Pericarditis (an inflammation of the pericardium the fibrous sac surrounding the heart).
For the adults with heart inflammation, it could be dismissed as flu symptom, so many will continue with their sports activities and this could be fatal in extreme cases or have their heart damaged irrevocably.
So it would be wise to consult your doctor or physician if you think you have the HFMD or more virulent coxsackie version. I thought having some sort of anti-inflammatory preventive medication could be one way to protect the heart. But it should be better that paracetamol since it is known to cause liver damage. The increased available dosage of 500mg can be fatal given the fact that twenty years ago, it was only in 250mg dosage. So the elderly who are used to taking two tablets of 25omg will now pop 2 x 500mg tablets to reach 1000mg in one sitting. Thus the frail liver could cause more problems instead. Fortunately, nowadays for those with flu, the doctor will also dispense Fluimucil (Acetylcysteine) to prevent thick mucous formation but also has the unique properties to treat paracetamol (acetaminophen) overdose. For those who self-medicate with lots of paracetamol and worst still take a lot of alcohol, It toxicity is increased greatly. Taking milk thistle or glutathione tablets (from GNC) can help to boost your liver. However it is still good to see a doctor or your physician.
Take Care
Mikey
Read Full Post »
Shananarocks Again! 