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...million Number of children in 10 African countries targeted in a polio-vaccination drive condemned by Islamic leaders in Nigeria as a U.S. plot to sterilize Muslims or infect them with...
Deadly diseases that cross the species barrier and infect humans--like bird flu and SARS--make big headlines these days. But if you're really worried about getting an animal disease, you need look no farther than the fluffball curled up on your pillow. Cats, dogs, hamsters and snakes are breeding grounds for all sorts of microbes and swap molecules with us regularly. Our pets share our air, furniture and food dishes. We change their litter, enjoy their slobbery affection and endure their occasional bites...
Mercury pollution can easily enter the food web and infect what we eat. By tainting our rivers and marine life, the bio-accumulative substance directly threatens public health. In fact, 41 states currently have fish-consumption advisories due to mercury poisoning. And, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 8 percent of women of childbearing age have mercury in their blood exceeding levels deemed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—clearly some unsettling statistics...
...swap genetic material. The resulting hybrid could be both deadly and virulent. Even if it weren't immediately contagious, it could quickly evolve. A study published last week in the journal Science reported that the SARS virus mutated in a matter of months from a form that could infect only 3% of people who came in contact with it to one that infected 70%. Once it mutated, SARS quickly spread around the world, infecting thousands and killing more than 900. A hybrid H5N1 could be far deadlier...
...there could be an even more ominous disease vector at work?or in flight. For years, the greatest fear of many influenza experts has been the possibility that the H5N1 strain would infect migratory birds. Since huge amounts of virus are shed in bird feces, such an epidemic among migratory birds would mean death raining down from the sky in the form of H5N1 virus. In November and December of 2002, there were numerous migratory-waterfowl deaths due to H5N1 in Hong Kong's Penfold and Kowloon parks. Mysteriously, when further screenings of migratory birds were conducted immediately after...