belly fat, caught the infection, infect, endemic, bronchitis. meningitis, marsupia, retrovirus

What happens when you get infected by the virus, and what are your chances if you do? A new report describing what happened to 138 patients treated in a hospital on the frontlines in Wuhan, China, has some answers—and some alarming news about how the virus can spread inside a hospital.

The Wuhan doctors, led by Zhiyong Peng at the critical care department at Zhognan Hospital of Wuhan University, say about 40% of the people they treated actually caught the infection at their hospital, including 40 health-care professionals and 17 patients who were already there for surgeries or other reasons.

They said 4.3% of the patients died and about 34% got better and left the hospital, while the rest were still being treated. Outside of China, the death rate appears to be much lower, but in Wuhan doctors are clearly struggling. The city has been under a lockdown quarantine since last month.




A traveller who arrived in Seattle has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus which has infected nearly 300 people and originated in China.




Administrators are monitoring cases of meningitis at Yale and Providence College.

Trying to combat belly fat in the new year? Author David Zinczenko came up with nine foods to help you achieve what he calls ‘Zero Belly.’http://cnn.it/1y3SYLq


2 Star-Crossed Afghans Cling to Love, Even at Risk of Death
By ROD NORDLAND

Young people who want to choose their own mates face the harsh reality that strict social traditions still trump new laws and expanded rights - and that honor killings in such cases remain endemic.

Billy Graham Hospitalized for Bronchitis

The 93-year-old evangelist was doing fine on Monday, according to his spokesperson.

Viruses are nasty. The very word stems from Latin for "poison". A class of them called retroviruses is particularly insidious. Human retroviruses understandably get most attention, but they threaten other animals, too. One has recently been wreaking havoc in the marsupial world. In some places, it has wiped out 80% of the koala population http://econ.st/J3L2oq

Princeton University Considers Use of Foreign Meningitis Vaccine
By VIVIAN YEE

The university's leaders are contemplating a stronger step to halt an outbreak that has hospitalized seven people: distributing a vaccine not approved for use in the United States.


It virtually disappeared from Europe after the early 1960s because children had access to antibiotics, he explained. But in Africa, where many people have "never seen a nurse or a doctor in their life", Strada said, rheumatic fever is endemic and leads to the continent’s most common form of heart disease, causing an estimated 300,000 deaths a year.（AFP）

該疾病實際上在1960年代初期後，已從歐洲消失，因為兒童可獲取抗生素，他解釋。但在許多人「未曾看過護士或醫生」的非洲，史特拉達說，風濕熱盛行，從而成為這塊大陸上最普遍的心臟病，每年估計造成30萬人死亡。（法新社）

 UK rejects meningitis B vaccine
The only vaccine to protect against a deadly form of meningitis should not be introduced in the UK, according to the body that advises governments... 


Prayer, Anger and Protests Greet Verdict in Florida Case

By ADAM NAGOURNEY

Lawmakers, clergy members and demonstrators described the decision not to convict George Zimmerman on any counts in the death of Trayvon Martin as evidence of endemic racism.

Syrian Rebels Expands, With Aid From C.I.A.

By C. J. CHIVERS and ERIC SCHMITT

Military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters from Arab governments and Turkey has increased, and the C.I.A.’s role has shown an American willingness to help support lethal aid.

“I think buying them with this in mind is likely to increase mindfulness, which is good for health,” said Ellen J. Langer, a Harvard psychologist who has studied the connections between mindfulness, exercise and health. “It will probably result in even more walking, with the implicit and explicit virtues endemic to exercise.”

The thorniest question is about economic policy mistakes after 1991. In retrospect, the West failed to prepare for the Soviet collapse. It took too long to recognise that Boris Yeltsin’s first government deserved trust, pressing it too hard on debt repayments and being too stingy with aid. Then it made the opposite mistake, being too trusting and generous when Russia was becoming more hawkish and looting was endemic. Mass privatisation broke the planners’ grip but failed to create the hoped-for shareholder democracy.

It's the scandal of the poetry that 'contingent' features of sound and rhythm systematically infect and affect thought.
--Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan Culler, Oxford University Press, 1997, p.79
南京譯林出版社 "文學理論入門" 翻譯差--對詩歌的毀謗，認為聲音和韻律的"偶然性"系統地侵入並影響了思維。（第83頁）

HC改成 「聲音和韻律的"偶然"特性，竟系統地污染並影響了詩歌，真是憾事。」




Steroid Shot Near Spine Gives Illness an Opening
By DENISE GRADY
A steroid drug tainted with a fungus has been recalled in a meningitis outbreak, but more cases are expected, even as experts examine why only a fraction of the people exposed have fallen ill.

retrovirus

Syllabification: (ret·ro·vi·rus)

Pronunciation: /ˌretrōˈvīrəs, ˈretrōˌvīrəs/

Translate retrovirus | into German | into Italian
noun

Biology

• any of a group of RNA viruses that insert a DNA copy of their genome into the host cell in order to replicate, e.g., HIV.

Origin:

1970s: modern Latin, from the initial letters of reverse transcriptase + virus

retrovirus

  音節

rétro • vìrus

retrovirusの変化形

retroviruses (複数形)

[名]《生化学》レトロウイルス：1本鎖RNAウイルスで, 逆転写酵素によってウイルスRNAを鋳型として2本鎖DNAを合成し, 宿主DNAに組み込まれて, 増殖する（HIV, ヒトT細胞白血病ウイルスなど）.

meningitis[men・in・gi・tis]

• 発音記号[mènindʒáitis]

[名][U]《病理学》髄［脳］膜炎.

infect

(ĭn-fĕkt')
tr.v., -fect·ed, -fect·ing, -fects.

1. To contaminate with a pathogenic microorganism or agent.
2. To communicate a pathogen or disease to.
3. To invade and produce infection in.
4. To contaminate or corrupt: envy that infected their thoughts; a society that was infected by racism.
5. To affect in a contagious way: “His fear infected me, and . . . I followed as fast as I could” (W.H. Hudson).

[Middle English infecten, to afflict with disease, from Latin īnficere, īnfect-, to stain, infect (in-, in; see in–² + facere, to do).]

infection 
noun [C or U] ━━ n. 伝染（病）; 汚染; （悪）影響; 感化; 【コンピュータ】感染.
a disease in a part of your body that is caused by bacteria or a virus:
a serious infection
a throat infection
Bandage the wound to reduce the risk of infection.



spore 
noun [C]
a reproductive cell produced by some plants and simple organisms such as ferns and mushrooms ━━ n., vi. 【生物】芽胞［胞子・種子］（を生じる）.

Infection Hits a California Prison Hard

Heidi Schumann for The New York Times

Fever spores are found in soil around Pleasant Valley State Prison in Central California. They can be inhaled when the soil is stirred up.

By JESSE McKINLEY

Published: December 30, 2007

COALINGA, Calif. — When any of the 5,300 inmates at Pleasant Valley State Prison begin coughing and running a fever, doctors do not think flu, bronchitis or even the common cold.

common cold

（普通の）風邪, 感冒.

bron・chi・tis

━━ n. 気管支炎.

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Heidi Schumann for The New York Times

Gilbert Galaviz contracted valley fever shortly after beginning his sentence at Pleasant Valley State Prison.

Enlarge This Image

Heidi Schumann for The New York Times

Plans to ease overcrowding at Pleasant Valley Prison are delayed out of concern that construction might stir up valley fever spores.

They think valley fever; and, more often than they would like, they are right.
In the past three years, more than 900 inmates at the prison have contracted the fever, a fungal infection that has been both widespread and lethal.

lethal

(lē'thəl)
  adj.

1. Capable of causing death.
2. Of, relating to, or causing death. See synonyms at fatal.
3. Extremely harmful; devastating: accusations lethal to the candidate's image.

[Late Latin lēthālis, alteration (probably influenced by Lēthē, Lethe) of Latin lētālis, from lētum, death.]

lethality le·thal'i·ty (lē-thăl'ĭ-tē) n.
lethally le'thal·ly adv.


━━ a. 致命［致死］的な.

lethal dose 50　【生化】（化学物質の）半致死量.
lethal gene [allele]　【遺伝】致死遺伝子.

At least a dozen inmates here in Central California have died from the disease, which is on the rise in other Western states, including Arizona, where the health department declared an epidemic after more than 5,500 cases were reported in 2006, including 33 deaths.
Endemic to parts of the Southwest, valley fever has been reported in recent years in a widening belt from South Texas to Northern California. The disease has infected archaeologists digging at the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and dogs that have inhaled the spores while sniffing for illegal drugs along the Mexican border.
In most cases, the infection starts in the lungs and is usually handled by the body without permanent damage. But serious complications can arise, including meningitis; and, at Pleasant Valley, the scope of the outbreak has left some inmates permanently disabled, confined to wheelchairs and interned in expensive long-term hospital stays.
About 80 prison employees have also contracted the fever, Pleasant Valley officials say, including a corrections officer who died of the disease in 2005.
What makes the disease all the more troubling is that its cause is literally underfoot: the spores that cause the infection reside in the region’s soil. When that soil is disturbed, something that happens regularly where houses are being built, crops are being sown and a steady wind churns, those spores are inhaled. The spores can also be kicked up by Mother Nature including earthquakes and dust storms.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re custody staff, it doesn’t matter if you’re a plumber or an electrician,” said James A. Yates, the warden at Pleasant Valley. “You breathe the same air as you walk around out there.”
The epidemic at the prison has led to a clash of priorities for a correctional system that is dealing with below average medical care and chronic overcrowding.
Last fall, heeding advice from local health officials and a federal receiver charged with improving the state’s prison medical care, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation delayed plans to add 600 new beds out of concern that the construction might stir up more spores.
Officials at the prison blame the construction of a state hospital nearby for causing a spike in valley fever. The construction was under way from 2001 to 2005, and valley fever hit its peak here in 2006, when the disease was diagnosed in 514 inmates.
This year, about 300 cases have been diagnosed among inmates at the prison, which sits along a highway lined with almond groves and signs advertising new “semi-custom homes.” Felix Igbinosa, the prison’s medical director, said “the No. 1 reason” was thought to be the soil disturbance from new construction.
The delayed expansion here was part of a $7.9 billion plan signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last summer to relieve overcrowding in the state’s prisons. Pleasant Valley was built in 1994 to house 2,000 inmates.
California reported more than 3,000 cases of valley fever in 2006, the most in a decade. Explanations for the spike have included increased residential development and changes in weather patterns that have resulted in increased blooms of the fungus.
Other prisons in the Central Valley of California have had increases in the number of fever cases in recent years, but in none has the rate of infection been higher than at Pleasant Valley, where about one inmate in 10 tested positive in 2006.
Even allowing for the nearby construction, experts say they do not know why the disease is so rampant here.
“Is the soil surrounding Pleasant Valley different?” asked Dr. Demosthenes Pappagianis of the University of California, Davis.
“There’s a lot we still need to know about it,” said Dr. Pappagianis, a professor of medical microbiology and immunology who has been studying valley fever for more than 50 years.
Early symptoms of the disease, which is clinically known as coccidioidomycosis, mimic the flu, with symptoms that include a cough, lethargy and a fever. Most of those who become infected recover with little or no treatment and are subsequently immune.
In about 2 percent to 3 percent of the cases, the disease spreads from the lungs and can attack the bones, liver, spleen and skin.
For the 11,000 non-inmate residents of Coalinga, about 200 miles southeast of San Francisco, the disease has been a fact of life for generations. “We just deal,” said Trish Hill, the city’s mayor. “You don’t do stupid things like go out on windy days or dig in the dirt.”
Inmates appear to be especially susceptible to the disease, in part because they come from areas all over the state and have not developed an immunity to the disease. California corrections officials are preparing new guidelines for prison design, including ventilation and landscaping.
“Prisons tend to have a lot of bare dirt, and that has some security benefit,” said Deborah Hysen, the corrections department’s deputy secretary of facility planning. “But in the case of valley fever, you want to really contain the soil.”
At Pleasant Valley, officials say the outbreak of valley fever places a burden on the institution, requiring guards to escort inmates to local hospitals, where stays can last months and result in medical and security costs of $1 million and more, said Dr. Igbinosa, the medical director.
The disease also affects inmate morale, doctors say.
Gilbert Galaviz was convicted of murder and is serving a sentence of 25 years to life. Mr. Galaviz had been at Pleasant Valley for a week or so when he started to feel sick. “I couldn’t breathe,” he said. “My chest starting hurting, I had pain all over like somebody beat me up, and I would sweat bad at night.”
The cause was valley fever. After six months, Mr. Galaviz is still weak, having lost 30 pounds, and is barely able to complete a lap in the prison yard. Earlier this month, he was attacked and his jaw broken.
“It wouldn’t have been like that if it hadn’t been for valley fever,” Mr. Galaviz said, his jaw still wired shut. “They wouldn’t have got me. It would have been the other way around.”

Dan Barry is off. Beginning Jan. 14, the “This Land” column will appear on Mondays.

endemic

Syllabification: (en·dem·ic)

Pronunciation: /enˈdemik/

Translate endemic | into Italian
adjective

• 1(of a disease or condition) regularly found among particular people or in a certain area:areas where malaria is endemic complacency is endemic in industry today
• [attributive] denoting an area in which a particular disease is regularly found.

• 2 (of a plant or animal) native or restricted to a certain country or area:a marsupial endemic to northeastern Australia
  

  [形]〈動植物などが〉（ある地方に）特有［固有］の((in, to ...))；〈病気が〉風土性の（⇒EPIDEMIC）
  

  a disease endemic to the tropics
  熱帯に特有の病気.

  ━━[名]風土病, 地方病；《生態学》固有種.

noun

• an endemic plant or animal.

Derivatives

endemically

Pronunciation: /-(ə)lē/

adverb

endemicity

Pronunciation: /ˌendəˈmisitē/

noun

endemism

Pronunciation: /ˈendəˌmizəm/

noun

sense 2 of the adjective.

Origin:

mid 17th century (as a noun): from French endémique or modern Latin endemicus, from Greek endēmios 'native' (based on dēmos 'people')

endemic
adjective
especially of a disease or a condition, regularly found and very common among a particular group or in a particular area:
Malaria is endemic in many of the hotter regions of the world.
The disease is endemic among British sheep/to many British flocks.
There is endemic racism/poverty/violence in many of the country's cities.



Japan's emperor hospitalized with persistent fever, bronchitis
CNN International
Japanese Emperor Akihito delivers a speech during the Japan Sports 100th anniversary ceremony in Tokyo on July 16, 2011. Tokyo (CNN) -- Japan's 77-year-old emperor was hospitalized on Sunday, several days after coming down with a fever, a spokesperson ...

bronchitis[bron・chi・tis]

• 発音記号[brɑŋkáitis | brɔŋ-]
• 
  

[名][U]《病理学》気管支炎.

bron・chit・ic〔brkítik | br-〕

[形]

marsupial

Syllabification: (mar·su·pi·al)

Pronunciation: /märˈso͞opēəl/

Zoology

Translate marsupial | into German | into Italian
noun

• a mammal of an order whose members are born incompletely developed and are typically carried and suckled in a pouch on the mother’s belly. Marsupials are found mainly in Australia and New Guinea, although three families, including the opossums, live in America.
  

  • Order Marsupialia and infraclass Metatheria, subclass Theria

adjective

• relating to the marsupials.

Origin:

late 17th century (in the sense 'resembling a pouch'): from modern Latin marsupialis, via Latin from Greek marsupion 'pouch' (see marsupium)

marsupial

音節

mar • su • pi • al

発音

mɑːrsúːpiəl | -sjúː-

marsupialの変化形

marsupials (複数形)

[形]

1 育児嚢(のう)の（ある）；育児嚢に似た.

2 有袋類の.

━━[名]有袋動物.