Dachau, first Nazi concentration camp built by on German soil, became the model for torture, slavery, and extermination replicated throughout the Third Reich. Early on morning of April 28, 1945, surviving prisoners were amazed to observe SS officers raising a white flag over Dachau – acknowledging the approaching liberators of the Seventh US Army. […]
Very encouraging news this week: highly scientific research has proved 90 percent efficacy for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. In the coming months this, along with other vaccine prospects, will continue receiving vigorous safety and benefit analysis. Meanwhile, Pfizer anticipates production of roughly 1,5 billion doses of this two-dose vaccine during the next year. Mainstream
COVID-19 and HIV: both are among the most important health issues of our lifetimes. But beyond this fact, how do you the two pandemics compare? First some similarities. Both diseases… Caused worldwide concern, and often outright fear Are largely asymptomatic in the beginning Were diseases over which relatively little was known Were
This week in New Delhi, the Nobel Committee awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Program (WFP), a United Nations agency, for its work to combat hunger. In both 2016 and 2019 I personally witnessed the WPF providing the essential food provisions for Syrians refugees who had fled from ISIS to
Credible projections forecast an upswing in COVID-19 infection throughout the 2020 fall and winter seasons in North American and the northern hemisphere. To prevent disease and death, let’s succinctly review three of the most pressing disease control questions: Do cloth masks really prevent infection? Yes. Research from multiple sources, including Arizona State
First, a plea for objectivity. One powerful force complicating the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be the temptation to package information to fit preconceived outcomes. Over the last five months, the result of such wishful thinking has often been lax and ineffective disease interventions, and over this same interval United States deaths from COVID-19 have
“In Mexico we built a COVID-19 field hospital and developed COVID management protocols for Central American migrants – all the while continuing daily health clinics and ongoing monitoring for COVID in the refugee settlements,” reports Kerrie Flynn, family nurse practitioner with the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health. Kerrie is an energetic
For the entire world, what are leading risk factors for death? And, do YOU possess any of these risk factors? Such questions are both intriguing and relevant. After all, hypertension becomes much more compelling when it is YOUR diagnosis. First, two caveats about this chart: Risk factors maybe behaviors, microorganisms, genetic predispositions, socioeconomic
When does a COVID-19 infected person become a danger to others? This question has profound implications, both for prevention of the disease and for the lifestyles of everyone involved. And, the logic of the answers is relevant to a large number of other infectious diseases, like influenza, measles, chickenpox, and the common cold.
News surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic to date has focused on wealthy countries of China, Italy, Great Britain, in the United States. But what about the rest of the world – southern Asia, Africa, the Middle East? Certainly news organizations have a natural inclination to report about their own countries. Beyond this, the main reasons