(OPINION) After a bit of a lull, it appears that pestilences are going to start making headline news once again. Of course that is the last thing that many of us want to hear.
Many Americans are finally getting their lives back to normal after the last pandemic, and a lot of people are hoping that we won’t have to go through another for a long time to come.
Unfortunately, the truth is that we have entered a period of history when major outbreaks will be quite common. In secret labs all over the planet, mad scientists are monkeying around with some of the deadliest bugs ever known to humanity, and as we have seen, it is way too easy for an “accident” to happen.
One of the diseases that our scientists have been playing around with is Malaria, and now there are four confirmed cases in Florida and one in Texas… Malaria, a potentially deadly disease caused by a mosquito-borne parasite, is making inroads into the US.
Five new cases of malaria — one in Texas and four in Florida — are alarming officials because they were locally acquired, meaning a mosquito in the US was carrying the parasite.
That hasn’t happened since 2003 in Palm Beach County, Florida, according to the Centers for Disease and Prevention. This isn’t supposed to happen. Malaria isn’t supposed to be spreading in the United States.
But it is. And those that do not get diagnosed and treated quickly can end up dead… Symptoms of malaria include fever, shaking, chills, headache, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and tiredness, according to the CDC.
If it’s not treated promptly, the infection can cause jaundice, anemia, kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma and death. Meanwhile, we just received some very troubling news about the H5N1 strain of the bird flu.
On Tuesday, it was being widely reported that nine cats in Poland have caught the disease… Nine cats have been confirmed to be infected with the H5N1 subtype of avian influenza in Poland, the country’s Chief Veterinary Officer announced on Monday, as reports of mammals being infected with the virus continue to increase.
The infected cats were found in Poznań, the tri-city metropolitan area, and Lublin, locations separated by distances of hundreds of kilometers. H5N1 has started to spread among other mammals as well.
So is it just a matter of time before it starts spreading among humans? We shall see. Alarmingly, it appears that there is more to this story in Poland than we are being told.
According to a Polish news source, “large numbers of cats” have been dying “from an unknown illness”… Veterinary authorities in Poland are investigating reports of large numbers of cats dying from an unknown illness, and have warned owners to keep their pets inside. Initial tests by the chief veterinary inspectorate have found that some of the deceased animals had avian flu.
Over the past two weeks, numerous instances of otherwise healthy cats suddenly and inexplicably becoming ill – and in many cases dying – have been reported throughout Poland.
The affected animals have reportedly suffered neurological and respiratory symptoms, including seizures and difficulty breathing. This has led to concerns that some type of contagious illness is spreading.
That report says that “some” of the dead cats had the bird flu. Does that mean that some of them didn’t? And that same report goes on to explain that in one area alone, 25 of the 28 cats that were showing symptoms of this “unknown illness” have ended up dead…
The chief veterinary office for Pomerania province, where Gdańsk is located, and the region’s veterinary chamber have revealed that, out of 28 cats brought to clinics in the wider Gdańsk area in last two weeks with such symptoms, 25 have since died.
On Friday, the national chief veterinary inspectorate, GIW, announced that there had been similar reports in several cities and that it was “closely following the development of the situation”. (READ MORE)
