Category: Environment

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Major Study Reports Only 10% of Large Ocean Fish Remain

Bluefin tuna, nearly extinct. Photograph courtesy Prof. Ransom Myers, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Bluefin tuna, nearly extinct. Photograph courtesy Prof. Ransom Myers, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.


May 16, 2003  Halifax, Nova Scotia - For years, marine biologists have warned that many ocean creatures are facing elimination in the largest extinction event since the dinosaurs were hit by a big asteroid. Now comes a major ten-year-long study reported in Nature this week that concludes only 10% of big ocean fish are left, compared to their populations 50 years ago. In the tropics, the guitar fish and grouper are nearly gone; off the coast of Newfoundland, the cod, haddock and halibut have never replenished; and in the open oceans the magnificent large predators - sharks, bluefin tuna, gilfish, swordfish, marlin - that have dominated for so long are down to their lowest numbers on record.

 

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SARS Patients Relapse and Mortality Rates Rise

"[The SARS gene sequence shows] a unique coronavirus only distantly related to previously sequenced coronaviruses (in animals and humans). ...This virus may never before have circulated in the U. S. population."

- The New England Journal of Medicine, April 10, 2003

In April 2003, actual SARS coronaviruses under electron microscope © 2003 by Erasmus Medical Centre Department of Virology, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
In April 2003, actual SARS coronaviruses under electron microscope © 2003 by Erasmus Medical Centre Department of Virology, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

 

May 2, 2003  Hong Kong, China - Today, health officials in China reported another 176 new cases of the severe acute respiratory syndrome known as SARS, plus 11 more deaths. That boosts the world total to more than 6,000 cases and 402 deaths. That means the global average death rate for SARS is now about 7%. But in Toronto, Canada, which reports 147 cases and 20 deaths, the mortality rate is nearly 14%.

As new SARS cases continue to surge in the countryside around Beijing where thousands fled trying to escape the deadly virus in the nation's capitol, health authorities are afraid the death rate will climb higher in China as well.

 

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SARS Continues Spreading in China; W.H.O. Rescinds Toronto Travel Warning

Tiananmen Square in downtown Beijing, a city of 14 million residents, is eerily silent as the SARS coronavirus has provoked the government to close down all public entertainment venues, forced thousands into quarantine while thousands more are staying in their homes or have left the city in fear of contracting the deadly disease. Photograph © 2003 by AFP.
Tiananmen Square in downtown Beijing, a city of 14 million residents, is eerily silent as the SARS coronavirus has provoked the government to close down all public entertainment venues, forced thousands into quarantine while thousands more are staying in their homes or have left the city in fear of contracting the deadly disease. Photograph © 2003 by AFP.

 

April 29, 2003  Beijing, China - On this date, China announced nine new deaths from severe acute respiratory syndrome known as SARS and 202 new cases, bringing the country's death toll to 148 and case number to 3,303. Some medical authorities have expressed concern that given China's deliberate efforts to hide SARS patients and even deny their was a disease problem until only recently, the actual number of cases might be double or triple the current publicly reported number. The World Health Organization's advisory against nonessential travel to Beijing and China's Shanxi Province, Guangdong Province and Hong Kong remains in effect where SARS is still a serious epidemic. There, as the government tries to clean buses, public buildings, schools and hospitals, the economies have collapsed in the face of a disease that is keeping thousands of people home, either in quarantine or in fear of catching the dangerous illness.

 

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Beijing Quarantines 4000 Residents Exposed to SARS; Third Hospital Sealed Off

Masked medical workers in China. Photograph © 2003 by AFP.
Masked medical workers in China. Photograph © 2003 by AFP.


April 26, 2003  Beijing, China - Amid rumors that the Beijing government is about to invoke martial law (denied by officials so far), 4000 residents suspected of SARS contamination were ordered to stay home in quarantine yesterday. Beijing authorities also sealed off the city's third major hospital as the number of new SARS cases jumped from 37 to 877 in only five days. Ditan Hospital in northern Beijing was closed only a few days after the Beijing government had featured the hospital as an example of their health care organization and ability to control SARS. Earlier this week, Peking University's People's Hospital was also closed, along with Northern Jiaotong University where 400 students are quarantined.

 

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Coronavirus Expert Questions Animal Source for SARS

"If I look at the past history of the way coronaviruses behave, then I have to come to a logical conclusion that they are very species-specific and a coronavirus does not just jump from an animal to a person. If we look at the scientific evidence of what we know about coronaviruses, I could also make the argument that under the right conditions, under the right incubation conditions, that it could happen.
The mechanism is there.
But boy! It's like a trillion to one shot."

- Mark Jackwood, Ph.D., Avian Coronaviruses, University of Georgia, Athens

 

April 25, 2003  Athens, Georgia - Professor Mark Jackwood, Ph.D., studies bird coronaviruses in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia in Athens. One puzzle that he and his colleagues helped solve was why chickens vaccinated for a deadly avian infectious bronchitis known as DE072 (72nd virus isolate in Delaware) were still getting sick and dying. Dr. Jackwood and Professor Chang Wong Lee studied the birds' blood and discovered a different coronavirus they named "Georgia 98." 1998 was the year of the discovery. What caused the mutation from DE072 to GA98? The coronavirus's response to vaccinations.

 

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Unusual Animal Deaths in Valparaiso, Nebraska

- Animal Photos Upcoming -

Unusual cattle deaths occurred in Valparaiso, Nebraska, about 25 miles northwest of Lincoln, on April 5 and 7, 2003, and January 9, 1994.
Unusual cattle deaths occurred in Valparaiso, Nebraska, about 25 miles northwest of Lincoln, on April 5 and 7, 2003, and January 9, 1994.

April 19, 2003 Valparaiso, Nebraska - About 25 miles northwest of Lincoln, Nebraska, is the small ranching community of Valparaiso. There are some 145 residents and the Mike Benesh family has a ten acre pasture where they've raised 50 head of cattle. Until the early morning of April 5. That's when the Beneshes discovered three of their animals dead. Two were cows in their second year. The third was a 2-month-old bull calf. One of the cows was kneeling upright with all four legs under her. There were no cuts, bruises, blood or signs of struggle. But there were burn blisters in the roof of her mouth.

 

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