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| Central Asia |
| Plague Spreads Within Turkmenistan, Threatens Neighbors |
| 2004-08-08 |
| From The Los Angeles Times, an article by Wendy Orent, the author of Plague: The Mysterious Past and Terrifying Future of the World's Most Dangerous Disease. The new nation of Turkmenistan, one of several Central Asian republics that rose from the Soviet Union's ashes, is ruled by a 64-year-old dictator named Saparmurad A. Niyazov, a strutting, miniature Saddam Hussein who calls himself Turkmenbashi (father of the Turkmens). A man of monstrous ego .... The world keeps quiet about Niyazov's eccentricities, aware that his vast wealth comes from control of one of the world's largest supplies of natural gas. .... In March, he dismissed 15,000 licensed healthcare workers "to save money" and replaced them with conscripts. In June, the Turkmenbashi fired Turkmen doctors and other health workers with foreign degrees, saying their training was "incompatible with the Turkmen education system." Most disturbing, he has declared all infectious diseases — cholera, AIDS and other scourges — illegal and has forbidden any mention of them. ... According to both Gundogar, a Turkmen opposition group, and the Turkmenistan Helsinki Initiative, a deadly plague epidemic has broken out in the Turkmenbashi's territory. Yersinia pestis, the germ that causes plague, is widespread among rodents throughout Central Asia, and the strains they carry are among the oldest, most virulent and most dangerous in the world. In the barren deserts of Turkmenistan, the leading plague reservoir is a burrowing rat-sized animal with legs like a miniature kangaroo, Rhombomys opimus, the great gerbil. Recent years in Central Asia have been good for gerbils, producing bumper crops of the grains they eat. More grain means more gerbils, and more gerbils means more plague. .... At least 10 people are known to have died of plague this summer, and some reports place the figure considerably higher. The Turkmen government has responded, predictably, by declaring the word "plague" illegal. It has also instituted border controls "to prevent disease from entering Turkmenistan from neighboring states." |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #5 The startling eruption of a new, dangerous respiratory illness, SARS, in Guangdong, China, in the autumn of 2002 was kept a close secret by the Chinese government for months. The mainland Chinese outbreak eventually seeded nine other major outbreaks around the world; more than 8,000 people were infected and almost 800 died. Had the Chinese government asked for help from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, those outbreaks need never have happened, and hundreds of lives — not to mention billions of dollars — could have been saved. Yeah, and China got spanked hard for that one didn't they? So, who's willing to be that anything gets done about this monster raving looney? Nigerian imams facilitate the world's worst outbreak of polio in decades. This Turkman wingnut is spreading the black death while China continues to conceal the extent of the world's largest medically caused AIDS epidemic and downplays their SARS crisis. Still, no one has the stones to take these tinpot dictators and thugs to task for draining the world of untold BILLIONS used to fight these preventable scourges. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-08-08 5:41:12 PM |
| #4 The "Plague" is pretty common here in my county in Califorina as well. Ground Squirels carry it here mostly. People do get it every so often and the county health dept tries to make sure people are aware of it's danger. Cats keep the rodent population down but can carry the fleas as well. |
| Posted by: FlameBait93268 2004-08-08 3:43:28 PM |
| #3 plague's widespread - squirrels and other rodents carry it as well. San Diego mountains to Sierras, every summer there's plague warnings about handling sick or dead rodents. Hantavirus is also a concern. I guess the giant gerbils haven't heard Turdmenkashi's "illegal" decree? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-08-08 3:38:15 PM |
| #2 Bubonic plague, the disease responsible for the infamous "Black Death" of the Middle Ages, is still with us today and occurs in some areas of west and north central Texas. Isolated cases have been documented in areas of south and east Texas. It is caused by the bacterium Yersenia pestis and can be found in wild rodent and rabbit populations. Fleas transmit plague from animal to animal. Though human cases of plague are rare, people may be exposed to the disease if they handle infect ed animals or are bitten by an infected flea. Early symptoms of bubonic plague include fever and swollen lymph nodes, progressing to high fever, confusion and fatigue. Untreated bubonic plague has a relatively high fatality rate, but prompt treatment with tetracycline or other drugs can be effective. People living in areas where plague occurs can protect themselves by controlling fleas with insecticides and by controlling commensal rodent populations. It is also wise to use insect repellent when outdoors and avoid contact with wild rodents and rabbits. |
| Posted by: Mike 2004-08-08 3:07:03 PM |
#1 The Turkmen government has responded, predictably, by declaring the word "plague" illegal.Sounds like the old bastard would be right at home with our "free speech for me but not for thee" moonbats. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-08-08 11:04:36 AM |