Coronavirus

North Korea – Enormous Problems for the Hermit Kingdom

by Dave

We don’t know how many people are infected with Covid-19 in North Korea.     But, in  South Korea there are over 7,000 cases reported.   The problem in North Korea is there is also a tuberculosis epidemic and the quarantines are stopping vital medications to treat TB.    TB is curable and preventable.  This is from the World Health Organization website:

A total of 1.5 million people died from TB in 2018 (including 251 000 people with HIV). Worldwide, TB is one of the top 10 causes of death and the leading cause from a single infectious agent (above HIV/AIDS).
In 2018, an estimated 10 million people fell ill with tuberculosis(TB) worldwide. 5.7 million men, 3.2 million women and 1.1 million children. There were cases in all countries and age groups. But TB is curable and preventable.  In 2018, 1.1 million children fell ill with TB globally, and there were 205 000 child deaths due to TB (including among children with HIV). Child and adolescent TB is often overlooked by health providers and can be difficult to diagnose and treat.

There is a multiple drug resistant form, called MDR-TB which requires taking several drugs in combination.   See links below from Mayo Clinic.

I’ve said it before, that globalism v.  nationalism in many cases isn’t a choice, because global problems requires global solutions.    The old adage, “What goes around, comes around” is really true now.   The cases in the US are increasing, hitting a new high of 80 cases/day.

See links below.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Links:

Science Mag: Coronavirus disruptions could hurt North Korea’s efforts to treat tuberculosis

World Health Organization:  Tuberculosis

Mayo Clinic Tuberculosis

Good sources of information on the Coronavirus

by Dave

There is a lot of bad information being circulated.

These are all very good websites.

CDC: 2019 Novel Coronavirus Situation Summary

Excellent up-to-date information on many aspects of the Coronavirus.

Food and Drug Administration:  Coronavirus

World Health Organization: Coronavirus

New York Times:  Tracking every Coronavirus case in the US

The New York Times has done an excellent public service by providing free interactive maps of the known cases of Covid-19 as obtained by the information provided by the CDC and other health officials.   New cases seem to be growing exponentially.  As of March 6, 306 people have Covid-19.    China has approximately 80,600 known cases.  The same link has a map with a world wide cases.   Italy, Iran and Korea have cases in the thousands.

What I found interesting was in 107 cases, or approximate 1/3 of the cases, the possible origins are unknown.   In only 15 cases, there was travel to China.

Dr.  Anthony Fauci,  is the director of the NIAID (National Institute for Allergies and Infection Diseases) said we are probably a year away from a vaccine against Covid-19.

Contagion Live 

China and the other hard hit countries will likely be the places where new vaccines are tested.  I hope that scientists will find an effective vaccine in less than a year.

Stay tuned,

Dave