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The two Kurdish leaders, acting on the advice of their foreign policy experts including Hoshyar Zebari, a key KDP man who is Iraq’s foreign minister, had steered the complex bargaining game with the Shiite Arab majority and Sunni Arab minority in such a way that the solution had to emerge from Kurdistan.

But the Kurdish leaders remained adamant on keeping the federal character of the Iraqi state in the draft constitution. Thus the federal virus, first planted in the Middle East in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1971 as the British were preparing to withdraw from the east of Suez …

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Sep 15, 2005 (Australasian Science - ABIX via COMTEX) — Australian scientists have helped discover the receptor used by the Hendra virus. The discovery was made by the collaborative team

led by Christopher Broder at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in the US. Bryan Eaton, of CSIRO’s Australian

Animal Health Laboratory, says the Hendra virus and the Nipah virus use the surface protein epherin-B2 to enter cells. The Hendra virus …

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The Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector District reported that four more people in Contra Costa County have tested positive for West Nile virus, bringing the total number of human cases this year to seven.

Six of the seven people who have contracted the virus, which can cause people to experience mild to severe flu-like symptoms, live in the eastern portion of the county.

The four new cases include three men ages 66, 69 and 72 and a 68- year-old woman. The district reported the three other cases on Aug. 12, 29 and 31, which included two women and a man.

According to the district, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to illness and death caused by the West Nile virus.

To date, 593 people in California have been diagnosed with West Nile virus, and there have been nine fatalities.

In addition to the four new human cases in Contra Costa County, the district reported that 15 additional birds, four squirrels, two horses and three chickens have tested positive for the virus, which is spread by infected mosquitoes.

The total number of animals infected by West Nile virus in the county includes 53 birds, nine chickens, seven horses, five squirrels and three mosquito samples.

c2005 ANG Newspapers. Cannot be used or repurposed without prior
written permission.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Information provided by: Findarticles.com

The Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector District reported that four more people in Contra Costa County have tested positive for West Nile virus, bringing the total number of human cases this year to seven.

Six of the seven people who have contracted the virus, which can cause people to experience mild to severe flu-like symptoms, live in the eastern portion of the county.

The four new cases include three men ages 66, 69 and 72 and a 68- year-old woman. The district reported the three other cases on Aug. 12, 29 and 31, which included two women and a man.

According to the district, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to illness and death caused by the West Nile virus.

To date, 593 people in California have been diagnosed with West Nile virus, and there have been nine fatalities.

In addition to the four new human cases in Contra Costa County, the district reported that 15 additional birds, four squirrels, two horses and three chickens have tested positive for the virus, which is spread by infected mosquitoes.

The total number of animals infected by West Nile virus in the county includes 53 birds, nine chickens, seven horses, five squirrels and three mosquito samples.

c2005 ANG Newspapers. Cannot be used or repurposed without prior
written permission.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Information provided by: Findarticles.com

A team at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, in Antwerp, Belgium, has carried out a comparison of HIV-I samples from 1986-89 and 2002-03 (12 samples from each time period). They found the newer samples appeared not to multiply as well, and were more sensitive to drugs. These results are in contrast to other studies which have found the virus is becoming more resistant.

The researchers, writing in the journal AIDS, stressed that their work in no way meant efforts to prevent the spread of HIV should be scaled down.

Researcher Dr Eric Artz said: ‘This was a very preliminary study, but we did find a striking observation in that the viruses from the 2000s are much weaker than the viruses from the 1980s.

‘Obviously this virus is still causing death, although it may be causing death at a slower rate of progression now. Maybe in another 50 to 60 years we might see this virus not causing death.’

‘What appears to be happening is that by the time HIV passes from one person to another, it has already toned down some of its most pathogenic effects in response to its host’s immune system, so the virus that is passed on is less "fit" each time. This would suggest that over several generations, HIV could become less harmful to its human hosts.

‘However, we are still far from that point–HIV is still a life-threatening infection.’

Arien KK. Troyer RM, Gali Y et al. Replicative fitness of historical and recent HIV-1 isolates suggests HIV-1 attenuation over time. AIDS 2005: 19: 1555-1564.

COPYRIGHT 2005 International Confederation of Midwives
COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group

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