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Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) got together with the Pan American Health Organization to announce some promising news: there have been no new transmissions of the rubella virus in the entire Western Hemisphere since 2009. As a result, the virus has been declared eliminated in this region, joining smallpox and polio on that elite list.
Rubella, commonly called the German measles, doesn't cause severe symptoms in the vast majority of infected individuals. If a pregnant woman is infected, however, the disease can cause miscarriages or a suite of birth defects. Before the advent of an effective vaccine, the WHO says that up to 20,000 children a year in Latin America and the Caribbean were born with rubella-related birth defects; that's also the number that occurred during the last major outbreak in the US.
The widespread use of the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, and rubella) is partly to thank for the virus' elimination. Caribbean countries also used an adult vaccination program to help cut transmission in their populations. As a result, the last infection with a local origin occurred in 2009. Since then, several cases have been reported within the hemisphere, but all have traced back to infections overseas.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @01:45PM
The magnitude of this really can't be understated. We have the possibility of globally removing diseases. We're past the point of return in realizing we can make drastic and real changes in our world. Soon we'll try to affect climate and weather. Then come the dinosaurs.
(Score: 2) by Ryuugami on Friday May 01 2015, @02:19PM
Soon we'll try to affect climate and weather. Then come the dinosaurs.
So, to get to the dinosaurs, first you have to understand chaos theory? I knew Jurassic Park was on to something!
If a shit storm's on the horizon, it's good to know far enough ahead you can at least bring along an umbrella. - D.Weber
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @04:46PM
You don't need to understand chaos to change the weather enough to be able to direct it, you just have to be able to create the conditions we know weather needs to exist which will cause said weather to form. I mean I'm not talking perfect weather all the time, but rudimentary weather changes, sure we can do those now. Then you can create the climate for the dinos to thrive at your very own dino park in the middle of Kansas..because let's face it Kansas has it coming.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tathra on Friday May 01 2015, @03:13PM
we're already working on de-extincting wooly mammoths [vice.com], laying the groundwork for future Jurassic Parks. one of the real problems is getting dinosaur dna, however we have found dinosaur soft tissue [livescience.com] within fossilized bones so its possible, its just a matter of finding it.