Tag Archives: costa rica

Influenza

Pale Green Horse & H1N1: Mexico has 166 deaths so far for 2012, Costa Rica says flu “unusual” this year

Mexican health officials are reporting a 23% increase in H1N1 deaths, just in the past week!

So far 166 people have died from H1N1 swine flu, since January 1, 2012!  Mexican officials claim that 89% of the deaths involve people who did not get vaccinated.

U.S. health officials are encouraging people to get vaccinated.

In Costa Rica, officials there say they are seeing an increase in all kinds of flu cases.  At the end of January more than 419 people were hospitalized. At least three have died specifically from H1N1.

The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (Costa Rican Social Security) said the behavior of the various flu viruses has been “unusual in recent weeks”.

  I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

PALE GREEN HORSE & H5N1: ANOTHER DEATH IN INDONESIA, MORE CASES IN VIETNAM AND BANGLADESH

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Pale Green Horse & H3N2, H1N1: Costa Rica reports first 2012 deaths

The Central American country of Costa Rica is reporting the first death connected to the H3N2 virus.

On January 25, 2012, a 30 year old man died from H3N2.  The man had other health issues before getting sick with H3N2.  They believe it is the new H3N2v virus.

Two other Costa Ricans died the week before, from H1N1 (aka swine flu).

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

International, U.S.

Prevent Diabetes: Eat Beans?

1,900 Costa Ricans were studied, those who ate a lot of white rice, and those who preferred beans to rice.

In Costa Rica there’s been a trend of increased white rice consumption, instead of beans, and there’s been an increase in diabetes.  Researchers wanted to know if there is a connection between white rice and diabetes.

In the study, reported by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, some of the people were asked to eat beans instead of white rice.  People who ate beans instead of rice had a 35% reduction in metabolic syndrome.

“[White] Rice is very easily converted into sugar by the body. It’s very highly processed, it’s pure starch and starch is a long chain of glucose. Beans compared with rice contain much more fiber, certainly more protein and they typically have a lower glycemic index, meaning they induce much lower insulin responses.”-Frank Hu,  Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, in a Reuters interview

The researchers are concerned with the diets of people in the United States, because the amount of white rice consumption is going up, and that could explain why rates of diabetes keep going up.

 

 

 

 

Fukushima

Ring of Fire strikes again: Costa Rica & Japan hit

On the evening of 13 May, the Central American country Costa Rica, was hit by a 6.0 quake.  The epicenter is near the Arenal volcano.

Then, in the early morning of 14 May,  Japan was hit by a 6.2 quake (some reports say 5.7), near the same spot as 11 March 9.0 earthquake, off the coast of Fukushima.  Initially a tsunami warning was issued, but was canceled.   No word on any damage to the nuke plants in Fukushima.