Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Could Also Cause New Epidemics, Health Experts Worry (seattletimes.com) 67
Heath workers worry Russia's invasion of Ukraine "threatens to upend decades of progress against infectious diseases throughout the region," reports the New York Times, "sparking new epidemics that will be nearly impossible to control."
Ukraine has alarmingly high numbers of people living with HIV and hepatitis C and dangerously low levels of vaccination against measles, polio and COVID-19. Overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions for refugees are breeding grounds for cholera and other diarrheal diseases, not to mention respiratory plagues like COVID-19, pneumonia and tuberculosis.... Ukraine and the surrounding region also make up a world epicenter of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, a form of the disease impervious to the most powerful medications. The Ukrainian health ministry in recent years had made progress in bringing these epidemics under control, including a 21% drop in new HIV infections and a 36% decline in TB diagnoses since 2010. But health officials now fear that delays in diagnosis and treatment interruptions during the war may allow these pathogens to flourish again, with consequences that ripple for years.
"Last year, we were working to differentiate between different TB mutations," Iana Terleeva, who heads tuberculosis programs for Ukraine's Ministry of Health, said in a statement. "Now instead, we are trying to differentiate between aerial shelling, raids and other military hardware." The fighting also has damaged health facilities throughout the country and spawned a refugee crisis, imperiling thousands of people with chronic conditions like diabetes and cancer who depend on continuing care....
Only about 80% of Ukrainian children were immunized against polio in 2021, and the country had detected a few polio cases even before the war began. The vaccination coverage for measles in Ukraine is likewise too low to prevent outbreaks. These are the ingredients of a public health calamity, many experts fear.
The WHO and other organizations are deploying medical teams and shipping supplies, vaccines and drugs to Ukraine and to neighboring countries. But the aid may never reach areas of active conflict.
"Last year, we were working to differentiate between different TB mutations," Iana Terleeva, who heads tuberculosis programs for Ukraine's Ministry of Health, said in a statement. "Now instead, we are trying to differentiate between aerial shelling, raids and other military hardware." The fighting also has damaged health facilities throughout the country and spawned a refugee crisis, imperiling thousands of people with chronic conditions like diabetes and cancer who depend on continuing care....
Only about 80% of Ukrainian children were immunized against polio in 2021, and the country had detected a few polio cases even before the war began. The vaccination coverage for measles in Ukraine is likewise too low to prevent outbreaks. These are the ingredients of a public health calamity, many experts fear.
The WHO and other organizations are deploying medical teams and shipping supplies, vaccines and drugs to Ukraine and to neighboring countries. But the aid may never reach areas of active conflict.
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Global nuclear war tends to do that.
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War tends to do that. There is neither "nuclear" nor "global" in the picture here.
War comes with at least 3 waves of death: 1. Direct kills 2. Kills from diseases 3. Kills from hunger.
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There is neither "nuclear" nor "global" in the picture here.
Wait until Biden says some more stupid shit about Putin and we will have a "nuclear" and a "global" war. I am honestly amazed at the shit Biden says. He is free to think privately what he likes, but in public and on the record he should show some restraint. Just when everyone thought that the previous president said some stupid things, the new one has to come and outdo the one before.
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There is neither "nuclear" nor "global" in the picture here.
Wait until Biden says some more stupid shit about Putin and we will have a "nuclear" and a "global" war. I am honestly amazed at the shit Biden says. He is free to think privately what he likes, but in public and on the record he should show some restraint. Just when everyone thought that the previous president said some stupid things, the new one has to come and outdo the one before.
Biden thinks Putin is still rational, just potentially isolated in Groupthink. Remember the Biden has a lot of intelligence and analysis power to support him and hence has a good grasp of the reality of things. Assuming Putin is rational, there is no risk of this turning nuclear. Because if it does, this will be the end of Russia, but likely not of the rest of the world. Also remember that Russia has just recently demonstrated military incompetence on an astonishing level.
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The problem is that it's the same intelligence and analysis power that managed the withdraw from Afghanistan.
The intelligence and army seems to have warned about the problems. There were even specific warnings that there was potential for a sudden collapse though I don't think anyone managed to quite understand how fast it could be, but that includes the Taliban themselves and everyone in Afghanistan, so it's not that much of a failure. When Trump made the decision to withdraw he probably saw this as an advantage. Biden sees to have cared more about not falling into Trump's trap for him than about anybody related
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Remember the Biden has a lot of intelligence and analysis power to support him and hence has a good grasp of the reality of things.
The problem is that it's the same intelligence and analysis power that managed the withdraw from Afghanistan.
Ah, no. That was Trump ignoring what he was told (or not asking questions) and Biden did not really have a choice.
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Remember the Biden has a lot of intelligence and analysis power to support him and hence has a good grasp of the reality of things.
I assume by "the Biden" you mean "the Biden administration" and you're correct. They do.
Which is why they immediately went into damage control when Biden, the man, said the world should take Putin out.
The speech as written did not include calls to remove Putin. It did not include calls to send US troops to Ukraine. All of that is on Biden and his decaying mind.
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Remember the Biden has a lot of intelligence and analysis power to support him and hence has a good grasp of the reality of things.
I assume by "the Biden" you mean "the Biden administration" and you're correct. They do.
Obviously so. No single individual is capable of understanding all realevant details.
Which is why they immediately went into damage control when Biden, the man, said the world should take Putin out.
The speech as written did not include calls to remove Putin. It did not include calls to send US troops to Ukraine. All of that is on Biden and his decaying mind.
Not quite. Biden did say what he felt there. Big mistake for a politician, but remember the damage control done afterwards is at least partially something he allows to be done and maybe even asked to be in place in case he screws up. It is also quite possible that he did this with full knowledge that this damage control would happen afterwards. Do not forget this is not Trump. Unlike Trump, Biden has some real understanding
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Biden thinks Putin is still rational, just potentially isolated in Groupthink. Remember the Biden has a lot of intelligence and analysis power to support him and hence has a good grasp of the reality of things. Assuming Putin is rational, there is no risk of this turning nuclear. Because if it does, this will be the end of Russia, but likely not of the rest of the world. Also remember that Russia has just recently demonstrated military incompetence on an astonishing level.
How come all the US media says that Putin is crazy and Biden thinks he is rational?
Sorry to say this but you are a total idiot if you think the nuclear war will be the end of Russia but US somehow will come out glorious. Just two bombs were used on Japan and the devastation was complete, not counting the after effects. If the war starts going in earnest, all major US cities will cease to exist, as well as all major Russian cities. And if Europe gets affected, it will be total destruction.
Modern weapons ar
Where did all the mod points go? (Score:2)
Long time passing?
Typically disappointing FP branch, but maybe this story is related to the increased scarcity of mod points on Slashdot? I don't think I'm imagining it, but one cause might be a purge of Putin's sock puppets, taking all of their ill-gotten mod points with them.
Or if nothing changed on the Slashdot side, then maybe the bot herders are busy elsewhere? On websites that still matter?
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How come all the US media says that Putin is crazy and Biden thinks he is rational?
Look at how the US media makes its money. And look by whom most of it is owned. Things getting a bot clearer for you now?
Just two bombs were used on Japan and the devastation was complete, not counting the after effects. If the war starts going in earnest, all major US cities will cease to exist, as well as all major Russian cities. And if Europe gets affected, it will be total destruction.
I would advise you to get your panicked hysterics under control. They are not helping.
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How come all the US media says that Putin is crazy and Biden thinks he is rational?
I keep tabs on the US media and have never once heard this. Every time the topic of is Putin a rational actor comes out the talking head always says yes. Sure they talk about information Bubbles and Putin's world of yes men yet I have not once heard anyone in the US media say that Putin is irrational.
Sorry to say this but you are a total idiot if you think the nuclear war will be the end of Russia but US somehow will come out glorious.
This whole Nuclear War = end of world thing is sadly not something domain experts actually believe to be an existential risk. Nobody comes out glorious from nuclear exchange yet few would dispute Russia woul
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Wait until Biden says some more stupid shit about Putin and we will have a "nuclear" and a "global" war. I am honestly amazed at the shit Biden says. He is free to think privately what he likes, but in public and on the record he should show some restraint. Just when everyone thought that the previous president said some stupid things, the new one has to come and outdo the one before.
It's not the threat of war that's the problem with his statements it's they serve no constructive purpose and actively undermine his position.
Russia's senseless unprovoked murder campaign against Ukrainians is atrocious and indefensible therefore globally unifying.
The more Biden moves away from that and toward west vs Russia, west vs Putin, democracy vs dictatorships the more he undermines support for his cause. This isn't rocket science; he should know better.
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War in a country loaded with bio-"research" labs.
Because, why put your bio research labs somewhere safe, like in a bunker, ... under a mountain, ... in New Mexico. That would be dumb, lets put the US bio-weapons research labs some place that Russia can easily invade like ... uh ... Ukraine!!
Re: What could go wrong? (Score:1)
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No need for that. But it's hypothetical, there is no evidence anywhere, not even a rumor, of bioweapons being researched in Ukraine. It's a misinformation campaign used only to justify first strike of a bioweapon by Putin, following the playbook of his best buddy, Assad.
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Yepp. Because the funding organization with diplomatic access is the famous agricultural US institutution that already helped Vietnam in the 60s and 70s to plow the entire landscape deeply with the most modern equipment: from the air! Go figure!! The institution is called the Pentagon, you may have heard the name?
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No you would not. Transport is trivial.
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I imagine youâ(TM)d want them as close to where you want to use them.. no?
Not really, bio weapons can be deployed anywhere you need them through the magic of this magical new technology called "transportation".
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I imagine youâ(TM)d want them as close to where you want to use them.. no?
Not really, bio weapons can be deployed anywhere you need them through the magic of this magical new technology called "transportation".
Awesome, is there any reason for over 800 US bases all over the world then if we have this magical new technology called "transportation"?
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Vlad, don't you have a country to run?
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Wrong!
Bio-research is in nice bogeyman when you do not have a valid reason. Bio-weapons are crap as a weapon. You cannot target them, you cannot control their spread and they are hard to deploy. But they are good to scare the uneducated. They may be also good to pump government funds as well
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Also, bio-weapons have worked well. The jury is still out about China and COVID, but COVID has greatly strengthened China's geopolitical stance in the world, both economically and militarily. While everyone else has supply chain issues, China's Belt and Road has made getting stuff a non-issue for them.
Reality is the rest of the world is over Covid while China's population never even had it. All China has done is delayed the inevitable. China will continue to have increasing supply chain issues as they continue their futile zero-covid policy while the rest of the world has already moved on.
When (not if) Chinas futile policy finally does meet reality it is unfortunately very likely to hit populations within a condensed timeline due to massive transmissibility of current variants.
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You also need to research defences against bio weapons as well as naturally occurring outbreaks, and it's very hard to prove wether a lab is defensive vs offensive.
Also who's to say there weren't bio labs in ukraine from the soviet era, in which case russia would know all about them even if they haven't been active since then.
How about the good effects of Ukraine invasion? (Score:2)
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I imagine ransomware attacks are way down, for starters. It might not be politically correct to say that but um..., yeah. There are upsides.
Yes, having backbone providers cut off access to Russia has certainly helped slow the amount of ransomware attacks.
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Yes, having backbone providers cut off access to Russia has certainly helped slow the amount of ransomware attacks.
Seems to have slowed down the amount of Slashdot posts as well. Is it just me or has it been really, really quiet around here lately?
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oh now we care (Score:1)
All the wars of choice where USA did much worse against civilians than what Russia is doing to Ukraine since mid 20th century, but NOW we care that ruining a country might increase disease?
Unbelievable, brownies don't count I guess.
Just say it. (Score:2)
Ukraine has the lowest vaccination rate of any country in Europe. They are a nation of anti-vaxers.
Say it again? (Score:2)
Ukraine has the lowest vaccination rate of any country in Europe. They are a nation of anti-vaxers.
US has more wealth than any other nation. It's a country of rich people.
Is it valid to paint an entire population based on a statistical average?
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US has more wealth than any other nation. It's a country of rich people.
Is it valid to paint an entire population based on a statistical average?
Well, yes. The median income would be a better analogy, and it is high.
Everything is big, including the food servings, the people, the cars (or I should say, the pick-up trucks) and the homes. And lovely, friendly people they are, was a wonderful place to visit.
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What does Harry Reid have to do with anything? He's not even alive.
Respiratory plagues like COVID-19? (Score:1)
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For the same reason everything has to be related to climate change or racism. When groups of people who got used to getting all the attention of the media are no longer getting that attention, they'll do anything in an attempt to stay relevant even though they weren't relevant to begin with.
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The story is not about covid-19, but health in general and war causing diseases. Ie, measles, because the vaccination rate wasn't high in Ukraine to begin with. This is a country recovering for a few centuries of domination, expecting them to have 100% vax rates when even first world countries balk at it is unrealistic. So even measles vaccine rates are not high.
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Their vaccination rates are also shit compared to similarly developed third world countries. It has nothing to do with "recovering from a few centuries of domination" either, there are simply too many antivaxers there - they tell each other horror stories of how a second cousin of a work colleague neighbour's nephew died from a falsified vaccine.
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Why is everything must be about COVID-19? Omicron variant is less than 0.01% fatal, it absolutely nowhere near a top concern in a war-torn country.
Screw COVID, multidrug-resistant TB is some *scary* shit. And if you complain about COVID vaccines being not as effective as we'd like - just wait until you find out what the numbers on BCG vaccine are...
Because DiceDot clickbait (Score:2)
The sky is always falling. Do you want to know more?
Well. the Russians are (Score:2)
suffering from a serious outbreak of lead poisoning at the moment.
Re:Nothing to see here (Score:1)
And it's got nothing to do with the US moving missiles into Poland.
Nothing to do with the US making Ukraine a puppet state.
Nothing to do with Ukraine shelling Donbass for years and years now.
Nothing to do with Biden/Democrats lying about the supposed Trump-Putin ties.
There is one man who stands to gain massively by this Russia-Ukraine war. That's Joe Biden who will see his corruption buried.
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You are old enough to know better.... get COVID? I think you have early dementia. Please talk to a sane person outside your bubble.
Already happened in previous wars ... (Score:2)
For reference ...
Resurgence in polio, which is completely preventable by mass vaccination, happened after the Afghanistan civil war in the 90s, and continued after the US invasion in 2001.
And when Syria descended into civil war in 2011, polio again resurfaced, after being absent for quite some time.
So, Ukraine's war causing epidemics of preventable diseases is just inevitable when government services break down (including childhood vaccination).
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But since it is "our friends" who are waging war there, that is probably just accounted for as "collateral damage".
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Too bad the quickest way to peace, Ukrainian surrender, is not on the table. Zelensky seems to want to turn Ukraine into another Afghanistan to spite Putin, but he doesn't realize that while Afghanistan, the country, won against both the Soviets and the Americans, the Afghan people lost (among other things) 40 years of peaceful development.
Of course Putin can concede too, but I doubt anything short of direct western intervention will change his mind at this point. Plus the greatest harm to Russia, mostly in
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Point the finger straight at the thieves who created this war, the Biden's.
Putin the butcher of thousands of Ukranian civilians with millions externally displaced is also responsible for bombing Ukrainian cities turning Mariupol to ash. Putin the butcher created the war.
In 1962 Russia put missiles in Cuba. The US threatened war if they were not removed.
In the 2000s the US has moved it's military might closer and closer to Moscow. Moscow has said "Back off." The US said FU.
Then in 2014 Obama/Biden helped over throw the Ukraine government and put its' own puppet government in.
There is no justification for the invasion of Ukraine in any of this. Ukraine does not have nukes, they were not building up an invasion force to attack Russia.
Foreign powers meddling/influencing in the affairs of other states as both US and Russia has clearly done in Ukraine absolutely does not justify invasion
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When your house is on fire (Score:2)
You get yourself and your family OUT. Then you worry about pets if you can. Once the fire fighters have finished their job, THEN is when you start worrying about recovering your "important papers" and keepsakes.
Ukraine is on fire. The first priority is to put the fire out and get the refugees out. Epidemics, as bad as they are, are no match for the seriousness of the primary emergency.