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Tag: Zika virus

The Zika virus threat

Before spring and summer in the northern hemisphere, the World Health
Organisation has cautioned European countries to brace themselves for an
epidemics caused by the Zika virus. Apparently benign, this type of virus is
suspected to have caused severe congenital malformations in the foetuses of
infected pregnant women. The virus is affecting South America, particularly
Brazil, being also present in Europe, in people who returned from Latin
America. Alexandru Rafila, the president of the
Romanian Society of Microbiology, has given assurances that for the time being
the Zika virus is not a threat to Romania:

This is not a virus that we should be afraid of now as it’s mainly
infecting people in the tropical regions of the two Americas. In most of the
cases infections aren’t serious and don’t require any treatment. The main cause
for concern for the healthcare authorities in the region is the suspected
association between the infection with the Zika virus and the appearance of
some brain damage in children born of infected women. A disturbing number of
cases of microcephaly has been reported in those regions.

The Zika virus was first identified in rhesus monkeys in Uganda in 1947
and in humans in 1952, in Uganda and Tanzania. More recently, the first cases
were reported last year in Brazil and today, around 1.5 million people have
been infected. The virus is borne by a certain type of mosquito. Alexandru
Rafila explains:

The virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. The
virus displays no symptoms in most patients, but some may eperience fever,
joint pain and red eyes. There is no specific treatment, but the disease
typically clears within a week. Only one way of transmitting this disease is
known, from a pregnant women to her unborn baby.

Scientists in Brazil are also considering the human-to-human
transmission of Zika, as the virus was found in the saliva and urine of those
infected, which indicates that the virus could be transmitted through human
contact as well, not only through mosquitoes. There is no anti-Zika vaccine at
the moment, and experts in the field estimate that it could take a year to
develop one. Several pharmaceutical companies have announced they are already
working on a vaccine and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has created a team
of experts to help pharmaceutical companies and doctors seeking to develop a
vaccine or treatment case of infection.

There are similarities between Zika and dengue fever and West Nile
fever, for which a vaccine exists or is being developed. These similarities are
fuelling hopes for a future cure for Zika, but the rapid spreading of the virus
has turned the search for a cure into a round-the-clock race. According to the
latest World Health Organisation estimates, the number of people infected in
the Americas could reach four million in 2016. The organisation’s director-general
Margaret Chan called Zika an extraordinary event, which requires coordinated
response:

After a review of the evidence, the
Committee advised that the recent cluster of microcephaly cases and other
neurological disorders reported in Brazil, following a similar cluster in
French Polynesia in 2014, constitutes an extraordinary event and a public
health threat to other parts of the world. In their view, a coordinated international response is needed to minimize the
threat in affected countries and reduce the risk of further international
spread. Members of the Committee agreed that the situation meets the conditions
for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Concurrently with efforts to develop a vaccine,
all countries in Latin America have mobilised to fight the virus. Brazil is
running a pilot project using genetically modified mosquitoes. This type of
mosquito, created by a British company, is spread daily into the air by means
of a minivan. This mosquito is mating with wild females passing a lethal gene
to its offspring so that an entire generation is killed before turning into
adults. The Dominican Republic has mobilised the army in the fight against the
tiger mosquito, responsible for carrying the Zika virus. Dominican troops are
involved in clean up operations and for various procedures aimed at reducing
air humidity levels. The French authorities have recently ruled that tourists
recently returning from the affected regions can donate blood only 28 days
after their return in order to diminish the risk of transmitting the disease
through blood transfusions.

The appearance of this disease has also sparked
various speculations. Some say the Zika outbreak became possible after the 2012
release of genetically modified mosquitoes, whose main aim was to fight the
spreading of other diseases such as the dengue fever.

12 February 2016
February 5, 2016 UPDATE

CAR ACCIDENT – 5 people died and around 30 were wounded in a serious car accident that occurred on Friday morning on a national road in the south east of Romania, 60 kms away from Bucharest. A coach transporting 33 people hit from the back a tipper truck carrying sand. No braking traces have been identified at the accident site. The authorities are considering several scenarios among which technical problems or the likelihood of the bus driver falling asleep. A code red intervention plan has been activated, including the mobilization of human and material resources of all institutions with intervention attributes.

DEFENCE – National Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc on Friday met in Amsterdam his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, on the sidelines of the informal meeting of the European Union Defence Ministers. The Romanian official highlighted the need to carry on NATOs process of adjustment to the new security environment, underscoring the essential role of strengthening NATOs presence on its eastern flank and on the Black Sea. Also on Friday, Minister Mihnea Motoc met his Italian counterpart Roberta Pinotti. Talks focused on establishing a new legal framework for bilateral cooperation. The cooperation regards defence management and planning, training military and civilian personnel, controlling arms and disarmament, cyber defence in the military field and economic, military, technological and scientific projects.

SYRIA – The UN will verify the will of the countries involved in the Syrian conflict to have peace, as part of next weeks meeting of the international support group for Syria, which includes the US, Russia and Iran, says the UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura. On Wednesday, the UN official decided to call off peace negotiations in Geneva until February 25. He warned that negotiations must take place only with a view to reach an agreement. In another development, Russia on Friday denied the accusation of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who said Russias air raids in Syria are undermining peace negotiations between the Government in Damascus and the opposition. Several Western and regional countries have criticized Russia for its support to president Bashar al-Assad and for attacking rebel-controled areas. A US-led international coalition is also carrying out air strikes in Syria, targeting the Islamic State terrorist organization.

VATICAN – Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill are meeting on February 12 on Havana Airport in Cuba, the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church announced on Friday. This will be the first such meeting since the Great Schism of 1054. While Patriarch Kirill is on an official visit to Cuba, the Pope will stop in Havana on his way to Mexico. The two will meet for two hours and hen sign a joint declaration. Since he was elected head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has made ecumenism a priority, advocating for consolidating relations between the various Christian churches.

ZIKA VIRUS – Spain has confirmed that a pregnant woman has been diagnosed with the Zika virus, this being the first case reported in Europe. The Spanish Health Ministry says the woman has recently returned from a trip to Columbia where she is supposed to have been contaminated. The World Health Organization set up in early February a Global Response Unit to coordinate the actions meant to fight the propagation of the Zika virus. The measure was taken following the sudden increase in cases of microcephaly and other neurological disorders registered in Brazil, a country that has confirmed more than 400 cases of new born babies suffering of microcephaly, most likely caused by the Zika virus. The WHO has declared the virus, which continues to spread across the two Americas, a global public, medical emergency.

TENNIS – Friday saw the drawing of lots for the single matches to be played by Romania and the Czech Republic as part of the Fed Cup, to take place on Saturday and Sunday in Cluj (in the north west of Romania). The match counts for the World Group 1st round. The first match will be pitting Simona Halep (3rd in the WTA classification) and Karolina Pliskova (13th in the WTA ranking). The Czech Republic is also represented by Petra Kvitova (9th in the WTA ranking), Barbora Strycova (41st WTA seed) and Denisa Allertova (59th WTA seed). In the absence of Alexandra Dulgheru(61st in the WTA ranking) and Irina Begu (31st) who are injured, Romanias team is made up of Simona Halep, Monica Niculescu (WTA 40th seed), Andreea Mitu (96th in the WTA) and Raluca Olaru (45th in the WTA, doubles). The Czech team has been the best team of the past years at the Fed Cup, wining 9 titles including in 2015.

(Translated by V. Palcu)

5 February 2016
February 5, 2016

5 people have died and around 30 have been wounded in a serious car accident that occurred this morning on a national road in the south east of Romania, 60 kms away from Bucharest. A coach transporting 33 people hit from the back a tipper truck carrying sand. No braking traces have been identified at the accident site. The authorities are considering several scenarios among which technical problems or the likelihood of the bus driver falling asleep. A code red intervention plan has been activated, including the mobilization of human and material resources of all institutions with intervention attributes.

The Romanian Defense Minister, Mihnea Motoc, met Friday with the French Defense Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, on the sidelines of the informal meeting of the EU defense ministers hosted by Amsterdam. The talks focused on security issues as well as on cooperation as part of international organizations, shows a press release of the Romanian Defense Ministry. Minister Motoc highlighted the importance of maintaining the cohesion and unity of the North Atlantic Alliance and the need to carry on with the process of adapting the organization to the new security environment, stressing the necessity of consolidating the NATO presence on the eastern flank and the Black Sea, the Romanian Defense Ministry shows. Amsterdam hosts on Friday a meeting of the European defense and foreign ministers. Informal talks are taking place for the revision of the European Strategy on foreign and security policy. Romania is represented by the Foreign Minister, Lazar Comanescu.

Spain has confirmed that a pregnant woman has been diagnosed with the Zika virus, this being the first case reported in Europe. The Spanish Health Ministry says the woman has recently returned from a trip to Columbia where she is supposed to have been contaminated. The World Health Organization set up in early February a Global Response Unit to coordinate the actions meant to fight the propagation of the Zika virus. The measure was taken following the sudden increase in cases of microcephaly and other neurological disorders registered in Brazil, a country that has confirmed more than 400 cases of new born babies suffering of microcephaly, most likely caused by the Zika virus. The WHO has declared the virus, which continues to spread across the two Americas, a global public, medical emergency.

Friday saw the drawing of lots for the single matches to be played by Romania and the Czech Republic as part of the Fed Cup, to take place on Saturday and Sunday in Cluj (in the north west of Romania). The match counts for the World Group 1st round. The first match will be pitting Simona Halep (3rd in the WTA classification) and Karolina Pliskova (13th in the WTA ranking). The Czech Republic is also represented by Petra Kvitova (9th in the WTA ranking), Barbora Strycova (41st WTA seed) and Denisa Allertova (59th WTA seed). In the absence of Alexandra Dulgheru(61st in the WTA ranking) and Irina Begu (31st) who are injured, Romania’s team is made up of Simona Halep, Monica Niculescu (WTA 40th seed), Andreea Mitu (96th in the WTA) and Raluca Olaru (45th in the WTA, doubles). The Czech team has been the best team of the past years at the Fed Cup, wining 9 titles including in 2015.

The UN mediator for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will explain today to the ambassadors of the 15 members of the UN Security Council his decision to suspend the peace negotiations in Geneva. Staffan de Mistura, who has been mediating since Monday the negotiations between the regime in Damascus and the Syrian opposition, announced Wednesday a 3-week break in the negotiations, which are meant to work out a political solution to the crisis. No date has been advanced for the resumption of negotiations in the context in which the Syrian opposition representatives announced they would not negotiate unless the regime in Damascus ended bombardments in the civilian areas and started releasing the prisoners. In another development, donations for Syria worth 11 billion dollars were gathered in London, on Thursday, at an international donor’s conference. (news translated by Lacramioara Simion)

5 February 2016
February 2, 2016

The Romanian Senate’s legal comittee is today deciding whether to green light the prosecution of the former deputy prime minister and interior minister Gabriel Oprea. The Senator is accused of abusing the use of his official motorcade. The investigation was launched after last October a police officer had died while leading the motorcade accompanying the high-ranking official. Moreover, Gabriel Oprea had allegedly offered the same illegal benefit to the current Prosecutor General Tiberiu Nitu. Oprea claims he is innocent and says he wants to give up his right to parliamentary immunity.

The National Bank of Romania announced that it made the last interest payment of the 13 billion euro loan Romania took out from the International Monetary Fund in 2009. The payment marked the country’s completion of its IMF deals. The National Bank also announced that its hard currency reserves have dropped by half a billion euros this year as compared to 2015, to 31 billion euros at the beginning of this year. At the same time, Romania’s gold reserves have maintained at the level of 103 tons.

NATO stages naval military drills in the Black Sea waters this month, including military ships of Bulgaria, Romania, Spain and Turkey. Surveillance operations of the sea routes will be carried out in order to prevent illegal trafficking of goods and people. The exercise is part of the Romanian Navy’s work plan in 2016 and aims at raising the Romanian military interoperability level with Alliance partners.

Zika virus poses no threat to Romania at the moment but people who travel to Central and South America might be exposed to it, head of the Romanian Society of Microbiology, Alexandru Rafila, said on Tuesday. The World Health Organisation has declared that the clusters of brain-damaged babies born in Brazil — linked to but not proven to be caused by the Zika virus — constitute a public health emergency of international concern. The WHO director Margaret Chan called Zika “an extraordinary event and a public health threat to other parts of the world”. The infection has been linked to cases of microcephaly, in which babies are born with underdeveloped brains. The WHO, that puts Zika in the same category of concern as Ebola, made the announcement on Monday evening in Geneva. Currently, there is no vaccine or medication to stop Zika. In Europe and North America tens of cases if infection with the virus have been reported among people that have travelled to Latin America.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has won the Iowa Republican caucuses with 28% of the votes, beating his rival, the frontrunner Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio. This is the first vote to choose US presidential candidates. Votes in the Democratic race are still being counted, with Hillary Clintons camp saying they have narrowly won. Hillary Clinton declared victory early Tuesday morning in a razor-thin contest against Bernie Sanders in Iowa. But Democratic Party officials have not yet declared a winner. The aim of the primary and caucus races in the coming months is to determine which candidates will represent the two main parties in the November presidential election. After Iowa, candidates are heading for New Hampshire for the primary elections due on February 9th.

The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, is today unveiling a draft deal aimed at meeting David Camerons European Union reform demands, including new powers for national parliaments to block unwanted proposals from Brussels. Tusk held talks in London with the British Premier who insists on putting an “emergency brake” on welfare payments to EU workers. The latter also wants to impose a unilateral four-year curb, which other member states ruled out as discriminatory and in breach of the freedom of movement principle. Donald Tusk announced on Monday that progress was made in the talks with the British Premier. David Cameron has promised to renegotiate his country’s relation with the EU and then stage a referendum on whether to remain in the 28-member bloc.

(Translated by Elena Enache)

2 February 2016
January 30, 2016

ELECTIONS – The National Union for the Progress of Romania does not rule out an alliance with another political party ahead of this years elections. The partys executive committee is today deciding on its future alliance policy. In another development, the Social-Democratic Party has firmly opposed the change of the election law, which provides for a two-ballot vote in local elections. Conversely, the Liberals claim the law gives small or newly-founded parties a chance to win votes at local level. Local elections are scheduled to take place in early June. Legislative elections will be held later this year in Romania.

MIGRANTS – Ten migrants, including five children, lost their lives on Saturday in a new shipwreck in the Aegean Sea, after their boat capsized, a Turkish coast guard official has announced. The migrants left from Cankkale in Turkey trying to reach Lesbos Island. On Thursday, 24 migrants, including 10 children, drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of the Samos Island. The head of FRONTEX Fabrice Leggeri told Der Spiegel that approximately 1 million migrants are expected to arrive in Europe this year via Turkey. The FRONTEX official said the Government in Turkey doesnt have the means to keep the migration flows at bay, despite an agreement in this sense agreed with the EU. In 2015, over 1 million immigrants arrive in Europe.

PHOTOGRAPHY – Famous British photographer Richard John Seymour, the recipient of several photography awards, has recently visited the Turda salt mine in central Romania, as part of a project to take photos of the most spectacular anthropical landscapes. In an article published on thespaces.com carried by the CNN, the salt mine is described as an unusual attraction, visited every year by thousands of tourists. People go down in the mine to treat various respiratory diseases, others to play mini-golf, bowling or to take a boat ride on the underground lake. In 2014, Business Insider ranked the Turda salt mine among the top 25th most attractive tourist destinations in the world.

ZIKA VIRUS – US president Barack Obama had a telephone conversation with Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff regarding the spread of the Zika virus to the Western hemisphere. According to the White House, the two agreed on the importance of working together to increase the base of knowledge on the virus and step up the development of better vaccines. The World Health Organization on Monday will hold an emergency meeting to discuss the Zika virus, which has wrought havoc on the American continent, with 3 to 4 million cases expected this year. Brazil is the worst-hit country. The virus is carried by a tropical mosquito and is a threat to pregnant women, as it might cause congenital malformations in newborns. According to the WHO, Zika has already reached six European countries. Microbiology experts have assured the virus poses no threat to Romania at present.

TENNIS – The pair made up of Romanian Horia Tecau and Coco Vandeweghe of the US on Sunday will play fifth-seeds Elena Vesnina of Russia and Bruno Soares of Brazil in the mixed doubles final of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Tecau and Vandeweghe knocked out Treat Huey of the Philippines and Andreja Klepac of Slovenia, 6-4, 6-4 in the semis. In 2012 Horia Tecau won the mixed doubles at Australian Open together with Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US.

(Translated by V. Palcu)

30 January 2016