Team USA

[Hamartia Antidote]

Hepatitis C - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Hepatitis C is an infectious disease affecting primarily the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The infection is often asymptomatic, but chronic infection can lead to scarring of the liver and ultimately to cirrhosis, which is generally apparent after many years. In some cases, those with cirrhosis will go on to develop liver failure, liver cancer, or life-threatening esophageal and gastric varices.

HCV is spread primarily by blood-to-blood contact associated with intravenous drug use, poorly sterilized medical equipment, and transfusions. An estimated 150–200 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C.The existence of hepatitis C (originally identifiable only as a type of non-A non-B hepatitis) was suggested in the 1970s and proven in 1989. Hepatitis C infects only humans and chimpanzees.

The virus persists in the liver in about 85% of those infected. This chronic infection can be treated with medication: the standard therapy is a combination of peginterferon and ribavirin, with either boceprevir or telaprevir added in some cases. Overall, 50–80% of people treated are cured. Those who develop cirrhosis or liver cancer may require a liver transplant. Hepatitis C is the leading reason for liver transplantation, though the virus usually recurs after transplantation.

No vaccine against hepatitis C is available."

 

[AgentOrange]

Drinkable Tap water - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
View attachment 151394
"Tap water (running water, city water, municipal water, etc.) is water supplied to a tap (valve). Its uses include drinking, washing, cooking, and the flushing of toilets. Indoor tap water is distributed through "indoor plumbing", which has existed since antiquity but was available to very few people until the second half of the 19th century"


Drinking water quality in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"...Drinking water quality in the United States is generally good. In 2006, 89.3 percent of the nation's community water systems were in compliance with all more-than-90 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards.Most of the systems out of compliance are small systems in rural areas and small towns..."

Many municipal water supplies are adding Ultraviolet and Ozone into the disinfection process (in addition to chlorine).
View attachment 151418


That "clean mountain" bottled water you buy may be coming straight out of the tap...

Know What Countries Guarantee Drinkable Tap Water with This Graphic

View attachment 151395

Wait, Finland doesn't have drinkable tap water!?!? For shame Finland! For shame! Or do Finns just drink vodka instead of water? In which case it wouldn't matter.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Wait, Finland doesn't have drinkable tap water!?!? For shame Finland! For shame! Or do Finns just drink vodka instead of water? In which case it wouldn't matter.

Look at pic again.

 

[AgentOrange]

Look at pic again.

Arggh. The shame. I fail at geography.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Arggh. The shame. I fail at geography.

Oh the irony of an American pointing out a geography error to a Canadian.

 

[AgentOrange]

Oh the irony of an American pointing out a geography error to a Canadian.

For shame. The mounties are coming to take away my goalie stick as I type.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Hepatitis D - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Hepatitis D, also referred to as hepatitis D virus (HDV) and classified as Hepatitis delta virus, is a disease caused by a small circular enveloped RNA virus. It is one of five known hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E. HDV is considered to be a subviral satellite because it can propagate only in the presence of the hepatitis B virus (HBV).[1] Transmission of HDV can occur either via simultaneous infection with HBV (coinfection) or superimposed on chronic hepatitis B or hepatitis B carrier state (superinfection).

Both superinfection and coinfection with HDV results in more severe complications compared to infection with HBV alone. These complications include a greater likelihood of experiencing liver failure in acute infections and a rapid progression to liver cirrhosis, with an increased chance of developing liver cancer in chronic infections.[2] In combination with hepatitis B virus, hepatitis D has the highest mortality rate of all the hepatitis infections, at 20%."

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Hepatitis E - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Hepatitis E is a viral hepatitis (liver inflammation) caused by infection with a virus called hepatitis E virus (HEV). HEV is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA icosahedral virus with a 7.5 kilobase genome. HEV has a fecal-oral transmission route."

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Tuberculosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB (short for tubercle bacillus), in the past also called phthisis, phthisis pulmonalis, or consumption, is a widespread, and in many cases fatal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis.[1] Tuberculosis typically attacks the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air when people who have an active TB infection cough, sneeze, or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air.[2] Most infections do not have symptoms, known as latent tuberculosis. About one in ten latent infections eventually progresses to active disease which, if left untreated, kills more than 50% of those so infected."

CDC | TB | Fact Sheets | Trends in Tuberculosis – United States

How many people died from TB in the United States?
There were 536 deaths from TB in 2011, the most recent year for which these data are available. The number of TB deaths reported annually has decreased by 69% since 1992.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Malaria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by parasitic protozoans (a type of single cell microorganism) of the Plasmodium type.[1] Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, fatigue, vomiting and headaches. In severe cases it can cause yellow skin, seizures, coma or death.[2] These symptoms usually begin ten to fifteen days after being bitten. In those who have not been appropriately treated disease may recur months later.[1] In those who have recently survived an infection, re-infection typically causes milder symptoms. This partial resistance disappears over months to years if there is no ongoing exposure to malaria."

National Malaria Eradication Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"In the United States, the National Malaria Eradication Program (NMEP) was launched on 1 July 1947. This federal program — with state and local participation — had succeeded in eradicating malaria in the United States by 1951."

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Air pollution in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment into the atmosphere. Ever since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, America has had much trouble with environmental issues, air pollution in particular."

...In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s, the United States Congress enacted a series of Clean Air Acts which significantly strengthened regulation of air pollution...

The effects of these laws have been very positive. In the United States between 1970 and 2006, citizens enjoyed the following reductions in annual pollution emissions:[2]

carbon monoxide emissions fell from 197 million tons to 89 million tons
nitrogen oxide emissions fell from 27 million tons to 19 million tons
sulfur dioxide emissions fell from 31 million tons to 15 million tons
particulate emissions fell by 80%
lead emissions fell by more than 98%

Air Quality Trends | AirTrends | Air & Radiation | EPA

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Car Safety:

1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Many changes in both vehicle and highway design followed this mandate. Vehicles (agent of injury) were built with new safety features, including head rests, energy-absorbing steering wheels, shatter-resistant windshields, and safety belts"

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Although seat belts were required in cars...that didn't mean people actually used them.
As recently as 1983 only 14% of people buckled-up.

The non-use of seat belts led to:
Seat belt legislation in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Which influenced
Seat belt use rates in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The highest rate for seat belt use is Oregon at 98.2% and the lowest is New Hampshire (the "Live Free or Die" state BTW) at 73%.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Car Safety: 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 also mandated that passenger automobiles and light trucks built after September 1, 1998 to have airbags installed as standard equipment for the driver and the right front passenger."

Automotive Airbag History and Invention
"The 1973, Oldsmobile Toronado was the first car with a passenger air bag intended for sale to the public"

Of course now things have "expanded" a bit

knee airbags

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Child auto safety: Child safety seat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Child passenger restraint requirements vary based on age, weight and height. Often, this happens in three stages: infants use rear-facing infant seats; toddlers use forward-facing child safety seats; and older children use booster seats.

State Child Passenger Safety Laws

Many laws require all children to ride in the rear seat whenever possible, and most states permit children over a particular age, height or weight to use an adult safety belt.
.....
All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands require child safety seats for infants and children fitting specific criteria.
48 states and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico require booster seats or other appropriate devices for children who have outgrown their child safety seats but are still too small to use an adult seat belt safely.

Rear Facing infant seat

Front facing 5-point harness

History of the Car Seat
"Car seats have become such an important part of parenting culture – we can go from car, to stroller, to the house with our little ones snapped safely inside. Parents today research car seat options extensively and take extra care to get their car seats checked for proper installation. But less than 30 years ago, car seats weren’t required for children. It was estimated that by 1984, only half of all children under the age of four were riding in car seats."

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811377.pdf

 

[VCheng]

Hey @Peter C You getting ready for Thanksgiving?