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"Although we are moving in the right direction, one wonders how long it will take humanity to attain a consciousness of ourselves as human beings first and foremost. I only hope the forces seeking to strangle us don't bring about something unfortunate before then." If that sounds clunky and expository to you, just pick out a random page out of Sakyo Komatsu's novel Virus: The Day of Resurrection(1964) and find examples of dialogue just like that. It does not matter that the speaker in this case is a concerned doctor. There is little to distinguish narrative from terrible speech in this supposed triller. Komatsu won awards in both mystery and science fiction writing in Japan, so I can only presume that something was lost in a rough translation. But the painfully slow set up indicates it might not be a language issue.

American astronauts bring an unknown virus to earth, where hapless scientists unwittingly transform it into a killer bug. The plot is loaded with resonant potential, tapping on fears of germ warfare and superbugs that are as much of a concern today as it was when the book was first released almost fifty years ago. But the execution is sorely lacking.

Komatsu takes his time moving his plot along. If only he took this time to establish character. What he does instead is to accumulate detail to a level that makes the eyes glaze over like an influenza victim. One of the first casualties of the titular crisis is stopped literally and figuratively dead in its tracks by a description of technical details of a sports car. It's the kind of thing J.G. Ballard might have pulled off. Ballard, one of the great science fiction writers, used precise, clinical language to set a chilling tone for horrific tales of the future like Crash. It doesn't work here.

According to an introduction by a young Japanese author, Virus was a cultural touchstone for Japanese readers. Originally released at a time when the nation was cranking out monster movies, the book preyed on post-atomic dread by offering the anxiety of an unstoppable influenza. But as awkward and badly written as a 1960s Japanese monster movie can be, there was a charming efficiency to them as they foretold the wrath of space or prehistoric creatures. Virus would have made a good low budget science fiction movie. At 300 pages of dull prose, it's a terribly hard slog of a cautionary tale.

View the original article on blogcritics.org

Originally posted here:
Book Review: 'Virus: The Day of Resurrection' by Sakyo Komatsu

Abu Dhabi, June 26 (IANS/WAM) Around 80 of the world's leading scientists, doctors and public health officials met in Cairo to discuss building defences against a deadly virus known as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

UAE daily The National said that the World Health Organisation convening such a meeting "is both worrying and reassuring".

"Medical experts and public-health authorities are obviously taking the problem seriously, which is a good start to managing it," it said.

However, the experts admitted that they know very little about the coronavirus that causes the disease - not even where it comes from, or how it is transmitted.

The nearest related virus is found in bats, and it is speculated that it passes to camels via dates infected by bat droppings and then onto humans. Transmission from camel to human - and between humans - is also not fully understood.

"The ailment's name is based on the fact that the majority of the 60 cases - and 38 deaths - identified worldwide starting in April 2012 have originated in the Middle East. The handful of cases in western Europe have involved travellers from the Middle East," the newspaper said.

So far, at least, the pneumonia-like sickness the virus causes has not been very contagious. There is no "sustained community transmission".

However, the experts were concerned that the occasional MERS victims could become what they call a "super-spreader" - a person with an increased ability to infect others.

--IANS/WAM

pm/

Read the original post:
World experts pool knowledge against killer virus

Guardian photo by Dave Stewart

Peter Penny, who operates a nine-acre strawberry operation in Belfast, said hes having his crop tested Monday for an unknown virus that has been attacking crops in Nova Scotia and has now shown up in P.E.I.

Peter Penny of Belfast says between last years drought and this years virus his strawberry fields are taking a beating.

Penny and his wife, Jennifer, own and operate a nine-acre strawberry operation on the Trans-Canada Highway in Belfast, within eyesight of one of their two main customers, Coopers Red & White.

Last year was a killer. The drought really stung, Peter Penny told The Guardian on Thursday. It got dry and we couldnt spray, the weeds got ahead of us. It was a tough one that we end up reaping this year.

Now theyre dealing with a virus that has been attacking crops in Nova Scotia over the past few years and has made its way onto P.E.I. fields. Tests have confirmed the virus has been found in two Island fields.

Penny said theyll have a crop this year but the strawberries wont be up to their usual standards.

Weve been watching it. Well certainly have some poor berries. The drought last summer was a killer and they just never really came back.

The Pennys are having their plants tested on Monday.

Theyre going to take samples of the leaves off the various fields from all the growers and then theyll send them away to B.C. where they will be tested. We should know the results in 10 days to two weeks.

Originally posted here:
Belfast strawberry grower says drought and virus hitting crop hard

THE H7N9 bird flu that hit China this year killed over a third of hospitalised patients, say researchers who labelled the virus "less serious" but probably more widespread than previously thought.

They warned watchdogs not to take comfort from a lull in new infections, as the virus may reappear in the northern hemisphere autumn.

In what they described as the most complete picture of the virus' severity, researchers in Beijing and Hong Kong found that H7N9 proved fatal in 36 per cent of patients admitted to hospital in mainland China.

This was a lower fatality rate than H5N1-type bird flu which emerged in 2003 and killed about 60 per cent of hospitalised patients.

It was higher, though, than the H1N1 "swine flu" outbreak of 2009-10, which had a 21 per cent death rate among people requiring hospitalisation.

A total 131 human infections have been recorded on the Chinese mainland since the outbreak started in February, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said in its last monthly update.

Of these, 123 were admitted to hospital, and 39 died.

One other case was recorded in Taiwan.

The virus is believed to spread to humans from birds. The fear is that it could mutate into a form transmissible from human to human.

Writing in The Lancet medical journal, the researchers estimated that between 0.16 per cent and 2.8 per cent of all people infected with H7N9, and who displayed symptoms of flu, were at statistical risk of dying.

Continued here:
Latest bird flu strain less of a killer

Seven-year-old Emily Whitehead received a lot of attention last year when a gene therapy engineered at the University of Pennsylvania cured her of leukemia. At the time, Emily was one of 10 patients who received the T cell therapy that uses a patient's own healthy T cells infected with a virus to attack the cancer cells.

What's really interesting about the therapy is that it uses the HIV virus. How is that possible?

"The virus has been engineered so that it can't cause disease anymore, but it still retains the ability to reprogram the immune system so that it will now attack cancer cells," says Carl H. June, MD from the University of Pennsylvania.

The new cells have been nicknamed "serial killer cells," and rightfully so. These modified cells can kill more than 1,000 different tumor cells.

Check out the video below for more about Emily Whitehead and how the T cell gene therapy works.

Continue reading here:
HIV virus behind leukemia cures at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia