UN Worker Among Sharp Increase in DRC's Ebola Caseload

A U.N. employee in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has tested positive for Ebola, the first such incident during the current outbreak, according to the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

"I am writing today to inform you that my leadership team and I have regretfully just received news that a U.N. colleague based in Beni has tested positive for Ebola and is now receiving the necessary medical treatment," Leila Zerrougui wrote in the letter obtained by the Reuters news agency.

Zerrougui said the employee had not been to work for several weeks and that officials were tracing the person's contacts.

The news came after health officials warned that the rate of new Ebola cases had more than doubled since September.

Rise in cases a concern

The sharp rise has health officials concerned that the situation in eastern DRC Is at a crossroads.

Either the outbreak is getting worse, or local residents are finally responding to education campaigns and government edicts and are no longer resisting health workers.

The death toll stood at 125 as of Friday, out of 201 reported Ebola cases (166 confirmed and 35 probable), according to the DRC's health ministry.

This outbreak, the country's 10th, initially was reported Aug. 1.

"The fact that we see more cases could also be a positive sign," said Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, speaking by phone from Geneva on Thursday. "… We have seen in the past that sometimes people would hide sick ones or would actively run away" from aid workers charged with tracing the contacts of infected patients — a step essential to curbing the deadly disease's spread.

Attack keeps workers inside

But insecurity is complicating the health community's response in the outbreak's epicenter in the North Kivu region, where more than 100 armed opposition groups operate, and more than 1 million people have been displaced.

The jump in reported cases follows a Sept. 22 armed attack in Beni, a town near the border with Uganda and the center for aid efforts. Eighteen people died, including 14 civilians, according to the army.

Jasarevic said WHO health workers were forced to stay indoors for two full days following the attack.

"Operations were hampered by the insecurity," Jasarevic said. "… And not only because of the [health] teams not being able to go out, but also because of the reaction of the population."

Red Cross volunteers attacked

Other violence has impeded aid work in the region. Last week, three Red Cross volunteers on an Ebola burial team were attacked and injured while conducting their duties in the northeast city of Butembo, according to the DRC Red Cross. It said, in a statement, that two of the volunteers were being treated for serious wounds.

The Red Cross statement reminded people that the body of an Ebola victim is highly infectious and requires careful handling. The Ebola virus spreads through contact with bodily fluids.

In addition, some families have refused to allow aid workers to check on and treat potential patients, and other victims have fled, raising the possibility that the virus could spread to neighboring Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.

Jasarevic said local people's "reaction to the Ebola response is sort of linked to their reaction to the general insecurity, basically thinking that if all these authorities, including international actors, are not able to provide security, how it would be then possible for them to try to control the outbreak?"

Emergency Committee meeting on an Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo, May 18, 2018.

The WHO initially had predicted the disease possibly could be brought under control within three months, thanks in part to a vaccine that has proven effective for people who have been exposed but haven't shown symptoms, and new treatment drugs for people who have contracted Ebola.

But Peter Salama, WHO's executive director of the health emergencies program, said Thursday that the response timetable needed revision.

"We anticipate that now we'll be looking at least another three or four months in order to really stem this outbreak, with a strong focus again on Beni and surrounding areas," Salama said at a Geneva news conference.

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Life-Sized Plastic Whale to Raise Ocean Pollution Awareness

Artists are putting the finishing touches on an 82-foot-long (24-meter-long) blue whale made from discarded plastic that will be on display near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge to raise awareness about ocean pollution.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium said Friday a blue whale can weigh 300,000 pounds (136,000 kilograms) — about the amount of plastic scientists say enters the ocean every nine minutes.

A 2015 study by Jenna Jambeck, an environmental engineer at the University of Georgia, found 9 million tons (8 million metric tons) of plastic waste enter the ocean annually.

The sculpture created from plastic water bottles, lids and bags by artists Joel Deal Stockdill and Yustina Salnikova will be publicly unveiled Saturday.

It is located in Crissy Field, the heart of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

It is sponsored by the aquarium in partnership with the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

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C-section births rise rapidly to more than 20 per cent worldwide

Rates of caesarean section births almost doubled between 2000 and 2015 – from 12 to 21 per cent worldwide - new research has found, with the life-saving surgery unavailable to many women in poor countries while often over-used in richer ones.

The research, published in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday, found that 60 per cent of countries overuse C-sections and 25 per cent under-use them, suggesting that recommendations for their use in cases of medical need are widely ignored.

In at least 15 countries, more than 40 per cent of all babies born are delivered by C-section. The highest rate, of 58.1 per cent, was in the Dominican Republic.

Experts estimate that between 10 and 15 per cent of births medically require a C-section due to complications such as bleeding, foetal distress, hypertension or a baby being in an abnormal position.

While the procedure can save lives - of both mothers and newborns - it can also create complications and side effects, including higher risks for future births.

“The large increases in C-section use – mostly in richer settings for non-medical purposes – are concerning because of the associated risks for women and children,” said Marleen Temmerman, an expert from Aga Khan University in Kenya and Ghent University in Belgium who co-led the research.

She called on doctors, midwives and other health workers “to only intervene in this way when it is medically required”.

The research tracked trends in C-section use globally and in nine regions based on data from 169 countries from World Health Organization and UNICEF databases.

It found that globally, C-section use has increased by 3.7 per cent a year between 2000 and 2015 – rising from 12 per cent of live births in 2000, to 21 per cent in 2015.

C-section continues to be overused in North America, Western Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean, where rates rose by around 2 per cent a year between 2000 and 2015 to 32 per cent, almost 27 per cent and more than 44 per cent respectively.

The pace of change varied widely between regions, with rapid increases seen in South Asia and much slower rises in Africa.

Looking at trends in Brazil and China where there is high use of C-section, the researchers found that many were in low-risk pregnancies, in women who were well-educated, and in women who had previously had a C-section.

They said it was important for women and healthcare workers to understand the “small but serious risks” associated with C-sections, and ensure they were used in cases medical need.

C-sections have a more complicated recovery for the mother, they said, and lead to scarring of the womb, which is associated with bleeding, abnormal placenta development, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth and preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies.

Common reasons why women request C-sections include past negative experiences of vaginal birth, fear of labour pain or of the effects of labour such as pelvic floor damage, incontinence and reduced sexual function.

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Nail polishes often claim falsely to be toxin-free

Although nail polish manufacturers have begun removing some toxic ingredients, their labels are not always accurate and the reformulated products aren’t necessarily safer, suggests a new study.

“We were trying to learn more about what ingredients were in nail polish, and the more we dug deep into the labels, the more confused I was about the health claims, which I knew would be confusing for consumers and nail salon workers, too,” said lead author Anna Young of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

In the 2000s, nail polish manufacturers started phasing out three particularly toxic chemicals: formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate (DnBP). They would label these formulations as “3-free.” However, many of these products replaced those chemicals with another plasticizer, triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), which has since been shown to be potentially toxic as well.

The European Union banned DnBP in cosmetics in 2004, Young’s team notes in Environmental Science and Technology.

The US Food and Drug Administration requires ingredient labels on nail polishes but doesn’t require products to be tested for safety before entering the market, the researchers add. In addition, certain chemicals such as phthalates can be listed as “fragrance” due to trade secret concerns.

“It’s a chemical Whack-a-Mole,” Young said in a phone interview. “That’s especially important for nail salon workers because some of these toxins are linked to complications with fertility, thyroid issues, obesity and cancer.”

Young and colleagues measured the concentrations of 22 plasticizers in 40 nail polish samples to compare the label to actual ingredients.

The samples included different colors, finishes and top coats, and the researchers analyzed them for 12 phthalate and 10 organophosphate plasticizers.

Among the samples were 11 different “n-free” labels, ranging from “3-free” to “13-free.” All of the samples included significant levels of at least one plasticizer, and most contained at least five of the 22 ingredients studied. The “5-free” to “13-free” samples had lower levels in general than unlabeled or “3-free” samples, the study team notes.

TPHP, which is used as a plasticizer and flame retardant in a number of consumer products, was found in 40 percent of the samples. It was detected in 12 of the 27 products that did not list it as an ingredient.

The research team was pleased to find that DnBP wasn’t in any of the samples, and TPHP seemed to be in lower concentrations than reported in previous studies.

At the same time, the products with lower TPHP levels tended to have higher levels of didiethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), a hormone-disrupting chemical and possible carcinogen that was banned from cosmetics in the EU at the same time as DnBP, the authors note.

Overall, Young’s team concludes that label contents can be defined differently by different brands, the ingredient exclusions are usually not validated by a third party, and new label types are often not consistent with the preceding labels in terms of what ingredients are excluded.

“It’s important for consumers to understand that ‘n-free’ can mean different things to different companies,” said Heather Stapleton of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who wasn’t involved in the study.

“More research is warranted to understand the exposure levels that consumers are receiving,” Stapleton said in an email. “It’s important to know what these labels mean and how they relate to chemical exposure.”

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Tokyo's famed Tsukiji fish market closes its doors

A final tuna auction has been held at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, before it moves to a new site. The 83-year-old market - the world's largest - has long been a drawcard for locals and tourists.

The Tsukiji fish market, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Japanese capital and the world's largest wholesale fish market, had its last day of operations on Saturday before it is relocated to a new site 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) away.

The move was prompted by growing concerns about the rundown market's resistance to earthquakes, sanitation and fire safety, as well as the asbestos used in parts of its structure.

Tsukiji, which also offers vegetables and fruit, has been the hub of Tokyo's food scene for decades and its many stalls and restaurants have made it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city. Its early morning tuna auctions, of which the last took place on Saturday, have also been a major draw for visitors from abroad.

The relocation of the market was postponed for almost two years because the new site in Toyosu, in the east of the city, showed some soil and groundwater contamination after being home to a gas production plant. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike gave assurances in September that the site was now safe, but some retailers remain worried.

Critics of the move also say that Toyosu is less central that Tsukiji, which is close to the fashionable Ginza area.

The old market, which covers an area of more than 230,000 square meters (57 acres), will be used as a transport depot for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and possibly turned into a culinary theme park after that.

The reopening at the Toyosu site is scheduled for Thursday.

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