The switch from trivalent to bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine: Will it lead to polio?
In four months, 155 countries will together switch from using trivalent to bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine. Will this change lead to more cases of poliomyelitis?
There are three serotypes of poliovirus, each of which can cause paralytic poliomyelitis. The Sabin oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV), which has been used globally by WHO in the eradication effort, is a trivalent vaccine that contains all three serotypes.
In September 2015 WHO declared that wild poliovirus type 2 has been eradicated from the planet – no cases caused by this serotype had been detected since November 1999. However, in 2015, there were 9 cases of...
Source: virology blog - January 13, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information bivalent circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus cVDPV eradication IPV OPV poliomyelitis trivalent vaccine-associated polio viral viruses WHO Source Type: blogs
Where Do K-1 Visa Holders Come From?
Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were killed last week in a gun battle with police after they committed a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. Malik entered the U.S. on a K-1 visa, known as the fiancé visa, accompanied by Farook. Their attack is the first perpetrated by somebody on the K-1 visa - igniting a debate over increasing visa security.
The government issued approximately 262,162 K-1 visas from 2005 to 2013 – 3177 or 1.21 percent of the total to Pakistani citizens.
Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) SECURE Act identifies 34 countries as particularly terror-prone. There were 32,363 K-1 visa, 12.34 pe...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 7, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
America Is Winning Burma’s “Great Game” between the U.S. and China
Relations between the U.S. and China have grown tenser as the latter has developed economically and advanced internationally. Few Americans want to cede their dominant position while most Chinese are determined to regain what they believe to be Beijing’s rightful influence.
The two nations are waging a bitter but so far nonviolent struggle in Burma, or Myanmar. And the U.S. appears to be winning.
For decades Burma’s military ruled ruthlessly. The West responded by isolating and sanctioning the generals, who renamed their nation Myanmar over popular opposition.
The junta turned to China for military cooperation and econ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 1, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Democracy Triumphs in Burma--If Military Will Yield Real Power
In 2010, Burma’s military junta–misnamed the State Peace and Development Council–began a controlled move toward limited democracy. The process was highly imperfect and there has been backsliding of late.
Nevertheless, national elections were held last week.
Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy annihilated the regime’s Union Solidarity Development Party, winning 78 percent of the seats. Voters rejected many top military and USDP leaders.
The losers were surprised that the people gave them so little credit for the end of dictatorial rule. “All of our calculations were wrong,” said one...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - November 19, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
“There is no way to reliably predict the outcome of...
"There is no way to reliably predict the outcome of Sunday's parliamentary election in Myanmar — the first time in a generation that the opposition has the opportunity to seize power from the military. But the country's heart seems to remain with the leader of the National League for Democracy, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Her rallies across the country have been drawing frenzied crowds. Although the Constitution bars her from becoming president, #SuuKyi left no doubt that she would be in charge. "I will be above the president," she told @nytimes, adding that she had "already made plans" to run the government if her party wins ...
Source: Kidney Notes - November 6, 2015 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
Aung San Suu Kyi's Trip to China: Sino-Myanmar Relations as the Countdown to the November Elections Begins
For Aung San Suu Kyi and the rest of the National League for Democracy (NLD) delegation, meeting with Chinese leadership provided a forum for bilateral engagement with one of Myanmar's most important neighbors in the region, relations that will expand given the NLD's likely success at the polls in November. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - August 10, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: RAND Corporation Source Type: blogs
Rising Religious Persecution: Islam Threatens Minorities
All religious faiths are victims of persecution somewhere. Over the last year “a horrified world has watched the results of what some have aptly called violence masquerading as religious devotion” in several nations, observed the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in its latest annual report.
The Commission highlighted 27 countries for particularly vicious treatment of religious minorities. Nine states make the first tier, “Countries of Particular Concern,” in State Department parlance.
Burma. Despite recent reforms, noted the Commission, “these steps have not yet improved conditions for religious...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 15, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Religious Persecution: First Freedom Remains Under Global Siege
Doug Bandow
Americans take religious liberty for granted. But four of five people around the world lack the freedom to worship and live faithfully.
The Pew Research Center, with Peter Henne as lead researcher, recently issued its latest study on religious liberty. The report makes for a sad read.
In some nations governments suppress the faithful. In other countries people make their societies unfriendly to minority beliefs, imposing a wide range of less formal sanctions, including murder.
The overall global environment to religious faith is hostile. Concluded the study: “restrictions on religion were high or very high...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 19, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Thailand’s Military Junta Enjoys Power and Postpones Elections
Doug Bandow
BANGKOK, THAILAND—Thailand’s capital has lost none of its frenetic motion but it is a bit quieter of late, with last year’s demonstrators dispersed by the military.
However, the junta, which took power in May, is not leaving. Instead it recently announced that it was putting off any vote.
Thailand’s political crisis has been years in the making. Once an absolute monarchy, the country’s democracy has been oft interrupted by military rule. A new constitution was instituted in 1997, but the business-military-court alliance hadn’t prepared for telecommunications executive Thaksin Shinawatra.
In 2...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 29, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Is North Korea Preparing for Change or Planning More of the Same?
Doug Bandow
North Koreans have formally ended their three-year mourning period for Kim Jong-il. By custom his son, Kim Jong-un, and the country now are free to move forward without hindrance from the past.
A small, poor nation, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea should be an international nullity, irrelevant to global affairs. Yet it again dominated headlines in the U.S. with the hacking of Sony.
Although the FBI is pointing its finger at Pyongyang, a number of online experts strongly doubt the charge. Whatever the case, this otherwise two-bit international player is at the top of the news.
For the last seven dec...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 22, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Time to Close Thailand’s Camps for Burmese Refugees?
Doug Bandow
MAE LA REFUGEE CAMP, THAILAND—Trees give way to primitive wooden homes in the rolling hills approaching Mae La refugee camp on Thailand’s border with Burma. The largest camp in Thailand, Mae La, holds 50,000 refugees.
Three years ago Burma’s ruling generals yielded authority to a nominally civilian leadership and initiated a series of ceasefires with various ethnic groups. The resulting peace is real but imperfect.
Today there are as many as 150,000 refugees in ten Thai camps. Overcrowded Mae La was established three decades ago when many assumed that their stay would be sho...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 16, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Myanmar Reforms Slip Into Reverse: How to Save Burma’s Democracy
Doug Bandow
WALLAY, BURMA—When foreign dignitaries visit Myanmar, still known as Burma in much of the West, they don’t walk the rural hills over which the central government and ethnic groups such as the Karen fought for; for decades. Like isolated Wallay village.
Wallay gets none of the attention of bustling Rangoon or the empty capital of Naypyitaw. Yet the fact that I could visit without risking being shot may be the most important evidence of change in Burma. For three years the Burmese army and Karen National Liberation Army have observed a ceasefire. For the first time in decades Karen children are growing up wi...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 9, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Myanmar's Slow Path to Democracy
The U.S. and its allies must act decisively and provide a strong foundation for Myanmar's long-term transformation. A failure to carefully guide the country's successful transition to a civilian rule would be a missed opportunity for the Obama administration and, more important, for Myanmar's 51 million citizens. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - November 17, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: RAND Corporation Source Type: blogs
