Toddler virus in China kills three in new outbreak

Three children die in China’s second outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease

At least three children have died in eastern China from hand, foot and mouth disease in the country’s second outbreak of the deadly toddler virus this year, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

The three victims were aged below one and came from Jian’ou City. Health officials reported another 113 cases since beginning  of October and warned that the disease was epidemic in parts of coastal Fujian province, Xinhua said.

The first outbreak of the virus in southern China killed at least 40 people in April and May, and sickened more than 27,000 others, mostly toddlers.

Hand, foot and mouth disease notice posted at a children’s hospital in Beijing. (PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images). Image maybe subject to copyright

“Hand, foot and mouth disease is a common childhood illness, but the outbreaks in China have been linked with enterovirus 71 (EV71), which can cause a severe form of the disease characterized by high fever, paralysis and meningitis.” Reuters reported.

Enteroviruses usually spread through contact with the carriers infected blisters or feces.

Related Links:

• China launches nationwide fight against deadly EV71
• Deadly virus infects 1,884, kills 20

Hubble Wobbles into Trouble

Hubble, Hubble, Double Trouble!

A team of NASA engineers and scientists, who have now suspended the reactivation of the orbiting observatory after experiencing a new malfunction,  had been trying to remotely boot up the space telescope’s back-up computer system after its primary data formatter, which sends data to Earth, failed in September.  Photo:  NASA/ESA

The Trouble with Hubble

Hubble’s Control Unit/Science Data Formatter (CU/SDF) failed last month and stopped transmitting data back to Earth.

NASA remotely booted up the space telescope’s back-up data system last week trying to have Hubble back in full science mode. Although the instrument reconfiguration “proceeded nominally,” NASA reported, they were unable to reactivate the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) because “an anomaly occurred during the last steps of the commanding to the Advanced Camera for Surveys”.

NASA has now suspended the reactivation of the Hubble space telescope as a team of about 50 engineers and scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland investigate the “anomalies” found with its back-up computer system.

Among Hubble’s achievements:

Cat’s Eye Nebula, NGC 6543

Observations suggest the star ejected its mass in a series of pulses at 1,500-year intervals. These convulsions created dust shells, each of which contain as much mass as all of the planets in our solar system combined (still only one percent of the Sun’s mass). These concentric shells make a layered, onion-skin structure around the dying star. The view from Hubble is like seeing an onion cut in half, where each skin layer is discernible.  Credit: NASA, ESA, HEIC, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Hubble Ultra Deep Field, HUDF

This view of nearly 10,000 galaxies is the deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, this galaxy-studded view represents a “deep” core sample of the universe, cutting across billions of light-years. The image required 800 exposures taken over the course of 400 Hubble orbits around Earth. The total amount of exposure time was 11.3 days, taken between Sept. 24, 2003 and Jan. 16, 2004. Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team.

From the Depth of a Black Hole

Image of the Day: Trust me, I’m a banker!

Former Lehman Chief Executive Richard Fuld testifies at a hearing held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Capitol Hill in Washington in this October 6, 2008 file photo. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/Files. Image may be subject to copyright.

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• Black Holes Suck! [Our colleague TERRES forecast the WS scam in June 2008]
• Ouch, there goes the 2008 Nobel prize for economics
• Federally Protected and Encouraged: Daylight Robbery

• Taxpayers Taken to the Cleaners BIG TIME!
• Senate Majority: Out of Touch with Reality

• In the Public Interest
• House Nixes Bailout Plan [for now!]
• More Quotes on Financial Markets Meltdown
• Who Needs Corporations?

• Run on the bank: A Hanging Offense
• Ensuring National Security