The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Cold germs are hardier than previously thought, says study Posted: 27 Dec 2013 08:48 PM PST Your best defence? Well-scrubbed hands. University of Buffalo researchers in New York published a study yesterday in the journal Infection and Immunity that found that Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes can live on surfaces such as toys, books, and cribs for weeks or even months. "These findings should make us more cautious about bacteria in the environment since they change our ideas about how these particular bacteria are spread," says senior author Dr Anders Hakansson. "This is the first paper to directly investigate that these bacteria can survive well on various surfaces, including hands, and potentially spread between individuals." The researchers found that in a daycare centre, four out of five stuffed toys tested positive for S. pneumonaie and several surfaces, such as cribs, tested positive for S. pyogenes, even after being cleaned. The testing was done just prior to the centre opening in the morning so it had been many hours since the last human contact, the researchers said. Hakansson and his co-authors became interested in the possibility that some bacteria might persist on surfaces when they published work last year showing that bacteria form biofilms when colonising human tissues. They found that these sophisticated, highly structured biofilm communities are hardier than other forms of bacteria. "Bacterial colonisation doesn't, by itself, cause infection but it's a necessary first step if an infection is going to become established in a human host," Hakansson says. "Children, the elderly and others with compromised immune systems are especially vulnerable to these infections. "In all of these cases, we found that these pathogens can survive for long periods outside a human host," says Hakansson. But, he says, the scientific literature maintains that you can only become infected by breathing in infected droplets expelled through coughing or sneezing by infected individuals. "Commonly handled objects that are contaminated with these biofilm bacteria could act as reservoirs of bacteria for hours, weeks or months, spreading potential infections to individuals who come in contact with them." Still, ways to protect yourself and your children from getting sick is to practise good hand hygiene. Use warm water and soap and lather up for at least 20 seconds, advises the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wash your hands frequently, especially after touching germy hot spots, such as shared toys, door handles, and faucets, and avoid touching your face as much as possible – no rubbing your eyes or biting your nails either – to avoid giving germs direct access to the body. Still, you can't fend off all germs, so stay well hydrated, get adequate sleep, and reduce stress to help your immune system do its job. – AFPRelaxNews, December 28, 2013. |
| France may ban comedian for ‘anti-Semitic’ jibes Posted: 27 Dec 2013 05:32 PM PST He said his ministry is studying legal ways to ban shows by Dieudonne M'bala M'bala, a comedian repeatedly fined for hate speech who ran in the 2009 European Parliament elections at the head of an "Anti-Zionist List" including far-right activists. Valls announced the move after Jewish groups complained to President Francois Hollande about Dieudonne's trademark straight-arm gesture, which they call a "Nazi salute in reverse" and link to a growing frequency of anti-Semitic remarks and acts in France. "Dieudonne M'bala M'bala doesn't seem to recognise any limits any more," Valls said in a statement announcing the legal review aimed at banning his public appearances. "From one comment to the next, as he has shown in several television shows, he attacks the memory of Holocaust victims in an obvious and unbearable way," he said. France has Europe's largest Jewish minority, estimated at about 600,000, but also sees a steady emigration to Israel of Jews who say they no longer feel safe here. In the worst recent anti-Semitic incident, a French Islamist killed a rabbi and three pupils at a Jewish school last year in the southwestern French city of Toulouse. Gesture goes viral Dieudonne, as he is known on stage, has responded to the criticism from prominent Jewish figures by threatening to sue them for linking his gesture - a downward straight arm touched at the shoulder by the opposite hand - to the Hitler salute. He calls the gesture "la quenelle" - the word for an elongated creamed fish dumpling - and says it stands for his anti-Zionist and anti-establishment views, not anti-Semitism. The gesture has gone viral on social media recently, with mostly young fans displaying it at parties and sports events. Some do it while in the audience at live television shows. Two soldiers were sanctioned by the army in September for making the gesture in uniform in front of a Paris synagogue. "It's the Nazi salute in reverse," Roger Cukierman, head of the CRIF umbrella group of Jewish organisations, said after complaining about it to Hollande last week. "Very clearly, Mr Dieudonne is developing a nearly professional anti-Semitism under the cover of telling jokes." Dieudonne, 46, Paris-born son of a Cameroonian father and French mother, began his comedy career with a Jewish sidekick in the early 1990s and appeared in several films. Originally active with anti-racist left-wing groups, he began openly criticising Jews and Israel in 2002 and ran in the European elections two years later with a pro-Palestinian party. He has been fined several times in France for defaming Jews. Police broke up his one-man-show in a Brussels theatre last year for suspected anti-Semitic hate speech, but he was not convicted. When Radio France's Patrick Cohen asked on air last week if the media should pay so much attention to him, Dieudonne suggested the journalist should get ready to emigrate. "When I hear Patrick Cohen speaking, I say to myself, you see, the gas chambers ... too bad," he said. - Reuters, December 28, 2013. |
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