Michael Kevane

Annoncée en fin de semaine dernière dans un contexte marqué par des débats « houleux » sur l’article 37 et la mise en place du Sénat, la rencontre de ce jour qu’on peut qualifier de « premier pas », jette donc les bases d’un dialogue entre majorité et opposition pour « traiter des questions qui engagent la vie de la nation ». Reçue après la majorité, et avant le Front républicain, la délégation de l’opposition, conduite par son premier responsable, Zéphirin Diabré, était composée de Hama Arba Diallo PDS/Metba, Bénéwendé Stanislas Sankara UNIR/PS, Ablassé Ouédraogo Le Faso Autrement, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré MPP et de François O. Ouédraogo RDS. « Au cours de l’entretien, le Président a proposé que s’instaure un dialogue entre l’opposition et la majorité, sous son égide, pour évoquer les questions touchant à la vie de la nation, sans exclusive aucune », a déclaré Zéphirin Diabré à la sortie de la rencontre avant d’ajouter : « Sur le principe, fidèle à notre manière de faire la politique, et aux valeurs auxquelles nous croyons, l’opposition ne refuse pas de rencontrer la majorité pour un échange ; d’autant plus que s’il y a des questions qu’on peut résoudre pour que notre pays aille de l’avant, ce sera une bonne occasion ».

via Dialogue politique national : « S’il y a des questions qu’on peut résoudre … – leFaso.net, l’actualité au Burkina Faso.

http://www.newyorkfed.org/charts/ff/

Today, my eighth day, was the end.  I was feeling light-headed and sleepy almost all day.  My weird rash, where patches of skin feel like they are on fire, was diminished, but still there.  Then about 8pm this evening, I started feeling like a fog was lifting.  My body suddenly stopped… making itself felt.  My brain just started working again.  The last two hours have felt great.  Who knew it would last this long.  So the Chikungunya toll: Mother- 5 days of hell, quick recovery. Father- eight days and still not OK, Michael – eight days and now fine.  Brother Tim- Five days mild case.  Rest of Caribbean?  God help them!

ARSENIC ALB 30 – to counter: the great debility with low vital power, the exhaustion after even slight exertion, the mental and physical restlessness, the sense of fear he was fraught with, the depressed spirit, the aversion to food, the propensity to curse, the mental turmoil, the despondent state, the almost weeping state, the bitter/metallic taste in mouth, the state of the tongue – dry and clean, the highly febrile state, the severe frontal headache with vertigo, the thirst for warm water – taken little at a time, the lumbo-sacral pain, weakness in lower extremities, the bilateral oedema in the lower extremities, the cold and clammy sweat , disturbed sleep and the imperceptibly small, weak pulse.

I found this when I searched for bad taste, in my mouth, which is now becoming practically unbearable.  Other symptoms though are diminishing.  Skin crawling still there.  via A CASE OF CHIKUNGUNYA FEVER – FASCINATING AND CHALLENGING EXPERIENCE.

Various neurologic sequelae can occur with persistent chikungunya fever.Approximately 40% of those with CF will complain of various neurological symptoms but hardly 10% will have persistent manifestations. Peripheral neuropathy with a predominant sensory component is the most common 5-8%. Paresethesias, pins and needles sensations, crawling of worms sensation and disturbing neuralgias have all been described by the patients in isolation or in combination.

via Guidelines on Clinical Management of Chikungunya Fever – Clinical_Mgnt_Chikungunya_WHO_SEARO.pdf.

The cost-effectiveness of public intervention seems like it must be higher than for any other disease.  If it gets to 100,000 deaths, even if the valuation of life is as little as $10,000, the loss will be in the billions of dollars.  I see governments and foundations donating $10m here, $20m there…  Meanwhile, last year the French government spent about $270m in just six months for Operation Serval in northern Mali.

While previous outbreaks have been largely confined to rural areas, the current epidemic, the largest ever, has reached densely populated, impoverished cities — including Monrovia, the capital of Liberia — gravely complicating efforts to control the spread of the disease. Alessandro Vespignani, a professor of computational sciences at Northeastern University who has been involved in the computer modeling of Ebola’s spread, said that if the case count reaches hundreds of thousands, “there will be little we can do.”  What worries public health officials most is that the epidemic has begun to grow exponentially in Liberia. In the most recent week reported, Liberia had nearly 400 new cases, almost double the number reported the week before. Another grave concern, the W.H.O. said, is “evidence of substantial underreporting of cases and deaths.” The organization reported on Friday that the number of Ebola cases as of Sept. 7 was 4,366, including 2,218 deaths.

via U.S. Scientists See Long Fight Against Ebola – NYTimes.com.

A year ago, hedge funds were bit players in Puerto Rico and municipal bonds in general, long regarded as a sleepy market dominated by mutual funds that buy and hold the same bonds for years.Hedge funds began descending en masse last fall, after a wave of bond selling — particularly by rich Puerto Ricans — caused prices to fall. Fund executives made frequent trips to the island — visiting shopping malls in San Juan, meeting with government officials and speaking with pharmaceutical executives with major manufacturing plants there.To show how irrational the municipal market had become, one hedge fund pointed out this summer that Puerto Rico bonds were trading at higher yields than debt in Iraq and Ukraine — values that suggested that the commonwealth was riskier than a war zone.Over the last year, the hedge funds have bought the government’s general obligation bonds, bonds used to prop up public employee pensions, and bonds that built the island’s highways.

via Puerto Rico Finds It Has New Friends in Hedge Funds – NYTimes.com.

So I got Chikungunya unfortunately. My symptoms started yesterday morning, and built all day, and by nighttime the joint pain was all over… you know it is bad when you wake up at 4am looking at your gnarled hand and thinking, cripes, this is what my mother-in-law had, all the time… But of course, since it goes away after a week, for most people, there is no worry. Unlike Ebola, where this excellent roundup suggests that the number of cases is likely to be in the 100,000 range.

Lots of publicity, quick public health action, good treatment… so the Guinean is cured and none of his contacts got infected…. supposedly.  Reassuring.

Il est vrai que pour l’instant, la campagne active de prévention menée par les autorités sénégalaises a porté ses fruits. En effet, relate le site Afrik.com, « dès l’apparition de la maladie, le Sénégal a pris des mesures drastiques, en informant constamment la population. La ministre de la Santé s’est rendue à plusieurs reprises dans les régions les plus reculées du pays pour mener des campagnes d’information auprès des populations. A la télévision, est diffusé régulièrement un spot qui explique dans les différentes langues du pays comment éviter de contracter le virus. A Ziguinchor, relève encore Afrik.com, on mise directement sur les enfants, en les faisant participer aux campagnes de communication sur Ebola. Ces derniers se rendent régulièrement auprès des populations pour leur parler du virus, et des moyens de s’en prévenir. »Et Afrik.com de conclure : « une bataille a été remportée par le Sénégal contre Ebola. Mais la guerre est loin d’être terminée. »

via A la Une: une bataille gagnée contre Ebola – RFI.

She seems to be be pretty well, although last week when she got it was hell for her and my father.  It’s big news here is Puerto Rico with estimates of 20,000 cases….

If the deaths are confirmed to be directly linked to the virus, these would be the first fatalities in Puerto Rico, although there have been 32 deaths registered elsewhere in the Caribbean since last December resulting from the virus, which has never surfaced before in the Americas.“Mortality linked to this virus is very rare. It only occurs in very atypical cases, normally in the elderly or in newborns,” she said.“We will have to get used to the fact that Chikungunya may be in the region, just like dengue,” Rivera said.The first cases of Chikungunya were detected in Puerto Rico in May, and on July 16 the Health Department declared that an epidemic was under way.Since then, 4,079 possible cases have been noted, of which just 1,207 have been confirmed by CDC laboratories, which have a backlog in carrying out the relevant tests.  Chikungunya’s symptoms include acute fever, followed by a longer period of joint pains in the extremities which may persist for years in some cases. The disease is transmitted to humans by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes like dengue fever and while no specific treatment is known, medications can be used to reduce symptoms.

via Latin American Herald Tribune – Puerto Rico Investigating Possible Chikungunya-Related Deaths.

Of course, could be a Machiavellian scheme to destabilize the MPP. But if someone does something deliberately to destabilize you, surely you can emerge un-destabilized?  Politics is the great game indeed.

Au Burkina Faso, le parti au pouvoir, le CDP et le chef de file de l’opposition, Zéphirin Diabré se disent ouvert au dialogue dans le cadre de la crise que traverse le pays. Le parti au pouvoir veut une modification de la Constitution pour permettre au président Blaise Compaoré de briguer un autre mandat après 2015. L’opposition de son côté souhaite le respect de la Constitution. Au cours d’une rencontre, vendredi 5 septembre, à Ouagadougou le secrétaire exécutif national du CDP et le chef de file de l’UPC ont annoncé être disposé au dialogue. Le parti majoritaire a rendu visite à la deuxième force politique du pays. Une première depuis les dernières élections législatives et municipales de 2012.

via Burkina Faso: le CDP et l’UPC se disent prêts au dialogue – Afrique – RFI.