Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Good News, From WHO: As Of Last Friday, The 2017 Ugandan Marburg Outbreak Is... Over.


I certainly feel as though we could use some better news here (after the NYC subway attack, yesterday morning).

[And separately (in the ongoing hunt for habitable exoplanets), we may get some, on Thursday at lunch from NASA's Kepler telescope mission. Stay tuned. I'll cover that, for certain.]

In the mean time, WHO has seen no new cases in contacts of contacts for 42 days, as of last Friday -- so Ugandans may breathe easier, once again:

. . . .8 DECEMBER 2017 | GENEVA - Uganda has successfully controlled an outbreak of Marburg virus disease and prevented its spread only weeks after it was first detected, the World Health Organization said on Friday (December 8).

“Uganda has led an exemplary response. Health authorities and partners, with the support of WHO, were able to detect and control the spread of Marburg virus disease within a matter of weeks,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. . . .


In additional non-fake, non-sad news -- I am likely to report anew later this week, on that mysterious smoldering copper colored spot on Jupiter. The data from last summer's close dip into its upper regions is now pouring out, in peer-reviewed papers this week.

Amazingly, the undulating 400 year old swirly storm, some 2-1/2 times the size of Earth -- runs over 280 miles deep -- into the lower atmosphere of Jupiter. And its peak temperature -- near the middle altitudes of the eyewall of the vortex -- is about about 510 degrees Kelvin, or about 460 degrees here on Earth, like the inside of your pizza oven. Smile.

And, for much of the upper width of the copper colored storm, the data reflect readings just a sweet bit above body temperature -- at 102 degrees. And I cannot fully explain here how that fact fires my imagination. . . . smile. Onward.



नमस्ते

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