Davao River contaminated with polio virus

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Jack Peterson
Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, KC813 said:

On 19 September 2019, the Philippines declared an outbreak of polio. Two cases have been reported to date,

 Here we Go, Conflicting Stories, In the Op's original link it stated NO cases confirmed, Now we have 2 dated prior to the Link we are discussing, Someone is Dressing things To whose advantage EH?  :89:

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Arizona Kid
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21 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Nah... done with sailing - over 20 years was enough. And there were times when seeing the floating rubbish was ugly.

The worst, for us, was seeing all the plastic rubbish that washed up on otherwise pristine beaches on islands  and atolls that few people ever can even visit... Toothbrushes, flip flops, bottles...

Read online about the FACT that plastic that has reduced down to almost microscopic size has been imbibed by small fish, then larger fish and is now found in large fish. Think about this the next time you enjoy some lapu lapu (grouper), bariles (yellowfin tuna) or other fish? You are likely ingesting plastic... The impact of this is still unknown... there have been no studies about where this goes in the human body, if it is retained or what happens to it... Now...think of your kids (I have none) and their kids? If there are even fish left after our generation of over-fishing the oceans, what will the long-term effects of plastic be for them?

Sorry... I got off on a bit of a rant there...

But you should see the rubbish that comes out of the Davao River...and washes up on the shores... it looks almost as bad as the Pasig often...

I was anchored in a bay where there was a fish farm next to the yacht - we were there first and then the locals placed the farm there. It was milk fish - forget the local name here. The fish were packed in small cage-like underwater enclosures and fed some sort of pellets a couple times daily. They were right next to the yacht where we peed and pooed.... I won't eat that fish. Even if we weren't there, the living conditions were horrible for the fish - they were living in their own excrement - not even thinking about ours...

I refuse to eat any bottom fish or any locally caught fish here because of how nasty the water looks... I guess I will take my chances on swine-flu infected pork instead? or mad cow infected beef? Oy vay!!! Maybe I should become vegan and just eat insecticide loaded veggies? Or maybe I can subsist on Tanduay and beer? At least they are sterilized and nothing can grow in them?:89:

Hell... now that I look back at the title of this topic, I think polio is the least of the worries about what's living in this river!...

Okay... second mini-rant over...sorry...

I'm with you. The invention of plastic is screwing up a lot of things in the world..including Kim Kardashions  face!:biggrin:

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Tommy T.
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Posted (edited)
31 minutes ago, Arizona Kid said:

I'm with you. The invention of plastic is screwing up a lot of things in the world..including Kim Kardashions  face!:biggrin:

I can't vouch for or against any of that family's faces...don't watch, don't care...

However I disagree a bit with your statement, AK. I don't think it's so much the invention of plastic but more how it has been used and especially disposed. Look at food and other packaging - plastic, foil, steel, tin, aluminum... And so much just dumped by the side of a road or into the nearest water - out of sight, out of mind...

Humans rushed into developing, improving and selling plastic in ways that have really revolutionized our lives in positive ways. But we never spent equal time figuring out what to do with it when we were done using it... Now, belatedly, some of us are doing that homework - but will it be enough and will it be effective? Check out this link - relates directly to your comment about observing rubbish afloat when sailing:

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

So it's no surprise to me to see the huge amounts of trash on the surface and edges of rivers here like the Pasig and Davao. And, where there's trash, there are insects - flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, silverfish - yuck! Then the mice, rats, cats and dogs that roam all the rubbish looking for food - yuck! And where there are insects and animals - there is disease - polio just being one of many. I'm surprised somebody hasn't discovered plague carrying bacteria here (yet). And L and I see kids playing in the river here to cool down - can't blame them if nobody warns them.

I am afraid there will be more disease incidents and, as Jack suggests, there may be "new" discoveries or even coverups? We may never know the truth(s) about that...

I know I wandered off topic a bit again, but I think it is all related? I'll be happy to start another link if the mods think it should happen...

Edited by Tommy T.
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Arizona Kid
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16 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

I can't vouch for or against any of that family's faces...don't watch, don't care...

However I disagree a bit with your statement, AK. I don't think it's so much the invention of plastic but more how it has been used and especially disposed. Look at food and other packaging - plastic, foil, steel, tin, aluminum... And so much just dumped by the side of a road or into the nearest water - out of sight, out of mind...

Humans rushed into developing, improving and selling plastic in ways that have really revolutionized our lives in positive ways. But we never spent equal time figuring out what to do with it when we were done using it... Now, belatedly, some of us are doing that homework - but will it be enough and will it be effective? Check out this link - relates directly to your comment about observing rubbish afloat when sailing:

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

So it's no surprise to me to see the huge amounts of trash on the surface and edges of rivers here like the Pasig and Davao. And, where there's trash, there are insects - flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, silverfish - yuck! Then the mice, rats, cats and dogs that roam all the rubbish looking for food - yuck! And where there are insects and animals - there is disease - polio just being one of many. I'm surprised somebody hasn't discovered plague carrying bacteria here (yet). And L and I see kids playing in the river here to cool down - can't blame them if nobody warns them.

I am afraid there will be more disease incidents and, as Jack suggests, there may be "new" discoveries or even coverups? We may never know the truth(s) about that...

I know I wandered off topic a bit again, but I think it is all related? I'll be happy to start another link if the mods think it should happen...

It's a behavior problem in my opinion. The mindset, especially in underdeveloped countries is out of sight, out of mind. While the people throw their plastic bags full of plastic trash into the rivers (which I have witnessed) they just don't care, or haven't been taught to care. It's undeniably going to be a problem for future generations.:unsure: 

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Tommy T.
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3 hours ago, Arizona Kid said:

It's undeniably going to be a problem for future generations.

Yup, agreed. Our generation wasn't always so pure either. But I think many of us learned? Now it's time to try our best to pass it on. Not everyone tosses garbage indiscriminately... A problem here, too, is that it costs a few pesos to have garbage picked up in some places so that causes reluctance, I think? Throw it next door or into the river and your problem has disappeared - for free!

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Mike J
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15 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Here we Go, Conflicting Stories, In the Op's original link it stated NO cases confirmed, Now we have 2 dated prior to the Link we are discussing, Someone is Dressing things To whose advantage EH?  :89:

Jack, actually she said no confirmed cases "here".   I expect she knew about the other two, and that is what prompted the specific testing the water for the virus?

"Villafuerte, however, gave assurance that there was no confirmed polio case here yet."

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Tommy T.
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49 minutes ago, Mike J said:

"Villafuerte, however, gave assurance that there was no confirmed polio case here yet."

An interesting short article on MSNBC Phils... this morning. To me it is a bit scary sounding:

WHO: PHL still polio-free despite confirmed cases

Marchadesch, Barbara

The Philippines is still considered polio-free despite two confirmed cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

According to a report by Maki Pulido on 24 Oras on Wednesday, the polio that has afflicted two children—one in Lanao del Sur and the other in Laguna—is not a wild poliovirus but a vaccine-derived virus that mutated from fecal waste and was passed on from one unvaccinated person to another.

“The occurrence of vaccine-derived polio virus is not unique. We've had several outbreaks of vaccine-derived virus in the world, most recently in the Western Pacific Region in Papua New Guinea and more recently in China,” said WHO country representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe.

However, only vaccines for polio types 1 and 3 are being administered in the country—a problem as, the WHO earlier said, "[t]he polio outbreak in the Philippines is confirmed to be from a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2. This is of particular concern, as wild poliovirus type 2 was certified as globally eradicated in 2015."

Being fully vaccinated against polio means getting three doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) and one injected dose of the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV).

Since the wild poliovirus type 2 was declared eradicated, the bivalent OPV only covers types 1 and 3. The IPV, on the other hand, protects against all three types of polio.

Many Filipino children end up not getting the IPV—in fact, the DOH acknowledged that in recent years the vaccination coverage for the third dose of the OPV had fallen to 95%, "the target required to ensure population protection against polio."

"What that means is if this virus that is causing vaccine-derived virus continues to circulate, even children who have completed the three doses of OPV and not taken the IPV are at risk of getting polio,” said Abeyasinghe.

The DOH stressed, however, that children should still receive the bivalent polio vaccine for types 1 and 3, while the WHO and UNICEF will provide the Philippines with the monovalent vaccine for polio type 2. It is expected to arrive next month.

At present, only 40 percent of Filipino children are vaccinated against type 2 polio.

The WHO also advised that apart from vaccinations, the best weapons against polio are proper hygiene and sanitation, clean water, and functional sewage systems. — Julia Mari T. Ornedo/BM, GMA News

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Arizona Kid
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19 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Yup, agreed. Our generation wasn't always so pure either. But I think many of us learned? Now it's time to try our best to pass it on. Not everyone tosses garbage indiscriminately... A problem here, too, is that it costs a few pesos to have garbage picked up in some places so that causes reluctance, I think? Throw it next door or into the river and your problem has disappeared - for free!

Take a look at this video. It's not only the Phills..it seems many counties have the same problem. The future generations will have to figure it out. The present generation isn't taking things seriously enough!

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=uPSJu_1569039579

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Tommy T.
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14 hours ago, Arizona Kid said:

Take a look at this video. It's not only the Phills..it seems many counties have the same problem. The future generations will have to figure it out. The present generation isn't taking things seriously enough!

 

AK...thanks for sharing that. I watched only about one minute of that river of rubbish and had to turn it off as it was turning my stomach. Multiply that by thousands? I really can't comprehend the total effect.

I think it will take much more than just education to improve things in third world poor countries. Only strict laws - that are strictly enforced - will help. Look in USA where the anti-litter laws are...how much these days? $100? And people routinely report violators. But education DID help there, at least some.

Philippines has a major problem - as we have all noted here on the forum - with enforcement of existing laws. Either not enough police, not effective police and/or the old estafa problem...? And suppliers of one-use or disposed products - like sodas, snacks and on and on should be held accountable. Make it cost some money and reduce profits and then things may have a better chance to change - what do you think?

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Arizona Kid
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8 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

what do you think?

Sadly I think the situation is already past the point of no return. You and I won't be around long enough to witness the long term effects. :sad: 

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