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Flu vaccines play an important role in protecting against bird flu. But not for the reason you might think

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The current strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly referred to as bird flu, has change into a world problem. This virus has affected many tens of millions birds, some others animal speciesand a small number of individuals.

Last week the Australian government issued a warning for residents traveling to Europe, North America, South America and Asia about the risk of bird flu.

Alert posted on Smartraveller websiteprovides advice on ensuring your flu vaccine is up thus far. If you are planning to travel, this often means you have had a flu vaccine this 12 months, although whether it is 3-6 months since your vaccination you should discuss this together with your doctor.

But the seasonal flu vaccine we get yearly doesn’t actually prevent bird flu in humans. So why is it really useful in this context?

Some facts about bird flu

Smartraveller’s Notes several strains Bird flu viruses are currently circulating.

The most annoying strain, called clade 2.3.4.4bemerged several years ago from the influenza A (H5 or A/H5) strain that had been circulating for several many years.

Clade 2.3.4.4b primarily affects birds, including wild birds and poultry. It has had devastating effects on bird populations, in addition to on farmers and others involved in the poultry industry.

In recent years, clade 2.3.4.4b has adapted to infect some mammalsUnfortunately, it seems to cause serious illness in some animalsSome marine mammals have been particularly hard hit, causing mass mortality events reported in elephant seals and sea lions. Bird flu has also spread to the United States amongst dairy cows.

Compared to the huge variety of cases in animals, a comparatively small number have been reported. people infected with bird fluSince 2003, 878 cases Human cases of A/H5N1 influenza have been reported, with a small percentage reported after 2020, when clade 2.3.4.4b first appeared. Reported cases have been in individuals who had close contact with infected animals. The disease does not appear to spread from individual to individual.

In reference to the risk for travelers is lowThere are situations where the risk could also be greater, reminiscent of for people visiting livestock markets or people travelling specifically to work with wildlife or in food production.

Infections in humans H5 flu can vary greatly in severity, from mild conjunctivitis to deadly pneumonia. H5 flu strains look like sensitive to antiviral drugs (oseltamivir, also referred to as Tamiflu) and so they are generally recommended as a treatment for infections in humans, but that is not clear whether or not they reduce the risk of death in individuals with severe disease.

To date, one case of A/H5 influenza (not 2.3.4.4b) has been reported. reported in Australiain a baby who has recently returned from abroad.

One sec clade 2.3.4.4b detected on all continents except Australiaother strains of bird flu (A/H7) were reported here earlier this 12 months.

There are many various strains of the bird flu virus.
Snowboy/Shutterstock

Seasonal flu vaccines are not effective against bird flu

Seasonal flu refers to the strains of flu that flow into every year. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, three different strains have circulated in various proportions – Influenza A H1N1 (originating from 2009 swine flu strain), influenza A H3N2 (which has in circulation since 1968) and a strain of influenza B. Interestingly, the second strain of influenza B (Yamagata lineage) it seems to have disappeared during the COVID pandemic.

Seasonal flu vaccines contain the current variants of those types (A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B), that are really useful annually by the World Health Organization. These are moderately effectivereducing the risk of hospitalization by roughly 40–60%.

Flu vaccines are quite specific in the protection they supply. In the case of seasonal vaccines, even very small changes that occur in the virus from 12 months to 12 months are enough to permit it to “escape” vaccine-induced immunity. That is why seasonal flu vaccines they do not provide any protection against influenza A/H5.

Preventing the emergence of a bird-human hybrid strain

The rationale for recommending influenza vaccination for travellers in the context of the current avian influenza epidemic is that seasonal influenza vaccines may help reduce the risk of co-infection with an A/H5 strain and a seasonal influenza strain.

When this happens, there may be a likelihood that the genetic code of the two strains of the virus will “recombine.” This could have the ability to hold a seasonal human virus with the severity of a bird flu virus. The 2009 swine flu strain arose from recombination Over the years, several strains have change into more contagious to humans.

Of course, a more practical vaccine would come with an H5 strain to generate immune responses specific to the H5 influenza strain. Vaccine manufacturers have H5 vaccines have been developed for years, but up to now only Finland implemented the H5 vaccine amongst a small group of people that work closely with potentially infected animals.

Currently risk level The risk that H5 poses to humans is not considered to be sufficient to require a particular vaccination programme because the potential advantages are small in comparison with the costs and potential risks of any recent vaccination programme.

The Value of the Flu Vaccine for Travelers

Seasonal flu vaccines protect against flu infection and may reduce the risk of simultaneous infection with human and bird flu strains. Bird flu aside, for most travelers who haven’t received a flu shot this 12 months, reducing the risk of their travel plans being disrupted by the disease must be reason enough to get vaccinated.

For individuals who have already received a flu vaccine this season, as with COVID vaccines, protection appears to be greater after vaccination fade over timeSo if you’re travelling to the Northern Hemisphere during the winter months and it’s been greater than 3 to six months since your last flu shot, your doctor may recommend you get one other one.

Bird flu poses a low risk to most travellers, but people should take sensible precautions, reminiscent of avoiding close contact with birds at markets.

This article was originally published on : theconversation.com
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“The Meskel Flower”, a series of photographs is a living archive of Ethiopia’s renewal – Essence

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Elianel Clinton

Last week, we celebrated the Ethiopian New Year, a transitional point with nuanced meaning for those celebrating outside the continent. Each September, the brand new season is symbolized by the blooming of the Meskel flower, often called Adey Abeba in Amharic. The flower has turn into a symbol of beauty and survival in equal measure, reborn flawlessly every year within the Ethiopian highlands despite harsh ecological conditions.

Elianel Clinton

In Amharic, there is a level of linguistic interchangeability when referring to the flower, taking over concomitant meanings of youth, rebirth, and expansion. For artists like Ruhama Wolle, one of many global voices documenting the outpouring of an Ethiopian cultural renaissance currently unfolding, the iconography of the flower is not static. Its radiance and revolt reflect the iconography of a recent generation of artists who convey the facility of displacement and return as a source of expansive invention. In a recent series of photographs titled “Meskel Flower: A Love Letter to Ethiopia“Wolle struggles with a self-declaration of home and identity, unconstrained by miles of distance.

Wolle, an editor and artistic producer, has spent much of the past two years in Ethiopia, returning to search out a cultural renaissance amid the country’s political turmoil and genocide. In the country and its global diaspora, young persons are creating works expanding the narrative who they’re and where they arrive from. This fertility is, nonetheless, a paradox that appears in the course of the constant reckoning with years of war, losses and anxiety which left many Ethiopians grappling with the meaning of homeland.

Elianel Clinton

Artists like Wolle, who spent much of their adolescence abroad, are actually crossing dimensions of transnational identity from the United States and elsewhere, using their heritage as a link to burdened pasts and as-yet-unseen futures. Now, as adults, these young persons are reflecting themselves through multimodal means of expression.

“I came back from Ethiopia with a feeling I just can’t put my finger on,” Wolle tells ESSENCE. “I was around people my age, younger and older, who were embracing Ethiopian life as creatives and following this renaissance that was happening.” Witnessing this had a profound effect, raising questions for Wolle about her purpose as a creative within the diaspora. She founded Meskel Flowers as a option to forge deeper meaning for the memory she carries of the country and her interpretation of its current moment of cultural vitality amidst pain. While conceiving the works, she was immediately struck by the interrupted chronology of representation, shocked by how few representations of Ethiopian femininity she could find at hand. This reinforced her urgency to embody this current moment in much the identical way she had spent her profession doing for others in visual form.

Wolle says she desired to create something intentional on her own terms. “That means really thinking about what it looks like to build the next visualization of ourselves.” She landed on a thoughtful but scalable approach. Rather than attempting to seismically change the visual profile of Ethiopian heritage, she desired to present a component of what it means to listen to, placing her chosen medium in the standard Ethiopian living room space.

Elianel Clinton

“The first person I invited here was my photographer Elianel Clinton,” Wolle said. The two had previously worked together on a deeply personal project, and the producer felt comfortable returning to an artist who knew his craft and revered the portrayal of intimate moments between family members. This recent commemorative project was something Wolle desired to share with the imagemaker, who has demonstrated a capability to traverse the size of black culture with a unified visual profile of softness and reflection.

“To recreate that feeling here, it took a team,” Wolle explained. “I had this vision that I always wanted to create an Ethiopian living room and recreate what home looks like for all of us, whether it’s home for someone living in Ethiopia or Sweden or North Carolina.”

The living room stays intact and recognizable to the Habesha community in each of these migrant homes. Wolle and her creative team desired to present the space as a microcosm of cultural transfer, a sacred space that resists the chaos of change. Within it, braided hair, the ritual of the coffee ceremony, intergenerational laughter under fragrant tendrils of incense—these are the markers that keep the culture grounded, and what Wolle desired to reflect in the pictures.

Scenography designed by a producer from Ethiopia Rediet Haddis and created on site by Zachary Adamswas created from the recognizable signatures of the Ethiopian household, achieved through the collaboration of individuals inside and in solidarity with the East African experience. The project’s achievement itself is a statement in pan-African creative practice, drawing talent from individuals acquainted with the ethos of homecoming and black connectivity, to which Wolle sought to appeal, situating herself inside the particular legacy of Ethiopian history.

Elianel Clinton

The living room, arranged with motifs of woven baskets and family photos, invites a sensory reconstruction of cultural practice, introducing the room as a place of stoicism, where memory and culture usually are not only preserved but actively transformed. In these small, intimate spaces, the Ethiopian heritage continues to breathe, uninterrupted by the distances of the diaspora, now presented with a youthful invitation. This return to childhood fascination was a key feature in achieving the tone of “Meskel Flowers.”

“I wanted us to think about play and our inner child,” Wolle said. “With coffee, just having fun with it and braiding each other’s hair – I wanted it to remind us of when we were young and in our homes. I think my younger self needed that release.”

With their inner child throughout the creative team, they’ve managed to filter the sometimes painful yet artistically fertile depths of Ethiopian history—its calls to resistance, its enduring iconography—and reimagine diasporic gifts for future generations to admire and have a good time.

Elianel Clinton

Returning to Ethiopia after years of absence, as Wolle did, means confronting the contradictions of past and present—of what was lost and what is being recreated. Ethiopia has at all times been a source of artistic energy, a source of inspiration that point and distance couldn’t blunt.

But now there is a collective return, a convergence of the old and recent worlds, and artists like Wolle are each documentarians and participants on this unfolding rebirth. “Meskel Flower” embodies this complexity, paying homage to the nuances of reconstruction while honoring Wolle’s declarations. Most importantly, it focuses on who she is as an Ethiopian-American while weaving paths to the living symbols that maintain heritage bridges across oceans.

Authors:

Photographer | Elianel Clinton


This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Health and Wellness

I think my child’s weight is affecting their health. How can I best support them?

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Weight fluctuations and changes in body composition as we grow are a traditional a part of development. Apart from the primary 12 months of life, the teenage years are when probably the most rapid growth and development occurs.

Your doctor will consider your child’s weight as a part of a comprehensive assessment, taking into consideration age, gender, and stage of development. growth.

Not all children who’re chubby may have Health consequences.

But as we age, excess body fat can cause health complications, including sleep apnea (stopping and restarting respiration during sleep), bone or joint problems, liver disease, hypertension or cholesterol, or insulin resistance (pre-diabetes).

If you notice any changes in your child’s or teen’s health – equivalent to dark spots across the neck or armpits (which indicate insulin resistance), headaches, sleeping problems or joint pain – consult with your GP.

What will your loved ones doctor do?

Your GP can investigate whether there are any health implications related to being chubby. They may check your blood pressure and do a blood test to examine your liver health, levels of cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

Being chubby is often related to mental health problems equivalent to depression, anxiety or eating disorders. Your GP can help assess and treat these conditions.

AND Family doctor with experience in weight management can provide appropriate support and referrals to local support depending in your area. Accredited Practicing Dietitian For example, someone with experience in pediatric care can help develop healthy eating habits for the family.

Changes that affect the entire family

Initial treatment for weight-related health problems will rely upon the age of the kid. It often involves a whole-family approach to improving health behaviors, equivalent to:

  • healthy dietary changes, equivalent to offering a wide range of vegetables and fruit of various colours and kinds, restrictive sweetened beverages and foods high in salt, fat and sugar

  • limiting screen time (the goal is not more than two hours a day (screen time outside of education for youngsters aged 5 to 17)

  • improving sleep habits (the goal 11th of September hours a day for youngsters aged 6 to 12 and 8-10 hours a day for teenagers)

  • increasing physical activity (the goal is one hour (roughly 1,000 hours of vigorous play or vigorous activity per day).

Most children and adolescents will improve physical and mental health and well-being following behaviour change interventions. This may include improving eating behaviorless symptoms depressionand higher self-esteem and body image.

Getting the entire family involved can be helpful.
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Teen Options

Sometimes, teenagers who’re significantly chubby and have complications related to their weight are advised to lose weight.

As children get older, they will likely be involved in decision-making about their treatment.

Scope of regulations diets Tests were conducted on adolescents, including those on very low energy diets.

Our latest research shows that specific diets can stabilize weight and improve it. physical AND mental adolescent health. Our study included 141 adolescents with obesity-related complications and compared intermittent and continuous energy restriction.

After 1 12 months, we observed improvements in body weight, insulin resistance, and liver function in each groups. Symptoms of depression, eating disorders, and binge eating decreased after 4 weeks of very low-energy diets, followed by a transition to intermittent or continuous energy restriction, which was maintained for 1 12 months.

However, any prescribed food regimen should only be followed under the supervision of a physician and dietitian.

Next-generation medications (equivalent to Wegovy) at the moment are available for severely obese teens to make use of together with behavioral therapy. They can help with weight loss and reduce the danger of future health complications.

Bariatric surgery could also be an option for older teens with significant health complications.

If you might be considering taking medications or undergoing surgery, discuss the risks and advantages together with your doctor.

Look out for signs of an eating disorder

Children and adolescents with higher body weight he can try lose weight yourself. Unfortunately, most publicly available information is not tailored to the needs of adolescents, could also be unsustainable, and should result in eating disorders.

Social media is filled with useless content weight loss, food regimen and exercise messages, and infrequently promotes unattainable body image ideals. Talk to your kids about what they see on social media to assist them recognize which social media content is useful.

If you notice your child you lose weight quickly, you hide food or eat in secret, you binge (eat loads of food and feel such as you can’t stop), you throw up after eating, you exercise to burn calories, otherwise you skip regular meals to attempt to lose weight, consult with your doctor about it. These might be signs of an eating disorder.

How you can support your child

Parents are essential role models for youngsters and play a key role in ensuring a healthy lifestyle for the entire family.

Start healthy habits. Make healthy eating and enjoyable exercise a part of your each day life.

Show your kids find out how to develop healthy habits.
shurkin_son/Shutterstock

Avoid doing negative comments about your body or your child’s body – and ask others to do the identical. If you hear a negative comment about your child’s weight, attempt to reframe it as a positive message. For example, “growing bodies are strong bodies.”

Beware of bullying. Some children with higher weight experience teasing or body size related bullying. This can come from peers in school, teachers, parents, and even healthcare providers. Ask your child in the event that they are being bullied or harassed due to their body and take motion.

Finally, do not forget that different treatments may go in a different way for various people. If you discover that a treatment approach is not working to your child or family, return to your doctor to debate other options.

Children and families who’ve weight problems should treated with respect and dignity in any respect times. If you’re feeling your healthcare provider is not doing this, consider money exchange.

This article was originally published on : theconversation.com
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Health and Wellness

Doechii Announces ‘Alligator Bites Never Heal’ Tour – Essence

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Photo credit: John Jay

Today, Doechii officially announced it, which might be her first headlining performance, promoting her critically acclaimed mixtape of the identical name.

The tour kicks off October eleventh in Atlanta, GA with a show at The Loft. Covering eight cities across the US, including Music Hall of Williamsburg in New York City on October fifteenth and The Roxy in West Hollywood, CA on November third, Doechii will even take his explosive performances internationally with shows in Berlin, Paris, London and Amsterdam.

Ticket pre-sale for the North American leg of the event will begin Tuesday, September 17 at 9:00 AM local time, with general sale starting Friday, September 20. Fans trying to secure tickets can find more details at www.iamdoechii.com.

Doechia’s critically acclaimed track highlights her reluctance to be confined to 1 genre. The mixtape offers raw authenticity and flexibility, from the genre-bending “Boom Bap” to the razor-sharp verses on “Bullfrog.” She embraces her darker side with a horrorcore twist on “Catfish,” while “Nissan Altima” showcases her lyrical prowess.

Look on the date below.

10/11 – Atlanta, GA – The Loft

10/14 – Philadelphia, PA – Foundry at The Fillmore

15.10 – New York, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg

10/16 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall

21.10 – Berlin, Germany – Lido

24/10 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Bitterzoet

25/10 – Paris, France – Alhambra

28/10 – London, UK – Village Underground

11/2 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent

11/3 – West Hollywood, CA – The Roxy

11/12 – Tampa, FL – Crowbar

11/14 – Washington, DC – Union Stage

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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