The Four-eyed Journal » Typhoons

Raw Sewage – a goldmine for new viruses - Another reason not to jump into flood waters

jhay — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:22:39 +0000

The movie Contagion is still very fresh in my memory and to be honest, it’s one of the few non-horror films that continue to haunt me. Not only because the story is simple and it was effectively told by the film, but the story is so close to reality it was like watching a documentary about how the A(H1N1) virus spread worldwide back in 2009.

We know what raw sewage is and naturally we know it to be a source of diseases and other foul things, literally, but it is only now that scientists have found out that it is rich source of viruses not yet known to man. That adds another another layer of reality to the movie, raw sewage is a gold mine for unknown viruses. Instead of just looking for viruses that jump hosts, from one specie to another, unknown viruses that could cause dreaded, yet unknown diseases are found right underneath our cities and toilets.

The researchers led by Paul Cantalupo of the University of Pittsburgh found out that:

Within the samples, they found 234 known viruses belonging to 26 different viral families. Seventeen of these infected humans, and others are known to target plants, insects, algae and bacteria. They also found evidence of new viruses from 51 different families.

In addition, they had other discoveries:

Bacteria-attacking viruses dominated the viral population they found in the sewage, outnumbering the known ones by 30 to 1.

Of the viruses that attack more complex organisms, plant viruses dominated.

A large number of insect viruses, including those that infect cockroaches, flies and mosquitoes, were present in all samples.

They also identified several rodent viruses, including strains closely related to a newly identified rat hepatitis E virus.

They detected 17 viruses known to infect humans in the three samples. These viruses included a number that can cause diarrhea or gastrointestinal illness, including adenovirus, astroviruses and Norwalk virus, bocavirus, picobirnaviruses and klassevirus.

With this new goldmine for viruses, scientists have an added resource to further develop our knowledge of viruses, which in turn will further develop our medical technology, more importantly to help combat diseases.

It also reinforces the fact that raw sewage should be treated before it is released into the environment. Thinking of the recent flooding we had because of the previous typhoons, it is very important that our sanitary systems, what ever form we have, is up to the task of holding against typhoons or massive rain so that raw sewage would not mix with flood waters.

Then again, knowing that sad state of our urban planning and sanitation system, we have another good reason to avoid plunging in flood waters, especially in the city.

Image by Kat Masback

Basyang is just the first storm to visit

jhay — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:25:57 +0000

I’m writing this post a few minutes before Thursday, 24 hours after typhoon ‘Basyang’ or Conson ripped through Luzon hitting Metro Manila, Cavite and other neighboring provinces.

Once more, the typhoon knocked out power in Luzon for much the of 24 hours of Wednesday. We lost power here in Silang, Cavite at around Tuesday midnight. It was restored around 10pm Wednesday.

We knew that the power outage would last long, a whole day we reckoned. But to have more information, I spent the remaining charge of my laptop’s battery and my Globe Tattoo to read the news from Inquirer.net and updates from Meralco via their Tweeter feed.

I was shocked upon reading that power could take as long as 3 days to be restored because of the damage to power lines throughout Luzon! It was not something we prepared for. Our stock of water was almost out, the rechargeable lamps and our mobile phones were all but drained of their batteries, worse, the hot weather could quickly return once the typhoon has left the country which means trouble for my month-old daughter Julia.

On top of all these, I have online work and deadlines to beat. My initial plan then was to send my wife and daughter to my in-laws in case the power is restored in their place earlier than here at home. Then I’d be free to go to the mall and use it as an ‘office’ to get online and do some work.

It’s such a relief that power is now restored and I’m able to get things done again. But in the end this sticky situation made me realize that typhoons today mean not just strong winds and heavy rains, it also means days of no power, erratic communication services and water shortages.

Despite the technological advances we have today, we are still at the mercy of mother nature and her wrath is only getting stronger with each storm that comes.

So what do we do? Stock up on more water, food, batteries and dig in for the long haul each time a new typhoon is coming? Of course, but does it have to be like this each time?

20 people have been reported to have lost their lives because of Basyang. It’s sad and shocking but I think we’re getting quite used to it. The lessons learned from Ondoy (Ketsana) have yet to be fully applied. And it’s just the start of the wet season!

Global warming now causing extinctions

jhay — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 02:09:01 +0000

The recent wave of super typhoon that has rampaged through the Philippines could partly be explained by global warming. If one has noticed it, Milenyo and Reming had more winds that are stronger than ever before than rain which explains why so many houses and infrastructure were blown away instead of being submerged in floodwater.

Recalling my ecology class, if the planet is warmer, and it is, it causes more typhoons, cyclones and tornadoes because a warmer planet leads to a warmer atmosphere, which in turn yields to faster winds. Simply because warmer air is less dense and therefore is more easily carried around the planet thanks to its rotation and other factors.

We humans suffer this ugly end of global warming, already we are easily overwhelmed and could barely cope with its damages to material and human life. How you ever wondered though, how global warming affects the other animals and plants that share this planet with us?

The video below is just one of the most visible and earliest signs that every living organism in this planet is affected by global warming, with often lethal consequences.

Some say that global warming’s effects would be felt years in the future and not now. A recent new study as reported in the National Geographic website has a different story; Scientists say that Global warming is already causing extinctions. From Polar Bears in the Arctic regions, to the Harlequin frogs native to the cloud forests of Costa Rica down to the Emperor penguins in the Antarctic. All are suffering and struggling to survive in this planet that is rapidly changing thanks to our human activities.

We may be recoiling from the ravages of super typhoons, complaining about power brownouts, wishing for a box of that special donut, fearing the loss of internet connections and all the inconveniences it brings, but somewhere else in the planet, animals and plants are dying and disappearing from existence. And all of us has a hand in it.

Reming reminds me of the lessons I learned from Milenyo

jhay — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:28:37 +0000

Among the things that worries me is the coming super typhoon ‘Reming’. Over at dinner, I saw the news report saying that it will no longer directly hit Metro Manila due to a high pressure system which has pushed the typhoon more to the West. As of this writing, storm signal No. 2 is raised over here in our province of Cavite and already, though it’s not yet raining and the winds still calm, we are beginning to feel the creeping wrath of Reming. It’s that cold and eerie silence before the storm.

Pray that everyone in the storm’s path would be spared their lives and most of their vital properties. Selfish as I may sound, what really worries me is that Reming might cause massive power blockouts in our area that would last for days as Milenyo did back in September.

Sir Abe has written a thing or two about how we, the Pinoy netizens could and would last in those dark days without electricity powering our tech toys and essentials.

As my comment on that post goes:

I may be tech savvy but Iâ€™m not that tech-equipped. Just my AAA battery powered-mp3 player, my mobile phone and my desktops. (No laptops for me, nor wireless routers, nor iPods not even a 3G phone I could use to go online. Just your average Pinoy techie, lucky enough to get a broadband connection, a Mac mini and an Ubuntu Desktop.)

So I guess Iâ€™ll just occupy my self with my offline schoolworks, both academic and non-academic. Of course, thereâ€™s the three new books I bought from last weekend.

Why am I so worried about power blockouts and the inability to go online? It’s because I need my computer and the connection to accomplish my homeworks, extra-curricular stuff and the tools (read:paperworks) that would enable me to rewrite the history of DLSU-D. I could answer my e-mails when the power goes up again, I could survive without YouTube and my Google Reader for days, I have even learned not to blog when I have nothing good to blog about. The bottom line is, Milenyo has taught me to rethink my e-life – it’s purpose, what it should serve, what and whom it will affect – think more of the other lives around me, especially those who would rather spend their money to have their decent meal instead of spending it on gadgets and shameless self-promotion.

I take back what I’ve said a few months back, that I’ll die without the internet. That I’ll go insane without my mp3 player and I’ll jump off a cliff once I can’t access my e-mail. Now I’m thinking, how could I say such things when many others out there only have a candle to light their shanties that threatens to be blown away by a storm. The only thing that protects them while they huddle in the cold just to stay alive.

I don’t mean to poke the elites of the Pinoy blogosphere in the eye, I don’t mean to offend the tech-savvy and the tech-equipped. This is just me putting my thoughts into words. As I hit the publish button, the rains from Reming are now falling over here in Cavite. The prayers, preparations and the waiting for all this to pass comes into play.

Windbags and climate change

jhay — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 04:20:28 +0000

Contrary to some belief, I’m still alive. hehehe Not that there were people who actually thought the cursed typhoon Milenyo has swept me away to kingdom cum, but I’ve been offline in the last four days now because power and landline services (Globelines) are still down in my corner of upland Cavite. (that’s Silang to save you the trouble of looking for a map)

I wanted to write about a few rants to Meralco but Sir Angelo Racoma of the J Spot has already done it, and done it good. Plain and simple, “Meralco Service Sucks!”

Much has been blogged about Milenyo’s rampage into our country so I think I’d give it a little rest for now. Prayers and stuf goes out to all those who have been severely affected by the storm. It’s high time for some bayanihan spirit and for the government to step up and help those who are in need.

A friend of mine commented in text message that it astounds him as Milenyo’s fury was unleashed full blast only last Thursday. After that, it was bright and sunny all over again, with a little rainshowers but hey, the storm is over. So how come power was still out?

I just replied to him that Milenyo was some mean and serious windbag. That’s why billboards and power poles have fallen down. The winds brought by Milenyo were just so strong, at 90mph in 10 minute averages, I’m not so much surprised that trees would be uprooted and power poles toppeled down. Still, reports say that even our weather guys are a bit puzzled by Milenyo’s behavior. Signs of global warming and climate change I suppose; but more on this at another time.

For now, off I go to give this public pc to another user whom I bet has already been itching to get his game up ang going.