Biological Hazard - Denmark, [The area was not defined.]

Earth Watch Report  -  Biological Hazards

Scanning electron micrograph of neutrophil ingesting methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Credit: NIAID   National Institutes of Health.
NIAID/NIH
Wikimedia.org

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May 13 2014 03:04 AM

Biological Hazard

Denmark

[The area was not defined.]

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RSOE EDIS

Biological Hazard in Denmark on Tuesday, 13 May, 2014 at 03:04 (03:04 AM) UTC.

Description A troubling and also kind of odd story came out of Denmark this weekend. In a court proceeding, a microbiologist has disclosed that three residents of the country who had no known connection to farming died of MRSA infections caused by ST398, the livestock-associated strain of drug-resistant staph that first appeared among pig farmers in the Netherlands in 2004 and has since moved through Europe, Canada and the United States. If the report is correct - and sources have told me it is, but I've seen no data to confirm it - it reinforces the concern that bacteria which become resistant because of antibiotic use on farms can move off farms and affect the health of people who have no connection to farming. Livestock MRSA has always one of the best cases for establishing that, because the drug to which it showed the greatest resistance, tetracycline, wasn't used against human MRSA in the Netherlands, but was used routinely on farms - so the only place the strain could have picked up its unique resistance pattern was in pigs. (Here's my long archive of posts on pig MRSA, dating back to my book Superbug where the story was told for the first time.) Just to get them high up, here are some Danish news sources; this sees to have been a widely covered story. Danish isn't one of my languages, so I've relied on Google Translate - not the best practice, but there's enough agreement among the stories that I am comfortable with it in this case. Biohazard name: MRSA (pig, human) Biohazard level: 3/4 Hight Biohazard desc.: Bacteria and viruses that can cause severe to fatal disease in humans, but for which vaccines or other treatments exist, such as anthrax, West Nile virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, SARS virus, variola virus (smallpox), tuberculosis, typhus, Rift Valley fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, yellow fever, and malaria. Among parasites Plasmodium falciparum, which causes Malaria, and Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes trypanosomiasis, also come under this level. Symptoms: Status: confirmed

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Denmark: Three Deaths from Drug-Resistant “Pig MRSA”

• By Maryn McKenna
• 05.12.14  |
• 12:29 pm  |

A troubling and also kind of odd story came out of Denmark this weekend. In a court proceeding, a microbiologist has disclosed that three residents of the country who had no known connection to farming died of MRSA infections caused by ST398, the livestock-associated strain of drug-resistant staph that first appeared among pig farmers in the Netherlands in 2004 and has since moved through Europe, Canada and the United States.
If the report is correct — and sources have told me it is, but I’ve seen no data to confirm it — it reinforces the concern that bacteria which become resistant because of antibiotic use on farms can move off farms and affect the health of people who have no connection to farming.
Livestock MRSA has always one of the best cases for establishing that, because the drug to which it showed the greatest resistance, tetracycline, wasn’t used against human MRSA in the Netherlands, but was used routinely on farms — so the only place the strain could have picked up its unique resistance pattern was in pigs. (Here’s my long archive of posts on pig MRSA, dating back to my book Superbug where the story was told for the first time.)

Just to get them high up, here are some Danish news sources; this sees to have been a widely covered story. Danish isn’t one of my languages, so I’ve relied on Google Translate — not the best practice, but there’s enough agreement among the stories that I am comfortable with it in this case.

• The Information: “Filthy use of antibiotics”
• Kvalls Posten: “Resistant swine bacterium has killed three Danes”
• DR DK: “Politicians are worried about swine bacteria”
• Avisen: “Three Danes die of swine bacteria”
• Ekstra Bladet: “Three died from killer bacteria from pigs”
• Fyens: “University hospital physician: Three died of swine bacteria”

Read More Here
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• Denmark: Three Deaths from Drug-Resistant "Pig MRSA"
• Humans and companion animals harbor the same types of MRSA infections
• Humans And Pets May Carry Similar Strains Of MRSA
• Pig-Manure Fertilizer Linked to Human MRSA Infections
• Workers at industrial farms carry drug-resistant bacteria associated with livestock

Extreme Weather - Netherlands, [Oosterscheldekering Region] / Denmark, [Jutland-wide]

 

Earth Watch Report  -  Extreme Weather

Dutch cancel flights as storm looms
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Extreme Weather

Netherlands

[Oosterscheldekering Region]

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Extreme Weather in Netherlands on Thursday, 05 December, 2013 at 14:37 (02:37 PM) UTC.

Description

The Netherlands braced for the storm by closing water barriers that protect the low-lying country from high tides. The Oosterscheldekering in the south-western delta region of the country was being closed to protect the land behind it for the first time since 2007. National carrier KLM cancelled dozens of flights to European airports as a precaution.

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Extreme Weather

Denmark

[Jutland-wide]

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Extreme Weather in Denmark on Thursday, 05 December, 2013 at 14:46 (02:46 PM) UTC.

Description

Storm surges were feared Thursday off the coast of Jutland in western Denmark, the Danish weather service DMI said. DMI also forecast hurricane-force gales would sweep across the country. Danish train operator DSB said it would reduce traffic on its local and regional train routes. The move was to avoid trains being stranded on tracks because of severed power lines and to reduce the risk of being hit by falling trees or debris. Western and southern Norway were also bracing for the pending storm.

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Extreme Weather in Denmark on Thursday, 05 December, 2013 at 14:46 (02:46 PM) UTC.

Back

Updated:	Friday, 06 December, 2013 at 18:00 UTC
Description
In western Denmark the 72-year-old female passenger of a truck died when the vehicle overturned in howling winds.

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Dutch cancel flights as storm looms

Updated: 09:25, Thursday December 5, 2013

Dutch national carrier KLM says it has scrapped 84 flights to and from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport after forecasters sounded a 'code orange' extreme weather warning.The Netherlands is preparing for heavy storms on Thursday with surging tides and winds predicted to gust up to 130km/h in places in the north.In the south, the landmark Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier has been closed off for the first time in six years, public broadcaster NOS reported.'As a result of the extreme weather expected, we have cancelled 84 flights to and from Amsterdam,' KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) spokesman Joost Ruempol told AFP.'These are flights going to and coming in from across the continent,' he added.Inter-continental flights will go ahead as scheduled, but travellers flying KLM to European destinations are advised to check for regular updates on the airline's website, Ruempol said.


Read More Here
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• European storm turns deadly, threatens huge tidal surge
• Three dead in northern Europe storm
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• EASAC Report Warns Europe on Extreme Weather Event Increase
• Extreme Weather - Europe - Denmark

Six dead in Germany as storm sweeps across Europe

Deaths in the Netherlands and Denmark, woman swept out to sea off France, and Sweden braces for storm's arrival

• Ben Quinn and agencies
• The Guardian, Monday 28 October 2013 15.16 EDT

Rescue workers stand next to a car crushed by a falling tree near Rheibach, Germany. Photograph: Axel Vogel/Corbis

The death toll across Europe from storms that began sweeping the continent on Sunday has reached at least 12, with Britain, Germany and the Netherlands among the hardest hit.
Four people died in the south of England after winds gusting up to nearly 100mph felled trees, and another four were killed on Monday in Germany, adding to two deaths at sea off the German coast on Sunday.
In Amsterdam a woman was killed and another person injured when a tree by a canal was blown over. Other injuries were reported around the city from falling debris.
In Denmark a man died after he was hit by a flying brick north of Copenhagen. In France a woman was still missing on Monday night after being swept out to sea from a cliff at Belle-Ile, Brittany.
Transport infrastructure took a battering across the continent. Sustained winds of more than 75mph caused the cancellation of 50 flights at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Europe's fourth largest, and there were delays at Europe's busiest port in Rotterdam.


Read More Here
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Watch Sky News

Storm Sweeps Europe After Battering Britain

Hurricane-strength winds topple trees, cut power supplies and cause travel chaos across northern Europe.

10:54pm UK, Monday 28 October 2013

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  As a deadly storm moves from Britain to mainland Europe, a tree falls on a car in Amsterdam, killing a woman.
• 
  
  Large waves break against the dyke at the port of Boulogne in northern France.
• 
  
  People watch a boat from the shore as a storm passes over the beach in Scheveningen in the Netherlands.

Some 10 people have died in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Scandinavia after a fatal storm that struck Britain swept eastwards to northern Europe.

A Danish man was killed near Copenhagen by a collapsing wall, a woman was killed by falling trees in Amsterdam and a 47-year-old woman was found dead after being swept out to sea during a cliff walk on Belle Ile in France.
At least seven people died in Germany with falling trees killing several drivers. One man also drowned and a 66-year-old woman died when a wall collapsed on her, German media reported.

Thirteen floor high scaffolding comes down in Merksem, Antwerpen

Hurricane-strength winds cut power supplies and forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights and train journeys across the continent.
Southern Sweden was hit by torrential rain, and winds up to 84mph (136kph) blew down trees, blocking roads and bringing down power lines, leaving around than 50,000 homes without electricity.
As evening fell there were no reports of injuries in Sweden but widespread reports of property damage.


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11 dead as storm lashes northern Europe

Agence France-Presse

5:50 am | Tuesday, October 29th, 2013

LONDON—At least 11 people were killed on Monday as a fierce storm tore across northern Europe, causing mass disruption to transport.
Four people were killed in Britain and three in Germany as heavy rain and high winds battered the region. The storm also claimed two victims in The Netherlands, one in France and one in Denmark.
Rough conditions at sea also forced rescuers to abandon the search for a 14-year-old boy who disappeared while playing in the surf on a southern English beach on Sunday.
British Prime Minister David Cameron described the loss of life as “hugely regrettable.”
Winds reached 99 miles (159 kilometers) per hour on the Isle of Wight off the southern English coast, according to Britain’s Met Office national weather center, while more than 500,000 homes in Britain and France were left without power.
Heavy rain and winds of 80 mph elsewhere brought down thousands of trees and left hundreds of passengers trapped in planes at Copenhagen airport.
In Britain, a 17-year-old girl died after a tree fell on the parked caravan where she was sleeping, while a 51-year-old father of three died when a tree hit his car, police said.
The bodies of a man and a woman were later found in the rubble of three houses in London that collapsed in an explosion thought to have been caused by a gas pipe being ruptured in the storm.

Read More Here
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A newly discovered fungus that feasts on the skin of amphibians is threatening to decimate a species of salamander in the Netherlands, according to new research.

Odd Cause of Salamander Die-Off Found: Skin-Eating Fungus

By Denise Chow, Staff Writer   |   September 04, 2013 03:57pm ET

A fire salamander. Credit: Frank Pasmans View full size image

A newly discovered fungus that feasts on the skin of amphibians is threatening to decimate a species of salamander in the Netherlands, according to new research.
Fire salamanders are one of the most recognizable salamander species in Europe, and are characterized by their distinct yellow- and black-patterned skin. Since 2010, fire salamanders have been mysteriously dying off in the forests of the Netherlands.
Now, scientists have identified a deadly fungus, called Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (the second part of the name translates to "salamander-eating"), that they say is jeopardizing biodiversity and bringing fire salamanders close to the brink of regional extinction. [Photos: Bizarre Frogs, Lizards and Salamanders]

Previously, a fungus species related to the salamander-eating variety was the culprit behind mass amphibian casualties around the globe. That fungus, named Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd, is thought to have devastated more than 200 amphibian species worldwide, the researchers said. The fungus Bd also causes the disease chytridiomycosis, which has been labeled the most devastating infectious disease in vertebrate animals by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Read More Here

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• Fungus blamed for salamander die-off in the Netherlands: 'complete mystery why we are seeing this outbreak now'
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• A Skin-Eating Fungus Is Killing Off Salamanders
• New fungus species found killing salamanders