From:Environmental Health
Posted online: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 5:50:36 PM
Blood Meant for Transfusions Can Get Contaminated Due to Global Warming
Increasing temperatures can contaminate blood meant for transfusions, say researchers.
According to a new report by West Australian researchers, global warming will increase the prevalence of viruses, like dengue and Ross River, already circulating in the northern regions of the country.
The heat could potentially increase the range of organisms that can transmit the viruses and make them more infectious more quickly by accelerating life cycles, said Professor Robert Dunstan, a specialist in emerging infectious diseases at Curtin University in Perth.
“These condition are expected to lead to higher levels of virus activity and greater exposure of humans to the viruses,” News.com.au quoted Prof Dunstan, as saying.
He warned that there was potential for blood transfusion to act as an “efficient vehicle” for transmitting these viruses.
The review published in the latest Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health confirms Australia’s blood supply is among the safest in the world for currently screened viral pathogens like HIV and hepatitis.
“However, Australia has a number of other viral pathogens with the potential to threaten the safety of the blood supply such as the Ross River, Barmah Forrest, Kunjin, Japanese Encephalitis, Murray Valley Encephalitis and dengue viruses,” Prof Dunstan said.
Source-ANI
SAV/L
Is it any wonder that the general public just isn’t buying it anymore?
Global Warming Derangement Syndrome, not global warming, is the real problem.
Actually it makes sense. If the warmist agenda is implemented, there will be no fossil fuel for electricity, no refrigeration, and with the rising ambient temperatures there will be more contamination in the blood supply – and everywhere else -.
Dan (10:34:11) :
“Is it any wonder that the general public just isn’t buying it anymore?”
All the Blogs and other literature I read has convinced me that we may be winning the battle against the GW idiocy, but I’d like to see some measure of that. Has anyone seen any polls on the subject?
What these desperate souls will do for funding and attention. Did their fathers ever give them a hug?
Like a toddler that has just learned the word Fu**.
I’ll say “Global warming (TM)” to get attention since the rest of my research isn’t getting me any.
Too bad this hysteria didn’t start in the 90’s, he could have squalled “Global Warming causes AIDS”.
We need to put out similar stories about the risk of global cooling, not that flimsy though, showing the true risks of global cooling, why we don’t want another Maunder’s minimum
What I’m afraid of is that all this increased CO2 will expand the atmosphere so much that it will reach the Moon.
Atmospheric drag would then bring the Moon crashing down to Earth which would then melt the Arctic icecap by 2020 (or at least cause an ice shelf to break off).
was going to blog this myself — speedy gonzales strikes again.
Anthony:
I absolutely love your site. Please keep up the good work.
The following links from The Onion are so close to the truth that it’s scary:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/53194
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/fall_canceled_after_3_billion
Now I know why people in the tropics never get blood transfusions: too dangerous.
Bill Illis has got me worried. His projection seems all too plausible.
Stottie has some interesting remarks on cognitive dissonance:
http://web.mac.com/sinfonia1/Global_Warming_Politics/A_Hot_Topic_Blog/A_Hot_Topic_Blog.html
Oh the humanity!!
Inverse correlation: AGW hysteria = Public skepticism
I really like global warming as a slightly warmer planet is more hospitable to most living things. I am also an avid gardener and so into plants a lot. And according to FACE in an experiment, trees increase their biomass with increased C02 and seem to be more resistant to extreme weather damage. More food, less starvation. A Win-Win for all. But, admittedly, and often emotionally, I hope for a colder climactic period so that the AGW hysterics will be roundly discredited as these people are just plain nuts — as exhibited in all of the claims of what AGW will bring.
Wow, Global Warming is the miracle phenomenon. Is there anything it can’t do?
What about the fact that four times as many die from the cold as from the heat?
Wouldn’t a cold snap threaten the blood supply even worse?
I was in the hospital a few years ago and the problem for me was that my blood if it cooled at all would thicken to the point that they could not perform the tests. They had to keep it in an incubator all the way to the lab to run the tests.
I guess I better pray for global warming.
Bill Derryberry
PS this is a condition called a cold agglutin.
Wow, Global Warming is the miracle phenomenon. Is there anything it can’t do?
Yes, AGW is the new Wom Pom of the far left.
For researchers they surely don’t research the literature much… it has been shown that we are not heating up, we are cooling down! So, by extrapolation, a global cooling will make the blood transfusions much safer.
But it is known also that when it is colder, our red blood cell count goes up… our blood is thicker in winter… so they won’t need as much blood for one person for transfusion. See, there is always a good thing coming up of all this.
I give up. I am a raging, ultra-conservative, right wing, religious evangelical, Bible thumping, government hating, private school intelligent design equal opportunitistic, redneck republican. A liberal be against AGW? There is no such thing.
Anthony and Jeez:
No blood for oil.
The newest green slogan:
No blood for food.
And now, simply:
No blood.
There must be a smarter way. To say: The quality of blood is not properly controlled.
$$$
Global warming causes everything and now the blood supply is threatened; steps must be taken.
$$$
“The heat could potentially increase the range of organisms that can transmit the viruses…” and “He warned that there was potential for blood transfusion to act as an ‘efficient vehicle’ for transmitting these viruses.”
$$$
This is the age of unscientific science – might be, could be, has the potential for, future dangers in unforeseen circumstances, etc.
Of course they should always be vigilant with such a critical substance as blood, but hitching such concerns to the money train of AGW is disgraceful. It is through such reckless statements that the reputation of all the sciences will be seriously damaged amongst the taxpaying public. What will happen when sneered at common folk finally have enough of such conduct and demand a cut back in spending? Real problems that need the attention of science will suffer because all science will be viewed with suspicion. And what will happen to science when the fuel ($$$) for the money train dries up?
I give up. I am a raging, ultra-conservative, right wing, religious evangelical, Bible thumping, government hating, private school intelligent design equal opportunitistic, redneck republican.
We know’d it all along, Pam. But, you fergot to say gun-totin’. Now, get out thar an’ tear up them woods with yer ATV. Yee-haw!
“I am a raging, ultra-conservative, right wing, religious evangelical, Bible thumping, government hating, private school intelligent design equal opportunitistic, redneck republican.” Pam
Except for being a republican, you sound like my type.
This reminds of when I worked for a University back in the mid nineties when the internet was expanding into the general populace. One of the Professors said to me:
I guess this decades magic phrase for funding is “global warming”.
I wonder what the next decades will be?
I’m STILL not allowed to donate blood, because I lived in the UK 1980-1982 (never know – I may still go mad cow).
Who was it who was Prime Minister during the first outbreak of mad cow?
Margaret Thatcher.
Who was it who first lent political credibility to man-made global warming?
Margaret Thatcher.
“COINCIDENCE”?
Yes.
Watts The Problem
Breakthrough could end reliance on blood donations
HUMAN blood has been grown in the laboratory for the first time in research that promises an almost limitless transfusion supply.
The achievement by scientists in the US could lead to trials of the blood within two years, and ultimately to an alternative to donations that would transform medicine.
If such blood was made from stem cells of the Onegative blood type, which is compatible with every blood group but is often in short supply, it could be given safely to anybody who needs a transfusion.
Stem-cell-derived blood would also eliminate the risk of transmitting the pathogens that cause hepatitis, HIV and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease through transfusions.
“The heat could potentially increase the range of organisms that can transmit the viruses and make them more infectious more quickly by accelerating life cycles, said Professor Robert Dunstan, a specialist in emerging infectious diseases at Curtin University in Perth.”
Okay, so global warming is good for organisms. Hey, I’m an organism! I even transmit viruses from time to time.
“more infectious more quickly by accelerating life cycles” I don’t get this. Warm temps (i.e. fevers) are a defense reaction that makes it harder for viruses and bacteria, in part by boosting the host’s immune response. Perhaps this is what Gore meant when he said the Earth has a fever. Probably a misquote, what with science reporting being what it is these days.
Fernando:
You can’t get blood out of a stone.
But you can get oil out of shale.
You can’t get blood out of a bone
But you can get both out of a whale.
Make that “But you can get all three out of a whale”
intelligent design
Well, my father before me said that given the evidence at hand, he couldn’t accept that mankind was designed by God.
He figured that only a committee of Gods could have come up with us.
Completely off topic but inspired by Evan.
It went “Zip” when it moved.
And “Pop” when it stopped.
And, “Whirrr” when it stood still.
I never knew just what it was.
And I guess I never will.
from:
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=23547
oops! wrong link!
this one:
http://www.brownielocks.com/marveloustoy.html
This is one of those “if-then” arguments that seems like it makes sense on the surface. But the weakness of it rests on an assumption – that man-made global warming is actually happening. This is not a weakness so much because it does not appear to be actually happening, although that is a good point in and of itself. It is a weakness because of the way the argument is formed. It is based on an as yet unfulfilled condition (temperature rise) that thus then leads to a result (more viruses) which then is “elided” into another “if-then” propisition with the “if” part left out (leading to more contaminated blood). So the first conclusion becomes another as yet to happen premise. Statistically speaking, with enough if-then arguments strung together, it begins to border on the absurd. But then the readers of this blog will hardly need me to tell them that!
Dear Poet, I am spoken for. I am a very left leaning, overly educated, very short, very redheaded libertarian liberal who will likely vote for Obama. As to my beliefs, number one, live and let live as the basic code of conduct. Number two, humans are animals. Know animals, know humans. Ignore the rest of humanity’s hubris. Interestingly, I am hooked up with a very tall, GED Vietnam Navy vet welder, raging redneck republican who will likely vote for McCain. It is the odd couple in male-female form. While we agree on climate change, we agree on little else. But it somehow works. Yes folks, your heard it here first, one liberal and one republican under the same roof do not believe in AGW.
REPLY: Bottle that, whatever it is.
“Bottle that, whatever it is.”
Yes, and send me a case.
The idea that a warmer climate would lead to increased tropical diseases, which would then lead to increased cases of these germs in the blood supply is ridiculous?
Or is it ridiculous to spare attention to such a trivial impact of global warming when there are so many more serious impacts to concern us?
Mr Terry S (16:44:04) said:
“This reminds of when I worked for a University back in the mid nineties when the internet was expanding into the general populace. One of the Professors said to me:
I give a talk to industry and the more I say “paradigm shift” the more money they give me
I guess this decades magic phrase for funding is “global warming”.
I wonder what the next decades will be?”
I hope it will be either FatBigot or FatSadMan, whichever book of eponymous stories is published first.
Incidentally, while we are on the subject of blood, some years ago I had to have a pint removed once a month because I was producing too many red blood cells. The hospital had an instant cure for anaemia, just a couple of drops and the palest individual would have turned bright purple; but no, because it was removed for therapeutic purposes it could not be used. Such a shame.
Well, I am a liberal. But I consider the GOP to be the party currently occupying the true liiberal terrain these days. That may change. But the dems have dropped off the left edge of the table. And they weren’t pushed. They jumped.
They may well wake up and revert my way but I won’t follow them over the unliberal edge. I represent the 3% the dems have lost the last two presidential elections by. We have their margin of defeat, and it is looking to size up the same way this time.
The dems desperately need me and mine. But the need is not mutual.
The once-proud dems have chosen the route of the stereotypical Ayn Rand villain, and I won’t go there.
It is the odd couple in male-female form.
Which half has the Fibber McGee closet? (In my parents’ case, it was my mother.)
cat Evan | sed -e “s/liberal/libertarian/a” > libertarianEvan
This report may well be factually correct and I’m by no means an authority to dispute it but the silliness in the extreme is the focus on AGW climate change as a seemingly dominant risk factor. I would have thought that the huge annual movement of people including legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, tourists and visa workers, most of whom are from tropical and far more disease infested areas would pose a far greater risk of viral and bacterial infection of our entire population as well as our hospitals and blood banks, and yet the focus on this is a big fat zero.
If AGW is proven to be correct (of course it isn’t) then the obvious question that needs to be asked of every AGW advocating 1st world government is why are they not even slightly focused on any form of population management? To the contrary nearly all are hell bent on population increase by whatever means attainable. This seems extraordinary when these same goverments are loudly proclaiming man as the cause of the destruction of our planet.
Am I the only one that thinks the whole world is going crazy, deranged and dangerously stupid. To be honest we all deserve to wipe ourselves out and rid the universe of a perversely stupid lifeform.
Excellent Blog….
Um… yes, higher temperatures can cause more diseases. Yes, higher temperatures can speed up the life cycles of certain viruses. Viruses, like you and me and pretty much all life on this planet, have a certain tolerance to heat and cold. Remember the yellow fever epidemic of 1793? That summer, it was unusually hot in Philadelphia- the perfect temperature for the mosquito that transmitted the disease. Read this article for more information:
Some quotes from the blood transfusion article:
“These conditions are expected to lead to higher levels of virus activity and greater exposure of humans to the viruses,” News.com.au quoted Prof Dunstan, as saying.”
“The review published in the latest Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health confirms Australia’s blood supply is among the safest in the world for currently screened viral pathogens like HIV and hepatitis.”
As in the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793, increased heat will create better breeding grounds for certain pathogens, or insects that carry the pathogens. And the blood supply in Australia is the safest in the world for currently screened viral pathogens. Currently screened. As in, new pathogens that will thrive in the heat are not screened, and therefore people who donate blood may not know that they are carriers. This is why global warming will cause contaminated blood for blood transfusions- the author of this article is trying to say that blood donations will be tainted because warmer temperatures will cause new diseases, and those diseases will not be screened for in blood donations.
How embarressing – I am a fourth generation West Aussie – and a graduate of that Institution (twice) – It was called an “Institute of Technology” back then!!
0.6 degree will cause a massive increase in diseases? Oh, I forgot, it will warm up 20 or 30 degrees in the next few decades.
How do the folks in the Land of Odds store their blood supplies? And what about screening donated blood? New diseases from warmer temperatures? That we’ve never seen before? What about places on earth warmer than Odds? Do they have new and unknown diseases?
The heading says it all: Nutty.
Now, if Global Warming could cause the Cubs to win the Series…
Bill in Vigo (14:41:19) : “I was in the hospital a few years ago and the problem for me was that my blood if it cooled at all would thicken to the point that they could not perform the tests. They had to keep it in an incubator all the way to the lab to run the tests.”
This has little to do with global warming – it depends on body’s internal regulation of temperature and blood chemistry.
retired engineer (07:22:53) : “0.6 degree will cause a massive increase in diseases?”
Increase or decrease, depends. Higher body temperature/fever could kill virus (sometimes bacteria) within the body when one gets sick. On the other side, higher outside temperature has been shown to increase infectious diseases – for example dengue and Chikungunya are so common in India and now it has even migrated to France and Italy where the vector now can survive due to changes in temperature. Four years ago, there was hardly any dengue in India. It is possible (although I have not seen the details) that higher temperature could affect viral and bacterial growth in blood when bags are not refrigerated.
The story is unusual, but not that nutty, I believe.
” Sydney iceman (03:48:12) :
Am I the only one that thinks the whole world is going crazy, deranged and dangerously stupid. To be honest we all deserve to wipe ourselves out and rid the universe of a perversely stupid”
No you’re not, but I would quibble with your verb. Not “is going”, but “has been” and I would add for a long time.
One amusing (sort of) point occurred in the sixties/seventies, when the Gaia meme really got going, and the suggestion used to be made that mankind was a sort of skin cancer on the face of the world and the most effective treatment was radiation therapy. We would wonder when the treatment was going to be applied. Unfortunately, as happens with most cancers, delaying treatment has allowed the condition to become worse.
It’s amazing how much damage one cubic mile of humanity can cause.
cat Evan | sed -e “s/liberal/libertarian/a” > libertarianEvan
I am not anti-big government, and I am big on “foreign entanglements”. And I don’t mind the rich paying all the federal taxes (which they already are doing) provided the top rate is not so high that it is reducing both production AND revenue. (And I think cutting the current top rate would result in an INcrease in revenue, not a decrease. On most social issues I lean left. But it drives me crazy when the poor are carefully trained to resent the rich. Talk about biting the hand that is feeding one! Damnable sin and blind stupidity rolled into one.)
No you’re not, but I would quibble with your verb. Not “is going”, but “has been” and I would add for a long time.
Like so totally. Today’s insanities, as horrendous as they are, have nothing on the past. (Check out any history book overing any time period, any place.)
The obvious question that needs to be asked of every AGW advocating 1st world government is why are they not even slightly focused on any form of population management?
Because birthrate have plunged since 1990 to ‘way below replacement rate. If it weren’t for increasing longevity and immigration, populations would be undergoing a crash of bubonesque proportions.
By 2050 or so, when the rest of the world has riched up, the world’s population level will begin the “great plunge”. The only way to avert that demographic disaster is to “cure” old age (which may well happen within our lifetimes).
“But it drives me crazy when the poor are carefully trained to resent the rich.” Evan Jones
Actually, their resentment is partially justified since we have a dishonest banking system which loots them via inflation. Not only is it dishonest but it leads to booms and busts and finances foreign entanglements.
If we get more anti-business regulation, it will be because of the fractional-reserve bankers.
I’d bet the bankers kept their heads during the French Revolution by bribing the new government with paper money.
http://www.mises.org for more info
Evan, “By 2050 or so, when the rest of the world has riched up, the world’s population level will begin the “great plunge”. The only way to avert that demographic disaster is to “cure” old age (which may well happen within our lifetimes).”
I am not sure whether there will be a plunge (or even a reduction). Population leveling in 2050 is based on low birth rate, which may or may not be true at that time. Obviously they were wrong when they made such predictions about the U.S. population: please see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/us/07census.html
Can’t pay my mortgage…
Finally, a topic I can contribute something to. for all those that worry about global warming endangering the blood supply, my answer is Oxyglobin (www.oxyglobin.com). it is hemoglobin (that carries oxygen) in a stable form. the veterinary product has an approx 3yr room temp shelf life (as in leave it on the shelf until you need it in a year or two). unfortunately, since it is bovine hemoglobin, and most useful for acute blood loss (like trauma), no one wants to go through the practical rigamarole necessary to test it to get FDA approval.
and don’t hold your breath about the stem cell grown red blood cells. Oxyglobin came out 10 years ago for use in dogs, and hasn’t shown any signs of entering the US human market. South africa has a similar product for humans, but good luck getting it here.
Kristen Westhoff, DVM
John: True. But we’ve had a lot of immigration. So not only is that a lot of people added, but immigrants tend to have a higher birth rate (which i regard as a Good thing).
But look at Western Europe.
What I think is happening is that the world is reaching a point where a child is not a financial asset (to be sent to the canneries), but as a tremendous expense. Thus, birthrates have declined all over the world since 1990 (even in the US, where we are currently growing at 1m/year rather than 1.3m/year).
It’s true that no one can know the future, but I do predict a drop in birthrates (though also possibly partially offset by an end of old age and other medical advance).
Also consider that China currently has 120 male births to female. (Bad but not quite as bad in India.) You know what effect THAT has on population!
Sorry if this has already been posted – now AGW is linked to skin cancer too:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6896174.stm
Evan, “What I think is happening is that the world is reaching a point where a child is not a financial asset (to be sent to the canneries), but as a tremendous expense.”
I hope you are right.
I do not worry about China, India is a completely different story. Also, Evan, on your comment (but immigrants tend to have a higher birth rate (which i regard as a Good thing)): unfortunately the percapita energy requirement etc. in the U.S. is so high, that population growth in the U.S. will have a disproportionate environmental effect (that is, of course, if you believe that more waste and higher usage of energy has environmental impact).
This may qualify for Nutty Story #7.
http://www.wisconsinenvironment.org/uploads/Lb/l4/Lbl49XeYRVxP-kWjdn89bA/Factsheet—global-warming-and-football.pdf
This needs to updated using temperatures from 1971-2008 instead of 2000. They may find that the Geen Bay Packers home opener will be played on the frozen tundra of Lambeau in the near future, restoring the hertofore implied advantage.
Also, it’s interesting how in the recommendation at the bottom of the page the use the euphemism “gobal cooling polution” for that evil gas CO2.
Here’s the link to the full article.
http://www.wisconsinenvironment.org/newsroom/global-warming/global-warming-news/could-global-warming-threaten-the-packers-edge