Tag Archives: convulsions
PANDEMIC OUTBREAK – Mystery illness claims dozens of Cambodian children
Hong Kong (CNN) — The World Health Organization is helping the Cambodian Ministry of Health investigate the cause of a mysterious illness that has killed dozens of children in the country since April.
A joint statement from the WHO and the ministry, released Wednesday, said 61 of 62 children admitted to hospital had died from the disease. The majority of the reported cases came from southern and central Cambodia.
“[The Ministry of Health] and WHO are currently investigating the cases,” Mam Bunheng, the Cambodian minister of health, said in the statement, “possible causes of the disease are being considered, but definite identification of the cause and source may take some time.”
Initial reports from the Cambodian government indicate that the unknown illness struck children under seven years old.
“The symptoms include a mixture of respiratory illnesses, fever and generalized neurological symptoms, including convulsions in some of the patients,” Dr. Nima Asgari, a team leader of the WHO country office in Cambodia, said in an email to CNN.
The children were brought to hospitals in the capital, Phnom Penh, and the northern tourist hub of Siem Reap — the two biggest cities of Cambodia — but most of them died within 24 hours upon admission.
“This can be a mixture of a number of known diseases — virological, bacterial or toxicological — which have been reported as one syndrome or something new,” Asgari added.
“While the labs are excluding the various pathogens, we are providing support to [the Ministry of Health] to make sure that an in-depth analysis of cases is done to identify possible causes or exposures which will give us a better picture. The investigation is ongoing.”
So far, there were no signs of contagion or clusters of cases — patients who had contact with each other and fell sick together — a telltale warning sign of a highly infectious disease. But Asgari admitted the high mortality rate in such a short time was extremely worrying.
2nd Miami Zombie Attack – Miami homeless man high on ‘bath salts’ growls, tries to bite police officer and smashes his head against cell (AND he’d drunk Four Loko too)
2nd Miami Zombie Attack – Miami homeless man high on ‘bath salts’ growls, tries to bite police officer and smashes his head against cell (AND he’d drunk Four Loko too)
A homeless man high on drugs and drunk on Four Loko growled and tried to bite off a police officer’s hand after he was arrested for disturbing customers in a Miami fast food restaurant.
The incident comes just two weeks after Rudy Eugene chewed the face off a homeless man in Miami. The frenzied 18-minute attack only ended when police shot Eugene dead.
In this new case, Brandon De Leon, 21, repeatedly banged his head against the patrol car’s Plexiglas and yelled, ‘I’m going to eat you.’ Both De Leon and Eugene are believed to have been under the influence of a potent drug, known as bath salts.
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The shocking crimes have led to a safety warning issued to local police officers when they deal with Miami’s homeless population.
North Miami Beach police spotted De Leon having an argument with another man outside a Boston Market restaurant on Saturday.
According to an arrest report, the men’s fight blocked the restaurant entrance so no-one could come in or leave.
Officers arrested De Leon and Brian Yerdon, 33, for disorderly conduct.
Crime scene: Police officers arrested De Leon after his altercation with Yerdon blocked patrons from entering or leaving this Boston Market restaurant. De Leon had rum and Four Loko on him when he was arrested
At one point De Leon said ‘F*** you’ to officers, showing them his middle finger, the report states.
At the police station, De Leon tried to bite the officer who was taking his blood pressure and tending to his self-inflicted wounds. The police report noted that he ‘growled and opened and closed his jaw slamming his teeth like an animal would.’
Inside his cell, De Leon was put in leg restraints and a bite mask after he continued to bark, growl and bash his head, reported NBC Miami.
De Leon was found to be on bath salts – also known as Cloud 9 – and blood tests revealed levels of cannabis and Xanax. The tests also revealed an alcohol level of .29.
De Leon faces charges including disorderly conduct and resisting an officer with violence. He remains in jail on a $5,500 bond.
In court on Monday De Leon told the judge he could not remember what happened.
‘If I can say something your honor, I have no recollection of anything that happened that night,’ he said. It is not known whether De Leon has a lawyer.
Bath salts, referred to on the street as ‘the new LSD’ and sold as a cocaine substitute, contain amphetamine-like chemicals such as methylenedioxypyrovalerone.
Users of the drug report to feeling no pain. Its effects include paranoia, hallucinations, convulsions and psychotic episodes.
Toxicology results will determine whether Rudy Eugene was on bath salts when he pounced on Ronald Poppo, a 65-year-old homeless man he found sleeping on elevated train tracks by a Miami highway on May 26.
Footage of the attack shows Eugene stripping and punching his victim before he straddles him and starts to eat his face off.
It was almost 20 minutes until officer Jose Rivera shot Eugene shortly after he arrived. He shouted at the 31-year-old to stop but he simply got up and growled and continued eating at the man’s face.
Watch video here
Zombie Apocalypse and the ‘bath salts’ link: 34 states already impacted per DEA
The zombie apocalypse that America and Canada is said to be experiencing this week due to ‘bath salts’ didn’t happen overnight, as some might think.
In fact, news released on Friday show that this law enforcement problem has been occurring around the country long before the Causeway cannibal face-eating attack in Miami, or the other cannibalistic acts in California, Canada or Maryland. In fact, law enforcement and medical personnel in as many as 34 states have been battling this growing ‘zombie apocalypse’ drug problem for quite some time.
The United States Drug Enforcement Agency really started to sit up and take notice of synthetic designer drugs in 2009, when so-called “fake pot” began making the rounds under the names K-2 and Spice, among others. Two reports about one of the key drugs in that product caught the DEA’s attention that year.
And thanks to poison control centers and hospitals joining law enforcement in making reports to the DEA, about the increases they began to see in those using the so-called “fake pot” products, a better picture began to emerge of the dangers currently being seen now, allegedly.
Reports of anxiety attacks, convulsions, elevated heart rates, increased blood pressure, as well as disorientation were being experienced in growing numbers. And fortunately 16 states listened up and took the necessary action to control those so-called fake pot drugs. But that was just the beginning, with recreational drugs known as ‘bath salts’ soon following.
By 2010 a key drug in both products had brought as many as 338 cases to their attention. Those numbers jumped in less than a year in 2011, when 911 cases were noted, and the problem had grown to impact as many as 34 states.
Almost one year ago this month, the New York Division of the DEA, under the leadership of Special Agent in Charge John Gilbride, finally took down a major ‘bath salts’ distributor, hoping to curb the recreational drug availability that is used at raves and as a recreational drug.
The dangerous substance is purchased at retail shops, gas stations and other businesses due to being labeled deceptively as bath salts, which are given many different names, including “Aura,” “Goodfellas,” “Ivory Wave,” “Russian River” and “Xtreme,” though there are many more names used as well.
The drug is typically snorted as powder or taken as a pill, according to the DEA. It is also injected intravenously and smoked by users who experience symptoms that range from panic attacks and increased heart rates to delusions and psychotic episodes. And if the toxicology screen in Miami comes back to reveal bath salts in the MacArthur “Causeway cannibal” attack, the adverse effects experienced will grow to include face-eating among other things.
By September of 2011, the DEA had heard enough negative reports on the adverse symptoms being experienced by those using the fake bath salts products labeled “Not for human consumption” that they immediately exercised their authority to control the three drugs most concerning: Mephedrone, MDPV and Methylone.
And they were not alone, as 33 states had now grown concerned enough to either ban or control the products containing these substances, which are usually labeled as “bath salts” or “plant food.” Five short months later, in February of this year, the DEA extended their control of this dangerous group of chemicals by six months, which by the way, is also in the so-called “fake Pot” products.
Miami’s face-eating attacker Rudy Eugene was said to be hooked on marijuana by one of his friends. It is unclear if he was possibly using the so-called “fake pot” that contains this dangerous drug under the watchful eye of the DEA or if it was a ‘bath salts’ product instead that may have resulted in the horrific zombie like attack on Ronald Poppo.