• Plant-Based Profits: The Corporate Interests Behind the Push Towards Veganism
• The Vegetarian Myth
• Meat is crucial for human health, scientists warn
• Move over Beyond & Impossible, the "Smart" burger is 100% beef

• Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases linked to auto-inflammation
• Researchers identify Alzheimer's tipping point: Excess glycation (i.e. too much sugar)
• Studies About Relations Between Alzheimer's and Omega-3s, Alcohol
• The Alzheimer's antidote: using a low-carb, high-fat diet to fight Alzheimer's disease, memory loss, and cognitive decline
• Alzheimer's Linked to Lack of Sleep
• Vitamin C's antioxidant power could help Alzheimer's patients
• A hormone released during exercise might protect against Alzheimer's
• Nicotine Analog Shows Promise For Alzheimer's Treatment

• Polio outbreak in Burundi caused by oral vaccine - ABC News
• WHO warns 'vaccine-derived' polio spreading across Gaza as Israel vaccinates its troops
• 'Polio Outbreak' - The WHO, Bill Gates, emergency vaccines & more of the same
• Vaccine derived Polio virus mutated from vaccine 'likely' spreading in London, 'national incident' declared
• South Sudan confirms outbreak of vaccine-derived polio

Brits are urged to stay vigilant as a plague of "monster ticks" have been invading holiday spots across Europe. The blood-sucking creatures are reportedly four times larger than regular ticks and can carry dangerous diseases.

The large ticks, known as Hyalomma lusitanicum, originate from tropical climates including Africa and southeast Asia. But now it is feared they are making their way across Europe, carried by wild animals including rabbits.

Studies have shown Hyalomma to be particularly rife across Spain, the Balearic Islands and southern Italy. One investigation from 2022 revealed that the ticks were found in almost every part of Barcelona.

Tedros called "Disease X" a "placeholder for the unknown, but it's not a new idea," noting that the terminology was first used "in 2018 [and] the discussions were in 2017."

"Disease X" is included on the WHO's list of "priority diseases" which "pose the greatest public health risk," along with COVID-19, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease, Lassa fever, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Nipah and henipaviral diseases, Rift Valley fever and Zika virus.

The vaccine laboratories - housed in dark green buildings - were hastily constructed as part of the emergency response to Covid. But, as the intense demands of the pandemic have waned, the focus has shifted.

The new vaccine research centre is concentrating on three types of threat:

• known infections that are getting harder to deal with, such as antibiotic-resistant superbugs
• potential threats that might cause a problem, including bird flu and new Covid variants
• and 'Disease X' - something unforeseen, like Covid, which takes the world by complete surprise

The aim is to work with the pharmaceutical industry, scientists and doctors to support all stages of vaccine development.

Porton Down scientists are working on the first vaccine against Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever, which is spread by ticks and kills about a third of those infected. The disease is found in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and in Asia - and could spread further with climate change.

At the other end of the process, vaccine effectiveness is evaluated. It was scientists here who spotted that the Omicron variant could bypass some of the protection afforded by Covid vaccines.

And they are still monitoring new Covid variants by growing them in the laboratory, exposing them to antibodies taken from blood samples and seeing if new variants are still able to infect.

A case of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever has been identified in England, health officials have revealed.

The risk to the public is very low, the UK Health Security Agency said today - after the case was diagnosed in a woman who had travelled to Central Asia.
The illness is a viral disease that's usually transmitted by ticks and livestock.

It's usually found in countries where the disease is in an endemic state and the virus is endemic in all of Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and in Asia.

How to protect yourself from it?
The main way to protect yourself against CCHF is to avoid tick bites by adopting individual protection measures, in spring and summer, in places where the tick is living (dry areas of scrubland and scrubland, pastures, hiking trails, fields, crops, orchards, vineyards, etc.):

Wear clothing covering the legs and arms, preferably light colored to better see the tick;
Wear closed shoes;
Regularly inspect your body and that of children;
Have a tick remover or fine tweezers to remove the tick quickly in the event of a bite.
Since skin repellents have limited effectiveness, their use should not replace the preventive measures cited above.

What to do if you get bitten?
If you are bitten by a tick and after removing it (with a tick remover or fine tweezers) and disinfecting the bite site, photograph the tick if you can.

Within 14 days after the bite and if you suddenly experience one of the symptoms mentioned above, consult a doctor, indicating that you have been bitten by a tick and showing him the photo.