H1N1 flu (Swine Flu)

For all those worrying and panicking about H1N1, there is an excellent letter in today's Star and Sun , Aug 21 2009.
Take note of the bits I've highlighted in red.

For those of us from Western countries that have winter, we know that the annual death from flu in winter is always high, much worse than the comparatively few deaths caused by H1N1.
And a friend made a good comment  about the number of road deaths in Malaysia, an average of 17 a day, =  6205 death a year. So the 68 deaths (at the moment) from flu pale into insignificance ! 

STAR

No cause for panic

Friday August 21, 2009

No cause for panic

I AM writing in support of the statement by Dr C. Lee “Expert: case fatality rate not that high” (The Star, Aug 19). Although what Dr Lee said is true, there exists the pressing need to restrategise and implement mechanisms and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the prevention of secondary bacterial pneumonia.
A(H1N1) is a very infectious disease. It spreads by droplet spread and is easily transmitted. The director-general of the Health Ministry has called it a high attack rate.
For a country of 27 million people, struggling with this crisis since April 2009 and with national and international transportation being so widely used, the 4,200 reported cases so far for such an infectious disease is severe under-reporting.
There are probably 20 times that number of cases out there which are not reported. Because of this issue of under-reporting, many countries have stopped trying to report the number of new cases.
Unfortunately, 68 have died in Malaysia. But if you were to be objective, 68 deaths out of a possible 70,000 to 80,000 cases will give a death rate of 0.08%. Still a bit higher than the usual seasonal flu death rate of 0.04%. However, surely it is not anywhere near panic proportions.
A closer look at the deaths reveal that 80% were A(H1N1) associated, or were incidentally found to have contracted the virus which by no means caused the death. We can call this A(H1N1) associated death or death with incidental A(H1N1) infection.
So, if the certification of death is proper, it may be that only 15 deaths were actually due to A(H1N1), giving a fatality rate of 0.02%.
The flu itself is usually a mild disease in the majority of cases. From all available clinical epidemiological evidence, the bulk of patients dying in flu pandemics are from secondary bacterial pneumonias. This has been shown to be the case in all flu epidemics and pandemics.
That is why we need to consolidate measures that are already in place. This should include a national-level SOP whereby all affected patients with secondary bacterial pneumonias would immediately triage for intensive tertiary level care.
There is no cause for panic but we should all be vigilant because there is a very infectious disease in our midst.
Good personal hygiene is crucial, now and at all times, even after this crisis.
There is already too much misinformation and misperception of the situation out in the lay media without having to distract the public with the hype about a national emergency.
DR NG SWEE CHOON,
Member of Medical Affairs Committee,
Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia.

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More on my mynas

Last year I made an album on the myna birds that visit me daily. They are still around and I am still amused by them.

I don't see much of them in the morning. They don't visit me so often at breakfast time, but they do come back around 9-10am and stand in the full glare of the sun. I've always assumed they are sunbathing, and today was interested to see this is correct. Having read the article, copied below, I agree that they have a glazed expression. They always sunbathe with their beak wide open, and they do look a bit moronic!!!

I don't have any photos of them sunbathing.

At other times one of them has appeared on my window ledge soaking wet, even though it hasn't been raining. It has obviously taken a bath somewhere.

Birds love soaking in the sun as much as humans do
Malaysia Sun
Wednesday 19th August, 2009
(ANI)



London, Aug 19 : Its not just humans who enjoy soaking up in the sun on the beach, for birds are fond of sunbathing too, according to the bird charity RSPB.

The charity revealed that they receive almost 100 calls during hot spells from people who are concerned with watching birds lying with their feathers and wings exposed to the sun.

However, they have said that such state of rest is not problematic, as the animals simply sunbath in this position.

Studies from the University of New Mexico have suggested that birds sun themselves to soothe their skin after heavy rain, which can cause them to suddenly lose their feathers.

The researchers believe that the sun helps straighten the birds' feathers, and helps the preen oil to spread through.

"People become concerned about these birds, because they seem to have a glazed expression in their eyes, because they are not focusing on anything, because they are entranced by the sun," the Telegraph quoted Gemma Rogers from the RSPB as saying.

She added: "They don't let themselves overheat at all. The feathers would protect them as well, so I don't think they need the factor 30."

However, the biggest concern, according to her, is that the predators will attack while the birds enjoy a peaceful moment in the sun.

"They are on the ground, they have their heads up, their legs wide open, but usually they fly away once a predator approaches. Their hearing is very acute as well, so even if they aren't focusing they will hear something coming," she said.

While blackbirds are the most commonly spotted sunbathers, pigeons and sparrows also enjoy the sun.

Rogers said that sparrows apparently enjoy going to the beach as much as humans.

"Sparrows often find a hot sandy area as well to have a sand or dust bath. That looks really strange. They bed themselves down and get in there and cover their feathers," she said.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Myanmar - end of the Death Railway

THE STAR
Lifestyle - Home > Lifestyle > Travel & Adventure

Saturday August 1, 2009

The end of Death Railway

By LIZ PRICE

History buffs may be surprised to discover that the Death Railway actually extends to southern Myanmar.

A solitary steam locomotive marked the end of the line. There was no indication of its name or history, and it had a forlorn appearance as it seemed to gaze at the bushes which encroached the rail tracks.
There was nothing else to see, not even a notice board recording the incredible history of the area.

The final resting place of a steam engine on the Death Railway.

Many people who have visited Kanchanaburi in Thailand are familiar with the Death Railway. Mention Bridge over the River Kwai, and it immediately brings to mind some of the atrocities that took place in the construction of the railway. But I wonder how many people realise that the railway extended quite a way into southern Burma (or Myanmar as it is now called)?

Some 65km south of Mawlamyine (formerly Moulmein) is a town called Than Byuzayat. This is as far south as foreign tourists are allowed to go in southern Myanmar, in the Mon state. Few tourists come here, which perhaps explains why little is mentioned in the guide books about this place. The main attraction is the Commonwealth War Cemetery.

Driving from Mawlamyine, you will find there is little traffic on the road and the scenery is blocked by kilometre after kilometre of rubber plantations. You catch the occasional glimpse of pagodas and stupas in the distant hills.

I was quite excited about the prospect of seeing the end of the Death Railway, or the Bloody Railway as our guide Min kept calling it. So I was surprised when we stopped on the outskirts of Than Byuzayat and saw nothing except a lonesome locomotive amongst the trees.

We had a laugh when we saw in front of us an old gate which had no fence adjoining it.
The steam engine faces down the track and is the only relic here. The name plate had been stripped off, but walking around we could see that parts of the engine had been made in the UK, by engineers in London. We walked all round and clambered into the drivers’ compartment.

The locomotive wheels were partly embedded in concrete, possibly to stop people removing it. I was surprised it hadn’t been vandalised for its scrap metal. The tracks were heavily overgrown and soon disappeared in the bushes. However there were a couple of rotting statues, presumably once depicting some of the workers of the line.

The final resting place of a steam engine on the Death Railway.

Than Byuzayat (which means Tin Shelter) was the western terminus of the infamous Burma-Siam Death Railway. During WWII, more than 16,000 Allied prisoners of war (POW) and many more Asian coolies were forced by the Japanese military to construct this railway.

The Japanese had entered Burma by marching over the rugged mountains from Tak in Thailand via the Three Pagodas Pass. The purpose of the railway was to supply a route for the Japanese who hoped to conquer Burma, and then other Asian countries further west.

Construction of the railway began in September 1942 at Than Byuzayat and Non Pladuk in Thailand. Japanese engineers had estimated it would take five years to link the two countries but it was done in 16 months. This was achieved by forcing the thousands of prisoners to work very hard. The length of the 1m gauge line was 415km, two-thirds of which was in Thailand.

Much of the railway was built in very difficult terrain, through deep mountain cuttings and needing high bridges in places. The two ends of the line were linked 37km south of the Three Pagodas Pass and the Japanese were able to use the railway for 20 months before the Allies bombed it in 1945.

An estimated 16,000 POWs died during the construction of the railway. These deaths were due to brutal treatment, hard work and lack of food and medicine. It is unknown how many Asian labourers (from Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia) died during the Japanese occupation. Their numbers could be far higher than the POWs. Some estimates say 90,000–100,000 died.

Many of the Allied prisoners were buried in the War Cemetery at Than Byuzayat. This lies on the west side of town and contains 3,771 graves of Allied POWs who died building the railway.

The cemetery was built and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Maidenhead, England. It is similar to those in Kanchanaburi in Thailand and at Ambon in Maluku, Indonesia. Most of those buried were British.

In this cemetery there are no large trees; just a few frangipani. I found it very moving walking around the place and I had a lump in my throat as I thought about the sad history.

The cemetery in Myanmar where POWs are buried. — LIZ PRICE

The caretaker came over and asked me if I was looking for any particular grave. I said no, so he went on to explain how the cemetery was laid out. The Australian section is on the left, while the centre section is occupied by the British graves. Also in this section are the graves of men from Malaya, Singapore, India etc. To the right is the Dutch area. There’s one row behind the British for the Indian Muslims.

It was interesting to see the differences in memorial stones. Many of the British ones had crosses and the full regiment was listed and most had an epitaph from family or friends. The Dutch ones showed no regiment or rank.

One British epitaph read: “Years go by. Memories remain. This corner of a foreign field is forever England”.
Related story:
Getting there

Saturday August 1, 2009

Getting there

Than Byuzayat is 65km south of Mawlamyine in Myanmar and takes about 75 minutes by van. It’s best to go as part of a tour. However, you can go by public pick-up from Mawlamyine central market, these take two hours. You will need to go on a day trip as there is no legal lodging for foreigners, so make sure you catch the last pick-up back to Mawlamyine.

The locomotive and railway are about 1.5 km south of the town centre, and the cemetery is 1km west on the road to Kyaikkami. There is nothing else of interest in the town.

The Death Railway was made famous by Pierre Boulle’s book Bridge Over the River Kwai and then by a film based on the book.
Source:

BookCrossing

 

Today I checked out BookCrossing.

I rarely go to malls such as I Utama, or The Curve etc, but today made a special trip to 1 Utama to investigate BookCrossing. This is an international read and exchange scheme for book lovers and is already in 120 countries. The idea is you leave books in public places for people to find and ultimately spread the joy of reading. You can register on the internet, and then mark each book with its own ID number, then leave the books at wild places or an Official BookCrossing Zone (OBCZ) .

BookCrossing in 1 Utama is one of the official places. It's located on the ground floor outside Parkson. There is a small book case and a lounge area for people to sit and read - although the people I saw there were just using the seats for a rest or to read the newspaper!

no one looking at the cupboard

 

the cupboard

someone approaches the cupboard

and opens it !!

The books' journey can be tracked online at www.bookcrossing.com by tagging the books with unique identity numbers that record where the book has been and who has read them.

As mentioned above, you can leave books at wild places, such as on a train or bus, on a park bench, or you can simply pass it to a friend.

1 Utama is the first mall in Asia to set up an area dedicated to the community-based campaign, in partnership with BookCrossing Inc and Malaysia's biggest bookstore chain, MPH Bookstores. It's called BookCross@1U . Every month, 50 books sponsored by MPH will be released and placed in the lounge.

I signed up for BookCrossing on their website, and then registered the first book I wanted to 'free'. I registered for the book's ID number online and then wrote the details inside the front cover. You can also buy preprinted labels, or if you are lucky, pick them up in the lounge (there were none when I went).

If you take a book, don't forget to make a journal entry on the website. An email will then be sent to the person who released the book so he or she can see the book's journey.

It's a great idea and I just hope people don't abuse it, and take books and leave rubbishy ones.

See more at www.bookcrossing.com

And also Bibliobuli's blog

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© Liz Price <br>
No reproduction without permission

bird flu free cakes

I did some grocery shopping before lunch which is always a bad move, as you overbuy on junk. Saw some cakes on special offer and popped them into my basket. It was only when I got home and was putting them away that I noticed a new logo next to the halal logo. It said

"Bird flu, Avian influenza, FREE"

Is this another gimmick by Jakim? Or is it cos the cakes are oddly named London roll ?

Anyway I haven't opened them yet and I'm sure they will be horrible as cheap cakes and biscuits are normally lousy in Msia !!! But I'm tempted to keep the box as a souvenir!!!

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© Liz Price <br>
No reproduction without permission

Haze 2009

Today, July 13, the haze is the worst I've seen it this year. When I got up and opened my curtains and windows, I immediately started sneezing. And my nose was irritated by the acrid smell. I escaped to Mid Valley.

I came out of Mid Valley around 12.30pm and found the haze had worsened. Brickfields was just a foggy shadow. And the view from my apartment has gone. KLCC and Menara Tower have completely disappeared, Times Square is just a faint shadow. And the air smells awful.



view on a good day



no view

© Liz Price <br>
No reproduction without permission

AirAsia long haul KL to London

I had to book a flight from KL to London at fairly short notice and of course all  airlines were charging a lot, especially for a single. So I decided to try AirAsia which was the cheapest for a single, but was still very expensive. I flew in mid April 2009.
The verdict - the most boring 13+ hours of my life. And I wouldn't choose AirAsia again for such a long haul flight unless I could get a really cheap ticket.
A lot of people think the seats may be small and cramped, but I found them to be fine, same as any other airline. The plane is smaller than those used by other airlines, so there are less seats (2 x 4 x2) and less rows. And because of the layout of the plane, it was hard to walk around at the back.
But I found the flight totally boring with no free entertainment, no route map etc. I don't normally watch films on flights but I like to play games, catch up on the news and watch the flight map and details. So I was bored silly without this. You can pay for entertainment but the sets are limited and ran out before they reached me. I heard some people had problem with their sets and the batteries ran out early. Also the choice of films is limited.
I took a day flight, flying west. The lights were left on the whole journey and the window shades were left up so we had bright daylight for 13 hours.
Airlines advise sleeping as little as possible when flying west, so maybe this is why the plane was kept bright.
Unfortunately I didn't pre-order meals and wasn't able to buy them on board as the only had enough for those who had booked. You can buy snacks and drinks. Water is RM4 (note it's cheaper to buy it in LCCT departure hall at RM2). Mid way through the flight everyone got hungry and was buying food and drinks. By the time we approached London they ran out of snacks to purchase. Luckily I had taken quite a few nibbles with me, but not enough.
The staff work hard as there are less crew than on other airlines.
Several people bought comfort kits of blanket, eye mask and inflatable pillow. I'd got a sarong and jumper with me to keep warm but didn't need either.
The flight was just over 13 hours and we were onboard for more than 14 as we were late leaving KL.
It was the first time I've been to Stansted Airport. I found the bus into London was OK but it took 75 mins which was a long time after a long haul flight. OK you can take the express train but it's more expensive.
Unfortunately I paid a LOT for my KL to London flight as I booked late. I certainly wouldn't fly AirAsia again long haul unless I can get a cheap flight.
See a related blog on http://airasiareviews.blogspot.com/2009/03/air-asia-london-flights-review.html
When it was time to return to KL, I really wanted to avoid flying with AirAsia. But I had the same problem as on the outward flight, in that to buy a single on one of the "regular" airlines cost an arm and a leg, even more than a return. So very reluctantly I once again booked with AirAsia. This time it was a night flight and I was more mentally prepared.
The flight turned out to be better for various reasons. I had prebooked meals, which actually wasn't necessary, nor did I need the extra water I'd taken. I have to say the meals are rather small and I had finished by the time the trolley was only 4 rows away. I was glad I had my own snacks with me. Being a night flight, and a cold one, people weren't ordering food and drinks during the flight inbetween the meals, so there were still meals and snacks available by the time they brought round the 2nd meal. Incidentally the water bottle that comes with the meal is only 350ml.