Breakthroughs Today

The Department of Health (DOH) announced on 25 November 2010 that new HIV infections reached 1,305 cases from January to October this year. Sex between men, according to an Agence France-Presse report, accounted for nearly 80 percent of all cases mentioned. More than half of those infected aged between 20 and 29. Eleven percent got transmitted through needle-sharing among drug users. One percent came through mother-to-child transmission in pregnancy. Among all countries in Asia, country coordinator of UNAIDS Teresita Marie Bagasao was quoted saying, only the Philippines and Bangladesh had cases increasing as others stayed stable or decreasing. [ Report ]

ZOSIMO T. LITERATUS, RMT Two outbreaks of petfood-associated renal failure occurred in 2004 (involving around 6,000 dogs and a smaller number of cats) and 2007 (involving a large number of dogs and cats in North America). In 2004, the outbreak was linked to the ingestion of specific commercial dog foods, and occurred in dogs from Asia. Health authorities attributed it to poisonous compounds (particularly ochratoxin, citrinin, or both) that contaminated raw materials in a manufacturing plant in Thailand. In 2007, on the heel of another renal failure outbreak associated with pet foods, North American health authorities identified the toxic compounds as melamine and cyanuric acid; both are present in wheat gluten, rice protein, and corn gluten imported from China and used as a pet food ingredient. Able to elevate falsely the measure of protein content in pet foods because of its high nitrogen content, melamine was presumed to have been intentionally added by suppliers in China. Two studie