| MRSA case confirmed; doctors say risk being overblown
Remain calm.That is the message from doctors and school officials following confirmed reports of a local case of drug-resistant staph infection."I think this is being blown all out of proportion," said Dr. Louis Schenfeld, a Johnstown-based infectious disease specialist.MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, has been around since 1963, Schenfeld said. It usually is confined to a boil that should be lanced by a doctor and then usually goes away on its own."Staph is the most common form of skin infection," he said. "MRSA is the most common type of staph infection."For years, MRSA was confined to hospitals. But it began appearing in the general population during the late 1990s and is being seen more outside hospitals and nursing homes.News of a confirmed infection in a Conemaugh Township High School student brought a deluge of phone calls to the district, Superintendent Joseph DiBartola said."We kind of fielded those (calls) to let parents know what had occurred and what we were doing," DiBartola said.
Hypothetical attack on U.S. outlined by China
Striking U.S. air bases — specifically command-and-control facilities, aircraft hangars and surface-to-air missile launchers — would be China's first priority if a conflict arose, according to Rand's report. U.S. facilities in South Korea and Japan, even far-south Okinawa, sit within what Rand calls the "Dragon's Lair": a swath of land and sea along China's coast. This is an area reachable by cruise missiles, jet-borne precision bombs and local covert operatives. Air Force bases within this area include Osan and Kunsan in South Korea, as well as Misawa, Yokota and Kadena in Japan. And in a conflict over Taiwan, any nation allowing "an intervening superpower" such as the U.S. to operate inside its territory can expect a Chinese attack, according to China's defense experts.
Big Zell Dis
Educating Mr. Wright: Man, it is a tough job, but somebody's got to bring these eggheads up to speed. ... 6:09 P.M. ___________________________ Mrs. Russert Blogs: Maureen Orth notes that "Elvis's death in 1977 rated two paragraphs in People Magazine." But, if memory serves, that's not entirely because the culture of celebrity wasn't well-developed back then (Orth's point). It's because in 1977 Elvis was not such a big deal. ... P.S.: Why isn't Orth blogging for HuffPo? Memo to Arianna: She seems like a natural fit. Memo to Orth: It's not bloggy to let a few little disagreements get in the way of mutually beneficial traffic-sharing. Enmity is so print. The Web's win-win! ... There, I've brought them together.... 12:56 A.M. ___________________________ Wednesday, August 22, 2007 New Orwell on Offense: Andrew Sullivan excoriates pundits who exhibited "spectacular misjudgment about the war in Iraq," something that he says "should consign the author to irrelevance." Fair enough.** [But Sullivan excludes anyone who "explicitly explained why he was wrong and apologized," and Sullivan has apologized, abjectly--ed.
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