We Are The World

Sometimes the continent of Africa seems such a lost hope, with famine, corruption and disease its companion in every corner, that one is tempted to shrug and walk away. We dare not, no matter how lost it seems.

Zimbabwe has been in the throes of a cholera epidemic since August of 2008. The disease has killed 2,500 people and affected an unbelievable 48,600 others, according to the World Health Organisation's stats published Thursday.

One of the great unanswered questions for me in this life, which I do not know if I will ever have a satisfactory answer to, is why certain people tolerate certain things, which other people do not.

What ingredient "X" is there in some people, in some cultures, to live alongside this and accept it for their own people? Not just momentarily, in crisis, but as a daily reality with absolutely no desire to stamp it out without guilt trips and handouts.

If someone can provide me an answer, I would be much obliged.

Tragic, Utterly Tragic

Mariana Bridi, the Brazilian Miss World representative, has had her hands and feet amputated due to a severe urinary infection!

She is stable at an Espirito Santo ICU, after originally having been misdiagnosed back in late December. Her father told the press that the most important thing is to save her life, but my God, this sent a chill up my spine. She had such a promising pageanting career, not to mention her modeling one.



I have to say that whenever I travel, I am very nervous of getting ill in South America or even in developed countries. No matter how many reputable hospitals they have, something strange always seems to happen there, in my own family's experience. I speak as a daughter of a medical doctor who actually taught around the world, including hospitals of great renown.

In 1985, the transitional Brazilian President Tancredo Nêves died of "hospital infection", after surgery in São Paulo. He refused to be transported to the US for further treatment, and that bit of nationalistic pride possibly cost him his life.

Let's not forget that it took a SAMU ambulance over two hours to take the still-living Princess Diana exactly three ridiculous miles to the very famous Hospital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière. The French will tell you that they have a medical doctor riding around in each of them, and that they have directives to go as slowly as possible -- the exact opposite of Anglo-Saxon medical establishment rules. Madness.

Regardless of what was the fault, I am so very sorry for Mariana Bridi, and she will be in my prayers tonight.

In case of interest, I found two sites devoted to the "Misses" of Brazil. They are choc-a-bloc with the most beautiful women on earth, at least, in my opinion.

Universo da Misses
Misses Do Brasil

UPDATE, WITH REGRET: Ron posts the sad news.

And sadly, she passed away this morning.

Repousa em paz, Mariana. Horrivel, mesmo.

Paris STD

Bad news, guys. Gonorrhoea's making a bit of a comeback according to the CDC.

Resistance to antibiotics to treat what is popularly known as "the clap", has increased from less than 1% in males, to an itch-producing 13.3% in the first half of 2006 alone!

I was reading the study on this newspage, when it suddenly hit me.





Isn't that Paris Hilton next to the article expounding on the dangers of gonorrhoea? In her brassiere?

Hmm.