Why are so many plagues hitting the United States all of a
sudden? Yes, one can always point out bad stuff that is
happening somewhere in the country, but right now we are facing a
nightmarish combination of crippling drought, devastating wildfires,
disastrous viruses, dying crops and superbugs that scientists don’t
know how to kill. And as you will see, we even have a plague
of flies down in Mississippi. So what in the world is going
on? Is this just a case of bad luck, or is something else
happening? At the conclusion of this article, please feel free
to tell me what you think. The following are ten plagues that
are hitting America right now…
#1 The Plague Of Flies In The
Upper Mississippi River Valley
This is perhaps the least dangerous
plague, but it is also one of the most interesting. Just
recently, a plague of flies was so thick in the upper Mississippi
River valley that
it showed up on radar…
The mayflies were detectable on radar around 845 pm and
reports in the towns and cities began rolling in of the swarming
and piles of mayflies. Numerous videos and pictures were
circulating on social media, some of which are posted below as
well.
The radar detected the flies about 845 pm, emanating from the
river (the source) with echo values similar to that of
light-moderate rain (35-40 dBZ). With a general south-to-north
wind flow above the surface, the mayflies quickly moved north
once in the air. As the flies dispersed moving north-northeast,
they also gained altitude with some of the echo being detected
as far north as Black River Falls and as high as 2500 feet above
ground.
By late evening, mayflies were swarming in La Crosse, La
Crescent, Stoddard and points up and down the river. While the
emergence of mayflies from their river bottom mud dwelling can
occur at various times through the warm season depending on the
species, this particular emergence was that of the larger
black/brown Bilineata species.
Here is one photo of the flies that was
posted by the federal government…
#2 The Chikungunya Virus
As I wrote about the
other day, down in Florida health officials have discovered the
very first confirmed cases of the chikungunya virus to be
transmitted locally. In other words, it is now being passed to
people that have not even traveled out of the country.
An epidemic of the virus has already been declared down in Puerto
Rico, and authorities are deeply concerned about the possibility of
one up here as well.
Already, cases of the virus have been reported in 30 different
states and the total number of cases in the U.S. is more
than five times higher than in any other recent year.
If you live in an area that has a lot of mosquitos, you might
want to be very, very careful right about now because this is a
virus that
is exceedingly painful…
With illness onset, the person develops high fever, chills,
and joint pain, followed in some by a rash on the trunk, limbs
and face lasting 3-4 days. Muscle and joint pain last about one
week. Joint pain is often severe and in some people lasts
longer, up to several months.
#3 The Wildfires Out West
The massive wildfires in Washington, Oregon and western Canada
have spread clouds of smoke over vast areas of the northwest United
States in recent days. The following excerpt comes from a
recent CNN
report…
Wildfires spanning almost 170,000 acres are driving hundreds
of people from their homes in Washington state and across the
border in Canada, officials said.
Washington authorities say the fires surged overnight to
168,713 acres in the state. The flames have encroached on towns.
Janet Pearce of the Washington state Department of Natural
Resources said the four fires had not been contained as of
Friday morning. An estimated 80 homes were destroyed and cell
phone service was knocked out.
#4 The Drought In California
The nightmarish multi-year drought in the state of California
just continues to get even worse.
This week it was reported that 81
percent of California is now experiencing “extreme drought” or
worse.
Three months ago, that number was just 68 percent.
And we are being told that downtown Los Angeles is now the driest
that it has been since rain records began in
1877.
For much, much more on this, please see my recent article
entitled “20
Signs The Epic Drought In The Western United States Is Starting To
Become Apocalyptic“.
#5 The Virus That Has Killed Millions Of Our Pigs
A horrific pig virus known as porcine epidemic diarrhea came over
from China a little over a year ago.
Since then, it has killed about 7 million pigs, and approximately
100,000 more are dying each week.
#6 Citrus Greening
Have you ever heard of citrus greening disease?
Perhaps not, but it has gotten so bad down in Florida that
experts are now saying that the entire citrus industry in the state “could
be destroyed”…
“It’s horrible — it’s a disaster,” says Fred Gmitter, a
professor of horticulture science at the University of Florida
Citrus Research and Education Center.
It might be time to kiss your OJ goodbye, unless science
steps in to save the day.
At least 70% of Florida’s citrus trees are already infected
by the disease, known as citrus greening, huanglongbing, or
occasionally just with an ominous “it,” as in “It’s
here.”
Florida’s citrus crop this year is the lowest
it’s been in 30 years, and agricultural authorities have continued
to lowertheir production estimates. Orange-juice prices are up
nearly 20% this year alone and will continue to rise. The
disease was a major factor in the lime shortage that made
the price of a box of Persian limes jump from $18 to $85
last December. Prices could jump higher for oranges. Researchers
and growers say that if a cure isn’t found, the entire $9
billion Florida citrus industry could
be destroyed.
#7 Bananas Going Extinct?
You bananas are not safe either.
According to CNBC,
the TR4 fungus is spreading so rapidly that it could eventually
totally wipe out the variety of bananas that we find in our grocery
stores today…
Banana lovers take note: The world’s supply of the fruit is
under attack from a fungus strain that could wipe out
the popular variety that Americans eat.
“It’s a very serious situation,” said Randy Ploetz, a
professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida who in
1989 originally discovered a strain of Panama disease, called
TR4, that may be growing into a serious threat to U.S. supplies
of the fruit and Latin American producers.
“There’s nothing at this point that really keeps the fungus
from spreading,” he said in an interview with CNBC.
While there are nearly 1,000 varieties of bananas, the most
popular is the Cavendish, which accounts for 45 percent of the
fruit’s global crop—and the one Americans mostly find in their
supermarkets.
#8 The Number Of Earthquakes Is Increasing
For a long time, scientists tried to deny that the number of
earthquakes is increasing.
But now, the USGS is finally admitting that the number of big
earthquakes has
doubled…
If you think there have been more earthquakes than usual this
year, you’re right. A new study finds there were more than twice
as many big earthquakes in the first quarter of 2014 as compared
with the average since 1979.
“We have recently experienced a period that has had one of
the highest rates of great earthquakes ever recorded,” said lead
study author Tom Parsons, a research geophysicist with the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park, California.
Fortunately, most of the earthquakes in the U.S. so far this year
have been relatively small or have been in isolated areas.
But they have been popping up in very unusual areas (such as
Oklahoma), and as seismic activity along the Ring of Fire continues
to increase, it is probably only a matter of time before one of
our major cities gets hit with a major tragedy.
#9 Superbugs
Thanks at least in part to the massive overuse of antibiotics, a
new generation of superbugs is arising. Scientists have no way
to kill these superbugs, and according to experts they are finding
their way “into
healthcare facilities nationwide”…
Drug-resistant superbug infections have reached near-epidemic
levels across U.S. hospitals, with an alarming 500% increase now
documented in a study just published in the August issue of Infection
Control and Hospital Epidemiology(the journal of the Society
for Healthcare Epidemiology of America).
Lead author of the study, Dr. Joshua Thaden, warned “This
dangerous bacteria is finding its way into healthcare facilities
nationwide… A CRE epidemic is fast approaching… Even this marked
increase likely underestimates the true scope of the problem
given variations in hospital surveillance practices.”
The study also found that an astonishing 94 percent of CRE
infections were caused by healthcare activities or hospital
procedures.
#10 Fukushima
The Fukushima nuclear disaster is the gift that just keeps on
giving.
Hundreds of tons of radioactive water are being released into the
Pacific on a continual basis, and this could potentially affect our
oceans and our food chain for generations to come.
But it is a “slow motion disaster” that is already “old news”, so
most Americans don’t think about it anymore. But the truth is
that there is a lot of evidence that it should be taken very
seriously in this country. For much more on this, please see this
article.
In Japan, of course, things are even worse.
In fact, one Japanese doctor that was working in Tokyo says that
radiation sickness is
rampant in that city…
Since December 2011, I have conducted thyroid ultrasound
examinations, thyroid function tests, general blood tests and
biochemical tests on about 2000 people, mostly families in the
Tokyo metropolitan area expressing concerns on the effects of
radiation. I have observed that white blood cells, especially
neutrophils, are decreasing among children under the age
of 10. There are cases of significant decline in the
number of neutrophils in 0-1 year-olds born after the earthquake
(<1000). In both cases, conditions tend to improveby
moving to Western Japan (Neutrophils 0–>4500).Patients
report nosebleed, hair loss, lack of energy, subcutaneous
bleeding, visible urinary hemorrhage, skin inflammations, coughs
and various other non-specific symptoms.
And this Japanese doctor believes that things are so dire that he
says that the entire city of Tokyo should be evacuated…
Residents of Tokyo are unfortunately not in the position to
pity the affected regions of Tohoku because they are victims
themselves. Time is running short. I took an earlier step
forward and evacuated to the west. My fellow
doctors of medicine, I am waiting for you here. And to the
people in Eastern Japan still hesitating, all my support
goes to facilitating and enabling your evacuation, relocation,
or a temporary relief in Western Japan.
Just like with Chernobyl, this radioactive material is going to
silently make people sick and kill people all over globe for years
to come, and most of them will never have any idea what is really
happening to them.
Source(s):
endoftheamericandream.com