Nurse-turned-farmer, Kerala man now earns Rs 30,000 monthly from growing lotus

 Growing 20 varieties of the Indian bean and catering to customers pan India, Eldhose P Raju says that lotus farming gives him peace of mind.

hile flying back to Kerala from Qatar, an industrial nurse—one who is “assigned emergency cases to provide medical aid in ambulances”—Eldhose P Raju was mulling a plan to find a similar job in his hometown. Wanting to come back home to his family in the Ernakulam district, he was confident enough to find a job as he has 10 years of experience catering to emergency cases. However, his plans took a drastic turn as his job search turned futile. That’s when the lotus entered.

Adopting a winning attitude when life dealt him a bad hand, Eldhose turned to his childhood passion. “Since childhood, I was passionate about plants and had a special love for lotus flowers. So, I set up an aquatic garden on my terrace with some bowl lotuses which were imported. When they bloomed, I shared pictures of them on my Facebook page and Instagram account, and that’s how all it started,” Eldhose tells The Better India.

With a variety of plants at home, he started watching YouTube tutorials on lotus farming and decided to cultivate lotuses at home in the month of March. From then, he began to import lotuses from different places, including Thailand, Europe and America. Once the imported lotuses started to bloom on the terrace garden, Eldhose began to fill his feed with the pretty pictures.

Social media: The saviour

Seeing pictures of flowers in flowerpots and plastic bowls on social media pages, people from different parts of India started to contact Eldhose. “Mainly people from North India contacted me for lotuses seeing the pictures I posted on Facebook. Then I began to supply lotus flowers and its tuber – its dormant roots, across India,” says the 34-year-old.

Most of the customers are from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune. “People from Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram had come to my home and collected lotus plants and bowls too,” Eldhose adds.

More than the tubers, there is a demand for plants. Once Eldhose receives the orders, he removes the dirt and water from the bowls and then sends them to the customers. He adds, “The plants can survive for almost 12 days and tubers survive longer than plants. Once the customer receives the plant, they just have to replant it.”

“I am also happy to help my customers with tips and tricks to take care of the plants. I don’t encourage those people to buy plants who buy them just for fun,” he says and adds, “Seeing my plants, I feel relaxed and happy. They are my stress busters. Money will come and go, but I believe peace of mind should be there for every individual.”

20 varieties of lotuses

Eldhose cultivates almost 20 varieties of lotuses, including the Zhizun Qianban, Magnificent, Charming lips, Da Sajin and Fire bowl. From the lotus farming, he receives a “good salary”. “In a month, I make approximately Rs 30,000, which I feel, is good.

In my garden, I have plants ranging from Rs 850 to Rs 3500,” he says and adds that he is proud of himself for doing what he loves.

“I also thank my family for being my all time support system. Without their support I wouldn’t be able to reach where I am today. My family respected my decision to choose the plant business even though I have a different educational background,” says Eldhose, who lives with his father, mother and wife.

Eldhose receives orders via direct messages on Instagram and Facebook. If you wish to order lotus plants from him, you may contact him on this number 89439 11901.

(Source: TBI)

Coronavirus doctor's diary: 'People think it's over, but it's not'

Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary talks to two colleagues who have lived away from home since the early days of the pandemic to avoid the risk of infecting their families. One says she fears that cases will begin to rise because members of the public, unlike medical staff, seem too eager to "move on".

I am so humbled by the personal sacrifices that some of my colleagues have made during the pandemic. Those with young children who have sent them away to their parents to protect them from harm, like evacuees to the countryside during World War Two. Those who have retreated into lives of hermits to reduce the risk of any transmission from their work environments.

Becky Aird

Healthcare workers are five or six times more likely to be infected than the general public, so they also have a much greater risk of infecting others. Living as a civilian in a house with a healthcare worker can be bad for your health.

Becky Aird is a specialist respiratory nurse and acting ward sister on our busiest Covid-19 ward. Three months ago, before we had our first patient, she made the tough decision to move out of her parents' home to protect her mother, who has MS.

Kirsten Sellick is a junior doctor who moved out of a family home to live in hospital accommodation. I see her on sunny days reading outside the hospital - the car park is her lockdown garden retreat.

Becky Aird, acting ward sister

After lockdown I was offered the chance to move into the hotel to keep my family safe and I took it. That was 30 March. My mum is quite poorly, she's got secondary progressive MS, she's very independent and both she and my dad wanted me to stay at home; they kept thinking of ways we could live together safely but I knew it wouldn't be 100% safe. There was no way to eliminate the risk for my mum. The only option was to eliminate myself.

Becky Aird with her mother and a young relative, pre-lockdown. Becky Aird

At first I thought it was quite cool in the hotel - it was like going on a little holiday - but it quickly wore off. I've got a reasonably small room. I brought a travel fridge with me and it broke within the first week. It's just very lonely, and I mostly read. I haven't seen my friends, just one girl who I dropped a care package off to and she stood at her front door.

I was very upset when one of my friends, Kelly, was admitted to my ward. I was the main nurse in charge and it really shocked me, it was such a big thing to see her fighting for breath and so ill. I was crying when I got back to the hotel - I couldn't stop thinking about her. She asked me to promise her that she wasn't going to die. Thankfully she went on to CPAP [non-invasive ventilation] and started to improve.

We are still admitting patients on to the Covid ward and I don't see much sign it's stopping. Some people tell us they haven't been social distancing - they've been with relatives, or to other houses. I definitely think it's going to get worse before it gets better, because I think people just think that it's over.

The sad fact is that there are nurses and doctors and healthcare workers struggling to work in PPE, working really hard for three months in such difficult conditions, and like me, making sacrifices - not seeing family and friends, following all the rules - and then there are people out there that aren't doing that. So that's disheartening.

It's really sad. It's funny because people did love the NHS and clapped and everything - people really cared. But then it's kind of people want to move on. I don't necessarily agree that we should be called heroes, but I think that that might have all been forgotten about now.

I'm leaving soon, because soon I'll have done three months in the hotel and the bill [paid by the NHS] is mounting up. There's nowhere else I could stay to be isolated so I need to go back home - and that means stopping work on the Covid wards.

Becky Aird

I would stay if I could. Don't get me wrong, there have been some horrendous things, but this is what I'm trained for. I have the ability to help, to make a difference and if living in the hotel is the only way to do it, then I'm prepared for that. I don't have children. I don't have a partner. But I'm also really looking forward to being home, to having my own bed, to being with my parents again.

I will miss the Covid ward. The team's fantastic. Everyone's been so pleasant and lovely with each other, I think that's been the best thing. I've actually seen patients get better and clapping them out is my favourite thing ever. I love that.

Front line diary

Prof John Wright, a doctor and epidemiologist, is head of the Bradford Institute for Health Research, and a veteran of cholera, HIV and Ebola epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. He is writing this diary for BBC News and recording from the hospital wards for BBC Radio.

Kirsten Sellick, junior doctor working in intensive care

My garden is the hospital car park and my commute is dreamy - it takes me two minutes to get from my bed into work. But it's a bit odd - I don't ever leave the hospital site.

I was living with family and it made more sense not to live with them as I'm high-risk, interacting with patients who are really unwell with coronavirus. The thought of taking it home to family was just too much.

It is pretty lonely. There are two other doctors but it's difficult not being around family or people you love, and a phone call can only do so much.

I've been in the flat for months now. I had to properly isolate when my flatmate had a positive test, so we couldn't even leave the flat.

That was really bad. It's a hospital flat so the window has a padlock on it and only opens less than an inch so my fresh air was leaning against the window trying to breathe in some air.

You get used to having a garden, a nice kitchen and a home but now I haven't got any of that. I have found a little bit of the car park that I sit in when the sun is out.

It's been sad work, seeing young people who aren't doing as well as I'd like them to. It's hard to explain to family members - I try to get across that we are doing our best. But it's been heart-breaking speaking to them on the phone.

It was a lovely moment to see our first patient come off the ventilator and leave the ward. That makes the sacrifice worth it - knowing we can really help people.

I'd love to be done, so that I could go and see my family and my partner, I'd really love to do that but I don't feel like I can yet. I'm hoping that time will come soon.

Becky and Kirsten are the embodiment of the dedication of the NHS front-line workers. This is what they trained for - to care for people and to save lives. However, working on the Covid "red" wards has to be one of the toughest jobs, both physically and emotionally, and I worry about the impact on their physical and mental health when they are separated from their usual support networks of loving family and friends.

We will have to work hard to care for our carers.

(Source: BBC)

Coronavirus: Concerns for wellbeing of babies born in lockdown

Concerns for the wellbeing of babies born in lockdown are being raised, as parents struggle to access regular support services.

England's children's commissioner is highlighting pressures facing mothers caring for babies without the usual family and state support networks.

Playgroups are closed and health visitor "visits" are being carried out remotely in most cases.

The NHS said adaptations had been made to keep new mothers and babies safe.

Most health visitors checks are being carried out remotely at the moment. Getty Images

Redeployments

The briefing paper from Anne Longfield's office says an estimated 76,000 babies will have been born in England under lockdown so far.

But births are not being registered, because of temporary rules tied to the virus pandemic, so even basic information about new babies is not being gathered.

At the same time, support services provided by health visitors and GPs are not readily accessible, with many taking place via phone and video calls or not at all.

She highlights how up to 50% of health visitors in some areas of England were redeployed to other parts of the NHS as it grappled to fight the pandemic.

And there are concerns many babies may have missed their developmental health checks, due in the first few weeks of life to pick up urgent developmental needs.

Institute of Health Visiting executive director Dr Cheryll Adams said health visitors were very concerned.

"In some areas, the six-week GP baby check hasn't been available or parents haven't wanted to attend it due to a potential risk of infection," she said.

And, although helplines for parents had been set up in most areas, the usual sources of support from family, friends and voluntary services were no longer as available.

Ms Longfield said: "At the best of times, around 10% of new mothers face perinatal [post-birth] mental illness - but the GP is closed, as is the children's centre and playgroups and playgrounds, and the health visitor, where she 'visits', is doing so by video link.

"There are even reports that in some areas families have been stopped from playing outside together by heavy-handed policing of lockdown rules.

"The vast majority of new parents will be coping - the resilience of the family will see them through.

"But there will be a significant minority where the additional challenge of a new child is a strain too far."

Ms Longfield is particularly concerned about children living in poverty or with risks such as domestic violence or mental ill health.

"Health services are usually the places where concerns about babies are identified and referred - and these services are likely to remain under increased pressure for a long period of time," she said.

Proactive steps were needed to ensure different agencies shared information on children they had concerns about, she said.

Innovative

And she called for ministers and local authorities to prepare for a surge in referrals to social services and post-natal services as lockdown eased.

Public Health England chief nurse Prof Viv Bennett said: "Many community nursing services have been provided virtually and innovatively during the Covid-19 response.

"With the onset of Covid-19, some public health nurses were redeployed in hospitals where their expertise was most needed to care for acutely ill patients.

"It is important that as pressures ease, these nurses are able to quickly get back to help support those families and young people."

(Source: BBC)

NHS urged to avoid PPE gloves made in 'slave-like' conditions

In securing PPE for NHS staff working on coronavirus frontline, government must not ignore abuse of factory workers, warn activists

The government must not ignore the “slave-like” conditions of migrant workers making rubber medical gloves in Malaysia in its rush to source protective equipment to keep frontline NHS staff safe from coronavirus, human rights groups say.

Malaysia is the world’s largest producer of rubber gloves, but the industry has been accused of grossly exploiting its workforce, mostly impoverished migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal.

Illegal recruitment fees, long hours, low pay, passport confiscation and squalid, overcrowded accommodation are commonplace, workers have claimed. Experts say such conditions leave them vulnerable to forced labour and debt bondage, which are modern forms of slavery.

Malaysia is the world’s largest producer of rubber gloves, but there have been accusations that the industry exploits its workforce. Photograph: Samsul Said/Bloomberg

“The government must redouble its efforts to protect all workers, both the NHS staff who use protective equipment to save lives and the factory workers who supply it,” said Phil Bloomer, the director of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. “This means strengthened supply chain checks and the government using its leverage to improve conditions for workers.”

The government has been heavily criticised for its failure to provide sufficient personal protective equipment to NHS staff, leaving some doctors and nurses to cobble together their own protective kits.

Meanwhile the surge in the global demand for rubber medical gloves has left glove factory workers in Malaysia more vulnerable than ever. While most of Malaysia remains in lockdown, glove factories are back to full production, with employees working round the clock to meet demand.

In the rush to ramp up production, some glove manufacturers are failing to protect their staff, workers have told the Guardian.

“We’re really afraid. The company is not enforcing social distancing. Everyone clocks in using the same thumb print scanner; 45 people travel to work on the same bus. All the workers arrive at the same time so the main entrance becomes very crowded,” said a worker from Nepal.

The migrant workers sleep in 24-person dorms, go to work on crowded company buses and stand shoulder to shoulder on 12-hour shifts for six days a week, making social distancing impossible. In return, some earn as little as £7 a day.

“Our biggest fear is getting infected by local [Malaysian] workers. If they bring the virus in from outside there’s a very high risk that we will get infected,” said another Nepali worker.

Neill Wilkins, head of the migrant workers programme at the Institute for Human Rights and Business, said the government must ensure that its suppliers prioritise the health and safety of their workforce. “Workers should be given clear instructions on how to keep safe, adequate PPE should be provided and social distancing practised. Measures should be taken to reduce overcrowding in living and sleeping spaces and to ensure enhanced sanitation,” he said.

Despite the glove industry’s record on workers’ rights, the NHS spent over £75m on rubber gloves in 2018, most of them sourced from Malaysia.

In March, the government reportedly bought 88.5m gloves from Supermax, the European arm of a Malaysian firm.

Workers employed at Supermax in Malaysia alleged last year that they had to pay high fees in their home countries to secure their jobs, worked up to 30 days without rest and were penalised if they complained. Supermax denied the allegations, saying they operate in accordance with Malaysian law.

A Guardian investigation in late 2018 into two of the then largest suppliers of medical gloves to the NHS, Top Glove and WRP, found migrant workers who alleged they were subject to forced overtime, withheld wages and passport confiscation. Top Glove and WRP denied the allegations.

NHS Supply Chain, an organisation that manages the sourcing, delivery and supply of healthcare products for the NHS, said they no longer have contracts with Top Glove and WRP, but would not say if their current suppliers source from these companies, citing commercial sensitivity.

There are around 3 to 4 million migrant workers in Malaysia, mostly low-wage workers from Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Indonesia. The majority pay illegal recruitment fees to brokers – some as high as £4,000 – to secure their jobs, leaving them deep in debt and effectively trapped.

The UK government acknowledged the problem of excessive recruitment fees in its rubber manufacturing supply chains in Malaysia in its first ever modern slavery statement, published in March, saying it had, “commissioned research into best practice interventions that prevent debt bondage within this industry.”

The US government banned the import of gloves from WRP in September, citing evidence of forced labour in its production. The ban was lifted in March after the government said “the company is no longer producing gloves under forced labour conditions.”

Workers’ rights activist Andy Hall says, despite some minor improvements, worker abuse is still widespread in the industry.

He said that the British government has known about allegations of forced labour in its rubber gloves and medical device supply chain for many years now, and has been “far too slow to act”. “It is not a case of either protecting frontline NHS staff with the gloves they need or protecting workers producing the gloves, but ensuring both are safe,” said Hall.

A spokesperson for NHS Supply Chain said, “NHS Supply Chain takes all allegations of labour abuses in its supply chain very seriously, and we have a range of contractual arrangements and initiatives in place to try and prevent such situations arising.”

(Source: The Guardian)

Fears China is facing second wave of coronavirus as infections are reported among staff at hospital in Henan after medic returned from Wuhan - while official figures put new cases at just 16

A reported new coronavirus outbreak in China's Henan province is said to have raised fears that there could be devastating second wave of the deadly virus.

A new cluster of cases has allegedly broken out among medical staff at Jia County's People's Hospital in the region.

One staff member is said to have only just come back from 14 days in quarantine after they returned from Wuhan in neighbouring Hubei province, where the virus first emerged at the end of last year. 

News of the alleged new outbreak, which was reported by the Daily Express, came as China reported 16 new confirmed coronavirus cases on April 18, the lowest since March 17 and down from 27 a day earlier.

It means the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the mainland reached 82,735 as of April 18, while the total death toll from the virus stood at 4,632. 

A reported new coronavirus outbreak in China's Henan province is said to have raised fears that there could be a devastating second wave of the deadly virus. Pictured: Security guards lock the gate of the Forbidden City in Beijing on Sunday. AP

The claimed new COVID-19 outbreak has prompted authorities to impose travel restrictions. 

Anyone coming in or out of residential compounds also needs to wear a facemask and have their temperature taken, according to an official document leaked to Radio Free Asia. 

The Express also reported that businesses in Jia County are also closed except for supermarkets and farmers' markets. 

The paper quoted residents who opened up on Weibo, the country's approved social media service, about what life is like. 

One resident said: 'Everything's locked down. It just started.

'All households are locked down. Nobody can go into town, or if you do, you won't be able to leave again.' 

Another resident said: 'Many people believe that the epidemic has been brought under control due to government propaganda, which is false.     

The news comes as authorities remain on guard against a major resurgence of he virus, which could be socially and economically destabilising.

Notably, the northeastern province of Heilongjiang has seen a surge in infected travellers arriving from Russia in recent weeks, and is now battling to contain a flare-up in local cases.

The data from China's National Health Commission showed nine of the new cases reported on Saturday were imported infections, the lowest since March 13 and down from 17 a day earlier. 

The remaining seven confirmed cases were locally transmitted, down from 10 the previous day. 

Heilongjiang, in north-east China, has reported 39 new local cases in the past 10 days, or more than 50 per cent of all the new 73 local cases reported in the mainland during the same period.

Most of the cases were related to one imported case in the provincial capital Harbin.

On Friday, a total of 18 officials in Harbin, including a vice mayor, were punished.

A new cluster of cases has allegedly broken out among medical staff at Jia County's People's Hospital in the region. Pictured: medical staff at a hospital in Wuhan disinfect surfaces. Xinhua/Rex

To contain the outbreak quickly, the Heilongjiang government is cautioning against family gatherings, cross infections at hospitals, and slow reporting in epidemic investigations, according to a statement on the provincial government website.

'The biggest political task at present is to stop the rebound and spread of the epidemic,' Wang Yongkang, vice governor of Heilongjiang, was quoted as saying.

Elsewhere in mainland China, all areas in central Hubei province including Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak in China, are now considered low-risk.

However, a Beijing central district is seen as high-risk, according to a social media post by the State Council, or Cabinet.

On April 15, the Chinese capital reported three local cases, all of which were linked to an imported infection.

Areas that are considered of medium-risk in China include two districts in Harbin, the city of Suifenhe in Heilongjiang, two districts in the southern city of Guangzhou as well as Jiaozhou city in eastern Shandong province.

In mainland China, newly discovered asymptomatic cases stood at 44, down from 54 a day earlier. Three of the new cases were imported, according to the health commission.

China does not include asymptomatic cases, or patients who test positive but show no clinical symptoms such as a cough or fever, in its tally of confirmed cases.

The new figures came as a laboratory in Wuhan rejected as 'impossible' US theories that it is the cradle of the pandemic, as President Donald Trump warned Beijing of consequences if it was 'knowingly responsible'. 

'Was it a mistake that got out of control or was it done deliberately?' 

News of the alleged new outbreak, which was reported by the Daily Express, came as China reported 16 new confirmed coronavirus cases on April 18, the lowest since March 17 and down from 27 a day earlier

Trump said at a White House briefing Saturday, questioning the origins of the disease, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan in December.

'If they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences,' he said when asked if China should face repercussions for the pandemic.

The highly contagious disease was likely first transmitted to humans at a market where exotic animals were slaughtered, according to Chinese scientists.

But conspiracy theories that the virus came from a maximum-security virology lab have been brought into the mainstream in recent days by US government officials.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said an investigation was underway into how the virus 'got out into the world'.

'There's no way this virus came from us,' Yuan Zhiming, the head of the P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is equipped to handle dangerous viruses, said in an interview with state media.

'I know it's impossible,' he added.

(Source: Daily Mail)

Brazil confirms first indigenous case of coronavirus in Amazon

Positive test for 20-year-old woman from Kokama tribe comes amid fears virus could devastate remote communities

An indigenous woman in a village deep in the Amazon rainforest has contracted the novel coronavirus, the first case reported among Brazil’s more than 300 tribes, the Health Ministry’s indigenous health service Sesai has said.

The 20-year-old from the Kokama tribe tested positive for the virus in the district of Santo Antonio do Iá, near the border with Colombia, 880km (550 miles) up the Amazon river from the state capital Manaus, Sesai said in a statement on Wednesday.

The indigenous woman was a medical worker who had contact with an infected doctor in Brazil. Photograph: Florence Goisnard/AFP via Getty Images

Four cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the same district, including a doctor who tested positive last week, raising fears the epidemic could spread to remote and vulnerable indigenous communities with devastating effect.

Sesai said the woman was a medical worker who had been in contact with the doctor. She was the only person to test positive among 15 health workers and 12 patients tested after the doctor was found to have the virus, Sesai said. Their names were not made public.

The doctor had returned from vacation in southern Brazil to work with the Tikunas, one of the largest tribes in the Amazon with more than 30,000 people who live in the upper Amazon near the borders with Colombia and Peru.

The woman has not shown symptoms of Covid-19 and has been isolated with her family, Sesai said.

Health experts warn that the spreading virus could be lethal for Brazil’s 850,000 indigenous people, who have been decimated for centuries by diseases brought by Europeans, from smallpox and malaria to the flu.

They fear indigenous peoples’ way of life in communal hamlets under large thatched structures increases the risk of contagion if any single member contracts the virus.

(Source: The Guardian)

Instagram photo posted by Italian nurse shows effects of coronavirus on medical staff

The death toll in Italy has surpassed 1,000 people

A nurse in Italy has shared a photograph of her face following a shift treating coronavirus patients.

Alessia Bonari who works in a hospital in Milan posted the photograph on Wednesday showing her in scrubs and with bruising to her face after wearing a medical mask for a long period.

In the caption, she said she was “afraid to go to work” during the ongoing outbreak but continued to do so because she was "proud" and loved her job.

She wrote: “I am afraid because the mask may not adhere well to the face or I may have accidentally touched myself with dirty gloves, or maybe the lenses do not completely cover my eyes and something may have passed.

Bonari said she was physically tired because “the lab coat makes me sweat” and once she is dressed she is not permitted to “go to the bathroom or drink for six hours” in order to reduce any potential virus spread.

“I am psychologically tired, and as are all my colleagues who have been in the same condition for weeks, but this will not prevent us from doing our job as we have always done. 

“I will continue to take care of and take care of my patients, because I am proud and in love with my job,” she added.

Bonari also encouraged Italians not to “frustrate the effort” of doctors and nurses by following the guidelines they have been issued and staying at home.

Italy is currently in a state of lockdown with mass gatherings cancelled and schools and universities closed; the county’s death toll has topped 1,000.

Bonari continued: “I can’t afford the luxury of going back to my quarantined house, I have to go to work and do my part. You do yours, I ask you please.”

The post has been liked over 800,000 times and users have shared supportive and thankful comments for all medical staff. 

On Thursday Boris Johnson warned the UK that the number of suspected coronavirus cases could be nearer to 10,000 as the government moved into the “delay” phase of the response.

The prime minister said the public should be prepared to "lose more loved ones before their time". 

(Source: Independent)

Forgotten women: Edith Cavell, war hero nurse who became a spy

Reading through most accounts of history, we could be forgiven for assuming that women were not the warriors, the great thinkers nor the pioneering scientists who shaped and changed our world.

That men alone birthed art, churned out literature and fiercely challenged the status quo, while women functioned only within the domestic realm. But though the canon has perpetually erased the contribution of women and their work has been systematically discredited, devalued and derided, their light has doggedly broken through the cracks.

She: A Celebration of 100 Renegade Women is dedicated to making the stories of women heard.

The excerpt below from the book celebrates one of the women who put the lives of others above and beyond her own, and deserves a place in the history books alongside the men already there.

Edith Cavell was included because when we think of heroic medical professionals from history, Florence Nightingale’s name is often at the top of the list – and for good reason.

And yet, her name is rarely spoken.

For such a historically gendered profession, you’d think a nurse like Cavell – whose remarkable bravery and fortitude mark her out as a real-life hero – would be a household name. And yet, following in the pattern of women throughout history being more often disregarded than not, Cavell’s impact has been largely lost to time. And for those whom Cavell’s name does ring a bell, it is often for the wrong reasons.

Remembered as a woman who indiscriminately saved soldiers from both sides of the German-Austrian conflict in the First World War, Cavell was actually doing far more than just the gruelling challenge of saving lives.

Devastatingly, the very thing she risked her life to counteract – war and conscription – was fuelled using her name following her assassination. For these reasons, she was a clear inclusion for this book about #RenegadeWomen.

Edith Cavell, Nurse and spy
4 December 1865 – 12 October 1915, UK

“It wasn’t until a century after her death that Edith Cavell’s true identity was revealed.

Cavell had trained as a nurse and in 1907 was recruited to head up a new nursing school in Belgium.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Cavell was in the safe environs of Norwich visiting her father. When she heard the news, she returned immediately to Brussels to help.

There she treated casualties from both sides, caring for German and Austrian soldiers without prejudice.

Soon she began helping in other ways, too. Cavell and her comrades started smuggling Allied soldiers out of German-occupied Belgium, saving 200 men in a single year.

In August 1915, her work was discovered by the Germans, who tried her for treason and placed her in solitary confinement.

The international pressure to release Cavell was enormous, but on 12 October 1915 she confessed and was executed by firing squad.

This ruthless punishment sparked outrage worldwide and she was hailed a martyr. Her death was leveraged as propaganda to drive conscription – something Cavell strongly objected to.

Upon the centenary of her death, evidence of Cavell’s involvement in an espionage network was revealed. Sewn into the clothes of the soldiers she saved were secret messages that passed vital intelligence to the Allies. Today, Cavell is remembered as a war hero.”

Extracted from ‘She: A Celebration of 100 Renegade Women’ by Harriet Hall, published by Headline Home is out now, £12.99.

(Source: The Independent)

Nipah just another viral infection & there is nothing to panic, say doctors as three dead in Kerala

After three lives lost to Nipah virus (NiV) and eight battling the disease in Kerala's Kozhikode district, both the state and the Central governments on Monday took comprehensive measures to contain the outbreak of the rare virus. Doctors say it is just another viral infection and there is nothing to panic.

"All the periphery hospitals of the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital are fully equipped to tackle the fever. All those who have fever need not rush to the medical college. At the moment, eight patients are undergoing treatment. Their samples have been sent to Pune and results are awaited," said Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shailaja.

Animal Husbandry department and Forest officials deposit a bat into a container after catching it inside a well at Changaroth in Kozhikode in the Indian state of Kerala on May 21, 2018. A deadly virus carried mainly by fruit bats has killed at least three people in southern India, sparking a statewide health alert May 21. Eight other deaths in the state of Kerala are being investigated for possible links to the Nipah virus, which has a 70 percent mortality rate. AFP

Shailaja said all arrangements are in place, things are under control and there is no need to panic. The state government has sanctioned an emergency fund of Rs 20 lakh to the Kozhikode Medical College to tackle the present fever outbreak.

Nipah virus, spread by fruit bats that infects both animals and humans, has claimed the lives of two brothers and their aunt in Perambara of Kozhikode district within a few weeks, and now eight more people are under close observation.

State health officials visited the victims' house and sealed the unused well that had lots of bats, said Shailaja and added that people are being educated to ensure that they do not eat any fruits that fall down from trees.

To strengthen Kerala government's fight against the virus, the Central government on Monday assured the state of all support and sent a multi-disciplinary Central team from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to the district.

"We are closely monitoring the situation. I have also dispatched a Central team to assist the state government and initiate required steps," Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J.P. Nadda said in a statement from Geneva.

Nadda said he had a talk with Union Minister of State for Tourism Alphons Kannathanam and Kerala Health Minister Shailaja. Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan also spoke to the Kerala Principal Health Secretary and reviewed the situation.

In a tweet late on Sunday, Nadda said: "Reviewed the situation of deaths related to Nipah virus in Kerala with Secretary Health. I have directed Director NCDC to visit the district and initiate required steps as warranted by the protocol for the disease in consultation with state government."

Animal Husbandry department and Forest officials inspect a well to catch bats at Changaroth in Kozhikode in the Indian state of Kerala on May 21, 2018.  AFP

The Central team includes Sujeet K. Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC); S.K. Jain, Head Epidemiology, NCDC; P. Ravindran, Director, Emergency Medical Relief (EMR); and Naveen Gupta, Head Zoonosis, NCDC, along with two clinicians and one expert from the Ministry of Animal Husbandry.

Atul Gogia, Senior Consultant, Department of Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said: "Nipah virus is just another viral infection which affects the respiratory and central nervous systems with symptoms like drowsiness. Like most other viral infections, Nipah, too, has no treatment and can only be managed through intensive supportive care."

Gogia said the virus is spread by fruit bats, which are usually found in forests, but due to urbanisation, sometimes it is found even in cities.

While he did not rule out the possibility of an infected person travelling to other parts of the country and spreading the disease, he said there is no threat to other parts of the country including north India and Delhi and there is no need to panic.

The senior doctor, however, said people living in areas inhabited by bats or wildlife animals should be alert as there can be other infections that can afflict them.

Transmission of NiV takes place through direct contact with infected bats, pigs or from other NiV-infected persons.

The three fatalities from the Nipah virus were all from the same family, said Kerala state health minister K.K. Shailaja.

There is no vaccine for Nipah, which can cause raging fevers, convulsions and vomiting. The only treatment is supportive care to control complications and keep patients comfortable.

Media reports say five more people have died from high fevers in recent days, as well as a nurse who had treated people infected with the virus. But medical workers have not yet confirmed what killed those people. At least eight others sick with Nipah symptoms are being monitored.

People who had been in contact with Nipah victims have been put into isolation, Shailaja said.

Nipah, which was first identified during a late 1990s outbreak in Malaysia, can be spread by fruit bats, pigs and through human-to-human contact.

"We are closely monitoring the situation," India's health minister, J.P. Nadda, said in a statement.

Eight other deaths in the state of Kerala are being investigated for possible links to the Nipah virus, which has a 70 percent mortality rate.

"The government received four samples, out of which three deaths were because of Nipah," Kerala health secretary Rajeev Sadanandan told AFP. The victims died in Calicut district.

Sadanandan said the cause of other suspicious deaths could only be confirmed through tests.

"We have sent blood and body fluid samples of all suspected cases for confirmation. It will take 24-48 hours for the results to come."

India's health minister rushed medical experts to the state after a local politician reported that residents were panicking in Calicut district.

The team would "initiate required steps as warranted by the protocol for the disease", J.P. Nadda said on Twitter.

Indian bats cling onto the branches of a banyan tree on the campus of Gujarat College in Ahmedabad on April 29, 2018. AFP / Sam Panthaky

In Kerala, neighbours told local media that family members who died had eaten fruit picked from a compound where they were building a home.

Nipah induces flu-like symptoms that often lead to encephalitis and coma. Fruit bats are considered the main carrier of the virus for which there is no vaccination, according to the World Health Organization.

Nipah was first identified in Malaysia in 1998. It spread to Singapore and more than 100 people were killed in both places. On that occasion, pigs were the virus hosts but they are believed to have caught it from bats.

Medical personnel wearing protective suits check patients at the Medical College hospital in Kozhikode on May 21, 2018. AFP

In India the disease was first reported in 2001 and again six years later, with the two outbreaks claiming 50 lives.

Both times the disease was reported in areas of the eastern state of West Bengal bordering Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has borne the brunt of the disease, with more than 100 people dying of Nipah since the first outbreak was reported there in 2001.

In Bangladesh in 2004, humans became infected with Nipah as a result of consuming date palm sap that had been contaminated by infected fruit bats.

(Source: The Peninsula)