WASHINGTON — Nearly three dozen people in the United States have been diagnosed with a deadly and highly drug-resistant fungal infection since federal health officials first warned US clinicians last June to be on the lookout for the emerging pathogen that has been spreading around the world.
The fungus, a strain of a kind of yeast known as Candida auris, has been reported in a dozen countries on five continents starting in 2009, where it was first found in Japan.
Since then, the fungus has been reported in Colombia, India, Israel, Kenya, Kuwait, Pakistan, South Korea, Venezuela, and the United Kingdom.
Unlike ordinary yeast infections, this one causes serious bloodstream infections, spreads easily from person to person in health-care settings, and survives for months on skin and for weeks on bed rails, chairs, and other hospital equipment.
Some strains resist all three major classes of antifungal drugs. Up to 60 percent of people with these infection have died. Many of them also had other serious underlying illnesses. Those at greatest risk are individuals who have been in intensive care for a long time or who are on ventilators or have central line catheters inserted into a large vein.
In the United States, the largest number of infections has been reported in New York, with at least 28 cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Cases have also been reported in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.
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Come to think of it, my feet do itch. Maybe I should get checked out.
Can't stop scratching:
February's Heav’nly Flight
"Wilmington Police looking to identify man who indecently exposed himself" by Maddie Kilgannon Globe Correspondent March 18, 2017
Wilmington police are looking to identify a man who indecently exposed himself to an employee at Heavenly Donuts on Monday evening.
The suspect was caught on surveillance footage walking out of, what appears to be, the restroom. He then approaches the counter and proceeds to indecently expose himself, police said in a statement.
After taking a brown paper bag from the cashier, the suspect walked out of the store just before 6:30 p.m, according to the statement released Thursday.
The suspect seemed to have a thick beard and was wearing a black and white hooded sweatshirt and dark pants, according to the surveillance video.
Police believe that the suspect is approximately 20-25 years old. Wilmington police are urging anyone with information to contact detectives....
I don't ever post telephone numbers or addresses, sorry.
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Related: This Blog Taking Wings
They had an itch:
"2 arrested in Quincy after shots fired behind bank" by Maddie Kilgannon Globe Correspondent March 17, 2017
Two armed young men were arrested after shots were fired behind Santander Bank on Hancock Street in Quincy on Friday afternoon, police said.
A bullet broke the window of the bank at 1:51 p.m., police said in a statement.
Officials said that the incident did not appear to be related to a bank robbery.
That I can believe.
A witness told police that two young men fled the scene on foot, Quincy Police Captain John Dougan said.
The Red Line Quincy T station was briefly shut down while police looked for the men, Dougan said. The search lasted approximately 10 minutes.
One of the men was found attempting to flee the 1250 Hancock St. parking garage in a black Mercury, police said.
Cory Kisakye, 18, of Randolph, was arrested and charged with multiple firearms charges after two guns were found in his backpack, according to police.
The second person arrested is a juvenile, so his identity was not released. He was charged with multiple firearms offenses, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, police said.
Probably just having fun.
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Related: Man facing charges for robbing banks in Quincy and Cambridge
Also see: Brockton man had 11 bags of suspected crack cocaine in his underwear
Going to be hard to concentrate in cla$$:
"EF Education seeks aid to expand in Cambridge" by Jon Chesto Globe Staff March 18, 2017
Swiss company EF Education First is in line to receive tax credits from the state to help underwrite a $133 million expansion of its campus in the North Point section of Cambridge, to accommodate as many as 300 new jobs.
The size of the subsidy is not yet public. The state Economic Assistance Coordinating Council is scheduled to vote on the EF deal at its meeting March 22, when it will review other requests for state and local tax incentives. The company, which uses the Cambridge campus as its US headquarters, offers language classes and overseas educational trips.
Wayfair, the online retailer in Boston, is slated to receive state tax credits for a $105 million expansion, which could lead to another 460 jobs. Based in Copley Place, the fast-growing company already employs about 2,880 people locally. Wayfair declined to comment.
Did you know Wayfair has never made a profit?
Must be the ♫free shipping!♫
Twins Enterprise is a distributor of sports apparel better known as 47 Brand. It is opening a new warehouse in East Bridgewater, a $21 million project that will add 30 jobs. The company is expected to get state tax credits, as well as a $536,000 break on its local tax bill.
Meanwhile, the council is expected to approve a nearly $16 million property tax break from the city of Chelsea for the Emerald Corporate Center, which owns the building where the FBI just moved its local offices.
Another deal involves Boston Globe Media Partners, the Globe’s ownership entity, which is slated to receive a $1.3 million, 10-year tax abatement from Taunton, where the company invested $72 million in a new printing operation.
Neither of those two deals involves state tax credits....
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Related: EF Education First gets $6 million tax credit
This as the state falls short on tax revenue again.
At least you know why your taxes need raising.
WTF, huh?
"No bail for MIT student who allegedly kept guns in his dorm room" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff January 13, 2017
A student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was ordered held without bail Friday for allegedly keeping guns and ammunition in his dorm room, Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office said.
Angel De La Cruz, 23, was ordered to remain in custody after a dangerousness hearing in Cambridge District Court, Ryan’s office said in a statement.
Bruce Ferg, a lawyer for De La Cruz, declined to discuss the allegations or say why his client, who is from Texas, allegedly had weapons in his single room.
According to Ryan’s office, De La Cruz “was not violent when encountered by MIT Police.”
Police searched De La Cruz’s room after receiving information from an MIT counselor that he may have had guns on campus, officials said. Ferg declined to say why De La Cruz was receiving counseling.
De La Cruz is listed on the MIT website as a senior electrical engineering and computer science major....
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Good thing they didn't have to call emergency services.
Also see:
"Maine’s Colby College Museum of Art has received a gift worth more than $100 million from longtime Colby benefactors Peter and Paula Lunder, including nearly 1,150 artworks and funds to establish the Lunder Institute for American Art. College officials said the transformative gift will make Colby unique among liberal arts colleges, offering what they describe as a world-class art museum and an international research center for the study of American art...."
Related: With $25m gift, Colby College aims for all its students to study abroad
"Maine’s Colby College Museum of Art has received a gift worth more than $100 million from longtime Colby benefactors Peter and Paula Lunder, including nearly 1,150 artworks and funds to establish the Lunder Institute for American Art. College officials said the transformative gift will make Colby unique among liberal arts colleges, offering what they describe as a world-class art museum and an international research center for the study of American art...."
Related: With $25m gift, Colby College aims for all its students to study abroad
