How many Khmer ladies do you see outside with thoughts, of gaining a good balance of vitamin D with the aid of the days abundant sunshine.

Kammekor wrote: ↑Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:28 pm

yongchi wrote: ↑Sun Dec 12, 2021 8:52 pm

While there could be plenty of sunshine in Cambodia to make VItamin D, we are all individuals with different lifestyles and habits.
Testing your levels is the only way to know (as you did).

A buddy of mine here in PP did the same and had a Vitamin D deficiency. It wasn't terribly low, but clearly fell below the normal range.
He walks every morning for about 30 minutes, and otherwise spends most of the day indoors.
After supplementing a pretty high amount of Vitamin D for a month, a second test showed him in the middle of the normal range.
(He might well be an outlier, but I don't have enough data to conclude that.)

Of course we're all different but taking vitamin D in Cambodia while there's an abundance of sun all year to make enough yourself seems odd.
Just like taking vitamin C while all this lovely fruit is around.
I can imagine there are individual cases with an allergy or something but for most careful exposure to the sun should do. Maybe careful needs to be pronounced because the Cambodian sun also is dangerous when we over-expose.

But wasn't the following your point?

Kammekor wrote: ↑Sun Dec 12, 2021 5:48 pm While I understand the attention paid to vitamin D in general I think the focus on this on this forum could be much less. The chances of a serious vitamin D deficiency while living here would be extremely low while the chances of (too) high levels when you take supplemental vit. D are high.

To which I asked:
"Could you point to some data for this for expat city dwellers in Phnom Penh?"

I would also be interested in data supporting your statement for people who are mostly indoors here.

I generally avoid the heat like the plague, hence I stay out of the sun.
I do like some sun in the morning (around 9am) been taken vitamin D3 supplements for about 1.5 year (10,000IU daily) also been taken extra Zink. I generally eat super healthy and don't have any comorbidities, not been living in fear for the last 2yrs as my change of dying from covid is pretty much zero (the change of dying in PP traffic is allot higher and I drive daily )

The World Health Organization (WHO)

"We can see another storm coming," Kluge said during a press conference on Tuesday. "Within weeks, Omicron will dominate in more countries of the region, pushing already stretched health systems further to the brink."
Around 2.6 million cases were reported across the region last week, with 27,000 people dying from the virus. Although it is uncertain which strains of COVID-19 these cases are attributed to, Kluge noted that these infection and mortality rates are 40 percent higher than they were in December 2020.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/europe/top-st ... hp&pc=U531

It may just make it’s exit as quickly as it appeared, but on the other hand it may also just mutate, or the newly diagnosed Omicron virus may just be accompanied by one or two new variants. It’s not really a game, nor some science fiction movie. Scientists seem to be working on catch up, with the virus just one step ahead (it seems that way anyway for the present time). Vaccines are said to be giving protection to the mass of people who follow the health recommendations to be vaccinated, and be administrated thereafter with regular boosters. We read reports of the manufacture and testing of the various types of vaccines and their trials, the product and distribution, facts and figures in their ability are written in the media for all of us to view. Likewise, we read of the pandemic and the number of people who are infected with the Covid-19 virus, unfortunately we also read of the daily deaths due to the extent of the damage and illness caused by the effect of the virus.
We still hear about the anti-vaxxers and their avoidance too, of the Covid-19 vaccines of themselves and their families, are they still believer’s that accepting the vaccine for their child will result giving their children autism, or that of some other brain disorder. Or maybe they are kicking in the “human rights violation.” When you consider a country of the western world and that of their beliefs and even such political policies, laws, and freedom, making the vaccination program “mandate” loses the present system of democracy.
Because of the understanding of how the virus is known to spread (airborne, from person to person). The simplest of precaution measures are that of mask wearing and social distancing. It is said for this example, if both people are wearing N95 masks, the risk of transmission is reduced by a factor of 400—that’s less than a 1% chance of getting the virus.
Again, with mask wearing we see people who are even opposed to doing so, something most of us would consider something of the expected, to what would be only considered has normal and the appropriate thing to do, helping to curve the spread of the virus, it can safely be said that these individuals are putting themselves in the position of a greater health risk, and that of others, whom are being fully compliment with that of today’s rules.
Let’s also consider the individuals who are unable to receive the vaccines, it is possible that a person is simply suffering from another illness and is too unwell. Also, it seems that the so-called richer countries and that more likely to be of vaccine production are accused of hording vaccines, in effect that the poorer nations of the world have not got access to vaccines to inoculate its people.
While economics and diplomacy have forever been intertwined, the commodities of 2021 have shifted. Today, COVID-19 vaccines are the most precious resource on the market. And some of the countries that have them are using them to strengthen and accelerate their global influence.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced this week via the official Xinhua News Agency that it had delivered 1.1 billion vaccine doses to more than 100 countries during the pandemic.

The WHO is the body of the United Nations (UN) responsible for directing and coordinating health.
Since its inception in 1947 WHO has been at the forefront of many breakthroughs in the field including, most notably, what has come to be described as one of the greatest humanitarian achievements of the 20th century, the elimination of Smallpox in 1979. However, the WHO’s inability to control the spread of HIV/AIDS, particularly in Africa has cast doubt on its capabilities. Though much of the media attention given to WHO concentrates on its role in controlling and ultimately eliminating infectious disease.

The time of the Pandemic, the WHO in the writing’s below said additional deaths (47.000) were linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention.
According to WHO’s latest World malaria report, there were an estimated 241 million malaria cases and 627 000 malaria deaths worldwide in 2020. This represents about 14 million more cases in 2020 compared to 2019, and 69.000 more deaths. Approximately two-thirds of these additional deaths
(47. 000) were linked to disruptions in the provision of malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment during the pandemic.

Then the WHO say the following -
However, the situation could have been far worse. In the early days of pandemic, WHO had projected that – with severe service disruptions – malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa could potentially double in 2020. But many countries took urgent action to shore up their malaria programs, averting this worst-case scenario.

Then there’s this -
Worldwide, TB is the 13th leading cause of death and the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19 (above HIV/AIDS). In 2020, an estimated 10 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) worldwide. 5.6 million men, 3.3 million women and 1.1 million children. TB is present in all countries and age groups. Oct 14, 2021
It may surprise or even shock you to know that approximately one-quarter of the world's population has a TB infection, which means people have been infected by TB bacteria but are not (yet) ill with the disease and cannot transmit it.
People infected with TB bacteria have a 5–10% lifetime risk of falling ill with TB. Those with compromised immune systems, such as people living with HIV, malnutrition or diabetes, or people who use tobacco, have a higher risk of falling ill.
2020, the largest number of new TB cases occurred in the WHO South-East Asian Region, with 43% of new cases, followed by the WHO African Region, with 25% of new cases and the WHO Western Pacific with 18%.
In 2020, 86% of new TB cases occurred in the 30 high TB burden countries. Eight countries accounted for two thirds of the new TB cases: India, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) plays an essential role in the global governance of health and disease; due to its core global functions of establishing, monitoring and enforcing international norms and standards, and coordinating multiple actors toward common goals.
There’s been plenty of finger pointing at various countries, and that of their elected political leaders, laying faults to how they are handling the situation of the pandemic. We could go on and on with what is deemed to be right or wrong. But should it not have been The World Health Organization (WHO) should have already have had such a plan in place for a precaution of what has happened due to covid19?

WHO’s Director General: No country can boost its way out of the pandemic

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50994600/w ... -pandemic/


Quote -
Dr Tedros stressed that supporting countries to vaccinate 40 percent of their population as soon as possible, and 70 percent of their total population by mid-2022 must be prioritized. Dr Tedros has called for international cooperation to end the pandemic by 2022.

“Blanket booster programmes are likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate".

Vaccine inequalities are being experienced by countries which lack the funds necessary to purchase the shots necessary to protect its people from the pandemic. On the other hand, as a safeguard against the transmission of Omicron among their people, nations with large stocks of vaccines are prioritizing the administering of booster doses to their population

The blanket booster programmes refer to richer nations and nations with large stocks of vaccines to hoard the life-saving shots and administering those vaccines as booster doses.

Cambodia has managed those proposed targets already, for some time they had managed what they set out to achieve with excellent planning of their vaccination program, and obviously obtaining the vaccines to carry out their goals. Also, Cambodia has donated some of its vaccine stock to neighbouring counties. But if Dr Tedros is correct are Cambodia putting themselves in a position of greater risk of further covid19 variants developing in countries who don't have enough vaccines for its people.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

South African medical community right again.


Headline: Omicron cannot escape T cells

Omicron cannot escape body's second-line defense

A key part of the immune system's second-line defense - its T cells - are highly effective at recognizing and attacking the Omicron variant, thereby preventing most infections from progressing to critical illness, a new study shows.

Omicron's mutations help it escape from antibodies, the body's first line of defense against infection. Researchers have speculated that other components of the immune response would still target Omicron, but there has been no proof until now.

In test tube experiments, researchers in South Africa exposed copies of the virus to T cells from volunteers who had received vaccines from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) or Pfizer(PFE.N)/BioNTech(22UAy.DE) or who had not been vaccinated but had developed their own T cells after infection with an earlier version of the coronavirus.

"Despite Omicron's extensive mutations and reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies, the majority of T cell response, induced by vaccination or natural infection, cross-recognizes the variant," the researchers reported on Tuesday on medRxiv ahead of peer review.

"Well-preserved T cell immunity to Omicron is likely to contribute to protection from severe COVID-19," which supports what South African doctors had initially suspected when most patients with Omicron infections did not become seriously ill, they said.

The "T" stands for thymus, the organ in which the cells' final stage of development occurs.

https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 021-12-29/

Which is probably why . . .

Headline: U.S. health officials say COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations 'comparatively' low despite Omicron surge

WASHINGTON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations are "comparatively" low as the highly infectious Omicron variant of the coronavirus spreads, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday as cases in the United States reached a record high.

"In a few short weeks Omicron has rapidly increased across the country, and we expect will continue to circulate in the coming weeks. While cases have substantially increased from last week, hospitalizations and deaths remain comparatively low right now," she said, referring to overall cases.

The current seven-day daily average of cases is up 60% over the previous week to about 240,400 per day, she said. The average daily hospitalization rate for the same period is up 14% to about 9,000 per day and deaths are down about 7% at 1,100 per day, Walensky told reporters at a White House briefing.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/despit ... 021-12-29/

ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Thu Dec 30, 2021 9:59 am South African medical community right again.


Headline: Omicron cannot escape T cells

Omicron cannot escape body's second-line defense

A key part of the immune system's second-line defense - its T cells - are highly effective at recognizing and attacking the Omicron variant, thereby preventing most infections from progressing to critical illness, a new study shows.

Omicron's mutations help it escape from antibodies, the body's first line of defense against infection. Researchers have speculated that other components of the immune response would still target Omicron, but there has been no proof until now.

In test tube experiments, researchers in South Africa exposed copies of the virus to T cells from volunteers who had received vaccines from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) or Pfizer(PFE.N)/BioNTech(22UAy.DE) or who had not been vaccinated but had developed their own T cells after infection with an earlier version of the coronavirus.

"Despite Omicron's extensive mutations and reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies, the majority of T cell response, induced by vaccination or natural infection, cross-recognizes the variant," the researchers reported on Tuesday on medRxiv ahead of peer review.

"Well-preserved T cell immunity to Omicron is likely to contribute to protection from severe COVID-19," which supports what South African doctors had initially suspected when most patients with Omicron infections did not become seriously ill, they said.

The "T" stands for thymus, the organ in which the cells' final stage of development occurs.

https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 021-12-29/

Which is probably why . . .

Headline: U.S. health officials say COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations 'comparatively' low despite Omicron surge

WASHINGTON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations are "comparatively" low as the highly infectious Omicron variant of the coronavirus spreads, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Wednesday as cases in the United States reached a record high.

"In a few short weeks Omicron has rapidly increased across the country, and we expect will continue to circulate in the coming weeks. While cases have substantially increased from last week, hospitalizations and deaths remain comparatively low right now," she said, referring to overall cases.

The current seven-day daily average of cases is up 60% over the previous week to about 240,400 per day, she said. The average daily hospitalization rate for the same period is up 14% to about 9,000 per day and deaths are down about 7% at 1,100 per day, Walensky told reporters at a White House briefing.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/despit ... 021-12-29/

But our experts won't listen, they will have to do their own research, and huge public expense, and then announce their identical findings as 'new'.

Meanwhile the statistical nonsense in the reporting of 'cases' continues with all the fearmongering. All good news carefully hidden in plain sight.

Latest news for the UK: 80% of Omicron cases admitted to hospitals are incidental findings.

You won't find that in The Guardian.

Daily deaths yesterday were 57 (how many were Delta or Omicron is a closely guarded secret it seems).
The weekly figure is 516. That is DOWN 267 or 34% on the previous week.



Here's how the Guardian reports these highly positive statistics: