Latest news with #NorthSea
Medscape
6 hours ago
- Health
- Medscape
What Europe's GPs Need to Know About Vibriosis
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has issued a warning highlighting the seasonal risk for Vibrio infection. For primary care physicians, it is becoming increasingly important to be able to recognize the signs and understand the evolving epidemiology of vibriosis. Vibrio bacteria thrive in brackish coastal waters, where freshwater and saltwater mix, especially under high temperatures and lower salinity, conditions that are becoming more common across Europe, Therese Westrell, PhD, principal expert in food- and waterborne diseases at the ECDC, told Medscape Medical News . Therese Westrell, PhD While the Baltic Sea has historically been a known hot spot due to its naturally lower salt concentration, the threat is expanding. 'Given the ongoing increases in sea surface temperatures across Europe, the overall environmental suitability for [non-cholera] Vibrio species could be elevated during the 2025 summer season, not only in the Baltic Sea but also in other coastal regions,' Westrell said. 'Other parts of Europe could sustain conditions conducive to Vibrio proliferation, such as estuaries and enclosed water bodies with moderate salinity, in some areas of the North Sea and certain parts of the Mediterranean.' In recent summers, Vibrio suitability models and real-time surveillance tools have indicated that areas of the North Sea coastlines of Germany and the Netherlands, as well as Mediterranean estuarine zones, can now experience intermittent periods of suitability, particularly when sea surface temperatures exceed 20 °C. 'The geographic range of environmental suitability for Vibrio species is expanding, and risk periods may last longer than in previous years due to earlier seasonal warming and later autumn cooling,' said Westrell. Also, more frequent heavy rainfall because of climate change could create new risk areas, at least temporarily, where large amounts of freshwater end up in the sea. Who Is Most Vulnerable? While anyone can contract a Vibrio infection, certain populations face a significantly higher risk for severe outcomes. Individuals with weakened immune systems or chronic liver conditions are particularly vulnerable. A recent article in The Lancet Planetary Health emphasized this demographic shift, noting that an aging global population with increasing chronic comorbidities, especially liver disease, is increasingly susceptible to more serious infections. For instance, data from the US CDC suggest that individuals with liver disease are 80 times more likely to become ill and 200 times more likely to die from Vibrio vulnificus infection after eating raw oysters than those without liver disease. What Should HCPs Know? At first glance, Vibrio infections are not distinguishable from most gastrointestinal infections presenting to primary care because most general practitioners do not have access to microbiology testing in real time, Tiago Villanueva, MD, family physician and president of the European Union of General Practitioners and Family Physicians, told Medscape Medical News. 'Our priority in primary care is not so much reaching a specific diagnosis but trying to assess whether it is a case that can be managed at home with symptomatic treatment or needs to be referred to hospital. In the latter, patients may present red flag signs, such as severe dehydration, impaired level of consciousness, or acute abdomen.' Tiago Villanueva, MD If ingested through food or water, Vibrio can cause gastrointestinal symptoms, typically manifesting as watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills. But if Vibrio bacteria enter through a wound, they can cause severe infections, including local wound infections with swelling and fever, tissue death around the wound, and potentially fatal blood infections, Westrell explained. Ear infections can also occur if the bacteria enter through the ear canal. In the presence of these symptoms, it is essential to ask patients about their recent consumption of raw or undercooked seafood, especially oysters, and any contact with brackish or saltwater, particularly if they have open wounds, recent piercings, or cuts. Untreated wound infections can rapidly progress to serious conditions such as necrotizing fasciitis, bloodstream infections, sepsis, or even limb amputation, especially in vulnerable individuals. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) can also educate patients, particularly those at higher risk, on prevention. 'Vulnerable patients should be very cautious in terms of ordering raw or undercooked seafood in restaurants, particularly in the summer months, and maybe even avoid it altogether unless they're very confident hygiene and food safety standards are very high,' Villanueva said. 'This is particularly relevant in people — mostly from Northern Europe — coming for a holiday in Southern European countries, where seafood consumption is very high during the summer months.' HCPs can also recommend avoiding swimming or wading in brackish or saltwater if there are open wounds, recent piercings, or cuts. If exposure is unavoidable, affected areas should be covered with waterproof bandages, and any exposed cuts or wounds should be washed immediately with clean freshwater after accidental contact with seawater. The Surveillance Gap Despite the increasing risk, Vibrio infections are likely underreported across the EU/European Environment Agency (EEA). 'Many countries do not have mandatory surveillance in place, and clinical awareness of these infections could be relatively low, especially in regions where cases have only recently emerged,' Westrell said. The ECDC is launching a voluntary surveillance system for vibriosis at the EU level in 2026, in collaboration with EU/EEA Member States, the EEA, and other partners in the Climate and Health Observatory. This system aims to collect detailed data on species, infection types, exposure locations, and patient outcomes and will invite countries to provide historical data to establish trends. In the meantime, the ECDC continues to support early detection and awareness through its Vibrio Map Viewer, which uses real-time satellite data to assess environmental suitability. Westrell and Villanueva reported having no relevant financial relationships.
BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
New BBC documentary series to tell the full story of The Piper Alpha disaster and its aftermath
On the night of 6 July 1988, 120 miles off the coast of Aberdeen, a devastating series of explosions ripped through Piper Alpha, one of the North Sea's flagship oil platforms. By the time dawn broke, Piper Alpha was in ruins. 167 men would die, only 61 survived. Six months later a Public Inquiry was launched, led by Lord Cullen. It revealed that behind the disaster was a flawed safety culture within the main US owned operator, Occidental, and in the North Sea more widely. But no criminal charges were brought. It remains the world's deadliest offshore oil and gas disaster. Now, 37 years later, The Piper Alpha Disaster (WT), a box-set series from BBC Studios for BBC Two, BBC Scotland and iPlayer will revisit the events of that night and the months beyond, to reveal a bigger, untold story of the rush for North Sea 'black gold', the working families shattered by Piper Alpha and the legacy of the disaster on industry and individuals for decades to come. At the heart of the 3 x 60' series will be the unique and compelling testimony heard in the Cullen Inquiry. Revoiced by actors, the words of the men who lived through that night tell a remarkable human story, one that speaks to tragedy, heroism, and an uncompromising quest to uncover the truth. Powerfully combined with rare archive and stylised drama vignettes, this series will also draw on the unheard voices of Piper Alpha to reveal the ripple effect of what happened back on the mainland. It features interviews with the wives, partners, and children whose lives were changed forever, and the medics, lawyers and journalists who were caught up in the disaster. Over three hours the films will paint an in-depth picture of the tragedy, the forces behind it, and its far-reaching aftermath. The Piper Alpha Disaster (WT) is an emotional retelling of an unforgettable event with resonances that remain. This is the story of working families, of terrible failures of safety and of a community devastated by loss. It reveals how the oil boom of the 80s transformed entire communities with new lucrative work opportunities, whilst also putting them at deadly risk. Emma Hindley, Commissioning Editor, Specialist Factual, said: "This series takes a timely and contemporary view on the UK's worst oil disaster. Told from the point of view of the men who were there at the time, their relatives and loved ones, the journalists who reported on it and experts from the inquiry, it gives a visceral, dramatic account of the event itself as well as the effects on the community and the industry world-wide." Louise Thornton, Head of Commissioning, BBC Scotland, said: 'The Piper Alpha disaster had a huge impact on communities in the Northeast of Scotland and beyond. The series will tell this tragic story sensitively and comprehensively, drawing on new interviews and on the detailed testimonies of the Cullen inquiry. Over three episodes the series will give the fullest account yet of what went wrong and how the impact of the tragedy continues to affect survivors, relatives, and the industry.' The Piper Alpha Disaster (WT) was commissioned for BBC Two, BBC Scotland and BBC iPlayer by Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual & Louise Thornton. It is a BBC Studios Specialist Factual Production. The Executive Producer is Lucie Ridout, the Series Director is Laura Blount. The Commissioning Editors for the BBC are Emma Hindley and Simon Young, Head of Commissioning, History with David Harron for BBC Scotland. About BBC Studios Specialist Factual Productions BBC Studios Specialist Factual Productions is a bespoke unit making premium output in the history, arts, music, and culture space. The work is underpinned by journalistic rigour and specialist knowledge, bringing together diverse voices to ignite conversation and challenge preconceptions. Recent titles include the Grierson Award winning Inside Our Autistic Minds with Chris Packham, the RTS winning Fight The Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World with Public Enemy's Chuck D, sumptuous travelogue Tucci in Italy, and cold war thriller Secrets and Spies: A Nuclear Game. JG2 Follow for more
Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Times
Swinney has blown our chances of a payoff for all those turbines
Lesley Riddoch is fed up. Granted, this is not an unusual condition for the independence-supporting columnist and promoter of all things Nordic. But it is not hard to understand why she's upset that there was scarcely a murmur of discontent from the Scottish government last week after Ed Miliband scrapped zonal energy pricing. 'Where's the outcry from the SNP or Greens?' she asked, plaintively. What was so wrong about Scots getting cheaper bills? How could John Swinney have missed this opportunity to demand that Scots get direct benefit from Scotland's wind? Surely this was a slam dunk for a nationalist party which always claims that Scots were robbed of the last energy bonanza in the North Sea. Zonal pricing is the idea, promoted by Greg Jackson of Octopus Energy and backed by Jonathan Brearley of the regulator Ofgem, that electricity prices in Scotland should reflect its contribution to addressing climate change. All those wind farms in the North Sea and the towering turbines now gracing Scotland's hills are supposed to deliver cheap-as-chips energy. But Scottish bills have continued to rise, plunging around a million Scots into fuel poverty. • Rejection of postcode electricity pricing pleases energy bosses Yet Scotland could enjoy 'the cheapest energy costs in Europe', according to Jackson, if the UK government introduced zonal pricing. The cost of electricity, he says, should reflect the cost of producing and transporting it. In the past, location didn't matter much because power for the electricity grid was generated by coal, gas and nuclear plants which were dispersed across the country. But with renewable energy generated in the North Sea, location very much does matter. It is expensive to transport the electricity produced by Scottish wind farms to the south of England, where most of it is used. Huge infrastructure projects are necessary to drag the reluctant electrons five hundred miles through cables and interconnections. A lot of energy is lost on the way through heat and leakage. Allowing energy costs to fall in areas where it is generated should be more energy-efficient. More importantly, it might encourage energy-intensive industries to come to Scotland. Those footloose data centres and artificial intelligence companies, with their insatiable demand for energy, could locate in Scotland to take advantage of lower energy costs. Given the chronic overconcentration of economic activity in the south of England, this is not such a daft idea. At any rate, you'd think that this is something that would appeal to Swinney, the first minister, who keeps saying he wants economic growth brought back to Scotland. Scotland was one of the centres of the Industrial Revolution largely because of an abundance of coal and other raw materials. That's why the Clyde could build a fifth of world shipping before the First World War and mills such as Ravenscraig could later turn out miles of sheet metal for the motor industry. The days of coal are over, of course, and Westminster has passed a death sentence on the Scottish oil and gas industry. So surely Scotland would have a case for demanding that the new industries of the digital age should be located where energy is abundant. Of course, zonal pricing might have had awkward trade-offs. If Scots paid less for their energy, English consumers would presumably have to pay more. Yet it would not be a massive imposition for the 65 million consumers who don't live in Scotland to finance a couple of hundred quid off the bills of the five million who do. The main reason Swinney has been reluctant to campaign for zonal pricing is that the big energy companies, most notably SSE and Scottish Power, are firmly against it. These largely foreign-owned behemoths have a material interest in the status quo. They are compensated generously by a panoply of schemes such as contracts for difference, which effectively guarantee that the profits from renewable energy are never less than the profits they make from gas. At least a quarter of domestic energy bills go toward subsidies for renewables. They claim that they would not be able to finance new wind farms if differential pricing undermined profitability. However, the energy companies also benefit directly from the mismatch between where energy is generated and where it is used. Last year they earned nearly £2.7 billion in constraint payments, largely for turning their windmills off when they generated too much energy for the grid to accommodate. A quarter of Scotland's potential was switched off last year. Well, there seems an obvious solution to that. Even more obvious is surely the propaganda benefit to a nationalist government of a situation where Scottish wind energy was actually being wasted. Moreover, communities are already being compensated for proximity to wind farms, albeit in a very limited way. RES, a renewables development company, has been setting up local energy discount schemes (LEDs) across the country since 2012. Properties near Glenchamber Wind Farm in Dumfries and Galloway can apply for a £200 discount on electricity bills. So zonal pricing is actually happening — just not at scale. And even as Miliband killed the idea of zonal pricing, he promised zonal compensation for communities facing wind farm development. There will have to be, he said, 'direct community benefits'. Perhaps it is not feasible to disaggregate the National Grid to create zonal pricing. There is a democratic argument that energy costs should be the same across the UK. But given that so much of the cost of renewables is covered by subsidies, surely this could be re-engineered to allow Scottish homes and businesses to benefit from all that wind. UK energy policy is anyway riddled with anomalies, waste and unfairness. Miliband is using punitive taxation to accelerate the collapse of Scotland's oil and gas industry. The promise of a bonanza of green jobs has been as false as Labour's promise to cut energy bills by £300. If zonal pricing isn't feasible, then what would be a sensible way of compensating Scots for the disruption to their environment and their selfless contribution to saving the planet? And why isn't the Scottish government arguing for it? For once, there is good reason here to play the Scottish card. Instead of meekly acquiescing in the diktat of the renewable energy cartel, the Scottish government should be holding Miliband's feet to the fire and making sure the dash for renewables doesn't leave Scotland on the sidelines. As Riddoch says: 'Why the heck not?'
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Starmer rejects Johnson's Brexit jet for smaller plane
The RAF jet that was resprayed in Union Jack colours by Boris Johnson at a cost of £800,000 has been sidelined by Sir Keir Starmer. The Vespina Voyager, an air-to-air refuelling plane, was given a patriotic upgrade by the former prime minister in 2020 and compared to the US president's Air Force One. But it has now been reported that the jet has not been used for VIP flights for two years, while Sir Keir has used a smaller plane for trips to visit other world leaders. The Sunday Mirror reported that the Vespina has only been used as a refuelling aircraft since Labour took office, despite its new paint job to make it suitable for transporting the prime minister. Mr Johnson ordered the plane to be resprayed in white, with a Union Flag on the tail and a blue swoosh on the fuselage. The upgrade cost almost £900,000, and was defended by Downing Street at the time as a livery that would 'better represent the UK around the world with national branding'. Sir Keir has instead opted to fly in the smaller government Airbus A321-2NX, which was also used by the King and Queen for their trip to Canada earlier this year. The smaller plane is leased from Titan Airways, rather than being wholly owned by the British Armed Forces. It is also decked out in red, white and blue paint, and has been rented by the Cabinet Office since 2021. Meanwhile, the RAF Voyager has been used solely for refuelling military aircraft over the North Sea, which a spokesman described as its 'primary role'. The jet, nicknamed the 'Brexit Plane', has no need to be painted in national colours when performing that role. Other RAF Voyagers are painted grey. The plane is based at RAF Brize Norton, where Palestine Action protesters last month attacked planes with red paint. The red, white and blue jet was not affected by the protest, which has resulted in Palestine Action being named as a proscribed terrorist group by the Home Office. Sir Keir described the protest as 'disgraceful', but the stunt appears to have increased the group's popularity. More than 70 people have been arrested at protests against the decision to proscribe Palestine Action, including 42 people in London on Saturday. An RAF spokesman told The Telegraph: 'The RAF Vespina Voyager continues to be available for all roles including its primary role of AAR [air-to-air refuelling] and when required VIP flights.'
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Britain's North Sea fishermen are set to be 'decolonised' - as Grimsby fishing museum plans to probe links with slavery, colonialism and racism
Britain's North sea fishermen are set to be decolonised as Grimsby fishing museum plans to probe its material for links with slavery, colonialism and racism. The Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre is reviewing its collection of artefacts relating to the now depleted fishing fleets, The Telegraph reports. The museum dedicated to 'Grimsby's fishing heritage' will aim to address the potential connections between this heritage and 'colonialism and racism'. Objects relating to the work of trawlermen will be assessed, along with other material, to decide whether they might be 'problematic'. Any links to slavery will be underlined, and the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre will seek to include more information relating to those from diverse backgrounds. The museum, which is overseen by the Tory-run North East Lincolnshire council, displays numerous artefacts linked to North Sea fishing fleets. There are displays featuring a mock-up dry-dock and high street, with figures of women mending nets, and a fisherman hauling a catch aboard his boat. The centre intends to 'share how museum objects can represent stories of slavery, colonialism, and racism, and are committed to addressing the legacy of these subjects through open and honest conversations with those we represent'. It has pledged to decolonise – a term that ordinarily refers to moving away from from a white, Western-centric world view. This work is understood to have only just begun, and will be centred around a review of the collection to check for any 'problematic objects, interpretation, or terminology' with respect to 'decolonisation and people from protected characteristic groups'. It is currently unclear what hypothetical links to slavery or colonialism may be. A North East Lincolnshire council spokesman said: 'Work is ongoing and the team are currently undertaking a collections review in respect to items related to decolonisation and people from protected characteristic groups.' Grimsby was once the busiest fishing port in the world, boasting a fleet of 700 trawlers. But it has suffered a dramatic decline following the Icelandic cod wars of the early Seventies and the EU's Common Fisheries Policy. Sir Keir Starmer's deals with the EU for fishing rights have been branded the 'death of the industry' by local trawlermen. Britain's fishing industry was sacrificed on the altar of Edward Heath's desperation to join the old Common Market at any cost. Our traditional waters were handed over to foreign factory ships in exchange for a place at the subsidised lobster supper tables of Brussels. As of December 2022 there were only four trawlers operating out of Grimsby - less than a third of the number of boats servicing off-shore wind farms in the Humber Estuary. Tens of thousands of men lost their jobs when their boats were decommissioned.
