Disease Traced to Playboy Mansion Gala

LEGIONELLOSIS - USA: (CALIFORNIA) CONFERENCE, SUSPECTED
*******************************************************
A ProMED-mail post

ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases


[1]
Date: Sat 12 Feb 2011
Source: Birmingham Star [edited]



Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion has come under the scanner after more
than 80 guests at a party there became sick with a suspected strain of
Legionnaires' disease. Those who attended the DOMAINfest conference in
Santa Monica, held 1-3 Feb 2011, came down with symptoms including
fever, respiratory infections, and violent headaches.

4 Swedish guests were diagnosed with legionellosis or Pontiac fever,
a milder form of Legionnaires' [disease] caused by bacteria
[_Legionella pneumophila_] that thrive in warm air-conditioning
systems. Now some victims are blaming a fog machine, which steamed up
the conference finale party on 3 Feb 2011.

"So far, the number of victims is around 80. Everybody says they
became ill around 24 hours after the party," the New York Post quoted
DNJournal.com editor Ron Jackson, whose wife was stricken, as saying.
"4 guys from Sweden were diagnosed with legionellosis, and they have
the same symptoms as everyone else. I don't want to point the finger
at the Playboy Mansion, but the disease lives in warm water, and
people were engulfed in mist at that party," he stated.

New Yorker Elliot J Silver, who runs Silver Internet Ventures, also
fell prey to the bug. "It is scary everyone came down with the same
thing at the same time. It knocked me on my ass. A lot of people are
blaming the Playboy Mansion on the blogs, but you can't be sure," he
said.

A rep for DOMAINfest said it was working with the LA County Health
Department to investigate. "There were events every night, and we are
giving them a list of all the venues. We have no idea what this is or
where it came from. The mansion being to blame is, at the moment, pure
speculation," the rep said.

A Playboy rep has claimed that there is no truth in the rumour that
people caught something at the Playboy Mansion. "Nor is there any
evidence. None of the Playboy staff became ill, the deejay was in the
middle of the fog and she didn't get ill," the rep said. "We have been
contacted by the Health Department and the Playboy Mansion is
cooperating fully with the investigation," the rep added.

--
Communicated by:
Denis Green


******
[2]
Date: Mon 14 Feb 2011
Source: Chicago Tribune, KTLA News report [edited]



Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion is being investigated by the Los
Angeles County Department of Public Health after 100 people reported
becoming sick after attending a fundraiser and party there earlier
this month.

The guests were attending an event on 3 Feb. as part of the annual
DOMAINfest Global conference. The 3-day conference took place at the
Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica. On the 2nd night, there was a party at
the Sky Bar on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood and on the 3rd
night, the finale party took place at the iconic Playboy Mansion.

Within 48 hours after leaving the mansion, scores of attendees
reported coming down with symptoms including fever, respiratory
problems and violent headaches. Victims reportedly started tweeting
and posting their symptoms on Facebook and that's when many noticed a
trend.

The health department was notified and according to the LA Times, the
agency sent out an e-mail on Friday [11 Feb 2011] to all the attendees
warning them that they had received a cluster of reports of people
becoming ill after attending the conference and the Playboy Mansion
event.

The health department is also investigating the Fairmont Hotel where
a party took place on the 1st night. DOMAINfest organizers say an
estimated 700 people from 30 countries attended the 3-day conference.

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail


[The "DOMAINfest" conference was held at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa
Monica California, 31 Jan-4 Feb 2011; over 700 internet professionals
attended from 30 countries (). On the
evening of 3 Feb 2011, a "fundraising" dinner party was held at the
Playboy Mansion West for Jenny McCarthy's Generation Rescue Autism
Foundation (). Buses transported
conferees between the Playboy Mansion and the Santa Monica Fairmont
Hotel
().
The Playboy Mansion (known as the Playboy Mansion West out of
deference to the original Playboy Mansion that was located in Chicago)
is located in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles, California, west
of Santa Monica, and is the home of Playboy magazine founder Hugh
Hefner (for a map, see
).

Legionellosis is an infectious disease caused by a Gram negative
bacillus of the genus _Legionella_, most commonly _Legionella
pneumophila_. Legionnaires' disease is the acute pneumonic form of the
disease; about 70 per cent of cases are due to _L. pneumophila_
serogroup 1. Pontiac fever is a non-pneumonic form of legionellosis
that is less severe than Legionnaires' disease. Pontiac fever takes
its name from an outbreak in 1968 in Pontiac, Michigan, USA. Risk
factors for Legionnaires' disease include age over 50 years, cigarette
smoking, diabetes, chronic heart or lung disease, and
immunosuppression.

Legionnaires' disease, and possibly Pontiac fever, is usually
acquired by inhalation by a susceptible person of an infectious dose
of aerosolized _Legionella_. Usually, a building's contaminated water
system is incriminated as the source. _Legionella_ are found primarily
in the hot water portion of plumbing systems and in cooling towers.
Water temperatures of 25-40 deg C (77-104 deg F) support the highest
concentrations of the organism in water storage tanks of plumbing
systems. Aerosolization of the contaminated warm water can occur in
showers, spa pools, sprays in groceries, fountains, and cooling
towers. Elimination or reduction of legionella colonization in a hot
water system is difficult. For a discussion, please see
.

Although we are not told how the diagnosis of Pontiac fever was made
in the 4 Swedish men who attended the event, the diagnosis of Pontiac
fever is usually suspected on the basis of a common-source outbreak of
a non-fatal, non-pneumonic illness that is characterized by malaise,
myalgia, and fever
(). The diagnosis
is confirmed by development of antibodies to legionella isolated from
an environmental source in a significant fraction of affected people
exposed to that source. The incubation period for Legionnaires'
disease is 2-14 days after exposure and for Pontiac fever, 24-48 hours
after exposure, and the attack rate (per cent of persons who become
ill after exposure to the source of an outbreak) for Legionnaires'
disease is less than 5 per cent and for Pontiac fever, greater than 90
per cent ().

Although we are also not told the number of individuals who attended
the event at the Playboy Mansion, the probable high attack rate and
short incubation period is consistent with a diagnosis of Pontiac
fever. While legionella can be isolated from respiratory secretions in
patients with Legionnaires' disease, legionella are virtually never
isolated from patients with Pontiac fever
() and tests for urinary
legionella antigen may be negative in patients with Pontiac fever.

Genotyping of patient and environmental isolates has become a helpful
tool to establish transmission pathways. The predominance of one
genotype in patient specimens suggests transmission from a common
source. Because _L. pneumophila_ may be found in water supplies
without linkage to any cases of legionellosis, the actual causative
infectious reservoir should be demonstrated by means of genotyping
methods (see and
).

Santa Monica is a coastal city in the US state of California, with an
estimated population in 2008 of 87 664 people, situated on Santa
Monica Bay, and surrounded on 3 sides by the city of Los Angeles
(). The
interactive HealthMap/ProMED map, on which the state of California can
be located, is available at . - Mod.ML

Re: "None of the Playboy staff became ill, the deejay was in the
middle of the fog and she didn't get ill", they were probably all
younger adults not in any risk group. It would be interesting to learn
the median age of those who did become ill. - Mod.JW]

[see also:
Legionellosis, hotel - Mexico: (QR) alert 20110121.0253
Legionellosis - Australia (02): ex Indonesia (Bali) alert
20110119.0226
Legionellosis - Australia: (WA, VI) ex Indonesia (Bali)
20110115.0173
2010
----
Legionellosis - Australia: (WA) ex Indonesia (Bali) alert
20100826.3021
2009
----
Legionellosis, fatal, hotel - United Arab Emirates: (Dubai)
20090205.0509
2007
----
Legionellosis, hotel - Scandinavia ex Thailand (Phuket): alert
20070113.0178
2006
----
Legionellosis, tourists - Malaysia 20061027.3064
Legionellosis, craft fair - France (Lorraine) 20061012.2924
Legionellosis, spa pool - UK (England) 20060929.2787
2005
----
Legionellosis, hotel - Sweden (Dalarna): susp. 20050204.0383
2004
----
Legionellosis, fatal 2003 - UK ex India 20040628.1724
1999
----
Legionellosis - UK ex Thailand 19990422.0673
Legionellosis, imported - Thailand 19990320.0442]
.................................................ml/mj/jw
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The Wealth of the Catholic Church

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrPGVbmh8LM&feature=player_embedded

World Bank Gives Haiti $15M to Fight Cholera

All this, IN ADDITION to the 100M given to Haiti by the World Bank right after the quake;

Article; http://en.baomoi.com/Info/World-Bank-gives-15-million-to-fight-Haiti-cholera/5/103929.epi

See also;

World Bank Gives India $372 Mil; http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/World-Bank-approves-two-projects-worth-USD-372m-to-India/articleshow/6053559.cms

World Bank Gives Romania a Billion; http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22813847~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html?cid=3001_4

World Bank Gives Afghanistan $185 M; http://www.worldbank.org.af/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/AFGHANISTANEXTN/0,,contentMDK:20147616~menuPK:305990~pagePK:1497618~piPK:217854~theSitePK:305985,00.html

World Bank Gives Pakistan $350 M;
http://www.worldbank.org.pk/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/PAKISTANEXTN/0,,contentMDK:20152499~pagePK:1497618~piPK:217854~theSitePK:293052,00.html

Wondering what the World Bank is worth......

Jewish "Guardian Angels" Accused of Beating a Bro

http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/12/06/jewish-guardian-angels-accused-of-brutality/

Felony charges were lodged against the offender but the (Jewish) prosecutor lowered it to mismeandor.

Shomrim, the Jewish "Guardian Angels" is a closed organization of self-professed civilian police that are popping up all over the country - just take a look at their member and supporter list and see for yourself what is happening to the streets of our US of Israel; http://www.nationalshomrim.org/member_organizations.php

and you have to be Jewish to be a member....unlike the regular Guardian Angels or even the Black Panthers,...the Shomrim are a racisit, prejudical, evil lot, comprised of ex-Israeli Defense Forces and we all know how brutal and hateful they are towards anybody not like them (goyum)- http://www.thefreedictionary.com/goyim

Even the Black Panthers had people of all ethnic backrounds who were welcomed into the group who stood in solidarity w/ them and even going to jail for their cause....

Raising the Red Flag Against Capitalism

Here's why:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB4jt62yE2k&NR=1

Words of Wisdom Straight Out of the Book

"No servant can serve two masters: for either he shall hate the one, and love the other: or else he shall lean to the one, and despise the other, Ye cannot serve God and riches." Luke 16:13

Hoping that the do little-or-nothing care-less philthy rich phew get exactly what they deserve

Heavy Medal Warning:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIRuBZNVjNg&feature=related

Top 200 Govt' Contractors

http://www.govexec.com/features/0807-15/0807-15s2s1.htm

Defending the Philthy Rich Phew

http://www.aolnews.com/opinion/article/outraged-by-the-cost-of-chelseas-wedding-just-chill/19576198

Knock Knock Knockin' on Pro-Lifes Door

Message 2 U re: The Sanctity of Life

Click on title above to see vid

Madoff Takes a Beatin' in Prison Market

Madoff beaten in prison

March 18, 2010 — 9:15am ET | By Jim Kim

There have been various reports of Bernard Madoff (Bernard Madoff news) getting into some physical altercations at his prison home in Butner, NC, where's he serving 150 years.

On one occasion, he was said to have delivered something of a beatdown himself after some guy shoved him during a heated argument about the markets. Later, there were rumors that he was beaten rather severely, but those rumors were denied; his representatives said he was treated for dizziness and hypertension.

But now the Wall Street Journal reports that the incident was real after all. The paper says he was moved on Dec. 18 to the prison's low-security medical center for treatment for cracked ribs and a broken nose, among other injuries. The assailant is a felon serving time on drug charges, who's apparently convinced that Madoff owes him money.

Madoff has denied to prison officials that he was beaten, though that's hardly surprising, given prison life. But the Club Fed that many people assume he's living in may be rougher than imagined. Anyone thought to have that kind of money may be a tempting target. He's said to spend time with alleged Colombo crime-family boss Carmine Persico. Perhaps protection has been discussed?

For more:
- here's the Reuters article
- here's the CNN article

Related Articles:
Madoff in near-brawl at Butner?
Michael Moore seeking out Madoff
Madoff dying of cancer?
Lots of Madoff revelations



Click on title above to Read more: http://www.fiercefinance.com/story/madoff-beaten-prison/2010-03-18?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal#ixzz0id2FnVyc





http://www.fiercefinance.com/story/madoff-beaten-prison/2010-03-18?utm_medium=nl

Population Control, Pandemics, H5N1, Biological Warfare & Colloidal Silver-Part1

Click on title above to see vid, and

Read More about Ted Turners Billionaire "Population Control Club" by going to the link below;

http://privlidgedphew.blogspot.com/2009/06/billionaire-club-in-bid-to-curb.html

Ivy League Killer : 3 Strikes & Shes Out (Finally)

Professor Accused in Recent Shootings Shot Brother Dead in 1980s, Was Suspect in Bomb Plot in 90s'; No Prosecution ever had against this "Privlidged Phew." Will poor little rich girl Amy get her just deserts this time? Dont she L@@K the picture of the neat, well-kept & intelligent wacko?




AOL News / AP

(Feb. 14) -- The college professor and mother of four who is charged with opening fire on a group of colleagues at the University of Alabama Friday was also eyed as a suspect in the attempted mail bombing of a Harvard professor 17 years ago.

Paul Rosenberg, a medical school professor and doctor at Boston Children's Hospital, was opening mail after returning from vacation in 1993 when he spotted wires and a cylinder inside a package addressed to him, according to the Boston Globe. Two pipe bombs were stuffed inside the package.

A federal investigation focused on Amy Bishop, a postdoctoral fellow who was then working at the Children's Hospital, as a suspect, a law enforcement official told the newspaper.


Bishop, and her husband, Jeff Anderson, were both questioned in the case. Officials said Bishop had a motive, as Rosenberg was allegedly going to give her a negative review on her doctorate work.

Authorities have refused to discuss a motive in Friday's shooting that left three of Bishop's colleagues dead, but the neurobiologist was reportedly denied tenure -- a type of job-for-life security afforded academics -- by the University of Alabama in Huntsville and was vocal in her opposition to the decision, as well as her plan to appeal.

Officials never filed any charges against Bishop related to the mail bombs, but were also concerned about a violent incident in her past.

In 1986, Bishop shot and killed her 18-year-old brother with a shotgun at their Braintree, Mass., home. She told police at the time that she had been trying to learn how to use the gun, which her father had bought for protection, when it accidentally discharged. In all, three shots were fired: Braintree police Chief Paul Frazier said she shot once into a wall, then shot her brother, then fired a third time into the ceiling.

Authorities released her and said the episode was a tragic accident. She was never charged, though Frazier on Saturday questioned how the investigation was handled.

Some of Bishop's colleagues, including William Setzer, chairman of the department of chemistry, told The Associated Press they did not know about her brother's death.

Despite her history, relatives and students said Bishop had never suggested she might become violent, even with the looming loss of her teaching post.

Everyone from family and friends to her students at the University of Alabama in Huntsville said the intelligent and at times awkward teacher seemed normal in the hours before police say she opened fire in a faculty meeting Friday afternoon, leaving three dead and another three wounded.

Jim Anderson - the father of Bishop's husband - told The Associated Press on Sunday his son had no idea Bishop was planning the bloodshed she's accused of.

"He knew nothing. He didn't know anything," the father said. He said that the police had spoken with his son at length and that "they are doing a good job."

Police say the gun Bishop's accused of using in the Alabama shooting wasn't registered, and investigators don't know how or where she got it.

Bishop was arrested soon after the shooting and charged with capital murder. Other charges are pending. Her husband was detained and questioned by police but has not been charged.

Anderson told The Chronicle of Higher Education that he dropped his wife at the faculty meeting where the biology professor allegedly gunned down her colleagues. Bishop called her husband less than an hour later and asked to be picked up, but mentioned nothing of the shooting, Anderson said. By the time Anderson arrived to campus, his wife was in police custody.

Anderson told The Chronicle of Higher Education that he did not know his wife had a gun when he dropped her off and he did not know what specifically led to the shooting. Anderson also said he knew his wife felt the university's decision to deny her tenure was not fair, and she planned to appeal the decision to the university's Board of Trustees.

In the days and hours before the shooting, Bishop's friends, colleagues and students said she was acting like the intelligent - but odd - professor they knew.

UAH student Andrew Cole was in Bishop's anatomy class Friday morning and said she seemed perfectly normal. Kourtney Lattimore, 19, a sophomore studying nursing who had Bishop for anatomy and physiology courses, said she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

"She was fine. It was a normal day," Lattimore said.

Bishop had worked closely for three years with Dick Reeves, who had been CEO of BizTech, which had been working with her to market a cell incubator she invented to replace traditional equipment used in live cell cultures. Bishop often mentioned the issue of tenure in their discussions, Reeves said.

"It was important to her," he said.

However, the two had spoken as early as Wednesday, and Reeves said she showed no signs of distress.

Killed in Friday's shooting were Gopi K. Podila, the chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences, and professors Adriel Johnson and Maria Ragland Davis. Three people were wounded. Two of them - Joseph Leahy and staffer Stephanie Monticciolo - were in critical condition early Sunday. The third, Luis Cruz-Vera, had been released from the hospital.

Sammie Lee Davis, Davis' husband, said in a brief phone interview that he was told a faculty member got angry while discussing tenure at the meeting and started shooting. He said his wife had described Bishop as "not being able to deal with reality" and "not as good as she thought she was."

Bishop was calm as she got into a police car Friday, denying that the shootings occurred. "It didn't happen. There's no way. ... They are still alive."


http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/amy-bishop-alabama-professor-accused-in-shootings-was-suspect-in-1993-mail-bomb-plot/19358072

Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation

May 24, 2009

America’s richest people meet to discuss ways of tackling a ‘disastrous’ environmental, social and industrial threat

John Harlow, Los Angeles

SOME of America’s leading billionaires have met secretly to consider how their wealth could be used to slow the growth of the world’s population and speed up improvements in health and education.

The philanthropists who attended a summit convened on the initiative of Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, discussed joining forces to overcome political and religious obstacles to change.

Described as the Good Club by one insider it included David Rockefeller Jr, the patriarch of America’s wealthiest dynasty, Warren Buffett and George Soros, the financiers, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, and the media moguls Ted Turner and Oprah Winfrey.

These members, along with Gates, have given away more than £45 billion since 1996 to causes ranging from health programmes in developing countries to ghetto schools nearer to home.

They gathered at the home of Sir Paul Nurse, a British Nobel prize biochemist and president of the private Rockefeller University, in Manhattan on May 5. The informal afternoon session was so discreet that some of the billionaires’ aides were told they were at “security briefings”.

Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, said the summit was unprecedented. “We only learnt about it afterwards, by accident. Normally these people are happy to talk good causes, but this is different – maybe because they don’t want to be seen as a global cabal,” he said.

Some details were emerging this weekend, however. The billionaires were each given 15 minutes to present their favourite cause. Over dinner they discussed how they might settle on an “umbrella cause” that could harness their interests.

The issues debated included reforming the supervision of overseas aid spending to setting up rural schools and water systems in developing countries. Taking their cue from Gates they agreed that overpopulation was a priority.

This could result in a challenge to some Third World politicians who believe contraception and female education weaken traditional values.

Gates, 53, who is giving away most of his fortune, argued that healthier families, freed from malaria and extreme poverty, would change their habits and have fewer children within half a generation.

At a conference in Long Beach, California, last February, he had made similar points. “Official projections say the world’s population will peak at 9.3 billion [up from 6.6 billion today] but with charitable initiatives, such as better reproductive healthcare, we think we can cap that at 8.3 billion,” Gates said then.

Patricia Stonesifer, former chief executive of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which gives more than £2 billion a year to good causes, attended the Rockefeller summit. She said the billionaires met to “discuss how to increase giving” and they intended to “continue the dialogue” over the next few months.

Another guest said there was “nothing as crude as a vote” but a consensus emerged that they would back a strategy in which population growth would be tackled as a potentially disastrous environmental, social and industrial threat.

“This is something so nightmarish that everyone in this group agreed it needs big-brain answers,” said the guest. “They need to be independent of government agencies, which are unable to head off the disaster we all see looming.”

Why all the secrecy? “They wanted to speak rich to rich without worrying anything they said would end up in the newspapers, painting them as an alternative world government,” he said.

Click on title above to read full article;
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6350303.ece

Wealthiest Americans Income Doubled Under Bush

Bloomberg reports that, according to recently released IRS data, “the average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2 percent through the first six years of the Bush administration and their average income doubled to $263.3 million.” Much of their income came from capital gains resulting from the Bush tax cuts:

The drop from 2001’s tax rate of 22.9 percent was due largely to ex-President George W. Bush’s push to cut tax rates on most capital gains to 15 percent in 2003.

Capital gains made up 63 percent of the richest 400 Americans’ adjusted gross income in 2006, or a combined $66.1 billion, according to the data. In all, the 400 wealthiest Americans reported a combined $105.3 billion of adjusted gross income in 2006, the most recent year for which the IRS has data.

The Wonk Room has noted how “the conservative approach of putting big corporations and the very wealthy ahead of the middle class has failed to create prosperity that can be shared by all Americans.”