Category Archives: Caribbean

A woman who returned from an exotic beach holiday in the Caribbean was horrified to discover that a parasitic worm had travelled home with her - and was burrowing under her skin.

The 45-year-old woman from Pennsylvania, had felt perfectly healthy after flying home from her relaxing break.

But two weeks later she had developed a raised, itchy rash on her knee.

After initially ignoring the rash, she eventually consulted her doctor, who referred her straight to hospital .

Medics there said they knew exactly what the rash was - a parasitic infection known as cutaneous larva migrans.

The infection is extremely rare, and is caused by a parasitic hookworm that only usually affects dogs and cats.

Images of the woman's rash show red, snaking lines across her knee, in what emergency medicine physician Dr. Chaiya Laoteppitaks, from the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, described as a "textbook example" of the infection.

The wavy lines are the 'trail' left behind by the worm as it burrows beneath the skin, according to Live Science .

After being treated with anti parasitic drugs, the woman is now recovering well.

The case report of the unnamed woman as now been published in The Journal of Emergency Medicine.

According to the World Health Organization , hookworm infections are the most common parasitic infections in the world.

Hookworms are normally found in warm, moist climates.

A hookworm can infect a person when the larva burrows into a person's skin, eventually making its way to the small intestines where it develops and then lays eggs.

The eggs are later expelled in a person's faeces and the life cycle can start again.

But the type of hookworm found in the woman's knee is one that doesn't usually use humans as a host, instead preferring dogs and cats.

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Woman returns from exotic Caribbean holiday with most horrific illness - that is only usually found in dogs - Mirror.co.uk

What could make the Pirates of the Caribbean ride even more fun for Disneyland visitors?

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Actor Johnny Depp surprised London school children dressed as Capt. Jack Sparrow of "Pirates of the Caribbean" fame after he received a letter fr...

A visit from the real-life "Captain Jack Sparrow," played by Johnny Depp.

Depp surprised riders on Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland in Anaheim, California by appearing in the flesh as Captain Jack Sparrow. The actor gave visitors a great performance by employing Sparrow's signature mumbling and sword-pointing. He also repeated lines from the film as visitors passed in their boats.

Depp has surprised people as Jack Sparrow before; in 2015, he visited a children's hospital in Australia in character.

Stunned passengers uploaded videos to Twitter to exclaim things like, "Life is complete!" and "Best night ever!" You can hear fans screaming in the videos.

Depp will appear as Sparrow again the fifth installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Dead Men Tell No Tales," which opens on May 26.

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Johnny Depp surprises Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean riders as Captain Jack Sparrow - CBS News

The happiest place on Earth just got even more magical thanks to Johnny Depp.

On Wednesday evening, the actor decided to make a surprise appearance at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif.

Instead of exploring the food, parades and other attractions inside the theme park, Johnny decided to head straight over to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride for a special gig.

Dressed perfectly as his character named Captain Jack Sparrow, the actor was able to surprise dozens of riders as they rode in their respective boats.

"Everyone was surprised, shocked and excited to see him," an eyewitness shared with E! News. "He acted exactly like his character in the movies."

Another theme park visitor added, "It was a surreal moment for everyone on our boat! Crazy experience. Best Disneyland experience our family has ever been a part of."

In videos captured on Twitter, Johnny repeated lines from the movie while also interacting with parkgoers as he held onto his sword.

And for all the screams you hear in the background, that's just Disney fans freaking out over their unforgettable star sighting.

The surprise comes as excitement builds for the fifth installment of the franchise. Titled Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the Disney flick follows Jack as he flees from Salazar (Javier Bardem) and his deadly ghost sailors that have escaped from the Devil's Triangle.

His only hope of survival lies in the legendary Trident of Poseidon, but to find it, he must team up with scientist Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) and Henry (Brenton Thwaites).

Dead Men Tell No Tales hits theatres everywhere on May 29, 2017.

Additional reporting by Holly Passalaqua

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Johnny Depp Heads to Disneyland as Captain Jack Sparrow to Surprise Pirates of the Caribbean Riders - E! Online

Miami Herald

Growth returns to Caribbean Basin, but recovery is uneven Miami Herald Economic performance in the Caribbean will be uneven this year: Some economies will grow by 5 percent or more, but others will be lucky to eke out even negligible economic growth. The Dominican Republic and Guyana are expected to remain the ...

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Growth returns to Caribbean Basin, but recovery is uneven - Miami Herald

Royal Caribbean Blog (blog)

Royal Caribbean schedules Adventure of the Seas refurbishment for January 2018 Royal Caribbean Blog (blog) In order to accommodate the dry-dock, Royal Caribbean canceled the January 13, 2018 through February 10, 2018 sailings. Guests booked onboard for the affected sailings will need to be reaccommodated. As a gesture of good will, Royal Caribbean will be ... Royal Caribbean to Offer First Cruise From Melbourne; But Voyager of the Seas Will Not Return to AustraliaCruise Critic Royal Caribbean's Newest Quantum Ultra-Class Ship To Sail From Asia-Pacific In 2019PR Newswire (press release) Royal Caribbean Announces 2018-2019 Australia DeploymentCruise Industry News Seatrade Cruise News all 8 news articles »

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Royal Caribbean schedules Adventure of the Seas refurbishment for January 2018 - Royal Caribbean Blog (blog)

Trade Arabia

Staying in a suite on Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast Royal Caribbean Blog (blog) Our newest podcast episode is out to help give you a quick "audio escape" to a Royal Caribbean cruise! Episode 195 is available for downloading, where we take an in-depth look at what staying in a suite on a Royal Caribbean cruise truly entails. Today Analysts Focus on Teradyne, Inc. (TER), Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL)StockNewsJournal Technical Watch on Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL)Baxter Review Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCL) Shares Sold by Hartford Investment Management Co.The Cerbat Gem The USA Commerce -Markets Daily all 38 news articles »

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Staying in a suite on Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast - Royal Caribbean Blog (blog)

Welcome to America - A Caribbean Musical, has extended its limited run due to sold out performances and overwhelming audience demand during its first run of shows last weekend.

The show opened on Thursday April 20 and was originally slated for five performances, ending on Sunday April 23.

However, producers Braata Productions have extended the run, adding two more performances this weekend, on Saturday April 29 at 8pm and Sunday April 30 at 6pm. The show is running at the Milton G. Bassin Performing Arts Center at York College, Jamaica Queens.

Directed by Dominican born Yudelka Heyer, Welcome To America- A Caribbean Musical tackles the timely issue of illegal immigration. It tells the story of Sabrina Barnes, a talented and ambitious ingnue actress from the Caribbean, who leaves her home behind and arrives in America determined to pursue her dreams of stardom. However, she is soon hit with the harsh realities of life in her newly adopted country and finds not only her ambitions but her very existence in the United States in grave peril.

Executive Director of Braata Productions Andrew Clarke- who co wrote original music and lyrics for the show and is also part of the cast- describes the response to last weekend's performances as "nothing short of phenomenal."

"On opening night last Thursday we had a nearly full house and received a rousing standing ovation from our audience. However, by Saturday night we were turning back patrons who had come from as far away as Connecticut and Delaware hoping to buy tickets at the theater, and we were completely sold out. When the same thing occurred with our final performance Sunday evening, we knew we had an obligation to extend the run to give those people the opportunity to come back and see us. Hopefully, they take advantage of our online ticket facility because we are anticipating another bumper weekend and it's definitely prudent to secure tickets in advance-especially for those travelling from afar."

Clarke identifies the show's themes of hope and aspiration and the timeliness of its subject matter as the key factors in its success.

"It is the hot button issue in our country right now and many of those who did see the show told us they either know someone who has been through the same situations depicted or that they have experienced something similar themselves.... The show has indeed touched a nerve right now, in very profound ways."

Welcome To America- A Caribbean Musical features book by Karl O'Brian Williams, with music and lyrics by Williams, Clarke and Joel Edwards.

The Milton Bassin Performing Arts Center is located at York College, 94-95 Guy R Brewer Blvd in Jamaica Queens, New York, 11451. See also http://www.yorkpac.com.

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WELCOME TO AMERICA - A CARIBBEAN MUSICAL Extends in Queens - Broadway World

The Caribbean is caught in a housing trap. The cost of living is high: building a house in Kingston is three times more expensive than in a typical Latin American city. This has left ten million people in The Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago without a decent roof over their heads. Building adequate housing for this population would cost about $18 billion a number that only grows as the rising cost of living pushes more people out of the market. Without action, conditions will worsen, as more than 80 percent of the Caribbean population will be living in cities by the year 2050.

This trap does have a way out, however. A recent study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), The State of Social Housing in Six Caribbean Countries, has looked at successful efforts to tackle the lack of affordable housing across the region. Governments have launched programs to expand social housing, lower mortgage lending costs, and promote disaster-resistant buildings. The Dominican Republic is a case in point: in 1990, close to thirty percent of Dominicans lived in substandard housing; this proportion has decreased to under fifteen percent today.

Despite this progress, much more needs to be done. By looking at what has worked and the gaps that remain, an affordable housing action plan for the Caribbean would contain at least three elements:

First, we need new alliances between financial institutions, housing ministries, and construction firms. A first generation of partnerships created many successful options for the middle class but failed to find solutions for lower income residents. Government alone cannot fill the gap. To incubate new low-cost housing developers, governments need to design attractive packages that reduce the costs of acquiring land and support the development of durable low-cost building materials. The development of new rent-to-own schemes in Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago illustrate the sort of innovative approaches that are needed.

Second, if we are truly to leave no one behind, we need a new social contract with informal settlements in Caribbean cities. Neighborhood upgrading projects could revitalize the regions shanty towns, bidonvilles and tugurios through new housing, public spaces, infrastructure, and schools. But these programs will only succeed if they are done in close collaboration with residents and community-based organizations. Governments already acknowledge that low-income families build and renovate their homes at a massive scale in the region. Suriname leveraged this expertise by providing discounted building materials to certified community-based organizations trained in housing construction. This led to the repair and expansion of thousands of homes. Jamaica too is driving down costs using this model, providing free design services that allow social housing residents to both expand their homes and comply with building codes.

Lastly, we must call on governments at all levels to establish and enforce housing policies with explicit targets for affordable housing. Elevating housing policy as a national development priority would revitalize distressed neighborhoods and limit sprawl. Last year, United Nations member states committed to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing by 2030, as spelled out in the landmark Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is fundamental as Caribbean residents flock to cities in decades to come.

The need for transformative action on this front in the Caribbean is clear and conditions are ripe. It is up to all leaders in government, business, and civil society to galvanize housing and radically improve quality of life in the region.

--

Donovan is a senior housing and urban development specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Turner-Jones is the General Manager of the Caribbean Country Department of the IDB.

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Caribbean Housing Is Expensive and Scarce. Here's How to Change That. - Americas Quarterly (blog)

News & Observer

AP PHOTOS: Editor selections from Latin America, Caribbean News & Observer This photo gallery highlights some of the top news images made by Associated Press photographers in Latin America and the Caribbean that were published in the last week. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets to protest against the ... AP PHOTOS: Editor selections from Latin America, Caribbean | WTOPWTOP all 2 news articles »

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AP PHOTOS: Editor selections from Latin America, Caribbean - News & Observer

04/20/2017

As they have done in past years, radio amateurs in Puerto Rico took part in the Caribe Wave tsunami exercise on March 21. Tsunami Preparedness Week was March 19-25 for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Caribe Wave is the annual tsunami exercise of the UNESCO Tsunami and Other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (CARIBE-EWS). Its major objective is for countries, emergency managers, and communities at risk to test, validate, and update their tsunami response plans.

Tsunami occurrences are relatively infrequent in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The most significant historical events happened in 1867 and 1918, a NOAA/NWS report said. However, the Puerto Rico Trench and other seismic zones in the Caribbean region are all capable of generating tsunamis. Further, vulnerability [in this region] is very high, due to the high population density near the coast and tourist activities concentrated at the coast.

In Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, Caribe Wave is conducted in coordination with the Puerto Rico Seismic Network (Red Ssmica de Puerto Rico), UNESCO, NOAA, and the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency (PREMA-AEMEAD). This years scenario was an earthquake, with an epicenter at the east of the island of Antigua, generating a tsunami incident for the entire Caribbean. Exercise information can be found on the Tsunami Zone website.

Historically, Amateur Radio has been an important part of this exercise at an island-wide level with various island radio groups participating on an array of VHF/UHF and HF frequencies. Puerto Rico Section Emergency Coordinator Juan Sepulveda, KP3CR, noted that some Caribbean island nations, such as St. Lucia, conducted their own drills. Other Caribbean islands checked into the Puerto Rico net established on 40 meters.

At 10:05 AM on March 21, the exercise commenced with an Emergency Alert System (EAS) activation on broadcast media on the island, announcing the drill scenario. Sirens were tested in all of Puerto Ricos coastal cities and towns. Many government and community administrations co-conducted evacuation drills.

Amateur Radios role was to gather reports on how residents heard or learned of the EAS Alert and if any heard the sirens. A report summary was delivered to PREMA officials during a post-exercise meeting with SEC Sepulveda and ARRL Puerto Rico Section Manager Oscar Resto, KP4RF.

The primary repeater system used to communicate the reports was the island-wide Movmiento Radioaficionados de Puerto Rico, comprised of 13 VHF and UHF repeaters. The exercise net was managed by the Patriot Amateur Emergency Radio Club (WP4PQK, an ARRL-affiliated Club. Section Traffic Manager Pedro Irizarry, KP3PI, ran the net on 7.188 MHz, the frequency of the daily Friendly Net, a popular meeting place for Caribbean radio amateurs. Local and neighboring Caribbean stations reported into the net. A VHF net on 147.090 MHz, managed by the Radio Operators of the South (Radio Operadores del Sur), which also served as a clearinghouse for reports.

PREMA Executive Director Abner Gmez Corts hailed the Caribe Wave 2017 exercise as a success during a visit to a school near the coast, which was practicing evacuation measures Thanks to Angel Santana, WP3GW, Puerto Rico Section Public Information Coordinator and Assistant Section Manager

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Puerto Rico Radio Amateurs Take Part in 2017 Caribbean Tsunami Exercise - ARRL