Public healthcare workers are warning against a potentially fatal intestinal disease called V-Tec.

Already over 40 cases of the disease have been reported this year compared to a total of 80 over the past five years.

Symptoms can surprise people as at first it appears to be a mere stomach bug. But the severity soon worsens to a serious stomach upset which can lead to kidney disease if left untreated.

The elderly and children are particularly susceptible. Two people have died from V-Tec in the past five years. And people who come into contact with cattle are most at risk.

Healthcare officials are unsure why the number of cases of V-Tec has ballooned upward this year. An investigation into possibilities has begun.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>