Blog note. Jesus indicated that ‘fearful sights’ (various natural disasters) would occur leading up to the time known as the Tribulation and Great Tribulation (a combined seven year period of great destruction on earth). Although these types of things have occurred in the past for centuries and thousands of years, they could be identified as the ‘season of the times’ due to the ferociousness of these events. They would be occurring in greater intensity, severity, frequency, size, duration, scope … just like the pains that a woman experiences in labor the farther along she is in the labor process. We are in the ‘season of the times’ that comes just before the seven (7) year Tribulation/Great Tribulation period
… And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. (Luke 21:11).
… And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; (Luke 21:25)
… Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken; (Luke 21:26)
… This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2 Timothy 3:1)
Jesus is giving a series of prophecies about what to look for as the age of grace comes to a close. These verses are several of many such prophecies from throughout the Bible. 2017 was the worst year in recorded history for the intensity, frequency, severity, duration and occurrence of a large number of severe natural disasters worldwide. Earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, typhoons, cyclones, torrential flooding, unprecedented wildfires in unusual places, devastating droughts, excessive/scorching heat setting records everywhere, record snowfalls in Europe and Russia. Snow in the Arabia. This list can go on. Most studied Eschatologists believe these ‘fearful sights’ and massive natural disasters are all part of the ‘CONVERGENCE’ of signs that this Biblical and prophetic age is closing. Most people who study prophecy are familiar with the routine reference(s) made that these things will be like a woman having labor pains, growing in intensity, frequency, size and duration.

CDC issues vital signs warning as it preps for potential outbreak of ‘polio-like’ illness AFM in fall

By KASSIDY VAVRA| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |JUL 09, 2019 

The CDC issued a vital signs warning Tuesday as it prepares for a potential outbreak of the “polio-like” illness Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) in the fall.

Since 2014, AFM has struck children in increasing numbers from August to October with peak outbreaks occurring on even-numbered years. Although doctors have linked a number of cases in the initial 2014 outbreak to enterovirus D-68, health officials have not yet been able to determine the exact cause of the illness that has caused many children to become paralyzed.

Ahead of the outbreaks, the CDC issued a warning on Tuesday including information on AFM and what doctors should do if cases are suspected. Although rare, the illness is serious, doctors have warned.

“Improving the understanding of AFM is a public health priority. The overall rarity of this condition and absence of a confirmatory test highlight the need for increased vigilance among providers seeing pediatric patients with acute onset of flaccid limb weakness in the late summer and fall. Ongoing national AFM surveillance will provide an important bridge between research and public health response and will be critical for the development of optimal treatment and prevention recommendations,” the CDC warned.

Children often have symptoms of an upper respiratory infection, and children may later have difficulty breathing and “flaccid weakness” that develops into paralysis where they are unable to move their limbs.

Although 2019 is not likely to be a peak year as previous peak outbreaks have occurred on even-number years, the CDC is preparing as August to October are when the most outbreaks are seen from year-to-year.

The CDC urged that testing protocol from doctors in suspected patients is crucial to helping determine the cause of the condition and refining the definition.

“Prompt recognition, early specimen collection, and reporting of all suspected cases to public health are important goals for AFM national surveillance,” the CDC said.

The CDC said despite testing patients for a variety of pathogens only 3% of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) specimens yielded a result in 2018. This data suggests routine enterovirus, rhinovirus or PCR testing of CSF are “unlikely to confirm the cause of these outbreaks.”

“Early recognition and specimen collection from suspected AFM patients are essential to optimizing pathogen detection and determining whether single or multiple etiologies are responsible for the recent outbreaks,” the CDC states.

Dr. Benjamin Greenberg, a neurologist at the UT Southwestern and Children’s Health in Dallas, previously told the Daily News that if AFM is caused by an enterovirus like D-68, the viruses could be detected by swabs at the back of the throat because that is where they replicate — not from CSF samples or stool samples like the polio virus.

“Although 44% of confirmed AFM cases in 2018 had an enterovirus or rhinovirus identified in respiratory specimens, approximately half were negative,” the CDC said.

The CDC states that timeliness is essential for testing these viruses, because they may have a short time frame when they are detectable — meaning some viruses may not have been detected due to the timeliness of testing despite increased protocol.

This could be the key to determining the cause of the illness, and potentially developing a vaccine, doctors have said.

Patients with suspected cases of AFM should undergo immediate testing, and doctors should report cases quickly to health departments and the CDC, the health agency said.

“In the absence of a confirmatory diagnostic test for AFM, management decisions for individual patients in the acute setting should be informed by careful review of the patient’s signs and symptoms, laboratory testing, MRI results, and other test results, including electromyography, and in close consultation with infectious disease specialists and neurologists,” the CDC stated in its vital signs warning.

“To provide additional specificity for reporting of patients with suspected AFM to health departments, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists modified the clinical criteria for reporting of patients suspected of AFM in June 2019 to include MRI evidence of spinal lesions with at least some gray matter involvement, in addition to acute flaccid limb weakness.”

In 2018, the nation saw its largest outbreak of AFM, with 233 confirmed cases. Nine cases have been confirmed already this year, with health officials prepping around the world for a possible increase in cases in the coming fall months.

Pestilence

Disease

Death

Virus

Bacteria

Superbugs

Contagion

Epidemic

Pandemic

Spreading from one person to another

Perilous times have come

Pestilence spreading around the world

Pestilence in diverse places

Disease spreading around the world

Disease in diverse places

Disease increasing in frequency

Disease increasing in size

Disease increasing in strength

Disease increasing in duration

Increasing like the pains of a woman in labor