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Test
results are finally starting to trickle
in
that
are adding credence to the suspicion
that dozens of people who fell ill after
attending last month's DOMAINfest
Global conference in |
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Los
Angeles may have been exposed to legionella
pneumophila bacteria at the Playboy
Mansion, the site of the show's
closing night party. Today the Los
Angeles Times reported
that public health officials
investigating the illness outbreak have
found legionella bacteria in an unnamed
water source at the Mansion. However,
the Times added that officials
have not yet ruled out other
bacteria or viruses, because Legionella
bacteria are commonly found in moist
environments.
There
are two strains of legionella
pneumophila, a severe one that causes
the infamous Legionnaire's
Disease and a milder version
that causes Pontiac Fever (an
illness that is also discussed on the CDC's
Legionnaire's Disease page linked to
above). One of those who fell
ill, Shane Cultra, wrote on his blog
Saturday that lab tests confirmed he had
contracted Pontiac Fever. Many others
have had lab tests done and are still
waiting for results that can take
several weeks to come back. |
Image: Sura
Nualpradid / FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
This
new report that legionella bacteria was found at
the Mansion has spurred other state and
local health departments to start contacting
people in their areas who fell ill after
returning home from Los Angeles. This afternoon,
a representative from the Florida Department
of Health called my wife, Diana, who
was among those who fell ill (I did not). He
wanted to know all of the details about
what happened in L.A., the symptoms she
experienced and the treatment her doctor
prescribed for her. Like many, Diana was given antibiotics
and she quickly improved after going on them
(antibiotics are used to treat bacterial
infections - not viral like the flu). Clearly,
public officials throughout the U.S. are taking
this very seriously and more answers
should be forthcoming soon as additional test
results come in.
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Back in the
domain business world, Verisign has
released their latest quarterly Domain
Name Industry Brief,
covering the fourth quarter of 2010.
The quarter closed with a base of 205.3
million domain name registrations
across all Top Level Domains (TLDs).
That is a 1.7% increase over the
third quarter of 2010 and a 6.3% jump
year-over-year, representing an increase
of 12.1 million domain names. The
report is packed with other useful data
so I highly recommend downloading the
full brief for all of the details.
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One other
note today - a reminder that the Domain
Roundtable conference gets
underway this evening with a Welcome
Reception at the Atlantis Resort
in the Bahamas. Attendees will
get down to business Wednesday morning
with an opening session on Tactics
for Successful Branding. You can
see the complete
conference agenda here.
Unfortunately,
previous commitments will keep me from
covering the show - one that has always
been among my favorite events. I only
missed one previous Roundtable (in 2005
when my daughter was graduating from
high school at the same time the
conference ran).
The Thought
Convergence team that puts
on the event, led by Laura Schmidt
with the full support of the company's
top executives, Kevin Vo and
Ammar Kubba, always produces a
top |
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notch
conference and I am envious of those who
are in the Bahamas for this week's show.
Fortunately, our friend Morgan Linton,
who will be speaking Thursday, plans to
cover Roundtable on his blog,
so we can all stay abreast of highlights
through his efforts. |
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