<ul class="summary-list"><li>Belgium's leading <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> expert is in hiding with his family amid an assassination threat. </li><li>Marc Van Rast has been placed on a hit list by a military sniper who's on the run. </li><li>Military instructor Jürgen Conings is on a terrorism watchlist because of his far-right beliefs.</li></ul>Belgium's leading expert on COVID-19 is in hiding after being placed on a hit list by a rogue military sniper with ties to the far right. Jürgen Conings, a military instructor, went on the run almost three weeks ago after making threats to Professor <keyword id="9059395" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="marc-van-ranst">Marc Van Ranst</keyword>, a virologist who has advised the Belgian government on restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus and vaccines. <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/01/fears-far-right-belgian-sniper-drew-hit-list-going-run-still/">According to reports,</a> Conings had drawn up a hit list of 10 targets, including Van Ranst.<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57358492">Van Ranst told BBC News</a> that he was living in a safe house with his wife and 12-year-old son with round-the-clock security. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">-Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1395138229649788928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 19, 2021</a></blockquote>"The threat was very real," Van Ranst said, describing the night he and his family were forced into hiding. "The ex-soldier, heavily armed, was on my street for three hours, right in front of my house, waiting for me to arrive home from work."Police say that after leaving his barracks, Conings headed straight for Van Ranst's home. But Van Ranst said he'd had arrived home early that evening and was already inside when Conings began monitoring the property. The scientist is not the only person on Coning's hit list who has been provided with enhanced protection. Het<a href="https://www.hln.be/binnenland/dit-zijn-de-doelwitten-van-jurgen-conings-een-advocaat-minister-en-van-ranst~af60cdda/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F"> Laatste Nieuws </a>reports that a lawyer who worked on his divorce, his ex-wife, and senior military figures involved in disciplining him for his extremist beliefs are also being shielded. Mosques and refugee centers in the Flemish province of Limburg are also reportedly under tighter security. Belgian authorities had said that Conings was already on a terrorism watchlist because of his far-right allegiances before he went AWOL, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/belgian-police-hunt-heavily-armed-soldier-who-threatened-virologist-2021-05-19/">reported Reuters. </a>When he went missing, he left a note in his barracks expressing his rage at political and scientific elites. "The so-called political elite and now also the virologists decide how you and I should live," he wrote, reported <a href="https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/belgium-all-news/170524/letter-from-fugitive-to-family-a-possible-suicide-note-jurgen-conings-veteran-hoge-kempen-limburg-terrorist/">the Brussels Times.</a> "They sow hatred and frustration, worse than it already was. And no one rebels against that. If you say anything, you will be punished."Belgian police have launched a huge manhunt for Conings, yet he remains on the run.

A top COVID-19 scientist is being hunted by a far-right sniper who has gone AWOL from the army

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Nature surveyed 321 scientists who had spoken publicly about <keyword id="11893994" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19" source="Orion">COVID-19</keyword>.</li><li>60% of them reported receiving abuse, with 15% even reporting receiving death threats.</li></ul>A small survey by the scientific journal Nature found that dozens of scientists who had spoken publicly about COVID-19 had reported receiving abuse, with some saying they had gotten death threats or been physically attacked.The <a href="https://media.nature.com/original/magazine-assets/d41586-021-02741-x/19756934">survey</a> of 321 scientists around the world who had given media interviews about COVID-19 was <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02741-x?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nature%2Frss%2Fcurrent+%28Nature+-+Issue%29Issue%29">published Wednesday</a>.The survey found that most of the respondents reported some kind of abuse following their media appearances:<ul><li>189 (59%) reported receiving attacks on credibility.</li><li>134 (42%) reported feeling emotional or psychological distress.</li><li>72 (22%) reported getting threats of physical or sexual violence.</li><li>47 (15%) reported death threats.</li><li>Six (2%) said they were physically attacked after speaking about COVID-19.</li></ul>Medical products that are particularly politicized, like COVID-19 vaccines or ivermectin - the antiparasitic drug that has not been proven to treat COVID-19, some scientists told Nature. "Any time you write about vaccines - anyone in the vaccine world can tell you the same story - you get vague death threats ... and endless hatred," Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, an epidemiologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia, told Nature."I think I've received more death threats due to ivermectin, in fact, than anything I've done before," he added. "It's anonymous people e-mailing me from weird accounts saying 'I hope you die' or 'if you were near me I would shoot you.'"Health experts have reported abuse related to their COVID-19 comments for months. Anthony Fauci, the White House's chief medical advisor, previously said that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-receives-death-threats-gets-called-hitler-craziness-2021-6">he and his family have received death threats.</a>Marcus Lacerda, a Brazilian health researcher, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01314-9?proof=t">told Nature Medicine</a> in April that he needed to be escorted by "bodyguards with guns" after he published a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/study-results-chloroquine-hydroxychloroquine-as-covid-19-treatment-2020-4">trial disproving that the antimalarial drug chloroquine could be used to treat COVID-19</a>.Earlier this year Marc Van Ranst, a leading Belgian epidemiologist, had to be moved to a safe house with his wife and son for nearly three weeks after a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/far-right-belgian-soldier-who-hoarded-weapons-still-at-large-10164733">far-right sniper</a> <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/far-right-belgian-soldier-who-hoarded-weapons-still-at-large-10164733"></a>went on the run promising a vendetta on virologists and COVID-19 lockdowns, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57358492">the BBC reported</a>.Heidi Tworek, a historian at the University of British Columbia who studies online abuse of health communicators, told Nature that abuse was harsher for women and people of color from marginalized groups."That abuse will probably include abuse of your personal characteristics," she said.

Dozens of scientists who speak publicly about COVID-19 say they've been abused, with some receiving death threats and getting physically attacked, survey says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Cases of <keyword id="13900629" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="monkeypox" source="Orion">monkeypox</keyword> have been identified in the US, Australia, and Europe.</li><li>The virus is typically spread by wild animals in Central and West Africa.</li></ul>Monkeypox is a rare disease that's usually found in Central and West Africa. The virus has been spotted on other continents before, typically in cases related to foreign travel.The latest <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-is-monkeypox-how-dangerous-symptoms-treatment-transmission-risk-2022-5">monkeypox cases</a> detected in the US, Australia, and a number of European countries have not followed the usual pattern, global <keyword id="11894571" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="health" source="Orion">health</keyword> officials have said. The disease is rarely spread between humans, but recent infections suggest a likelihood of community transmission.While some of the early cases had confirmed connections to travel, many of the infections seem to have been transmitted between people in Europe — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/monkeypox-virus-cases-uk-urgent-investigation-symptoms-2022-5">namely in the UK</a>, where contact tracing and testing is underway.Here's what you need to know about the monkeypox cases detected around the world.<h2>United Kingdom</h2>The first known case of the current monkeypox outbreak was announced in the UK on May 7. According to the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/monkeypox-cases-confirmed-in-england-latest-updates">UK Health Security Agency</a>, the patient had recently traveled to Nigeria, where he was believed to have contracted the infection.Since then, at least 20 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the UK. Two individuals who share a household in London were reported to have monkeypox on May 14, with no known connections to the first traveler. Four more cases were confirmed Monday, with some common contacts within the group but no connections to previously reported cases, according to UKHSA. The individuals, all male, had no links to travel in affected countries.UK health officials reported two more cases Wednesday. Neither case had known connections to infected people or history of travel to countries where monkeypox is endemic, so the virus may be spreading within England.On Friday, UKHSA announced 11 more confirmed cases of monkeypox. Dr. Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser, said more cases are expected in the coming days, as health services monitor close contacts and healthcare workers for symptoms.<h2>United States</h2>The <a href="https://www.insider.com/first-us-monkeypox-case-identified-possible-tie-to-europe-outbreak-2022-5">first case of monkeypox in the US</a> this year was confirmed by the Massachusetts Department of <keyword id="6364896" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="public-health" source="Orion">Public Health</keyword> on Wednesday. The case, an adult man who had recently traveled to Canada, "poses no risk to the public," according to the department's <a href="https://www.mass.gov/news/massachusetts-public-health-officials-confirm-case-of-monkeypox">press release</a>.New York City health officials <a href="https://twitter.com/zackfinknews/status/1527784082989514757?s=21&amp;t=OH-INBbLRMCvP5uLPwc69g">said late on Friday</a> that they had confirmed one monkeypox case, and ruled out one suspected case. Previously, officials had announced a patient was awaiting test results in isolation at Bellevue Hospital. The case has yet to be confirmed by the CDC.<h2>Canada</h2>After a case of monkeypox was reported in Massachusetts, the US CDC began working with the Public Health Agency of Canada to identify potential exposures there. The American traveler may have been infected before or during a trip to Montreal, Quebec, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2022/05/public-health-agency-of-canada-confirms-2-cases-of-monkeypox.html">according to PHAC</a>.Individuals with symptoms that could be consistent with monkeypox infection have been tested, and on Thursday night, the National Microbiology Laboratory reported that two samples were positive for monkeypox.The two cases, reported in Quebec province, are the first to be confirmed in Canada.<h2>Portugal</h2>More than 20 suspected monkeypox infections have been identified in Portugal this May. As of Tuesday, five cases were confirmed by lab testing at the country's National Institute of Health.All of the suspected and confirmed cases are located in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region, <a href="https://www.dgs.pt/em-destaque/casos-de-infecao-por-virus-monkeypox-em-portugal.aspx">according to Portuguese health officials</a>.The suspected cases, mostly young and all male, have ulcerative lesions similar to those seen in confirmed monkeypox infections, officials said.<h2>Sweden</h2>One case of monkeypox was confirmed in Sweden, according to a press release from the <a href="https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/nyheter-och-press/nyhetsarkiv/2022/maj/ett-fall-av-apkoppor-rapporterat-i-sverige/">Swedish Public Health Agency</a>.The infected person is not seriously ill, but has received care, Swedish health officials said. They don't yet know where or how the individual was infected, but an investigation is ongoing.<h2>Italy</h2>Italian health officials diagnosed one case of monkeypox at Spallanzani hospital in Rome, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/italy-reports-first-case-monkeypox-infection-two-more-suspected-2022-05-19/">Reuters</a> reported Thursday. The infected person is in isolation after returning from a trip to the Canary Islands.Two more suspected cases have yet to be confirmed, the hospital said, according to Reuters.<h2>Belgium</h2>Two cases of monkeypox have been identified in two different cities in Belgium, according to local news reports compiled by <a href="https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/belgium-detects-first-two-monkeypox-cases">Reuters</a>.The first infected person was diagnosed in Antwerp, a spokesperson for Belgium's Agency for Care and Health said. They are not seriously ill, and they are currently in isolation with their partner.The second case was confirmed in the region of Flemish Brabant, a Leuven-based virologist, <a href="https://twitter.com/vanranstmarc?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Marc Van Ranst</a>, said on Twitter.<h2>France</h2>There is at least one suspected case of monkeypox in France, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/france-says-first-suspected-case-monkeypox-detected-paris-region-2022-05-19/">Reuters</a> reported Thursday.The first suspected case was detected in the Paris region amid extensive monitoring in Europe, the French Health Ministry said.<h2>Germany</h2>Germany has identified a single case of monkeypox, but health officials do not expect to see many more cases, the German armed forces' medical service said on Friday."The Institute for Microbiology of the German Armed Forces in Munich has now also detected the monkeypox virus beyond doubt for the first time in Germany on 19 May 2022 in a patient with characteristic skin lesions," the service said in a statement, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/germany-detects-first-case-monkeypox-military-medical-service-2022-05-20/">Reuters</a>.<h2>Australia</h2>The first case of monkeypox in Australia was identified in a traveler returning from the UK, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/australia-reports-probable-case-monkeypox-infection-2022-05-20/">Reuters</a> reported Friday. The man is in his 30s and arrived in Melbourne Monday, according to Victoria state's health department.Another probable case was identified in Sydney, where a man in his 40s developed "mild" symptoms after traveling to Europe. Testing is underway to confirm his case, Australian health officials told reporters.

At least 9 countries have reported monkeypox infections &mdash; here's what you need to know about the cases

Brussels, Apr 15 (AFP) Belgian side Anderlecht resumed training under strict social-distancing guidelines on Wednesday prompting criticism from medical experts. Despite the Belgian first division being cut short by the coronavirus pandemic the Brussels club elected to go back to work "for those players who want to". Among those to question Anderlecht's decision was virologist Marc Van Ranst who described it as "legal but a bad signal" during lockdown. Another doctor wrote to the Brussels mayor telling him: "It's incredible. (It) goes totally against government recommendations and the advice of experts." Police are carrying out daily checks to ensure the players are respecting the strict health measures put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19 which has claimed 4,400 lives in Belgium. Anderlecht, placed eighth in the league, say each player is designated a zone on the pitch and his own ball, no passing is permitted. AFP PDSPDS

Anderlecht criticised for training under lockdown

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Reports of people catching the novel <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> a second time are starting to trickle in, months into the <keyword id="43587" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="pandemic">pandemic</keyword>.</li><li>A Belgian woman was reported to have a mild second case, three months after her first illness.</li><li>And an older person in the Netherlands with a weakened immune system caught the coronavirus twice too, a leading Dutch researcher reported. </li><li>On Monday, scientists confirmed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-reinfection-case-hong-kong-no-cause-for-panic-2020-8">the first coronavirus reinfection case</a>: A 33-year-old, healthy man from Hong Kong who had traveled to Spain and back.</li><li>Experts say these findings are not cause for concern: They show our immune system mounts <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/long-term-coronavirus-immunity-t-cells-2020-8">an adequate defense against this virus</a> — a defense that can help fend off the illness' worst effects a second time around.</li></ul>Just hours after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-reinfection-case-hong-kong-no-cause-for-panic-2020-8">the world's first confirmed coronavirus reinfection case was documented in Hong Kong on Monday</a>, researchers reported a woman in Belgium had caught the virus a second time. So, too, did Dutch virus experts, who announced an older person in the Netherlands as a third confirmed reinfection of <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword>, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Experts used genetic testing, in which they compare versions of the virus present in the first and second infections, to confirm these reinfections were distinct second cases, and not just lingering effects of the people's first infections.But just because a few COVID-19 reinfections have started to crop up among more than <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html">23.69 million documented coronavirus cases worldwide</a> doesn't mean that an initial coronavirus infection does nothing to protect people from future illnesses, or that a vaccine won't help stamp out this pandemic. "I don't want people to be afraid," Maria van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization's technical lead for COVID-19, said on Monday when <a href="https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/media-advisory-covid-19-virtual-press-conference-24-august-2020.pdf?sfvrsn=e22ef35e_0">asked about the Hong Kong reinfection case</a>. "We need to ensure that people understand that when they are infected, even when they have a mild infection, that they do develop an immune response."<h2>The new reinfection cases in Belgium and the Netherlands</h2><div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO: A police officer talks to medical workers outside a hospital, during the lockdown imposed by the Belgian government to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread, in Brussels, Belgium April 17, 2020. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir" height="3332" width="5126" msid="77749899" hostid="261"></div>The reinfection case in the Netherlands, diagnosed in an elderly person with a weakened immune system, was confirmed to Business Insider on Tuesday by Erasmus MC, where virologist Marion Koopmans works. (Her data on the case has not been made public yet, and Erasmus cited Dutch privacy laws when asked for details.)"Just because you've built up <keyword id="102007" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Antibodies">antibodies</keyword> doesn't mean you're immune," Koopmans said, in an interview about the reinfection case with Dutch public <a href="https://nos.nl/artikel/2345309-ook-herbesmettingen-in-nederland-en-belgie.html">broadcaster NOS</a>. But even if a person doesn't develop full <keyword id="48619" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Immunity">immunity</keyword> to a virus, and gets reinfected, the body seems to remember its previous illnesses. In addition to antibodies, T cells and other components of a person's immune system all work together to better fight back an active infection the second time around. That seems to be what happened in Belgium, where a woman in her 50s who already had the coronavirus in March was reportedly diagnosed a second time in June. Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst has not yet made public the data behind his claim either, but said the woman developed very few antibodies after her first infection, and surmised that that may be why she was susceptible to reinfection (though her second case was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-netherlands-reinfe/dutch-belgian-patients-re-infected-with-coronavirus-nos-report-idUSKBN25L0LF">mild</a>)."We would have preferred the time between two infections to have been longer," Van Ranst told Belgian public broadcaster <a href="https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2020/08/24/herbesmetting-coronavirus-voor-het-eerst/">VRT news</a>. "The antibodies from the first time do not help enough to prevent the second infection." He said more of these seemingly rare reinfection cases will likely continue to pop up in the coming months, as people's immunity to the coronavirus (from their previous infections) wanes."Maybe there will be more who will have it a second time after 6 months, or 9 months," he said. <h2>Researchers reported another reinfection case in Hong Kong Monday</h2>The two European reinfection cases bring the official tally of coronavirus reinfection cases to three, among tens of millions.Previous reports of 260 reinfections from South Korea in April <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-south-korean-reactivated-cases-not-reinfected-experts-2020-4">turned out to be lingering cases of the same infection.</a> One other potential reinfection case was reported in the US in June, and another 3 were flagged in July in France. But those cases have not been considered confirmed reinfections because less time elapsed between the positive tests, and scientists did not do a genetic sequence of the viruses.Researchers from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-reinfection-case-hong-kong-no-cause-for-panic-2020-8">Hong Kong University announced Monday that</a> "the world's first documentation of a patient who recovered from COVID-19 but got another episode of COVID-19, afterwards," is forthcoming in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. A 33-year-old, seemingly healthy man who had been sick in March was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-reinfection-case-hong-kong-no-cause-for-panic-2020-8">diagnosed with the novel coronavirus a second time</a> after traveling back to Hong Kong from Spain earlier this month.<div type="image" title="People wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak walk out of a train at a subway station near the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort in Hong Kong, China July 14, 2020. REUTERS/Lam Yik" height="3864" width="5796" msid="77749912" hostid="261"></div>While he had a fever, cough, and headaches during his first COVID-19 illness, the man had no symptoms during his second infection.<h2>Why reinfection cases are not unexpected, or a reason to panic</h2>Many epidemiologists have anticipated coronavirus reinfections like these could be possible."You can get repeatedly infected once your immunity goes down," Florian Krammer, a <a href="https://twitter.com/florian_krammer">vaccine scientist and virus expert</a> at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, previously told Business Insider, when <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/antibody-expert-you-can-get-coronaviruses-again-we-need-vaccine-2020-7">asked about coronavirus immunity</a>. <div type="image" title="A recovered coronavirus (COVID-19) patient donates blood samples for plasma extraction to help critically ill patients at the National Blood Transfusion Center." height="3840" width="5760" msid="77749930" hostid="261"></div>These three cases, then, aren't a reason to panic. Instead, they show how previous infections can provide people with some decent protection from another coronavirus illness."That someone would pop up with a reinfection, it doesn't make me nervous," Koopmans <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/cases-covid-19-reinfection-netherlands-belgium-national-broadcaster-reports-n1237985">told Reuters</a>. "We have to see whether it happens often."Indeed, Krammer predicted (just as these reinfection cases suggest) that a patient's second tangle with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, will generally be less severe than their first: "It's very likely that if you did get reinfected after some time, it would be an attenuated disease," he said.The same could be true of coronavirus <keyword id="79555" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Vaccines">vaccines</keyword>, once they're developed: even if they don't protect people from infection at 100%, vaccines could help our immune systems battle this illness better.

You Searched For "marc van ranst" and got 5 results

A top COVID-19 scientist is being hunted by a far-right sniper who has gone AWOL from the army

Tom Porter

Dozens of scientists who speak publicly about COVID-19 say they've been abused, with some receiving death threats and getting physically attacked, survey says

Marianne Guenot

At least 9 countries have reported monkeypox infections here's what you need to know about the cases

Andrea Michelson

Anderlecht criticised for training under lockdown

PTI

2 more people have been reinfected with the coronavirus, European scientists say, a day after the first confirmed reinfection in Hong Kong

Aylin Woodward,Hilary Brueck