Earthquake off Panamá felt
as far north as Central Valley


A 6.0 earthquake took place just south of Costa Rica and in the Pacific off the coast of Panama.

The quake was felt the strongest in Costa Rica by communities in the south, but the Laboratorio de Ingeniería Sísmica reported that the movement was felt at least as far north as the Central Valley and even at a point in northern Guanacaste.

The quake was unusual because in the Central Valley the gentle rockling motion lasted at least three minutes. The movement began 35 minutes after midnight.

The sensors at the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica at Universidad Nacional  showed that the quake lasted for nine minutes, although the strength diminished after the first 240 seconds.

The epicenter was 103.5 kilometers (about 64 miles) south southeast of Golfito, said the Laboratorio de Ingeniería Sísmica at the Universidad de Costa Rica. That put the quake very close to the  Middle America Trench, the highly active subduction zone where the Cocos tectonic plate is forcing its way under the Caribbean plate.

The quake was strong enough to have caused some damage in western towns in Panamá. But there were no reports early today.

German food and culture
are on display this Sunday


A slice of Heredia will be transformed into Germany Sunday with the Feria Primaveral Alemana, or the Springtime German Fair.  Located at the INBioparque in Santo Domingo de Heredia, the fair is hosted by the German Embassy and promises to share the nation's culture with Costa Rica.

A variety of ethnic German dishes from bretzel to rindersgulasch will be available, as well as additional German products at vendor stands set up by businesses from the country. There will also be opportunities to get to know German art as authors, musicians, and dance groups are set to entertain at the fair.

“It's an excellent opportunity to show part of German culture, through music, dance, film, paintings, as well as technology and traditional German dishes,” said Ricardo Vargas, executive director of the Cámara de Comercio e Industria Costarricense-Alemana.  The party goes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is an admission.

Shrimp fishermen urging
response to Sala IV ban


Shrimp fishermen are urging a quick approval of a law that is designed to get them back in business.

The Sala IV constitutional court banned trawler shrimp fishing due to damage to turtles and the coral. The court said that licenses should not be renewed when they run out.

The Cámara Puntarenense de Pescadores said it wants the shrimp fishing regulated the way the U.N. Food an Agricultural Organization requires, although it did not give specifics. The organization also said it wants the Instituto Costarricense de Pesca y Acuicultura to regulate the price of fish so they can have a successful business. The fishing chamber also wants government aid to regulate the price of fuel.

In addition, the chamber wants a meeting with  Gustavo Meneses, who is the new head of the fishing institute.

The law the chamber wants to see passed was put together by some lawmakers from Puntarenas in the wake of the Sala IV decision. It is an effort to circumvent the high court decision protecting the turtles and the coral.  Turtles frequently are caught and drowned in the trawler nets.

The chamber said the ban on shrimp fishing would hurt thousands of families in the area.

Art City Tour Wednesday
also marks an anniversary


The Art City Tour takes place again Wednesday, and the  Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo notes that it is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The event also is marking the International Day of Museums, which is Sunday.

Art City Tour is when residents and visitors can spend an evening at some of the major cultural sites for free. The program even provides buses for transportation, although bikes also are encourages.

Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo said that it will be opening a new exhibit that night although the formal opening is Monday. The visits run from 5 to 9 p.m.

Therapy proposed for frogs
with fungus infection in zoos

 
Researchers at Vanderbilt University have identified an alternative to a sometimes toxic therapy that protects frogs in zoos from a deadly fungal infection that has been destroying the amphibian populations worldwide.  Their research is published ahead of print in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

The fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, has been decimating frogs all over the world. At present, nothing can help amphibians in the wild, but zoos currently rely on the often-toxic itraconazole to eradicate the disease from infected amphibians they wish to acquire.

To preserve the most at-risk amphibians, zoos have been acquiring founding populations of species threatened by chytridiomycosis, which is caused by the fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.

“Some species, such as the Panamanian Golden Frog, are nearly extinct in nature, and doing well only in zoos,” says Louise Rollins-Smith, a researcher on the study. “Facilities which house multiple amphibian species need safe treatments to protect their valuable colonies.”

Brian Gratwicke, a conservation biologist with the National Zoo, describes the difficulties zoos face in treating the creatures. The animals must go through 10 days of immersion in an itraconazole solution.

“Itraconazole is a fairly expensive drug, and depending on the species we treat we can see a very high mortality rate,” says Gratwicke. “An alternative treatment would be very helpful.”

In the study, Ms. Rollins-Smith and colleagues tested two potential alternatives, chloramphenicol, and amphotericin B. Although both drugs reduced B. dendrobatidis infection, neither could eradicate it. But amphotericin B had a critical advantage over chloramphenicol.

Ms. Rollins-Smith suggests that a more benign cure for chytridiomycosis might involve treatment first with amphotericin B, followed by itraconazole, which would enable a lower, less toxic dosing with the latter.