The Yomiuri Shimbun
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases announced on Tuesday that 167 people have been infected with measles so far this year — a higher number than usual. Many of the cases have occurred in Osaka and Mie prefectures.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has issued a warning through local governments to medical institutions nationwide to check for measles when examining patients with a fever or rash.
According to the institute, the number of cases through this part of the year has increased at the fastest rate since 2009. By prefecture, Mie had the most with 49, followed by Osaka with 47. Tokyo had 11 cases, and Kanagawa six.
In Mie Prefecture, cases of measles first emerged in early January but no new cases have been reported since Feb. 1. In the city of Osaka, 19 employees and customers at a department store’s Valentine’s Day event were infected, while 10 people, including doctors, were infected at the Saiseikai Ibaraki Hospital in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture. A woman in her 40s with measles was also found to have made a round trip by Shinkansen between Shin-Osaka and Tokyo stations on Feb. 8 and 10.
Cold-like symptoms such as fever, coughing and sneezing begin about 10 days after infection with the measles virus. These symptoms are followed by a fever of 39 C or higher and a rash, both of which last about four days.
The disease is highly contagious. When effluent from a sneeze or cough dries, minute particles containing the virus waft into the air, spreading the disease to people who inhale them.
This Hedge Fund Reaps Huge Returns But It Doesn’t Want Your Money
The key to getting monster-sized returns in mining equities is to be small, according to managers of the Plethora Precious Metals Fund.
With only 18 million euros ($20 million) in assets, Plethora Precious Metals is a minnow in contrast to giants such as Blackrock Inc. and Vanguard Group Inc. While investment funds generally try to increase assets to share success and rake in higher fees, this Dutch fund isn’t interested in being like its larger peers.
“We invest in small teams of geologists that are looking for ore deposits,” the fund’s founder Peter Vermeulen said in an interview. “Those companies are so small that it is practically impossible to allocate a lot of money there. However, their returns – when they have found gold – are huge.”
The Utrecht-based fund invests in young mining exploration companies – mostly in gold. This strategy reaped returns of 502 percent during the last six years, according to the fund’s own data. A staggering performance compared with the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF’s drop of 62 percent, or the 65 percent fall in the NYSE’s Gold BUGS Index.
Thus far this year, Plethora has fallen 17 percent, reflecting the share price decline at its main holding, Westhaven Inc.
Plethora holds a stake of between 5 percent and 15 percent in roughly 20 portfolio companies, ones that have a market valuation of about $20 million or less prior to a significant discovery. Funds with billions of dollars under management aren’t able to research and invest in companies that small, fund manager Douwe van Hees said. “We can allocate money very specifically and don’t have to invest in a limited number of less performing assets.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-19/hedge-fund-reaps-huge-returns-but-it-doesn-t-want-your-money
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