1/9/08-1/15/08|Weekly Bird Flu Thread: China bird flu outbreak 'under control'

Link to Last Weeks Thread:

HEALTH - 1/1/08-1/8/08|Weekly Bird Flu Thread: Fourth bird flu death in a week in Egypt

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=271188

Johns Hopkins on influenza:

http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/33/450/Rashid Chotani.pdf

National Avian Influenza Surveillance Information:

http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/ai/

CDC

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/index.htm

WHO

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/index.html

CIDRAP

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/

Official U.S. Government Web site

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/

FAO

http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subjects/en/health/diseases-cards/special_avian.html

Public Health Agency of Canada

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/influenza/avian_qa_e.html

European Union

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/dyna/influenza/country_en.htm

The World Bank

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXT...68427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:1793593,00.html

China bird flu outbreak 'under control'​

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=nw20080109084629695C369339

A bird flu outbreak in northwestern China that killed nearly 5,000 fowls and led to the slaughter of 35,000 more is under control, state press on Wednesday quoted a top official as saying.

The outbreak, first reported last week, occurred in the city of Turpan in the remote Xinjiang region on December 29 and had been confirmed as the H5N1 virus, which can be deadly to humans.

"Once it was discovered, it was brought under control in a timely manner and was stopped from spreading," the China Daily quoted agriculture vice minister Gao Hongbin as saying.

The outbreak killed 4,850 fowls and led to the slaughter of 35,000 more, but no human cases have been reported, the paper said.

The newspaper quoted an unnamed official as saying a warmer than usual winter had brought more migratory birds to the area, possibly contributing to the outbreak.

Outbreaks of the disease are not uncommon in China, which has a vast poultry industry typically marked by lax sanitation practices.

Bird flu has so far infected at least 27 people in China. Seventeen of those people have died, including the most recent victim last month.

H5N1 has killed about 200 people and ravaged poultry flocks worldwide since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation.

China conducted a huge campaign last year to contain the disease, vaccinating millions of poultry and stepping up public education efforts.

Indonesian teenager hospitalized for suspected bird flu​

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/09/content_7393837.htm

JAKARTA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A 12-year-old boy was hospitalized in Indonesia for developing bird flu symptoms and earlier contacts with a dead chicken, local press said Wednesday.

He was admitted to the Hasan Sadikin Hospital in the West Java capital of Bandung Tuesday with high fever, cough and respiratory problems.

A relative said he picked up a dead chicken in front of the house with bare hands and threw it to a nearby river. The following day, he became ill, reported major national newspaper Tempo's website.

If confirmed, he could be the 108th bird flu case in the country, where 94 people have died of the virus to make the world's highest death toll among any other affected countries.

Nearly 5% of poultry in Vietnam bear bird flu viruses​

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/09/content_7391149.htm

HANOI, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Nearly five percent of 15,000 samples from healthy poultry in different cities and provinces in Vietnam have been tested positive to bird flu viruses, local newspaper People reported Wednesday.

Nearly 1.8 percent of tested waterfowls have bird flu viruses, the newspaper quoted a recent survey by the country's Department of Animal Health as reporting.

Fowls having high rates of bearing the viruses are raised in Lang Son, Ha Nam and Thai Binh in the northern region, Ha Tinh, DaNang and Quang Nam in the central region, and Long An, Dong Thap, Ca Mau and Tra Vinh in the southern region.

Bird flu is now hitting northern Thai Nguyen province and southern Tra Vinh province, said the department.

Tests show US man, member of Pakistan bird flu family, never contracted virus​

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=cp_x010906A.xml&show_article=1&catnum=8

Jan 9 10:05 AM US/Eastern
Helen Branswell, THE CANADIAN PRESS


Blood testing has confirmed that a U.S. resident whose brother was Pakistan's first confirmed case of H5N1 infection never contracted the disease.
The New York State health department revealed that the man's blood showed no antibodies to H5N1, indicating he had not caught the virus while attending his brother's funeral in Pakistan late last year.

"His final test came back. He showed no avian flu and no antibodies to avian flu, which means he never got it," Claudia Hutton, the department's director of public affairs, said in an interview from Albany.

The man, who lives on Long Island, is part of a large family of brothers involved in a cluster of confirmed, probable and suspect cases. The other surviving brothers live in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province.

Because of the pattern of illnesses within the family, the World Health Organization believes there was limited person-to-person spread of the virus among the relatives. But initial diagnostic efforts were only able to confirm one case, so follow-up blood work will be needed to determine how many people were actually infected.

One member of the family, a veterinary worker, fell ill in late October after helping to cull H5N1-infected poultry. While he was sick, at least two of his brothers nursed him, first at home, then at the hospital.

The veterinary worker survived but the two brothers died, one in mid- November and the other on Nov. 28. The first man to die was never tested for H5N1. But a specimen taken from the second showed he was infected with the virus. Another brother was also ill and was hospitalized. Still another showed no signs of illness.

The brother from Long Island experienced mild cold-like symptoms after returning from Pakistan. And his young son, who did not make the trip with him, also had a cold; it appeared to get worse after his father's return.

The man went to his doctor, the doctor notified local public health authorities and they in turn alerted the state. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control even sent a plane to New York to collect specimens from the man and his son for testing in the CDC's Atlanta labs.

They were both negative. But, a negative test isn't proof positive there was no infection. A test taken too late in the course of an infection could come back negative.

To close the book on the incident, authorities collected blood samples from the man and the son to look for the antibodies that would be present if they had been infected with the virus. Both the father and the son were negative in antibody testing.

The WHO said this week that blood samples from the surviving family members in Pakistan have been sent to a U.S. Naval laboratory in Cairo that does influenza testing for the WHO. But it could be a couple of weeks or longer before results are available.

Man in China got bird flu from contact with infected son: officials​

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2008011...na_080110114724;_ylt=A0WTcUmwDoZHxKkARRSTvyIi

BEIJING (AFP) - A man in China contracted bird flu because he was in close contact with his infected son, although the virus had not mutated into a form that is highly contagious among humans, authorities said Thursday.

A 52-year-old man, identified only by his surname Lu, was hospitalised with the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of the virus soon after his son died from it on December 2. Lu has since recovered.

Chinese health ministry spokesman Mao Qunan said Lu's infection was due to close contact with his son, but that the transmission was not technically "human-to-human".

"It has no biological features for human-to-human transmission," he told journalists.

Like many human cases of bird flu in China, authorities have not been able to identify the source as neither Lu nor his son had close contact with sick or dead poultry prior to infection, he said.

He refused to elaborate on the findings, which was reached by the ministry's expert group on bird flu.

Human-to-human transmission of bird flu remains rare, but experts fear such routes of infection could cause a global pandemic if the virus mutates with each person it infects and becomes more adaptable to humans.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said Thursday that human-to-human transmission of bird flu in the case of Lu was possible but said it had not mutated into a highly contagious form.

"A human-to-human transmission through close contact between the son and the father cannot be ruled out in this family cluster," Hans Troedsson, the WHO representative in China, told AFP.

"However, the biological findings at this stage show that the virus has not mutated to a form that can be transmitted from human to human efficiently."

Bird flu has so far infected at least 27 people in China, 17 of whom have died.

H5N1 has killed more than 200 people and ravaged poultry flocks worldwide since 2003, according to the WHO.

Prepare for big flu pandemic economic hit, UN says​

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN042538.html

LONDON (Reuters) - Governments around the world need to do more to prepare for the dramatic economic impact of the next flu pandemic, the United Nations influenza coordinator said on Thursday.

David Nabarro said his team had recently collected information from nearly 150 countries to see how prepared they were for a pandemic and the picture was mixed.

"Most countries have now focused on pandemic as a potential cause of catastrophe and have done some planning. But the quality of the plans is patchy and too few of them pay attention to economic and social consequences," he told BBC radio.

"The economic consequences could be up to $2 trillion -- up to 5 percent of global GDP removed," he said, reiterating previous World Bank and UN estimates.

Nabarro will deliver a lecture at the London School of Economics later on Thursday on the global state of preparedness for any pandemic, which could be triggered by bird flu.

The current H5N1 form of bird flu is mainly an animal disease, but experts fear it might mutate into a strain that could spread easily between people, causing a pandemic which could kill millions.

Polish bird flu under control​

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080109/sc_nm/polish_bird_flu_dc

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Poland has managed to contain its recent outbreaks of bird flu and improved its general animal disease situation, the European Commission said on Wednesday.
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Since early December, Polish authorities reported nine outbreaks of highly pathogenic strains of the disease in poultry and one in a shelter for wild birds, it said in a statement.

The last reported outbreak occurred more than two weeks ago in a laying hen flock in northern Poland, in the same area where the virus was discovered in early December.

"The standing committee (of national EU animal health experts) today reviewed the protection measures in Poland and noted that the disease situation has clearly improved and appears to be under control," the EU executive said.

In response to the outbreaks, Poland applied standard EU-approved protection measures to contain avian influenza in domestic poultry -- including the slaughter of all birds in the affected holdings and tightening movement restrictions.

One of the European Union's leading poultry producers, Poland exported 230,000 tonnes of poultry to EU markets in 2006.

Bird flu detected in three wild swans (1st Update)​

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/...flu_detected_in_three_wild_swans__1st_Update_

(M&C) - Tests have confirmed three dead wild swans found near a Dorset tourist attraction contain the deadly H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) virus.

The swans were discovered at the Chesil Beach area in the Abbotsbury Swannery where more than 1,000 swans wild mute swans exist.

However despite the presence of bird flu, a spokesman for Defra has said a cull of birds will not go ahead.

"There will be no culling of wild birds because such action may disperse birds further and would not aid control," a statement explained.

Health chiefs have called for calm and have established a protection zone around the swannery. The government's acting chief veterinary officer Fred Landeg said, "While this is obviously unwelcome news, we have always said that Britain is at a constant low level of risk of introduction of avian influenza," Mr Landeg explained.

"Our message to all bird keepers, particularly those in the area, is that they must be vigilant, report any signs of disease immediately, and practice the highest levels of biosecurity."

Update: Health expertsare monitoring staff at the reserve for any signs of the disease though insist the risk of infection is low.

John Houston, general manager at Abbotsbury Tourism Ltd said: "Our main concern is the welfare of the swans, our staff and the general public," he said. "We are working closely with Defra to ensure that this outbreak is contained and that the number of swans affected is limited."

Indonesian teenage girl tests positive for bird flu​

http://www.reuters.com/article/europeCrisis/idUSJAK100248

JAKARTA, Jan 11 (Reuters) - A 16-year-old Indonesian girl from West Java has tested positive for bird flu, taking the country's total confirmed human cases to 117, a health ministry official said on Friday.

Joko Suyono, an official at the health ministry's bird flu centre, said the girl fell sick at the end of last month and was being treated at a hospital in Jakarta.

"A few days before falling sick, she ate three soft-boiled eggs. Some chickens also died in her neighbourhood two months ago but it is unclear whether she touched the carcasses or not," Suyono told Reuters.

A hospital official said the teengaer was in intensive care with a respiratory device.

On Christmas Day, a 24-year-old woman from Jakarta who bought a live chicken from a market died from bird flu, bringing the country's death toll to 94, the highest in the world.

Contact with sick fowl is the most common way of contracting bird flu, endemic in bird population in parts of Indonesia.

Although bird flu remains an animal disease, experts fear the virus could mutate into a form easily passed from human-to-human and kill millions. (Reporting by Mita Valina Liem; Editing by Sugita Katyal and Alex Richardson)

Nine swans dead as bird flu concern grows​

http://www.thisisdorset.net/mostpop...nine_swans_dead_as_bird_flu_concern_grows.php

By Harry Walton

THE number of dead swans now found at Abbotsbury - where bird flu has been confirmed - has risen to nine.

Test results are expected today on up to six birds found close to the Swannery where three dead wild swans were found infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The death toll increased yesterday as details emerged of other swans found dead along the Fleet - including two yesterday.

Tests are being carried out on the dead birds at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Wey-bridge, Surrey.

Abbotsbury Tourism general manager John Houston said: "We also had two more dead swans identified on Thursday night, one near Moonfleet and one near Abbotsbury.

"They were collected on Friday morning and I heard on Friday afternoon that two other swans were found dead at different parts of the Fleet near Abbotsbury.
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"The latest four finds have all been bagged and were due to be taken away for testing by officials from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

"It is too early to say if they died because of bird flu."
'ISOLATED' - Graham Hutchings
'
Mr Houston sounded a note of caution and said none of the six new deaths had been confirmed as bird flu and that the number of dead swans found so far was well within Abbotsbury's normal mortality rates for January when up to 30 swans might be expected to die naturally.

Mr Houston said: "Defra has again stressed that similar outbreaks of bird flu among populations of wild duck saw them suffer low losses and quickly develop an immunity to bird flu.

"We are hoping that our swans will do the same and that we are not going to lose this ancient herd. All precautions are being maintained and we are keeping a close watch on the Fleet on a daily basis."

A Defra spokesman said: "As soon as results are available, these will be published."

Neighbouring farmers hit out over handling of outbreak
POULTRY farmer Nicky Ives today hit out at the Government for failing to give more warning of Dorset's bird flu outbreak.

She said she was disappointed that they weren't told of the cases at Abbotsbury Swannery earlier.

Mrs Ives and her family run a free-range egg business at Vurlands Farm in Swyre, less than four miles from the swannery.

She says they were given just 24 hours to lock up 6,000 chickens by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Mrs Ives said: "It would have been helpful to have heard from Defra earlier.

"They had been testing for two days before the media knew about this.

"It would have been helpful if they had told us they were testing and asked us to be ready to take our chickens inside.

"But we didn't hear from them until after the media which is disappointing."

Mrs Ives said that shutting up so many chickens on Thursday had been a huge' job.

Mrs Ives said: "We would like a bit more information. Defra have given us no further advice, except to inform us we are inside the restriction zone.

"They are doing their best in very difficult circumstances but we don't know how long this is for as they haven't given us any timescale."

Mrs Ives added: "This is very worrying. My husband is very stressed.

"We are a very traditional free range farm and our chickens roam all the time.

"It's going to be difficult to have them shut in."

The business, called Coastal Eggs, has been operating for eight-and-a-half years and includes the Egg Cup Tea Rooms, off Coastal Road.

Mrs Ives said: "We have now got biosecurity measures in place.

"We have disinfectant mats everywhere and no-one except my sons who work on the farm are allowed here.

"We have been given permission to keep our tea rooms open though which is very reassuring. It would have been quite scary if we had to close that."

Mrs Ives' daughter Abbi Lister, who works at the tea rooms, said the family is pulling together to each do their bit.

She added: "This means a lot of extra work for us having to take all the feeders and drinkers inside.

"We are being a lot more vigilant and are all carrying out checks on the chickens.

"We were disappointed that we heard about it through the BBC before we heard from Defra.

"But we're just seeing what happens now and are keeping our fingers crossed."

One supplier of Vurlands Farm eggs is Washingpool Farm shop in Bridport.

The business also homes ducks, moorhens, swans, geese, buzzards and kingfishers in its pond.

Manager Simon Holland said Dorset's farming world had not taken such a blow since the foot and mouth outbreak in 2000.

He said: "We are worried for all of our producers and our thoughts go out to them."

He said the farm had chosen to lock up pet chickens despite being outside the control area.

"We are following Defra's recommendations," he added.

An Abbotsbury chicken keeper living 500 yards from the swannery also said he was disappointed with the Government's failure to keep him informed of the situation.

Graham Hutchings, 45, who keeps 70 chickens at his home, said: "The birds are registered with Defra, and they are supposed to keep in touch with me about what is happening.

"I'm just around the corner from it, but I feel quite isolated. We're supposed to be having someone to come and check them, but I haven't seen anyone yet."

A Defra spokesman said: "We do not and would not confirm disease until full and final results have been received.

"Information packs will be delivered to poultry keepers in the Control Area and keepers can call the Defra Helpline on 08459 33 55 77 or the Animal Health recorded information line for the latest updates on 0844 884 4600."

Swannery workers await test results
SWANNERY workers are remaining positive during an agonising two-day wait for test results from more swans found dead along the Fleet.

Site manager John Houston said the mood was upbeat at Abbotsbury Swannery - home to 800 wild swans - while staff wait to hear if the dead birds had contracted the H5N1 flu virus.

But the swans are less likely to have died of bird flu because they were found at opposite ends of the beach, Mr Houston said.

He added: "January is the time of year when we do get natural wastage.

"It's not unusual for birds to die in the winter because of natural causes.

"I'm hoping it will be positive news we get back."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has also given Mr Houston some valuable reassurance since the outbreak.

Mr Houston said: "The good news is the swans are definitely not going to be culled.

"I was told by Defra that they've seen outbreaks in wild ducks, but the ducks have built up immunity to the virus.

"If that happens here, then it will be ideal because we can carry on as normal."

Staff are keeping their fingers crossed that it will be business as usual when it's time for the swannery to re-open for the summer, Mr Houston added.

"We hope to be opening as normal in March. These birds have been here for thousands of years and it would be so sad if we lose them.

"When we first heard the news, we were all very upset and distraught about the swans. This was our worst nightmare.

"But with the calm professional advice we've had from Defra, we've learned that it's not the end of the world."

Twelve workers at the swannery were given basic flu jabs yesterday and have begun a course of Tamiflu tablets.

Mr Houston, who is also general manager of Abbotsbury Tourism Ltd, said he was very pleased with all the local support the swannery has had from the village.

He added: "It seems like everyone is hoping we can get through this.

"And if there are no more positive test results in 21 days then we're in the clear."

Scientists Find Key to Avian Flu in Humans​

http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/2008-01-11-voa16.cfm

By Rosanne Skirble
Washington, DC
11 January 2008

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] have identified a critical difference between the flu viruses that infect birds and those that infect humans. The discovery could help scientists monitor the evolution of avian flu strains and the development of a vaccine against a deadly flu pandemic.

Influenza is a seasonal virus. What has public health officials worried is the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu that's necessitated the destruction of millions of poultry worldwide and caused 212 human deaths since it first appeared in Hong Kong in 1997.

Scientists say it is highly likely that the virus could mutate and spread from person to person — leading to a pandemic that could rival the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed 50 million people.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology bio-engineering professor Ram Sasisekharan has been studying the differences and similarities between avian and human forms of influenza virus. Sasisekharan says sugar, which coats the lungs and nose, is key to how the virus works. "The sugar plays a central role in the ability of the virus to recognize human tissues or human cells as an important step leading to infection eventually."

The protein on the surface of the virus latches on to the sugar or glycan receptors and gains entry into the cell. The virus then replicates itself and spreads infection from the inside out.

MIT bioengineering professor Ram Sasisekharan says shape of receptor cells key to avian flu infection

What Sasisekharan and colleagues report this week in the Journal Nature Biotechnology is that bird- and human-cell sugars have significantly different shapes. "The avian viruses bind to sugar shapes that typically take a structure that resembles a cone, while the human adapted viruses appear to recognize sugar shapes that resemble that of an umbrella."

Computer modeling and three-dimensional images revealed more detail. Sasisekharan says seasonal human flu viruses bind to this umbrella shape, but not to the H5N1 bird flu strain that health officials fear. "What this enables us to do is to systematically look at the evolving H5N1 strains to see if these viruses are beginning to achieve some sort of specificity or recognition to the umbrella-shaped glycans [sugars] that are there in the upper airways."

Sasisekharan says that can help researchers develop drugs or vaccines that could block the H5N1 virus. "By designing molecules that could mimic the umbrella-shaped structures so that these molecules could potentially act as decoys to trick the virus from binding to the umbrella-shaped structures that are there in the upper airways [respiratory system]."

Sasisekharan says the findings could also speed development of more effective strategies to combat seasonal flu, which kills 36,000 people in the United States alone each year.

EGYPT: Poultry sellers ignore live sales ban despite new bird flu cases​

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=76207CAIRO, 13 January 2008 (IRIN) - Fifteen new suspected cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus were reported last week in five governorates in Egypt as government measures to strengthen national pandemic preparedness provoked mixed reactions in Cairo's streets.

According to local media, the latest cases were detected in Qena, Al-Buheira, Al-Gharbia, Al-Minya and Al-Sohag. The patients were admitted to hospital for treatment and surveillance after suffering high temperatures and breathing problems.

In response, the government’s Supreme National Committee for Combating Bird Flu met last week to discuss the current outbreak and to implement measures to combat the spread of bird flu.

Amr Kandeel, an official in the Ministry of Health’s communicable diseases department, told IRIN that the bird flu committee is focusing on five measures to curb the spread of the virus: active surveillance; public awareness campaigns; support of public health teams in hospitals; stockpiling of flu treatment drug Tamiflu, antiviral medications and vaccination equipment; and the setting up of a telephone hotline to answer public enquiries.

In addition, Kandeel said the Ministry of Agriculture had banned the sale of live birds in Cairo’s markets. "Poultry sellers who do not abide by the protection measures will face forced closure of their shops," he said in a phone interview.

Reactions from the street

Photo: Martina Fuchs/IRIN
Empty bird cages in a poultry shop in Cairo, following a recent government crackdown on the sale of live poultry in the capital

While empty bird cages in many of Cairo’s poultry shops reflect the efficiency of the government crackdown, many in the poultry business said they would ignore the ban as they felt the government was over-reacting.

One poultry seller in Old Cairo’s Khan El-Khalili market, who refused to reveal his name fearing arrest, said he would continue to sell live chicken covertly.

Nabil Khadar, another poultry seller, was critical of the government’s anti-bird flu initiatives. "I have heard about bird flu - it’s famous nowadays," he said. "But there is nothing here; this disease comes from outside [the country]. I am not scared because our chicken is good and healthy but the government wants to scare us. Chicken is the cornerstone of our economy; it’s cheap and nourishes our families."

Poultry is the main source of food and income for about five million households across Egypt. As such, a large number of people keep and raise domestic poultry, making it difficult to eradicate bird flu completely, the government says.

Two weeks ago, the bird flu committee banned domestic poultry raising altogether and oversaw the culling of all poultry infected with the bird flu virus. It also reinforced an existing ban on transporting poultry from one governorate to another without official inspection and clearance.

Business as usual

Photo: Martina Fuchs/IRIN
In rural areas of Egypt, it is common to see live poultry on sale

Despite such restrictions, those in the restaurant business say it is business as usual.

"There is no danger that bird flu could hurt my business,” Ahmed Arafa, manager of the Midan Hussein branch of the Gad restaurant chain, said while watching one of his employees scrape chicken meat off a grill to make a shawarma sandwich for a customer. “My customers are not scared. I buy my chicken from the big farms in the countryside where hygiene standards and medical controls are better."

Since the H5N1 strain of bird flu was first detected in Egypt in February 2006, the country has had the largest number of human bird flu cases outside the Asian continent. Four deaths at the turn of this year brought the number of fatalities caused by bird flu in Egypt to 19.

Bird flu strikes farm in Bangladesh ​

http://www.tradearabia.com/news/BRK_137002.html

Bird flu has killed nearly 500 chickens at a poultry farm in northeastern Bangladesh in what officials said on Sunday was the first outbreak of the disease in that area.

The farm is in Moulavibazar district, about 250 km (155 miles) from the capital, said Salehuddin Khan, director of the government's livestock department.

"After the confirmation of bird flu, authorities culled nearly 800 chickens, ducks and birds in a one-kilometer area around the affected farm," he said.

The H5N1 avian flu virus was first reported near the capital in March last year and has since spread mainly to northern districts, forcing authorities to kill more than 300,000 chickens.

With the latest outbreak, 71 farms in 22 of Bangladesh's 64 districts have been infected with the deadly virus. There are around 150,000 poultry farms in Bangladesh, with an annual turnover of $750 million, officials say.

About 4 million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming, but so far there have been no cases of human infection in the densely populated country, government officials say.

Experts fear the bird flu virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people. - Reuters

Local writes about 1918 flu outbreak​

http://www.centralohio.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/B8/20080113/NEWS01/801130301/1002

Yoakum finds accounts are surprisingly scarce
By JONA ISON
Gazette Staff Writer

As Rami Yoakum looked at the books of death records in the Ross County Health Department, he noticed an anomaly in 1918. While previous years, and many years afterward, had just one book of records, 1918 had three.

While it piqued his interest, it wasn't until later Yoakum, who is director of communications for the health district, was doing research for the county's emergency preparedness and pandemic plans and realized that was the year of the Spanish flu pandemic in Ross County.

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Although he gathered some information for a PowerPoint presentation, Yoakum's interest in history - he has a degree in it -led him to do more research and to write a book, "Chillicothe, Camp Sherman and the Spanish Flu: The Making of Blood Alley."
"I really appreciate the books that people like (local historian) Pat Medert write because they preserve the history of where we live. Someday, someone is going to like history and it's there, not lost," Yoakum said of writing the book.

Having grown up in the area, the Paint Valley alum had always heard of Blood Alley, but knew little of what created that name.

Camp Sherman was the third largest training camp in the nation at the time and when the Spanish flu came in late September 1918, the disease quickly spread throughout the camp. The base hospital was overflowing and the morgue had more than 12 times the bodies inside than it was designed to hold. As such, buildings in Chillicothe, including the former Majestic Theatre, were set up as temporary morgues. The alley alongside the Majestic was nicknamed "Blood Alley" afterward because blood and other fluids were poured into the alleyway during the embalming process.

At least 1,154 soldiers died of the flu, according to the newspapers and death records Yoakum said he cross referenced. However, those numbers could be off, as could the list of names he has in the book, he said, because with little use of dog tags at the time, some soldiers were not identified and some may have been misidentified.

"I don't think we can even imagine what it was like out there in 1918," Yoakum said of the camp.

About 150 local residents also succumbed to the flu between that October and December, he discovered, with just one of them having died at the hospital.

Although the flu killed many here, and in other places, Yoakum said he is surprised not more has been written.

"One of the things people say, nowadays, is they are amazed the Spanish flu outbreak wasn't a bigger deal," Yoakum said. "What I found out is people dealt with sickness and disease all the time ... Schools were closed on a regular basis due to disease," Yoakum said. "It really surprises me how much sickness was around back then. It really makes sense to me why they were able to handle it."

As he's worked with the health district, which didn't start in the county until two years after the Spanish Flu pandemic, Yoakum has thought on how people would act today in a similar situation - if homes were quarantined, schools closed down, and public gatherings banned.

"We need to make sure if there's another pandemic that our community knows they need to follow the directives of the authorities," he said.

The quick action of the City Health Department on quarantines and banning public gatherings is what Yoakum believes helped keep the numbers of local deaths low. Another lesson Yoakum believes can be learned from the Spanish flu in case of future pandemics came in the form of a story in the newspaper.

Out in the county, a family of eight had become sick with the flu, but no one had gone to help them - even though neighbors knew they were ill - due to fear. By the time they were discovered, both parents had died and at least two of the children soon followed.

"We can't let that happen if we have a pandemic again. We have to have something in place," he said.

Indonesian woman dies of bird flu: health official​

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNewsMolt/idUKJAK2454720080114?rpc=401&

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A Indonesian woman from an area just west of the capital Jakarta has died of bird flu, taking the country's confirmed human death toll from the virus to 95, a health ministry official said on Monday.

The 32-year-old woman from Tangerang died at her home last Thursday after her family had taken her out of a hospital where she had been receiving treatment a day before, said Suharda Ningrum of the health ministry's bird flu centre.

Contact with sick fowl is the most common way of contracting bird flu, endemic in bird populations in most of Indonesia.

"She bought a live chicken and some eggs from a market and cooked them," Ningrum said, adding there were also chickens living in her backyard.

Two tests at two different laboratories confirmed the H5N1 virus.

Although bird flu remains an animal disease, experts fear the virus could mutate into a form easily passed from human to human and kill millions.

On Christmas day, a 24-year-old woman from Jakarta also died from the virus after buying a live chicken from a market.

Last week, a teenager suffering from bird flu was admitted to a hospital in Jakarta.

An official at the hospital said that the teenager was stable, but was still on a respirator to help her breathe.

Indonesia, which has now had 118 cases of the disease in humans, has had the most number of deaths from bird flu of any country.

Excluding the latest case, there have been 349 cases and 216 deaths from the disease globally since 2003, according to World Health Organization data.

India sounds bird-flu alert in eastern state​

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/173216,india-sounds-bird-flu-alert-in-eastern-state.html

New Delhi - Authorities in India's eastern state of West Bengal sounded an alert on bird flu and began culling poultry Monday after 10,000 chicken died in a village there, media reports said. The culling of about 300,000 birds in and around Magram village in the north-western district of Birbhum had begun and villages would be quarantined and locals provided masks, the NDTV network reported.

More than 10,000 chicken died in the village over the past 10 days, but authorities were yet to confirm if the deaths were due to H5N1, the strain of bird flu that can be deadly in humans.

Samples from the affected birds were sent to alaboratory in Bhopal in central India to determine the cause of death.

"All departments concerned have been alerted," administration official Tapan Shome told the PTI news agency. "The villagers have been asked not to sell or buy chicken. They have also been asked to wear masks and cover their hands and legs while feeding birds."

West Bengal borders Bangladesh, 21 of whose 64 districts have been affected by bird flu.

No human cases of the disease have been found in either Bangladesh or India.

India, however, has seen three outbreaks of bird flu in poultry since 2006. Cases of bird flu were last detected in the north-eastern state of Manipur in 2007. All the outbreaks were brought under control.

Avian influenza cases have been reported in 60 countries over the past four years. Most of the 216 human deaths from the disease since 2003 have been reported from Asia, with the highest number of fatalities seen in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Bird flu of the H5N1 strain confirmed in India​

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/173719,bird-flu-of-the-h5n1-strain-confirmed-in-india.html

New Delhi - India on Tuesday confirmed a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu in its eastern state of West Bengal, where nearly 28,000 chicken and poultry have died in the past few days, media reports said. Officials told the NDTV network that H5N1, the strain of bird flu that can be deadly in humans, had killed thousands of chickens and other birds in the northern Birbhum and south Dinajpur districts.

In all, over 28,000 birds had died in the affected areas in the last 10 days - 18,000 of them on Monday alone.

Meanwhile, authorities in West Bengal said they had already made arrangements for mass culling of birds in anticipation of the official confirmation of avian influenza.

The culling of an estimated 350,000 birds will be carried out within a 5-kilometre radius of the affected areas and villages will be quarantined. Neighbouring districts were put on alert.

In a related development, the federal government asserted that it had already taken steps so that the virus is not spread to humans.

Medical teams had already reached the district and would monitor people for flu-like symptoms. As many as 50 rapid response teams were in the area, along with with masks and anti-bird flu tablets.

West Bengal borders Bangladesh, 21 of whose 64 districts have been affected by bird flu. No human cases of the disease have been found in either Bangladesh or India.

India, however, has seen three outbreaks of bird flu in poultry since 2006. Cases of bird flu were last detected in the north-eastern state of Manipur in 2007. All the outbreaks were brought under control.

Avian influenza cases have been reported in 60 countries over the past four years. Most of the 216 human deaths from the disease since 2003 have been reported from Asia, with the highest number of fatalities seen in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Indonesia reports 96th bird flu death​

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Asia/STIStory_196532.html

JAKARTA - A 16-YEAR-OLD Indonesian girl has died of bird flu, the health ministry said on Tuesday, bringing the toll to 96 in the nation worst hit by the H5N1 virus.

Bird-flu death brings Indonesia's human toll to 96​

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/...death-brings-indonesias-human-toll-to-96.html

Jakarta - The death Tuesday of a 16-year-old girl in Indonesia's capital Jakarta from the H5N1 virus has brought Indonesia's human death toll from bird flu to 96, which is the world's highest, Health Ministry officials said Tuesday. The girl, identified only by her initials, YF, was from Bekasi municipality, just west of Jakarta, said Joko Suyono, an official at the ministry's bird-flu information centre.

The girl fell sick late last year and was treated at a nearby health clinic and hospital before finally being admitted to the Persahabatan Hospital in Jakarta with fever, respiratory problems and pneumonia, Suyono said.

"Test results confirm she had been suffering from bird flu," Suyono said.

Investigators were still trying to determine how the girl was exposed to the virus.

Her death on Tuesday was Indonesia's 96th out of 118 diagnosed cases of H5N1, the strain of bird flu that can be deadly in humans. Both figures are the highest in the world.

Before the latest death in Indonesia, the World Health Organization had confirmed at least 216 deaths in 12 countries in Asia and Africa.

The most common way to contract the H5N1 virus is through contact with infected fowl. Although bird flu remains mainly an animal disease, experts said they fear the virus could mutate into a form that could spread easily from human to human, turning into a pandemic that could kill millions of people.

Link to next weeks thread:

HEALTH - 1/16/08-1/22/08|Weekly Bird Flu Thread: Bird flu confirmed again in India

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=273205