02/06 | Bird Flu Prep
- Thread starter PCViking
- Start date
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Here is a link for Bird Flu Prep info....
http://www.birdflupreparation.com/
...and it starts off with an awareness quiz: http://www.birdflupreparation.com/birdfluquiz.html
http://www.birdflupreparation.com/
...and it starts off with an awareness quiz: http://www.birdflupreparation.com/birdfluquiz.html
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Posted 2/5/2006 8:12 PM
BAGHDAD (AP) — American and U.N. health experts tried Sunday to help this war-ravaged country fight a new battle against bird flu, and officials said at least eight people have been hospitalized with symptoms similar to those caused by the virus.
Under U.S. military guard, American and World Health Organization epidemiologists, veterinary experts and clinicians are expected to work together across the northern Kurdistan region to find out how the disease entered Iraq and how to contain it. The teams arrived over the weekend.
The country's first case of the virus appeared in a 15-year-old girl from the Kurdistan town of Raniya who died Jan. 17. But it is not clear whether she contracted the disease from domestic or migratory birds, or by some other means.
Her uncle, who lived in the same house in which live chickens were brought to protect them from the cold, died 10 days later after suffering pulmonary complications. That raised fears that he might have contracted the virus directly from his niece.
Experts are closely watching the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu to see if it mutates into a form easily transmissible from human to human. They fear that such a mutation could spark a worldwide pandemic.
According to WHO, about 160 cases of the virus have been reported worldwide, and at least 85 people have died. Almost all of those who died were in Asia, and most are believed to have come into contact with infected birds.
Scientists in Cairo, and London are awaiting samples from the uncle to learn whether he had the H5N1 strain.
Experts said they cannot completely rule out the emergence of a human-to-human form of the disease until thorough laboratory tests have been done.
"We do acknowledge the possibility no matter how small it would be, (of a human-to-human transfer), and if this has happened then this emergency is elevated one very significant notch," said Dr. Sam Yingst, a veterinary virus expert from the Egypt-based U.S. Navy Medical Research Unit, who arrived in Iraq for a weeklong inspection of the north.
Iraqi health authorities confirmed Jan. 30 that the girl contracted bird flu and immediately implemented a mass culling of domestic birds across northern Iraq's Kurdistan region.
Dr. Saedi Tayeb, who heads one of three medical teams in Kurdistan trying to contain bird flu, said inspection teams scoured Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad, looking for other cases.
Health officials also have raised the alarm throughout the country, particularly in southern Iraq, where migratory birds possibly carrying the disease fly en route to Kuwait and eventually South Africa.
A six-member WHO team arrived in the northern city of Irbil on Sunday and are expected to be joined by Yingst and another expert from the U.S. Navy lab in Cairo specializing in animal disease control.
The field trips are aimed at learning how the virus was introduced to Iraq, assessing the performance of local authorities in containing its spread and investigating people suffering from bird flu-like symptoms, WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said.
"The virus is in the environment somewhere and the team needs to identify its source, how widespread it is and assess how well-prepared the region or provinces might be to respond to an outbreak," Thompson said in a telephone interview from the Jordanian capital, Amman.
But it would be "highly unlikely" that a mutated strain of H5N1 capable of being transmitted among humans had emerged, he said.
There have been six possible cases of human-to-human contraction since bird flu first emerged, but the virus in each case died out with the second infected person, indicating it was not virulent enough to spread to large numbers of people, he added.
Health experts stress that Iraqis run a slim chance of contracting bird flu but say more effort is needed to promote safe hygiene practices and better equip cullers and others dealing closely with birds.
On Friday, the WHO said a shipment of the anti-flu drug Tamiflu is being sent to Iraq with enough doses to treat up to 10,000 people.
Iraq Health Minister Abdel Mutalib Mohammed said between eight to 10 people have been admitted to northern Iraqi hospitals suffering from respiratory infections, and doctors are checking them for bird flu.
But Yingst cautioned against assuming there had been a wider outbreak, saying winter's cold weather is responsible for multiple influenza viruses with symptoms resembling H5N1.
"Many people with seasonal epidemic influenza become viewed as suspected cases of avian influenza," he said. "The paranoia takes over."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-02-05-iraq-bird-flu_x.htm
U.S., U.N. officials in Iraq to help battle bird flu
BAGHDAD (AP) — American and U.N. health experts tried Sunday to help this war-ravaged country fight a new battle against bird flu, and officials said at least eight people have been hospitalized with symptoms similar to those caused by the virus.
Under U.S. military guard, American and World Health Organization epidemiologists, veterinary experts and clinicians are expected to work together across the northern Kurdistan region to find out how the disease entered Iraq and how to contain it. The teams arrived over the weekend.
The country's first case of the virus appeared in a 15-year-old girl from the Kurdistan town of Raniya who died Jan. 17. But it is not clear whether she contracted the disease from domestic or migratory birds, or by some other means.
Her uncle, who lived in the same house in which live chickens were brought to protect them from the cold, died 10 days later after suffering pulmonary complications. That raised fears that he might have contracted the virus directly from his niece.
Experts are closely watching the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu to see if it mutates into a form easily transmissible from human to human. They fear that such a mutation could spark a worldwide pandemic.
According to WHO, about 160 cases of the virus have been reported worldwide, and at least 85 people have died. Almost all of those who died were in Asia, and most are believed to have come into contact with infected birds.
Scientists in Cairo, and London are awaiting samples from the uncle to learn whether he had the H5N1 strain.
Experts said they cannot completely rule out the emergence of a human-to-human form of the disease until thorough laboratory tests have been done.
"We do acknowledge the possibility no matter how small it would be, (of a human-to-human transfer), and if this has happened then this emergency is elevated one very significant notch," said Dr. Sam Yingst, a veterinary virus expert from the Egypt-based U.S. Navy Medical Research Unit, who arrived in Iraq for a weeklong inspection of the north.
Iraqi health authorities confirmed Jan. 30 that the girl contracted bird flu and immediately implemented a mass culling of domestic birds across northern Iraq's Kurdistan region.
Dr. Saedi Tayeb, who heads one of three medical teams in Kurdistan trying to contain bird flu, said inspection teams scoured Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad, looking for other cases.
Health officials also have raised the alarm throughout the country, particularly in southern Iraq, where migratory birds possibly carrying the disease fly en route to Kuwait and eventually South Africa.
A six-member WHO team arrived in the northern city of Irbil on Sunday and are expected to be joined by Yingst and another expert from the U.S. Navy lab in Cairo specializing in animal disease control.
The field trips are aimed at learning how the virus was introduced to Iraq, assessing the performance of local authorities in containing its spread and investigating people suffering from bird flu-like symptoms, WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said.
"The virus is in the environment somewhere and the team needs to identify its source, how widespread it is and assess how well-prepared the region or provinces might be to respond to an outbreak," Thompson said in a telephone interview from the Jordanian capital, Amman.
But it would be "highly unlikely" that a mutated strain of H5N1 capable of being transmitted among humans had emerged, he said.
There have been six possible cases of human-to-human contraction since bird flu first emerged, but the virus in each case died out with the second infected person, indicating it was not virulent enough to spread to large numbers of people, he added.
Health experts stress that Iraqis run a slim chance of contracting bird flu but say more effort is needed to promote safe hygiene practices and better equip cullers and others dealing closely with birds.
On Friday, the WHO said a shipment of the anti-flu drug Tamiflu is being sent to Iraq with enough doses to treat up to 10,000 people.
Iraq Health Minister Abdel Mutalib Mohammed said between eight to 10 people have been admitted to northern Iraqi hospitals suffering from respiratory infections, and doctors are checking them for bird flu.
But Yingst cautioned against assuming there had been a wider outbreak, saying winter's cold weather is responsible for multiple influenza viruses with symptoms resembling H5N1.
"Many people with seasonal epidemic influenza become viewed as suspected cases of avian influenza," he said. "The paranoia takes over."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-02-05-iraq-bird-flu_x.htm
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Iraq has seven suspected bird flu cases: WHO official
(AFP)6 February 2006
ARBIL, Iraq -Iraq’s Kurdistan region has seven suspected human cases of the deadly bird flu, a World Health Organisation official said on Monday.
“Apart from the girl who died there are seven suspected cases of bird flu and we have taken their blood samples and sent them to Cairo for further investigation,” Naeema Al Gasseer, the WHO representative in Iraq, told reporters.
The seven people are undergoing treatment.
Last month a teenage girl from Kurdistan succumbed to the deadly H5N1 virus.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...ocusoniraq_February24.xml§ion=focusoniraq
New Freedom
Veteran Member
http://www.bakutoday.net/afp/english/shared/int/060206193916.drelbcx8.php
Sailor's death in Lithuania could be first human bird flu case in EU
February 06, 2006,
An expert writes reference numbers on an egg for bird flu tests
VILNIUS (AFP) - An Indian sailor who died in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda may have been infected with bird flu, the Lithuanian health ministry said.
"A member of the crew of the ship M.V. Ocean Wind, Indian citizen Shaikh Rafikque, died in Klaipeda Monday. The suspected cause of death is bird flu," a statement from the ministry said.
If avian flu is confirmed as the cause of death, it would be the first human case of the disease in the European Union.
"Rafikque, who was the ship's cook, fell ill on February 4, according to reports from the crew," the ministry said.
"He died in a medical emergency vehicle on Monday," it said in a statement.
The Liberian-flagged Ocean Wing came to Lithuania from Germany on January 17 to undergo repairs, the health ministry said.
Although the health ministry said earlier that a preliminary autopsy would be conducted in the port on Lithuania's western Baltic coastline, it later said the ship's captain, also Indian, has "not given permission for an autopsy, on religious grounds."
Doctor's at Klaipeda morgue, where the body of the 62-year-old sailor was being held, told AFP that no autopsy has been ordered or carried out.
Kazimieras Lukauskas, head of Lithuania's state veterinary and food service, said that raw poultry was among foods that were loaded onto the ship in Germany, but played down the possibility that it was the cause of the sailor's death.
"We do not think that poultry used for food on the ship could be the cause of death" Lukauskas said.
A special emergency team has been sent to Klaipeda to disinfect the ship, which had 30 crew -- 29 Indians and one Ukrainian -- on board, he said.
"Our emergency plan provides for crew members to undergo medical examinations," Lukauskas said.
Sailor's death in Lithuania could be first human bird flu case in EU
February 06, 2006,
An expert writes reference numbers on an egg for bird flu tests
VILNIUS (AFP) - An Indian sailor who died in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda may have been infected with bird flu, the Lithuanian health ministry said.
"A member of the crew of the ship M.V. Ocean Wind, Indian citizen Shaikh Rafikque, died in Klaipeda Monday. The suspected cause of death is bird flu," a statement from the ministry said.
If avian flu is confirmed as the cause of death, it would be the first human case of the disease in the European Union.
"Rafikque, who was the ship's cook, fell ill on February 4, according to reports from the crew," the ministry said.
"He died in a medical emergency vehicle on Monday," it said in a statement.
The Liberian-flagged Ocean Wing came to Lithuania from Germany on January 17 to undergo repairs, the health ministry said.
Although the health ministry said earlier that a preliminary autopsy would be conducted in the port on Lithuania's western Baltic coastline, it later said the ship's captain, also Indian, has "not given permission for an autopsy, on religious grounds."
Doctor's at Klaipeda morgue, where the body of the 62-year-old sailor was being held, told AFP that no autopsy has been ordered or carried out.
Kazimieras Lukauskas, head of Lithuania's state veterinary and food service, said that raw poultry was among foods that were loaded onto the ship in Germany, but played down the possibility that it was the cause of the sailor's death.
"We do not think that poultry used for food on the ship could be the cause of death" Lukauskas said.
A special emergency team has been sent to Klaipeda to disinfect the ship, which had 30 crew -- 29 Indians and one Ukrainian -- on board, he said.
"Our emergency plan provides for crew members to undergo medical examinations," Lukauskas said.
New Freedom
Veteran Member
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/05BC1FBD-32DB-47D4-BD88-2BAB46826CCA.htm
Iraq confirms second bird flu death
Tuesday 07 February 2006, 0:02 Makka Time, 21:02 GMT
A second Iraqi Kurd has been confirmed to have died from the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain as international teams scrambled to combat the spread of the virus in the country's north.
Hamma Sur Abdullah, 40, who died of flu-like symptoms a little over a week after his niece, was confirmed by a lab in Cairo as having died of the same cause, a senior Kurdish health official said on Monday.
(see link for rest of story)
Iraq confirms second bird flu death
Tuesday 07 February 2006, 0:02 Makka Time, 21:02 GMT
A second Iraqi Kurd has been confirmed to have died from the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain as international teams scrambled to combat the spread of the virus in the country's north.
Hamma Sur Abdullah, 40, who died of flu-like symptoms a little over a week after his niece, was confirmed by a lab in Cairo as having died of the same cause, a senior Kurdish health official said on Monday.
(see link for rest of story)
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Bulgaria
SOFIA - Bulgaria shut off wetland areas on Monday and investigated the deaths of scores of birds after announcing its first case of H5 avian flu in a dead swan last week, officials said.
Veterinarians also prepared to send samples from the infected swan - found partially paralysed in the Danube River - to Britain to test whether it had the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.
"The samples from the swan will be sent to the United Kingdom on Monday. We expect the results in a week's time," said Margarita Kozhuharova, spokeswoman of the agriculture ministry.
With its Black Sea neighbours Turkey and Romania battling outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 since October, Bulgaria has long been considered a potential destination for the disease.
Since the first H5 case was announced on Friday, vets have tested dozens of waterfowl found dead in wetland areas, including 30 ducks which died at a farm on Sunday.
"The birds, domesticated ducks, died at a farm near the Black Sea port of Varna," Dinko, Neshovski, head of the veterinary office in Varna, told Reuters. "We've sent samples for tests to Sofia." He would not elaborate.
On orders from the state veterinary office, police began guarding the lakes of Shabla and Durankulak near the northeast border with Romania to prevent people from coming into contact with more than 100,000 wild birds that spend the winter there.
South of Europe's largest wetland area in the Danube delta, the lakes like along the Pontic migratory route, by which scientists believe birds travelling south from northern Russia may have brought the disease to southeast Europe.
Hundreds of birds have died at the lakes since the start of the year. Veterinarians have blamed that on a severe cold snap in which temperatures dropped to around minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4F), but said they were stepping up measures anyway.
"We are getting ready for a possible outbreak," said Alexander Alexandrov, head of the regional veterinarian office in Dobrich.
"People should forget about taking farm animals to water at the two lakes until spring, when the last duck is gone."
H5N1 has killed at least 86 people and millions of birds since 2003. Humans cases, contracted through close contact with infected birds or their feces, are rare, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a more easily transmissible form and spark a global pandemic that could kill millions.
Story by Kremena Miteva
Story Date: 7/2/2006
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/34913/story.htm
Bulgaria Closes off Lakes after H5 Bird Flu Found
SOFIA - Bulgaria shut off wetland areas on Monday and investigated the deaths of scores of birds after announcing its first case of H5 avian flu in a dead swan last week, officials said.
Veterinarians also prepared to send samples from the infected swan - found partially paralysed in the Danube River - to Britain to test whether it had the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.
"The samples from the swan will be sent to the United Kingdom on Monday. We expect the results in a week's time," said Margarita Kozhuharova, spokeswoman of the agriculture ministry.
With its Black Sea neighbours Turkey and Romania battling outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 since October, Bulgaria has long been considered a potential destination for the disease.
Since the first H5 case was announced on Friday, vets have tested dozens of waterfowl found dead in wetland areas, including 30 ducks which died at a farm on Sunday.
"The birds, domesticated ducks, died at a farm near the Black Sea port of Varna," Dinko, Neshovski, head of the veterinary office in Varna, told Reuters. "We've sent samples for tests to Sofia." He would not elaborate.
On orders from the state veterinary office, police began guarding the lakes of Shabla and Durankulak near the northeast border with Romania to prevent people from coming into contact with more than 100,000 wild birds that spend the winter there.
South of Europe's largest wetland area in the Danube delta, the lakes like along the Pontic migratory route, by which scientists believe birds travelling south from northern Russia may have brought the disease to southeast Europe.
Hundreds of birds have died at the lakes since the start of the year. Veterinarians have blamed that on a severe cold snap in which temperatures dropped to around minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4F), but said they were stepping up measures anyway.
"We are getting ready for a possible outbreak," said Alexander Alexandrov, head of the regional veterinarian office in Dobrich.
"People should forget about taking farm animals to water at the two lakes until spring, when the last duck is gone."
H5N1 has killed at least 86 people and millions of birds since 2003. Humans cases, contracted through close contact with infected birds or their feces, are rare, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a more easily transmissible form and spark a global pandemic that could kill millions.
Story by Kremena Miteva
Story Date: 7/2/2006
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/34913/story.htm
Lilbitsnana
On TB every waking moment
regarding the Iraqui girl and her uncle...........okay, live chickens were brought into the house. so, the uncle could have contracted it from the chickens, or from the virus existing on a door handle or something, not necessarily h2h. have I missed something on why they suspect h2h for the uncle? I don't get to read everthing anymore, so, I probably have missed a lot of info.
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momof23goats
Deceased
Now, I really don't know about all of you, but I am not buying the fact, that this is being spread by Birds, this stuff, is moving pretty good. and it is really on the move.
I wonder how long it will be , before it gets to the USA, or Canada.
after all, it is on;y a plane ride away.
I wonder how long it will be , before it gets to the USA, or Canada.
after all, it is on;y a plane ride away.