02/07 | Bird Flu: Eat Chicken And Say Your Last Prayer//IF UNDERCOOKED

lLink to yesterday's thread: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=185508

Bird Flu: Eat Chicken And Say Your Last Prayer​

Concord Times (Freetown)
OPINION
February 6, 2006
Posted to the web February 6, 2006

By Abubakarr Talib Jallow
Freetown

Go to Salad Ground (Garrison Street); pick up a piece of imported chicken and a few spices; cook them for a few minutes but with less heat and consume. Your post-mortem result may tell of a strange (well in Sierra Leone) disease popularly know as Bird Flu; the virulent H5N1 form of the flu or strain of avian influenza, which is essentially a disease of birds.

This is not to scare you; imported chickens are no longer safe to eat in a hurry - certain precautions are needed in the handling, processing of chickens before consumption. It is for instance advised that a chicken should be cooked above 90 degrees C. And the days when people eat raw flesh are over because it has been proven that this increases the chances of contracting deadly viruses.

The Bird Flu has certainly changed the way man relates to birds. In most of the Africa and Sierra Leone particularly, the situation is still very much the same; fowls sleep in many houses, they are covered in some corners of the parlor at nights and are released in the mornings; birds of various kinds are hunted, killed, roasted for one or two minutes and eaten by mostly adolescents; feathers from mainly cocks are plunged off indiscriminately and used as cotton-bud too clean ears; cocks are killed and dumped at main junctions as sacrifices to some "mystic powers" and so on and on. The daily contacts with birds are very rustic (and natural too). It is also a source of livelihood and many families have been selling fowl to buy essential school materials for their kids for many many years. How can you therefore tell such people that birds including chicken may be even more dangerous than mosquitoes?

Mosquito causes malaria and malaria kills more than one million people every year, and infects 500 million worldwide. People don't eat mosquitoes, people don't sell mosquitoes, people don't pet mosquitoes; people have used many methods to fight mosquitoes and yet malaria is still a bigger killer than HIVS/AIDS for the moment.

The problem of rolling back malaria or let's say fight against the mosquitoes that causes malaria is only a pointer to the cumbersome fight against the avian influenza or bird flu. And I personally think that in places like Sierra Leone, we should not be carried away by the threat of bird flu to the extent that we forget malaria which is one of Sierra Leone's greatest enemies- don't forget this was the reason why the country was the White Man's Grave.

This said; we should be mindful and take necessary precautions to avoid being infected by this deadly disease of birds. Luckily, Sierra Leone and West Africa generally is not on the way of migratory birds from Asia. Eastern Africa- Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, down to South Africa, are on the migratory path of wild birds from Asia and Europe that are suspected to carry the virus.

However, Sierra Leone has many backyard or household poultries, and our market have been saturated with imported chicken both of which put the country at risk of the avian flu.

The ministry of health told parliament recently that it was bracing itself for the bird flu but it takes more than words to show we are preparing. Uganda, like other countries, has imposed a ban on importation of poultry products as a preventive measure to minimise the spread of the flu into the population of local poultry. In Kenya, a Government monitoring group has been formed and has already started educating people about the risks, especially the small-holder rural farmer who keeps two to four chickens and shares shelter with them. In Ethiopia since last December dead migratory birds suspected of having succumbed to the virus are being tested. These are examples of actions for a government to claim justifiably it is preparing itself for bird flu.

It would be good for instance to know if the ministry of health in Sierra Leone has the capacity to test for the avian flu from dead birds. That is a good way to start if only to ensure that indeed at the moment it is non-existent. The ministry and vetinary department especially should request people to report sick or dead birds to enable them test for the prevalence or not of the disease. Then a monitoring group with adequate funding and capacity to undertake surveillances (especially on wild birds) is essential and should not just be a one-time unit with a short duration but should exist for as long as the threat is. Thirdly, to ensure chickens from countries where the disease has been reported do not find their way to Sierra Leone is not too much for the government to do, but since the government cannot fed the people with good food; it may not mind that cheap and junk stuff such as imported chicken from everywhere continues to enter the country. A government that has its people at heart will ban the importation of chicken from countries with bird flu and the customs department will effect it. Will the SLPP do that?

The trade unions mainly Labour Congress, Traders Associations, journalists organisation, student unions and human rights groups have a stake in this; how does the government engage them into a preventive response strategy is a showcase of its preparedness to disaster prevention. They have to be engaged at the countryside more especially where people are very close to birds and not just in Freetown as usual.

Massive education on the basics on the handling and processing of bird food is highly recommended. The British Food Standards Agency has confirmed that properly cooked chicken poses no risk to human beings.

This is true for meat products be they beef, chicken, mutton or pork- they have to be well cooked to kill potentially harmful bacteria. If this is done; then you may not need to say your last prayer before eating chicken.

The bird flu epidemic may never be, it may never reach Sierra Leone but it would be fool-hardy not to be fully prepared for it.

Chicken is safe to eat, but please take care.

Writer is an ex-Editor of Concord Times but now works with an international humanitarian agency.

Ship's Cook Dies... could be first human bird flu case in EU

02/06 thread said:

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.

Click to expand...

Smugglers ignoring poultry peril​

Hong Kongers continue to sneak in poultry from across the border, disregarding mainland bird flu outbreaks and frustrating SAR border surveillance.

Leslie Kwoh

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Hong Kongers continue to sneak in poultry from across the border, disregarding mainland bird flu outbreaks and frustrating SAR border surveillance.

The Customs and Excise Department revealed Monday that from February 1 to 5, it seized 82 kilograms of illicit chicken and other poultry meat - such as ducks and geese - and two live chickens at the border.

Smuggling has continued even though early last week three villagers in the New Territories were placed under medical observation after coming in contact with an illicit chicken smuggled in from the mainland that died from the deadly H5N1 strain of the avian virus. Customs Monday announced that to prevent bird flu from spreading to the SAR, it had stepped up surveillance along the border since October, in an exercise codenamed Operation Eagle.

In January it netted 1,567kg of poultry meat and two live chickens at the border.

Since the operation commenced in October, 212 people have been detained for further investigation after their goods were confiscated.

The department would not reveal how many of the cases proceeded beyond that.

"Frontline customs officers have been put on high alert and examination of suspicious imported cargo and baggage has also been increased," Assistant Commissioner (Boundary and Ports) Chow Kwong said Monday.

But the scare involving the three Sha Tau Kok villagers - who have since tested negative for bird flu antibodies - has raised questions about the effectiveness of the government's increased boundary protection, the first line of defense in preventing avian flu from entering Hong Kong.

The department spokeswoman Monday acknowledged that public awareness remains a problem, adding that the majority of illegal poultry seized at the border continues to come from individuals who try to hide the contents inside personal luggage.

"We think there is still local demand," the spokeswoman said, "and we want to remind the public to be extra cautious and that there are consequences for their actions."

An Agence France-Presse report last week cited a border police source saying small-scale smuggling would be nearly impossible to stamp out.

"It's a gray area - many people cross the border and sometimes they bring in small amounts of illegal things," the source said. "We cannot stop all of them."

Elaborating on the SAR's attempt to clip poultry smuggling, Kwong Monday said that the department had increased "intelligence exchange" with the mainland, as well as the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

A department spokeswoman later said "intelligence exchange" between Hong Kong and the mainland entailed each side tipping off the other in cases involving suspected smuggling of poultry.

If a transport vehicle carrying poultry from Hong Kong to the mainland fails to stop for inspection at the border, for example, Hong Kong customs will notify mainland authorities immediately. The mechanism has been employed successfully on several occasions, she said.

The special operation also targeted public awareness by putting up posters and broadcasting television announcements about the dangers of smuggling live poultry.

Regulations stipulate it is an offense to bring into Hong Kong any live, chilled or frozen meat and poultry without an import license or official certificate, and any live bird without a valid health certificate.

While bringing in cooked poultry is still legal for now, the spokeswoman strongly advised against it.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_...d=11451&sid=6551834&con_type=3&d_str=20060207

Avian flu kills fifth bird​

A dead magpie has tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu in Hong Kong - the fifth dead bird to be found infected with the virus in recent weeks.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

A dead magpie has tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu in Hong Kong - the fifth dead bird to be found infected with the virus in recent weeks.

The bird was collected from a local village Thursday and died Friday, the government said Monday.

Hong Kong has been spared from the recent bird flu outbreaks that have killed or forced the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia since late 2003.

But the territory has found dead wild birds of various species with avian flu in the past year, and the government said last week a local chicken brought in from the mainland tested positive for the disease.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_...d=11449&sid=6552708&con_type=1&d_str=20060207

To date, chickens have been like the proverbial canaries in the coal mine with H5N1

Uncontrolled bird flu in China has seeded outbreaks in Vietnam and beyond: study​

TORONTO (CP) - Genetic analysis of H5N1 avian flu viruses collected from wild and domestic birds in China suggests the virus has spread in uncontrolled fashion in southern China for the past decade, igniting outbreaks in Vietnam on at least three occasions and triggering spread of the worrisome virus across Russia to eastern Europe, a study released Monday suggests.

The study also provides what could be a smoking gun in the heated dispute about whether migratory birds are actually playing a role in moving the virus across the globe. A number of wildlife experts have insisted migratory birds are not to blame, but this study contends genetic analysis shows there can be no other explanation.

"I've spent most of my life working with wild birds and I'm sympathetic. But you can't hide the facts that wild birds are most probably involved in the spread of this thing now," said leading avian influenza expert Dr. Robert Webster, one of the authors of the paper.

Webster and his co-authors - researchers from institutions in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Indonesia - argue the only way to minimize the damage done by the virus and reduce the risk it poses to human health is by addressing the problem at the virus's birthplace, in the poultry flocks of southern China.

"We have shown that H5N1 virus has persisted in its birthplace, southern China, for almost 10 years and has been repeatedly introduced into neighbouring (e.g. Vietnam) and distant (e.g. Indonesia) regions, establishing 'colonies' of H5N1 viruses throughout Asia that directly exacerbate the pandemic threat," they said in the article, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Therefore control of this regional epizootic and its attendant pandemic threat requires that the source of virus in southern China be contained."

Doing that won't be easy, especially in light of another finding Webster and his colleagues reported.

They discovered instances where seemingly healthy chickens in Chinese poultry markets were shedding the virus. To date, chickens have been like the proverbial canaries in the coal mine with H5N1, which has killed millions of chickens across Asia.

It's not clear why the chickens didn't succumb to the virus. The authors suggest they may have been vaccinated or protected by previous exposure to a similar but not lethal virus. But one thing is clear: if chickens are able to survive infection but continue to shed the virus, tracing its spread will become much more difficult.

"It's not a case of 'there are dead birds and they are hiding it'. (That) there are no dead birds is the problem," Webster said in an interview from Hong Kong.

"The pernicious thing is that there are these perfectly healthy birds that you walk into the markets day after day after day and the virus is always there."

The researchers collected viruses over several years from wild birds in the Mai Po marshes of Hong Kong and at Poyang Lake in eastern China, and from swabs taken from apparently healthy poultry in markets across southern China.

They generated genetic sequences of the H5N1 viruses, comparing them to each other and to other previously sequenced viruses on what are called phylogenetic trees. These charts, the equivalent of a family tree, can identify where a virus came from by finding viruses to which it is most closely genetically related.

The charts the group generated suggest viruses from domestic poultry in southern China infected wild ducks in early 2005. Ducks took those viruses to Poyang Lake in eastern China and from there to Qinghai Lake in western China, more than 1,700 kilometres away. The viruses were responsible for a large die-off of wild birds at Qinghai Lake - a wild bird reserve - that occurred last May.

"That was the tipping point. The virus really got into the migratory birds at that point," Webster, who is based at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., said of the Qinghai Lake incident.

Recent analysis of viruses from the first two human cases of H5N1 infection in Turkey showed they were closely related to viruses isolated at Qinghai Lake.

"Genetic relatedness of gene segments from H5N1 viruses isolated at Poyang and Qinghai Lakes strongly argues that migratory birds can transfer the virus over long distances," the authors said.

"This possibility may provide insight into reported H5N1 outbreaks in Mongolia, Siberian Russia and Europe that have been linked to migratory birds."

Earl Brown, a virologist who specializes in the evolution of influenza virus virulence, said the work done by this group helps scientists figure out what is going on with the H5N1 viruses.

"It puts details on the evolutionary story," said Brown, who is based at the University of Ottawa.

"This links the dots from southern China to this Poyang Lake to Qinghai. And then it sort of gets out from there even broader. But it's very important to know where the virus is coming from, what it's doing in the different places, like what birds (it infects) and what disease (it causes) and that sort of thing."

The study also noted there are a number of distinct clades or families of viruses in birds. Previous genetic analysis of viruses isolated from human cases showed two distinct clades.

That finding has implications for production of vaccines against H5N1, as a vaccine produced using a virus from one clade might offer at best partial protection against a virus from another.

The authors suggest multiple seed strains or vaccine starters should be made and kept at the ready. The World Health Organization actually commissioned that work last October.

A WHO avian flu expert suggested this work is a reminder of how important it is to keep on top of how the virus is evolving.

"It's very important to do this kind surveillance so that we know what's going on. And we're hopeful, since there are some clear differences, that these viruses will be made available to other investigators to do further analysis," said Michael Perdue, who is with WHO's global influenza program.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=ontario_home&articleID=2163456

Thank you for this cause I was wondering.

No telling how many have died from that already that we just don't know about.

UK: see today's post #3

Tue 7 Feb 2006

Suspected bird flu victim was in UK​

A cook on a ship which recently sailed from an unamed UK port died from suspected bird flu in a Lithuanian port yesterday, the director of the country's epidemical crisis centre was reported to have said last night.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=192542006

Which mod changed the title of the thread?

"Bird Flu: Eat Chicken And Say Your Last Prayer"

...was the title of the article (post #2)... used to title the thread.

I steam my chicken. Best way to make sure it's cooked.

Which mod changed the title of the thread?

"Bird Flu: Eat Chicken And Say Your Last Prayer"

...was the title of the article (post #2)... used to title the thread.

Click to expand...

OK, I'm curious... if somemod thought the title of the article/thread was too conteroversial... then why not say so, and then suggest changes....??? But why deliberately piss on the thread? I'm really kinda offended! and I'm certain Abubakarr Talib Jallow would be likewise.

Mosque preachers' help sought in spreading awareness on bird flu​

By Mohammad Ghazal

AMMAN — The media committee affiliated to the national committee tasked with taking precautionary measures against a possible outbreak of bird flu on Monday recommended enlisting the help of mosque imams and preachers to spread awareness on the disease.

“People listen to imams and preachers more than they do to government officials, because they have more confidence in them,” head of the media committee, Khalid Abu Rumman, told The Jordan Times yesterday.

During its meeting yesterday, the media committee suggested acquainting imams and preachers with the avian flu because of their effective role in the community, Abu Rumman said.

He said talks are currently under way with the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in this regard, adding that the recommendation would be presented to the minister of health for endorsement.

If it is approved, the Health Ministry will meet with mosque imams and preachers and brief them on the symptoms of bird flu and preventive measures, said Abu Rumman, who is also head of the Chest Diseases Department at the ministry.

“We decided to resort to this new approach because people are bored with the usual public service announcements telling them it is safe to eat chicken and assuring them there is no fear. It turns out that these messages have failed to make an impression,” Abu Rumman added.

“When mosque preachers and imams explain the precautionary measures against the deadly virus in Friday sermons and advise people to avoid direct contact with birds, they will listen because they feel that imams are close to them... they will believe the preachers because they are not officials, as people believe that officials conceal information,” he told The Jordan Times.

The committee also recommended coordinating with the Ministry of Education to convey information on the disease to the Kingdom's around 1.6 million students. In this regard, Abu Rumman said the Curricula Department at the Education Ministry was working on a plan to make students aware of the disease.

Also yesterday, a delegation of experts from the World Health Organisation arrived in Amman to get acquainted with the precautionary measures the government and concerned authorities have taken so far, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The delegation will discuss the technical needs of the concerned authorities, coordination between the countries in the region, as well as benefiting from Jordanian expertise in this regard.

The delegation is scheduled to meet with officials from the ministries of health and agriculture and representatives from the Kingdom's hospitals and professional associations, according to Petra.

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

http://www.jordantimes.com/tue/homenews/homenews6.htm\\

Nigeria tests dead poultry from northern farm​

http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=11106413&src=rss/topNews

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria has sent samples from poultry that died on a farm in the northern state of Kano to a veterinary laboratory for testing, but authorities said this was unlikely to be Africa's first case of deadly H5N1 bird flu.

Poultry have died in abnormally high numbers on the Sovat farm in Danbare village and samples have been sent to a laboratory in central Plateau state to identify the cause of the deaths.

"From what we know for now, it's most likely to be Newcastle disease, but we've sent samples just to check," said Junaidu Maina, acting director of the livestock department at the Agriculture Ministry in the capital Abuja.

Newcastle disease is a highly contagious viral disease in poultry for which there is no treatment. The virus causes, at worst, only minor illnesses in humans.

Sick birds typically develop diseases of the nervous, respiratory or reproductive systems and morbidity is usually high, according to website www.thepoultrysite.com.

The H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has killed more than 70 people in Asia, has spread from Asia to Europe and the Middle East, but has not been detected in Africa.

Experts have warned that any outbreak of the deadly virus could have devastating consequences in the world's poorest continent, where millions of people live at close quarters with poultry.

Lola Sadiq, the point person for avian flu at the World Health Organization (WHO) office in Abuja, said the WHO was aware of the poultry deaths in Kano and was liaising with the Nigerian agriculture and health ministries over the issue.

She said the laboratory in Plateau would try and identify the cause of the deaths and if it was unable to do so it would send samples abroad for further testing. It was not immediately clear how long the testing would take.

The official in charge of bird flu at the Health Ministry, Jide Coker, said Nigeria had a plan of action to react to any suspected outbreak of the H5N1 virus.

Experts fear the strain, which mostly affects birds, could mutate to a form that can easily be transmitted between people, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.

While the strain has not yet been detected in Africa, experts say Africa is on the flight-path of migratory birds thought to carry the disease and the close proximity between poultry and humans in towns and villages provides an ideal environment for the virus to jump to humans.

Delegates to a WHO conference in Congo last month said a shortage of money and scientific knowhow could leave Africa struggling to detect and combat bird flu.

sanofi pasteur Delivers More H5N1 Vaccine for U.S. Pandemic Initiatives​

http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/hotnews/62h69574421773.html

Posted on: 02/06/2006

SWIFTWATER, Pa. and LYON, France -- Sanofi pasteur, the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, has delivered more H5N1 vaccine to the U.S. government including investigational doses formulated with an adjuvant.

Sanofi pasteur has shipped to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 15,000 investigational doses of a vaccine to protect against the H5N1 influenza strain. Prepared with different levels of antigen, the investigational doses will be used in the NIH's clinical studies to determine the optimal formulation of the vaccine. The investigational doses include the use of the adjuvant, aluminum hydroxide (alum), that could increase the vaccine's effectiveness and enable the use of less antigen in each dose. The end result could be a greater number of doses available to immunize more people.

In addition, the company has completed production of additional bulk-concentrate of the H5N1 vaccine antigen for the U.S. government stockpile. Once the optimal dosage is established, the bulk-concentrate antigen will be ready for final formulation and filling into doses.

The additional H5N1 bulk-concentrate vaccine represents a broadening of a contract the company signed in September 2005 with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to produce a stockpile of the H5N1 vaccine valued at $100 million. The additional bulk concentrate vaccine just produced is valued at $50 million and will support U.S. Department of Defense requirements.

The bulk-concentrate and the investigational doses were produced at sanofi pasteur's U.S. site in Swiftwater, Pa.

Source: sanofi-pasteur

[February 06, 2006]

Bird flu response​

(Business World (Philippines) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Business leaders in Asia Pacific will draft recommendations urging large and small businesses to prepare avian influenza response contingency plans. Hoang Van Dung, chairman of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Advisory Council for 2006, said business leaders are holding several meetings with APEC ministers within the year to develop recommendations that will be presented to APEC leaders in November in Hanoi, Vietnam. APEC business leaders are set to meet in Montreal, Canada on May 9 to 12, in Cebu on Aug. 14 to 17 and in Hanoi on Nov. 14 to 16 to tackle health issues, energy prices, strengthening regional financial markets and strengthening intellectual property right protections.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/02/06/1348293.htm

FDA approves test for bird flu diagnoses​

6th February 2006
By Staff Writer
A laboratory test developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been approved by the FDA for the diagnosis of bird flu in patients suspected to be infected with the virus.

The product tests for H5 influenza of which bird flu (H5N1) is a subtype. The test returns results on a sample within four hours, compared with the two or three days required by previous testing technology.

If the presence of the H5 strain is identified, further testing is conducted to identify the specific H5 subtype and confirm whether or not the patient is infected with bird flu.

Nearly all of the 160 cases of bird flu reported since December 2003 are believed to have been caused by exposure to infected poultry. The concern is that H5N1 will evolve into a virus capable of human-to-human transmission and lead to an influenza pandemic.

"This laboratory test is a major step forward in our ability to more quickly detect cases of H5 avian influenza and provides additional safeguards to protect public health," said Mike Leavitt, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HSS).

http://www.pharmaceutical-business-...asp?guid=882A348F-2AD5-4845-9336-30D30E500B01

http://pdfserver.prweb.com/pdfdownload/342786/pr.pdf

WHO Criticized for Withholding Information Regarding Human to Human Transmission of Avian Bird Flu​

This new forum has gained a lot attention since Dr. Niman recently released commentaries warning that human to human transmission has now become more efficient and the WHO’s failure to provide important information is cause for concern.

(PRWEB) February 6, 2006 -- Avian Flu Talk recently announced the launch of its highly successful H5N1 bird flu discussion forum. The new forum is growing rapidly each day as it is now approaching 400 members in the last 90 days.

The site recently created a new forum that is dedicated to discussing commentaries issued by leading expert of infectious diseases, Dr. Henry Niman, founder of the website Recombinomics.com. This new forum has gained a lot attention since Dr. Niman recently released commentaries warning that human to human transmission has now become more efficient and the WHO’s failure to provide important information is cause for concern.

“H5N1 is expanding its geographical reach via migratory birds and expanding its host range via acquisition of genetic changes by recombining its genetic information with other flu viruses,” said Dr. Henry Niman of Recombinomics, Inc.

“The outbreaks in Turkey are expanding into neighboring countries, but this region lacks transparency. The WHO is withholding important information regarding onset dates and relationships between infected people. The data indicate H5N1 transmission to humans is becoming more efficient, and these developments are not being covered well in the popular media,” Dr. Henry Niman said.

Dr. Niman fears that the bird flu virus may soon undergo the final genetic mutation which will result in sustained human to human transmission.

“Some of the genetic changes, which allow H5N1 to grow more efficiently at lower temperatures or bind to human receptors more efficiently, are too detailed for many of the media reports”, said Dr. Niman.

Since adding Dr. Niman’s commentaries to the Avian Flu Talk forum, the website has truly become a great source for receiving the latest bird flu news. Forums like Avian Flu Talk allow for discussion of ongoing developments, almost in real time, and provide a useful function for educating the public.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/2/prweb342786.htm

U.S. Military Girds to Battle an Invisible Enemy​

By Seamus McGraw

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Crime Library) - For months now, military planners, together with top experts from the Department of Health and Human Services and other government agencies, have been conducting tabletop exercises to prepare for a possible invasion of this country.

It isn't an armed force they're worried about, nor shadowy terrorists bent on injuring hundreds or even thousands, in the name of some twisted ideology. It is, most experts fret, a potentially more lethal foe, one that by some estimations could emerge silently and suddenly and, before it's done, sicken and kill millions worldwide.

It's the bird flu, and researchers, government and military officials across the world are bracing for a possible human epidemic that, according to some scenarios, could threaten as many as 1.2 billion people around the world, killing anywhere between five and 50 million people. The World Health Organization, erring on the side of caution, has warned governments around the globe that there is no currently no way to estimate the potential death toll, but the agency has said that 7.4 million deaths as a result of the bird flu could be anticipated.

In the two years since it emerged, a version of the virus, H5N1, transmitted among both wild and domestic birds, has infected at least 160 people and has killed more than half of them, at least 85 people, across the globe. Most recently, a 15-year-old girl in northern Iraq succumbed to the disease after coming in contact with an infected bird. Her death followed a significant outbreak in Turkey and most health experts suspect that infected birds likely carried the virus across the border. But most disturbing to those monitoring the progress of the disease was the news last week that the girl's uncle also died after suffering similar symptoms. International health officials have shipped tissue samples from his body to London to determine whether he died of the disease as well. In fact, Iraqi officials announced Monday that they were treating six patients, all suffering from symptoms that could be related to bird flu, and all from the same region of that war-torn country.

The emergence of these recent cases has sparked concern among world leaders and international health experts, many of whom have been raising an alarm for over a year that the disease, which so far has not been proven to have developed the ability to be easily and sustainably transmitted from human to human, may be evolving into a virus that could rival the influenza pandemic of 1918 that killed upwards of 20 million people worldwide.

And it has also promoted dire warnings that the entire world, including the United States, is ill-prepared to handle the threat.

Local Health Departments Could Be Overwhelmed by Outbreak

Those dire warnings have been echoed at the highest levels of the U.S. government. President George W. Bush and Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, among others, have acknowledged shortcomings in America's readiness to combat a potential outbreak.

Just how drastic those shortcomings are was made clear at a conference last week in Washington when experts on avian flu warned that the lack of a clear plan and adequate funding by the federal government has left most of the 5,000 health departments across the country ill-prepared for a potential outbreak. Though the Bush administration has requested $7.1 billion to fight the disease, less than half of that is budgeted for this year and only $350 million of it is earmarked to go to local health departments, the front-line agencies in the event of a pandemic outbreak.

In fact, the thrust of the national strategy to cope with a potential outbreak is largely to "buy time" until enough vaccines and anti-viral drugs can be produced, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was quoted as telling conference participants.

Last fall, in what has proven to be a controversial subject, President Bush suggested that the U.S. military could be deployed domestically to help manage the crisis in the event of a pandemic outbreak. The idea prompted criticism from several quarters, including civil libertarians concerned the use of the military to enforce quarantines could violate the 125-year-old Posse Comitatus Act which bars the government from using the military for domestic law enforcement operations except under specific circumstances. It also raised concerns among critics who warned that the U.S. military, already stretched by its commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, may not have the resources needed to accept such a mission.

But military medical officials have told Crime Library that despite those concerns, experts from all branches of the armed services, together with officials from HHS, the CDC and other agencies, have been conducting tabletop exercises and studying ways the military can be used most effectively to combat a pandemic.

"I can't tell you exactly what they've been looking at," said one source, noting that the concepts are still in the developmental stage.

Worst Case Scenario, Pentagon Outlines Plans to Possibly Quarantine Troops in the Event of a Pandemic

It is clear, however, that in many respects, the U.S. armed forces are better-prepared than most agencies — local, state or federal — for a potential outbreak.

Over the past several months, the Pentagon has stockpiled more than $58 million worth of Tamiflu, enough for some 350,000 doses of the drug. (The patent on the drug is owned by Gilead Science, a California biotech company that was headed by Donald Rumsfeld before he was named Secretary of Defense. Rumsfeld, who reportedly owns between $5 million and $25 million worth of stock in the company, has recused himself from any decisions involving the company or its products.) So far, a Department of Defense official told Crime Library, none of it has been used. "Tamiflu is an anti-viral medication and not a vaccine," the source said. "Because of this, it cannot be used to vaccinate individuals."

The military has also developed a plan in the event of a major pandemic outbreak in Europe, Asia and most critically at the moment, Iraq, a country where more than 135,000 U.S. troops are now deployed.

Among other things, in the event of an outbreak, the military would consider quarantining American troops, effectively barring them from returning to the United States until the threat of contamination was past.

"The military has a lot more control over who gets on a plane than civilians do," said one military official.

And the military has stepped up surveillance, the Department of Defense source said, particularly in Iraq. "We are increasing our surveillance efforts for influenza-like illnesses in the region," the source said. "Thus far there have been no unexpected increases of illness in U.S. forces in the surrounding region."

Much of the military's prophylactic strategy has involved education, the Pentagon says. "Previous guidance issued regarding avian influenza has been reinforced. The situation is being monitored closely with well-coordinated communication between (Department of Defense) assets, other agencies within the federal government, to include USAID, the Department of State and the CDC as well as the World Health Organization," the source said.

But some experts worry that may not be enough.

Could American Forces Be the Canary in the Coalmine for Bird Flu?

In fact, should a pandemic break out in Iraq, there is an increased risk that American forces might easily be exposed. Over the weekend for example, American soldiers were deployed to provide security for U.S. and United Nations epidemiologists who were studying the recent outbreak in the northern Kurdish territory. Such missions, experts warn, could raise the risk that American forces deployed overseas might be exposed to the disease, raising the specter that the same organization, the military, which President Bush has considered using as a key element of the U.S. defense against a domestic pandemic could, under certain conditions be a kind of Trojan Horse and become one of the avenues by which the disease enters this country.

Though the military insists that it is taking steps to make sure that doesn't happen, there are questions about whether in places like Iraq, already ravaged by the effects of a war now in its third year, government agencies and international health agencies would have the data and resources to recognize a deadly mutation that could spark a pandemic in time for the U.S. military to implement its defensive strategy.

That question was underscored last week. Ordinarily, avian flu has first been spotted in wild or domestic birds, which are then required to be destroyed. But in vast undeveloped areas like parts of Turkey and elsewhere in the Middle East, or regions in conflict such as Iraq, there are grave doubts about whether there are resources to adequately detect and monitor the spread of the disease. Speaking to The New York Times, a World Health Organization official acknowledged that the fact that the recent cases in both Turkey and Iraq were reported in humans before there were any official reports of contamination among birds indicated alarming "gaps in surveillance."

Henry L. Niman, a medical researcher and founder of Recombinomics Inc, who has been critical of what he sees as the World Health Organization's over-cautious approach to the pandemic threat, said American servicemen may already be at risk. There are unconfirmed reports, he notes, that the virus has surfaced in central Iraq and perhaps in the southern part of the country as well.

"If these other reports are true and its already in Central Iraq and it's already in Southern Iraq, well number one, it's probably throughout the Middle East, whether or not they're reporting it, and number two, it would put our servicemen at risk especially if the U.S. tried to get involved with trying to manage this."

http://www.crimelibrary.com/feature...riginal/0206/0602_military_bird_flu_prep.html

Researchers Uncover 4 Different Genetic Bird-Flu Strains​

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20060206/hl_hsn/researchersuncover4differentgeneticbirdflustrains

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
Mon Feb 6, 5:03 PM ET

MONDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified several different genetic strains of the avian flu virus, H5N1, in different bird populations in Southeast Asia -- any one of which could trigger a pandemic.

The finding has implications for preparations against a possible pandemic and the vaccines that may be needed to ward off human infection, experts say.

One key recommendation: Better surveillance of bird populations to make sure one of the H5N1 variants doesn't begin to spread more easily between people.

"There are multiple different lineages of H5N1 emerging in the world," said lead researcher Robert Webster, a professor of virology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tenn., and a member of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong. "There are about four different families of viruses out there now."

His team's report appears in this week's edition of the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.

The threat of a mutant strain of deadly H5N1 that could pass easily from person-to-person has raised fears of a worldwide pandemic. Since January 2004, at least 152 laboratory-confirmed cases of bird-to-human infection have been reported to the
World Health Organization, and 85 people have died from the disease.

So far, however, the virus appears to lack the ability to jump easily from human to human, experts say.

In the study, Webster's team found that the H5N1 virus exists frequently in domesticated poultry populations and also in wild birds before they migrate. Using genetic analysis, the researchers found four distinct sub-lineages of the virus existing in birds from different geographical areas.

While H5N1 can be transmitted over long distances in migratory birds, in Southeast Asia infected poultry appears to be the main way H5N1 is spread, Webster's team noted.

"These viruses can be out there in apparently healthy birds all the time," Webster said. "These viruses are not killing all the chickens [that carry them], so they are out there," he added.

The spread of myriad genetic types of H5N1 highlights the need for a variety of vaccines, Webster said.

"Multiple, different vaccines are going to have to be prepared and held ready in case one of these goes human-to-human," he said. "It will be necessary to have vaccines to each one of them." Based on evidence from the bird-to-human cases recorded so far, "there is human infection in all the types," he added.

Webster believes that more genetic types of the virus will develop. "Whether one of these will become pandemic, God only knows," he said. "It looks as if it could be. So it behooves us to get our ducks in a row and be prepared. It's scary."

One expert thinks the variety of virus types is a good argument for overhauling America's vaccine production system.

"There is a lot of genetic variability in H5N1," noted Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine, and author of Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic. "This is not surprising."

Siegel believes the ability of the virus to change should be a major concern for vaccine developers. "It's another wake-up call that we need a vaccine system where we can turn it around quickly," he said. "We don't need nine-month lead times. We have the technology to make vaccines quickly."

H5N1 may still not become pandemic, Siegel stressed. "That's a speculation whether it's going to be H5N1 or something else," he said. "Eventually, there is going to be another pandemic."

The key point about H5N1 is that it is a deadly virus to which people have no immunity, Siegel said. "That's a good reason to be concerned and keep tracking it," he said. "The knowledge that there are more subtypes out there is a very good reason to update how we make vaccines."

He added that the first priority should be to control the virus in birds.

"There should be more vaccination of birds," he said. "We need a rational approach to this. A rational approach means a greater attempt to control it in birds -- put the fire out rather than build the firewall."

China's had bird flu for 10 years, report says​

Controlling the virus requires containing the China source, researchers claim


TORONTO -- Genetic analysis of H5N1 avian flu viruses collected from wild and domestic birds in China suggests the virus has spread in uncontrolled fashion in southern China for the past decade, igniting outbreaks in Vietnam on at least three occasions and triggering spread of the worrisome virus across Russia to eastern Europe, a study released Monday suggests.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=95a83ee7-2307-4f6a-9ceb-0a9f014153a1

WA-DC

http://pdfserver.prweb.com/pdfdownload/343226/pr.pdf

Washington, DC Hosting Bird Flu Summit for Businesses​

Business leaders will have access to bird flu experts from around the world to address pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery February 27-28, 2006, at Washington, DC's first Bird Flu Summit.​

Washington, DC (PRWEB) February 7, 2006 -- Bird flu experts will focus on the business-related issues in pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery at Washington, DC's first Bird Flu Summit to be held February 27-28, 2006 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City near Reagan National Airport.

The 2-day event, featuring public sector and private sector leaders addressing the bird flu threat, will be co-chaired by international healthcare advisor Dr. Joseph Agris (www.flulab.com), and will present collective approaches to pandemic influenza preparedness and business continuity planning.

Special emphasis will be placed on identifying the responsibilities of various stakeholders in order to improve communications, coordination and collaboration worldwide.

Dr. Agris will also outline proposed measures for Iraq, where bird flu deaths have been recently reported.

Confirmed speakers and topics include:

Overview

Koos van der Velden
Chairman
European Influenza Surveillance Scheme

Country Report and Situation Updates

Dr. Huseyin Avni Sahin
Chief Physician
Van Yuzuncu Yil Research Hopital, Turkey

Dr. Mircea Ioan Popa
Associate Professor in Microbiology
Adviser to the Minister of Health
Ministry of Health, Romania

Avian influenza: Animals, Man and Pathogen

Alex Thiermann
President
Terrestrial Animal Health Code Commission
World Organization for Animal Health ( OIE )

Bird Flu Transmission to Humans May Be Higher Than Thought

Anna Thorson, M.D., Ph.D
Researcher
Division of International Health
Department of Public Health Sciences
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

The Epidemiology and Evolution of Human and Animal Influenza Viruses

Dr. Alan J. Hay
Director, World Influenza Centre
National Institute for Medical Research, London

Surveillance and Data Management

Michael Wagner, M.D., Ph.D.
Director
Real-time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance ( RODS ) Laboratory

Veronica Urdaneta
State Epidemiologist and Division Director,
Bureau of Epidemiology
Pennsylvania Department of Health

Marion A. Kainer MD, MPH, FRACP
Medical Epidemiologist
Communicable and Environmental Disease Services
Tennessee Deptartment of Health

Dr. Patricia Somsel
Director
Division of Infectious Disease, Bureau of Laboratories
Michigan Department of Community Health

Dr. Andrew Miller
Syndrome Reporting Information System ( SYRIS ) Product Manager
ARES Corporation

Preparing Communities Strategies; Local Partnership and Participation

Tim Stephens
President
Rescobie Associates, Inc.

Sheriff James Hagy
Office of Sheriff
Law Enforcement Center
Frederick, MD

John Thompson
Deputy Executive Director
National Sheriffs Association

Critical Infrastructure Continuity

Dr. Tom McGinn
Sector Specialist
Public Health, Food and Agriculture
Department of Homeland Security

Vaccine Delivery

John Iskander
Project officer
Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System
CDC

Dr. Andrea Gambotto
Asst. Professor of Surgery
Co-director, Vector Core Facility
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

The Aethlon Hemopurifier as a Treatment for Drug Resistant Avian Flu

James A. Joyce
Chairman, CEO
Aethlon Medical, Inc.

Emergency Response and Hospital/Health Care Coordination

John O. Davies-Cole
State Epidemiologist
Washington DC Department of Health

Dr. Sandra Schneider
Professor and Chair
University of Rochester

Playing Ostrich or Talking Turkey: Pre-Pandemic Risk Communication Strategies

Jody Lanard M.D.
Risk Communication Specialist
Princeton, NJ
The Peter Sandman Risk Communication

Poultry Farms: The Frontline Fight Against Avian Flu

Dr. Bruce N. Stewart-Brown
Vice President
Food Safety and Quality
Perdue Farms

Dr. Steve Roney
Director
Veterinary Services
Gold Kist Inc.

Benefit-Risk Assessment: Public Health, Industry and Regulatory Perspectives

Brian T. Yeh
Legislative Attorney
American Law Division
Congressional Research Service

Doug Colwell
Director of Immunobiology
Antigen Express, Inc. ( Generex )

Stephen Aldrich
CEO
Bio Economic Research Associates (BIO-ERA)

The Effect of a Bird Flu Pandemic on the U.S. Life Insurance Industry

Dr. Steven Weisbart
Economist
Insurance Information Institute

Prevention Education Efforts and Risk Communication

Caroline Smith DeWaal
Director for Food Safety
Center for Science in the Public Interest

Antiviral Agents

C. Shane Arnold, Ph.D.
Director, Peramivir Development
Research Biologist II
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Legal Considerations: Immunizing Vaccine Manufacturers

Jason Waite
Partner
Alston and Bird

Christopher Milne
Assistant Director
Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development

John Clerici
Partner
Mckenna Long Aldridge

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/2/prweb343226.htm

Iraq

2006-02-07
By Fadel Mushatat - AMARA, Iraq

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The death in southern Iraq of a man with bird flu-like symptoms who owned pigeons with the deadly H5N1 strain has spurred fears the disease is spreading from the Kurdish north.

The man who died in the city of Amara owned two pigeons which tested positive for the H5N1 strain, making him the first suspected human case of bird flu outside Kurdistan where two people have died of the disease.

On Monday, Ibtisam Aziz, head of a committee set up to fight the virus, said the virus was still confined to a village in the Raniya area of Sulaimaniyah province where the first case involving a teenage girl was confirmed.

Four people are currently under observation in Kurdistan as suspected bird flu patients, officials said Tuesday.

Adel Muhajir al-Maliki, governor of Amara, said the man was admitted to a city hospital suffering from the flu but was discharged after five days and subsequently died at home on Sunday.

"We suspect he died of bird flu as our investigations revealed that he had birds at home," Maliki said.

Dawood Mohammed Sharif, head of Baghdad's veterinary laboratory, said samples from the man's two pigeons had tested positive for H5N1.

"The samples of the pigeons have been sent to Cairo for further tests," Sharif said, while the governor added that samples taken from the man were dispatched to Baghdad.

Jon C. Bowersox, health attache at the US embassy in Iraq, has warned against hunting birds.

"Birds that are migrating down from the north could be infected and some people make their income by hunting birds. It is not simply a matter of chicken," Bowersox said.

In Kirkuk, just south of the Kurdish provinces, rumors are rampant of avian flu cases being covered up by the local government and the price of a chicken has plummeted to a mere 500 dinars (0.33 dollars).

In the city of Sulaimaniyah five people earlier suspected of suffering from bird flu were released Tuesday after their health improved following treatment, senior health official Mohammed Khushnow said.

Of the five, Sabria Mohammed, a 40-year-old woman, was a carrier of H5N1 but her health improved after she was treated with the anti-avian influenza drug Tamiflu, he said.

On Monday, Iraq confirmed its second human death from bird flu in the Kurdish 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 few days after Abdullah's death, the World Health Organisation (WHO) lab confirmed that the girl, Shajin Abdel Qader, had died of bird flu.

Two WHO teams, meanwhile, were out in the field in Kurdistan on Tuesday assessing the capacity of the region's medical and veterinary services to tackle the threat.

A consignment of masks, gloves and gowns was also being shipped out from the United States to help Iraqi doctors tackle any larger outbreak.

"At the moment this is an agricultural emergency," Sam Yingst, one of the WHO team members, said on Sunday.

"But we believe that there is a possibility that it may become a human public emergency though it will require a significant change in the nature of the virus."

A massive cull of poultry has been underway in Kurdistan.

In the eastern province of Diyala along the Iranian border, health ministry officials were spreading disinfectant Monday around poultry-producing areas.

"We are checking people coming from Kurdistan and Iran to Diyala and spreading disinfectants on their vehicles," said Hashim Ibrahim, head of Diyala's veterinary department.

Neighbouring Turkey, which has had 21 cases of the flu strain, was previously the only country outside east Asia to report fatalities from the virus. Four people have died there.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=15680

Stocks Fall After Bird Flu Strain Detection
Stocks Fall After Hong Kong Authorities Detect Second Strain of Bird Flu​

By ELLEN SIMON
The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Stocks turned lower Tuesday after Hong Kong authorities said they suspected two birds that died in the area were infected with a deadly strain of the bird flu virus.

Nervous investors have been fearing news of a bird flu pandemic, which has potential to send affected economies grinding to a halt and stymie international trade. The news comes at a time when Wall Street is especially nervous about what it calls "the geopolitical situation," which includes Iran's nuclear program and unrest in oil-rich Nigeria.

One measure of how the mood on Wall Street has changed: One of the Street's most bullish strategists, Prudential Financial's Ed Keon, cut his recommended stock weighting to 55 percent this week from the 100 percent allocation he has recommended since July.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=1589423

Thanks PCV for your research on finding the latest articles on bird flu!!!

Believe it or not, there are a few of us here that really care about following this!!

Thanks again.......

bump

February 8, 2006

Dead boy in southern Iraq may be bird flu victim​

​

By Salaheddin Rasheed
SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - A 13-year-old boy from southern Iraq who died on Sunday is a suspected bird flu victim, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday, as Iraq culled poultry in the north in a bid to halt an outbreak there.

The boy from the Amara area in the south, developed symptoms on Feb. 1, was taken to hospital with severe pneumonia on Feb. 5 and died the same day, the WHO said, adding the case had been reported to it by Iraq's Ministry of Health.

Iraq has one confirmed death from bird flu, a teenage girl from the north of the country, who died last month. Her uncle, who lived in the same area, also died and tests are being carried out to establish if the virus killed him.

"There is one confirmed case, the girl, and three suspect cases under investigation who have died. They include her uncle, the boy in the south and another case," WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng told Reuters in Geneva. She gave no further details.

If the death of the boy in the south is confirmed as bird flu it would dash hopes that the deadly H5N1 virus was confined to a small area in the north of the war-ravaged country.

"Although no poultry deaths have been reported in the area, pet birds kept by the family are said to have died near the time of symptom onset," the WHO said of the boy's case.

There are fears that insurgent violence in Iraq and a ruined infrastructure will make it much harder to halt the spread of the virus than in countries like neighbouring Turkey.

Bird flu killed four children in eastern Turkey last month, but the outbreak there now seems to be under control.

People contract avian flu through direct contact with infected or sick poultry.

Bird flu has killed at least 88 people around the world since it re-emerged in late 2003. There are fears the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic in which millions could die.

POULTRY CULL

The WHO, which has experts on the ground in northern Iraq, said confirmed outbreaks of H5N1 had been reported in poultry in the area last week.

Wearing plastic overalls, surgical masks and gloves, culling teams went from house to house in villages in the Kurdish north, chasing chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys around backyards and stuffing them into bags as villagers looked on.

"I am very scared. If this disease spreads widely I don't believe the Kurdistan government can fight it with it's humble ability. Until now the government and health authorities are talking and not acting," said Hawaree Yaseen, 32, a lawyer.

Seven patients suspected of having bird flu are being treated in hospital in the north, the WHO said.

It added that government officials had requested emergency supplies including antiviral drugs and these had begun to arrive in the country.

Preliminary tests in Iraq on the girl's uncle, who also died last month, indicate the virus killed him too, but the WHO has yet to corroborate the finding.

John Jabbour, a medical officer for the WHO in Egypt, said a sample from the girl's uncle would be sent to Egypt where definitive tests for H5N1 avian influenza would be carried out. Egypt is the regional centre for influenza testing.

"They have tested this (sample from the uncle) in the Iraq laboratory and they found it positive for H5N1," Jabbour told Reuters in Cairo.

"... We do not confirm that it is H5N1 until it is confirmed in our reference laboratory (in Egypt)," he said.

The WHO said it had run into difficulties transporting patient samples for diagnosis. Ways to strengthen local testing were being explored, along with measures to speed up the shipment of samples to WHO reference laboratories.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Edmund Blair in Cairo and Twana Osman in Sulaimaniya)

Copyright © 2005 Reuters

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.as...01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-235666-1&sec=Worldupdates