02/18 | Recombinomics Inc. Predicts A New Genetic Change In The H5N1 (Avian Flu) Viru
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PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Recombinomics Inc. Predicts A New Genetic Change In The H5N1 (Avian Flu) Virus
2/17/2006
Recombinomics is issuing a new prediction and warning of a likely alteration in the avian influenza H5N1 hemagglutinin gene. Like the warning/prediction issued on October 22nd, 2005, this new alteration will increase the virus' affinity for human receptors and lead to more efficient transmission of H5N1 to humans. The company has notified the WHO of its prediction and warning regarding the near term likelihood of this genetic alteration occurring.
In October, Recombinomic's prediction/warning was based upon H5N1 entering the Middle East via migratory birds, where another avian influenza, H9N2 was endemic. Recombinomics, utilizing its patent pending approach, predicted that the H gene in H5N1 would exchange genetic information with the H gene in H9N2 and would acquire the genetic change S227N (also called S223N). This alteration had been previously shown to increase the affinity of H5N1 for human receptors. In late December 2005, the first human infections by the Qinghai strain of H5N1 were reported in Turkey. S227N was detected in the index case for that outbreak with six additional cases confirmed four of whom died.
Today, Recombinomics is predicting a similar change in the adjacent position of the H5N1 virus' receptor binding domain. The donor sequences are again on the H, but in H1N1 European swine sequences. The new genetic change, G228S, has also been previously shown to increase the affinity for human receptors. Like H9N2 in the Middle East, H1N1 is endemic in swine populations in Europe. Infection by H5N1 in H1N1 infected swine will allow the viruses to exchange genetic information via recombination and allow H5N1 to acquire S228N. The region of identity between H5N1 and H1N1 is downstream from the S227N position, so H5N1, with and without the S227N change, can acquire this new sequence. This sequence acquisition by the H5N1 virus will also lead to more efficient transmission to humans.
"H5N1 is migrating into areas where it is encountering unique influenza sero-types it has not encountered while largely confined to Asia over the past few years. This expanded geographical reach allows H5N1 to exchange genetic material with novel donor sequences, which under the appropriate selection pressures, enables the genetic changes to become fixed in the genome of the virus. H5N1 is in the process of acquiring genetic information that allows for more efficient infections of humans", said Recombinomics President, Dr, Henry Niman.
H5N1, like most rapidly evolving viruses, uses homologous recombination to create novel genes that enhance the ability of the virus to evolve and remain competitively viable. Recombinomics' proprietary approach predicts these changes and identifies novel gene targets for new vaccines, which in turn allows manufacturers to develop vaccine in advance of the emergence of new genetically altered, and potentially pandemic viral strains.
About Recombinomics, Inc. -- The Company was founded by Dr. Henry Niman, a former Scripps Institute Assistant Member, based on his pioneering work in the area of viral evolution. Dr. Niman's research identified recombination as the underlying mechanism driving rapid genetic change, allowing him to file a series of patents based on a deep understanding of this paradigm shifting process. Recombinomics is in the process of commercializing its patent-pending approach to significantly improve the standard vaccine development process. Recombinomics, through its analysis and commentary section of its website (http://www.recombinomics.com ), has been consistently ahead of both the scientific community and government agencies in anticipating the genetic evolution and geographic expansion of H5N1.
http://news.biocompare.com/newsstory.asp?id=122097
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Probe into deaths of seabirds
Friday, February 17th 2006
THE DEATH of five seabirds in the Manzanilla area has been reported to the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources.
Four pelicans and one other type of seabird were found dead on a Manzanilla beach yesterday.
A release issued by the ministry said that the Poultry Surveillance Unit (PSU) has been dispatched to determine the cause of death.
With the current anxiety the public is now experiencing with regard to the worldwide threat of H5N1 strain of avian influenza and the potential for it to mutate into pandemic influenza, as well as its recent detection in migratory birds in Europe, the ministry will test the birds to determine the cause of death.
The ministry said pelicans are not migratory birds and that, to date, there have been no cases of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza diagnosed in seabirds, the ministry said.
The ministry added that it will inform the public of the diagnosis once the test results become available.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business?id=136715543
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Germany
18:59 - 17 February 2006
German tests confirmed that 10 more wild birds found dead on a northern island had the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, the federal animal health institute has said.
They followed three previously confirmed cases.
In expanded testing of wild birds found on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen, three swans, six Whooper swans and a goose tested positive for H5N1, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute said.
http://www.suttonobserver.co.uk/dis...yContent&sourceNode=186002&contentPK=14040310
More German birds confirmed for H5N1
18:59 - 17 February 2006
German tests confirmed that 10 more wild birds found dead on a northern island had the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, the federal animal health institute has said.
They followed three previously confirmed cases.
In expanded testing of wild birds found on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen, three swans, six Whooper swans and a goose tested positive for H5N1, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute said.
http://www.suttonobserver.co.uk/dis...yContent&sourceNode=186002&contentPK=14040310
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Bush predicts Florida would get the first wave
International contacts make the state a prime entry point if a pandemic begins, a state summit warns. The advice? Get ready now.
By LETITIA STEIN
Published February 17, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush expects Florida to be among the first bird flu cases if a pandemic spreads to the United States.
In a visit to Florida, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt warned Thursday that bird flu could reach the nation within 30 days - once it starts passing widely from person to person.
Bush predicts Florida would get the first wave.
"We have lots of international air travel. We have cruise ships. We have interaction with the rest of the world the likes of which is quite unique," Bush said. "This is a really high priority for us, maybe more than other states."
Those grim observations kicked off a state summit on a pandemic outbreak. Leading national experts confessed that we can't know exactly what will happen - or when. But the world is overdue for a contagious heath disaster, whether it's bird flu or some other new strain. An outbreak as serious as the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic would sicken 90-million and kill 2-million nationally.
The only thing to do: Get ready.
After eight hurricanes in two years, Bush noted that Floridians have a head start in creating a "culture of preparedness."
He wants every family to make a household plan and stockpile groceries for disaster, whether a hurricane or a terrorist attack or bird flu.
But Leavitt cautioned that hurricanes aren't perfect training for pandemics. For all its devastation, Hurricane Katrina, for example, pummelled only a few states over a short period of time.
"A pandemic, on the other hand, would be happening in Seattle and Santa Fe and Sarasota," he said, noting that it would roll out in six- to eight-week waves over a year or more. "We will not have the resources to respond to communities from East to West and North to South."
So what would happen if a hurricane hits Florida during a bird flu outbreak?
"Boy, don't even ask it," Bush said.
Emergency shelters are the obvious danger, Bush noted. Healthy people would want to stay away from those contagious with bird flu - a difficulty during forced evacuations.
Quarantines are the start of the logistical challenges during a pandemic outbreak.
Florida could have to screen for illness the tourists arriving at airports, which ultimately may shut down. There aren't enough hospital beds to accommodate sick masses. It's not clear how to distribute Tamiflu, an antiviral medicine effective immediately after symptoms appear.
Not to mention the lack of vaccines.
It will take the U.S. three to five years to stockpile doses of a vaccine. Once that's ready, there's no guarantee the vaccine will work as the flu mutates.
On the national level, Leavitt is preparing for the likelihood that basic medicine would be the only health care available at the onset. To naysayers, he says the country can't afford to take chances.
"One might ask, is this Y2K? Is this the little boy who cried wolf? Is this really going to happen?" he said. "Pandemics happen, and one will ultimately be with us."
The federal government has allocated $4.6-million for Florida to start preparing.
The World Health Organization reports that bird flu has killed 91 people since 2003, linked to infected poultry. Scientists worry it could trigger a pandemic if it starts passing person to person.
Although Florida has detailed plans for a pandemic - constantly under revision - state leaders have not predetermined at what point attractions such as Disney World would close. Local governments, schools and businesses need to consider how to handle a bird flu outbreak.
Meanwhile, the state is looking to stockpile basics such as hand sanitizer and face masks to slow the spread of any influenza outbreak, Bush said.
His biggest fear: Disaster would compound if people panic.
"This is all strange, scary stuff," Bush said. "The more we can explain exactly what is going on, the more people will make rational choices, rather than act on their fears."
[Last modified February 17, 2006, 02:15:35]
Bird flu could hit Florida first
International contacts make the state a prime entry point if a pandemic begins, a state summit warns. The advice? Get ready now.
By LETITIA STEIN
Published February 17, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush expects Florida to be among the first bird flu cases if a pandemic spreads to the United States.
In a visit to Florida, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt warned Thursday that bird flu could reach the nation within 30 days - once it starts passing widely from person to person.
Bush predicts Florida would get the first wave.
"We have lots of international air travel. We have cruise ships. We have interaction with the rest of the world the likes of which is quite unique," Bush said. "This is a really high priority for us, maybe more than other states."
Those grim observations kicked off a state summit on a pandemic outbreak. Leading national experts confessed that we can't know exactly what will happen - or when. But the world is overdue for a contagious heath disaster, whether it's bird flu or some other new strain. An outbreak as serious as the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic would sicken 90-million and kill 2-million nationally.
The only thing to do: Get ready.
After eight hurricanes in two years, Bush noted that Floridians have a head start in creating a "culture of preparedness."
He wants every family to make a household plan and stockpile groceries for disaster, whether a hurricane or a terrorist attack or bird flu.
But Leavitt cautioned that hurricanes aren't perfect training for pandemics. For all its devastation, Hurricane Katrina, for example, pummelled only a few states over a short period of time.
"A pandemic, on the other hand, would be happening in Seattle and Santa Fe and Sarasota," he said, noting that it would roll out in six- to eight-week waves over a year or more. "We will not have the resources to respond to communities from East to West and North to South."
So what would happen if a hurricane hits Florida during a bird flu outbreak?
"Boy, don't even ask it," Bush said.
Emergency shelters are the obvious danger, Bush noted. Healthy people would want to stay away from those contagious with bird flu - a difficulty during forced evacuations.
Quarantines are the start of the logistical challenges during a pandemic outbreak.
Florida could have to screen for illness the tourists arriving at airports, which ultimately may shut down. There aren't enough hospital beds to accommodate sick masses. It's not clear how to distribute Tamiflu, an antiviral medicine effective immediately after symptoms appear.
Not to mention the lack of vaccines.
It will take the U.S. three to five years to stockpile doses of a vaccine. Once that's ready, there's no guarantee the vaccine will work as the flu mutates.
On the national level, Leavitt is preparing for the likelihood that basic medicine would be the only health care available at the onset. To naysayers, he says the country can't afford to take chances.
"One might ask, is this Y2K? Is this the little boy who cried wolf? Is this really going to happen?" he said. "Pandemics happen, and one will ultimately be with us."
The federal government has allocated $4.6-million for Florida to start preparing.
The World Health Organization reports that bird flu has killed 91 people since 2003, linked to infected poultry. Scientists worry it could trigger a pandemic if it starts passing person to person.
Although Florida has detailed plans for a pandemic - constantly under revision - state leaders have not predetermined at what point attractions such as Disney World would close. Local governments, schools and businesses need to consider how to handle a bird flu outbreak.
Meanwhile, the state is looking to stockpile basics such as hand sanitizer and face masks to slow the spread of any influenza outbreak, Bush said.
His biggest fear: Disaster would compound if people panic.
"This is all strange, scary stuff," Bush said. "The more we can explain exactly what is going on, the more people will make rational choices, rather than act on their fears."
[Last modified February 17, 2006, 02:15:35]
New Freedom
Veteran Member
All I can say about the above article about Florida.....what a mess !!!
garnetgirl
Veteran Member
PC Viking
Do you have the link to the story above regarding Florida? I have several people that I'd like to send this article/link to. Thanks so much.
garnetgirl
Do you have the link to the story above regarding Florida? I have several people that I'd like to send this article/link to. Thanks so much.
garnetgirl
New Freedom
Veteran Member
garnetgirl said:
I had just read it elsewhere.....here's the link:
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/02/17/State/Bird_flu_could_hit_Fl.shtml
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
=
<B><center>February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=red>First bird flu cases reported in Egypt, H5N1 confirmed </font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243728.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
Cases of bird flu have been reported in different regions of Egypt, the first such cases in the country, as a world health official confirmed the existence of the H5N1 strain in the dead birds on Friday. </b>
Some cases of bird flu appeared in different regions in Egypt, according to the Egyptian state-run Nile TV.
Meanwhile, the official Arabic Nile News TV reported that about 18 dead birds had been tested positive for avian flu.
The positive samples were from dead birds found in the capital Cairo, Giza, Menya and Qena, the report added.
Xinhua correspondents on Friday saw dead birds floating on the Nile river in Cairo's southern district of Maadi.
A senior official from the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed to the media that tests had found the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in the dead birds.
Hassan el Bushra, regional adviser for emerging diseases in the eastern Mediterranean regional office of the WHO, said that there was an outbreak of avian flu in Egypt.
The deadly H5N1 virus has killed 91 people worldwide since 2003, according to the WHO.
Most victims were infected after close contact with sick birds.
Scientists fear H5N1 could mutate into a form which could easily pass among humans and thus spark a global human flu pandemic.
Source: Xinhua
<B><center>February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=red>First bird flu cases reported in Egypt, H5N1 confirmed </font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243728.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
Cases of bird flu have been reported in different regions of Egypt, the first such cases in the country, as a world health official confirmed the existence of the H5N1 strain in the dead birds on Friday. </b>
Some cases of bird flu appeared in different regions in Egypt, according to the Egyptian state-run Nile TV.
Meanwhile, the official Arabic Nile News TV reported that about 18 dead birds had been tested positive for avian flu.
The positive samples were from dead birds found in the capital Cairo, Giza, Menya and Qena, the report added.
Xinhua correspondents on Friday saw dead birds floating on the Nile river in Cairo's southern district of Maadi.
A senior official from the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed to the media that tests had found the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in the dead birds.
Hassan el Bushra, regional adviser for emerging diseases in the eastern Mediterranean regional office of the WHO, said that there was an outbreak of avian flu in Egypt.
The deadly H5N1 virus has killed 91 people worldwide since 2003, according to the WHO.
Most victims were infected after close contact with sick birds.
Scientists fear H5N1 could mutate into a form which could easily pass among humans and thus spark a global human flu pandemic.
Source: Xinhua
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
=
<B><font size=+1 color=brown><center>WHO confirms second bird flu death in Iraq </font>
Web posted at: 2/18/2006 7:18:11
Source ::: Reuters
<A href="http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=February2006&file=World_News2006021871811.xml">www.thepeninsulaqatar.com</a></center>
GENEVA: An Iraqi man who died last month has been confirmed as the country’s second human case of infection with the H5N1 bird flu virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday. The 39-year-old man was the uncle of a teenage girl, the first bird flu case, who died on January 17. But tests on samples from another 14 Iraqis — all believed to have had contact with the pair — proved negative, according to the WHO. </b>
“Apart from the 39-year-old fatal case, all test results were negative,” WHO said. WHO and other international experts are in Iraq helping the war-ravaged country to fight the deadly virus, now known to have killed 92 people in Asia and the Middle East since 2003.
The dead man had cared for his niece during her illness, but he had also been exposed to sick poultry, according to the UN health agency.
Both victims lived in the largely autonomous northern Iraqi region of Kurdistan, near areas frequented by migratory birds and not far from the border with Turkey where four children died in January from bird flu.
Duplicate samples from the initial batch of 15 Iraqis were being sent to a WHO collaborating laboratory in London “for further testing and analysis,” the WHO said. A separate batch of samples from additional patients had arrived at a WHO laboratory in Cairo and results were expected within days, the WHO said, without giving details.
<B><font size=+1 color=brown><center>WHO confirms second bird flu death in Iraq </font>
Web posted at: 2/18/2006 7:18:11
Source ::: Reuters
<A href="http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=February2006&file=World_News2006021871811.xml">www.thepeninsulaqatar.com</a></center>
GENEVA: An Iraqi man who died last month has been confirmed as the country’s second human case of infection with the H5N1 bird flu virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday. The 39-year-old man was the uncle of a teenage girl, the first bird flu case, who died on January 17. But tests on samples from another 14 Iraqis — all believed to have had contact with the pair — proved negative, according to the WHO. </b>
“Apart from the 39-year-old fatal case, all test results were negative,” WHO said. WHO and other international experts are in Iraq helping the war-ravaged country to fight the deadly virus, now known to have killed 92 people in Asia and the Middle East since 2003.
The dead man had cared for his niece during her illness, but he had also been exposed to sick poultry, according to the UN health agency.
Both victims lived in the largely autonomous northern Iraqi region of Kurdistan, near areas frequented by migratory birds and not far from the border with Turkey where four children died in January from bird flu.
Duplicate samples from the initial batch of 15 Iraqis were being sent to a WHO collaborating laboratory in London “for further testing and analysis,” the WHO said. A separate batch of samples from additional patients had arrived at a WHO laboratory in Cairo and results were expected within days, the WHO said, without giving details.
Over 500,000 birds dead, disposed in Dagestan
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=3283464&PageNum=0
17.02.2006, 18.12
MOSCOW, February 17 (Itar-Tass) - More than 500,000 birds have died and been disposed in Dagestan, a source at the Federal Consumer Rights and Human Well Being Service told Itar-Tass on Friday.
“According to the service’s department in Dagestan, Birds have died at the Eldama poultry farms in the Karabudakhkent district and the Makhachkalinskaya poultry farm in the village of Shamkhal,” the source said.
“The entire bird population of the Eldama farm, 350,000, died between January 25 and February 1, and 76,000 birds died at the Makhachkalinskaya farm on February 6-8. Another 120,000 birds were slaughtered,” he said.
All is well at other poultry farms and private holdings, the source said.
The virology laboratory of the Dagestani Hygiene and Epidemiological Center found H5N1 virus in the blood of the dead birds, while the Vector Virology and Biotechnology Center also found H5 virus.
The sanitary and epidemiological control of Dagestani poultry farms and poultry sales has been intensified. The Makhachkalinskaya farm is under quarantine. Doctors are monitoring health of the farm personnel, the source said.
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
=
<B><font size=+1 color=green><center>Bird flu spreads to France for the first time</font>
(Reuters)
18 February 2006
<A href="http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/February/middleeast_February591.xml§ion=middleeast&col=">www.khaleejtimes.com</a></center>
PARIS — Bird flu spread to France for the first time with the discovery yesterday that a dead duck had tested positive for the virus, although it was not yet clear the fowl was carrying the deadly H5N1 strain.
Amid reports the disease was spreading in fowl in Europe and the Middle East, the World Health Organisation confirmed that an Iraqi who died in January was the country’s second human bird flu victim.</b>
Officials said the disease had infected chickens in Egypt for the first time, while Azerbaijan and Slovenia reported more cases of H5N1, which is transmissible to humans.
The H5N1 strain was probably present in a wild duck found in eastern France, according to test results.
“The test showed the H5 virus was present and had strong similarities with the H5N1 Asian influenza,” the farm ministry said, adding that further tests were being conducted.
There were fears of further outbreaks in birds in Germany and Hungary, and tests were being carried out on suspect birds from Greece.
The H5N1 virus remains mainly a disease of poultry, but it has infected 169 people, killing at least 91 in Asia and the Middle East since 2003.
The WHO has warned that the virus could spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people around the world if it mutates into a form that spreads easily between humans.
An Iraqi man who died last month was confirmed as the country’s second human case of H5N1 infection, the WHO said, but tests on 14 other people proved negative.
In Bucharest, WHO and local experts warned that Romania, where nearly half the population live in rural areas with poor water and sewerage, faced a definite risk that the disease could claim its first human victims in Europe.
Romania has found bird flu in 31 villages since first detecting the virus in October, but the domestic birds were culled swiftly and no human cases have been reported so far.
“The situation is critical. So far we can say we have been lucky that we had no cases of bird flu in humans,” said Adrian Streinu-Cercel, head of Romania’s main virus laboratory.
“It’s not enough to force people to wash their hands, you have to give them the means to do it,” he added.
“The likelihood that some kids in Romania come in contact and play with sick or dead birds is not zero,” said WHO expert Guenael Rodier.
As fears of the disease’s spread to humans grew, a top WHO official said that while the world had spent more than $3 billion to stockpile anti-virals against bird flu, it was not investing enough to develop a vaccine.
Klaus Stohr, WHO special adviser on influenza pandemic vaccine development, said that while preliminary results from several clinical trials looked “promising”, much more work was needed.
But an Australian company, CSL Ltd., reported that small doses of a vaccine against H5N1 had achieved “encouraging” preliminary results in a trial involving healthy adults.
The findings were released as Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said the number of bird flu cases among humans in his country had risen this year.
“Bird flu cases in humans (in Indonesia) are increasing in 2006, but the outbreak in poultry is decreasing. It indicates that the virus is spreading fast,” he said.
<B><font size=+1 color=green><center>Bird flu spreads to France for the first time</font>
(Reuters)
18 February 2006
<A href="http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/February/middleeast_February591.xml§ion=middleeast&col=">www.khaleejtimes.com</a></center>
PARIS — Bird flu spread to France for the first time with the discovery yesterday that a dead duck had tested positive for the virus, although it was not yet clear the fowl was carrying the deadly H5N1 strain.
Amid reports the disease was spreading in fowl in Europe and the Middle East, the World Health Organisation confirmed that an Iraqi who died in January was the country’s second human bird flu victim.</b>
Officials said the disease had infected chickens in Egypt for the first time, while Azerbaijan and Slovenia reported more cases of H5N1, which is transmissible to humans.
The H5N1 strain was probably present in a wild duck found in eastern France, according to test results.
“The test showed the H5 virus was present and had strong similarities with the H5N1 Asian influenza,” the farm ministry said, adding that further tests were being conducted.
There were fears of further outbreaks in birds in Germany and Hungary, and tests were being carried out on suspect birds from Greece.
The H5N1 virus remains mainly a disease of poultry, but it has infected 169 people, killing at least 91 in Asia and the Middle East since 2003.
The WHO has warned that the virus could spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people around the world if it mutates into a form that spreads easily between humans.
An Iraqi man who died last month was confirmed as the country’s second human case of H5N1 infection, the WHO said, but tests on 14 other people proved negative.
In Bucharest, WHO and local experts warned that Romania, where nearly half the population live in rural areas with poor water and sewerage, faced a definite risk that the disease could claim its first human victims in Europe.
Romania has found bird flu in 31 villages since first detecting the virus in October, but the domestic birds were culled swiftly and no human cases have been reported so far.
“The situation is critical. So far we can say we have been lucky that we had no cases of bird flu in humans,” said Adrian Streinu-Cercel, head of Romania’s main virus laboratory.
“It’s not enough to force people to wash their hands, you have to give them the means to do it,” he added.
“The likelihood that some kids in Romania come in contact and play with sick or dead birds is not zero,” said WHO expert Guenael Rodier.
As fears of the disease’s spread to humans grew, a top WHO official said that while the world had spent more than $3 billion to stockpile anti-virals against bird flu, it was not investing enough to develop a vaccine.
Klaus Stohr, WHO special adviser on influenza pandemic vaccine development, said that while preliminary results from several clinical trials looked “promising”, much more work was needed.
But an Australian company, CSL Ltd., reported that small doses of a vaccine against H5N1 had achieved “encouraging” preliminary results in a trial involving healthy adults.
The findings were released as Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said the number of bird flu cases among humans in his country had risen this year.
“Bird flu cases in humans (in Indonesia) are increasing in 2006, but the outbreak in poultry is decreasing. It indicates that the virus is spreading fast,” he said.
Spread of avian flu jumps in West and Central Java
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060218.A01&irec=0
Yuli Tri Suwarni and Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Pos, /Bandung, Semarang
Officials are planning emergency measures to deal with a worrisome spike in the incidence of avian bird flu in densely populated West and Central Java.
"Almost no region (in West Java) is free from bird flu infection," Fatimah Resmiati of the West Java health office told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Data from the office showed that chickens tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus in 17 of the 25 regencies in West Java, while human infection has been found in 12 regencies.
Resmiati blamed the fast spread of the virus on the limited control of the traffic of live chickens in West Java.
"In the period from September 2005 to Feb. 14, 2006, up to 50 people were suspected of being infected with the bird flu virus, of whom 15 died, with 10 confirmed as positive for the virus," she said.
West Java Governor Danny Setiawan was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on curbing the spread of bird flu on Monday with all regents and mayors.
In Central Java, representatives from the province's 35 regencies will be invited to a ceremony for the avian flu eradication campaign in Ungaran, Semarang regency, on Wednesday.
Central Java Deputy Governor Ali Mufiz said in Semarang on Thursday that the government would go ahead with its plan to undergo mass culling of infected chickens.
"We are still in the process of collecting data. Like the mass culling in 2005, this year's culling has to be conducted selectively," he said.
Central Java Governor Mardiyanto also confirmed in Surakarta that mass culling would be conducted in five regencies -- Boyolali, Klaten, Karanganyar, Sukoharjo and Sragen -- where 151,000 of 161,640 chickens tested positive for the virus.
"However, there is no need for the public to worry about the culling as the government will provide compensation for the culled chickens," he said.
The provincial administration earmarked Rp 32 billion (US$3.45 million) for the culling, with farmers compensated Rp 10,000 for each chicken killed.
The Central Java health office will also distribute 12 million bird flu vaccine samples this year, more than double the amount of 5 million distributed last year.
The bird flu virus has killed at least 90 people worldwide since the end of 2003 and 18 in Indonesia.
The increasing number of birth flu deaths in the country prompted the government last November to deploy troops and volunteers to conduct door-to-door checks for fowl infected with the virus.
The search was first concentrated in Greater Jakarta and areas deemed "difficult" for officials to detect the avian influenza virus.
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
=
<B><center>Thursday, 16 February 2006
8:08 am EST Category: iFlu.org comment
<font size=+1 color=blue>Bird flu in Europe has experts confused</font>
<A href="http://www.iflu.org/?p=18544">www.iflu.org</a></center>
Despite outbreaks in nearby countries such as Croatia, Romania and Turkey, Western Europeans had been told that the risk of bird flu spreading into the EU was low, and would only rise in the spring when migratory birds return from their winter resting places. So perhaps Europeans could be forgiven for viewing bird flu as “over there and over hyped”. However recent discoveries of H5N1 infected birds in multiple EU Member States in the last few days, have the experts at a loss to explain why it should be discovered now.</b>
I assume… that the virus must have been introduced in autumn
The problem is that it’s still too early for normal spring migration and this has lead to three competing theories being put forward to explain why H5N1 should be discovered in Europe at this time.
Dead birds don’t fly
Proposition one is that human activity and not migratory birds is the main vector for the geographical spread of the virus. Its main proponents are those who should know most about migratory routes — bird watchers and bird conservation groups. H5N1 kills swiftly they argue, and “dead birds don’t fly”. But this is nonsense say others. It is quite clear, if one examines the published virus sequence data, that migratory birds brought the virus to Europe via asymptomatic carriers.
“The sequences in H5N1 from wild birds contains pieces of genes found in flu viruses from Europe as well as from Asia. These ‘chimeric’ genes arise when transported viruses mix and exchange genetic information. These sequences show that migratory birds have been transporting and transmitting influenza, including H5N1, for ages," explains Henry Niman PhD., of Recombinomics Inc.
Escaping the cold?
An alternative theory which has got a lot of press this week, is that the arrival of virus in the EU is the result of birds migrating Westward to avoid the exceptionally harsh winter conditions experienced in Russia and Eastern Europe. Superficially appealing in its simplicity, this explanation throws up many questions. Temperatures in the East certainly fell to record lows a few weeks ago, but whether this ‘cold snap’ caused ducks and geese to change their long-standing habits and habitats can only be speculation.
If dead swans in the UK are monitored you’ll probably find H5N1
H5N1 has been in Europe for months
More worrying is the third option: that the EU member states have not detected H5N1, or even that they have detected but not reported the virus in the past. Today for instance, a German state agriculture minister said that known migratory patterns do not sit well with the virus infecting swans at this time, “this is why I assume … that the virus must have been introduced in autumn,” said Till Backhaus.
Another expert, Albert Osterhaus of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, who heads a program monitoring Dutch wild birds for flu, echoed fears that the virus has had months to spread silently throughout Europe, “I fear it might be endemic in Europe by now,” he told the New Scientist.
Adding his opinion of whether more H5N1 exists in countries which are yet to declare the virus within their borders, such as the United Kingdom, Björn Olsen of Umea University in Sweden, who runs Europe’s largest flu monitoring program in wild birds said: “If dead swans in the UK are monitored you’ll probably find H5N1.” Explaining that “Some male ducks that are in Britain now could have been in Siberia last summer.”
Whichever theory you subscribe to, and for our part we agree with Osterhaus and Olsen, it is clear that H5N1 has a history of confounding the experts and blowing away established ‘certainties’. The EU meanwhile, may yet have to eat a little humble pie and admit that surveillance within Member States hasn’t been quite as good as previously thought.
<B><center>Thursday, 16 February 2006
8:08 am EST Category: iFlu.org comment
<font size=+1 color=blue>Bird flu in Europe has experts confused</font>
<A href="http://www.iflu.org/?p=18544">www.iflu.org</a></center>
Despite outbreaks in nearby countries such as Croatia, Romania and Turkey, Western Europeans had been told that the risk of bird flu spreading into the EU was low, and would only rise in the spring when migratory birds return from their winter resting places. So perhaps Europeans could be forgiven for viewing bird flu as “over there and over hyped”. However recent discoveries of H5N1 infected birds in multiple EU Member States in the last few days, have the experts at a loss to explain why it should be discovered now.</b>
I assume… that the virus must have been introduced in autumn
The problem is that it’s still too early for normal spring migration and this has lead to three competing theories being put forward to explain why H5N1 should be discovered in Europe at this time.
Dead birds don’t fly
Proposition one is that human activity and not migratory birds is the main vector for the geographical spread of the virus. Its main proponents are those who should know most about migratory routes — bird watchers and bird conservation groups. H5N1 kills swiftly they argue, and “dead birds don’t fly”. But this is nonsense say others. It is quite clear, if one examines the published virus sequence data, that migratory birds brought the virus to Europe via asymptomatic carriers.
“The sequences in H5N1 from wild birds contains pieces of genes found in flu viruses from Europe as well as from Asia. These ‘chimeric’ genes arise when transported viruses mix and exchange genetic information. These sequences show that migratory birds have been transporting and transmitting influenza, including H5N1, for ages," explains Henry Niman PhD., of Recombinomics Inc.
Escaping the cold?
An alternative theory which has got a lot of press this week, is that the arrival of virus in the EU is the result of birds migrating Westward to avoid the exceptionally harsh winter conditions experienced in Russia and Eastern Europe. Superficially appealing in its simplicity, this explanation throws up many questions. Temperatures in the East certainly fell to record lows a few weeks ago, but whether this ‘cold snap’ caused ducks and geese to change their long-standing habits and habitats can only be speculation.
If dead swans in the UK are monitored you’ll probably find H5N1
H5N1 has been in Europe for months
More worrying is the third option: that the EU member states have not detected H5N1, or even that they have detected but not reported the virus in the past. Today for instance, a German state agriculture minister said that known migratory patterns do not sit well with the virus infecting swans at this time, “this is why I assume … that the virus must have been introduced in autumn,” said Till Backhaus.
Another expert, Albert Osterhaus of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, who heads a program monitoring Dutch wild birds for flu, echoed fears that the virus has had months to spread silently throughout Europe, “I fear it might be endemic in Europe by now,” he told the New Scientist.
Adding his opinion of whether more H5N1 exists in countries which are yet to declare the virus within their borders, such as the United Kingdom, Björn Olsen of Umea University in Sweden, who runs Europe’s largest flu monitoring program in wild birds said: “If dead swans in the UK are monitored you’ll probably find H5N1.” Explaining that “Some male ducks that are in Britain now could have been in Siberia last summer.”
Whichever theory you subscribe to, and for our part we agree with Osterhaus and Olsen, it is clear that H5N1 has a history of confounding the experts and blowing away established ‘certainties’. The EU meanwhile, may yet have to eat a little humble pie and admit that surveillance within Member States hasn’t been quite as good as previously thought.
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
=
<B><font size=+1 color=purple><center>1918 Spanish Flu Holds Clues to Future Pandemics </font>
By Jim Bertel
Washington, DC
17 February 2006
<A href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-02-17-voa50.cfm">www.voanews.com</a></center>
As the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu continues to spread from Asia to the Middle East, Africa and Europe, there have been many predictions of viral mutation, human-to-human transmission, and a pandemic. VOA's Jim Bertel reports that those predictions are based on more than scientific hypothesis. </b>
Patients at a military hospital during 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic
As the First World War was coming to an end in 1918, an even deadlier calamity was spreading around the world. A flu virus, unlike any before it, was infecting groups of people across the globe. By the time the so-called "Spanish Flu" pandemic was over, a fifth of the world's population had been infected, and perhaps 40 million people were dead.
Only recently have researchers unraveled the genetic code of that virus, determining what experts had long feared: the 1918 pandemic was caused by bird flu
"The 1918 genetic picture suggests to us that this was a different formation, that this was an entirely bird-like virus that ultimately adapted in all of its genes to humans,“ says Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
Dr. Jeffrey Taubenberger
He led the team that decoded the 1918 virus. His team discovered a number of mutations that were key in adapting the virus from birds to humans, traits shared by the current H5N1 strain of bird flu.
"The H5 viruses, especially some of the more recent ones, share some of those mutations, suggesting that they might be acquiring some changes that would make them more easily adapted to humans. So that's a very worrisome situation for us," said the doctor.
"When you look at 1918, you also realize most of the victims were males in their 20s to 40s” according to Dr. Joxel Garcia, Deputy Director of the Pan American Health Organization. “And there is speculation that was probably because they were soldiers or people living in close quarters."
Dr. Joxel Garcia
Dr. Garcia warns that the movement of people, whether soldiers or tourists, would be just one factor in the spread of a future bird flu pandemic.
"Even if we were static, just the migration of the birds would increase the risk of this flu arriving everywhere," he adds.
For this reason, health experts believe if the current bird flu virus becomes transmissible person-to-person, containment through quarantine is unlikely to work.
Of further concern, Dr. Garcia says a vaccine cannot be developed until the pandemic pathogen reaches this stage. At that point, it could take months to create and manufacture an effective vaccine, although scientists are working hard to speed up the process. If they cannot, governments will face a tough issue:
"But the second part, which is going to be the most difficult question to answer is the ethical part. What countries are going to have priorities; within the country, who is going to be a priority?" posed Dr. Garcia.
Whether or not the H5N1 bird flu virus will ever mutate into a pandemic is still uncertain. But most health officials agree that no matter how good modern science is, a future pandemic is inevitable.
<B><font size=+1 color=purple><center>1918 Spanish Flu Holds Clues to Future Pandemics </font>
By Jim Bertel
Washington, DC
17 February 2006
<A href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-02-17-voa50.cfm">www.voanews.com</a></center>
As the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu continues to spread from Asia to the Middle East, Africa and Europe, there have been many predictions of viral mutation, human-to-human transmission, and a pandemic. VOA's Jim Bertel reports that those predictions are based on more than scientific hypothesis. </b>
Patients at a military hospital during 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic
As the First World War was coming to an end in 1918, an even deadlier calamity was spreading around the world. A flu virus, unlike any before it, was infecting groups of people across the globe. By the time the so-called "Spanish Flu" pandemic was over, a fifth of the world's population had been infected, and perhaps 40 million people were dead.
Only recently have researchers unraveled the genetic code of that virus, determining what experts had long feared: the 1918 pandemic was caused by bird flu
"The 1918 genetic picture suggests to us that this was a different formation, that this was an entirely bird-like virus that ultimately adapted in all of its genes to humans,“ says Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
Dr. Jeffrey Taubenberger
He led the team that decoded the 1918 virus. His team discovered a number of mutations that were key in adapting the virus from birds to humans, traits shared by the current H5N1 strain of bird flu.
"The H5 viruses, especially some of the more recent ones, share some of those mutations, suggesting that they might be acquiring some changes that would make them more easily adapted to humans. So that's a very worrisome situation for us," said the doctor.
"When you look at 1918, you also realize most of the victims were males in their 20s to 40s” according to Dr. Joxel Garcia, Deputy Director of the Pan American Health Organization. “And there is speculation that was probably because they were soldiers or people living in close quarters."
Dr. Joxel Garcia
Dr. Garcia warns that the movement of people, whether soldiers or tourists, would be just one factor in the spread of a future bird flu pandemic.
"Even if we were static, just the migration of the birds would increase the risk of this flu arriving everywhere," he adds.
For this reason, health experts believe if the current bird flu virus becomes transmissible person-to-person, containment through quarantine is unlikely to work.
Of further concern, Dr. Garcia says a vaccine cannot be developed until the pandemic pathogen reaches this stage. At that point, it could take months to create and manufacture an effective vaccine, although scientists are working hard to speed up the process. If they cannot, governments will face a tough issue:
"But the second part, which is going to be the most difficult question to answer is the ethical part. What countries are going to have priorities; within the country, who is going to be a priority?" posed Dr. Garcia.
Whether or not the H5N1 bird flu virus will ever mutate into a pandemic is still uncertain. But most health officials agree that no matter how good modern science is, a future pandemic is inevitable.
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
=
<B><center>Saturday, 18 February 2006, 04:40 GMT
<font size=+1 color=red>French bird flu sparks UK worries </font>
<A href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4726532.stm">news.bbc.co.uk</a></center>
Bird flu spread westwards across Europe from Asia
Fears are growing that Britain could be hit by a bird flu outbreak after France confirmed its first case of the virus.
Ministers have admitted the French case made it "likely" the disease would begin to affect birds in Britain. </b>
The National Union of Farmers has also expressed worry over the development, its poultry spokesman saying: "I'm more concerned than I was a week ago."
French officials have said a dead duck "probably" had the H5N1 strain, which has killed dozens of people in Asia.
Scientists are running tests on the wild duck, found near Lyon in south-east France, to find out if it was the deadly strain.
Ducks from the Lyon region do not normally fly to the UK at this time of the year
Fred Landeg
Deputy chief veterinary officer
Charles Bourne, chairman of the NFU's poultry board, said it was a "good pointer" that no commercial birds had been affected in Europe.
But he said bird experts had "rather changed their tune".
"All the experts said the migratory birds wouldn't be bringing [bird flu] this way - they'd be taking it off to Siberia.
"So I can't pretend that I'm not more concerned than I was a week ago."
Fred Landeg, Britain's deputy chief veterinary officer, said there were "robust surveillance measures" in place and so far no H5N1 had been found in the UK.
"The expert ornithologists have advised that ducks from the Lyon region do not normally fly to the UK at this time of the year," he said.
But he added that the pochard duck used a migratory path which took it across Britain.
He said Defra would continue to monitor the situation and encouraged the public to report any unusual wild bird deaths.
<B><center>Saturday, 18 February 2006, 04:40 GMT
<font size=+1 color=red>French bird flu sparks UK worries </font>
<A href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4726532.stm">news.bbc.co.uk</a></center>
Bird flu spread westwards across Europe from Asia
Fears are growing that Britain could be hit by a bird flu outbreak after France confirmed its first case of the virus.
Ministers have admitted the French case made it "likely" the disease would begin to affect birds in Britain. </b>
The National Union of Farmers has also expressed worry over the development, its poultry spokesman saying: "I'm more concerned than I was a week ago."
French officials have said a dead duck "probably" had the H5N1 strain, which has killed dozens of people in Asia.
Scientists are running tests on the wild duck, found near Lyon in south-east France, to find out if it was the deadly strain.
Ducks from the Lyon region do not normally fly to the UK at this time of the year
Fred Landeg
Deputy chief veterinary officer
Charles Bourne, chairman of the NFU's poultry board, said it was a "good pointer" that no commercial birds had been affected in Europe.
But he said bird experts had "rather changed their tune".
"All the experts said the migratory birds wouldn't be bringing [bird flu] this way - they'd be taking it off to Siberia.
"So I can't pretend that I'm not more concerned than I was a week ago."
Fred Landeg, Britain's deputy chief veterinary officer, said there were "robust surveillance measures" in place and so far no H5N1 had been found in the UK.
"The expert ornithologists have advised that ducks from the Lyon region do not normally fly to the UK at this time of the year," he said.
But he added that the pochard duck used a migratory path which took it across Britain.
He said Defra would continue to monitor the situation and encouraged the public to report any unusual wild bird deaths.
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
=
<B><center>February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=brown>Bird flu quarantine zone extended to three more villages in Hungary</font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243817.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
The bird flu quarantine zone in southern Hungary has been extended to three additional villages in adjacent Baranya County, as they are close to the site where bird flu cases were detected, a local official said on Friday. </b>
Pal Bajnoczi, the local veterinary official, said Dunaszekcso, Bar and Homorud are in the 10-km surveillance zone, therefore it is necessary to introduce precautionary measures.
The measures included checking poultry at major farms and monitoring vehicles as well as informing the general public, Bajnoczi said.
No dead birds have been discovered yet with the virus in Baranya County, he added.
The Hungarian authorities on Wednesday reported the discovery of bird flu cases in southern Hungary after three dead swans were tested positive for the lethal H5N1 strain.
As a precautionary measure, the area where the dead birds were found was cordoned off and the movement of poultry -livestock or meat - banned in a 3-km protective zone while surveillance was kept in a surrounding 10 km area.
Bird flu has spread across Europe, with confirmed cases in Hungary, Greece, Italy, Ukraine and Romania, and suspected ones in Austria and Slovenia.
Source: Xinhua
<B><center>February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=brown>Bird flu quarantine zone extended to three more villages in Hungary</font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243817.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
The bird flu quarantine zone in southern Hungary has been extended to three additional villages in adjacent Baranya County, as they are close to the site where bird flu cases were detected, a local official said on Friday. </b>
Pal Bajnoczi, the local veterinary official, said Dunaszekcso, Bar and Homorud are in the 10-km surveillance zone, therefore it is necessary to introduce precautionary measures.
The measures included checking poultry at major farms and monitoring vehicles as well as informing the general public, Bajnoczi said.
No dead birds have been discovered yet with the virus in Baranya County, he added.
The Hungarian authorities on Wednesday reported the discovery of bird flu cases in southern Hungary after three dead swans were tested positive for the lethal H5N1 strain.
As a precautionary measure, the area where the dead birds were found was cordoned off and the movement of poultry -livestock or meat - banned in a 3-km protective zone while surveillance was kept in a surrounding 10 km area.
Bird flu has spread across Europe, with confirmed cases in Hungary, Greece, Italy, Ukraine and Romania, and suspected ones in Austria and Slovenia.
Source: Xinhua
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
=
<b><center>February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=green>Another Nigerian state hit by suspected bird flu </font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243760.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
The Nigerian government has ordered the extermination of birds at a poultry in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi following an outbreak of suspected bird flu, Information Minister Frank Nweke announced on Friday.
Nweke told reporters that samples had been taken from the farm in Toro local government area of Bauchi for analysis and confirmation following the high mortality of birds there, which was reported a few days ago. </b>
Nweke, who declined to name the farm or say how many birds were involved, explained that officers were "on their way there to commence operations using appropriate protective gear after which they will totally disinfect the farm concerned and bury the carcasses of the chickens."
The outbreak of bird flu started in January this year at a commercial farm in the country's north but was only confirmed last week.
Nweke said on Wednesday surveillance throughout Nigeria showed "the outbreak remains localized" while some fear that the virus could reach the thickly populated southern cities like Lagos. There have also been reports of suspected outbreaks in the southern states of Ogun, Oyo and Delta.
Nigeria is the first country on the African continent to report an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus which has claimed at least 91 lives, mostly in Asia, since 1997.
Source: Xinhua
<b><center>February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=green>Another Nigerian state hit by suspected bird flu </font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243760.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
The Nigerian government has ordered the extermination of birds at a poultry in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi following an outbreak of suspected bird flu, Information Minister Frank Nweke announced on Friday.
Nweke told reporters that samples had been taken from the farm in Toro local government area of Bauchi for analysis and confirmation following the high mortality of birds there, which was reported a few days ago. </b>
Nweke, who declined to name the farm or say how many birds were involved, explained that officers were "on their way there to commence operations using appropriate protective gear after which they will totally disinfect the farm concerned and bury the carcasses of the chickens."
The outbreak of bird flu started in January this year at a commercial farm in the country's north but was only confirmed last week.
Nweke said on Wednesday surveillance throughout Nigeria showed "the outbreak remains localized" while some fear that the virus could reach the thickly populated southern cities like Lagos. There have also been reports of suspected outbreaks in the southern states of Ogun, Oyo and Delta.
Nigeria is the first country on the African continent to report an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus which has claimed at least 91 lives, mostly in Asia, since 1997.
Source: Xinhua
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
=
<B><font size=+1 color=blue><center>Europe sets up protective zones </font>
Web posted at: 2/18/2006 7:35:57
Source ::: AFP
<A href="http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=February2006&file=World_News2006021873557.xml">www.thepeninsulaqatar.com</a></center>
BERLIN: Europe set up protective zones from Bucharest to Berlin yesterday to keep the bird flu from crippling its huge poultry industry, as researchers warned a future pandemic could kill 142 million people worldwide.
Officials in Asia and Africa also announced further measures to stem the relentless spread of the H5N1 virus, which has killed 91 people since 2003, all but a handful in China and Southeast Asia. </b>
France, meanwhile, joined a growing list yesterday of European nations with confirmed or suspected bird flu cases when a dead swan was discovered near the central city of Lyon. Test were under way to determine if the wild bird carried the H5N1 strain.
To date, only persons coming into regular contact with infected farm fowl — mainly chickens — have contracted the disease, which has proven fatal in half the cases recorded.
But should the virus mutate into a form communicable between humans, as has happened in major flu outbreaks in the past, the consequences could be catastrophic, top experts concluded in a study released this week in Australia.
A global bird flu pandemic could kill as many as 142 million people and wipe out some 4.4 trillion US dollars of economic output, according to a worst-case scenario published by the Lowy Institute, an Australian independent policy thinktank.
“The mild scenario is estimated to cost the world 1.4 million lives and close to 0.8 per cent of GDP (more than $300bn) in lost economic output,” say the authors, economic modeller and Reserve Bank of Australia board member Professor Warwick McKibbin and health expert Dr Alexandra Sidorenko of the Australian National University.
In the European Union, said to be on “high alert”, leaders called for calm as officials took measures to prevent the recent outbreak of H5N1 in wild, migrating birds — mainly swans — from spreading to farm poultry.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday there was “no reason to panic” after 10 new cases of the highly pathogenic form of the H5N1 bird flu virus were detected on the German Baltic island of Ruegen.
Germany, the Netherlands and Slovenia yesterday joined a growing list of European nations that have ordered all poultry to be kept indoors to ensure that domestic hens, ducks and geese do not come into contact with infected wild birds. The other countries include Denmark, France, Greece, Luxembourg and Sweden.
In Hong Kong, where the first reported outbreak of H5N1 in 1997 killed six people, the sale of live chickens at markets is to be banned by 2009, the South China Morning Post reported.
Chicken farms would still be permitted to operate if their biosecurity measures were up to standard, but the ban will require the compulsory surrender of chicken stall licenses.
In Nigeria, officials announced another suspected H5N1 case at another farm in the northern state of Katsina, while health officials pressed on with the slaughter of domestic birds.
One agricultural official, Kabiru Ali of the nearby state of Jigawa, said that the planned 250 naira (less than two dollars) compensation to be paid to farmers by the federal government for every chicken killed was insufficient and that the federal administration would hike the sum.
<B><font size=+1 color=blue><center>Europe sets up protective zones </font>
Web posted at: 2/18/2006 7:35:57
Source ::: AFP
<A href="http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=February2006&file=World_News2006021873557.xml">www.thepeninsulaqatar.com</a></center>
BERLIN: Europe set up protective zones from Bucharest to Berlin yesterday to keep the bird flu from crippling its huge poultry industry, as researchers warned a future pandemic could kill 142 million people worldwide.
Officials in Asia and Africa also announced further measures to stem the relentless spread of the H5N1 virus, which has killed 91 people since 2003, all but a handful in China and Southeast Asia. </b>
France, meanwhile, joined a growing list yesterday of European nations with confirmed or suspected bird flu cases when a dead swan was discovered near the central city of Lyon. Test were under way to determine if the wild bird carried the H5N1 strain.
To date, only persons coming into regular contact with infected farm fowl — mainly chickens — have contracted the disease, which has proven fatal in half the cases recorded.
But should the virus mutate into a form communicable between humans, as has happened in major flu outbreaks in the past, the consequences could be catastrophic, top experts concluded in a study released this week in Australia.
A global bird flu pandemic could kill as many as 142 million people and wipe out some 4.4 trillion US dollars of economic output, according to a worst-case scenario published by the Lowy Institute, an Australian independent policy thinktank.
“The mild scenario is estimated to cost the world 1.4 million lives and close to 0.8 per cent of GDP (more than $300bn) in lost economic output,” say the authors, economic modeller and Reserve Bank of Australia board member Professor Warwick McKibbin and health expert Dr Alexandra Sidorenko of the Australian National University.
In the European Union, said to be on “high alert”, leaders called for calm as officials took measures to prevent the recent outbreak of H5N1 in wild, migrating birds — mainly swans — from spreading to farm poultry.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday there was “no reason to panic” after 10 new cases of the highly pathogenic form of the H5N1 bird flu virus were detected on the German Baltic island of Ruegen.
Germany, the Netherlands and Slovenia yesterday joined a growing list of European nations that have ordered all poultry to be kept indoors to ensure that domestic hens, ducks and geese do not come into contact with infected wild birds. The other countries include Denmark, France, Greece, Luxembourg and Sweden.
In Hong Kong, where the first reported outbreak of H5N1 in 1997 killed six people, the sale of live chickens at markets is to be banned by 2009, the South China Morning Post reported.
Chicken farms would still be permitted to operate if their biosecurity measures were up to standard, but the ban will require the compulsory surrender of chicken stall licenses.
In Nigeria, officials announced another suspected H5N1 case at another farm in the northern state of Katsina, while health officials pressed on with the slaughter of domestic birds.
One agricultural official, Kabiru Ali of the nearby state of Jigawa, said that the planned 250 naira (less than two dollars) compensation to be paid to farmers by the federal government for every chicken killed was insufficient and that the federal administration would hike the sum.
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
=
<B><font size=+1 color=purple><center>Developing countries ill-equipped for battle against H5N1</font>
By Shawn Donnan
Published: February 18 2006 02:00
<A href="http://news.ft.com/cms/s/2f352cac-a023-11da-a703-0000779e2340,_i_rssPage=60b10cd4-c8f2-11d7-81c6-0820abe49a01.html">news.ft.com</a></center>
Seven months after reporting its first human fatalities from the H5N1 strain of bird flu Indonesia should be at the heart of the global fight against the virus: in those months it has recorded more deaths than any other country.
But instead Indonesia is an example of the difficulties under-resourced and under-funded governments in developing nations face.</b>
Half a year and 18 confirmed deaths later Indonesia's fight against the virus is progressing frustratingly slowly.
What little strategy emerges remains confused. Often efforts to combat the virus in bird populations or improve health facilities appear stuck at the planning stage, crippled by bureaucracy and lack of resources.
Anti-viral drugs promised by international donors have yet to arrive in full. According to Nyoman Kandun, head of infectious diseases at Indonesia's health department, of the 4,000 courses of oseltamivir - the most popular anti-viral treatment for H5N1 which is sold by pharmaceutical giant Roche as Tamiflu - promised by international donors only 1,600 have arrived.
Plans to produce oseltamivir locally have stalled, he says.
According to Indonesian officials and international experts, the overarching theme of Indonesia's res-ponse remains one of weak developing-world government institutions struggling to overcome a lack of physical and human resources.
"What is a good pilot without a plane?" asks Mr Kandun rhetorically.
But it also highlights the slow response of the rich world to the looming threat of a worldwide pandemic.
At last month's WHO-led bird flu donor conference in Beijing countries around the world pledged $1.9bn (€1.59bn, £1.09bn) to combat H5N1. How that money will be divided and how much countries such as Indonesia will get remains unclear and is likely to take months to decide, says Peter Cordingley of the WHO.
Indonesia asked for $900m from donors at that conference to fund a strategy that includes provisions to treat 11 per cent of its 220m population in the event of a pandemic and handle possibly millions of dead bodies.
Jakarta's request received an unenthusiastic response from donors who questioned the costs outlined in the plan. Included, for example, are $1,000-a-night hospital stays for those infected with the virus, a figure that might be applicable in the US or Europe but hardly reflects hospital costs in Indonesia.
For Indonesia, the result of the debacle in Beijing has been additional delays in the disbursement of funds as local officials and donors go back to the drafting table.
Former tycoon Aburizal Bakrie, Indonesia's chief welfare minister, is understood to be leading efforts to redraft the national plan.
Delima Hasri Azahari, the US-educated agricultural economist who chairs the Indonesian agriculture ministry's bird flu task force, says her ministry alone could need more than $40m this year alone to fight H5N1. That is about twice Jakarta's budget for combating all animal diseases.
More than half of that will have to come from donors, she says, but her staff is still only drafting proposals. And her experience with international donor agencies following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami tells her most funds will take six to nine months to arrive even after the proposals are submitted.
In the meantime, Indonesia's efforts to combat bird flu remain among the worst in Asia.
"There doesn't seem to be any sense of real urgency for this," says one Jakarta-based western expert.
According to Martin Malole, the virologist who exposed Jakarta's cover-up of its initial H5N1 outbreak in August 2003, a vaccination programme for poultry remains ineffective. So too are the local field tests used to detect the presence of H5N1 in birds, he says.
But most frustrating, he says, is that it all could have been avoided had Jakarta not tried to hide the August 2003 outbreak and refused to cull infected birds. Within months the virus was endemic in 26 of Indonesia's 33 provinces. "It was all just stupid attitude," says Mr Malole.
<B><font size=+1 color=purple><center>Developing countries ill-equipped for battle against H5N1</font>
By Shawn Donnan
Published: February 18 2006 02:00
<A href="http://news.ft.com/cms/s/2f352cac-a023-11da-a703-0000779e2340,_i_rssPage=60b10cd4-c8f2-11d7-81c6-0820abe49a01.html">news.ft.com</a></center>
Seven months after reporting its first human fatalities from the H5N1 strain of bird flu Indonesia should be at the heart of the global fight against the virus: in those months it has recorded more deaths than any other country.
But instead Indonesia is an example of the difficulties under-resourced and under-funded governments in developing nations face.</b>
Half a year and 18 confirmed deaths later Indonesia's fight against the virus is progressing frustratingly slowly.
What little strategy emerges remains confused. Often efforts to combat the virus in bird populations or improve health facilities appear stuck at the planning stage, crippled by bureaucracy and lack of resources.
Anti-viral drugs promised by international donors have yet to arrive in full. According to Nyoman Kandun, head of infectious diseases at Indonesia's health department, of the 4,000 courses of oseltamivir - the most popular anti-viral treatment for H5N1 which is sold by pharmaceutical giant Roche as Tamiflu - promised by international donors only 1,600 have arrived.
Plans to produce oseltamivir locally have stalled, he says.
According to Indonesian officials and international experts, the overarching theme of Indonesia's res-ponse remains one of weak developing-world government institutions struggling to overcome a lack of physical and human resources.
"What is a good pilot without a plane?" asks Mr Kandun rhetorically.
But it also highlights the slow response of the rich world to the looming threat of a worldwide pandemic.
At last month's WHO-led bird flu donor conference in Beijing countries around the world pledged $1.9bn (€1.59bn, £1.09bn) to combat H5N1. How that money will be divided and how much countries such as Indonesia will get remains unclear and is likely to take months to decide, says Peter Cordingley of the WHO.
Indonesia asked for $900m from donors at that conference to fund a strategy that includes provisions to treat 11 per cent of its 220m population in the event of a pandemic and handle possibly millions of dead bodies.
Jakarta's request received an unenthusiastic response from donors who questioned the costs outlined in the plan. Included, for example, are $1,000-a-night hospital stays for those infected with the virus, a figure that might be applicable in the US or Europe but hardly reflects hospital costs in Indonesia.
For Indonesia, the result of the debacle in Beijing has been additional delays in the disbursement of funds as local officials and donors go back to the drafting table.
Former tycoon Aburizal Bakrie, Indonesia's chief welfare minister, is understood to be leading efforts to redraft the national plan.
Delima Hasri Azahari, the US-educated agricultural economist who chairs the Indonesian agriculture ministry's bird flu task force, says her ministry alone could need more than $40m this year alone to fight H5N1. That is about twice Jakarta's budget for combating all animal diseases.
More than half of that will have to come from donors, she says, but her staff is still only drafting proposals. And her experience with international donor agencies following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami tells her most funds will take six to nine months to arrive even after the proposals are submitted.
In the meantime, Indonesia's efforts to combat bird flu remain among the worst in Asia.
"There doesn't seem to be any sense of real urgency for this," says one Jakarta-based western expert.
According to Martin Malole, the virologist who exposed Jakarta's cover-up of its initial H5N1 outbreak in August 2003, a vaccination programme for poultry remains ineffective. So too are the local field tests used to detect the presence of H5N1 in birds, he says.
But most frustrating, he says, is that it all could have been avoided had Jakarta not tried to hide the August 2003 outbreak and refused to cull infected birds. Within months the virus was endemic in 26 of Indonesia's 33 provinces. "It was all just stupid attitude," says Mr Malole.
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
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<B><font size=+1 color=purple><center>High-dose bird flu vaccine trial fails</font>
Email Print Normal font Large font By Julie Robotham
February 18, 2006
<A href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/highdose-bird-flu-vaccine-trial-fails/2006/02/17/1140151818717.html">www.smh.com</a></center>
AUSTRALIA'S highly anticipated bird flu vaccine trial has produced immune protection against the virus in only a small minority of the 400 volunteers who received it, disappointing experts and throwing out estimates of how long it would take to vaccinate citizens in the event of pandemic.</b>
Andrew Cuthbertson, the chief scientific officer of manufacturer CSL Ltd, said about half of those who received the highest dose in the trial - two 15-microgram shots with a booster substance added - had an immune response comparable to that for regular human flu shots.
But those who received single or smaller doses of the H5N1 bird flu antigen, and those whose shots did not contain the immune-boosting adjuvant, had a lesser response that was below the threshold for licensing human flu vaccines.
Dr Cuthbertson conceded the result was disappointing, but said it was positive that the company had produced a safe vaccine with no adverse reactions beyond soreness at the injection site.
He also emphasised the comparison with ordinary human flu shots was "conservative", and if H5N1 mutated to readily infect humans the required dose might be quite different. "No one on earth now knows the relationship between [test] results and protection," he said. "Does a certain antibody level stop you dying, or getting sick, or have any effect at all?"
CSL will now begin a larger trial that will include children and the elderly and will focus on higher doses still: double shots of 30 and 45 micrograms each.
Experts believe there is a one in 10 chance H5N1, which has swept across bird populations in Asia and caused 91 human deaths, could evolve to spread directly between people and trigger a pandemic. Concern has mounted in recent weeks as the virus has been isolated in birds in Africa, which is poorly equipped to cull infected birds.
Worldwide hopes had been pinned on the CSL trial, because more people could be protected more quickly if a low dose had worked. The lowest dose previously confirmed effective was two 30-microgram injections, in research by CSL's rival, the French company Sanofi-Pasteur.
CSL previously estimated it could produce enough vaccine to immunise all Australians within six months, but that was based on two injections, each containing 7.5 micrograms of antigen.
The new findings mean more than double that dose might be required to achieve robust protection against any human strain of H5N1 - potentially blowing out production time to more than a year based on factory capacity.
Alternatively, the Government could choose to distribute a lower dose vaccine while recognising it might afford only partial protection, Dr Cuthbertson said. He said the results opened the way for the Government to stockpile antigen ahead of time, but a spokeswoman for the federal Health Department, Kay McNiece, said yesterday it was too early to consider placing a contract based on the preliminary research.
The co-director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Robert Booy, said the results indicated "it's going to take longer than the best-case estimates without a doubt," to produce enough vaccine to immunise all Australians.
That meant other tactics such as border protection, quarantine and the use of protective clothing would need to come to the fore in national pandemic planning, Professor Booy said.
He welcomed the plan to test the vaccine in children, saying they were a potentially significant source of infection in the community. As well, it was possible children might receive good levels of protection at lower vaccine doses because of their more responsive immune systems.
<B><font size=+1 color=purple><center>High-dose bird flu vaccine trial fails</font>
Email Print Normal font Large font By Julie Robotham
February 18, 2006
<A href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/highdose-bird-flu-vaccine-trial-fails/2006/02/17/1140151818717.html">www.smh.com</a></center>
AUSTRALIA'S highly anticipated bird flu vaccine trial has produced immune protection against the virus in only a small minority of the 400 volunteers who received it, disappointing experts and throwing out estimates of how long it would take to vaccinate citizens in the event of pandemic.</b>
Andrew Cuthbertson, the chief scientific officer of manufacturer CSL Ltd, said about half of those who received the highest dose in the trial - two 15-microgram shots with a booster substance added - had an immune response comparable to that for regular human flu shots.
But those who received single or smaller doses of the H5N1 bird flu antigen, and those whose shots did not contain the immune-boosting adjuvant, had a lesser response that was below the threshold for licensing human flu vaccines.
Dr Cuthbertson conceded the result was disappointing, but said it was positive that the company had produced a safe vaccine with no adverse reactions beyond soreness at the injection site.
He also emphasised the comparison with ordinary human flu shots was "conservative", and if H5N1 mutated to readily infect humans the required dose might be quite different. "No one on earth now knows the relationship between [test] results and protection," he said. "Does a certain antibody level stop you dying, or getting sick, or have any effect at all?"
CSL will now begin a larger trial that will include children and the elderly and will focus on higher doses still: double shots of 30 and 45 micrograms each.
Experts believe there is a one in 10 chance H5N1, which has swept across bird populations in Asia and caused 91 human deaths, could evolve to spread directly between people and trigger a pandemic. Concern has mounted in recent weeks as the virus has been isolated in birds in Africa, which is poorly equipped to cull infected birds.
Worldwide hopes had been pinned on the CSL trial, because more people could be protected more quickly if a low dose had worked. The lowest dose previously confirmed effective was two 30-microgram injections, in research by CSL's rival, the French company Sanofi-Pasteur.
CSL previously estimated it could produce enough vaccine to immunise all Australians within six months, but that was based on two injections, each containing 7.5 micrograms of antigen.
The new findings mean more than double that dose might be required to achieve robust protection against any human strain of H5N1 - potentially blowing out production time to more than a year based on factory capacity.
Alternatively, the Government could choose to distribute a lower dose vaccine while recognising it might afford only partial protection, Dr Cuthbertson said. He said the results opened the way for the Government to stockpile antigen ahead of time, but a spokeswoman for the federal Health Department, Kay McNiece, said yesterday it was too early to consider placing a contract based on the preliminary research.
The co-director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Robert Booy, said the results indicated "it's going to take longer than the best-case estimates without a doubt," to produce enough vaccine to immunise all Australians.
That meant other tactics such as border protection, quarantine and the use of protective clothing would need to come to the fore in national pandemic planning, Professor Booy said.
He welcomed the plan to test the vaccine in children, saying they were a potentially significant source of infection in the community. As well, it was possible children might receive good levels of protection at lower vaccine doses because of their more responsive immune systems.
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
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<B><center>February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=red>Spain adopts measures to combat bird flu </font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243816.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
The Spanish government on Friday approved new border hygiene measures to combat possible infection of bird flu, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told local press.
Although the plan "is not exclusively addressed to fighting bird flu, it will undoubtedly contribute to preventing the illness," she said. </b>
The plan budgets 7.1 million euros (about 8.6 million U.S. dollars) to boost inspections at Spain's 15 busiest border posts to 90 percent of all imported merchandise.
She said that the government remains "alert, coordinated and informed" and was working hard with the country's autonomous communities to enforce anti-flu rules.
She also added that there was no cause for alarm and that citizens should not change their eating habits. The risk to Spain had not changed substantially even though wild swans have been found dead from the disease in Germany and Slovenia in the last two weeks. The swans in question do not migrate through Spain, she said.
Bird flu re-emerged as a problem in late 2003, and has killed at least 88 people across the world since then.
Source: Xinhua
<B><center>February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=red>Spain adopts measures to combat bird flu </font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243816.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
The Spanish government on Friday approved new border hygiene measures to combat possible infection of bird flu, Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told local press.
Although the plan "is not exclusively addressed to fighting bird flu, it will undoubtedly contribute to preventing the illness," she said. </b>
The plan budgets 7.1 million euros (about 8.6 million U.S. dollars) to boost inspections at Spain's 15 busiest border posts to 90 percent of all imported merchandise.
She said that the government remains "alert, coordinated and informed" and was working hard with the country's autonomous communities to enforce anti-flu rules.
She also added that there was no cause for alarm and that citizens should not change their eating habits. The risk to Spain had not changed substantially even though wild swans have been found dead from the disease in Germany and Slovenia in the last two weeks. The swans in question do not migrate through Spain, she said.
Bird flu re-emerged as a problem in late 2003, and has killed at least 88 people across the world since then.
Source: Xinhua
The Flying Dutchman
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<B><center> February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=brown>FAO voices concern over spread of bird flu virus in West Africa </font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243843.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expressed on Friday "growing concern" that the deadly bird flu virus may spread to other countries in West Africa following its discovery in Nigeria last week. </b>
The agency said that the country of greatest concern was Niger, which directly borders the affected areas in Nigeria and where over two million people are already vulnerable to acute hunger.
"We should provide incentives to poor African farmers to report immediately if they suspect an outbreak among poultry, and discourage them from rushing to sell birds on the market," said Joseph Domenech, FAO's chief veterinary officer.
"The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus poses a very serious threat to animal health in West Africa. If a poultry epidemic should develop beyond the boundaries of Nigeria the effects would be disastrous for the livelihoods and the food security of millions of people," said Domenech.
FAO said that since the first reports of outbreaks of the H5N1 virus in Asia at the end of 2003 nearly 200 million domestic poultry had died or been culled in order to contain the spread of the disease. The economic loss to the affected Asian countries has been estimated at around 10 billion U.S. dollars.
In contrast to Europe, where most poultry production takes place on large commercial farms, in Africa poultry is often raised in backyards and is therefore more difficult to control. Widespread public awareness campaigns regarding safe farming practices and improved hygiene are essential to help contain the spread of the virus, the UN agency said.
FAO has advised veterinary authorities in Nigeria to stamp out the outbreaks through immediate humane culling and safe disposal and to strictly control the movement of people and animals from and to infected areas and neighboring countries.
Many countries, including Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Mauritania have prepared bird flu contingency plans.
During the last two years, several countries have reported outbreaks of avian influenza caused by the H5N1 virus in people, and close to 100 have died, most of them in Vietnam.
So far, the virus has only spread from infected animals to humans, but the World Health Organization has warned that it could change into a form that spreads easily from person to person, triggering an influenza pandemic that could kill tens of millions of people worldwide.
The World Bank has estimated that a human influenza pandemic caused by a virus mutated from avian flu could cost the global economy 800 billion dollars per year.
Source: Xinhua
<B><center> February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=brown>FAO voices concern over spread of bird flu virus in West Africa </font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243843.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expressed on Friday "growing concern" that the deadly bird flu virus may spread to other countries in West Africa following its discovery in Nigeria last week. </b>
The agency said that the country of greatest concern was Niger, which directly borders the affected areas in Nigeria and where over two million people are already vulnerable to acute hunger.
"We should provide incentives to poor African farmers to report immediately if they suspect an outbreak among poultry, and discourage them from rushing to sell birds on the market," said Joseph Domenech, FAO's chief veterinary officer.
"The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus poses a very serious threat to animal health in West Africa. If a poultry epidemic should develop beyond the boundaries of Nigeria the effects would be disastrous for the livelihoods and the food security of millions of people," said Domenech.
FAO said that since the first reports of outbreaks of the H5N1 virus in Asia at the end of 2003 nearly 200 million domestic poultry had died or been culled in order to contain the spread of the disease. The economic loss to the affected Asian countries has been estimated at around 10 billion U.S. dollars.
In contrast to Europe, where most poultry production takes place on large commercial farms, in Africa poultry is often raised in backyards and is therefore more difficult to control. Widespread public awareness campaigns regarding safe farming practices and improved hygiene are essential to help contain the spread of the virus, the UN agency said.
FAO has advised veterinary authorities in Nigeria to stamp out the outbreaks through immediate humane culling and safe disposal and to strictly control the movement of people and animals from and to infected areas and neighboring countries.
Many countries, including Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Mauritania have prepared bird flu contingency plans.
During the last two years, several countries have reported outbreaks of avian influenza caused by the H5N1 virus in people, and close to 100 have died, most of them in Vietnam.
So far, the virus has only spread from infected animals to humans, but the World Health Organization has warned that it could change into a form that spreads easily from person to person, triggering an influenza pandemic that could kill tens of millions of people worldwide.
The World Bank has estimated that a human influenza pandemic caused by a virus mutated from avian flu could cost the global economy 800 billion dollars per year.
Source: Xinhua
The Flying Dutchman
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<B><center> February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=green>Romanians under risks of catching bird flu: WHO </font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243746.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
An outbreak of bird flu in poultry flocks in rural Romania has posed threats to the lives of people living there, said an expert with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday.
"With 31 sites of avian influenza, Romania runs the risk of human contamination at any moment," Guenael Rodier told reporters after a four-day visit in Romania. </b>
He said the WHO will help the Romanian authorities work out the means for avoiding the appearance of human infections.
"We are going to propose infrastructure projects, especially for poorer regions affected by avian influenza and deprived of sewerage or running water, with the aim of attracting funds from international donors such as the World Bank."
Over 150,000 birds have been culled as a precautionary measure and 2.5 million people vaccinated against common flu since the first deadly H5N1 bird flu strain was found in poultry in Romania.
Source: Xinhua
<B><center> February 18, 2006
<font size=+1 color=green>Romanians under risks of catching bird flu: WHO </font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/18/eng20060218_243746.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
An outbreak of bird flu in poultry flocks in rural Romania has posed threats to the lives of people living there, said an expert with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday.
"With 31 sites of avian influenza, Romania runs the risk of human contamination at any moment," Guenael Rodier told reporters after a four-day visit in Romania. </b>
He said the WHO will help the Romanian authorities work out the means for avoiding the appearance of human infections.
"We are going to propose infrastructure projects, especially for poorer regions affected by avian influenza and deprived of sewerage or running water, with the aim of attracting funds from international donors such as the World Bank."
Over 150,000 birds have been culled as a precautionary measure and 2.5 million people vaccinated against common flu since the first deadly H5N1 bird flu strain was found in poultry in Romania.
Source: Xinhua
The Flying Dutchman
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<B><center>February 17, 2006
<font size=+1 color=blue>New bird flu cases fuel fears virus may spread further in Romania</font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/17/eng20060217_243614.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
New bird flu cases were found Thursday in three more villages in eastern Romania, fueling fears that the deadly virus may further spread in that region, health authorities said.
The new infections, preliminarily detected to be the H5 strain of the virus, were discovered in the eastern villages of Navodari, Tuzla and Ostrov, where local authorities have ordered the quarantine and slaughter of all poultry and vaccination of the locals. </b>
As the spread of the H5N1 virus has led to a shortage of health staff and vaccine supplies, health authorities have asked neighboring areas to send medical workers and vaccine to the affected sites.
So far, the killer virus has been found in 31 villages in Romania since it was first detected in the Danube delta last October. However, no human cases have been reported.
A team comprising experts from the United States and World Health Organization (WHO) has arrived here to help Romania find ways to fight the virus, according to reports by Romanian radio on Thursday.
<B><center>February 17, 2006
<font size=+1 color=blue>New bird flu cases fuel fears virus may spread further in Romania</font>
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/17/eng20060217_243614.html">english.peopledaily.com</a></center>
New bird flu cases were found Thursday in three more villages in eastern Romania, fueling fears that the deadly virus may further spread in that region, health authorities said.
The new infections, preliminarily detected to be the H5 strain of the virus, were discovered in the eastern villages of Navodari, Tuzla and Ostrov, where local authorities have ordered the quarantine and slaughter of all poultry and vaccination of the locals. </b>
As the spread of the H5N1 virus has led to a shortage of health staff and vaccine supplies, health authorities have asked neighboring areas to send medical workers and vaccine to the affected sites.
So far, the killer virus has been found in 31 villages in Romania since it was first detected in the Danube delta last October. However, no human cases have been reported.
A team comprising experts from the United States and World Health Organization (WHO) has arrived here to help Romania find ways to fight the virus, according to reports by Romanian radio on Thursday.
The Flying Dutchman
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<B><center>February 17, 2006 at 20:56:42 PST
<font size=+1 color=blue>HHS head pushed for flu preparedness in Nevada </font>
ASSOCIATED PRESS
<A href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/feb/17/021710427.html">www.lasvegassun.com</a></center>
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt urged government and business leaders Friday to become "informed but not inflamed" about the possibility of a pandemic flu outbreak in the United States.
"When it comes to pandemics, they do happen, and we're overdue and underprepared," Leavitt said at state pandemic flu summit intended to prompt Nevada leaders to plan for an outbreak. </b>
Similar meetings have taken place or are planned in every state as part of a Bush administration initiative.
Leavitt said the state was getting $1.04 million to help with the pandemic flu emergency planning process, which Gov. Kenny Guinn said began last October.
The state already has set up a Web site outlining the steps residents, businesses and community groups should take. Officials said people should prepare much like they do for an earthquake, by stocking supplies and water. Unlike some other emergencies, a flu would require "social distancing," requiring people to stay away from public places such as churches and schools to avoid spreading the disease.
Guinn said the state is working with the airline, gambling and health industries on the preparedness plan, and noted Nevada's shortage of doctors and nurses put the state in a difficult position.
"We would kind of be behind the eight ball, but probably no more than any other area that's growing," he said.
There were three pandemic flu outbreaks in the 20th century. The most deadly was in 1918, when 40 million people worldwide and 500,000 people in the U.S. died, according to HHS statistics.
A pandemic of similar reach would make 90 million people ill in a year, half of those likely would be hospitalized and about 2 million would be killed, Leavitt said.
Leavitt said the bird flu virus "looks a great deal" like the virus that caused the 1918 outbreak.
<B><center>February 17, 2006 at 20:56:42 PST
<font size=+1 color=blue>HHS head pushed for flu preparedness in Nevada </font>
ASSOCIATED PRESS
<A href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/feb/17/021710427.html">www.lasvegassun.com</a></center>
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt urged government and business leaders Friday to become "informed but not inflamed" about the possibility of a pandemic flu outbreak in the United States.
"When it comes to pandemics, they do happen, and we're overdue and underprepared," Leavitt said at state pandemic flu summit intended to prompt Nevada leaders to plan for an outbreak. </b>
Similar meetings have taken place or are planned in every state as part of a Bush administration initiative.
Leavitt said the state was getting $1.04 million to help with the pandemic flu emergency planning process, which Gov. Kenny Guinn said began last October.
The state already has set up a Web site outlining the steps residents, businesses and community groups should take. Officials said people should prepare much like they do for an earthquake, by stocking supplies and water. Unlike some other emergencies, a flu would require "social distancing," requiring people to stay away from public places such as churches and schools to avoid spreading the disease.
Guinn said the state is working with the airline, gambling and health industries on the preparedness plan, and noted Nevada's shortage of doctors and nurses put the state in a difficult position.
"We would kind of be behind the eight ball, but probably no more than any other area that's growing," he said.
There were three pandemic flu outbreaks in the 20th century. The most deadly was in 1918, when 40 million people worldwide and 500,000 people in the U.S. died, according to HHS statistics.
A pandemic of similar reach would make 90 million people ill in a year, half of those likely would be hospitalized and about 2 million would be killed, Leavitt said.
Leavitt said the bird flu virus "looks a great deal" like the virus that caused the 1918 outbreak.
The Flying Dutchman
Deceased
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<B><font size=+1 color=purple><center>Spread of avian flu jumps in West and Central Java </font>
February 18 2006
Yuli Tri Suwarni and Suherdjoko
The Jakarta Pos, /Bandung, Semarang
<A href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060218.A01&irec=0">www.thejakartapost.com</a></center>
Officials are planning emergency measures to deal with a worrisome spike in the incidence of avian bird flu in densely populated West and Central Java.
"Almost no region (in West Java) is free from bird flu infection," Fatimah Resmiati of the West Java health office told The Jakarta Post on Friday. </b>
Data from the office showed that chickens tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus in 17 of the 25 regencies in West Java, while human infection has been found in 12 regencies.
Resmiati blamed the fast spread of the virus on the limited control of the traffic of live chickens in West Java.
"In the period from September 2005 to Feb. 14, 2006, up to 50 people were suspected of being infected with the bird flu virus, of whom 15 died, with 10 confirmed as positive for the virus," she said.
West Java Governor Danny Setiawan was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on curbing the spread of bird flu on Monday with all regents and mayors.
In Central Java, representatives from the province's 35 regencies will be invited to a ceremony for the avian flu eradication campaign in Ungaran, Semarang regency, on Wednesday.
Central Java Deputy Governor Ali Mufiz said in Semarang on Thursday that the government would go ahead with its plan to undergo mass culling of infected chickens.
"We are still in the process of collecting data. Like the mass culling in 2005, this year's culling has to be conducted selectively," he said.
Central Java Governor Mardiyanto also confirmed in Surakarta that mass culling would be conducted in five regencies -- Boyolali, Klaten, Karanganyar, Sukoharjo and Sragen -- where 151,000 of 161,640 chickens tested positive for the virus.
"However, there is no need for the public to worry about the culling as the government will provide compensation for the culled chickens," he said.
The provincial administration earmarked Rp 32 billion (US$3.45 million) for the culling, with farmers compensated Rp 10,000 for each chicken killed.
The Central Java health office will also distribute 12 million bird flu vaccine samples this year, more than double the amount of 5 million distributed last year.
The bird flu virus has killed at least 90 people worldwide since the end of 2003 and 18 in Indonesia.
The increasing number of birth flu deaths in the country prompted the government last November to deploy troops and volunteers to conduct door-to-door checks for fowl infected with the virus.
The search was first concentrated in Greater Jakarta and areas deemed "difficult" for officials to detect the avian influenza virus.
<B><font size=+1 color=purple><center>Spread of avian flu jumps in West and Central Java </font>
February 18 2006
Yuli Tri Suwarni and Suherdjoko
The Jakarta Pos, /Bandung, Semarang
<A href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060218.A01&irec=0">www.thejakartapost.com</a></center>
Officials are planning emergency measures to deal with a worrisome spike in the incidence of avian bird flu in densely populated West and Central Java.
"Almost no region (in West Java) is free from bird flu infection," Fatimah Resmiati of the West Java health office told The Jakarta Post on Friday. </b>
Data from the office showed that chickens tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus in 17 of the 25 regencies in West Java, while human infection has been found in 12 regencies.
Resmiati blamed the fast spread of the virus on the limited control of the traffic of live chickens in West Java.
"In the period from September 2005 to Feb. 14, 2006, up to 50 people were suspected of being infected with the bird flu virus, of whom 15 died, with 10 confirmed as positive for the virus," she said.
West Java Governor Danny Setiawan was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on curbing the spread of bird flu on Monday with all regents and mayors.
In Central Java, representatives from the province's 35 regencies will be invited to a ceremony for the avian flu eradication campaign in Ungaran, Semarang regency, on Wednesday.
Central Java Deputy Governor Ali Mufiz said in Semarang on Thursday that the government would go ahead with its plan to undergo mass culling of infected chickens.
"We are still in the process of collecting data. Like the mass culling in 2005, this year's culling has to be conducted selectively," he said.
Central Java Governor Mardiyanto also confirmed in Surakarta that mass culling would be conducted in five regencies -- Boyolali, Klaten, Karanganyar, Sukoharjo and Sragen -- where 151,000 of 161,640 chickens tested positive for the virus.
"However, there is no need for the public to worry about the culling as the government will provide compensation for the culled chickens," he said.
The provincial administration earmarked Rp 32 billion (US$3.45 million) for the culling, with farmers compensated Rp 10,000 for each chicken killed.
The Central Java health office will also distribute 12 million bird flu vaccine samples this year, more than double the amount of 5 million distributed last year.
The bird flu virus has killed at least 90 people worldwide since the end of 2003 and 18 in Indonesia.
The increasing number of birth flu deaths in the country prompted the government last November to deploy troops and volunteers to conduct door-to-door checks for fowl infected with the virus.
The search was first concentrated in Greater Jakarta and areas deemed "difficult" for officials to detect the avian influenza virus.
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
India
Agencies
Posted online: Saturday, February 18, 2006 at 1638 hours IST
Updated: Saturday, February 18, 2006 at 1654 hours IST
New Delhi, February 18: The Animal Husbandry department has confirmed eight cases of bird flu in Maharashtra. Three reports have come in from the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra.
This is for the first time that this disease has been reported in India. However, there are no reports of infected people.
A team of microbiologists have been stationed at the poultry and various tests are being performed. The area has been sealed off and no one is being allowed inside so that the virus does not spread.
The Animal Husbandry department will also be informing the people about the hazards of the disease and ask them to maintain complete hygiene.
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=63075
8 confirmed cases of bird flu in India
Agencies
Posted online: Saturday, February 18, 2006 at 1638 hours IST
Updated: Saturday, February 18, 2006 at 1654 hours IST
New Delhi, February 18: The Animal Husbandry department has confirmed eight cases of bird flu in Maharashtra. Three reports have come in from the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra.
This is for the first time that this disease has been reported in India. However, there are no reports of infected people.
A team of microbiologists have been stationed at the poultry and various tests are being performed. The area has been sealed off and no one is being allowed inside so that the virus does not spread.
The Animal Husbandry department will also be informing the people about the hazards of the disease and ask them to maintain complete hygiene.
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=63075
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Indonesia
Saturday, February 18, 2006; Posted: 6:45 a.m. EST (11:45 GMT)
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Another Indonesian man died from the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, bringing the nation's death toll from the disease to 19, a Health Ministry official confirmed Saturday, citing World Health Organization-sanctioned laboratory tests.
Purnomo, 23, who only used one name, died on Feb. 10 at Sulianti Suroso Hospital in Jakarta and had frequently been in contact with poultry, said Hariadi Wibisono, a Health Ministry official.
Wibisono said the results of Purnomo's blood and swab test, sent to the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control, had been reported late Friday.
The death brings Indonesia's official toll from the virus to 19.
Minister of Health Affairs Siti Fadilah Supari said Saturday the government will boost its stockpile of anti-viral drug Tamiflu to four million pills in the next two months and 10 million by the end of the year.
"Ideally, we have a stockpile of four to six million pills and I will try to get four million within one or two months ... 10 million by the end of the year," Fadilah said.
Bird flu is becoming more virulent in Indonesia, killing more people and in ever greater numbers, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono warned Wednesday.
He said that people were now "dying quicker" when they contracted the virus and that incidences of human cases were increasing.
Apriyantono said the trend meant the government must boost surveillance, even in areas where farmers were not reporting poultry deaths.
"This likely means the virus is getting more ferocious," Apriyantono said.
He gave no data to back up his assertions, but World Health Organization figures for this year show eight human cases of bird flu in Indonesia, eight of which were fatal.
In 2005, there were 17 cases and 11 deaths, according to the group.
Almost all the human deaths in Asia and Turkey have been linked to contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the fatal H5N1 strain of the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, possibly starting a human flu pandemic.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/02/18/birdflu.indonesia.ap/index.html
19th bird flu victim in Indonesia
Saturday, February 18, 2006; Posted: 6:45 a.m. EST (11:45 GMT)
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Another Indonesian man died from the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, bringing the nation's death toll from the disease to 19, a Health Ministry official confirmed Saturday, citing World Health Organization-sanctioned laboratory tests.
Purnomo, 23, who only used one name, died on Feb. 10 at Sulianti Suroso Hospital in Jakarta and had frequently been in contact with poultry, said Hariadi Wibisono, a Health Ministry official.
Wibisono said the results of Purnomo's blood and swab test, sent to the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control, had been reported late Friday.
The death brings Indonesia's official toll from the virus to 19.
Minister of Health Affairs Siti Fadilah Supari said Saturday the government will boost its stockpile of anti-viral drug Tamiflu to four million pills in the next two months and 10 million by the end of the year.
"Ideally, we have a stockpile of four to six million pills and I will try to get four million within one or two months ... 10 million by the end of the year," Fadilah said.
Bird flu is becoming more virulent in Indonesia, killing more people and in ever greater numbers, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono warned Wednesday.
He said that people were now "dying quicker" when they contracted the virus and that incidences of human cases were increasing.
Apriyantono said the trend meant the government must boost surveillance, even in areas where farmers were not reporting poultry deaths.
"This likely means the virus is getting more ferocious," Apriyantono said.
He gave no data to back up his assertions, but World Health Organization figures for this year show eight human cases of bird flu in Indonesia, eight of which were fatal.
In 2005, there were 17 cases and 11 deaths, according to the group.
Almost all the human deaths in Asia and Turkey have been linked to contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the fatal H5N1 strain of the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, possibly starting a human flu pandemic.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/02/18/birdflu.indonesia.ap/index.html
Report: Swan found dead in Vienna infected with H5N1 bird flu virus
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/2/18/apworld/20060218210447&sec=apworld
VIENNA, Austria (AP) _ A swan found dead in Austria's capital, Vienna, was infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu, Austrian television reported Saturday.
Tests conducted in a veterinary laboratory in the lower Austrian town of Moedling showed that the swan, which was found dead in a park Tuesday, had died of the H5N1 virus, according to the Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Bird flu has also been detected in Lower Austria, the Austria Press Agency reported.
Overnight, Austrian officials stepped up measures to contain the spread of bird flu amid strong suspicions that two more birds found dead in the southern province of Styria were infected with H5N1. Tests were being conducted on samples from the birds.
As of midnight Friday, "risk zones'' in the southern province of Styria and other parts of the country were expanded, the Health Ministry said in a statement late Friday. In the designated zones, often close to rivers and lakes, poultry has to be kept indoors to prevent contact with wild birds possibly carrying H5N1.
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Plan To Manage Mass Casualties In Disasters To Be Created By CU
18 Feb 2006 Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) are partnering with Lockheed Martin to develop a computerized system to help hospitals nationwide plan for and deal with mass casualties from disasters such as hurricanes, a flu pandemic or bioterrorism. The system will aid in readiness planning, simulate a disaster situation for testing purposes and act as a decision support system in a real disaster.
The system, for which Lockheed is providing the research funding, will be an extension of a prototype already developed at WCMC in collaboration with OR-Manhattan, the New York City program of the School of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering (ORIE) on Cornell's Ithaca campus. The partnership with Lockheed aims to combine Cornell's computer models with command-and-control systems Lockheed has developed for medical services in the military. Other technology companies will be invited to join a consortium on the project.
"In light of the 9-11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the persistent threat of terrorism, we believe there is an urgent need to develop logistics solutions for planning and response in the face of mass casualty events," said Jack Muckstadt, the Acheson-Laibe Professor of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering at Cornell and director of OR-Manhattan.
The goal is to create a distributed communications system that would coordinate the work of emergency responders, hospital managers and local and regional officials. It would combine real-time reports from responders in the field with databases of hospital capacity and resources to show, for example, how 100 burn victims might be distributed among three hospitals, or where a ward full of premature infants in intensive care could be moved if a particular hospital needed to be evacuated.
The Cornell prototype, called the Mass Casualty Response Logistics Program, was created by Dr. Nathaniel Hupert, assistant professor of medicine and a researcher in public health and medical decision making in the Departments of Public Health and Medicine, WCMC, in collaboration with Muckstadt.
Hupert has already developed several computer models of public health systems that are in wide use across the country, including the Weill/Cornell Bioterrorism and Epidemic Outbreak Response Model (BERM), the de facto national standard planning tool for designing large-scale mass disease-control campaigns. BERM, which has had more than 1,300 downloads from the Web site of the American Hospital Association, is used by states from New York to Hawaii for emergency-response planning purposes. Hupert's collaboration with ORIE applies supply chain and logistics techniques used in manufacturing to the logistics of hospitals.
The models the Cornell researchers have developed are the first to focus on treatment capacity, according to Hupert. "Other current initiatives are primarily concerned with outbreak detection, health alerts, patient-level medical records and other issues unrelated to managing capacity," Hupert said. The new system would keep track of such resources as beds, intensive care units, emergency departments, operating rooms, doctors, nurses and other health professionals, transportation assets such as ambulances and other EMS units and even supplies like bandages and fuel for generators.
Initially, the system would coordinate activities in a local area, but Muckstadt hopes that eventually the data could move up to the state and federal levels so that officials would know, for example, "where to send the ice trucks." Meanwhile, he added, it should make life easier for hospital administrators on a day-to-day basis, even when there is no emergency.
The researchers have tested their model by running simulations of real disasters, including last summer's London subway bombings and the 2004 Madrid railway attack. The next step, they said, is to create a pilot program involving a group of 29 hospitals in New York City's Presbyterian Hospital system, which is affiliated with WCMC
Development of the system will be based on what Muckstadt calls a "three-legged stool" supported by technology companies, academic researchers and the prospective end-users. He is seeking funding to create a laboratory in which potential users could participate in computer simulations of disaster situations. The simulations would draw on Cornell's high-performance cluster computing facilities in Ithaca and at the OR-Manhattan facility at 55 Broad St. in the financial district of New York City.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=37873#
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Thailand
www.chinaview.cn 2006-02-18 22:56:12
BANGKOK, Feb. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- A 5-year-old boy in Thai Nakhon Nayok province outside Bangkok has died of bird flu, becoming the 14th Thai victim of avian influenza, local media reported Saturday.
News of the death of the youngster came as a shock. Thailand has been largely free of bird flu in the past two months, since a small outbreak killed a man last October, the Bangkok Post said on its web edition.
The boy died in hospital on Wednesday, Thai Deputy Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakula was quoted as saying. He was not known to have had direct contact with chickens, but investigations are continuing.
The death brings the Asian death toll from H5N1 avian flu to 70. Enditem
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-02/18/content_4198267.htm
Bird flu kills Thai boy
www.chinaview.cn 2006-02-18 22:56:12
BANGKOK, Feb. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- A 5-year-old boy in Thai Nakhon Nayok province outside Bangkok has died of bird flu, becoming the 14th Thai victim of avian influenza, local media reported Saturday.
News of the death of the youngster came as a shock. Thailand has been largely free of bird flu in the past two months, since a small outbreak killed a man last October, the Bangkok Post said on its web edition.
The boy died in hospital on Wednesday, Thai Deputy Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakula was quoted as saying. He was not known to have had direct contact with chickens, but investigations are continuing.
The death brings the Asian death toll from H5N1 avian flu to 70. Enditem
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-02/18/content_4198267.htm
Hiding Bear
Inactive
I envision if this thing hits Florida, chicken sales in the US may head to zero.
Does Recombinomics or anyone else have a firm handle when this will mutate from human to human?
Does Recombinomics or anyone else have a firm handle when this will mutate from human to human?
New Freedom
Veteran Member
Hiding Bear said:
No one knows if and when it will......but with that being said, things are definately moving a lot quicker than they predicted. They didn't think that H5N1 would be in western Europe until this spring. I think everyone is taken back how it is showing up all over Europe in just one week! Now they have found H7N7 in Germany which is a bad sign.......that is a human version that if mixed with AF could spell big trouble for H2H transmission.
EDITED: 2:41 pm (See post #36)
Last edited:
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
A chronology of the spread of bird flu
Published: 2/18/2006PARIS - Since the first human infections in Hong Kong in 1997, the H5N1 avian flu virus has reportedly infected 187 people worldwide, killing 97, and spread westwards across Europe and into Africa. The World Health Organisation lists 169 cases since 2003, including 91 fatalities, mostly in Vietnam (42), Indonesia (18), Thailand (14), China (8), Cambodia (4), Turkey (4) and Iraq (1):
- May 1997: A three-year-old boy is the first of six people to die in Hong Kong of a mysterious virus, later identified as H5N1.
- Feb 2003: A father and son are diagnosed in Hong Kong with H5N1 after a trip to southern China. The father dies and a probe by the World Health Organization (WHO) discovers one of the boy's sisters had died in China.
- Dec 2003: South Korea confirms an outbreak of the virus in birds and slaughters more than 2.5 million chickens and ducks.
- Jan 2004: Vietnam reports 13 human deaths. H5N1 outbreaks are reported in Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, China, Pakistan and Thailand.
- Feb 2004: First avian cases confirmed in the United States and Canada.
- Aug 2004: Three more die in Vietnam. Outbreak reported in Malaysia.
- Jan 2005: First of four fatalities in Cambodia.
- July 2005: One person dies in Indonesia.
- Aug 2005: Avian virus reported in Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russian Siberia.
- Oct 2005: H5N1 kills thousands of turkeys in northwestern Turkey. Russia, China, Croatia and Romania confirm new outbreaks. Britain discovers the virus in a quarantined bird. One person dies in Thailand.
- Nov 2005: Vietnam reports 42nd human bird flu death. Kuwait discovers the H5N1 strain in a flamingo. One person dies in China.
- Dec 2005: A five-year-old boy dies in Thailand. The death toll in Indonesia rises to 11. Avian outbreaks in Ukraine and Romania.
-- 2006 --
- Jan 4: Boy dies in Turkey, in the first H5N1 death outside Southeast Asia and China. Two of his sisters die of the disease soon thereafter.
- Jan 11: WHO officials announce two more deaths in China in December. Turkey reports avian outbreaks in 15 of the country's 81 provinces.
- Jan 12: 13th death reported in Indonesia.
- Jan 17: Turkey confirms fourth death.
- Jan 18: 1.5 billion dollars pledged internationally. Sixth death in China.
- Jan 21: 14th death in Indonesia.
- Jan 25: Doctors in Turkey report mortality rate of less than 20 percent as two more children recover.
- Jan 25: China reports seventh victim.
- Jan 29: H5N1 detected in birds in Cyprus.
- Jan 30: WHO announces rapid-response plan to detect and contain a global flu pandemic.
- Jan 31: The United Nations reports 160 human cases to date, 85 fatal. Avian cases reported in Ukraine.
- Feb 2: 15th fatality in Indonesia.
- Feb 6: Kurdish health officials in northern Iraq report two fatalities.
- Feb 8: H5N1 turns up in Africa for the first time, at a commercial chicken farm in Nigeria.
- Feb 8: China culls 200,000 chickens.
- Feb 9: Indonesia reports 17th casualty. Hong Kong on alert after more avian cases detected.
- Feb 10: China announces eighth human bird flu death. Two more avian cases found in Hong Kong. H5N1 detected in Azerbaijan.
- Feb 11: Indonesia reports 18th fatality. H5N1 confirmed in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria. UN bird flu chief warns virus is two mutations from a form that can spread easily between people.
- Feb 12: Nigerian doctors test two sick children from bird flu zone.
- Feb 13: Hong Kong officials search homes to enforce ban on domestic poultry.
- Feb 14: H5N1 detected in dead swans in Austria and Germany. Iran says 135 swans died of H5 bird flu in the northwest. Animal health experts say wild bird migration means outbreak inevitable in Europe.
- Feb 15: Germany confirms H5N1 in dead swans from island in Baltic Sea. EU bans feather imports.
- Feb 16: Austria detects third H5N1 case in swan from southern city of Graz. European Union announces rules for three-kilometer (two-mile) protection zones and 10-kilometer surveillance zones for all wild bird flu cases. H5N1 confirmed to date in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Ukraine and Russia. Greek farmer fined 6,000 euros (7,120 dollars) for failing to confine chickens.
- Feb 17: Egypt confirms seven cases of the lethal virus in poultry. World Organisation for Animal Health says colossal effort needed to halt disease in Africa. Slovenia confirms first H5N1 case involving a dead swan.
02/17/2006 18:12 GMT
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=108660
H7N7 Detected in Germany
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02180602/H7N7_Germany.html
Recombinomics Commentary
February 18, 2006
analysis of a dead swan, which was found on the German Bodensee bank. Scientists identrifiziert as exciters of the animal epidemic the virus of the type H7N7.
The above translation indicates H7N7 was detected on the banks of Bodenese Lake, which is located in southern Germany near Austria, northern Italy, Switzeland, and eastern France. H5N1 has already been reported in this area (see map), as well as in northern Germany.
This area has had a history of H7 outbreaks going back to Rostock Germany in 1934 (H7N1). More recently there was an H7N7 outbreak in 2003 in The Netherlands, and H7 in wild birds has been detected previously.
Reassortment between H5 and H7 has created H5N7 isolated from ducks in Denmark, so additional dual infections would not be surprising.
However, the H5N1 currently being reported in the area is the Qinghai strain, and Asian H5N1 has not previously been reported in the area.
H5N1 movement into new areas is cause for concern. S227N was detected in Turkey after H5N1 migrated into the area. Recombination between H5N1 and H9N2 leading to acquisition of S227N was predicted. H5N1 recombinations with H1N1 in European swine is another concern. Recombination between H5N1 and H1N1 can lead to the acquisition of G228S.
Another concern is recombination between H7 in Europe and H5N1 leading to acquisition of E190D. Although donor sequences have not been reported in recent H7 isolates from Europe, the number of H7 sequences on deposit at Genbank or Los Alamos is small, so current versions of H7 may not be well represented.
More sequences of H7 from the region would be useful.
India: Avian bird flu: 8 people admitted to hospital
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1419936.cms
DHULE (MAHARASHTRA): Eight people were on Saturday admitted to a government hospital at Navapur, for suspected bird flu and about 80 blood samples were sent to laboratory for test, health department sources said here.
Around two lakh chickens were destroyed at Navapur and buried as a precautionary measure, on Saturday.
There are 57 poultries around Navapur.
Sources said since past two-days death of at least 20,000 chickens was reported at Navapur in Nandurbar district of north Maharashtra.
Official sources here said eight of the 11 chicken samples sent to Bhopal's laboratory for confirming Bird Flu were found positive.
Meanwhile, Animal Husbandary, Commissioner, Vijay Kumar, on Saturday conducted a meeting of concerned officials to discuss steps to prevent the further spread of the disease.
Navapur Municipal Council has issued notices to the mutton shop-owners to close-down their shops with immediate effect, sources added.
Bird flu strikes India, eight hospitalised
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb192006/index2050342006218.asp
Mumbai & Delhi, DHNS & Agencies:
Avian influenza has struck India. After the Maharashtra government on Saturday confirmed that the recent deaths of chickens in Nandurbar and Dhule districts of North Maharashtra were caused by bird flu, eight people were reportedly admitted to a government hospital at Navapur, with suspected bird flu.
Avian influenza has struck India. After the Maharashtra government on Saturday confirmed that the recent deaths of chickens in Nandurbar and Dhule districts of North Maharashtra were caused by bird flu, eight people were reportedly admitted to a government hospital at Navapur, with suspected bird flu. About 80 human blood samples were sent to laboratories for testing, health department sources said.
It is the first case of bird flu in the country. The two districts are known for a large concentration of poultry farms. Most of the cases of bird flu were detected in Nawapur, a main township in Nandurbar district near the Maharashtra-Gujarat border.
The confirmation of avian flu was made by Animal Husbandry Minister Anees Ahmed on the basis of a report from the high-security National Animal Laboratory at Bhopal which attributed the deaths of chickens to the killer H5N1 virus.
Around two lakh chickens were destroyed at Navapur and buried as a precautionary measure on Saturday. Some 300,000 to one million chickens may have to be culled to prevent the spread of avian flu in India, officials said.
In New Delhi, a high level meeting chaired by Union Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi was attended by Union Health Secretary PC Hota and officials from Department in Animal Husbandry in response to the confirmation of the outbreak. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in touch with the Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Union Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss on the issue, PMO sources said.
1 lakh birds infected
It is estimated that around 40,000 to 1,00,000 chickens in the poultries of Nawapur have been affected by bird flu.
Avian influenza is caused by a strain of viruses of which H5N1 is the most lethal. These viruses occur naturally among birds. Wild birds carry the disease across borders and health agencies across the world are gearing up to counter a possible pandemic. Avian influenza is highly contagious and usually results in the death of domesticated birds, including chickens, ducks and turkeys, once infected.
Bird flu has infected humans in some countries and killed around 90 persons since 2003 in various parts of Asia and Europe.
An emergency meeting of officials in the Maharashtra Secretariat was called to take stock of the situation and decide on steps to destroy large numbers of infected birds in poultries in Nandurbar and Dhule districts.
Minister Anees Ahmed told reporters that a team of 200 veterinarians have been rushed to Nawapur to take precautionary measures. A five-member team from National Institute of Communicable Diseases has also been rushed to the two districts.
Officials said there is no cause for alarm and they are taking measures to put a preventive plan in place. So far the infection has been limited to only chickens and not a single human case has been reported. Doctors and microbiologists have already left for Nawapur. Authorities have cordoned off a three-kilometre radius area where the cases are reported. According to animal experts, infected birds spread the virus via saliva, nasal secretion and feces. Domesticated birds may become infected with avian influenza through direct contact with infected waterfowl or other infected poultry, or through contact with contaminated surfaces (such as cages) or material (water or feed). Bird flu in domestic poultry manifests in two primary forms — in low and high extremes of virulence. The “low pathogenic” form may go undetected and usually causes only mild symptoms (such as ruffled feathers and a drop in egg production). However, the highly pathogenic form spreads rapidly through flocks of poultry. This form causes the disease that affects multiple internal organs and has a mortality rate that can reach 90-100 per cent within 48 hours.
Infections of humans, mostly through contact with infected poultry, result in symptoms typical of common human influenza — fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches — to eye infections, pneumonia, severe respiratory diseases and other life-threatening complications.
So far, the spread of H5N1 virus from person to person has been limited. Because the virus does not commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against it in humans.
Bird flu 'to arrive in Britain this week'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...19.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/19/ixnewstop.html
Andrew Alderson, James Orr and Kim Willsher in Paris
(Filed: 19/02/2006)
Fears were growing last night that bird flu will reach Britain within days, after the deadly H5N1 form of the virus swept across Europe, the Middle East and south-east Asia yesterday.
The Government conceded yesterday that it is now increasingly likely that bird flu will arrive in Britain, as the National Farmers' Union (NFU) told members to prepare to take poultry indoors at short notice.
Click to enlarge
Samples from a duck that died of bird flu near Lyon, in France, have been sent for tests to a laboratory in Weybridge, Surrey, but French officials have already said that there is a 90 per cent chance it was the deadly H5N1 strain. The results are expected today.
French officials are also testing two more dead ducks found in a wildlife reserve at the mouth of the Somme river near the north coast. If they are found to have died from the H5N1 virus, then deadly bird flu is just 60 miles from Britain.
Austrian officials disclosed yesterday that H5N1 has been detected in Vienna. The discovery of the virus in a dead swan follows earlier confirmation that it was found elsewhere in the country.
Iranian authorities have also revealed that 135 dead swans found in the northern province of Gilan have tested positive for the H5N1 strain. This is the first time the virus has been detected in the Islamic republic.
Meanwhile, India has confirmed the country's first outbreak in chickens. It is preparing to cull up to 500,000 birds in an attempt to contain the outbreak. In a worrying development, it is also testing eight humans for H5N1.
Over the past decade, H5N1 has spread from Asia to Europe and Africa. The first occurrence in humans was in Hong Kong in 1997. Since then, it has infected 169 people, killing at least 91. Millions of birds have been destroyed.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that the discovery of bird flu in France "increases the likelihood" of it arriving here.
"We have robust surveillance measures in place and have taken more than 3,500 samples from wild birds, which so far have not detected H5N1 in the UK," said Fred Landeg, Britain's deputy chief veterinary officer. Defra would continue to monitor the situation, he said, and encouraged the public to report unusual wild bird deaths.
The NFU believes that farmers will be able to bring their poultry flocks indoors within a day if necessary. Farmers have also been asked to look out for any dead or sick-looking birds.
Authorities in France, the seventh European Union country to be hit by the disease, have applied emergency containment measures set out by the EU as an obligation on all countries hit by bird flu outbreaks.
All the outbreaks discovered in the EU so far have involved wild birds - believed to be migratory swans and ducks.
EU rules dictate that a country must establish a three-kilometre protection zone around the outbreak and a surrounding "surveillance zone" of an extra seven kilometres.
But concerns are growing, about the difficulty of controlling the spread if commercial birds - poultry on farms - catch the virus.
Scientists' biggest fear is that the virus will mutate, thus acquiring the ability to pass from person to person, and lead to a pandemic that could claim millions of lives. British experts last night said that the spread of the deadly virus to France could now have "major implications" for the shooting industry.
Simon Clarke, from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, said that up to 50 per cent of pheasants reared for shooting in Britain were bought in France. The potential spread of the H5N1 virus in France could halt the import of chicks to Britain, forcing estates to rely on limited numbers of locally reared birds.
The British Government has drawn up plans to set up the required exclusion zone if any wild bird is found to be infected with H5N1. Inside the zone, all poultry movements would be halted, and if any poultry was found to be infected the entire flock would face being culled.
The Government is still deciding whether to vaccinate the country's entire stock of 150 million poultry. Vaccination ought to slow the spread of the virus, but it could lead to the rest of the world banning the import of poultry from EU countries.