PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Last edited:
02/26 | Daily Bird Flu Thread: China Confirms 2 More Human Cases of H5N1 Bird Flu
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PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
China
UPDATED: 10:36, February 26, 2006
A nine-year-old girl in east China's Zhejiang Province and a 26-year-old woman farmer in east China's Anhui Province were confirmed to be infected with H5N1 bird flu, reported the Ministry of Health on Saturday.
The Zhejiang girl, surnamed You, lives in Anji County. She showed symptoms of fever and pneumonia on Feb. 10 and has been hospitalized. She is now in critical condition, said a report released by the ministry.
According to investigation, You visited relatives twice in Guangde County of Anhui Province before she fell ill. During her visits, chickens raised at her relatives' homes got sick and some died.
The exact source of You's infection is under further investigation, said the ministry.
You's samples tested H5N1 positive by both the Zhejiang provincial center for disease control and prevention (CDC) and China's national CDC.
The other new case in Anhui is from Yingshang County, and the patient is identified by the surname Wang. She developed fever and pneumonia symptoms on Feb. 11. The report says she is also in critical condition.
Wang had contact with sick and dead poultry, according to investigation. The local agricultural department has isolated H5N1 virus strain from samples of dead chickens in Yingshang County, said the ministry.
Wang's samples tested H5N1 positive by both the Anhui provincial CDC and the national CDC.
The two patients have been confirmed to be infected with bird flu in accordance with the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese official standards, said the ministry.
Those having close contacts with You and Wang have been put under medical observation by local health authorities. So far, no abnormal symptoms have been reported.
The ministry has reported the new cases to the WHO and the regions of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as several countries.
These cases brought the total number of human cases of bird flu in China to 14. Previously, the country reported 12 cases, in which eight patients died and the remaining four have been discharged from hospital.
In Yingshang County of Anhui, inspection teams from the Ministry of Agriculture and the provincial agricultural authorities found 13 chickens died in Jitai Village on Feb. 22. H5N1 virus were isolated from samples of four dead chickens by the national bird flu reference laboratory on Saturday.
The local government has culled more than 200 fowls in the area and intensified prevention measures, according to sources with the Ministry of Agriculture, which noted that the epidemic is now under control.
A total of 170 human cases of bird flu involving 92 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by Feb. 20, according to the WHO.
Chinese health officials have suspected that some cases of human infection of bird flu were caused by environmental contamination.
The human cases found in areas where no outbreak of bird flu in animals had been reported were most likely caused by environmental contamination by sick or dead birds, said Mao Qun'an, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, at a press conference earlier this month.
The official also said there is no evidence to suggest that China's bird flu virus has mutated to a form that can spread between humans, as studies show the avian flu virus isolated from China's human cases still bears distinct avian features far different from the human flu virus.
22 mln fowls culled last year to curb bird flu
China culled 22,571,200 fowls in 2005 to curb bird flu, said China's Agriculture Minister Du Qinglin, who also warned the public against a possible massive outbreak of this lethal epidemic.
Last year about 163,100 fowls were found to have infected the H5N1 virus, 154,600 of which died of the pandemic, said the minister when briefing the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, here on Saturday.
Last year, China reported 31 highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in poultry and one in migratory birds.
"The outbreaks hit 13 provinces and 32 counties, but all of them were effectively controlled without any large-scale virus spreading," Du said.
"In view of the current situation, the possibility of a massive bird flu outbreak could not be ruled out," Du warned.
He said all agricultural departments would be on high alert, stick to consistent epidemic monitoring, diagnosing and reporting, and strengthen poultry vaccinating and virus testing.
Chinese farmers raised about 15 billion poultry in 2005, or 21 percent of the world's total, Du said, adding that raising poultry is one of the main income sources for the farmers.
Source: Xinhua
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/26/eng20060226_246122.html
UPDATED: 10:36, February 26, 2006
Two new human cases of bird flu detected in China
font size ZoomIn ZoomOut A nine-year-old girl in east China's Zhejiang Province and a 26-year-old woman farmer in east China's Anhui Province were confirmed to be infected with H5N1 bird flu, reported the Ministry of Health on Saturday.
The Zhejiang girl, surnamed You, lives in Anji County. She showed symptoms of fever and pneumonia on Feb. 10 and has been hospitalized. She is now in critical condition, said a report released by the ministry.
According to investigation, You visited relatives twice in Guangde County of Anhui Province before she fell ill. During her visits, chickens raised at her relatives' homes got sick and some died.
The exact source of You's infection is under further investigation, said the ministry.
You's samples tested H5N1 positive by both the Zhejiang provincial center for disease control and prevention (CDC) and China's national CDC.
The other new case in Anhui is from Yingshang County, and the patient is identified by the surname Wang. She developed fever and pneumonia symptoms on Feb. 11. The report says she is also in critical condition.
Wang had contact with sick and dead poultry, according to investigation. The local agricultural department has isolated H5N1 virus strain from samples of dead chickens in Yingshang County, said the ministry.
Wang's samples tested H5N1 positive by both the Anhui provincial CDC and the national CDC.
The two patients have been confirmed to be infected with bird flu in accordance with the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese official standards, said the ministry.
Those having close contacts with You and Wang have been put under medical observation by local health authorities. So far, no abnormal symptoms have been reported.
The ministry has reported the new cases to the WHO and the regions of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as several countries.
These cases brought the total number of human cases of bird flu in China to 14. Previously, the country reported 12 cases, in which eight patients died and the remaining four have been discharged from hospital.
In Yingshang County of Anhui, inspection teams from the Ministry of Agriculture and the provincial agricultural authorities found 13 chickens died in Jitai Village on Feb. 22. H5N1 virus were isolated from samples of four dead chickens by the national bird flu reference laboratory on Saturday.
The local government has culled more than 200 fowls in the area and intensified prevention measures, according to sources with the Ministry of Agriculture, which noted that the epidemic is now under control.
A total of 170 human cases of bird flu involving 92 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by Feb. 20, according to the WHO.
Chinese health officials have suspected that some cases of human infection of bird flu were caused by environmental contamination.
The human cases found in areas where no outbreak of bird flu in animals had been reported were most likely caused by environmental contamination by sick or dead birds, said Mao Qun'an, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, at a press conference earlier this month.
The official also said there is no evidence to suggest that China's bird flu virus has mutated to a form that can spread between humans, as studies show the avian flu virus isolated from China's human cases still bears distinct avian features far different from the human flu virus.
22 mln fowls culled last year to curb bird flu
China culled 22,571,200 fowls in 2005 to curb bird flu, said China's Agriculture Minister Du Qinglin, who also warned the public against a possible massive outbreak of this lethal epidemic.
Last year about 163,100 fowls were found to have infected the H5N1 virus, 154,600 of which died of the pandemic, said the minister when briefing the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, here on Saturday.
Last year, China reported 31 highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in poultry and one in migratory birds.
"The outbreaks hit 13 provinces and 32 counties, but all of them were effectively controlled without any large-scale virus spreading," Du said.
"In view of the current situation, the possibility of a massive bird flu outbreak could not be ruled out," Du warned.
He said all agricultural departments would be on high alert, stick to consistent epidemic monitoring, diagnosing and reporting, and strengthen poultry vaccinating and virus testing.
Chinese farmers raised about 15 billion poultry in 2005, or 21 percent of the world's total, Du said, adding that raising poultry is one of the main income sources for the farmers.
Source: Xinhua
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/26/eng20060226_246122.html
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, Sat Five more people were admitted to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital yesterday after they displayed symptoms similar to that of the deadly bird flu infection.
The five were three girls, aged 4, 13 and 14; a 44-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman.
They were from four villages from the bird flu-infected area off Jalan Genting Klang-Kampung Pasir Wardieburn, Taman Danau Kota, Pekan Danau Kota and Kampung Belakang JPJ.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Ismail Merican said the five were admitted for further tests as they had experienced fever, cough and flu.
"Until this morning, only the five were still warded. Their condition is stable and they will be discharged soon if tests on them turn out to be negative," he said after launching the 13th FDI/MDA Scientific Convention and Trade Exhibition today.
He said test results from the Institute for Medical Research were expected today.
"Health authorities are conducting house-to-house screenings in the affected area and those found with H5N1 symptoms will be admitted for tests," he said.
Ismail added that all test results of suspected bird flu cases admitted to Kuala Lumpur Hospital so far had been negative.
Until yesterday, eight suspected patients have been discharged from the hospital. The culling of chickens and birds are being carried out in Gombak following the deaths of some 80 chickens from the virus.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Sunday/National/20060226083412/Article/index_html
Five new cases in hospital
KUALA LUMPUR, Sat Five more people were admitted to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital yesterday after they displayed symptoms similar to that of the deadly bird flu infection.
The five were three girls, aged 4, 13 and 14; a 44-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman.
They were from four villages from the bird flu-infected area off Jalan Genting Klang-Kampung Pasir Wardieburn, Taman Danau Kota, Pekan Danau Kota and Kampung Belakang JPJ.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Ismail Merican said the five were admitted for further tests as they had experienced fever, cough and flu.
"Until this morning, only the five were still warded. Their condition is stable and they will be discharged soon if tests on them turn out to be negative," he said after launching the 13th FDI/MDA Scientific Convention and Trade Exhibition today.
He said test results from the Institute for Medical Research were expected today.
"Health authorities are conducting house-to-house screenings in the affected area and those found with H5N1 symptoms will be admitted for tests," he said.
Ismail added that all test results of suspected bird flu cases admitted to Kuala Lumpur Hospital so far had been negative.
Until yesterday, eight suspected patients have been discharged from the hospital. The culling of chickens and birds are being carried out in Gombak following the deaths of some 80 chickens from the virus.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Sunday/National/20060226083412/Article/index_html
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
India
SURAT, Feb 25: Animal health officials have expanded the zone for slaughtering chickens in western India after the discovery of a second outbreak of bird flu.
Chickens at two farms in Gujarat state, four kilometres from the Maharashtra state border town of Navapur, the epicentre of the initial outbreak, were confirmed positive with the H5N1 strain of bird flu on Saturday.
“Samples from two farms in Utchal (in Surat district) have been confirmed for avian influenza,” Upma Chawdhry, joint secretary in the national animal husbandry department, told AFP.
Confirmation of the new outbreak came two weeks after samples were taken.
Chawdhry said all chickens had already been killed at the two farms which were within the 10-kilometre zone where officials had by Wednesday finished slaughtering all farm birds after the initial confirmed outbreak.
“The poultry have already been culled ... and operations completed at these farms,” she said, adding, “It is not a cause for concern.”
Officials will now widen the slaughter zone by a few kilometres and kill several thousand more backyard chickens Saturday at a few more villages, Surat district senior administrator Vatsala Vasudeva told reporters.
“We will now take Utchal as the epicentre ... a few extra villages will be added and culling is being undertaken today (Saturday),” she said.
Animal health officials in Maharashtra said Friday they must still find and kill backyard chickens in 70 villages before completing the slaughter of all birds around India’s first H5N1 outbreak in Navapur, confirmed a week ago.
Indian officials said late Friday all 95 samples collected from people suspected of carrying bird flu following confirmation of the first outbreak tested negative.
The announcement eased fears the infection might have spread to humans here in the country of more than one billion people where many live in close proximity with poultry.
However, senior health ministry official Vineet Chawdhry said two more people were taken to hospital Friday in Navapur — which was put under quarantine Thursday — to be kept under observation. “The two have so far not shown any symptoms of bid flu. They have been kept under observation because they were reportedly in contact with poultry,” Chawdhry said. —AFP
http://www.dawn.com/2006/02/26/int7.htm
Another bird flu outbreak in India
SURAT, Feb 25: Animal health officials have expanded the zone for slaughtering chickens in western India after the discovery of a second outbreak of bird flu.
Chickens at two farms in Gujarat state, four kilometres from the Maharashtra state border town of Navapur, the epicentre of the initial outbreak, were confirmed positive with the H5N1 strain of bird flu on Saturday.
“Samples from two farms in Utchal (in Surat district) have been confirmed for avian influenza,” Upma Chawdhry, joint secretary in the national animal husbandry department, told AFP.
Confirmation of the new outbreak came two weeks after samples were taken.
Chawdhry said all chickens had already been killed at the two farms which were within the 10-kilometre zone where officials had by Wednesday finished slaughtering all farm birds after the initial confirmed outbreak.
“The poultry have already been culled ... and operations completed at these farms,” she said, adding, “It is not a cause for concern.”
Officials will now widen the slaughter zone by a few kilometres and kill several thousand more backyard chickens Saturday at a few more villages, Surat district senior administrator Vatsala Vasudeva told reporters.
“We will now take Utchal as the epicentre ... a few extra villages will be added and culling is being undertaken today (Saturday),” she said.
Animal health officials in Maharashtra said Friday they must still find and kill backyard chickens in 70 villages before completing the slaughter of all birds around India’s first H5N1 outbreak in Navapur, confirmed a week ago.
Indian officials said late Friday all 95 samples collected from people suspected of carrying bird flu following confirmation of the first outbreak tested negative.
The announcement eased fears the infection might have spread to humans here in the country of more than one billion people where many live in close proximity with poultry.
However, senior health ministry official Vineet Chawdhry said two more people were taken to hospital Friday in Navapur — which was put under quarantine Thursday — to be kept under observation. “The two have so far not shown any symptoms of bid flu. They have been kept under observation because they were reportedly in contact with poultry,” Chawdhry said. —AFP
http://www.dawn.com/2006/02/26/int7.htm
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
CDC: Avian Influenza: Current Situation
Summary
Influenza A (H5N1) is an influenza A virus subtype that occurs mainly in birds, is highly contagious among birds, and can be deadly to them. Outbreaks of H5N1 among poultry are ongoing in a number of countries. While H5N1 does not usually infect people, human cases of H5N1 infection associated with these outbreaks have been reported Most of these cases have occurred from direct or close contact with infected poultry or contaminated surfaces; however, a few rare cases of human-to-human spread of H5N1 virus have occurred, though transmission has not continued beyond one person.
Nonetheless, because all influenza viruses have the ability to change, scientists are concerned that H5N1 virus one day could be able to infect humans and spread easily from one person to another. Because these viruses do not commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population and an influenza pandemic (worldwide outbreak of disease) could begin. Experts from around the world are watching the H5N1 situation in Asia and Europe very closely and are preparing for the possibility that the virus may begin to spread more easily from person to person.
Human H5N1 Cases
Human Cases: Summary of Current Situation
Since January, 2004 WHO has reported human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) in the following countries:
* East Asia and the Pacific:
o Cambodia
o China
o Indonesia
o Thailand
o Vietnam
* Europe & Eurasia:
o Turkey
* Near East:
o Iraq
(see preliminary report)
Updated February 8, 2006
During August to October 2004, sporadic human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) were reported in Vietnam and Thailand. Beginning in December 2004, a resurgence of poultry outbreaks and human cases were reported in Vietnam.
On February 2, 2005, the first of four human cases of H5N1 infection from Cambodia were reported. And on July 21, 2005, the first human case of H5N1 in Indonesia was reported. Indonesia continued to report human cases from August 2005 into February 2006. Thailand reported new human cases of H5N1 in October, November, and December 2005, and Vietnam reported new human cases in November 2005. China reported the country’s first confirmed human cases in November 2005 and continued to report human cases in December 2005 and into 2006. Turkey reported the country’s first confirmed human cases on January 5, 2006 and has continued to report human cases. The first confirmed human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) in Iraq was reported on February 2, 2006.
Animal H5N1 Cases
Animal Cases: Summary of Current Situation
Since December 2003, avian influenza A (H5N1) infections in poultry or wild birds have been reported in the following countries:
* Africa:
o Nigeria
* East Asia & the Pacific:
o Cambodia
o China
o Hong Kong (SARPRC)
o Indonesia
o Japan
o Laos
o Malaysia
o Mongolia
o Thailand
o Vietnam
* Europe & Eurasia:
o Austria
o Azerbaijan
o Bosnia & Herzegovina (H5)
o Bulgaria
o Croatia
o France
o Germany
o Greece
o Italy
o Romania
o Russia
o Slovenia
o Turkey
o Ukraine
* Near East:
o Egypt
o Iraq (H5)
o Iran
* South Asia:
o India
o Kazakhstan
For additional information about these reports, visit the
World Organization for Animal Health Web site.
Updated February 21, 2006
* Beginning in late June 2004, new outbreaks of lethal avian influenza A (H5N1) infection among poultry were reported by several countries in Asia: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
* Since May 2005, outbreaks of H5N1 disease have been reported among poultry in China, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. China, Croatia, Mongolia, and Romania also reported outbreaks of H5N1 in wild, migratory birds since May 2005.
* In January 2006, Hong Kong (SARPRC) reported one dead wild bird.
* Since February 1, 2006, the first cases of H5N1 or H5 infections in poultry or wild birds have been reported in the following countries: Iraq (H5), Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Egypt, India, France, and Bosnia and Herzegovina (H5).
* For additional information about H5N1 and other avian influenza outbreaks among animals, visit the World Organization for Animal Health Web site.
Assessment of Current Situation
The avian influenza A (H5N1) epizootic (animal outbreak) in Asia and parts of Europe is not expected to diminish significantly in the short term. It is likely that H5N1 infection among birds has become endemic in certain areas and that human infections resulting from direct contact with infected poultry will continue to occur. So far, the spread of H5N1 virus from person-to-person has been rare and has not continued beyond one person. No evidence for genetic reassortment between human and avian influenza A virus genes has been found; however, the epizootic in Asia continues to pose an important public health threat.
There is little pre-existing natural immunity to H5N1 infection in the human population. If these H5N1 viruses gain the ability for efficient and sustained transmission among humans, an influenza pandemic could result, with potentially high rates of illness and death. In addition, genetic sequencing of influenza A (H5N1) viruses from human cases in Vietnam and Thailand shows resistance to the antiviral medications amantadine and rimantadine, two of the medications commonly used for treatment of influenza. This would leave two remaining antiviral medications (oseltamivir and zanamivir) that should still be effective against currently circulating strains of H5N1 virus. Efforts to produce vaccine candidates that would be effective against avian influenza A (H5N1) viruses are under way. However, it will likely require many months before such vaccines could be mass produced and made widely available.
Research suggests that currently circulating strains of H5N1 viruses are becoming more capable of causing disease (pathogenic) in mammals than were earlier H5N1 viruses. One study found that ducks infected with H5N1 virus are now shedding more virus for longer periods without showing symptoms of illness. This finding has implications for the role of ducks in transmitting disease to other birds and possibly to humans as well. Additionally, other findings have documented H5N1 infection among pigs in China and H5N1 infection in felines (experimental infection in housecats in the Netherlands and isolation of H5N1 viruses in tigers and leopards in Thailand ).
Notable findings of epidemiologic investigations of human H5N1 cases in Vietnam during 2005 have suggested transmission of H5N1 viruses to at least two persons through consumption of uncooked duck blood. One possible instance of limited person-to-person transmission of H5N1 virus in Thailand has been reported. This possibility is being further investigated in other clusters of cases in Vietnam and Indonesia.
The majority of known human H5N1 cases have begun with respiratory symptoms. However, one atypical fatal case of encephalitis in a child in southern Vietnam in 2004 was identified retrospectively as H5N1 influenza through testing of cerebrospinal fluid, fecal matter, and throat and serum samples. Further research is needed to ascertain the implications of such findings.
Bird Import Ban
There is currently a ban on the importation of birds and bird products from H5N1-affected countries. The regulationstates that no person may import or attempt to import any birds (Class Aves), whether dead or alive, or any products derived from birds (including hatching eggs), from the following countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Peoples' Republic of China, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam (current as of December 29, 2005).
Travel
Updated Information for Travelers about Avian Influenza A(H5N1) is available at the CDC Travelers’ Health Web site. Also see Guidelines and Recommendations - Interim Guidance about Avian Influenza A (H5N1) for U.S. Citizens Living Abroad.
CDC Response
Domestic Activities
* In May 2005, CDC joined a new, inter-agency National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Task Force organized by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. This task force is developing and refining preparedness efforts with international, state, local, and private organizational partners to help ensure the most effective response possible when the next influenza pandemic occurs. For more information about the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and other aspects of this coordinated federal initiative, please visit www.pandemicflu.gov.
* In February 2004, CDC issued recommendations for enhanced domestic surveillance of avian influenza A (H5N1). Following the reports of human deaths in Vietnam in August 2004 and additional human cases in the following months, CDC issued follow-up Health Alert Network (HAN) notices on August 12 and February 4, 2005, reiterating criteria for domestic surveillance, diagnostic evaluation, and infection control precautions for avian influenza A (H5N1). The HAN notice also detailed laboratory testing procedures for H5N1.
* CDC has collaborated with the Association of Public Health Laboratories to conduct training workshops for state laboratories on the use of molecular techniques to rapidly identify H5 viruses.
* CDC is working collaboratively with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and other partners to assist states with pandemic planning efforts.
* CDC is working with other agencies, such as the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, on antiviral stockpile issues.
International Activities
* CDC is one of four WHO Collaborating Centers and in this capacity provides ongoing support for the global WHO surveillance network, laboratory testing, training, and other actions.
* CDC has worked collaboratively with WHO to conduct investigations of human H5N1 infections in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Turkey and to provide laboratory diagnostic and training assistance.
* CDC has performed laboratory testing of H5N1 viruses from Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.
* CDC is implementing a multi-million dollar initiative to improve influenza surveillance in Asia.
* CDC has led or taken part in 9 training sessions to enhance local capacities in Asia to conduct surveillance for possible human cases of H5 and to detect avian influenza A H5 viruses using laboratory techniques.
* CDC has developed and distributed a reagent kit for the detection of the currently circulating influenza A H5 viruses.
* CDC has worked with other international and national agencies in Asia to develop a training course for rapid response teams that will be used to help prepare the region to respond to outbreaks when they occur.
CDC is monitoring the situation closely, along with WHO and other international partners. In addition, CDC continues to work collaboratively with WHO and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the development and testing of vaccine seed candidates for influenza A (H5N1).
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/outbreaks/current.htm#animals
Avian Influenza: Current Situation
Summary
Influenza A (H5N1) is an influenza A virus subtype that occurs mainly in birds, is highly contagious among birds, and can be deadly to them. Outbreaks of H5N1 among poultry are ongoing in a number of countries. While H5N1 does not usually infect people, human cases of H5N1 infection associated with these outbreaks have been reported Most of these cases have occurred from direct or close contact with infected poultry or contaminated surfaces; however, a few rare cases of human-to-human spread of H5N1 virus have occurred, though transmission has not continued beyond one person.
Nonetheless, because all influenza viruses have the ability to change, scientists are concerned that H5N1 virus one day could be able to infect humans and spread easily from one person to another. Because these viruses do not commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population and an influenza pandemic (worldwide outbreak of disease) could begin. Experts from around the world are watching the H5N1 situation in Asia and Europe very closely and are preparing for the possibility that the virus may begin to spread more easily from person to person.
Human H5N1 Cases
Human Cases: Summary of Current Situation
Since January, 2004 WHO has reported human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) in the following countries:
* East Asia and the Pacific:
o Cambodia
o China
o Indonesia
o Thailand
o Vietnam
* Europe & Eurasia:
o Turkey
* Near East:
o Iraq
(see preliminary report)
Updated February 8, 2006
During August to October 2004, sporadic human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) were reported in Vietnam and Thailand. Beginning in December 2004, a resurgence of poultry outbreaks and human cases were reported in Vietnam.
On February 2, 2005, the first of four human cases of H5N1 infection from Cambodia were reported. And on July 21, 2005, the first human case of H5N1 in Indonesia was reported. Indonesia continued to report human cases from August 2005 into February 2006. Thailand reported new human cases of H5N1 in October, November, and December 2005, and Vietnam reported new human cases in November 2005. China reported the country’s first confirmed human cases in November 2005 and continued to report human cases in December 2005 and into 2006. Turkey reported the country’s first confirmed human cases on January 5, 2006 and has continued to report human cases. The first confirmed human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) in Iraq was reported on February 2, 2006.
Animal H5N1 Cases
Animal Cases: Summary of Current Situation
Since December 2003, avian influenza A (H5N1) infections in poultry or wild birds have been reported in the following countries:
* Africa:
o Nigeria
* East Asia & the Pacific:
o Cambodia
o China
o Hong Kong (SARPRC)
o Indonesia
o Japan
o Laos
o Malaysia
o Mongolia
o Thailand
o Vietnam
* Europe & Eurasia:
o Austria
o Azerbaijan
o Bosnia & Herzegovina (H5)
o Bulgaria
o Croatia
o France
o Germany
o Greece
o Italy
o Romania
o Russia
o Slovenia
o Turkey
o Ukraine
* Near East:
o Egypt
o Iraq (H5)
o Iran
* South Asia:
o India
o Kazakhstan
For additional information about these reports, visit the
World Organization for Animal Health Web site.
Updated February 21, 2006
* Beginning in late June 2004, new outbreaks of lethal avian influenza A (H5N1) infection among poultry were reported by several countries in Asia: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
* Since May 2005, outbreaks of H5N1 disease have been reported among poultry in China, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. China, Croatia, Mongolia, and Romania also reported outbreaks of H5N1 in wild, migratory birds since May 2005.
* In January 2006, Hong Kong (SARPRC) reported one dead wild bird.
* Since February 1, 2006, the first cases of H5N1 or H5 infections in poultry or wild birds have been reported in the following countries: Iraq (H5), Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Egypt, India, France, and Bosnia and Herzegovina (H5).
* For additional information about H5N1 and other avian influenza outbreaks among animals, visit the World Organization for Animal Health Web site.
Assessment of Current Situation
The avian influenza A (H5N1) epizootic (animal outbreak) in Asia and parts of Europe is not expected to diminish significantly in the short term. It is likely that H5N1 infection among birds has become endemic in certain areas and that human infections resulting from direct contact with infected poultry will continue to occur. So far, the spread of H5N1 virus from person-to-person has been rare and has not continued beyond one person. No evidence for genetic reassortment between human and avian influenza A virus genes has been found; however, the epizootic in Asia continues to pose an important public health threat.
There is little pre-existing natural immunity to H5N1 infection in the human population. If these H5N1 viruses gain the ability for efficient and sustained transmission among humans, an influenza pandemic could result, with potentially high rates of illness and death. In addition, genetic sequencing of influenza A (H5N1) viruses from human cases in Vietnam and Thailand shows resistance to the antiviral medications amantadine and rimantadine, two of the medications commonly used for treatment of influenza. This would leave two remaining antiviral medications (oseltamivir and zanamivir) that should still be effective against currently circulating strains of H5N1 virus. Efforts to produce vaccine candidates that would be effective against avian influenza A (H5N1) viruses are under way. However, it will likely require many months before such vaccines could be mass produced and made widely available.
Research suggests that currently circulating strains of H5N1 viruses are becoming more capable of causing disease (pathogenic) in mammals than were earlier H5N1 viruses. One study found that ducks infected with H5N1 virus are now shedding more virus for longer periods without showing symptoms of illness. This finding has implications for the role of ducks in transmitting disease to other birds and possibly to humans as well. Additionally, other findings have documented H5N1 infection among pigs in China and H5N1 infection in felines (experimental infection in housecats in the Netherlands and isolation of H5N1 viruses in tigers and leopards in Thailand ).
Notable findings of epidemiologic investigations of human H5N1 cases in Vietnam during 2005 have suggested transmission of H5N1 viruses to at least two persons through consumption of uncooked duck blood. One possible instance of limited person-to-person transmission of H5N1 virus in Thailand has been reported. This possibility is being further investigated in other clusters of cases in Vietnam and Indonesia.
The majority of known human H5N1 cases have begun with respiratory symptoms. However, one atypical fatal case of encephalitis in a child in southern Vietnam in 2004 was identified retrospectively as H5N1 influenza through testing of cerebrospinal fluid, fecal matter, and throat and serum samples. Further research is needed to ascertain the implications of such findings.
Bird Import Ban
There is currently a ban on the importation of birds and bird products from H5N1-affected countries. The regulationstates that no person may import or attempt to import any birds (Class Aves), whether dead or alive, or any products derived from birds (including hatching eggs), from the following countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Peoples' Republic of China, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam (current as of December 29, 2005).
Travel
Updated Information for Travelers about Avian Influenza A(H5N1) is available at the CDC Travelers’ Health Web site. Also see Guidelines and Recommendations - Interim Guidance about Avian Influenza A (H5N1) for U.S. Citizens Living Abroad.
CDC Response
Domestic Activities
* In May 2005, CDC joined a new, inter-agency National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Task Force organized by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. This task force is developing and refining preparedness efforts with international, state, local, and private organizational partners to help ensure the most effective response possible when the next influenza pandemic occurs. For more information about the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and other aspects of this coordinated federal initiative, please visit www.pandemicflu.gov.
* In February 2004, CDC issued recommendations for enhanced domestic surveillance of avian influenza A (H5N1). Following the reports of human deaths in Vietnam in August 2004 and additional human cases in the following months, CDC issued follow-up Health Alert Network (HAN) notices on August 12 and February 4, 2005, reiterating criteria for domestic surveillance, diagnostic evaluation, and infection control precautions for avian influenza A (H5N1). The HAN notice also detailed laboratory testing procedures for H5N1.
* CDC has collaborated with the Association of Public Health Laboratories to conduct training workshops for state laboratories on the use of molecular techniques to rapidly identify H5 viruses.
* CDC is working collaboratively with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and other partners to assist states with pandemic planning efforts.
* CDC is working with other agencies, such as the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, on antiviral stockpile issues.
International Activities
* CDC is one of four WHO Collaborating Centers and in this capacity provides ongoing support for the global WHO surveillance network, laboratory testing, training, and other actions.
* CDC has worked collaboratively with WHO to conduct investigations of human H5N1 infections in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Turkey and to provide laboratory diagnostic and training assistance.
* CDC has performed laboratory testing of H5N1 viruses from Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.
* CDC is implementing a multi-million dollar initiative to improve influenza surveillance in Asia.
* CDC has led or taken part in 9 training sessions to enhance local capacities in Asia to conduct surveillance for possible human cases of H5 and to detect avian influenza A H5 viruses using laboratory techniques.
* CDC has developed and distributed a reagent kit for the detection of the currently circulating influenza A H5 viruses.
* CDC has worked with other international and national agencies in Asia to develop a training course for rapid response teams that will be used to help prepare the region to respond to outbreaks when they occur.
CDC is monitoring the situation closely, along with WHO and other international partners. In addition, CDC continues to work collaboratively with WHO and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the development and testing of vaccine seed candidates for influenza A (H5N1).
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/outbreaks/current.htm#animals
New Freedom
Veteran Member
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006022...mOTvyIi;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Bird flu could spread around the world: veterinary chief
Fri Feb 24, 10:05 AM ET
PARIS (AFP) -
Bird flu could spread around the world, according to a warning from the head of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the global watchdog for veterinary standards in farm trade.
"We are witnessing a rapid change in the situation, characterised by the progressive change from an epidemic to a pandemic" of the animal virus, OIE Director General Bernard Vallat told the 'Le Monde' newspaper.
"Except for Australia and New Zealand, which do not appear to be concerned by the migration of water fowl from infected zones, the rest of the world is directly exposed," he said Friday.
"The epidemic of avian flu can now spread on a global scale."
Vallat said there were "various indicators which support fears of infection among birds on the American continent."
He added that only water fowl appeared to be the vector for avian flu among wild birds.
The interview was published amid fears that the H5N1 bird flu virus could spread to European poultry, after having been brought to the continent by infected swans.
Bird flu could spread around the world: veterinary chief
Fri Feb 24, 10:05 AM ET
PARIS (AFP) -
Bird flu could spread around the world, according to a warning from the head of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the global watchdog for veterinary standards in farm trade.
"We are witnessing a rapid change in the situation, characterised by the progressive change from an epidemic to a pandemic" of the animal virus, OIE Director General Bernard Vallat told the 'Le Monde' newspaper.
"Except for Australia and New Zealand, which do not appear to be concerned by the migration of water fowl from infected zones, the rest of the world is directly exposed," he said Friday.
"The epidemic of avian flu can now spread on a global scale."
Vallat said there were "various indicators which support fears of infection among birds on the American continent."
He added that only water fowl appeared to be the vector for avian flu among wild birds.
The interview was published amid fears that the H5N1 bird flu virus could spread to European poultry, after having been brought to the continent by infected swans.
New Freedom
Veteran Member
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...lu126.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/26/ixhome.html
Avian flu may force McNuggets off menu
By Julie Henry
(Filed: 26/02/2006)
McDonald's is drawing up contingency plans to remove chicken burgers and nuggets from its menu and a British restaurant has dropped wildfowl as concern about avian flu grows.
Confirmation that the H5N1 bird flu virus has struck a turkey farm in the south-east of France, bringing the spectre of an outbreak in Britain closer, has led to what is being criticised as a "knee-jerk" reaction by some food outlets.
The City Inn Hotel in Birmingham became the first to announce that wildfowl would be dropped from restaurant menus as a "precautionary measure" for the foreseeable future.
Carl Littlewood, the general manager, said: "All our poultry comes from the UK and is totally traceable. On the basis of current scientific evidence, avian flu does not pose a food safety risk for any consumer. However, we have taken this stance purely as a precautionary measure."
Fast-food chain McDonald's also confirmed last night that it was investigating the supply of alternatives to its chicken dishes.
A spokeswoman told the Sunday Telegraph: "We have a European task force working on contingency plans for our supply chain and, although the details of that plan must remain confidential, it involves potentially introducing alternative items into our menus to replace the chicken.
"In the meantime, however, we are confident of the safety of our products because we use only suppliers who comply with our high standards of traceability and keep their chickens indoors."
The measures have been condemned by farmers, who fear a collapse in consumer confidence that could devastate the industry. The Food Standards Agency said last night that its message to consumers - that poultry and poultry products were safe - remained unchanged, despite confirmation of the virus in France.
"Currently the UK is free from the avian flu virus," a spokesman said. "The World Health Organisation advises that in areas free from the disease, poultry can be prepared and eaten as usual with no fear of acquiring infection.
"Even if the virus is present in meat or eggs, it is easily killed by cooking. Even if it is still present after cooking, the virus is destroyed by saliva and gastric juices."
Despite reassurances to French consumers from President Jacques Chirac, sales of poultry in France have dropped by as much as 30 per cent. In an indication of the global impact of the French case, Japan temporarily suspended imports of French poultry, including foie gras, meat and internal organs.
Last week the Government awarded contracts worth £33 million to British pharmaceutical firms to make 3.5 million doses of a vaccine to protect humans against the H5N1 strain.
The virus has killed more than 90 people, mostly in Asia, since late 2003. It can be caught by humans who handle infected birds but is not yet known to have passed from one person to another.
Avian flu may force McNuggets off menu
By Julie Henry
(Filed: 26/02/2006)
McDonald's is drawing up contingency plans to remove chicken burgers and nuggets from its menu and a British restaurant has dropped wildfowl as concern about avian flu grows.
Confirmation that the H5N1 bird flu virus has struck a turkey farm in the south-east of France, bringing the spectre of an outbreak in Britain closer, has led to what is being criticised as a "knee-jerk" reaction by some food outlets.
The City Inn Hotel in Birmingham became the first to announce that wildfowl would be dropped from restaurant menus as a "precautionary measure" for the foreseeable future.
Carl Littlewood, the general manager, said: "All our poultry comes from the UK and is totally traceable. On the basis of current scientific evidence, avian flu does not pose a food safety risk for any consumer. However, we have taken this stance purely as a precautionary measure."
Fast-food chain McDonald's also confirmed last night that it was investigating the supply of alternatives to its chicken dishes.
A spokeswoman told the Sunday Telegraph: "We have a European task force working on contingency plans for our supply chain and, although the details of that plan must remain confidential, it involves potentially introducing alternative items into our menus to replace the chicken.
"In the meantime, however, we are confident of the safety of our products because we use only suppliers who comply with our high standards of traceability and keep their chickens indoors."
The measures have been condemned by farmers, who fear a collapse in consumer confidence that could devastate the industry. The Food Standards Agency said last night that its message to consumers - that poultry and poultry products were safe - remained unchanged, despite confirmation of the virus in France.
"Currently the UK is free from the avian flu virus," a spokesman said. "The World Health Organisation advises that in areas free from the disease, poultry can be prepared and eaten as usual with no fear of acquiring infection.
"Even if the virus is present in meat or eggs, it is easily killed by cooking. Even if it is still present after cooking, the virus is destroyed by saliva and gastric juices."
Despite reassurances to French consumers from President Jacques Chirac, sales of poultry in France have dropped by as much as 30 per cent. In an indication of the global impact of the French case, Japan temporarily suspended imports of French poultry, including foie gras, meat and internal organs.
Last week the Government awarded contracts worth £33 million to British pharmaceutical firms to make 3.5 million doses of a vaccine to protect humans against the H5N1 strain.
The virus has killed more than 90 people, mostly in Asia, since late 2003. It can be caught by humans who handle infected birds but is not yet known to have passed from one person to another.
New Freedom
Veteran Member
http://smh.com.au/news/world/indonesia-risks-bird-flu-pandemic/2006/02/25/1140670301306.html
Indonesia 'risks bird flu pandemic'
By Frank Walker
February 26, 2006
A LACK of funding and expertise in Indonesia is increasing the risk of bird flu evolving into a global human pandemic, an Australian expert on the virus has said.
Andrew Jeremijenko says there is data to show the H5N1 virus, which has been killing humans in Indonesia, is different from the one that is killing birds.
"So far the investigations have been unable to match the viruses," he told the ABC yesterday. "They don't seem to be able to match the viruses from the human case to the animal case. And that is putting the world at threat.
"Every human case is another potential mutation that could turn this virus into a pandemic virus."
Dr Jeremijenko has worked in Indonesia for eight years, most recently leading influenza surveillance studies for a US naval medical research group.
He said there had been no human deaths in Turkey, Vietnam or Thailand after effective control programs were implemented. But in Indonesia there was poor communication between the departments of Health and Agriculture and the deaths kept on coming, with two suspected H5N1 deaths in the past week.
A spokeswoman for the Australian Health Department said
Australia had provided $15.5 million to help Indonesia fight the spread of avian flu
Indonesia 'risks bird flu pandemic'
By Frank Walker
February 26, 2006
A LACK of funding and expertise in Indonesia is increasing the risk of bird flu evolving into a global human pandemic, an Australian expert on the virus has said.
Andrew Jeremijenko says there is data to show the H5N1 virus, which has been killing humans in Indonesia, is different from the one that is killing birds.
"So far the investigations have been unable to match the viruses," he told the ABC yesterday. "They don't seem to be able to match the viruses from the human case to the animal case. And that is putting the world at threat.
"Every human case is another potential mutation that could turn this virus into a pandemic virus."
Dr Jeremijenko has worked in Indonesia for eight years, most recently leading influenza surveillance studies for a US naval medical research group.
He said there had been no human deaths in Turkey, Vietnam or Thailand after effective control programs were implemented. But in Indonesia there was poor communication between the departments of Health and Agriculture and the deaths kept on coming, with two suspected H5N1 deaths in the past week.
A spokeswoman for the Australian Health Department said
Australia had provided $15.5 million to help Indonesia fight the spread of avian flu
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Canada.... a dot?
Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, February 24, 2006
Countless thousands of seabirds are mysteriously washing ashore dead along the B.C. coast this winter from the west coast of Vancouver Island to the Queen Charlotte Islands.
"It's spooky to see them coming in like that," Pete Clarkson, assistant chief warden at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve at Long Beach, said Thursday in an interview.
The massive die-off of seabirds this winter follows the near-complete failure of at least two seabird nesting colonies last spring.
About 1,000 glaucous-winged gulls failed to successfully breed at Cleland Island, a provincial ecological reserve northwest of Tofino, while about 400 glaucous-winged gulls and 300 rhinoceros auklets failed to breed at Seabird Rocks, south of Barkley Sound.
Curiously, up to 200 of the gulls successfully bred at Florencia Islet north of Barkley Sound, a colony that might have benefitted from its location just two kilometres from a local garbage dump.
"That's the only thing I can think of," Clarkson said. "It's a strong suspicion."
Thousands of seabirds were also reported washing ashore or breeding with poor success on the U.S. Pacific coast between California and Washington, including the mass starvation deaths of murres on Tatoosh Island off the Olympic Peninsula.
U.S. scientists speculate the deaths may be associated with warmer weather and changes in winds and currents that might have reduced the availability of the birds' marine food.
Clarkson said the first wave of seabirds, red phalaropes, began washing ashore in large numbers around last Christmas on the beaches of Pacific Rim park. The small shorebirds looked emaciated. "They appeared to be starving, minimal body fat," he said.
Northern fulmars, western grebes, common murres, and rhinoceros auklets were among the seabird species that washed ashore at the Carmanah light station.
Clarkson noted that a similar die-off of phalaropes occurred about three years ago. An examination of their gizzards found plastic pellets or nodules produced for manufacturing consumer products. These pellets find their way into the ocean only to be ingested by seabirds feeding on the surface.
While these plastics pose an environmental and ecological problem, they are not thought to have caused the death of the phalaropes, Clarkson said.
Then, after last Christmas and into January, large numbers of Cassin's auklets began washing ashore on the west coast of Vancouver Island. "I sense it's specific to a food source, or somehow a problem in that food web," Clarkson said.
Surveys found three to seven dead auklets per kilometre on beaches in the park.
On the east coast of the Queen Charlottes, officials also reported large numbers of ancient murrelets, marbled murrelets, and Cassin's auklets being found dead.
The total number of birds dead all along the coast would have ranged into the thousands, he said.
Various bird carcasses have been sent to the provincial lab in Abbotsford for analysis, while federal scientists with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Delta and Sidney gather information in an effort to find the cause of the massive die-off and consider the implications on overall populations.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=736d8450-eb25-4016-b411-b776f3a8537f&k=14758
Thousands of seabirds dying along the coast of B.C.
Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, February 24, 2006
Countless thousands of seabirds are mysteriously washing ashore dead along the B.C. coast this winter from the west coast of Vancouver Island to the Queen Charlotte Islands.
"It's spooky to see them coming in like that," Pete Clarkson, assistant chief warden at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve at Long Beach, said Thursday in an interview.
The massive die-off of seabirds this winter follows the near-complete failure of at least two seabird nesting colonies last spring.
About 1,000 glaucous-winged gulls failed to successfully breed at Cleland Island, a provincial ecological reserve northwest of Tofino, while about 400 glaucous-winged gulls and 300 rhinoceros auklets failed to breed at Seabird Rocks, south of Barkley Sound.
Curiously, up to 200 of the gulls successfully bred at Florencia Islet north of Barkley Sound, a colony that might have benefitted from its location just two kilometres from a local garbage dump.
"That's the only thing I can think of," Clarkson said. "It's a strong suspicion."
Thousands of seabirds were also reported washing ashore or breeding with poor success on the U.S. Pacific coast between California and Washington, including the mass starvation deaths of murres on Tatoosh Island off the Olympic Peninsula.
U.S. scientists speculate the deaths may be associated with warmer weather and changes in winds and currents that might have reduced the availability of the birds' marine food.
Clarkson said the first wave of seabirds, red phalaropes, began washing ashore in large numbers around last Christmas on the beaches of Pacific Rim park. The small shorebirds looked emaciated. "They appeared to be starving, minimal body fat," he said.
Northern fulmars, western grebes, common murres, and rhinoceros auklets were among the seabird species that washed ashore at the Carmanah light station.
Clarkson noted that a similar die-off of phalaropes occurred about three years ago. An examination of their gizzards found plastic pellets or nodules produced for manufacturing consumer products. These pellets find their way into the ocean only to be ingested by seabirds feeding on the surface.
While these plastics pose an environmental and ecological problem, they are not thought to have caused the death of the phalaropes, Clarkson said.
Then, after last Christmas and into January, large numbers of Cassin's auklets began washing ashore on the west coast of Vancouver Island. "I sense it's specific to a food source, or somehow a problem in that food web," Clarkson said.
Surveys found three to seven dead auklets per kilometre on beaches in the park.
On the east coast of the Queen Charlottes, officials also reported large numbers of ancient murrelets, marbled murrelets, and Cassin's auklets being found dead.
The total number of birds dead all along the coast would have ranged into the thousands, he said.
Various bird carcasses have been sent to the provincial lab in Abbotsford for analysis, while federal scientists with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Delta and Sidney gather information in an effort to find the cause of the massive die-off and consider the implications on overall populations.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=736d8450-eb25-4016-b411-b776f3a8537f&k=14758
New Freedom
Veteran Member
Posted on Sun, Feb. 26, 2006
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/13962844.htm
Bird flu spreads to 31 countries
ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS
Associated Press
GENEVA - For years after its appearance in 1997 in Hong Kong, the current bird flu virus seemed corralled in a few east Asian countries. But in the past four months, it has spread across Europe and into Africa, bringing to 31 the number of countries with sick birds.
People have caught it in a quarter of those, and just six people outside east Asia have died. The virus is still not easily caught by humans.
Even so, its sudden sweep across continents on the wings of birds has stunned public health officials. And most say they cannot predict where or when this disturbing germ might mutate into a form that could unleash a deadly flu epidemic.
"Anywhere the virus lands," said Dr. Mike Perdue of the global influenza program for the World Health Organization.
For many months, most experts said Asia was the most likely starting point because of its large population and ubiquitous animal markets. And many still believe that. But it's all speculation.
"It could be Asia. It could be somewhere else," said Maria Cheng, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization.
"Turkey would have been logically a place that you wouldn't want to see it happen because we saw many cases in a short period of time," said Perdue, referring to the frightening spurt of human cases and the deaths of four children in January.
Dr. Scott Dowell of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it's difficult to predict the spread of the disease in the next few months, because public health officials have little experience tracking a disease spread by migratory birds.
"I'm not an expert on migratory birds carrying human pathogens. I don't know who is. We're going beyond our experience," said Dowell who heads CDC's global disease detection program.
The closest analogy he could think of is West Nile virus, a bird-associated illness that began in Africa and landed on the East Coast of the United States in 1999. Within four years, it had spread to the West Coast.
As to where the virus has the best chance of morphing into a more serious human threat, Nigeria, where many people live close to their chickens, poses a particular threat. Its 800 federal veterinarians lack the support they need to combat the disease, said Dr. Peter Cowen, former director of a WHO coordinating center in veterinary public health.
"What's missing there is the laboratory infrastructure, the field infrastructure that would allow them to get out in the field to get samples, simple things like enough vehicles to get around," he said.
Cowen, an associate professor at North Carolina State University in the United States, believes it may be time to change strategies: Abandon efforts to quarantine and kill poultry flocks and instead focus on vaccinating them.
"We should be giving that some very serious thought," he said.
Currently, each country decides what to do.
"We don't really have a truly global infrastructure to fight this potential pandemic," he said. "When an epidemic moves into a new territory, it means a new member territory asks help from WHO rather than having a centrally coordinated disease control strategy" that all countries follow, he said.
Many governments aren't adequately paying farmers to destroy their fowl, and "you get sick birds in the market," Cowen said.
At the center of concern is the current strain of the bird flu virus - known as H5N1, which has set records for its spread and deadliness among birds - both domestic poultry and wild fowl. About 180 million birds have been killed by the disease or slaughtered in attempts to control it, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.
It has remained a relatively difficult disease for humans to catch. In the initial 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong, 18 people caught it and six died, WHO says. Hong Kong's entire poultry population of about 1.5 million birds was slaughtered in three days to control the outbreak.
H5N1 re-emerged in Hong Kong in February 2003. Since then WHO has confirmed the virus infected 170 people and that 92 of them - more than 50 percent - died. Until January the human cases of the disease were restricted to Asia - Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam. Last summer it was found in birds in Russia and Kazakhstan on its way to Europe. This year the first human cases were confirmed in Turkey and Iraq.
Experts see two likely ways for the virus to change into a strain that could set off a human flu pandemic - either by mutating so that it becomes contagious among people or by combining with a regular human flu virus in a person infected with both at the same time.
Even though the spread of the disease in birds has been dented, WHO is holding its pandemic alert level at 3 on a scale of 6, where it has been since the virus first emerged in Hong Kong eight years ago.
That means very limited human-to-human transmission of the disease or none at all.
Evidence of increased person-to-person spread would move the alert level to 4; significant transmission, level 5; and the final stage, "efficient and sustained" transmission, level 6.
A frustration in preparing for a pandemic is that no sure-fire vaccine can be made until the virus changes into a strain that easily infect people. And it will takes months to produce.
To shorten the time needed, researchers are already preparing a vaccine based on the current H5N1 virus with the intention of substituting genetic material from the pandemic virus should one emerge. Manufacturers would then be able to produce usable quantities in six months.
WHO is urging people in the meantime to be vaccinated with regular flu vaccine and governments are advised to stockpile antiviral medicine, mainly Tamiflu, because that has been somewhat effective at combating the virus.
Dowell of the CDC said public health officials have been establishing systems to quickly contain any potential future human outbreaks. He cited Thailand as making terrific strides in establishing surveillance systems that look for human cases, a network of labs that can quickly confirm bird flu in people, and rapid response teams that can restrict travel in outbreak areas and track down human contacts of ill people.
But Thailand has been working on its response system for two years, said Dowell, who previously was head of the CDC's Thailand-based international emerging infections program.
"The countries hit in the last month are going to have to start the process, and some of the countries have a lot less resources," particularly those in Africa, he said.
But Perdue of the WHO said countries have done surprisingly well, including Iraq, which has moved quickly to contain chicken outbreaks and the two confirmed human cases. India, Nigeria and Egypt also have responded well.
"Everyone pulls out their best efforts to cover this situation," he said.
Controlling the disease in birds is the top priority, said Perdue.
"Our best approach is just to do everything we can to keep it out of people," Perdue said.
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/13962844.htm
Bird flu spreads to 31 countries
ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS
Associated Press
GENEVA - For years after its appearance in 1997 in Hong Kong, the current bird flu virus seemed corralled in a few east Asian countries. But in the past four months, it has spread across Europe and into Africa, bringing to 31 the number of countries with sick birds.
People have caught it in a quarter of those, and just six people outside east Asia have died. The virus is still not easily caught by humans.
Even so, its sudden sweep across continents on the wings of birds has stunned public health officials. And most say they cannot predict where or when this disturbing germ might mutate into a form that could unleash a deadly flu epidemic.
"Anywhere the virus lands," said Dr. Mike Perdue of the global influenza program for the World Health Organization.
For many months, most experts said Asia was the most likely starting point because of its large population and ubiquitous animal markets. And many still believe that. But it's all speculation.
"It could be Asia. It could be somewhere else," said Maria Cheng, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization.
"Turkey would have been logically a place that you wouldn't want to see it happen because we saw many cases in a short period of time," said Perdue, referring to the frightening spurt of human cases and the deaths of four children in January.
Dr. Scott Dowell of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it's difficult to predict the spread of the disease in the next few months, because public health officials have little experience tracking a disease spread by migratory birds.
"I'm not an expert on migratory birds carrying human pathogens. I don't know who is. We're going beyond our experience," said Dowell who heads CDC's global disease detection program.
The closest analogy he could think of is West Nile virus, a bird-associated illness that began in Africa and landed on the East Coast of the United States in 1999. Within four years, it had spread to the West Coast.
As to where the virus has the best chance of morphing into a more serious human threat, Nigeria, where many people live close to their chickens, poses a particular threat. Its 800 federal veterinarians lack the support they need to combat the disease, said Dr. Peter Cowen, former director of a WHO coordinating center in veterinary public health.
"What's missing there is the laboratory infrastructure, the field infrastructure that would allow them to get out in the field to get samples, simple things like enough vehicles to get around," he said.
Cowen, an associate professor at North Carolina State University in the United States, believes it may be time to change strategies: Abandon efforts to quarantine and kill poultry flocks and instead focus on vaccinating them.
"We should be giving that some very serious thought," he said.
Currently, each country decides what to do.
"We don't really have a truly global infrastructure to fight this potential pandemic," he said. "When an epidemic moves into a new territory, it means a new member territory asks help from WHO rather than having a centrally coordinated disease control strategy" that all countries follow, he said.
Many governments aren't adequately paying farmers to destroy their fowl, and "you get sick birds in the market," Cowen said.
At the center of concern is the current strain of the bird flu virus - known as H5N1, which has set records for its spread and deadliness among birds - both domestic poultry and wild fowl. About 180 million birds have been killed by the disease or slaughtered in attempts to control it, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.
It has remained a relatively difficult disease for humans to catch. In the initial 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong, 18 people caught it and six died, WHO says. Hong Kong's entire poultry population of about 1.5 million birds was slaughtered in three days to control the outbreak.
H5N1 re-emerged in Hong Kong in February 2003. Since then WHO has confirmed the virus infected 170 people and that 92 of them - more than 50 percent - died. Until January the human cases of the disease were restricted to Asia - Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam. Last summer it was found in birds in Russia and Kazakhstan on its way to Europe. This year the first human cases were confirmed in Turkey and Iraq.
Experts see two likely ways for the virus to change into a strain that could set off a human flu pandemic - either by mutating so that it becomes contagious among people or by combining with a regular human flu virus in a person infected with both at the same time.
Even though the spread of the disease in birds has been dented, WHO is holding its pandemic alert level at 3 on a scale of 6, where it has been since the virus first emerged in Hong Kong eight years ago.
That means very limited human-to-human transmission of the disease or none at all.
Evidence of increased person-to-person spread would move the alert level to 4; significant transmission, level 5; and the final stage, "efficient and sustained" transmission, level 6.
A frustration in preparing for a pandemic is that no sure-fire vaccine can be made until the virus changes into a strain that easily infect people. And it will takes months to produce.
To shorten the time needed, researchers are already preparing a vaccine based on the current H5N1 virus with the intention of substituting genetic material from the pandemic virus should one emerge. Manufacturers would then be able to produce usable quantities in six months.
WHO is urging people in the meantime to be vaccinated with regular flu vaccine and governments are advised to stockpile antiviral medicine, mainly Tamiflu, because that has been somewhat effective at combating the virus.
Dowell of the CDC said public health officials have been establishing systems to quickly contain any potential future human outbreaks. He cited Thailand as making terrific strides in establishing surveillance systems that look for human cases, a network of labs that can quickly confirm bird flu in people, and rapid response teams that can restrict travel in outbreak areas and track down human contacts of ill people.
But Thailand has been working on its response system for two years, said Dowell, who previously was head of the CDC's Thailand-based international emerging infections program.
"The countries hit in the last month are going to have to start the process, and some of the countries have a lot less resources," particularly those in Africa, he said.
But Perdue of the WHO said countries have done surprisingly well, including Iraq, which has moved quickly to contain chicken outbreaks and the two confirmed human cases. India, Nigeria and Egypt also have responded well.
"Everyone pulls out their best efforts to cover this situation," he said.
Controlling the disease in birds is the top priority, said Perdue.
"Our best approach is just to do everything we can to keep it out of people," Perdue said.
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Russia: Dagestan
Feb 26 2006 11:48AM
ROSTOV-ON-DON. Feb 26 (Interfax) - The bird flu virus has been registered at poultry farms and homesteads in ten districts and five cities in Dagestan.
The press service of the southern regional center of the Emergencies' Ministry told Interfax on Sunday that the virus was registered in the cities of Kaspiisk, Buinaksk, Kizlyar, Khasavyurt and in two neighborhoods in Makhachkala.
The press service reported a decision to destroy the entire flock (150,000 heads) in all 12 sections of the Karantaiskaya poultry farm in Buinaksk district where chicken deaths had been registered. In addition, 60,000 eggs in the incubator will also be destroyed.
The total number of infected and slaughtered birds in Dagestan was not reported.
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11470083
Feb 26 2006 11:48AM
Bird flu registered in ten districts, five cities in Dagestan
ROSTOV-ON-DON. Feb 26 (Interfax) - The bird flu virus has been registered at poultry farms and homesteads in ten districts and five cities in Dagestan.
The press service of the southern regional center of the Emergencies' Ministry told Interfax on Sunday that the virus was registered in the cities of Kaspiisk, Buinaksk, Kizlyar, Khasavyurt and in two neighborhoods in Makhachkala.
The press service reported a decision to destroy the entire flock (150,000 heads) in all 12 sections of the Karantaiskaya poultry farm in Buinaksk district where chicken deaths had been registered. In addition, 60,000 eggs in the incubator will also be destroyed.
The total number of infected and slaughtered birds in Dagestan was not reported.
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11470083
Bird flu arrives in Switzerland
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=107&sid=6505041&cKey=1140955467000
swissinfo
February 26, 2006 12:52 PM
Protection zones like this one in Germany are now to be erected in Switzerland (Keystone)
First cases of avian flu have been detected – with positive tests reported in the areas of Schaffhausen in the north and Geneva in the south-west.
Cantonal authorities in Schaffhausen and Thurgau have ordered a three-kilometre protection zone and an observation zone of 10km.
The Federal Veterinary Office and the Federal Health Office are to hold a news conference in Bern shortly.
Further cases of bird flu in two wild ducks were announced on the German side of the border on Sunday. Tests have been taken to determine whether the affected birds were carrying the deadly H51N strain of the virus.
The head of the Federal Veterinary Office, Hans Wyss, had warned on Saturday that there was a real danger of the H5N1 virus reaching Switzerland.
Wyss made his comments to the news agency, AP, after cases were discovered on the German-Swiss border and in France not far from Geneva.
Turkeys
Early on Saturday, France confirmed that it found the virus at a farm 100 kilometres from Geneva where thousands of turkeys had died, in what is the first case of H5NI on a farm in the European Union.
Germany confirmed later in the day that a wild duck found near Lake Constance – the body of water which forms the German-Swiss-Austrian border in the northeast - carried the deadly strain.
Wyss said if and when cases were discovered in Switzerland, the government would set up a 10km protective zone.
Otherwise, he said, the government has taken all necessary measures, including a decision to confine all poultry to their cages. The ban went into effect last Monday.
None of the 87 birds found dead in Switzerland over the past few weeks have tested positive for the virus.
Wyss said France had acted promptly to prevent a further spread of the disease, eliminating all of the 11,000 turkeys on the affected farm.
EU concerns
The EU health authorities have warned Europeans that they must learn to live with bird flu.
"Given that the virus is everywhere now, it's a problem that will stay for some time," the EU's health commissioner, Markos Kyprianou, said on Friday.
"We have the measures, we have the legislation, we have the experience to deal with similar problems. We have done so in the past, we can deal with it now and in the future," Kyprianou added.
Earlier this week, the EU approved the vaccination of certain poultry in France and the Netherlands.
But the Swiss authorities said Switzerland was not about to follow suit.
A spokesman for the veterinary office said vaccinations only made sense if the virus was widespread, as in Asia, and if it was no longer possible to eradicate it.
Bird flu remains essentially an animal disease, but has killed more than 90 people since late 2003. Victims contract the virus through close contact with infected birds.
swissinfo with agencies
Nigeria tries TV jingles, anything to chip away at ignorance of spreading bird flu
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/26/healthscience/web.0226nigeria.php
YANDAWAKI, Nigeria The New York Times
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2006
By LYDIA POLGREEN Scarcely a household among these mud brick huts at the edge of the northern city of Kano did not lose a small flock of birds this month. Rakiya Shehu kept about a dozen chickens, a small but essential source of income in a place where women have few means of getting cash.
"One day they all were dead," she said. "All my neighbors' chickens died, too."
It is more than likely that Mrs. Shehu's birds died of avian flu, the virus laying waste to flocks across the world, but neither veterinary nor human health officials have visited this settlement. Women and children here, the main keepers of chickens, have never even heard of bird flu.
"We don't know why they died," Mrs. Shehu said.
In the battle against bird flu in Africa, officials are quickly finding that ignorance of it is their greatest enemy, and that the cure, accurate information, is not easy to deliver.
Health specialists have long feared an outbreak of the A(H5N1) strain of bird flu in Africa, fearing that once it arrived on a continent with few veterinarians and a weak medical infrastructure, it could not be contained.
"Right now, information is our best weapon," said Christine Jaulmes of Unicef, part of a team using television jingles, posters and radio call-in programs in local languages to inform people here about bird flu. "That is key."
But getting the word out to those who need it in a way they can understand is a monumental effort. From the nation's vast poultry farms to the thousands of flocks of migrating birds that pass over the continent to the untold millions of chickens scratching around countless village backyards, birds are part of the everyday fabric of African life.
While the disease has spread quickly in birds since international authorities first confirmed its arrival in Africa on Feb. 8, beginning with an outbreak in Nigeria's Kaduna State, no human cases have been reported here. Still, the rapid spread of the disease to neighboring states, along with the near-impossibility of enforcing bans on moving birds around the country, has led veterinary experts to conclude that the virus will be nearly impossible to stamp out in Africa.
"Even if they can improve the control of movement and the cullings we will see more states being infected," said Dr. Joseph Domenech, chief veterinarian at the Food and Agriculture Organization.
In some ways, it is fortunate that Nigeria was the first country struck in Africa. It had an emergency plan to deal with a bird flu outbreak, said Dr. Mohamed Belhocine, the representative of the World Health Organization in Nigeria. It also had hundreds of workers trained to spot polio outbreaks who could be quickly redeployed to look for flu in both humans and birds.
But despite an all-out effort led by Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to eradicate the disease and tens of millions of dollars in aid pledged by foreign donors, confusion and misinformation have hampered the effort.
In an interview in Abuja, the capital, the minister of state for agriculture and rural development, Bamidele Dada, insisted that the best way to cull flocks was to slit their throats. But veterinary experts say other methods, like gassing birds with carbon monoxide, are safer, since workers might be accidentally infected if chicken blood got into a cut hand.
The most serious problems appeared to be at the state level, which under Nigeria's federal system is where most of the authority to carry out the fight against bird flu lies.
In Kano, the state commissioner for agriculture, Ibrahim Garba, declared that the transport of birds had been halted even as local poultry sellers made their way to a neighboring state to buy chickens.
"Avian flu is under control in Kano State," he said in an interview. "All the reported infected areas have been visited, and all the birds have been destroyed."
That was impossible to verify. At a meeting in Kano earlier in the week, an international team of health experts said they could not find even the basic tools to plan a response.
State officials had yet to produce a map showing the location of poultry farms there and were hearing reports from large farms that they had no idea even existed.
And there is ample misinformation, too. Poultry sellers in the market insist that because their chickens come from small village farms where chickens roam free they are immune to bird flu.
Information is not the only thing in short supply. A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta searched in vain for a local supply of dry ice for shipping lab samples. After collecting samples at one farm, the experts had to rush back to town to look for regular ice to keep the samples cold.
The British government donated 15,000 protective suits for poultry and health workers, but they are not always used properly. At a farm in Kano, farmhands wore protective suits and masks, but their thin plastic gloves tore off minutes into their arduous task of catching birds.
Most used their bare hands to grab at the squawking flock, their palms dusty with the sandy mix of chicken feces, dirt and feathers that lined the floor of the coop. In the suffocating heat, many left their face masks dangling from their necks.
"I no get sick," insisted Awal Hamisu, a 25-year-old farmhand, as he slung a sack of still-fidgeting chickens over his shoulder with a bare hand. He wore no face mask or goggles, and was headed for an open pit in which the squawking birds would be burned. "No problem," he said.
Muhammad Dantani Saidu, a veterinarian from the federal Ministry of Agriculture who was supervising Mr. Hamisu and other workers, said he did his best to encourage them to protect themselves. "We try to lead by example," he said, gesturing to his well-fitted suit and face mask. "But sometimes they don't listen."
Health officials say that identifying and screening poultry workers is vital to preventing and treating human cases. But some farm workers are reluctant to go for testing, either because they cannot afford bus fare or - echoing incorrect statements by some local health officials - they say they believe there is no available treatment for avian flu in humans.
Most vulnerable of all are children, who have made up the bulk of human cases elsewhere. In Africa, families often keep household birds and children thus are more likely to touch or play with dead birds. But the message about the dangers has not gotten through. In Yandawaki, children played in a yard with dead birds lying in it. When the birds died, children were instructed to dispose of the bodies in the bush.
Such problems are hardly unique to Africa or Nigeria. Even more developed nations have found themselves ill equipped to deal with the enormous challenge of bird flu.
"I am not surprised at all by what I found, and it is not that different from what we found in other countries," said Mr. Domenech. He and other United Nations officials praised the Nigerian government for taking the problem very seriously.
Even so, "we are facing very basic ignorance," said Dr. Sadiq Wali, who heads this state's bird flu task force. "People don't know about the disease at all, what the risks are and how to protect themselves. Unless we start there and fight this battle with information, we will have to fight it later," he said, but with expensive drugs and medical equipment.
By LYDIA POLGREEN Scarcely a household among these mud brick huts at the edge of the northern city of Kano did not lose a small flock of birds this month. Rakiya Shehu kept about a dozen chickens, a small but essential source of income in a place where women have few means of getting cash.
"One day they all were dead," she said. "All my neighbors' chickens died, too."
It is more than likely that Mrs. Shehu's birds died of avian flu, the virus laying waste to flocks across the world, but neither veterinary nor human health officials have visited this settlement. Women and children here, the main keepers of chickens, have never even heard of bird flu.
"We don't know why they died," Mrs. Shehu said.
In the battle against bird flu in Africa, officials are quickly finding that ignorance of it is their greatest enemy, and that the cure, accurate information, is not easy to deliver.
Health specialists have long feared an outbreak of the A(H5N1) strain of bird flu in Africa, fearing that once it arrived on a continent with few veterinarians and a weak medical infrastructure, it could not be contained.
"Right now, information is our best weapon," said Christine Jaulmes of Unicef, part of a team using television jingles, posters and radio call-in programs in local languages to inform people here about bird flu. "That is key."
But getting the word out to those who need it in a way they can understand is a monumental effort. From the nation's vast poultry farms to the thousands of flocks of migrating birds that pass over the continent to the untold millions of chickens scratching around countless village backyards, birds are part of the everyday fabric of African life.
While the disease has spread quickly in birds since international authorities first confirmed its arrival in Africa on Feb. 8, beginning with an outbreak in Nigeria's Kaduna State, no human cases have been reported here. Still, the rapid spread of the disease to neighboring states, along with the near-impossibility of enforcing bans on moving birds around the country, has led veterinary experts to conclude that the virus will be nearly impossible to stamp out in Africa.
"Even if they can improve the control of movement and the cullings we will see more states being infected," said Dr. Joseph Domenech, chief veterinarian at the Food and Agriculture Organization.
In some ways, it is fortunate that Nigeria was the first country struck in Africa. It had an emergency plan to deal with a bird flu outbreak, said Dr. Mohamed Belhocine, the representative of the World Health Organization in Nigeria. It also had hundreds of workers trained to spot polio outbreaks who could be quickly redeployed to look for flu in both humans and birds.
But despite an all-out effort led by Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to eradicate the disease and tens of millions of dollars in aid pledged by foreign donors, confusion and misinformation have hampered the effort.
In an interview in Abuja, the capital, the minister of state for agriculture and rural development, Bamidele Dada, insisted that the best way to cull flocks was to slit their throats. But veterinary experts say other methods, like gassing birds with carbon monoxide, are safer, since workers might be accidentally infected if chicken blood got into a cut hand.
The most serious problems appeared to be at the state level, which under Nigeria's federal system is where most of the authority to carry out the fight against bird flu lies.
In Kano, the state commissioner for agriculture, Ibrahim Garba, declared that the transport of birds had been halted even as local poultry sellers made their way to a neighboring state to buy chickens.
"Avian flu is under control in Kano State," he said in an interview. "All the reported infected areas have been visited, and all the birds have been destroyed."
That was impossible to verify. At a meeting in Kano earlier in the week, an international team of health experts said they could not find even the basic tools to plan a response.
State officials had yet to produce a map showing the location of poultry farms there and were hearing reports from large farms that they had no idea even existed.
And there is ample misinformation, too. Poultry sellers in the market insist that because their chickens come from small village farms where chickens roam free they are immune to bird flu.
Information is not the only thing in short supply. A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta searched in vain for a local supply of dry ice for shipping lab samples. After collecting samples at one farm, the experts had to rush back to town to look for regular ice to keep the samples cold.
The British government donated 15,000 protective suits for poultry and health workers, but they are not always used properly. At a farm in Kano, farmhands wore protective suits and masks, but their thin plastic gloves tore off minutes into their arduous task of catching birds.
Most used their bare hands to grab at the squawking flock, their palms dusty with the sandy mix of chicken feces, dirt and feathers that lined the floor of the coop. In the suffocating heat, many left their face masks dangling from their necks.
"I no get sick," insisted Awal Hamisu, a 25-year-old farmhand, as he slung a sack of still-fidgeting chickens over his shoulder with a bare hand. He wore no face mask or goggles, and was headed for an open pit in which the squawking birds would be burned. "No problem," he said.
Muhammad Dantani Saidu, a veterinarian from the federal Ministry of Agriculture who was supervising Mr. Hamisu and other workers, said he did his best to encourage them to protect themselves. "We try to lead by example," he said, gesturing to his well-fitted suit and face mask. "But sometimes they don't listen."
Health officials say that identifying and screening poultry workers is vital to preventing and treating human cases. But some farm workers are reluctant to go for testing, either because they cannot afford bus fare or - echoing incorrect statements by some local health officials - they say they believe there is no available treatment for avian flu in humans.
Most vulnerable of all are children, who have made up the bulk of human cases elsewhere. In Africa, families often keep household birds and children thus are more likely to touch or play with dead birds. But the message about the dangers has not gotten through. In Yandawaki, children played in a yard with dead birds lying in it. When the birds died, children were instructed to dispose of the bodies in the bush.
Such problems are hardly unique to Africa or Nigeria. Even more developed nations have found themselves ill equipped to deal with the enormous challenge of bird flu.
"I am not surprised at all by what I found, and it is not that different from what we found in other countries," said Mr. Domenech. He and other United Nations officials praised the Nigerian government for taking the problem very seriously.
Even so, "we are facing very basic ignorance," said Dr. Sadiq Wali, who heads this state's bird flu task force. "People don't know about the disease at all, what the risks are and how to protect themselves. Unless we start there and fight this battle with information, we will have to fight it later," he said, but with expensive drugs and medical equipment.
By LYDIA POLGREEN Scarcely a household among these mud brick huts at the edge of the northern city of Kano did not lose a small flock of birds this month. Rakiya Shehu kept about a dozen chickens, a small but essential source of income in a place where women have few means of getting cash.
"One day they all were dead," she said. "All my neighbors' chickens died, too."
It is more than likely that Mrs. Shehu's birds died of avian flu, the virus laying waste to flocks across the world, but neither veterinary nor human health officials have visited this settlement. Women and children here, the main keepers of chickens, have never even heard of bird flu.
"We don't know why they died," Mrs. Shehu said.
In the battle against bird flu in Africa, officials are quickly finding that ignorance of it is their greatest enemy, and that the cure, accurate information, is not easy to deliver.
Health specialists have long feared an outbreak of the A(H5N1) strain of bird flu in Africa, fearing that once it arrived on a continent with few veterinarians and a weak medical infrastructure, it could not be contained.
"Right now, information is our best weapon," said Christine Jaulmes of Unicef, part of a team using television jingles, posters and radio call-in programs in local languages to inform people here about bird flu. "That is key."
But getting the word out to those who need it in a way they can understand is a monumental effort. From the nation's vast poultry farms to the thousands of flocks of migrating birds that pass over the continent to the untold millions of chickens scratching around countless village backyards, birds are part of the everyday fabric of African life.
While the disease has spread quickly in birds since international authorities first confirmed its arrival in Africa on Feb. 8, beginning with an outbreak in Nigeria's Kaduna State, no human cases have been reported here. Still, the rapid spread of the disease to neighboring states, along with thenear-impossibility of enforcing bans on moving birds around the country, has led veterinary experts to conclude that the virus will be nearly impossible to stamp out in Africa.
"Even if they can improve the control of movement and the cullings we will see more states being infected," said Dr. Joseph Domenech, chief veterinarian at the Food and Agriculture Organization.
In some ways, it is fortunate that Nigeria was the first country struck in Africa. It had an emergency plan to deal with a bird flu outbreak, said Dr. Mohamed Belhocine, the representative of the World Health Organization in Nigeria. It also had hundreds of workers trained to spot polio outbreaks who could be quickly redeployed to look for flu in both humans and birds.
But despite an all-out effort led by Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to eradicate the disease and tens of millions of dollars in aid pledged by foreign donors, confusion and misinformation have hampered the effort.
In an interview in Abuja, the capital, the minister of state for agriculture and rural development, Bamidele Dada, insisted that the best way to cull flocks was to slit their throats. But veterinary experts say other methods, like gassing birds with carbon monoxide, are safer, since workers might be accidentally infected if chicken blood got into a cut hand.
The most serious problems appeared to be at the state level, which under Nigeria's federal system is where most of the authority to carry out the fight against bird flu lies.
In Kano, the state commissioner for agriculture, Ibrahim Garba, declared that the transport of birds had been halted even as local poultry sellers made their way to a neighboring state to buy chickens.
"Avian flu is under control in Kano State," he said in an interview. "All the reported infected areas have been visited, and all the birds have been destroyed."
That was impossible to verify. At a meeting in Kano earlier in the week, an international team of health experts said they could not find even the basic tools to plan a response.
State officials had yet to produce a map showing the location of poultry farms there and were hearing reports from large farms that they had no idea even existed.
And there is ample misinformation, too. Poultry sellers in the market insist that because their chickens come from small village farms where chickens roam free they are immune to bird flu.
Information is not the only thing in short supply. A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta searched in vain for a local supply of dry ice for shipping lab samples. After collecting samples at one farm, the experts had to rush back to town to look for regular ice to keep the samples cold.
The British government donated 15,000 protective suits for poultry and health workers, but they are not always used properly. At a farm in Kano, farmhands wore protective suits and masks, but their thin plastic gloves tore off minutes into their arduous task of catching birds.
Most used their bare hands to grab at the squawking flock, their palms dusty with the sandy mix of chicken feces, dirt and feathers that lined the floor of the coop. In the suffocating heat, many left their face masks dangling from their necks.
"I no get sick," insisted Awal Hamisu, a 25-year-old farmhand, as he slung a sack of still-fidgeting chickens over his shoulder with a bare hand. He wore no face mask or goggles, and was headed for an open pit in which the squawking birds would be burned. "No problem," he said.
Muhammad Dantani Saidu, a veterinarian from the federal Ministry of Agriculture who was supervising Mr. Hamisu and other workers, said he did his best to encourage them to protect themselves. "We try to lead by example," he said, gesturing to his well-fitted suit and face mask. "But sometimes they don't listen."
Health officials say that identifying and screening poultry workers is vital to preventing and treating human cases. But some farm workers are reluctant to go for testing, either because they cannot afford bus fare or - echoing incorrect statements by some local health officials - they say they believe there is no available treatment for avian flu in humans.
Most vulnerable of all are children, who have made up the bulk of human cases elsewhere. In Africa, families often keep household birds and children thus are more likely to touch or play with dead birds. But the message about the dangers has not gotten through. In Yandawaki, children played in a yard with dead birds lying in it. When the birds died, children were instructed to dispose of the bodies in the bush.
Such problems are hardly unique to Africa or Nigeria. Even more developed nations have found themselves ill equipped to deal with the enormous challenge of bird flu.
"I am not surprised at all by what I found, and it is not that different from what we found in other countries," said Mr. Domenech. He and other United Nations officials praised the Nigerian government for taking the problem very seriously.
Even so, "we are facing very basic ignorance," said Dr. Sadiq Wali, who heads this state's bird flu task force. "People don't know about the disease at all, what the risks are and how to protect themselves. Unless we start there and fight this battle with information, we will have to fight it later," he said, but with expensive drugs and medical equipment.
By LYDIA POLGREEN Scarcely a household among these mud brick huts at the edge of the northern city of Kano did not lose a small flock of birds this month. Rakiya Shehu kept about a dozen chickens, a small but essential source of income in a place where women have few means of getting cash.
"One day they all were dead," she said. "All my neighbors' chickens died, too."
It is more than likely that Mrs. Shehu's birds died of avian flu, the virus laying waste to flocks across the world, but neither veterinary nor human health officials have visited this settlement. Women and children here, the main keepers of chickens, have never even heard of bird flu.
"We don't know why they died," Mrs. Shehu said.
In the battle against bird flu in Africa, officials are quickly finding that ignorance of it is their greatest enemy, and that the cure, accurate information, is not easy to deliver.
Health specialists have long feared an outbreak of the A(H5N1) strain of bird flu in Africa, fearing that once it arrived on a continent with few veterinarians and a weak medical infrastructure, it could not be contained.
"Right now, information is our best weapon," said Christine Jaulmes of Unicef, part of a team using television jingles, posters and radio call-in programs in local languages to inform people here about bird flu. "That is key."
But getting the word out to those who need it in a way they can understand is a monumental effort. From the nation's vast poultry farms to the thousands of flocks of migrating birds that pass over the continent to the untold millions of chickens scratching around countless village backyards, birds are part of the everyday fabric of African life.
While the disease has spread quickly in birds since international authorities first confirmed its arrival in Africa on Feb. 8, beginning with an outbreak in Nigeria's Kaduna State, no human cases have been reported here. Still, the rapid spread of the disease to neighboring states, along with the near-impossibility of enforcing bans on moving birds around the country, has led veterinary experts to conclude that the virus will be nearly impossible to stamp out in Africa.
"Even if they can improve the control of movement and the cullings we will see more states being infected," said Dr. Joseph Domenech, chief veterinarian at the Food and Agriculture Organization.
In some ways, it is fortunate that Nigeria was the first country struck in Africa. It had an emergency plan to deal with a bird flu outbreak, said Dr. Mohamed Belhocine, the representative of the World Health Organization in Nigeria. It also had hundreds of workers trained to spot polio outbreaks who could be quickly redeployed to look for flu in both humans and birds.
But despite an all-out effort led by Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to eradicate the disease and tens of millions of dollars in aid pledged by foreign donors, confusion and misinformation have hampered the effort.
In an interview in Abuja, the capital, the minister of state for agriculture and rural development, Bamidele Dada, insisted that the best way to cull flocks was to slit their throats. But veterinary experts say other methods, like gassing birds with carbon monoxide, are safer, since workers might be accidentally infected if chicken blood got into a cut hand.
The most serious problems appeared to be at the state level, which under Nigeria's federal system is where most of the authority to carry out the fight against bird flu lies.
In Kano, the state commissioner for agriculture, Ibrahim Garba, declared that the transport of birds had been halted even as local poultry sellers made their way to a neighboring state to buy chickens.
"Avian flu is under control in Kano State," he said in an interview. "All the reported infected areas have been visited, and all the birds have been destroyed."
That was impossible to verify. At a meeting in Kano earlier in the week, an international team of health experts said they could not find even the basic tools to plan a response.
State officials had yet to produce a map showing the location of poultry farms there and were hearing reports from large farms that they had no idea even existed.
And there is ample misinformation, too. Poultry sellers in the market insist that because their chickens come from small village farms where chickens roam free they are immune to bird flu.
Information is not the only thing in short supply. A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta searched in vain for a local supply of dry ice for shipping lab samples. After collecting samples at one farm, the experts had to rush back to town to look for regular ice to keep the samples cold.
The British government donated 15,000 protective suits for poultry and health workers, but they are not always used properly. At a farm in Kano, farmhands wore protective suits and masks, but their thin plastic gloves tore off minutes into their arduous task of catching birds.
Most used their bare hands to grab at the squawking flock, their palms dusty with the sandy mix of chicken feces, dirt and feathers that lined the floor of the coop. In the suffocating heat, many left their face masks dangling from their necks.
"I no get sick," insisted Awal Hamisu, a 25-year-old farmhand, as he slung a sack of still-fidgeting chickens over his shoulder with a bare hand. He wore no face mask or goggles, and was headed for an open pit in which the squawking birds would be burned. "No problem," he said.
Muhammad Dantani Saidu, a veterinarian from the federal Ministry of Agriculture who was supervising Mr. Hamisu and other workers, said he did his best to encourage them to protect themselves. "We try to lead by example," he said, gesturing to his well-fitted suit and face mask. "But sometimes they don't listen."
Health officials say that identifying and screening poultry workers is vital to preventing and treating human cases. But some farm workers are reluctant to go for testing, either because they cannot afford bus fare or - echoing incorrect statements by some local health officials - they say they believe there is no available treatment for avian flu in humans.
Most vulnerable of all are children, who have made up the bulk of human cases elsewhere. In Africa, families often keep household birds and children thus are more likely to touch or play with dead birds. But the message about the dangers has not gotten through. In Yandawaki, children played in a yard with dead birds lying in it. When the birds died, children were instructed to dispose of the bodies in the bush.
Such problems are hardly unique to Africa or Nigeria. Even more developed nations have found themselves ill equipped to deal with the enormous challenge of bird flu.
"I am not surprised at all by what I found, and it is not that different from what we found in other countries," said Mr. Domenech. He and other United Nations officials praised the Nigerian government for taking the problem very seriously.
Even so, "we are facing very basic ignorance," said Dr. Sadiq Wali, who heads this state's bird flu task force. "People don't know about the disease at all, what the risks are and how to protect themselves. Unless we start there and fight this battle with information, we will have to fight it later," he said, but with expensive drugs and medical equipment.
By LYDIA POLGREEN Scarcely a household among these mud brick huts at the edge of the northern city of Kano did not lose a small flock of birds this month. Rakiya Shehu kept about a dozen chickens, a small but essential source of income in a place where women have few means of getting cash.
"One day they all were dead," she said. "All my neighbors' chickens died, too."
It is more than likely that Mrs. Shehu's birds died of avian flu, the virus laying waste to flocks across the world, but neither veterinary nor human health officials have visited this settlement. Women and children here, the main keepers of chickens, have never even heard of bird flu.
"We don't know why they died," Mrs. Shehu said.
In the battle against bird flu in Africa, officials are quickly finding that ignorance of it is their greatest enemy, and that the cure, accurate information, is not easy to deliver.
Health specialists have long feared an outbreak of the A(H5N1) strain of bird flu in Africa, fearing that once it arrived on a continent with few veterinarians and a weak medical infrastructure, it could not be contained.
"Right now, information is our best weapon," said Christine Jaulmes of Unicef, part of a team using television jingles, posters and radio call-in programs in local languages to inform people here about bird flu. "That is key."
But getting the word out to those who need it in a way they can understand is a monumental effort. From the nation's vast poultry farms to the thousands of flocks of migrating birds that pass over the continent to the untold millions of chickens scratching around countless village backyards, birds are part of the everyday fabric of African life.
While the disease has spread quickly in birds since international authorities first confirmed its arrival in Africa on Feb. 8, beginning with an outbreak in Nigeria's Kaduna State, no human cases have been reported here. Still, the rapid spread of the disease to neighboring states, along with the near-impossibility of enforcing bans on moving birds around the country, has led veterinary experts to conclude that the virus will be nearly impossible to stamp out in Africa.
"Even if they can improve the control of movement and the cullings we will see more states being infected," said Dr. Joseph Domenech, chief veterinarian at the Food and Agriculture Organization.
In some ways, it is fortunate that Nigeria was the first country struck in Africa. It had an emergency plan to deal with a bird flu outbreak, said Dr. Mohamed Belhocine, the representative of the World Health Organization in Nigeria. It also had hundreds of workers trained to spot polio outbreaks who could be quickly redeployed to look for flu in both humans and birds.
But despite an all-out effort led by Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to eradicate the disease and tens of millions of dollars in aid pledged by foreign donors, confusion and misinformation have hampered the effort.
In an interview in Abuja, the capital, the minister of state for agriculture and rural development, Bamidele Dada, insisted that the best way to cull flocks was to slit their throats. But veterinary experts say other methods, like gassing birds with carbon monoxide, are safer, since workers might be accidentally infected if chicken blood got into a cut hand.
The most serious problems appeared to be at the state level, which under Nigeria's federal system is where most of the authority to carry out the fight against bird flu lies.
In Kano, the state commissioner for agriculture, Ibrahim Garba, declared that the transport of birds had been halted even as local poultry sellers made their way to a neighboring state to buy chickens.
"Avian flu is under control in Kano State," he said in an interview. "All the reported infected areas have been visited, and all the birds have been destroyed."
That was impossible to verify. At a meeting in Kano earlier in the week, an international team of health experts said they could not find even the basic said they could not find even the basic tools to plan a response.
State officials had yet to produce a map showing the location of poultry farms there and were hearing reports from large farms that they had no idea even existed.
And there is ample misinformation, too. Poultry sellers in the market insist that because their chickens come from small village farms where chickens roam free they are immune to bird flu.
Information is not the only thing in short supply. A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta searched in vain for a local supply of dry ice for shipping lab samples. After collecting samples at one farm, the experts had to rush back to town to look for regular ice to keep the samples cold.
The British government donated 15,000 protective suits for poultry and health workers, but they are not always used properly. At a farm in Kano, farmhands wore protective suits and masks, but their thin plastic gloves tore off minutes into their arduous task of catching birds.
Most used their bare hands to grab at the squawking flock, their palms dusty with the sandy mix of chicken feces, dirt and feathers that lined the floor of the coop. In the suffocating heat, many left their face masks dangling from their necks.
"I no get sick," insisted Awal Hamisu, a 25-year-old farmhand, as he slung a sack of still-fidgeting chickens over his shoulder with a bare hand. He wore no face mask or goggles, and was headed for an open pit in which the squawking birds would be burned. "No problem," he said.
Muhammad Dantani Saidu, a veterinarian from the federal Ministry of Agriculture who was supervising Mr. Hamisu and other workers, said he did his best to encourage them to protect themselves. "We try to lead by example," he said, gesturing to his well-fitted suit and face mask. "But sometimes they don't listen."
Health officials say that identifying and screening poultry workers is vital to preventing and treating human cases. But some farm workers are reluctant to go for testing, either because they cannot afford bus fare or - echoing incorrect statements by some local health officials - they say they believe there is no available treatment for avian flu in humans.
Most vulnerable of all are children, who have made up the bulk of human cases elsewhere. In Africa, families often keep household birds and children thus are more likely to touch or play with dead birds. But the message about the dangers has not gotten through. In Yandawaki, children played in a yard with dead birds lying in it. When the birds died, children were instructed to dispose of the bodies in the bush.
Such problems are hardly unique to Africa or Nigeria. Even more developed nations have found themselves ill equipped to deal with the enormous challenge of bird flu.
"I am not surprised at all by what I found, and it is not that different from what we found in other countries," said Mr. Domenech. He and other United Nations officials praised the Nigerian government for taking the problem very seriously.
Even so, "we are facing very basic ignorance," said Dr. Sadiq Wali, who heads this state's bird flu task force. "People don't know about the disease at all, what the risks are and how to protect themselves. Unless we start there and fight this battle with information, we will have to fight it later," he said, but with expensive drugs and medical equipment.
By LYDIA POLGREEN Scarcely a household among these mud brick huts at the edge of the northern city of Kano did not lose a small flock of birds this month. Rakiya Shehu kept about a dozen chickens, a small but essential source of income in a place where women have few means of getting cash.
"One day they all were dead," she said. "All my neighbors' chickens died, too."
It is more than likely that Mrs. Shehu's birds died of avian flu, the virus laying waste to flocks across the world, but neither veterinary nor human health officials have visited this settlement. Women and children here, the main keepers of chickens, have never even heard of bird flu.
"We don't know why they died," Mrs. Shehu said.
In the battle against bird flu in Africa, officials are quickly finding that ignorance of it is their greatest enemy, and that the cure, accurate information, is not easy to deliver.
Health specialists have long feared an outbreak of the A(H5N1) strain of bird flu in Africa, fearing that once it arrived on a continent with few veterinarians and a weak medical infrastructure, it could not be contained.
"Right now, information is our best weapon," said Christine Jaulmes of Unicef, part of a team using television jingles, posters and radio call-in programs in local languages to inform people here about bird flu. "That is key."
But getting the word out to those who need it in a way they can understand is a monumental effort. From the nation's vast poultry farms to the thousands of flocks of migrating birds that pass over the continent to the untold millions of chickens scratching around countless village backyards, birds are part of the everyday fabric of African life.
While the disease has spread quickly in birds since international authorities first confirmed its arrival in Africa on Feb. 8, beginning with an outbreak in Nigeria's Kaduna State, no human cases have been reported here. Still, the rapid spread of the disease to neighboring states, along with the near-impossibility of enforcing bans on moving birds around the country, has led veterinary experts to conclude that the virus will be nearly impossible to stamp out in Africa.
"Even if they can improve the control of movement and the cullings we will see more states being infected," said Dr. Joseph Domenech, chief veterinarian at the Food and Agriculture Organization.
In some ways, it is fortunate that Nigeria was the first country struck in Africa. It had an emergency plan to deal with a bird flu outbreak, said Dr. Mohamed Belhocine, the representative of the World Health Organization in Nigeria. It also had hundreds of workers trained to spot polio outbreaks who could be quickly redeployed to look for flu in both humans and birds.
But despite an all-out effort led by Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to eradicate the disease and tens of millions of dollars in aid pledged by foreign donors, confusion and misinformation have hampered the effort.
In an interview in Abuja, the capital, the minister of state for agriculture and rural development, Bamidele Dada, insisted that the best way to cull flocks was to slit their throats. But veterinary experts say other methods, like gassing birds with carbon monoxide, are safer, since workers might be accidentally infected if chicken blood got into a cut hand.
The most serious problems appeared to be at the state level, which under Nigeria's federal system is where most of the authority to carry out the fight against bird flu lies.
In Kano, the state commissioner for agriculture, Ibrahim Garba, declared that the transport of birds had been halted even as local poultry sellers made their way to a neighboring state to buy chickens.
"Avian flu is under control in Kano State," he said in an interview. "All the reported infected areas have been visited, and all the birds have been destroyed."
That was impossible to verify. At a meeting in Kano earlier in the week, an international team of health experts said they could not find even the basic tools to plan a response.
State officials had yet to produce a map showing the location of poultry farms there and were hearing reports from large farms that they had no idea even existed.
And there is ample misinformation, too. Poultry sellers in the market insist that because their chickens come from small village farms where chickens roam free they are immune to bird flu.
Information is not the only thing in short supply. A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta searched in vain for a local supply of dry ice for shipping lab samples. After collecting samples at one farm, the experts had to rush back to town to look for regular ice to keep the samples cold.
The British government donated 15,000 protective suits for poultry and health workers, but they are not always used properly. At a farm in Kano, farmhands wore protective suits and masks, but their thin plastic gloves tore off minutes into their arduous task of catching birds.
Most used their bare hands to grab at the squawking flock, their palms dusty with the sandy mix of chicken feces, dirt and feathers that lined the floor of the coop. In the suffocating heat, many left their face masks dangling from their necks.
"I no get sick," insisted Awal Hamisu, a 25-year-old farmhand, as he slung a sack of still-fidgeting chickens over his shoulder with a bare hand. He wore no face mask or goggles, and was headed for an open pit in which the squawking birds would be burned. "No problem," he said.
Muhammad Dantani Saidu, a veterinarian from the federal Ministry of Agriculture who was supervising Mr. Hamisu and other workers, said he did his best to encourage them to protect themselves. "We try to lead by example," he said, gesturing to his well-fitted suit and face mask. "But sometimes they don't listen."
Health officials say that identifying and screening poultry workers is vital to preventing and treating human cases. But some farm workers are reluctant to go for testing, either because they cannot afford bus fare or - echoing incorrect statements by some local health officials - they say they believe there is no available treatment for avian flu in humans.
Most vulnerable of all are children, who have made up the bulk of human cases elsewhere. In Africa, families often keep household birds and children thus are more likely to touch or play with dead birds. But the message about the dangers has not gotten through. In Yandawaki, children played in a yard with dead birds lying in it. When the birds died, children were instructed to dispose of the bodies in the bush.
Such problems are hardly unique to Africa or Nigeria. Even more developed nations have found themselves ill equipped to deal with the enormous challenge of bird flu.
"I am not surprised at all by what I found, and it is not that different from what we found in other countries," said Mr. Domenech. He and other United Nations officials praised the Nigerian government for taking the problem very seriously.
Even so, "we are facing very basic ignorance," said Dr. Sadiq Wali, who heads this state's bird flu task force. "People don't know about the disease at all, what the risks are and how to protect themselves. Unless we start there and fight this battle with information, we will have to fight it later," he said, but with expensive drugs and medical equipment.
By LYDIA POLGREEN Scarcely a household among these mud brick huts at the edge of the northern city of Kano did not lose a small flock of birds this month. Rakiya Shehu kept about a dozen chickens, a small but essential source of income in a place where women have few means of getting cash.
"One day they all were dead," she said. "All my neighbors' chickens died, too."
It is more than likely that Mrs. Shehu's birds died of avian flu, the virus laying waste to flocks across the world, but neither veterinary nor human health officials have visited this settlement. Women and children here, the main keepers of chickens, have never even heard of bird flu.
"We don't know why they died," Mrs. Shehu said.
In the battle against bird flu in Africa, officials are quickly finding that ignorance of it is their greatest enemy, and that the cure, accurate information, is not easy to deliver.
Health specialists have long feared an outbreak of the A(H5N1) strain of bird flu in Africa, fearing that once it arrived on a continent with few veterinarians and a weak medical infrastructure, it could not be contained.
"Right now, information is our best weapon," said Christine Jaulmes of Unicef, part of a team using television jingles, posters and radio call-in programs in local languages to inform people here about bird flu. "That is key."
But getting the word out to those who need it in a way they can understand is a monumental effort. From the nation's vast poultry farms to the thousands of flocks of migrating birds that pass over the continent to the untold millions of chickens scratching around countless village backyards, birds are part of the everyday fabric of African life.
While the disease has spread quickly in birds since international authorities first confirmed its arrival in Africa on Feb. 8, beginning with an outbreak in Nigeria's Kaduna State, no human cases have been reported here. Still, the rapid spread of the disease to neighboring states, along with the near-impossibility of enforcing bans on moving birds around the country, has led veterinary experts to conclude that the virus will be nearly impossible to stamp out in Africa.
"Even if they can improve the control of movement and the cullings we will see more states being infected," said Dr. Joseph Domenech, chief veterinarian at the Food and Agriculture Organization.
In some ways, it is fortunate that Nigeria was the first country struck in Africa. It had an emergency plan to deal with a bird flu outbreak, said Dr. Mohamed Belhocine, the representative of the World Health Organization in Nigeria. It also had hundreds of workers trained to spot polio outbreaks who could be quickly redeployed to look for flu in both humans and birds.
But despite an all-out effort led by Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to eradicate the disease and tens of millions of dollars in aid pledged by foreign donors, confusion and misinformation have hampered the effort.
In an interview in Abuja, the capital, the minister of state for agriculture and rural development, Bamidele Dada, insisted that the best way to cull flocks was to slit their throats. But veterinary experts say other methods, like gassing birds with carbon monoxide, are safer, since workers might be accidentally infected if chicken blood got into a cut hand.
The most serious problems appeared to be at the state level, which under Nigeria's federal system is where most of the authority to carry out the fight against bird flu lies.
In Kano, the state commissioner for agriculture, Ibrahim Garba, declared that the transport of birds had been halted even as local poultry sellers made their way to a neighboring state to buy chickens.
"Avian flu is under control in Kano State," he said in an interview. "All the reported infected areas have been visited, and all the birds have been destroyed."
That was impossible to verify. At a meeting in Kano earlier in the week, an international team of health experts said they could not find even the basic tools to plan a response.
State officials had yet to produce a map showing the location of poultry farms there and were hearing reports from large farms that they had no idea even existed.
And there is ample misinformation, too. Poultry sellers in the market insist that because their chickens come from small village farms where chickens roam free they are immune to bird flu.
Information is not the only thing in short supply. A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta searched in vain for a local supply of dry ice for shipping lab samples. After collecting samples at one farm, the experts had to rush back to town to look for regular ice to keep the samples cold.
The British government donated 15,000 protective suits for poultry and health workers, but they are not always used properly. At a farm in Kano, farmhands wore protective suits and masks, but their thin plastic gloves tore off minutes into their arduous task of catching birds.
Most used their bare hands to grab at the squawking flock, their palms dusty with the sandy mix of chicken feces, dirt and feathers that lined the floor of the coop. In the suffocating heat, many left their face masks dangling from their necks.
"I no get sick," insisted Awal Hamisu, a 25-year-old farmhand, as he slung a sack of still-fidgeting chickens over his shoulder with a bare hand. He wore no face mask or goggles, and was headed for an open pit in which the squawking birds would be burned. "No problem," he said.
Muhammad Dantani Saidu, a veterinarian from the federal Ministry of Agriculture who was supervising Mr. Hamisu and other workers, said he did his best to encourage them to protect themselves. "We try to lead by example," he said, gesturing to his well-fitted suit and face mask. "But sometimes they don't listen."
Health officials say that identifying and screening poultry workers is vital to preventing and treating human cases. But some farm workers are reluctant to go for testing, either because they cannot afford bus fare or - echoing incorrect statements by some local health officials - they say they believe there is no available treatment for avian flu in humans.
Most vulnerable of all are children, who have made up the bulk of human cases elsewhere. In Africa, families often keep household birds and children thus are more likely to touch or play with dead birds. But the message about the dangers has not gotten through. In Yandawaki, children played in a yard with dead birds lying in it. When the birds died, children were instructed to dispose of the bodies in the bush.
Such problems are hardly unique to Africa or Nigeria. Even more developed nations have found themselves ill equipped to deal with the enormous challenge of bird flu.
"I am not surprised at all by what I found, and it is not that different from what we found in other countries," said Mr. Domenech. He and other United Nations officials praised the Nigerian government for taking the problem very seriously.
Even so, "we are facing very basic ignorance," said Dr. Sadiq Wali, who heads this state's bird flu task force. "People don't know about the disease at all, what the risks are and how to protect themselves. Unless we start there and fight this battle with information, we will have to fight it later," he said, but with expensive drugs and medical equipment.
By LYDIA POLGREEN Scarcely a household among these mud brick huts at the edge of the northern city of Kano did not lose a small flock of birds this month. Rakiya Shehu kept about a dozen chickens, a small but essential source of income in a place where women have few means of getting cash.
"One day they all were dead," she said. "All my neighbors' chickens died, too."
It is more than likely that Mrs. Shehu's birds died of avian flu, the virus laying waste to flocks across the world, but neither veterinary nor human health officials have visited this settlement. Women and children here, the main keepers of chickens, have never even heard of bird flu.
"We don't know why they died," Mrs. Shehu said.
In the battle against bird flu in Africa, officials are quickly finding that ignorance of it is their greatest enemy, and that the cure, accurate information, is not easy to deliver.
Health specialists have long feared an outbreak of the A(H5N1) strain of bird flu in Africa, fearing that once it arrived on a continent with few veterinarians and a weak medical infrastructure, it could not be contained.
"Right now, information is our best weapon," said Christine Jaulmes of Unicef, part of a team using television jingles, posters and radio call-in programs in local languages to inform people here about bird flu. "That is key."
But getting the word out to those who need it in a way they can understand is a monumental effort. From the nation's vast poultry farms to the thousands of flocks of migrating birds that pass over the continent to the untold millions of chickens scratching around countless village backyards, birds are part of the everyday fabric of African life.
While the disease has spread quickly in birds since international authorities first confirmed its arrival in Africa on Feb. 8, beginning with an outbreak in Nigeria's Kaduna State, no human cases have been reported here. Still, the rapid spread of the disease to neighboring states, along with the near-impossibility of enforcing bans on moving birds around the country, has led veterinary experts to conclude that the virus will be nearly impossible to stamp out in Africa.
"Even if they can improve the control of movement and the cullings we will see more states being infected," said Dr. Joseph Domenech, chief veterinarian at the Food and Agriculture Organization.
In some ways, it is fortunate that Nigeria was the first country struck in Africa. It had an emergency plan to deal with a bird flu outbreak, said Dr. Mohamed Belhocine, the representative of the World Health Organization in Nigeria. It also had hundreds of workers trained to spot polio outbreaks who could be quickly redeployed to look for flu in both humans and birds.
But despite an all-out effort led by Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to eradicate the disease and tens of millions of dollars in aid pledged by foreign donors, confusion and misinformation have hampered the effort.
In an interview in Abuja, the capital, the minister of state for agriculture and rural development, Bamidele Dada, insisted that the best way to cull flocks was to slit their throats. But veterinary experts say other methods, like gassing birds with carbon monoxide, are safer, since workers might be accidentally infected if chicken blood got into a cut hand.
The most serious problems appeared to be at the state level, which under Nigeria's federal system is where most of the authority to carry out the fight against bird flu lies.
In Kano, the state commissioner for agriculture, Ibrahim Garba, declared that the transport of birds had been halted even as local poultry sellers made their way to a neighboring state to buy chickens.
"Avian flu is under control in Kano State," he said in an interview. "All the reported infected areas have been visited, and all the birds have been destroyed."
That was impossible to verify. At a meeting in Kano earlier in the week, an international team of health experts said they could not find even the basic tools to plan a response.
State officials had yet to produce a map showing the location of poultry farms there and were hearing reports from large farms that they had no idea even existed.
And there is ample misinformation, too. Poultry sellers in the market insist that because their chickens come from small village farms where chickens roam free they are immune to bird flu.
Information is not the only thing in short supply. A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta searched in vain for a local supply of dry ice for shipping lab samples. After collecting samples at one farm, the experts had to rush back to town to look for regular ice to keep the samples cold.
The British government donated 15,000 protective suits for poultry and health workers, but they are not always used properly. At a farm in Kano, farmhands wore protective suits and masks, but their thin plastic gloves tore off minutes into their arduous task of catching birds.
Most used their bare hands to grab at the squawking flock, their palms dusty with the sandy mix of chicken feces, dirt and feathers that lined the floor of the coop. In the suffocating heat, many left their face masks dangling from their necks.
"I no get sick," insisted Awal Hamisu, a 25-year-old farmhand, as he slung a sack of still-fidgeting chickens over his shoulder with a bare hand. He wore no face mask or goggles, and was headed for an open pit in which the squawking birds would be burned. "No problem," he said.
Muhammad Dantani Saidu, a veterinarian from the federal Ministry of Agriculture who was supervising Mr. Hamisu and other workers, said he did his best to encourage them to protect themselves. "We try to lead by example," he said, gesturing to his well-fitted suit and face mask. "But sometimes they don't listen."
Health officials say that identifying and screening poultry workers is vital to preventing and treating human cases. But some farm workers are reluctant to go for testing, either because they cannot afford bus fare or - echoing incorrect statements by some local health officials - they say they believe there is no available treatment for avian flu in humans.
Most vulnerable of all are children, who have made up the bulk of human cases elsewhere. In Africa, families often keep household birds and children thus are more likely to touch or play with dead birds. But the message about the dangers has not gotten through. In Yandawaki, children played in a yard with dead birds lying in it. When the birds died, children were instructed to dispose of the bodies in the bush.
Such problems are hardly unique to Africa or Nigeria. Even more developed nations have found themselves ill equipped to deal with the enormous challenge of bird flu.
"I am not surprised at all by what I found, and it is not that different from what we found in other countries," said Mr. Domenech. He and other United Nations officials praised the Nigerian government for taking the problem very seriously.
Even so, "we are facing very basic ignorance," said Dr. Sadiq Wali, who heads this state's bird flu task force. "People don't know about the disease at all, what the risks are and how to protect themselves. Unless we start there and fight this battle with information, we will have to fight it later," he said, but with expensive drugs and medical equipment.
doctor_fungcool
TB Fanatic
Site Offers Alternative to Flu Information
Feb 25, 5:44 PM (ET)
By MALCOLM RITTER
NEW YORK (AP) - You can learn a lot about bird flu and the specter of a global human flu epidemic by checking official information from the government or medical groups. But thousands of times a day, people turn to a much different source.
It's Flu Wiki, a Web site maintained by a 52-year-old writer who specializes in risk communication. It draws in part on contributions from people who don't reveal their names, much like Wikipedia, an encyclopedic Web site that lets anyone contribute.
Why should anybody trust a source like this?
"I'm working with some of the best scientists in the country on the subject of pandemic influenza," said Melanie Mattson, who maintains the site. "If I have a question about what's going on I ask them."
And Flu Wiki, the Virginia resident said, is "probably the most complete authority in English on pandemic influenza on the Internet."
Even for a site with more than 1,200 pages of content, that's a bold claim. The field includes not only an official U.S. government site, , but also others from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. There are also plenty of bloggers who focus on flu.http://www.pandemicflu.gov
But Flu Wiki also offers the wisdom of its expert contributors, Mattson said.
She can't identify them publicly, mostly because they fear losing federal money for giving opinions that clash with the Bush administration, she said. The disagreements aren't so much on the basic science of bird flu, but rather on what to do about it.
Flu Wiki, which averages up to 5,000 hits a day, impressed some flu experts who examined it recently at the request of The Associated Press.
Dr. Arnold S. Monto of the University of Michigan said he found the site's information reliable in general. Such sites can provide "a single place for people to go who want to get information which they may have to troll for in some of the official sites," he said.
Peter Cowen of North Carolina State University, moderator of a disease-monitoring Web site sponsored by the International Society for Infectious Diseases, said he had mixed feelings about Flu Wiki.
"In general they have a lot of good information," but some of the site's links lead to places with information of questionable value, Cowen said. Still, on balance, he said, "it looks pretty good."
The site, launched last June, offers key facts about bird flu, updated news stories, a roundup of official flu plans, tips on preparedness and a discussion forum. Volunteers have translated critical information into French, Spanish and Turkish. Norwegian may be next.
Mattson said she and her collaborators established it because too little attention was being paid to the possibility of a worldwide flu outbreak, and the public was in danger because they weren't getting basic information. The goal is to help individuals and local communities prepare for a possible pandemic, she said.
But at the moment, she doesn't see much local planning going on. "I'm not sure my town council is even aware of pandemic influenza," she said.
Her own home is stocked with a two-week supply of food and water, originally for hurricanes. She plans to expand that inventory for a possible flu pandemic. Her goal? "Eight weeks is good, 12 weeks is better," she said.
Mattson said she became concerned about the possibility of a pandemic flu after a bird flu virus jumped to people in Hong Kong in 1997, causing six deaths. A lifelong student of epidemiology and public health, she'd hoped to be an epidemiologist until she ran into organic chemistry in college. And she caught the flu and then pneumonia in the two previous flu pandemics in the 1950s and 1960s.
"Needless to say, I'm a little more sensitive to the subject of influenza than probably most people are," she said.
---
On the Net:
Flu Wiki: http://www.fluwikie.com
CDC bird flu page: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/
World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/
Disease-monitoring site: http://www.promedmail.org
Feb 25, 5:44 PM (ET)
By MALCOLM RITTER
NEW YORK (AP) - You can learn a lot about bird flu and the specter of a global human flu epidemic by checking official information from the government or medical groups. But thousands of times a day, people turn to a much different source.
It's Flu Wiki, a Web site maintained by a 52-year-old writer who specializes in risk communication. It draws in part on contributions from people who don't reveal their names, much like Wikipedia, an encyclopedic Web site that lets anyone contribute.
Why should anybody trust a source like this?
"I'm working with some of the best scientists in the country on the subject of pandemic influenza," said Melanie Mattson, who maintains the site. "If I have a question about what's going on I ask them."
And Flu Wiki, the Virginia resident said, is "probably the most complete authority in English on pandemic influenza on the Internet."
Even for a site with more than 1,200 pages of content, that's a bold claim. The field includes not only an official U.S. government site, , but also others from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. There are also plenty of bloggers who focus on flu.http://www.pandemicflu.gov
But Flu Wiki also offers the wisdom of its expert contributors, Mattson said.
She can't identify them publicly, mostly because they fear losing federal money for giving opinions that clash with the Bush administration, she said. The disagreements aren't so much on the basic science of bird flu, but rather on what to do about it.
Flu Wiki, which averages up to 5,000 hits a day, impressed some flu experts who examined it recently at the request of The Associated Press.
Dr. Arnold S. Monto of the University of Michigan said he found the site's information reliable in general. Such sites can provide "a single place for people to go who want to get information which they may have to troll for in some of the official sites," he said.
Peter Cowen of North Carolina State University, moderator of a disease-monitoring Web site sponsored by the International Society for Infectious Diseases, said he had mixed feelings about Flu Wiki.
"In general they have a lot of good information," but some of the site's links lead to places with information of questionable value, Cowen said. Still, on balance, he said, "it looks pretty good."
The site, launched last June, offers key facts about bird flu, updated news stories, a roundup of official flu plans, tips on preparedness and a discussion forum. Volunteers have translated critical information into French, Spanish and Turkish. Norwegian may be next.
Mattson said she and her collaborators established it because too little attention was being paid to the possibility of a worldwide flu outbreak, and the public was in danger because they weren't getting basic information. The goal is to help individuals and local communities prepare for a possible pandemic, she said.
But at the moment, she doesn't see much local planning going on. "I'm not sure my town council is even aware of pandemic influenza," she said.
Her own home is stocked with a two-week supply of food and water, originally for hurricanes. She plans to expand that inventory for a possible flu pandemic. Her goal? "Eight weeks is good, 12 weeks is better," she said.
Mattson said she became concerned about the possibility of a pandemic flu after a bird flu virus jumped to people in Hong Kong in 1997, causing six deaths. A lifelong student of epidemiology and public health, she'd hoped to be an epidemiologist until she ran into organic chemistry in college. And she caught the flu and then pneumonia in the two previous flu pandemics in the 1950s and 1960s.
"Needless to say, I'm a little more sensitive to the subject of influenza than probably most people are," she said.
---
On the Net:
Flu Wiki: http://www.fluwikie.com
CDC bird flu page: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/
World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/
Disease-monitoring site: http://www.promedmail.org
New York State's Department of Health
Pandemic Influenza Plan
Pandemic Influenza Plan - New York State Department of Health (PDF, 8.25MB, 406pg.)
http://www.health.state.ny.us/
The New York State Department of Health Pandemic Influenza Plan parallels the recently announced national strategy for pandemic influenza, while also addressing New York State’s unique characteristics such as our diverse population, our position as an international border state, and the fact that we welcome so many international visitors. The plan focuses on health implications of an influenza pandemic. It is important to note that this version of the NYSDOH plan reflects the currently available scientific knowledge and data regarding the potential for an influenza pandemic, the expected ramifications on New Yorkers, and the most effective strategies and tactics to support our response.
The plan will continually evolve as the pandemic threat unfolds, and as the State and its partners enhance their preparedness.
The plan suggests pandemic preparedness and response strategies for the State Health Department, local health departments, health care facilities and key community partners.
It contains 13 sections, including guidance on clinical treatment protocols, measures to control disease transmission, and consequence management. These include: Infection control procedures in health care facilities and in the workplace; how we would conduct disease surveillance and manage data; how we would prioritize scarce vaccine and antiviral medications and treat patients who present with pandemic influenza; how we would respond to the spread of pandemic influenza by travelers; things we might do in community settings to reduce disease transmission, such as close schools or limit public gatherings; how we would communicate important information to the public as a pandemic unfolds.
One of the most important parts of the plan is educating members of the public about their own critical role.
It cannot be stressed strongly enough that in a severe pandemic, actions of individuals, businesses and community organizations, as much as those of government, will greatly determine the outcome.
In the event of a pandemic, people would be urged to help reduce influenza transmission by being diligent about hygiene (washing hands frequently, covering their cough, disinfecting telephones, desktops and other surfaces that people frequently touch). It would also be crucial for individuals with flu-like symptoms to refrain from going to work, school or anywhere else they might spread germs.
New Yorkers should stockpile at least a two-week supply of nonperishable food, water, medications and essential household items to avoid having to go out in public if social distancing is recommended.
NYSDOH’s Pandemic Flu Plan Section by Section:
Command and Control
Outlines roles, command structure, and decision-making process.
Incorporates pandemic plan with New York State’s Comprehensive
Emergency Management Plan.
Identifies and addresses legal issues.
Ensures key stakeholders are informed about necessary infrastructure
and resources needed to respond and support essential services.
Calls for establishment of an Interagency Task Force on Pandemic
Preparedness.
Surveillance and Laboratory Diagnostics
Updates surveillance guidelines for local health departments.
Addresses epidemiologic surge capacity.
Addresses laboratory surge capacity and delineates laboratory testing
algorithms.
Healthcare Planning
Outlines hospital planning for responding to a pandemic, including:
o Communications.
o Education and training.
o Occupational health.
o Hospital triage.
o Hospital surge capacity.
Addresses roles of long-term care facilities, home health agencies,
emergency medical services, triage centers, primary care providers, and
volunteers.
Addresses mass mortality issues.
Delineates system for tracking hospital resources.
Infection Control
Delineates infection control guidelines, including:
o Management of infectious patients.
o Infection control practices for healthcare workers.
o Use of personal protective equipment (PPE), patient care
equipment.
o Disinfection procedures.
o Occupational health issues with guidance for healthcare settings.
Clinical Guidelines
Provides guidance for the evaluation and management of patients with
possible novel influenza.
Delineates clinical presentation of pandemic influenza cases.
Describes procedures for laboratory testing.
Describes protocols for treatment with antiviral medications.
Describes protocols for treatment of community-acquired pneumonia.
Vaccine Procurement, Distribution and Use
Outlines process for prioritization of vaccine.
Describes a strategy for vaccine acquisition and delivery and development
of a system to track supplies and adverse events.
Describes plans for conducting vaccination clinics, as vaccine becomes
available.
Antiviral Procurement, Distribution and Use
Outlines process for prioritization of antiviral medications.
Describes a strategy for antiviral acquisition and delivery and development
of a system to track supplies and adverse events.
Travel Related Disease Control and Community Containment
Provides recommendations on containment strategies, including:
o Travel health alert notices.
o Isolation and quarantine of new arrivals
o Restriction or cancellation of non-essential travel.
o Closures of school and public places (Snow Days)
Develops plans for isolation, quarantine and contact tracing.
Communications
Describes social marketing strategies for risk reduction behaviors (e.g.,
hand washing, respiratory etiquette, social distancing).
Outlines development of key messages and pre-positioning of
communications products to expedite delivery of information during a
pandemic.
Recommends communication strategies to address the worried well.
Describes mass media and alternate strategies for provision of public information.
Training and Education
Determines the need for and develops trainings for various audiences,
including:
o Local health departments.
o Physicians, nurses, other healthcare providers.
o Hospitals, long-term care facilities, community health clinics.
o Emergency medical services providers.
o Non-medical response partners.
Workforce Support
Ensures psycho-social support services to help workers manage
emotional stress during a response to an influenza pandemic, including
personal, professional and family issues.
Addresses preparation of informational materials.
HPAI Avian Influenza in Animals
Summarizes current capacity and responsibilities for animal surveillance
and laboratory testing for HPAI.
Summarizes disease control activities in domestic poultry or wild bird
flocks.
Public Health Preparedness Informatics
Ensures informatics capabilities systems are in place to support:
o Alert notifications.
o Disease surveillance, contact tracing.
o Tracking vaccine and antiviral supplies.
o Monitoring vaccine and antiviral adverse events.
o Tracking hospital resources and needs.
Prioritization Decisions
Vaccine: During the initial stages of a pandemic, the supply of vaccine
will most likely be limited. For the purposes of our plan, New York State DOH
has included the federal guidance regarding priority groups; however, other
alternatives are being considered. For example, New York State will assess
whether or not critical infrastructure capacities that protect continuation of
essential services, such as law enforcement, etc., have sufficient priority in the
federal plan. The discussion of priority groups is ongoing and will be
modified as needed. In particular, priority groups will be modified
according to the epidemiology of the pandemic.
Groups who may be considered for vaccine prioritization include:
Those who maintain essential services (public safety and health
care)
Those at high risk for contracting influenza during a pandemic
(including those who would work in response to an outbreak of
avian influenza).
Those at high risk for complications or death.
Those who are ill and hospitalized with influenza.
Antivirals: The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and
the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC), in cooperation with the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Advisory Committee
on Immunization Practices (ACIP), have provided guidance on prioritization of
persons to be given antivirals during a pandemic. This guidance will most likely
change when epidemiologic data on a specific pandemic virus becomes
available. By this we mean such event-driven factors as the actual pandemic
influenza strain present; extent and severity of illness; how infection is spreading;
and issues such as age, underlying health status, occupation, and the like that
are contributing to increased risk of illness and death.
Once this information is known, the NYSDOH, in conjunction with the
CDC, health care organizations, and local health departments (LHDs), will
determine the prioritization of the population groups to receive influenza antiviral
medication. These recommendations will then be distributed as statewide
guidelines.
Altered Standards of Care for Health Care Providers
Like prioritization, imposition of alternate modalities for, and standards of
care during an influenza pandemic would be event-specific and driven by the
epidemiology of the disease outbreak. The NYSDOH pandemic plan discusses
the need to convene an expert panel pre-event to explore whether and what
altered standards of care need to be developed when the demand for services
and life-sustaining equipment exceeds the supply, which is likely to happen in a
severe pandemic.
Computer software from CDC allows us to model what we could expect in
even a moderate pandemic. Nearly 15 thousand New Yorkers would be
hospitalized each week; resulting in nearly 4 thousand deaths. Flu patients likely
will use the vast majority of our state’s health care resources.
For instance:
In a moderate pandemic influenza patients will most likely utilize:
• 63% of hospital bed capacity
• 125% of intensive care capacity
• 65% of hospital ventilator capacity.
Choices will have to be made about how to optimize scarce assets to slow
the spread of disease, decrease illness and death, and buy time. Members of the
public should become actively engaged in candid discussions with health
emergency planners in their community to help identify challenges and explore
options to assure that difficult decisions are made fairly, and that the public fully
understands the rationale for altered standards of care, should they become
necessary.
Last edited:
pixmo
Bucktoothed feline member
<table width="100%" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" bordercolor="#000000" height="43"><tr><td bgcolor="D08153"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b><font size="4" color="#FFFFFF">Mass poultry deaths continue in southern Russia</font></b></font></td></tr><tr><td bgcolor="#f5f5dc" height="2"><div align="left"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b><font size="2">
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060226/43775605.html</B>
ROSTOV-ON-DON, February 26 (RIA Novosti) - The death toll at a poultry farm in southern Russia has risen to 44,000 hens, a local official said Sunday.
The Emergencies Ministry reported Friday that mass deaths of poultry had been registered at a farm in the village of Lavlinskaya 124 kilometers (77 miles) from the regional center Krasnodar.
"According to preliminary tests conducted at a veterinary lab in Krasnodar, the possible cause is the Newcastle disease (pseudo-plague)," the official said, adding that the final results would be ready by February 27.
The Newcastle disease (END) is one of the most infectious diseases of poultry in the world. The disease is so virulent that many birds die without showing any clinical signs. A death rate of almost 100 percent can occur in unvaccinated poultry flocks. It can infect and cause death even in vaccinated poultry.
The official said that all infected poultry had been culled and the facilities at the farm, where a total of 300,000 birds are held, had been disinfected.
In a separate report, more than 2,000 hens died at a private poultry farm in the same region approximately during the same period. Experts have been trying to establish whether the causes of bird deaths are related.
</font></font></div></td></tr></table>
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060226/43775605.html</B>
ROSTOV-ON-DON, February 26 (RIA Novosti) - The death toll at a poultry farm in southern Russia has risen to 44,000 hens, a local official said Sunday.
The Emergencies Ministry reported Friday that mass deaths of poultry had been registered at a farm in the village of Lavlinskaya 124 kilometers (77 miles) from the regional center Krasnodar.
"According to preliminary tests conducted at a veterinary lab in Krasnodar, the possible cause is the Newcastle disease (pseudo-plague)," the official said, adding that the final results would be ready by February 27.
The Newcastle disease (END) is one of the most infectious diseases of poultry in the world. The disease is so virulent that many birds die without showing any clinical signs. A death rate of almost 100 percent can occur in unvaccinated poultry flocks. It can infect and cause death even in vaccinated poultry.
The official said that all infected poultry had been culled and the facilities at the farm, where a total of 300,000 birds are held, had been disinfected.
In a separate report, more than 2,000 hens died at a private poultry farm in the same region approximately during the same period. Experts have been trying to establish whether the causes of bird deaths are related.
</font></font></div></td></tr></table>
Kim99
Veteran Member
New Freedom said:
"Except for Australia and New Zealand, which do not appear to be concerned by the migration of water fowl from infected zones,
If this thing goes pandemic, Australia and New Zealand will be involved whether they're on the migratory route or not. At that point, it won't be about the birds.
From post #7:
"Even if the virus is present in meat or eggs, it is easily killed by cooking. Even if it is still present after cooking, the virus is destroyed by saliva and gastric juices."
If saliva and gastric juices kill it, then how does anyone get it to begin with? I think that is wishful thinking. Unless inhalation is the only means of infection.
"Even if the virus is present in meat or eggs, it is easily killed by cooking. Even if it is still present after cooking, the virus is destroyed by saliva and gastric juices."
If saliva and gastric juices kill it, then how does anyone get it to begin with? I think that is wishful thinking. Unless inhalation is the only means of infection.
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Indonesia
[February 26, 2006]
DISEASE CLAIMS ITS 20th VICTIM
(Sunday Mercury Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
MEDICS last night confirmed that a woman has become the 20th person to die from bird flu in Indonesia.
The 27 year-old fell ill after coming in to contact with dead chickens, and had been admitted to hospital.
A health ministry official in Jakarta said the presence of H5N1 had been confirmed by scientists at the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The woman died last Monday after being treated unsuccessfully at the Sulianti Saroso hospital in Jakarta.
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/02/26/1407616.htm
[February 26, 2006]
DISEASE CLAIMS ITS 20th VICTIM
(Sunday Mercury Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
MEDICS last night confirmed that a woman has become the 20th person to die from bird flu in Indonesia.
The 27 year-old fell ill after coming in to contact with dead chickens, and had been admitted to hospital.
A health ministry official in Jakarta said the presence of H5N1 had been confirmed by scientists at the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The woman died last Monday after being treated unsuccessfully at the Sulianti Saroso hospital in Jakarta.
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/02/26/1407616.htm
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
France
27-02-2006
From: Agence France-Presse
MORE wild birds found dead in eastern France were victims of the lethal strain of H5N1 bird flu, Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau said today, as Hong Kong joined Japan in banning poultry imports from France.
While the European Union comes to terms with the arrival of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain in its farm sector, in Asia, where bird flu was first identified, China has warned of possible widespread outbreaks of the flu during the coming spring bird migratory season and has announced two more human cases of the virus.
The deadly form of bird flu appears to be taking hold in wild birds across Germany after more outbreaks in the north of the country and the first suspected cases in the region around the capital Berlin.
Romania said today the H5N1 strain of the virus has been found in the south-east - the country's 35th outbreak - but tests are continuing to determine whether it is the highly pathogenic variant.
Indian officials slaughtered hundreds of thousands of chickens and checked around 90,000 people for bird flu symptoms in the north-western state of Gujarat as authorities ordered tests on dead birds in Assam in the north-east of the country.
Officials in northern Nigeria, where bird flu has been detected, sought to convince people to continue eating chicken and showed on television top officials feasting on poultry.
Poultry farming is one of the country's biggest industries and the authorities fear that if it collapses, hundreds of thousands of people will be left without an income, with the potential for serious social unrest.
Better news came from Malaysia where five people quarantined with suspected bird flu have tested negative, a top health official said today.
"All five have tested negative," Ramlee Rahmat, director of the health ministry's disease control division, said.
In France, measures were intensified to reassure consumers and contain the spread of bird flu after the discovery of the deadly disease in commercial poultry dealt its farming sector a major blow.
Authorities in the east of the country, where the outbreak was discovered on a turkey farm last Friday, have tightened restrictions.
Today, they ordered a 10-day ban on anybody approaching small lakes in the Dombes region after about 50 dead swans and ducks had been collected in the past four days.
The news that 15 of the swans were confirmed to have the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu deepened a sense of crisis despite the government's best efforts to head off panic.
The discovery of the disease in commercial poultry is taking its toll on France's farm sector, dealing a tough economic blow to a country that is the fourth-biggest poultry exporter in the world, after Brazil, China and the United States.
Domestic consumption was already down 30 per cent before the news, and immediately after confirmation yesterday that at least 400 turkeys on the farm had died of H5N1, Japan and Hong Kong placed embargos on French imports of poultry and poultry products - including prized foie gras.
France has 30,600 commercial poultry farms, which produce 700 million birds a year and represent annual revenues of six billion euros ($9.7 billion).
About 65,000 people are employed in the sector, though owners have had to proceed with layoffs in recent weeks because of the free-fall in demand.
Experts fear that H5N1, which has killed more than 90 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, may mutate into a form that can pass between humans, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.
Human fatalities from the disease have been recorded in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iraq, Turkey and Vietnam.
Eight EU countries have so far confirmed cases of the deadly H5N1 strain, but until yesterday when it was discovered in a turkey farm in eastern France, all these cases had been found in wild birds. So far the virus has not jumped from birds to humans in the EU.
In Asia, China warned of possible widespread outbreaks of avian influenza during the coming spring bird migratory season and the health ministry announced two more human cases of the virus.
"At present we cannot rule out the possibility of widespread outbreaks of the bird flu in China," the Xinhua news agency quoted Agricultural Minister Du Qinglin as saying at a parliamentary meeting.
"We must remain on a high-level alert in all areas and continue to earnestly step up prevention and control work."
Mr Du's remarks yesterday came as the health ministry reported that a nine-year-old girl and a 26-year-old woman in eastern China had contracted bird flu and were both in critical condition.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18285593-38200,00.html
Deadly bird flu spreads in France
From correspondents in Paris27-02-2006
From: Agence France-Presse
MORE wild birds found dead in eastern France were victims of the lethal strain of H5N1 bird flu, Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau said today, as Hong Kong joined Japan in banning poultry imports from France.
While the European Union comes to terms with the arrival of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain in its farm sector, in Asia, where bird flu was first identified, China has warned of possible widespread outbreaks of the flu during the coming spring bird migratory season and has announced two more human cases of the virus.
The deadly form of bird flu appears to be taking hold in wild birds across Germany after more outbreaks in the north of the country and the first suspected cases in the region around the capital Berlin.
Romania said today the H5N1 strain of the virus has been found in the south-east - the country's 35th outbreak - but tests are continuing to determine whether it is the highly pathogenic variant.
Indian officials slaughtered hundreds of thousands of chickens and checked around 90,000 people for bird flu symptoms in the north-western state of Gujarat as authorities ordered tests on dead birds in Assam in the north-east of the country.
Officials in northern Nigeria, where bird flu has been detected, sought to convince people to continue eating chicken and showed on television top officials feasting on poultry.
Poultry farming is one of the country's biggest industries and the authorities fear that if it collapses, hundreds of thousands of people will be left without an income, with the potential for serious social unrest.
Better news came from Malaysia where five people quarantined with suspected bird flu have tested negative, a top health official said today.
"All five have tested negative," Ramlee Rahmat, director of the health ministry's disease control division, said.
In France, measures were intensified to reassure consumers and contain the spread of bird flu after the discovery of the deadly disease in commercial poultry dealt its farming sector a major blow.
Authorities in the east of the country, where the outbreak was discovered on a turkey farm last Friday, have tightened restrictions.
Today, they ordered a 10-day ban on anybody approaching small lakes in the Dombes region after about 50 dead swans and ducks had been collected in the past four days.
The news that 15 of the swans were confirmed to have the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu deepened a sense of crisis despite the government's best efforts to head off panic.
The discovery of the disease in commercial poultry is taking its toll on France's farm sector, dealing a tough economic blow to a country that is the fourth-biggest poultry exporter in the world, after Brazil, China and the United States.
Domestic consumption was already down 30 per cent before the news, and immediately after confirmation yesterday that at least 400 turkeys on the farm had died of H5N1, Japan and Hong Kong placed embargos on French imports of poultry and poultry products - including prized foie gras.
France has 30,600 commercial poultry farms, which produce 700 million birds a year and represent annual revenues of six billion euros ($9.7 billion).
About 65,000 people are employed in the sector, though owners have had to proceed with layoffs in recent weeks because of the free-fall in demand.
Experts fear that H5N1, which has killed more than 90 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, may mutate into a form that can pass between humans, sparking a pandemic that could kill millions.
Human fatalities from the disease have been recorded in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iraq, Turkey and Vietnam.
Eight EU countries have so far confirmed cases of the deadly H5N1 strain, but until yesterday when it was discovered in a turkey farm in eastern France, all these cases had been found in wild birds. So far the virus has not jumped from birds to humans in the EU.
In Asia, China warned of possible widespread outbreaks of avian influenza during the coming spring bird migratory season and the health ministry announced two more human cases of the virus.
"At present we cannot rule out the possibility of widespread outbreaks of the bird flu in China," the Xinhua news agency quoted Agricultural Minister Du Qinglin as saying at a parliamentary meeting.
"We must remain on a high-level alert in all areas and continue to earnestly step up prevention and control work."
Mr Du's remarks yesterday came as the health ministry reported that a nine-year-old girl and a 26-year-old woman in eastern China had contracted bird flu and were both in critical condition.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18285593-38200,00.html
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
India
NEW DELHI - Indian officials battling a bird flu outbreak culled hundreds of thousands of chickens and checked around 90,000 people for symptoms in Gujarat state as authorities ordered tests on dead birds at the other end of the country.
"More than 88,900 persons have been surveyed by the team. Of these 10 human cases have been kept under observation in isolation wards at the referral hospital," said an official in the western state of Gujarat who declined to be named.
Another official, Vatsala Vasudev, said officials were going house to house and checking on people. "Anyone with symptoms is being referred to the government hospital in Surat where a special isolation ward has been created," said Vasudev, Surat district's top civil administrator.
But 95 people suspected of infection tested negative over the weekend, easing fears the disease might have spread to humans in the country of more than one billion people where many live in close proximity with poultry.
However the government of the northeastern state of Assam sounded a health alert after some 1,000 chickens died over the weekend, ordering tests on the dead birds.
"All preventive measures are being adopted in view of the bird flu scare prevailing across the country," the magistrate of Tinsukia district, Sanjay Kumar Lohia, told AFP.
Last week India reported its first cases at Navapur in Maharashtra state south of Gujarat.
Over the weekend new cases were reported from the neighbouring Uchchal area of Surat district in Gujarat, prompting officials to slaughter tens of thousands of chickens.
"So far about 90,000 birds have been killed in Uchchal area from where the new cases were reported," Vasudev told AFP.
Officials said Sunday about 280,000 more birds have been killed around Navapur.
Vasudev and other officials said the new cases of avian flu that came to light Saturday were not part of a second outbreak.
"The samples from Uchchal that tested positive were taken on the same day as the ones from Navapur," P.M.A. Hakeem, a secretary in the federal agriculture ministry, told AFP.
"Uchchal is about three kilometres (1.9 miles) from Navapur, from where the H5N1 outbreak was first reported. So that area was already covered under the culling plan" radius of 10 kilometres, Hakeem said.
Doctors were on alert for symptoms among the 60,000 residents of Navapur and villages within 10 kilometres. A total of 108 people had signs of fever, according to Maharashtra figures released Friday.
But officials said they believed none was infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu that has so far killed more than 90 people worldwide.
The buying and selling of poultry in villages within a 10 kilometre radius of Uchchal has been banned.
"Our village has no birds, every one of them were killed," said Karsa Baria of Sakardha village, a few kilometres from Navapur.
"Still we fear being afflicted by the disease, but where to flee? We have left everything to God."
Chicken prices have plunged to 30 rupees (62 cents) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) from 75 rupees earlier as many hotels and restaurants dropped the meat from their menus, even as officials sought to reassure people that poultry products from outside the affected area are safe.
"There is nothing to fear. People should have faith in our work," Maharashtra's animal husbandry commissioner, Bijay Kumar, was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
India's parliament, Indian Railways which carries 11 million passengers a day, the country's 1.1-million-strong military and even zoo authorities in Delhi have stopped serving poultry and eggs.
02/26/2006 12:20 GMT
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=109915
Around 90,000 people checked for symptoms of bird flu in India
Published: 2/26/2006NEW DELHI - Indian officials battling a bird flu outbreak culled hundreds of thousands of chickens and checked around 90,000 people for symptoms in Gujarat state as authorities ordered tests on dead birds at the other end of the country.
"More than 88,900 persons have been surveyed by the team. Of these 10 human cases have been kept under observation in isolation wards at the referral hospital," said an official in the western state of Gujarat who declined to be named.
Another official, Vatsala Vasudev, said officials were going house to house and checking on people. "Anyone with symptoms is being referred to the government hospital in Surat where a special isolation ward has been created," said Vasudev, Surat district's top civil administrator.
But 95 people suspected of infection tested negative over the weekend, easing fears the disease might have spread to humans in the country of more than one billion people where many live in close proximity with poultry.
However the government of the northeastern state of Assam sounded a health alert after some 1,000 chickens died over the weekend, ordering tests on the dead birds.
"All preventive measures are being adopted in view of the bird flu scare prevailing across the country," the magistrate of Tinsukia district, Sanjay Kumar Lohia, told AFP.
Last week India reported its first cases at Navapur in Maharashtra state south of Gujarat.
Over the weekend new cases were reported from the neighbouring Uchchal area of Surat district in Gujarat, prompting officials to slaughter tens of thousands of chickens.
"So far about 90,000 birds have been killed in Uchchal area from where the new cases were reported," Vasudev told AFP.
Officials said Sunday about 280,000 more birds have been killed around Navapur.
Vasudev and other officials said the new cases of avian flu that came to light Saturday were not part of a second outbreak.
"The samples from Uchchal that tested positive were taken on the same day as the ones from Navapur," P.M.A. Hakeem, a secretary in the federal agriculture ministry, told AFP.
"Uchchal is about three kilometres (1.9 miles) from Navapur, from where the H5N1 outbreak was first reported. So that area was already covered under the culling plan" radius of 10 kilometres, Hakeem said.
Doctors were on alert for symptoms among the 60,000 residents of Navapur and villages within 10 kilometres. A total of 108 people had signs of fever, according to Maharashtra figures released Friday.
But officials said they believed none was infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu that has so far killed more than 90 people worldwide.
The buying and selling of poultry in villages within a 10 kilometre radius of Uchchal has been banned.
"Our village has no birds, every one of them were killed," said Karsa Baria of Sakardha village, a few kilometres from Navapur.
"Still we fear being afflicted by the disease, but where to flee? We have left everything to God."
Chicken prices have plunged to 30 rupees (62 cents) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) from 75 rupees earlier as many hotels and restaurants dropped the meat from their menus, even as officials sought to reassure people that poultry products from outside the affected area are safe.
"There is nothing to fear. People should have faith in our work," Maharashtra's animal husbandry commissioner, Bijay Kumar, was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
India's parliament, Indian Railways which carries 11 million passengers a day, the country's 1.1-million-strong military and even zoo authorities in Delhi have stopped serving poultry and eggs.
02/26/2006 12:20 GMT
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=109915
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Prepping UK Style
Here's a post for all the TBers who are in denial of Bird Flu... Here's how the Brits are prepping...
Feb 26 2006
By Vincent Moss
MINISTERS have ordered 200,000 body bags under secret plans to cope with a lethal bird flu outbreak in Britain.
The huge stockpile reflects Government fears of the potential death toll if the virus mutates to a form which can be passed to humans.
The emergency plans - leaked to the Sunday Mirror - also include 15 temporary mortuaries in London with dozens more across the country.
Proposals are also being drawn up to ration food and fuel amid fears that shoppers will strip the shelves in a wave of panic buying. Ministers stress they are only taking precautions and there is no need for public alarm.
At present, people can only catch the virus from very close contact with sick birds. But the Government is drawing up urgent plans amid growing fears that the virus will mutate and be transmittable between humans.
If that happens, experts predict anything up to 50 million deaths from a worldwide pandemic.
In Britain, estimates of the death toll in the first six weeks of the outbreak range from 20,000 to 700,000. Deaths in London alone could hit 50,000 within weeks.
A senior ministerial source told the Sunday Mirror: "People should be reassured we are making the best possible preparations.
"We have ordered 200,000 body bags, and plans are under way to limit some foodstuffs and fuel if necessary.
"But contingency planning is vital to limit the impact of a pandemic and prevent panic."
Several Government departments including the Department Of Health and the Department For The Environment, Food And Rural Affairs are co-ordinating the emergency blueprint.
Ministers believe food rationing might be needed to prevent shoppers stockpiling goods such as pasta, rice and bottled water.
They insist they have learnt vital lessons from the "three Fs" which threatened to cripple Britain in the past - the fuel crisis, foot and mouth disease and mass floods.
A senior Government minister said: "I would hope people will sleep safer in the knowledge that we are preparing for the worst.
"Every possible step is being taken to minimise the impact of an outbreak."
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/archi...49296&method=full&siteid=62484-name_page.html
Here's a post for all the TBers who are in denial of Bird Flu... Here's how the Brits are prepping...DON'T PANIC.. BUT GOVERNMENT HAS ORDERED
Feb 26 2006
EXCLUSIVE 200,000 BODY BAGS Fears for stocks of rice, pasta and water - Dozens of temporary morgues are planned
By Vincent Moss
MINISTERS have ordered 200,000 body bags under secret plans to cope with a lethal bird flu outbreak in Britain.
The huge stockpile reflects Government fears of the potential death toll if the virus mutates to a form which can be passed to humans.
The emergency plans - leaked to the Sunday Mirror - also include 15 temporary mortuaries in London with dozens more across the country.
Proposals are also being drawn up to ration food and fuel amid fears that shoppers will strip the shelves in a wave of panic buying. Ministers stress they are only taking precautions and there is no need for public alarm.
At present, people can only catch the virus from very close contact with sick birds. But the Government is drawing up urgent plans amid growing fears that the virus will mutate and be transmittable between humans.
If that happens, experts predict anything up to 50 million deaths from a worldwide pandemic.
In Britain, estimates of the death toll in the first six weeks of the outbreak range from 20,000 to 700,000. Deaths in London alone could hit 50,000 within weeks.
A senior ministerial source told the Sunday Mirror: "People should be reassured we are making the best possible preparations.
"We have ordered 200,000 body bags, and plans are under way to limit some foodstuffs and fuel if necessary.
"But contingency planning is vital to limit the impact of a pandemic and prevent panic."
Several Government departments including the Department Of Health and the Department For The Environment, Food And Rural Affairs are co-ordinating the emergency blueprint.
Ministers believe food rationing might be needed to prevent shoppers stockpiling goods such as pasta, rice and bottled water.
They insist they have learnt vital lessons from the "three Fs" which threatened to cripple Britain in the past - the fuel crisis, foot and mouth disease and mass floods.
A senior Government minister said: "I would hope people will sleep safer in the knowledge that we are preparing for the worst.
"Every possible step is being taken to minimise the impact of an outbreak."
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/archi...49296&method=full&siteid=62484-name_page.html
New Freedom
Veteran Member
From WHO website:
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_02_22/en/index.html
Avian influenza - situation in Nigeria - update
22 February 2006
The outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in poultry, confirmed at a commercial farm in Kaduna State on 8 February, has now spread to commercial farms in several other contiguous states. No human cases have been detected to date.
Nigerian officials have confirmed outbreaks at commercial farms in the states of Kano, Plateau, Katsina, and Bauchi, and in the Abuja area. Outbreaks have also been detected at more farms in Kaduna. Outbreaks in additional states are currently under investigation.
To date, four patients with respiratory symptoms and a history of exposure to diseased poultry have been investigated for possible infection. This number includes a woman who died of an acute respiratory illness on 16 February. The three remaining patients are all in good condition.
Arrangements are being made to send samples from all four patients for testing at a WHO collaborating laboratory in the United Kingdom.
The initial outbreak in Kaduna state is now known to have begun on 10 January, raising the possibility that earlier human exposures and cases may have occurred in that area and elsewhere. At hospitals in Kaduna, Kano, and Katsina near affected farms, staff from the WHO-led teams have now examined hundreds of patient records, searching for possible cases that may have occurred earlier. No such cases have been identified to date.
The scale of the outbreak in birds is not yet fully understood. Most investigations have followed poultry deaths on large commercial farms, where outbreaks are highly visible. Little is known about the presence of the virus in small backyard flocks, where the greatest risk of human exposures and infections resides.
Nigeria has an estimated poultry population of around 140 million birds, largely concentrated in the south-western part of the country. As is the case in several affected parts of South-east Asia, around 60% of Nigeria’s poultry production takes place in small backyard flocks. Large-scale commercial farming of poultry occurs mainly in the northern states, where outbreaks have been confirmed.
Rapid spread of the virus within Nigeria has raised concern over possible spread to neighbouring countries. Borders are porous and restrictions on the movement of people and poultry are difficult to enforce. WHO staff at offices in these countries are monitoring the situation closely in collaboration with government officials. Rumours of possible human cases in neighbouring countries are also being closely monitored.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_02_22/en/index.html
Avian influenza - situation in Nigeria - update
22 February 2006
The outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in poultry, confirmed at a commercial farm in Kaduna State on 8 February, has now spread to commercial farms in several other contiguous states. No human cases have been detected to date.
Nigerian officials have confirmed outbreaks at commercial farms in the states of Kano, Plateau, Katsina, and Bauchi, and in the Abuja area. Outbreaks have also been detected at more farms in Kaduna. Outbreaks in additional states are currently under investigation.
To date, four patients with respiratory symptoms and a history of exposure to diseased poultry have been investigated for possible infection. This number includes a woman who died of an acute respiratory illness on 16 February. The three remaining patients are all in good condition.
Arrangements are being made to send samples from all four patients for testing at a WHO collaborating laboratory in the United Kingdom.
The initial outbreak in Kaduna state is now known to have begun on 10 January, raising the possibility that earlier human exposures and cases may have occurred in that area and elsewhere. At hospitals in Kaduna, Kano, and Katsina near affected farms, staff from the WHO-led teams have now examined hundreds of patient records, searching for possible cases that may have occurred earlier. No such cases have been identified to date.
The scale of the outbreak in birds is not yet fully understood. Most investigations have followed poultry deaths on large commercial farms, where outbreaks are highly visible. Little is known about the presence of the virus in small backyard flocks, where the greatest risk of human exposures and infections resides.
Nigeria has an estimated poultry population of around 140 million birds, largely concentrated in the south-western part of the country. As is the case in several affected parts of South-east Asia, around 60% of Nigeria’s poultry production takes place in small backyard flocks. Large-scale commercial farming of poultry occurs mainly in the northern states, where outbreaks have been confirmed.
Rapid spread of the virus within Nigeria has raised concern over possible spread to neighbouring countries. Borders are porous and restrictions on the movement of people and poultry are difficult to enforce. WHO staff at offices in these countries are monitoring the situation closely in collaboration with government officials. Rumours of possible human cases in neighbouring countries are also being closely monitored.
New Freedom
Veteran Member
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02250601/H5N1_Swan_Italy_Sequence.html
Commentary
.
H5N1 Swan Sequence From Italy
Recombinomics Commentary
February 25, 2006
The H5N1 sequence, A/swan/Italy/179/06, was made available at Genbank today. The swan was described in the OIE report of February 14. The H5N1 was isolated February 10, submitted to Genbank on February 24, and made available today. Like the recent deposits from Astrakhan, Nigeria, and France the sequences are closely related to the H5N1 Qinghai consensus sequence. The Italian swan 1247 BP sequence of HA had nine polymorphisms that differed from the consensus sequence. One was found in the Novosibirsk sequence, A/duck/Novosibirsk/56/2005. The remaining polymorphisms were unique and most were present in recent H5N1 isolates from eastern or southeastern Asia. However, most could also be identified in older isolates from North America.
These data further support the acquisition of polymorphisms via multiple recombinations. These acquisitions require dual infections and the sharing of the polymorphisms indicates extensive exchange of polymorphisms between North America and Europe, Asia, and Africa. Astrakhan sequences that are shared only with North American isolates have also been described, suggesting H5N1 has recently migrated to North America. Similarly American sequences have been described in H5N2 isolates from South Korea, Taiwan, A/chicken/Taiwan/1209/03 and Japan. Although HPAI H5N1 has not been reported in North America, the shared polymorphisms strongly suggest that H5N1 has previously migrated to North America.
Canada did an extensive study of young ducks banded in the fall of 2005. These ducks were swabbed and H5 was found in a surprisingly high percentage of ducks. The isolates included sero-types H5N1, H5N2, H5N3, and H5N9 and all were reported to be LPAI. However, the only sequence deposited at GenBank was an H5N2 isolate, A/duck/BritishColumbia/CN26-6/05 from a farm duck in British Columbia. The other isolates were described as "North American" sequences, but have not been made public.
The withholding of this data is cause for concern. The tracing of shared polymorphisms can determine origins of sequences and identity recombination frequencies. The presence of the large number of H5 sequences in southern Canada and the failure to subsequently identify additional H5 sequences in Canada or the United States raises significant question about surveillance methods and reporting. H5N1 in north Canada in the summer of 2005 would have been expected to migrate south in the fall and winter, as would the H5 sequences in the banded ducks.
H5N1 is clearly expanding its geographical reach. First time reports of the Qinghai strain have been recorded throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It is likely that the H5N1 in India is also the Qinghai strain and it is many neighboring countries that have not reported the virus. As H5N1 expands, it encounters hosts infected by other influenza isolates, offering new opportunities for recombination and creation of new genes.
Italy, France, and Russia are to be commended for the rapid isolation of H5N1 and the availability of sequence data. Similar deposits by other countries as well as expansion of sequences to include all eight genes would be useful in tracing the path and evolution of H5N1.
Commentary
.
H5N1 Swan Sequence From Italy
Recombinomics Commentary
February 25, 2006
The H5N1 sequence, A/swan/Italy/179/06, was made available at Genbank today. The swan was described in the OIE report of February 14. The H5N1 was isolated February 10, submitted to Genbank on February 24, and made available today. Like the recent deposits from Astrakhan, Nigeria, and France the sequences are closely related to the H5N1 Qinghai consensus sequence. The Italian swan 1247 BP sequence of HA had nine polymorphisms that differed from the consensus sequence. One was found in the Novosibirsk sequence, A/duck/Novosibirsk/56/2005. The remaining polymorphisms were unique and most were present in recent H5N1 isolates from eastern or southeastern Asia. However, most could also be identified in older isolates from North America.
These data further support the acquisition of polymorphisms via multiple recombinations. These acquisitions require dual infections and the sharing of the polymorphisms indicates extensive exchange of polymorphisms between North America and Europe, Asia, and Africa. Astrakhan sequences that are shared only with North American isolates have also been described, suggesting H5N1 has recently migrated to North America. Similarly American sequences have been described in H5N2 isolates from South Korea, Taiwan, A/chicken/Taiwan/1209/03 and Japan. Although HPAI H5N1 has not been reported in North America, the shared polymorphisms strongly suggest that H5N1 has previously migrated to North America.
Canada did an extensive study of young ducks banded in the fall of 2005. These ducks were swabbed and H5 was found in a surprisingly high percentage of ducks. The isolates included sero-types H5N1, H5N2, H5N3, and H5N9 and all were reported to be LPAI. However, the only sequence deposited at GenBank was an H5N2 isolate, A/duck/BritishColumbia/CN26-6/05 from a farm duck in British Columbia. The other isolates were described as "North American" sequences, but have not been made public.
The withholding of this data is cause for concern. The tracing of shared polymorphisms can determine origins of sequences and identity recombination frequencies. The presence of the large number of H5 sequences in southern Canada and the failure to subsequently identify additional H5 sequences in Canada or the United States raises significant question about surveillance methods and reporting. H5N1 in north Canada in the summer of 2005 would have been expected to migrate south in the fall and winter, as would the H5 sequences in the banded ducks.
H5N1 is clearly expanding its geographical reach. First time reports of the Qinghai strain have been recorded throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It is likely that the H5N1 in India is also the Qinghai strain and it is many neighboring countries that have not reported the virus. As H5N1 expands, it encounters hosts infected by other influenza isolates, offering new opportunities for recombination and creation of new genes.
Italy, France, and Russia are to be commended for the rapid isolation of H5N1 and the availability of sequence data. Similar deposits by other countries as well as expansion of sequences to include all eight genes would be useful in tracing the path and evolution of H5N1.
PCViking
Lutefisk Survivor
Romania
Politics: 26 February 2006, Sunday.
A Romanian man showing symptoms of bird flu was hospitalized in Bucharest for complete investigations, authorities announced.
The man, 21, lives in a southern village where the deadly H5N1 virus was first discovered earlier this month.
The patient complained of ache in the throat and the head, as well as breathlessness.
This was the eleventh suspected case of human bird flu in Romania but there have been no confirmed cases so far in humans.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=59748
Romanian Man Suspected of Bird Flu
Politics: 26 February 2006, Sunday.
A Romanian man showing symptoms of bird flu was hospitalized in Bucharest for complete investigations, authorities announced.
The man, 21, lives in a southern village where the deadly H5N1 virus was first discovered earlier this month.
The patient complained of ache in the throat and the head, as well as breathlessness.
This was the eleventh suspected case of human bird flu in Romania but there have been no confirmed cases so far in humans.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=59748
Kim99
Veteran Member
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02...n/edgarrett.php
Unless we act now, bird flu may win
Laurie Garrett International Herald Tribune
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2006
NEW YORK Despite the commitment of billions of dollars to the fight against pandemic influenza, the world may lose the battle against avian flu, for lack of an effective strategy. Much of the money - nearly $4 billion from U.S. taxpayers, alone - is being spent inappropriately. For far less money, strategically deployed in a global campaign, the world could be a safer place for the coexistence of man and microbe.
H5N1 avian flu has reached Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, all the Black Sea nations and now Austria, Denmark, Bulgaria, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Switzerland, India, Egypt, France and Germany. There is a sense of panic in the air, as Asians, Europeans and Africans alike imagine a catastrophic human pandemic.
It could happen, but humanity ought not simply consider the event inevitable and frantically stockpile Tamiflu and other drugs of dubious efficacy. A definitive report in the Jan. 28 issue of the medical journal The Lancet concludes, "We could find no credible data on the effects of [Tamiflu] on avian influenza." The Italian and Australian authors of the report warn that, "Over-reliance on a pharmacological solution to the ravages of influenza may impede the development and implementation of broader intervention strategies based on public-health measures."
It is urgent that public health leaders and policy makers step back from the breech and consider how this bird pandemic is spreading, and what can be done about it. We know enough about influenza to develop and execute a rational strategy. It will require some significant feats of diplomacy and foreign policy, but it is achievable.
First, let's stop pretending nature is mysterious, and concentrate on what we know. H5N1, though deadlier and potentially far more devastating than any other influenza seen in nearly a century, has followed a fairly clear set of biological, predictable principles since it first surfaced in Hong Kong in 1997.
Thanks to the brilliant work of scientists like Robert Webster, Malik Peiris, Kennedy Shortridge and K.Y. Yuen, we now understand that influenza is naturally an aquatic migratory bird virus that is carried by ducks, geese and a small list of other waterfowl. Influenza infection is usually harmless to these world travelers, but can kill other types of birds, such as chickens, domestic ducks and swans.
The vulnerable birds contract their infections when the migrating species land on farms or ponds, and pass influenza fecally. We now know that the H5N1 virus is particularly robust, and can survive suspended in fecal material for more than a month, making it possible that a flock of dead chickens spotted today may actually have become infected as a result of pecking its way through feces deposited weeks ago by a passing goose.
So far the only tactics being deployed once H5N1 turns up in domestic animals are slaughter, culling millions of animals that are suspected of being infected, or mass vaccination. If peasant farmers cannot afford to keep domestic animals indoors, away from wild birds' contaminating viruses, an alternative is to keep the migrating birds away from the farms.
For at least a decade H5N1 has circulated among a small pool of migrating birds, mostly inside China, and occasionally broken out in other animals and people. Last May, however, more than 6,000 avian carcasses piled up along the shores of Lake Qinghai, in central China, one of the world's most important bird breeding sites. Most of the dead included species that hadn't previously evidenced influenza infection.
The Lake Qinghai moment was the tipping point in the bird flu pandemic. The virus mutated, evidently becoming more contagious and deadly to a broader range of bird species, some of which continued their northern migration to central Siberia. By June, Russia's tundra was, for the first time, teeming with H5N1-infected birds, intermingling with southern European species that became infected before flying home, via the Black Sea.
Not surprisingly, by October countries from Ukraine to Greece were rumored to have H5N1, but only the Romanian government responded with swift transparency, culling tens of thousands of chickens and ducks. Most of the governments in the region did not confirm their H5N1 contaminations until Turkey, after at least three months of denial, was forced on Jan. 6 to admit that the virus had infected birds in a third of the country's provinces, and had caused several human infections and deaths.
Since then, we have learned of confirmed bird and/or human H5N1 cases in Iraq, Azerbaijan, Iran, Greece, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, France, Germany, Denmark, Bulgaria and, most disturbingly, Nigeria, Egypt and India.
Not a single one of these countries' outbreaks ought to have been surprises. Each of them is located along either the Black Sea/Mediterranean migratory bird flyway, which starts in Siberia and, at its southernmost point, ends in Nigeria and Cameroon, or the European flyway, which overlaps the former, and stretches from northernmost Siberia to Nigeria.
Anybody tracking the birds could have seen it coming. Several countries along the flyway between Saudi Arabia (which has confirmed H5N1 infections in falcons) and Nigeria have not reported H5N1 cases, but much of the region is North Africa's sparsely populated Sahara Desert. Egypt reported widespread bird infection last week, and it is likely that infected birds have landed along the few waterways in the area, such as the Nile, Lake Chad and the Red Sea.
We should not be astonished to learn of H5N1 outbreaks in birds or people in the next few weeks in nations located along the East Africa flyway, which overlaps with the already contaminated Black Sea/Mediterranean one: Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Gabon, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and the rest of the eastern African countries.
Because H5N1 has been confirmed in Nigeria, Egypt, Germany and Spain, which straddle the intersections of the Black Sea/Mediterranean and the East Atlantic flyways, over the next six weeks we should not be surprised to hear of H5N1 bird and even human cases in several northern European nations, including Britain and Iceland.
By June or July, if the biological imperatives continue to follow their course, H5N1 should turn up in eastern Siberia, and then Alaska, via the East Asia flyway. It might also at that time jump from Iceland, via Greenland, to northern Canada. Once in the Arctic zones of the Americas, H5N1 will be able to follow any, or all, of the four primary north/south flyways that span the Americas, from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego. It is in the realm of reasonable probability that H5N1 will reach the United States this summer or early autumn.
Instead of simply sitting back and watching nature take its course, the global community should be proactive. Being ahead of the virus is akin to being ahead of the migrating birds. Instead of waiting for dead birds, and even dying people, to turn up in new areas, political leaders should heed the warnings from science and act accordingly - as, apparently, Sweden and the Netherlands are doing. The Swedes and Dutch looked at their maps, plotted the movements of infected birds, and last week ordered farmers to bring their flocks indoors, out of harm's way. In poorer regions of the world, where indoor facilities for animals may be unaffordable, simple nets and fences can radically decrease contact between wild and domestic birds, and mass public education campaigns warning people to avoid contact with sick birds or carcasses may decrease the likelihood of avian-to-human transmission of H5N1.
One of the best untapped resources in this epic battle against influenza is bird-watchers, who are among the most fanatic hobbyists in the world. The major bird-watching organizations and safari clubs ought to work with the World Health Organization and OIE, the World Organization for Animal Health, to set up Web-based notification sites, where birders could report sightings of groups of dead birds, and the movements of key migrating species.
Ornithologists and climate experts should immediately sit down with pandemic planners and virologists, creating lists of known H5N1 carriers and plotting their most likely global movements. As the birds appear in new regions of the world, birders and professional wildlife surveillance personnel should issue alerts, which should be swiftly confirmed and form the basis of government response.
When carrier species are sighted in a region, swift action should be taken to minimize contact between the wild birds and their domestic kin. In such a way, it might be possible to limit avian deaths to susceptible wild birds, such as the dying swans of Europe.
While the H5N1 virus remains an avian killer, wealthy nations and biomedical companies should work hard on developing a rapid, simple method of diagnosing flu infections in people. Currently, many of the delays in reporting human cases around the world are due to the tedious laboratory procedures necessary to diagnose H5N1 infection. We urgently need a quick infection test that can be performed by nonprofessionals.
Rather than waiting for a tide of H5N1 to wash over the world's birds, mutate, and then move in a tidal wave over humanity, we should create lines of defense that start with the wild animals, move next to protect poultry, and then rely on rapid screening of human beings to determine who is, and is not, infected with the virus.
In the absence of these sound footings, everything else is just wasted billions of dollars.
(Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Coming Plague.")
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02...n/edgarrett.php
Unless we act now, bird flu may win
Laurie Garrett International Herald Tribune
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2006
NEW YORK Despite the commitment of billions of dollars to the fight against pandemic influenza, the world may lose the battle against avian flu, for lack of an effective strategy. Much of the money - nearly $4 billion from U.S. taxpayers, alone - is being spent inappropriately. For far less money, strategically deployed in a global campaign, the world could be a safer place for the coexistence of man and microbe.
H5N1 avian flu has reached Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, all the Black Sea nations and now Austria, Denmark, Bulgaria, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Switzerland, India, Egypt, France and Germany. There is a sense of panic in the air, as Asians, Europeans and Africans alike imagine a catastrophic human pandemic.
It could happen, but humanity ought not simply consider the event inevitable and frantically stockpile Tamiflu and other drugs of dubious efficacy. A definitive report in the Jan. 28 issue of the medical journal The Lancet concludes, "We could find no credible data on the effects of [Tamiflu] on avian influenza." The Italian and Australian authors of the report warn that, "Over-reliance on a pharmacological solution to the ravages of influenza may impede the development and implementation of broader intervention strategies based on public-health measures."
It is urgent that public health leaders and policy makers step back from the breech and consider how this bird pandemic is spreading, and what can be done about it. We know enough about influenza to develop and execute a rational strategy. It will require some significant feats of diplomacy and foreign policy, but it is achievable.
First, let's stop pretending nature is mysterious, and concentrate on what we know. H5N1, though deadlier and potentially far more devastating than any other influenza seen in nearly a century, has followed a fairly clear set of biological, predictable principles since it first surfaced in Hong Kong in 1997.
Thanks to the brilliant work of scientists like Robert Webster, Malik Peiris, Kennedy Shortridge and K.Y. Yuen, we now understand that influenza is naturally an aquatic migratory bird virus that is carried by ducks, geese and a small list of other waterfowl. Influenza infection is usually harmless to these world travelers, but can kill other types of birds, such as chickens, domestic ducks and swans.
The vulnerable birds contract their infections when the migrating species land on farms or ponds, and pass influenza fecally. We now know that the H5N1 virus is particularly robust, and can survive suspended in fecal material for more than a month, making it possible that a flock of dead chickens spotted today may actually have become infected as a result of pecking its way through feces deposited weeks ago by a passing goose.
So far the only tactics being deployed once H5N1 turns up in domestic animals are slaughter, culling millions of animals that are suspected of being infected, or mass vaccination. If peasant farmers cannot afford to keep domestic animals indoors, away from wild birds' contaminating viruses, an alternative is to keep the migrating birds away from the farms.
For at least a decade H5N1 has circulated among a small pool of migrating birds, mostly inside China, and occasionally broken out in other animals and people. Last May, however, more than 6,000 avian carcasses piled up along the shores of Lake Qinghai, in central China, one of the world's most important bird breeding sites. Most of the dead included species that hadn't previously evidenced influenza infection.
The Lake Qinghai moment was the tipping point in the bird flu pandemic. The virus mutated, evidently becoming more contagious and deadly to a broader range of bird species, some of which continued their northern migration to central Siberia. By June, Russia's tundra was, for the first time, teeming with H5N1-infected birds, intermingling with southern European species that became infected before flying home, via the Black Sea.
Not surprisingly, by October countries from Ukraine to Greece were rumored to have H5N1, but only the Romanian government responded with swift transparency, culling tens of thousands of chickens and ducks. Most of the governments in the region did not confirm their H5N1 contaminations until Turkey, after at least three months of denial, was forced on Jan. 6 to admit that the virus had infected birds in a third of the country's provinces, and had caused several human infections and deaths.
Since then, we have learned of confirmed bird and/or human H5N1 cases in Iraq, Azerbaijan, Iran, Greece, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, France, Germany, Denmark, Bulgaria and, most disturbingly, Nigeria, Egypt and India.
Not a single one of these countries' outbreaks ought to have been surprises. Each of them is located along either the Black Sea/Mediterranean migratory bird flyway, which starts in Siberia and, at its southernmost point, ends in Nigeria and Cameroon, or the European flyway, which overlaps the former, and stretches from northernmost Siberia to Nigeria.
Anybody tracking the birds could have seen it coming. Several countries along the flyway between Saudi Arabia (which has confirmed H5N1 infections in falcons) and Nigeria have not reported H5N1 cases, but much of the region is North Africa's sparsely populated Sahara Desert. Egypt reported widespread bird infection last week, and it is likely that infected birds have landed along the few waterways in the area, such as the Nile, Lake Chad and the Red Sea.
We should not be astonished to learn of H5N1 outbreaks in birds or people in the next few weeks in nations located along the East Africa flyway, which overlaps with the already contaminated Black Sea/Mediterranean one: Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Gabon, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and the rest of the eastern African countries.
Because H5N1 has been confirmed in Nigeria, Egypt, Germany and Spain, which straddle the intersections of the Black Sea/Mediterranean and the East Atlantic flyways, over the next six weeks we should not be surprised to hear of H5N1 bird and even human cases in several northern European nations, including Britain and Iceland.
By June or July, if the biological imperatives continue to follow their course, H5N1 should turn up in eastern Siberia, and then Alaska, via the East Asia flyway. It might also at that time jump from Iceland, via Greenland, to northern Canada. Once in the Arctic zones of the Americas, H5N1 will be able to follow any, or all, of the four primary north/south flyways that span the Americas, from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego. It is in the realm of reasonable probability that H5N1 will reach the United States this summer or early autumn.
Instead of simply sitting back and watching nature take its course, the global community should be proactive. Being ahead of the virus is akin to being ahead of the migrating birds. Instead of waiting for dead birds, and even dying people, to turn up in new areas, political leaders should heed the warnings from science and act accordingly - as, apparently, Sweden and the Netherlands are doing. The Swedes and Dutch looked at their maps, plotted the movements of infected birds, and last week ordered farmers to bring their flocks indoors, out of harm's way. In poorer regions of the world, where indoor facilities for animals may be unaffordable, simple nets and fences can radically decrease contact between wild and domestic birds, and mass public education campaigns warning people to avoid contact with sick birds or carcasses may decrease the likelihood of avian-to-human transmission of H5N1.
One of the best untapped resources in this epic battle against influenza is bird-watchers, who are among the most fanatic hobbyists in the world. The major bird-watching organizations and safari clubs ought to work with the World Health Organization and OIE, the World Organization for Animal Health, to set up Web-based notification sites, where birders could report sightings of groups of dead birds, and the movements of key migrating species.
Ornithologists and climate experts should immediately sit down with pandemic planners and virologists, creating lists of known H5N1 carriers and plotting their most likely global movements. As the birds appear in new regions of the world, birders and professional wildlife surveillance personnel should issue alerts, which should be swiftly confirmed and form the basis of government response.
When carrier species are sighted in a region, swift action should be taken to minimize contact between the wild birds and their domestic kin. In such a way, it might be possible to limit avian deaths to susceptible wild birds, such as the dying swans of Europe.
While the H5N1 virus remains an avian killer, wealthy nations and biomedical companies should work hard on developing a rapid, simple method of diagnosing flu infections in people. Currently, many of the delays in reporting human cases around the world are due to the tedious laboratory procedures necessary to diagnose H5N1 infection. We urgently need a quick infection test that can be performed by nonprofessionals.
Rather than waiting for a tide of H5N1 to wash over the world's birds, mutate, and then move in a tidal wave over humanity, we should create lines of defense that start with the wild animals, move next to protect poultry, and then rely on rapid screening of human beings to determine who is, and is not, infected with the virus.
In the absence of these sound footings, everything else is just wasted billions of dollars.
(Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Coming Plague.")
Bird Flu Summit Starting Monday In Washington, DC
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=38400
Main Category: Bird Flu/Avian Flu News
Article Date: 26 Feb 2006 - 23:00pm (UK)
Chairman of the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme, Koos van der Velden, and Senior UN System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, Dr. David Nabarro, will be the first speakers at the Bird Flu Summit starting Monday in Washington, DC.
Joining them will be bird flu experts from around the world to focus on the business-related issues in pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery at Washington, DC's first Bird Flu Summit to be held February 27-28, 2006 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City near Reagan National Airport.
The 2-day event, featuring public sector and private sector leaders addressing the bird flu threat, will be co-chaired by international healthcare advisor Dr. Joseph Agris ( www.flulab.com), and will present collective approaches to pandemic influenza preparedness and business continuity planning.
Special emphasis will be placed on identifying the responsibilities of various takeholders in order to improve communications, coordination and collaboration worldwide.
www.flulab.com
http://www.new-fields.com/birdflu/agenda.htm