03/06 | Daily Bird Flu Thread: Health-care workers could face fines of up to $100,000

Link to yesterday's thread: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=188478


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)

Since December 2003, avian influenza A (H5N1) infections in poultry or wild birds have been reported in the following countries:

* Africa:
o Niger
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 Hungary
o Italy
o Romania
o Russia
o Serbia and Montenegro (H5)
o Slovak Republic
o Slovenia
o Switzerland (H5)
o Turkey
o Ukraine

* Near East:
o Egypt
o Iraq (H5)
o Iran

* South Asia:
o India
o Kazakhstan
o Pakistan (H5)


For additional information about these reports, visit the
World Organization for Animal Health Web site.

Updated March 3, 2006
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/outbreaks/current.htm#animals

Pandemic bill raises alarm
Health-care workers could face fines of up to $100,000 and jail if they refuse to work.​

By JOHN MINER, FREE PRESS HEALTH REPORTER

Sweeping new Ontario emergency legislation has health-care workers afraid they may be forced to choose between protecting their families and a jail sentence if a flu pandemic hits the province.

Bill 56 has raised alarms with doctors, nurses and other health-care workers because it contains a clause that gives the Ontario cabinet power to "authorize" any person reasonably qualified to provide services in a declared emergency.

The penalty for violating the proposed law is a fine of up to $100,000 and a year in jail for each day the order isn't obeyed.

"That's a big stick," said Goderich emergency department doctor Ken Milne.

Milne said yesterday doctors and other health-care workers want to care for people but shouldn't be forced to work if anti-viral drugs aren't available to them and their families.

"What happens when you come home at night and you have a tickle in your throat. Do you want to expose your wife, your kids to something because you have answered the call?

"It is one thing to lose your dad or your mother, it is another thing to bring it home and wipe out your family," he said.

Dr. Merrilee Fullerton of Kanata, near Ottawa, said as a mother her first duty is to her dependent children, even in the face of a flu pandemic.

"I have already given the best years of my life training to become a physician and in providing care. Now that I have a family, do not ask me to sacrifice myself in a pandemic for which most medical treatments will be useless anyway, and in which health-care resources like respirators are likely to be overwhelmed," she wrote in an e-mail to The Free Press.

In introducing the legislation in December, Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Monte Kwinter said he wanted the bill passed by June.

Kwinter said the law will give the government the ability to say to people: "No, you can't leave. We need you to do this job."

Responding to members' concern about being "conscripted," the Ontario Medical Association has raised the issue with Kwinter's ministry and the Health Ministry.

Association president Dr. Greg Flynn said he's been assured the legislation isn't meant to let government force health professionals to work against their will.

Yesterday, the Health Ministry referred questions about the bill to Kwinter's ministry, which didn't return calls.

A spokesperson for the Ontario Nurses Association said its legal analysts are still studying the bill's meaning.

"We have great concerns about the bill," said Vicki McKenna, first vice-president of the ONA.

"The reality is, our nurses are on the front lines, at the bedside and they are the ones at the highest risk of exposure."

Nurses are prepared to provide care but want the proper protective gear such as the correct masks when a flu pandemic hits, McKenna said.

"We aren't getting those assurances at this time," she said.

Tim Carrie, chairperson of the Canadian Auto Workers union, Local 27, which represents registered practical nurses at London hospitals, said Bill 56 fits with other legislation from Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government, which gives it all sorts of arbitrary powers.

"It obviously gives us concern. It looks like they are trying to centralize power at Queen's Park," he said.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2006/03/01/1467449-sun.html

Poland

Poland Identifies H5N1 for First Time​

Poland has detected the country's first two cases of H5 bird flu, the agriculture minister said Sunday.

Further tests were being conducted on the wild swans to determine if it is the deadly H5N1 strain, which has reached Poland's neighbors, including Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia.

Agriculture Minister Krzysztof Jurgiel said the H5 virus was detected in the swans, which were found dead on Thursday in the center of Torun, a northern city about 200 kilometers northwest of Warsaw.

An EU laboratory in Britain was conducting tests on samples from Poland and results were expected within days, Jurgiel said.

The Polish authorities have informed the European Commission and have taken precautionary measures.

They have established a high-risk area of 3 kilometers around the outbreak and a surveillance zone of 10 kilometers. Restrictions have also been placed on the six poultry farms and four processing plants in the region.

More cases in Switzerland, Romania

Meanwhile, Switzerland has discovered four further cases of the H5 bird flu virus in wild birds, the federal veterinary office said yesterday, bringing the total number of cases found so far to 11.

The virus was found in two dead ducks in Steckborn, a town in the canton (state) of Thurgau which borders Germany. A dead coot with the virus was found in the same canton while the fourth case was a coot discovered in the canton of Zurich.

Samples from the dead birds had been sent for tests at a laboratory in Britain and it would take a week before it was clear whether the birds died from the aggressive H5N1 form of the virus, the office said.

In Romania, new suspected cases were found in a Danube river village Sunday.

(China Daily March 6, 2006)

http://www.china.org.cn/english/international/160238.htm#

I might just go burn that CNA certificate.....

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006100579,00.html

Bird flu 21 miles away
(from UK)
By CHARLES RAE

TEN seagulls have died of bird flu at a Channel port just 21 MILES from Britain, it emerged yesterday.

Their bodies were discovered close to Boulogne — France’s biggest port.

The French agriculture ministry confirmed all the birds had the H5 strain of bird flu. Unlike the H5N1 strain, it is not potentially lethal to humans. But the UK Government is still desperate to keep it out of Britain. The gulls’ bodies were discovered last Thursday.

The news comes amid growing fears that bitter weather in northern France will force disease- ridden birds across the Channel.

France, which is Europe’s biggest poultry producer, last week confirmed an outbreak of the H5N1 virus at a turkey farm in Ain — the first in the European Union. More than 43 countries imposed curbs on French poultry products, including foie gras.

After the outbreak in Ain, French officials launched a mass vaccination programme.

Targets included an ornithological park next to the infected turkey farm, which contains over 400 species of protected birds, including pelicans.

The H5N1 virus has killed more than 90 people and millions of birds after it spread from Asia to Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Poland yesterday announced its first case of bird flu as Switzerland and Romania joined France in reporting further cases.

Two swans found dead on the banks of the River Vistula in Poland tested positive.

Further tests were being carried out at a British laboratory last night to see if it was the deadly H5N1 strain. In an attempt to protect the poultry industry, Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said he would have chicken for dinner.

Romania began culling birds as a precaution against the virus after it found new suspected cases in a village by the River Danube.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2006/03/05/2003295794

Bird flu experts warn of dangers
VIRUS UPDATE: Researchers from a number of countries congregated in Taipei to discuss the latest developments in the fight to prevent an avian-flu pandemic
By Shelley Shan
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Mar 05, 2006,Page 2


International avian flu specialists gathered in Taipei yesterday to give an update on the spread of the disease.

Masato Tashiro, director of the Department of Viral Diseases and Vaccine Control at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo, warned that cases in which the virus transmitted from birds to humans had begun to rise recently and human-to-human virus transmissions are likely to be seen in the near future.

"Avian-human transmission happens sporadically, but the number of cases are increasing," Tashiro said, "Flu viruses are constantly undergoing mutations, which could result in human-to-human virus transmissions, which is the worst case scenario."

Despite this tendency, Tashiro said efforts should still be made to contain bird to human transmissions.

Tashiro is heavily involved in influenza research for the WHO. He said the organization has been monitoring how the virus changes and had developed vaccines from the bird flu strain which caused the outbreak in Vietnam in 2004.

However, it has been found that the viruses prevalent in Indonesia and China recently are different from the Vietnamese strain, he added.

The WHO has since developed another group of vaccine candidates, of which one is now designated as the prototype. It has been distributed to pharmaceutical companies for mass production. The drug is currently undergoing clinical trials, Tashiro said.

According to Tashiro, the vaccine was developed from modified pathogenic viruses. He said the process of producing the vaccine is challenging, given that the viruses are highly contagious and might accidentally contaminate the vaccine producers as well as the inoculated chicken eggs.

While storing an adequate amount of Tamilflu is essential in preventing an outbreak, Tashiro said much more needs to be done.

"The WHO's containment strategy requires a lot of preparation, it includes a surveillance system as well as a reporting and information mechanism," Tashiro said, "But infrastructure in many Asian countries is not organized enough."

Tashiro added that an avian flu case needs to be contained within three weeks. After three weeks, the infection will accelerate to the extent that makes it difficult to contain.

The symposium took place as China's Guangdong Province reported on Thursday the death of a man from suspected avian flu. The Swiss government also confirmed on Friday that it had found the H5N1 strain in dead wild birds.

Medical professionals from Hong Kong, Vietnam and Taiwan attended the symposium and shared their experiences in combating epidemic diseases, including bird flu and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), deputy director-general of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), introduced Taiwan's avian flu surveillance system through which schools, hospitals and regional health centers can quickly report any suspicious cases.

Chou said an outbreak in Taiwan would have a serious impact on the poultry industry, adding that the government is now more concerned about birds smuggled into the country and patients who may not seek medical attention immediately after any suspected cases emerge.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=336362006

Bird flu spreads to France's Mediterranean coast

Bird flu has spread to France's Mediterranean coast, with confirmation yesterday that a swan there died of the H5N1 strain.

All of France's earlier cases were in the south-east Ain region.

http://english.people.com.cn/200603/06/eng20060306_248170.html
(fair use applies)

Number of bird flu cases rises to 11 in Switzerland

With the discovery of four new cases of H5 bird flu, the total number of bird flu cases in Switzerland rose to 11 on Sunday.

The latest H5 cases were all found in the northeastern region of the country, involving two ducks and a coot in canton Thurgau and another coot in canton Zurich.

The Federal Veterinary Office said in Bern that it had sent samples, as with previous cases, to an EU laboratory in Britain to test whether the birds had died of the most dangerous H5N1 virus.

So far only one H5N1 case involving a wild duck has been confirmed in the country, whose lakes usually attract a lot of migratory wild birds.

No domestic fowl in the country have tested positive for the disease.

The veterinary office said that it expected further cases in the next few days as surveillance programs have been stepped up around the country.

Source: Xinhua

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aYW2AAjUrDJM
(fair use applies)

France First Case of Bird Flu in South, Near Camargue (Update1)

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- France said the H5N1 bird flu virus has spread south near the home of the pink flamingos of the Camargue, identifying the first case outside an enclave near the Swiss border.

The Ministry of Agriculture said today in a statement that a dead wild swan was found with the virus in Saint-Mitre-les- Ramparts, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) east of Camargue toward Marseille. A wild duck was also found in Ain, near Switzerland. Both birds were found dead on Feb. 28.

``We are faced with a new episode,'' Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said in an interview on RTL radio.

France is the biggest poultry producer of the European Union, and the world's No. 4 poultry exporter behind the U.S., China and Brazil, the French Poultry Industry said on its Web site. France found deadly bird flu in domesticated turkeys on Feb. 25, the first time the virus was detected in farm animals in the European Union.

The spread of the virus in birds creates opportunity for human infection as people come into contact with poultry during slaughtering, plucking feathers, butchering or cooking preparation. At least 93 of the 173 people known to have been infected with the H5N1 virus since late 2003 have died, according to the World Health Organization.

Camargue is the nesting area for thousands of pink flamingos and is the only place in Europe where they reproduce, according to the Web site of France's Ministry of Ecology. The area is also home to a third of France's ducks from September to March, the ministry says.

Exporter

Sales of chicken, duck and turkey have been in decline for months across the EU, the world's third-biggest poultry exporter, amid fears that avian influenza could enter the food chain through bird meat.

French poultry consumption has dropped about 30 percent from a year ago, Jean-Michel Lemetayer, president of the FNSEA farm union, told reporters at the agriculture fair a week ago.

Switzerland today said it suspected three further cases of H5N1 in wild birds, in the cantons of Zurich and of Thurgau. Poland reported its first case of H5 bird flu, in two swans, and is awaiting U.K. tests to verify if it's the deadly N1 strain.

Although not a single case of bird flu in humans has been found in France, a full outbreak could lead to 9 million to 21 million infected people, and 221,000 deaths in the country, the Health Minister said. France has 14 million doses of Roche Holding AG's antiviral drug Tamiflu, the biggest stock in Europe, and expects to have 33 million doses by mid-2007, he said.

News from Alabama

This article speaks to the plans Alabama is making if bird flu should the state. Interesting ideas, I bolded them for those who skim.


http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060306/flu.shtml
(fair use applies)

State prepares for bird flu

By M.J. Ellington
DAILY Staff Writer
mjellington@decaturdaily.com · (334)262-1104

MONTGOMERY — Within six months, a bird infected with bird flu will travel prevailing wind currents from Asia or Europe and land somewhere in South America.

There, in a country as close to Alabama as Brazil or Columbia, the bird will spread its infection to other fowl that fly northward to the United States.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt speculated about the scenario at a pandemic conference in Birmingham as a way to emphasize the need for preparedness.

No one in the United States has detected a case of H5N1, the current bird flu infection that has spread from Southeast Asia to some birds in Europe. But in a world increasingly concerned that bird flu may be the next pandemic to simultaneously sicken large numbers of people in many countries, health officials are preparing.

They say they want Mr. and Ms. Average Citizen to learn how to prepare for a pandemic, do the planning and get on with their lives.

"If you are a bird, this is a pandemic," said Dr. Don Williamson, Alabama's state health officer. "If you are a human, it is a reason to be aware and plan."

The bird-flu threat has changed the way Alabama monitors for flu. And if bird flu makes the jump from a disease primarily affecting fowl to one that causes widespread sickness in humans, it will also result in different treatment methods, even before a vaccine is available.

No vaccine on the market protects humans against avian flu and only a slow, outdated vaccine production system is in place, if one became available. Health researchers worldwide are scrambling for an effective way to immunize against avian flu virus.

Williamson said because of the threat, Alabama is monitoring for flu 12 months of the year, using reports from doctors and health clinics that treat patients with flu-like symptoms. Before this year, that monitoring concluded with the end of flu season.

Avian flu does not follow typical seasons, Williamson said. Flu symptoms that show up outside the typical winter flu season alert health planners early to the possibility of pandemic that would involve months, not weeks, of illness as it spreads.

Pandemic planning

Williamson said the pandemic summit was one step in a process to get business and community leaders, school officials and average citizens to do pandemic planning.

Health planners say in a pandemic, businesses might allow some employees to connect with the office by computer from home. Others whose jobs require equipment at the office might remain there with essential supplies, clothing and bedding until the crisis passes. Schools might teach through distance learning with students turning in homework by computer.

Williamson said about $2 billion of the $8 billion pandemic preparation package President Bush requested earlier this year would go to vaccine research, if Congress approves.

He said the $2 billion could make a modern flu vaccine that protects against more viruses for periods similar to other vaccines. He criticizes the current flu vaccine manufacturing and delivery system, which depends on chicken eggs to grow the vaccine that changes every year.

Pandemic planners suggest guidelines that are reminiscent of days before modern medicine.

"This reinforces no matter how smart we think we are, we are not smarter than this molecule of a virus," Williamson said, as he asked people to take planning seriously. "In the 21st century, we could be just as vulnerable as people were in 1918."

Age groups different

Priority age groups for treatment would be different in a bird flu pandemic. Williamson said that in the 1918 pandemic, the most deaths occurred in people ages 15 to 35 with little or no immunity from exposure to similar illnesses. Williamson said the highest risk groups would be similar for the H5N1 bug.

Cindy Lesinger, public health pandemic influenza coordinator for Alabama, said once a vaccine is available priority groups will apply in a pandemic. In addition to the 15-35 age group, Lesinger said priority groups include health-care workers, police, firefighters and people who provide essential public service.

"We also have to look at family members," Lesinger said. "If they are sick, will the workers we depend on want to leave them to help us?"

Lesinger expects to meet leaders at churches and businesses across the state to involve them in educating the public about pandemic self-help. She said some planners recommend home emergency kits with extra non-perishable food, water, hand cleaner and first-aid supplies, similar to emergency weather kits, if people need to stay home.

Campaign for hunters

The state may do an education campaign aimed at hunters.

"They may be the first people to notice unusual numbers of dead birds in the woods," added Lesinger.

If a bird with the virus made it to a home kitchen, Lesinger said, cooking the meat until it is well done kills the virus.

The Department of Public Health Web site has information on how to prepare your household and business for a pandemic. Go to www.adph.org, click on "A-Z information" and then "pandemic information."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/06/international/europe/06flu.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
(fair use applies)

March 6, 2006
Recent Spread of Bird Flu Confounds Experts
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

OZZANO EMILIA, Italy — As new outbreaks of bird flu have peppered Europe and Africa in recent weeks, experts are realizing that they still have much to learn about how migrating birds spread the A(H5N1) virus, leaving the continents vulnerable to unexpected outbreaks.

After new scientific research published in February clarified the role of wild birds in spreading the disease from its original territory in southern China, the virus promptly moved into dozens of locations in Europe and Africa, following no apparent pattern and upsetting many scientific assumptions about the virus and its course around the world. In fact, knowledge of how the virus is spreading in Europe and Africa is so rudimentary that experts say there is no way of predicting where it will strike next, although they are now certain that it will, again and again.

"We know next to nothing about this virus; we have only anecdotal information about where it exists and what birds it infects," said Vittorio Guberti, head veterinarian at the Italian National Institute for Wildlife here in a rural corner of northeastern Italy. He has been studying influenza in wild birds for more than 10 years.

"We don't even know where to focus. We have to sit and wait for the big epidemic to occur, and in the meantime there will probably be small outbreaks all the time."

Scientists do not know, for example, which species are the major carriers of A(H5N1). While they suspect that there may be a few areas at the fringes of Europe that are perpetually infected with the virus, they are not sure exactly where. And while they are convinced that the virus can be carried on trucks, on soles of shoes and in fertilizer, they are not sure how significant those routes are.

"Think about this," Mr. Guberti said in his cluttered laboratory here. "Two million ducks from Nigeria, where there is a big problem, will arrive in Italy. And we don't know a thing about them."

Outbreaks in Nigeria have occurred in commercial poultry, but there is no information about whether the disease is in wild birds. Samples from African birds have been shipped to Italy for analysis, but the laboratory has been overwhelmed by samples from Europe, a United Nations official confirmed.

If they are infected, North American birds may be vulnerable, too, since some wading birds from Africa will fly as far north as Canada and the United States in the months to come, experts said.

While A(H5N1) does not now readily infect humans or spread from person to person, scientists are worried that it could acquire that ability, setting off a worldwide human pandemic. Until this year, Europe's small fraternity of wild bird researchers was severely underfinanced, its warnings about bird flu unheeded. Now the researchers are racing to fill gaps in knowledge and answer crucial questions.

In February, new research provided clues about how the A(H5N1) virus broke out of its original stalking grounds in Southeast Asia, moving to western China and on to the edges of Europe late last year.

Dr. Guan Yi and his colleagues at the University of Hong Kong reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that some birds infected with A(H5N1) could survive for a week, and so were capable of spreading the disease over vast areas — to China's remote west and to Mongolia, for example. Previously, scientists thought that infected birds would be too sick to cover such distances.

From there, A(H5N1) predictably moved on to Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Romania and the Balkans. But the recent pattern of spread, into European and African nations, has been far more confusing.

"For a couple of weeks, it was raining dead swans all over Europe, which left everyone scratching their heads," said Jan Slingenberg, a senior veterinary official at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome.

Wetlands International, a Dutch nonprofit organization that has sent teams to several African nations to sample wild birds, has made a list of 17 species it believes are particularly likely to spread A(H5N1) in Europe. There is no list for Africa or Asia. Some species, like pigeons, which have provoked angst in European cities, are not particularly susceptible, so there is little point in directing vigilance there, officials said.

Mr. Guberti and others say they suspect that there are now permanent reservoirs of the disease on Europe's doorstep, so that birds like the mute swan may pick up the disease every time they enter the Continent. Suspects include the Black Sea and the lower Volga River, areas that have suffered previous outbreaks of A(H5N1), and where mute swans often winter.

Nations must identify such reservoirs, Mr. Guberti said, so that scientists can see which birds live there and where they migrate, creating a kind of early warning system.

The dead ducks that have been found in various corners of Europe, from Geneva to central Italy and the suburbs of Lyon, have proved even more disquieting to scientists.

"It's hard to explain," said Alex Kaat, spokesman for Wetlands International, noting that scientists have no idea whether the ducks got the virus from infected poultry nearby, from mute swans, from another species that is spreading the disease undetected in Europe — or if they are birds making an early migration from infected parts of Africa.

While ornithologists think that most of the cases in Europe are tied to migration, they are also quick to note that wild birds are sometimes unfairly blamed, as in Turkey and Nigeria. "It's easy to blame migrating birds, because then no one is responsible," said Juan Lubroth, a senior veterinary health officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization.

In Croatia, for example, Mr. Kaat said, fertilizer made of manure from infected poultry probably spread A(H5N1). The manure is commonly used to fertilize fish ponds, which are frequent stopover points for migrating birds that probably contracted the virus there, he said. The virus persists in water for weeks.

In Nigeria, the first huge outbreak occurred in January in hens in the north, a dry area far from the wetlands that are home to the country's migratory birds.

"The outbreaks were in the wrong place and at the wrong time of year," Mr. Kaat said.

Instead, he and others believe, Nigeria's problem was probably caused by the transport of sick birds or bird products infected with A(H5N1) from another country in Africa or even Asia.

PCViking said:

Association president Dr. Greg Flynn said he's been assured the legislation isn't meant to let government force health professionals to work against their will.

Click to expand...

Then what does he think the bill's purpose is exactly?

The reality is that the military is conditioned to work in hostile environments for the public good, whereas civilians, by and large, do not have the emotional and cognitive resources to assume this risk. Making threats isn't going to help the situation, but only fuel civilian panic in the medical profession, to which civilians are accustomed to flight, and so Canada will see an exodus of their medical professionals despite the intent of the legislation to produce the opposite results.

Canada imho would be better off improving training and resources such that the civilians feel that they are in more control of the flu threat, with filter technology and so forth, as well as increasing the military's recruitment of medical students for all disciplines whereby these recruits are fast tracked out of the military and back into the civilian sector. For instance, offer large sign-on bonuses to nursing and medical school students, whereby the students also receive brief tours and mil training, then are honorably discharged with completion bonuses and civilian job eligibility that places them in front of classmates that chose the civilian route (eg: 1 year mil service equals three years civilian employment history, so mil applicants are advanced in their careers). Also fast track early retirement to current medical officers such that they can complete their final years working at civilian jobs, yet still qualify for their full retirement pay. etc...

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...,0,598096.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-space
(fair use applies)

Biologists prepare for bird flu's arrival in Alaska and fear its spread

Frank D. Roylance | the (Baltimore) Sun
Posted March 5, 2006

As spring approaches in the Northern Hemisphere and millions of birds begin their ancient long-distance migrations, scientific evidence is mounting that the deadly H5N1 strain of avian-flu virus is flying with them.

If so, the virus may soon wing its way into Alaska, where biologists are establishing an unprecedented surveillance network as part of an aggressive, $29 million early-warning campaign with a new focus on birds in the wild. Until now, scientists' greatest focus has been on domestic flocks.

From Alaska, scientists fear, the virus will spread into all the Americas and ultimately become a global presence, raising the odds of it mutating and touching off a new human-flu pandemic.

"I think it is more likely than not that we are going to see [H5N1] bird flu in the Western Hemisphere," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

"Whether it takes place during this migratory season or the next is uncertain," he said. But "I wouldn't be at all surprised if we get some introduction of the virus during this season."

Scientists already suspect wild swans of carrying the H5N1 virus last month onto an island in northern Germany, where more than 100 of the birds were found dead.

The virus later killed a house cat on the same island, and Dutch scientists have evidence that cats can spread the virus to one another in the laboratory. Meanwhile, Thai scientists have found that dogs and cats there could also be carrying the bug.

All of these findings raise new questions about whether a virus hitherto spread by wild birds can now infect and spread among the mammals people live with.

"Probably not," Schaffner said. "In the real world, unlike the research lab, we see no mammalian die-offs and, believe me, they would have been noticed.

"But this is something we have to keep watching," he said.

Confined for years to poultry flocks in Southeast Asia, the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain has been moving west since May, across the Middle East and into Europe.

Although human commerce and travel can explain some of the virus' spread, its velocity in recent months has scientists increasingly convinced that wild birds -- and perhaps bird migration -- are also playing a significant role.

Since 2003, at least 174 people -- in Southeast Asia, Turkey and Iraq -- have been reported with H5N1 infections. Nearly all were ascribed to direct contact with infected poultry or contaminated surfaces, according to the World Health Organization. Ninety-four of those have died.

The (Baltimore) Sun is a Tribune Publishing newspaper.

Reading between the lines onlegislation (Bill 56)

Post #2 said:

Sweeping new Ontario emergency legislation has health-care workers afraid they may be forced to choose between protecting their families and a jail sentence if a flu pandemic hits the province.

Bill 56 has raised alarms with doctors, nurses and other health-care workers because it contains a clause that gives the Ontario cabinet power to any person reasonably qualified to provide services in a declared emergency.

The penalty for violating the proposed law is a fine of up to $100,000 and a year in jail for each day the order isn't obeyed.

"That's a big stick," said Goderich emergency department doctor Ken Milne.

Click to expand...

I woke up thinking about this.... Hmmm

a) It certainly addresses, anyone with a current license, be it Doctor or Nurse.

b) It Certainly addresses anyone working in a hospital or medical establishmnet.

c) It probably addresses anyone who'se let their licenses expire. e.g. parents who have opted to stay home and raise children.

d) Could it also be construed to address anyone who'se had CPR training? Spent any time in Med School? Or will they start deputizing people off the street?

When WTSHTF, the first wave of major casualties will be the people in the medical profession... the politicians know that. Like in any war, they're likely to draft... are we all vulnerable to facing the wrath or law along with the virus?

Then you have top remember that often laws are tested in the UK and Canada, before they try 'em in the USA.

Russia

Threat of bird flu spreading in southern Russia quite real ​

06.03.2006, 13.34

ROSTOV-ON-DON, March 6 (Itar-Tass) - The threat of bird flu spreading in southern Russian provinces is quite real, presidential representative in the southern federal district Dmitry Kozak said here on Monday.

"There's a real nature-caused danger of the spreading of bird flu; it's necessary to take all possible and impossible measures so that the spreading does not occur on a mass scale and does not become a real threat to human life," Kozak said at a meeting of the district commission for the prevention and elimination of emergency situations.

He underlined that authorities are facing much work to alert the population the danger of the infection.

"It's necessary to give an honest answer to people regarding possible mechanisms and sources of compensation for dead birds, or the failure to compensate at all," the envoy went to say.

It is also time to transfer to modern economic methods of resolving such force majeure situations, for which neither the state nor specific individuals are to blame.

Kozak underlined the necessity of introducing new technologies of keeping poultry. There is a number of companies in the southern federal district that do not experience such problems, because they have isolated their birds from contacts with the outside world. "They do not suffer losses, nor do they spend money on vaccination," Kozak said.

In this field, coordinated efforts of all executive bodies are required, he underscored.

Taking part in the meeting is Russia's chief sanitary officer Gennady Onishchenko.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=4066963&PageNum=0

Acquisition of Asian Sequences by H5N2 in British Columbia ​

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03050602/H5N2_BC_Asia.html

Recombinomics Commentary
March 5, 2006

Recent analysis of sequences in Astrakhan isolates has identified polymorphisms that are found in North America, raising the possibility that H5N1 has already migrated to North America. In 2005 Canada surveyed young ducks that were swabbed in August as part of a banding study. Although HPAI H5N1 was not identified, a surprisingly high number of H5 isolates were identified. In British Columbia 24% of the isolates were H5. However, H5 isolates were found throughout southern Canada. Although the bird flu sequences were said to have similarities with prior North America isolates, the sequences have not been deposited and therefore have not been analyzed fro H5N1 polymorphisms.

The only sequences deposited was an H5N2 isolated, A/duck/British Columbia/CN26-6/2005, from a farm duck. Only partial HA and NA sequences were deposited. The larger N2 sequences shared polymorphisms with a number of N2 isolates from Asia. A few of these polymorphisms were also found in H5N2 isolates from California or Texas, but the majority of the sequences were H9N2 isolates from Asia, as shown by one of the representative polymorphisms shown below.

Because the polymorphisms are acquired by recombination, these newly acquired polymorphism can be used to create a historical path for the polymorphisms. These past histories are most useful when applied to a robust sequence database. Moreover, a current database can be used to track recent and future movements of the virus as well as new recombinations base on the prevalent strains in the area.

Most of the recent isolates however, are not publicly available. They have been placed in a private database maintained by WHO. The WHO announcements on the sequences indicate that they are evolving via "random mutations" and future changes cannot be predicted. However, because the changes are primarily due to recombination, co-circulation of parental sequences can be used to predict recombinant.. Changes have been predicted for the receptor binding domain. As predicted, S227N appeared in the Middle East in the fall, and a Spring acquisition by H5N1of G228S in Europe has been predicted.

A robust and current database would allow for additional predictions. WHO should immediately release these sequences.

G179A

DQ309439 A/duck/BritishColumbia/CN26-6/05 2005 H5N2
AY790307 A/swine/Korea/S452/2004 2004 H9N2
AY790277 A/swine/Korea/S81/2004 2004 H9N2
AY800235 A/chicken/Korea/S1/2003 2003 H9N2
AY862633 A/chicken/Korea/S12/03 2003 H9N2
AY862637 A/chicken/Korea/S16/03 2003 H9N2
AY862638 A/chicken/Korea/S18/03 2003 H9N2
AY862631 A/chicken/Korea/S4/03 2003 H9N2
AY862632 A/chicken/Korea/S5/03 2003 H9N2
AY862635 A/dove/Korea/S14/03 2003 H9N2
AY862634 A/duck/Korea/S13/03 2003 H9N2
AY862630 A/silky chicken/Korea/S3/03 2003 H9N2
AY300945 A/turkey/CA/D0208652-C/02 2002 H5N2
AY262367 A/chicken/Hebei/1/01 2001 H9N2
DQ064412 A/chicken/Guangdong/4/00 2000 H9N2
DQ064419 A/chicken/Hebei/31/00 2000 H9N2
AY180813 A/Chicken/Nanchang/1-0016/2000 2000 H9N2
AY180815 A/Chicken/Nanchang/4-010/2000 2000 H9N2
AY180819 A/Duck/Nanchang/1-0070/2000 2000 H9N2
AY180825 A/Duck/Nanchang/7-092/2000 2000 H9N2
AY180828 A/Pigeon/Nanchang/7-058/2000 2000 H9N2
AY180829 A/Quail/Nanchang/2-0460/2000 2000 H9N2
AY180820 A/Quail/Nanchang/4-040/2000 2000 H9N2
AF222658 A/Chicken/Hong Kong/KC12/99 1999 H9N2
AF536717 A/Chicken/Liaoning/99 1999 H9N2
DQ064429 A/chicken/Ningxia/4/99 1999 H9N2
AF508583 A/Chicken/Beijing/8/98 1998 H9N2
DQ064434 A/chicken/Beijing/8/98 1998 H9N2
AF536714 A/Chicken/Hebei/2/98 1998 H9N2
AF536715 A/Chicken/Hebei/3/98 1998 H9N2
AF508586 A/Chicken/Hebei/4/98 1998 H9N2
DQ064424 A/chicken/Henan/5/98 1998 H9N2
AF536716 A/Chicken/Henan/98 1998 H9N2
AF536710 A/Chicken/Beijing/2/97 1997 H9N2
AF508595 A/Quail/Shanghai/8/96 1996 H9N2

H5N1 Bird Flu in Burkina Faso?​

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03050604/H5N1_Burkina_Faso.html

Recombinomics Commentary
March 5, 2006

The small village of Bazoulé, located at 30 km with l`ouest of Ouagadougou, knew last month a mysterious disease which made important devastations among the farmyard poultries.

In addition to chickens, the village recorded the massive death of ducks, guinea fowls, turkeys, pigeons and even of vultures for the same period.

According to victims', two minutes suffice for this disease to kill chicken and it takes thirty minutes to decimate all the poultry d`une farmyard, whatever its importance.

The usual chief of Bazoulé, which lost on this occasion more than 300 gallinacés, finds that this disease is different from the ordinary disease of chickens.

C`est what explains can be the fear of l`infirmier of the village, Souleymane Kanfando, which compares this disease with the aviary influenza and which, in addition to the pigeons and the vultures, lost in a few hours l`essentiel what composed its farmyard.

The above translation suggests bird flu has arrived in Burkina Faso. The rapid massive deaths in many species, including waterfowl, is characteristic of H5N1 bird flu. The location of Ouagadougo is also suggestive of bird flu. To the east H5N1 has been confirmed in Nigeria and Niger. To the west birds have died in Mauritania and WHO is investigating bird deaths to the north in Mali.

Burkina Faso is in Black Sea Mediterranean flyway, which includes Siberia, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, and Niger, all of which have reported large outbreaks of confirmed H5N1. The location is also close to the East Africa West Asia flyway as well as the East Atlantic flyway. The confirmed outbreaks in Africa suggests H5N1 infections is widespread throughout the continent. But the convergence of three major flyways in western Africa suggests H5N1 infections in that area may be highest.

This convergence will lead to extensive missing of various versions of the Qinghai strain. Currently only a partial sequence of a Nigerian isolate has been made available. Other isolates from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa has not been made available to the public. Many sequences are being hoarded at the WHO website, which is password protected.

The Qinghai strain sequences are likely to continue to rapidly evolve. H5N1 is spread over a large geographical area and involves several distinct flyways that overlap and converge.

Analysis of the movement and evolution of H5N1 would be aided by the sequestered sequences, which WHO should immediately release.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HKG310270.htm

Bird flu death in China sparks worries in Hong Kong
06 Mar 2006 11:22:53 GMT

Source: Reuters

MORE
By Tan Ee Lyn

HONG KONG, March 6 (Reuters) - The death of a man from avian flu in China's southern Guangdong province, where there are no reported outbreaks in birds, has sparked worries in Hong Kong where experts urged authorities to track down the source.

Most of the 94 people who have died from the H5N1 since late 2003 in East Asia and the Middle East contracted the virus directly from sick poultry.

But the man from Guangdong is among several in China who have died in areas with no reported H5N1 outbreaks in birds. Nine people have died so far in China from H5N1.

Experts in Hong Kong, neighbouring Guangdong, are now demanding to know how thorough surveillance of the disease is in China.

"It may mean that the surveillance system is not good enough to detect such an outbreak, or poultry deaths have not been handled as seriously as human cases, that they are buried or burnt without investigating the cause," said infectious disease expert Lo Wing-lok in Hong Kong on Monday.

"There is a case for the Guangdong provincial government to come clean on the situation of poultry infection in Guangdong."

Guangdong shares a land border with Hong Kong, where the H5N1 virus made its first known jump to man in 1997, killing six people.

After China confirmed that the man died of H5N1 late on Sunday, Hong Kong announced a suspension of all live chicken imports from Guangdong for three weeks from Monday.

The man, who died on Thursday, had apparently stayed for a lengthy period at a nearby live poultry slaughter site where he was carrying out a market survey.

Hong Kong newspapers said Chinese authorities had tried to stop mainland media from reporting the death of the man until it was confirmed to be H5N1.

Although most human victims of H5N1 contracted it directly from birds, experts fear that the virus could mutate and spread easily among people, triggering a pandemic.

WORRYING ABSENCE OF A SOURCE

The Guangdong case has spawned worries of asymptomatic chickens -- apparently healthy chickens that are infected with H5N1 and which can potentially infect other birds and people -- even among mainland Chinese experts.

"The threat of bird flu is now getting closer to the human species. The possibility for the virus to pass from infected animals, which haven't shown symptoms, to human beings has increased," Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, told Hong Kong newspapers on Sunday.

Lo said efforts to control the disease would be complicated if asymptomatic chickens became a factor in the equation.

"If there's no outbreak in poultry, it is even more worrying. It may be an indication that poultry is infected but not showing symptoms. This is even more dangerous and serious because people can get infected without any warning," Lo said.

However, microbiologist Julian Tang at the Chinese University urged calm, saying experts still had to establish how infectious asymptomatic chickens are.

"If this is really happening, more people would be sick ... I don't think this advances the argument that there's more likelihood of human transmission. It's the closeness to Hong Kong that's worrying people," Tang said.

China has been vaccinating its poultry against flu for several years now, but that has not stopped the spread of H5N1 into at least 14 provinces and regions over the past year.

Experts now fear that some of the vaccines used in China may be substandard or becoming less effective.

"The situation would worsen if evidence shows the virus can now negate (the effect of the) vaccines," said Ho Pak-leung, a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong.

Bird flu suspect dies in Central Java​

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060306.D03&irec=5

The Jakarta Post, Boyolali/Semarang

A 10-year-old boy suspected of having avian influenza died in the Central Java town of Surakarta on Saturday. The boy, a native of Boyolali regency, is reported to have contracted the disease through direct contact with affected chickens two weeks earlier.

The boy's hometown in Sanggrong village, Andong district, some 30 kilometers north of Surakarta city, is an area where avian influenza or bird flu is endemic. Thousands of chickens and birds reportedly have died there since the bird flu outbreak in 2004.

The boy was taken to Dr. Moewardi hospital for treatment Wednesday, the day when a 12-year-old girl who was suspected of having bird flu died at the same hospital. The girl, also a Boyolali native, died two days after her 10-year-old brother passed away after suffering from the same classic bird flu symptoms. None of the three have been confirmed as bird flu cases through laboratory tests.

A member of the medical team in charge of suspected bird flu patients at the hospital, Suradi, said the latest patient had similar symptoms to the two who had died, such as a high fever and declining thrombocyte levels.

"We had to isolate the boy since he arrived at the hospital in a critical condition," Rivtiono, another team member, said Saturday.

The team however did not explain whether a sample of the boy's blood had been sent for laboratory tests to confirm he had bird flu.

Head of Boyolali Regency Health Office, Syamsudin, confirmed the boy was suspected to have died of avian influenza. "A day after the victim had direct contact with a dead chicken in his house, he suffered from fever and a cough. He was treated at Andong community health center before being referred to Dr. Moewardi hospital," Syamsudin told The Jakarta Post.

The Boyolali health, agriculture and animal husbandry officials conducted a mass cull Sunday in a radius of some 1,000 meters from the victim's house, he said. "We don't want another case like this," he said.

Meanwhile, 20 hospitals in Central Java have been appointed as referral hospitals to treat suspected bird flu patients,

According to the head of the Central Java Health Office, Budihardja, the hospitals were appointed to ensure a quick response to the spread of bird flu in the province. Earlier, only four hospitals were appointed, he said. "But following the spread of bird flu, we have increased the number of referral hospitals," Budihardja said.

http://www.norwaypost.no/cgi-bin/norwaypost/imaker?id=22549

Consumers turn to Norwegian salmon
The scare of the bird flu after it has reached Europe, has made consumers in the EU countries turn from chicken to Norwegian salmon. So far this year the export of salmon has increased by 10 per cent, according to fresh figures.

The sale of Norwegian salmon in the EU has increased markedly over the past week, while the sale of chicken has dropped drastically all over Europe, particularly in countries where the bird flu virus has been diagnosed.
- The demand is unusually strong. There is no doubt that the bird flu affects the sale, says Ole-Eirik Leroey of the Leroy Seafood Group to Dagens Naeringsliv.

My thoughts on bird flu:

Being in law enforcement, we had our bird flu training last year. The guy that does it has some medical background: Former EMT, CPR instructor, etc. etc. We were talking about a month ago. I basically told him that I would not be coming in if this thing hits and people are dying. I told him the _best_ thing for the government to do is have a forced curfew, stay at home. He is a good guy, but gets hyped up on the fact that since we are first responders, we would get called in to maintain order. He said that us and our families would get shots, etc. etc.. I told him I didn't want a shot and would not be responding. He really wasn't surprised, as I imagine he would likely do the same, reguardless of what he says.

He asked if I had enough food to survive. Now I know he eats out a lot, is not a prepper. I told him that since we eat at home, that I do have food. I said maybe a month if you cut back to a bowl of total, etc. etc.. He said one would need six months of food. I am not sure where he gets this figure. As such, I am planning on looking at MRS. I want to store some food, but don't know the best way to go about it.

It was also said that bird flu might not be as bad here if it's just with animals. Like he said, we don't live with our poultry food. This is a big thing for me, as most countries still have a decent amount of people raising their own birds.

The scary thing is the jump to humans and then human to human transmission. Again, I believe the government is try to save the 'welfare' class of society and I don't really know why. Why do I say this? Human to human bird flu is likely to strike the poor/homeless type folks first. These people usually have weak systems to start with. Once these folks get it, the folks/relatives they may stay in contact with are likely poorer folks. The problem with declaring an emergency and telling everyone to stay home so these few sick and be treated, well that causes the idiots to flock to the hospitals because they sneeze and think they have bird flu. It is this scare factor that demands the call-in of cops and medical people. I honestly believe the vast majority of these idiots who think they have bird flu will be the poor folks. Whenever I deal with them, they always seem to have something...real or imagined I don't really know and cannot prove.

I honestly believe that if a curfew were enacted, bird flu wouldn't be that bad at the start. If it gives us enough time to find a cure or something I don't now. The curfew may have to be reapplied every flu season (usually the fall-winter months). However, government will try to save everyone, thus we will likely have a disaster on our hands at either hospitals or make shift treatment centers.

http://newswithviews.com/BreakingNews/breaking42.htm

DoD ISSUES REPORT ON PLANS FOR BIRD FLU PANDEMIC


Posted 1:00 AM Eastern
by David Bresnahan
March 6, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

WASHINGTON -- The Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland
Security, and Defense will have a plan for response to a bird flu
pandemic completed by the end of March.

Health and Human Services is taking the lead role in the plan that is
being completed by each department to create a pandemic influenza plan
in time for the end-of-March deadline established by the Dept. of
Homeland Defense last year, according to a DoD medical official.

During a recent Joint Operations Medical Managers Course in San
Antonio, Texas, Ellen Embrey, deputy assistant secretary of defense
for force health protection and readiness, told the gathering that the
plan will lay out the roles and responsibilities in varying stages of
an avian influenza (bird flu) outbreak, whether in the United States
or overseas.

"We've been working on and implementing training and policy guidance
to make sure we're prepared globally," said Embrey in a DoD report of
the San Antonio course. "We have to ensure we have the surveillance in
place, installation preparedness, global understanding and a stockpile
of necessary components to mount an effective medical response. It's
an enormous task."

Embrey explained that Health and Human Services is in charge of U.S.
government response, with Homeland Security responsible for the
nonmedical response, and DoD ready to support any national response.

"It's a team effort," Embrey said. "The DoD has a unique set of assets
that, when needed, could be used to support the national response."
She added that the DoD will play a key role in the nation's
preparedness for an outbreak, and when the collaborative planning ends
in a few weeks the hard work will be apparent.

Ongoing collaboration between military services and federal agencies
is indicative of an ongoing commitment for the Defense Department to
work toward an "interoperable and interdependent future," Embrey said
in the report.

Each command, according to the DoD report, will have its own
implementation plan, a tasking that touches every installation
throughout the world. The overarching goals in this planning effort
are to preserve operational effectiveness and protect those most at
risk. Each combatant commander must have a plan in place to address
pandemic influenza and the effect on operations, because some people
may be sick for a while, and the commanders have to project how this
could affect their ability to perform their mission.

The joint environment is most evident in the medical arena, Embrey
said, a trend based on a DoD focus to provide "world-class medical
care when needed anywhere in the world."

She cited the battlefield as an example of joint interoperability.
When service members are injured in combat, they are administered care
by a medic, whether Air Force, Navy or Army, then evacuated by a Navy
helicopter or Army Humvee to a forward surgical team, which exists in
all services. Once stabilized, they are brought to the next point of
care, if needed, by an Air Force fixed-wing aircraft back to a major
medical facility, such as the Army's Brooke Army Medical Center in San
Antonio or Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"For us, it's making sure the capabilities we have in each service are
interchangeable, so, for instance, any service's medic can operate the
same equipment. We don't want to have to learn new equipment when time
is of the essence," Embrey said. "Through joint training,
standardization and combining and making efficiencies where we can, we
can ensure top quality care anytime and anywhere."



Embrey urged those who are concerned to visit the DoD Deployment
Health and Family Readiness Library, which includes information for
clinicians, servicemembers, unit leaders, veterans and their families
on deployment-related health issues. "It's a one-stop shop to learn
about what the department is doing in the health and readiness arena,"
she said in the report.



© 2006 - NewsWithViews.com - All Rights Reserved

David M. Bresnahan has over 30 years of experience as an award-winning
journalist, broadcaster, radio station owner, talk show host, and
business owner. David has been a prominent writer for many Internet
newspapers.

Web Sites: www.Bresnahan.org

and www.ThatPRGuy.com

For radio interviews or comments:
nwv@Bresnahan.org

Me?? A nurse?? You must mean my ummmm .... sister ..... yeah, that's it! My sister! I haven't seen her in a while, I think she told me she was heading to ..... ummmmm ..... eeerrrrrrrr .......... Alaska! yeah! Alaska!!

I think maybe I'll go casual next fall. So I can put myself in as "unavailable" as needed.


Suz

Again, I believe the government is try to save the 'welfare' class of society and I don't really know why

ravekid:

The reasons for this are thus:

1) We have a moral responsibility to help the poor and indignant...err..indigent. Many folks in .gov have no problem taking this comandment to the point where everyone is adversly affected by .gov's "solution" to the problem.

2) Local, State and Federal government is largely concerned with secondary impulses...education, welfare, bread and circuses, etc. The bureacracies involved with these activities will do whatever it takes in order to keep functioning so that they keep their power and jobs. The welfare type "clients" (as if these people ever paid for anything in their lives) are the .govs raison d'etre.

3) Many in the .gov, as well as in the general populace, believe that the ill effects of disaster should be shared equally by everyone in society. Again, people who prepare for disaster are seen as the enemiy because they don't need the socialist bureacrats "helping out" , spread this out to a significant number of the population, and folks start seeing that bureaucracy just gets in the way of people, and soon folks start to do things like homeschool, generate their own power, grow their own food, establish local trade and barter, etc. All this contributes to individualism and voluntary community, something which socialists view not unlike a vampire does the Cross.

Mar 06 20:11

Pregnant woman dies of suspected bird flu ​

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A pregnant woman died after being treated for suspected bird flu for six days at the Intensive Care Unit of the Sulianti Saroso hospital here on Monday morning.

"The patient named Mulyani was 21 weeks pregnant She was brought to the hospital six days ago at around 9.30pm and immediately treated at the ICU because her condition was very serious at the time," the head of the Team for Extraordinary Infectious Cases of the hospital, Dr Sardikin Giriputro, told ANTARA News.

The resident of Jalan Harlang, Kota Bambu, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, showed symptoms similar to those found in birdflu patients such as high temperature, fever, coughing, declining thrombocyte and leukocyte cells when she was admitted to the hospital.

To check whether she had really died of birdflu a test was currently being done on samples of her blood by the health ministry`s research and development division, he said.

Six people are currently being treated at the hospital for a suspected birdflu, two - namely Hafid (11 months) and T (12 months) intensively.

"Based on the results of tests on his blood samples, Hafid who has been treated for 23 days at the hospital`s Intensive Care Unit has been declared negative of birdflu but because his condition is not yet recovering he is still being treated at the unit," he said.

The six patients bring the total number of patients already treated at the hospital for suspected birdflu to 133. Out of the number 30 have already died while 11 others have been confirmed positive for birdflu. (*)

http://news.antara.co.id/en/seenws/index.php?id=9781

Ravekid said:

My thoughts on bird flu:

Being in law enforcement, we had our bird flu training last year. The guy that does it has some medical background: Former EMT, CPR instructor, etc. etc. We were talking about a month ago. I basically told him that I would not be coming in if this thing hits and people are dying. I told him the _best_ thing for the government to do is have a forced curfew, stay at home. He is a good guy, but gets hyped up on the fact that since we are first responders, we would get called in to maintain order. He said that us and our families would get shots, etc. etc.. I told him I didn't want a shot and would not be responding. He really wasn't surprised, as I imagine he would likely do the same, reguardless of what he says.

He asked if I had enough food to survive. Now I know he eats out a lot, is not a prepper. I told him that since we eat at home, that I do have food. I said maybe a month if you cut back to a bowl of total, etc. etc.. He said one would need six months of food. I am not sure where he gets this figure. As such, I am planning on looking at MRS. I want to store some food, but don't know the best way to go about it.

It was also said that bird flu might not be as bad here if it's just with animals. Like he said, we don't live with our poultry food. This is a big thing for me, as most countries still have a decent amount of people raising their own birds.

The scary thing is the jump to humans and then human to human transmission. Again, I believe the government is try to save the 'welfare' class of society and I don't really know why. Why do I say this? Human to human bird flu is likely to strike the poor/homeless type folks first. These people usually have weak systems to start with. Once these folks get it, the folks/relatives they may stay in contact with are likely poorer folks. The problem with declaring an emergency and telling everyone to stay home so these few sick and be treated, well that causes the idiots to flock to the hospitals because they sneeze and think they have bird flu. It is this scare factor that demands the call-in of cops and medical people. I honestly believe the vast majority of these idiots who think they have bird flu will be the poor folks. Whenever I deal with them, they always seem to have something...real or imagined I don't really know and cannot prove.

I honestly believe that if a curfew were enacted, bird flu wouldn't be that bad at the start. If it gives us enough time to find a cure or something I don't now. The curfew may have to be reapplied every flu season (usually the fall-winter months). However, government will try to save everyone, thus we will likely have a disaster on our hands at either hospitals or make shift treatment centers.

Click to expand...

As such, I am planning on looking at MRS. I want to store some food, but don't know the best way to go about it.


RK....thanks for your thoughts and information!!!

A good place to go for some food is through RC Refuge:
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=187542

Notice that in a few days we have gone from A CAT to SEVERAL CATS:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1691578

Bird flu found in cats in southern Austria
US Headlines


Mar 6, 2006 — VIENNA (Reuters) - The deadly H5N1 birdflu virus has been found in cats in the southern Austrian region of Styria, a spokeswoman for the regional government's minister of agriculture and health said on Monday.

The spokeswoman confirmed that the virus was of the H5N1 variety and was found in several cats in Styria, but declined to be drawn on details ahead of a news conference scheduled for 4 p.m.



http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3703643.html

March 6, 2006, 7:21AM
Cats in Austria Test Positive for Bird Flu

© 2006 The Associated Press

VIENNA, Austria — Several cats have tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, Austrian state authorities said Monday.

Two or three cats, all of which are still alive, have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease, Hans Seitinger, the top agriculture official in Styria state, told ORF.

Last month, German authorities confirmed that a cat there succumbed to the deadly virus. The cat, found on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen, is believed to have contracted the virus after eating an infected bird.

That is in keeping with a pattern of disease transmission seen in wild cats in Asia.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/05/D8EURHA83.html

Chicken Industry Plans to Test Flocks
Jan 05 7:23 PM US/Eastern

By LIBBY QUAID
AP Food and Farm Writer

WASHINGTON

Seeking to reassure people that chicken is safe to eat, companies that raise chickens said Thursday they will test every flock for bird flu before the birds are slaughtered.

Companies that account for more than 90 percent of the nearly 10 billion chickens produced in 2005 in the U.S. have signed up for the testing program and said it expects more to follow, according to the National Chicken Council, a trade group that represents producers.

"We just want to assure people of the safety of the food supply," council spokesman Richard Lobb said.

Consumption of chicken in the U.S. has held steady despite worries about a bird flu strain that has infected millions of birds throughout Asia and parts of Europe and has killed 74 people.

The average person in the U.S. ate 85 pounds of chicken last year, compared with 84 pounds in 2004, according to the Agriculture Department.

Chicken prices at the grocery store have dropped in recent months, mostly because production is up and exports are down, said David Harvey, a poultry analyst for the department's Economic Research Service.

The council did not say what companies are participating, although Lobb said, "Practically all the big ones are in it." Tyson Foods Inc. has more than one-quarter of the market, followed by Pilgrim's Pride Corp., Gold Kist Inc. and Perdue Farms Inc.

Tyson has been testing for bird flu and expanded efforts last fall, spokesman Gary Mickelson said. The company now tests all of its flocks and conducts 15,000 tests each week, he said. Pilgrim's Pride said Thursday it was joining in the testing program.

Lobb said many companies already are testing ahead of the program's start on Jan. 16. The program is voluntary. Companies will cover the costs; the council said it does not have cost estimates.

Georgia-based Fieldale Farms will spend "couple hundred thousand dollars a year," on testing, executive vice president Tom Hensley said.

"It's a big number to a little chicken company in Georgia, but it's worth every cent," Hensley said. Fieldale started the tests last month.

The plan is for 11 birds to be tested from each chicken flock, or farm. The council said the average flock has 55,000 to 60,000 chickens and that there are an estimated 150,000 flocks produced year. That would mean more than 1.6 million chickens would be tested.

Blood test samples from 11 birds would provide a confidence level of 95 percent of detecting an infection in a flock where 25 percent of birds are infected, said a government expert, Andrew R. Rhorer. He heads the department's National Poultry Improvement Plan, which focuses on disease prevention.

A consumer group said the testing, while a good first step, should be required of every company that raises chickens.

"For the industry to step up like this and start the testing program is a very important improvement," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "But it's critical that USDA ensure that all chicken producers are complying with the same requirements."

She urged wider testing of birds, saying "a 99 percent confidence level would be better."

Samples will be collected on farms and tested at state or industry- certified laboratories.

If testing turns up the most virulent form, or any H5 or H7 strain that can mutate into virulent forms, and results are confirmed by the department's premier lab, in Ames, Iowa, the flock will be destroyed on the farm, Lobb said. None of the birds from the affected farm will enter the food chain, the council said.

The virulent form of bird flu in Asia has not been found in the U.S. and is only now spreading into Eastern Europe. Authorities there say that cooking kills the virus. Health officials in the U.S. say it is safe to eat poultry that is properly handled and cooked.

Bird flu can spread to chickens, ducks, turkeys and other domestic birds through direct contact with infected waterfowl or other poultry, or contact with contaminated cages, egg crates, water or feed, according to the department. Even the dirt or manure on shoes, clothing or tires can be tracked from one farm to another and transmit the virus.

In bird flu outbreaks among poultry, anywhere from 90 percent to 100 percent of the birds can die from infection. In outbreaks, poultry farms typically are quarantined and the birds slaughtered.

___

http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/2006/03/us-troops-in-iraq-warned-about-bird.html

Monday, March 06, 2006
US troops in Iraq warned about bird flu

The US military is giving special instructions about bird flu prevention to troops and their families in Iraq, including a warning against eating local poultry.

“If you have influenzalike symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches) or an eye infection, difficulty breathing, especially after being in contact with potentially infected poultry, seek medical care as soon as possible.”

“Insist that soldiers who are sick get medical assistance. Stay away from others who are sick, but make sure they get care.”

“If you have sleeping cots set up in a tent or building, sleep in a foot-to-head pattern and have maximum possible distance between cots.

“Do not handle sick or dead birds of any kind. … You should not eat poultry originating in Iraq, but if you do, make sure it is thoroughly cooked. Avoid contact with birds of any kind, especially live poultry.” (Stars and Stripes)

So far their are two confirmed human cases among civilians and a number of other suspected cases. No cases are reported among occupying troops. But the security situation is hampering veterinary and health care work in the country:

News reports showing doctors in Iraq being forced to operate in corridors of hospitals are true, [Dr Naeema Al Gasseer, regional representative for the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Iraq] confirmed.

The healthcare system, already crippled by UN Security Council sanctions imposed in 1991, was further debilitated during looting after the 2003 US-led war in Iraq.

The WHO has said that the reconstruction of healthcare facilities in Iraq have been plagued by poor security and civil disorder. (Gulf Daily, Bahrain)

While we haven't heard a lot about bird flu in Iraq, the rumor mill says the US military is "scared shitless."

Just a rumor. But if it isn't true, it should be.

http://english.people.com.cn/200603/03/eng20060303_247450.html

Iraqi woman dies of suspected bird flu


The Iraqi government announced on Thursday that a woman, suspected of being infected with the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, had died in the southern province of Nassiriya.

Ibtisam Aziz, spokeswoman of the government's Committee on Avian Influenza, said in a statement that tests on samples from the woman were currently underway in laboratories in both Baghdad and Cairo.

In addition, samples from two villages in the Dayala province in northeastern Iraq are also being tested, said the spokeswoman, adding that the government had dispatched expert teams there to help cull the birds and disinfect the villages.

Iraq has so far reported two fatal human cases of bird flu. A teenage girl and his uncle from the northern Iraqi province of Sulaimaniya near the border with Turkey were confirmed dead of the deadly disease last month.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has claimed the lives of over 90 people worldwide since late 2003.

Currently, the disease only jumps from birds to humans. But experts fear that the virus might mutate into a form that can easily pass among humans, sparking a global pandemic.

Nigeria begins bird flu payments ​

Nigeria's government has started to pay compensation to farmers whose poultry have been killed because of bird flu.

Some 23m naira ($180,000) was paid to 47 farmers in the northern state of Kano, home to half of Nigeria's 450,000 birds to have died or been culled.

The farmers had demanded more than the 250 naira ($2) for each chicken, saying this was just half the market price.

But the BBC's Ado Saleh in Kano says that none of the farmers have refused to take up the government's offer.

Some, however, are unhappy that the payments only cover those birds which were killed by the authorities, not those who died from disease, reports the AFP news agency.

"The compensation is a joke," said Abbas Karofi.

He said he had lost more than 2,000 birds to bird flu, but that he had only been paid 60,000 naira ($450) in compensation for the 240 chicken that were culled.

Nevertheless, the authorities hope the payments will encourage other farmers to alert the authorities if their poultry starts dying, instead of trying to hide it.
No human cases of the H5N1 strain have yet been found in Africa but the United Nations has warned of a possible regional disaster if the disease continues to spread.

The deadly strain of bird flu has also been found in Niger, near the border with Nigeria.

Economic fears

Some public health officials have urged Nigerians to carry on eating chickens and eggs, as long as they are well-cooked.

They fear that a consumer boycott of poultry products could worsen the economic impacts of the bird flu.

More than 90 people have died of H5N1 bird flu since the disease's resurgence in December 2003 - most of them in South-East Asia.

Experts say that cross-infection to humans is still relatively rare and usually occurs where people have been in close contact with infected birds.

But they say if the H5N1 strain mutates so it can be passed between humans, it could become a global pandemic, killing millions.

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/4779064.stm

Published: 2006/03/06 15:32:06 GMT

Russia

Bird flu registered in 8 Russian regions - ministry ​

20:10 | 06/ 03/ 2006

MOSCOW, March 6 (RIA Novosti) - The Agriculture Ministry said Monday that bird flu has now been registered in eight Russian regions, all in the southern part of the country, a major stopover area for migrating birds.

The ministry said that, according to data gathered by its agriculture watchdog, cases of bird flu had been registered in the republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan, Chechnya, Kalmykia, Adygea, North Ossetia-Alania, and in the Krasnodarsk and Stavropol Territories.

Outbreaks among domestic birds have occurred in five areas: the Krasnodarsk and Stavropol Territories, Dagestan, Adygea, and Kalmikia.

Earlier on Monday, the Emergency Situations Ministry announced a suspected outbreak of bird flu in the Astrakhan Region, also in southern Russia.

No cases of humans contracting bird flu have yet been reported in the country.

The ministry said previously that about half a million birds died of bird flu during February in southern Russia.

"The third wave of the disease swept the country starting February 3 and is still ongoing," a ministry spokesman said. "About 500,000 birds have died from a virus that lab research identified as bird flu since the pandemic broke out, and more than 215,000 birds have been culled."

Over 1.3 million birds have died or been slaughtered in three outbreaks of bird flu since July 2005, or over 44,000 every day, the ministry said. This includes more than 416,000 birds, or about 17,500 every day, that died from the virus.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060306/43966945.html

Here's an interesting side article on Gold investing and the flu

http://futures.fxstreet.com/Futures/content/100300/content.asp?menu=review&dia=632006
(fair use applies)

WEEKLY COMMENTARY
Monday, March 6, 2006 17:43 GMT
Weekly Report
By Clif Droke
http://www.clifdroke.com

How Would Gold React to a Pandemic?

A reader asks, "How would you expect gold to react in a bird flu pandemic? My mind boggles trying to conceive of all the variables."

This question is being asked with greater frequency by serious investors after recent reports of domestic animals in Europe and other countries being infected by the infamous avian flu. In this article we'll try to answer some of these concerns as to how a widespread outbreak would likely affect investment market, particularly the gold price.

According to a BBC News report last week, a domestic cat in Germany was found to have the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the first such mammal to die in the European Union. Sweden and Romania have also reported finding the bird flu in some wild birds, a strain which it suspects could kill humans. One health official was reported as saying that bird flu was transforming from "epidemic to pandemic" proportions as the deadly strain traverses the globe.

The BBC report concluded with a statement that H5N1 does not yet pose a large-scale threat to humans. "However," the report said, "experts fear the virus could mutate and trigger a flu pandemic, potentially putting millions of human lives at risk."

This is the operative statement that isn't reflected in the report's headlines, nor in other news stories featuring similar reports of bird flu outbreaks. The headlines and opening statements are laden with fearful, almost apocalyptic warnings of a "global pandemic," yet these fears are based mainly on speculation than in observed reality.

Thus far the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found mostly in southeast Asia with 150 known cases of outbreak in humans. The fear among experts is that the flu will be carried by migrating birds to Europe and African and perhaps even to the United States by way of more indirect influences.

That bird flu or other strains of deadly disease are becoming an increasing risk in an increasingly interconnected world cannot be denied. This is one of the spillover effects of globalism, and such risks will only increase as the global economy becomes even more integrated in the next few years ahead.

But what of gold's reaction to pandemic such as bird flu? Much of the impetus behind gold's longer-term uptrend has already been discounted into its price in advance of the actual realization of such disasters. In other words, the insiders who have the luxury of foreseeing what troubles lie ahead have already taken the appropriate measures of increasing their exposure to fear-sensitive investment vehicles such as precious metals. The insiders often know in advance when and where a health-related crisis is going to descend and have already positioned themselves to profit thereby.

In the case of contagious diseases such as bird flu, the insiders can be expected of knowing already what are the chances of an actual outbreak of happening. One medium of communication among the insiders is the bi-monthly journal known as Foreign Affairs. Leading academic researchers and think tank experts convey ideas, analysis and opinions that are in turn read by the heads of the mainstream press and often reported as "news" anywhere from three months to a year after the information appears in Foreign Affairs.

Last summer, Foreign Affairs ran a series of articles on "The Next Pandemic" and how it might affect the policy and national security of various countries, including the U.S. The H5N1 virus was specifically discussed as being a potential threat and it isn't surprising therefore to see the subject showing up regularly in the press at this time. The series of articles were prefaced with these words: "Scientists have long forecast the appearance of an influenza capable of killing unimaginable numbers of people -- and avian flu has shown signs of becoming that disease." Laurie Garrett , who wrote the feature article in the July/August '05 issue of the journal entitled "The Next Pandemic?", attempted to connect the Spanish flu (which killed at least 50 million people) with avian flu since medical histories of the victims of both plagues "are disturbingly similar" according to Garrett. She warned that should another influenza pandemic occur today "most of the world would have no access to vaccine."

Do the intelligentsia therefore view a bird flu pandemic as a real possibility? The answer is obviously yes, otherwise it wouldn't be a prominent topic of discussion one of their official organs. At the very least they view the bird flu and similar epidemics as perceived public threats that will play a prominent role in the political and economic realms as well as in the dissemination of news. Therefore a discussion of "the next pandemic" is a topic worthy of our attention from an investment standpoint, regardless of whether the threat is a real or artificial one.

So how should a gold investor approach a potential bird flu or other widespread health crisis? First, by not panicking or being too hasty to draw conclusions based on a possibility that is still relatively remote. Buying or selling an investment vehicle based solely on fear is a sure recipe for failure in the financial markets. Investment decisions must be based upon one's discipline, whether technically or fundamentally based, which negates the possibility of emotion getting in the way of the buying and selling process.

That said, the fear of a major bird flu outbreak -- even if the chances of an actual pandemic are remote -- will be among the factors supporting the gold price in the next few years. Gold is a major barometer of fear and does tend to rise in value with an increase in public fear and pessimism. Now that we're only eight years away from the bottoming of the K-wave/120-year cycle we've entered the "fear stage" of this long wave cycle. The gold price tends to outperform other investments at two points along the K-wave: the first during the peak inflationary phase (a' la the 1970s). The next during the deflationary phase such as we're now in.

With the "hard down" phase of the 120-year cycle comes an increase in warfare, natural disasters and even pestilential outbreaks (the previous 120-year cycle bottom saw major epidemics of smallpox and cholera). But equally important is the widespread lingering fear that the final few years of the 120-year cycle engenders. This fear, though unwelcome to some, is actually a bolster to the price of many hard assets, including gold and silver. The "Wall of Worry" that is essential to keeping the long-term upward trend of prices intact is kept alive by fear, including fear (whether grounded in reality or not) of various pandemic threats. Gold's longer-term uptrend will most likely continue to be bolstered by such fears.


By Clif Droke
Frontlinethoughts.com
Web: http://www.clifdroke.com
E-mail: clif@clifdroke.com
Clif Droke is the editor of the Momentum Strategies Report (MSR), a 3-times weekly forecast and analysis of U.S. stocks from a technical perspective. He is also the author of numerous books on finance and investing, including most recently "The New Science of Parabolic Analysis." Visit his web site to subscribe to MSR and for free samples of his analysis at www.clifdroke.com

Disclaimer: Clif Droke is not a registered trading advisor. The information at clifdroke.com is based strictly on the analysis and opinions of its editor. We are not liable for any losses incurred from financial transactions based on information or advice contained in this newsletter. Financial markets are inherently volatile, therefore we make no guarantee that trading advice will always be accurate.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=17&art_id=13573&sid=6937574&con_type=1
(fair use applies)

Rich countries accused of reacting too slowly to bird flu spread

Wealthy nations have been slow to respond to the spread of lethal bird flu, said the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Wealthy nations have been slow to respond to the spread of lethal bird flu, said the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
"Governments have sinned by failing to look ahead and have a sense of solidarity," Jacques Diouf told French daily Liberation. The "crisis really began in December 2003," he said, but "rich countries only began to respond when the flu reached Turkey" two years later.

"Developed countries thought that this was going on in Asia, that it was far away, and that we were exaggerating the risks of the epidemic," said Diouf, adding that his agency had "tried to alert the international community" to the dangers.

"Egotism reigns," he said, adding that a global community based on solidarity was a still a "dream."

Diouf recommended the reinforcement of veterinary services on the ground in affected countries and the development of a cheaper, easier-to- administer vaccine as ways of curbing the spread of the virus, which has leapfrogged from Asia to Europe and Africa.

In Geneva Monday, experts began a meeting at the World Health Organization to refine plans for rapid detection and containment of a potential global flu pandemic.

Despite fears that the virus could mutate when mixed with human influenza, it has not so far developed the capacity for person-to-person transmission.

The latest victim of the virus appears to be an Indonesian woman who was five months pregnant. She died Monday along with her fetus while being treated at Sulianti Saroso hospital in Jakarta.

Also Monday, authorities confirmed that bird flu had arrived in Poland. AGENCIES Winging to Americas: A34

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3704140.html
(fair use applies)

March 6, 2006, 11:44AM
WHO: Bird Flu Bigger Challenge Than AIDS
By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

GENEVA — The lethal strain of bird flu poses a greater challenge to the world than any infectious disease, including AIDS, and has cost 300 million farmers more than $10 billion in its spread through poultry around the world, the World Health Organization said Monday.

Scientists also are increasingly worried that the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily passed between humans, triggering a global pandemic. It already is unprecedented as an animal illness in its rapid expansion.

Since February, the virus has spread to birds in 17 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, said the WHO's Dr. Margaret Chan, citing U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates of the toll on farmers.

"Concern has mounted progressively, and events in recent weeks justify that concern," Chan, who is leading WHO's efforts against bird flu, told a meeting in Geneva on global efforts to prepare for the possibility of the flu mutating into a form easily transmitted among humans.

U.S. health officials said Monday they have authorized the development of a second vaccine to combat the deadly virus, which already is believed to be changing.

The U.S. government has several million doses of a first bird flu vaccine based on a sample of virus taken from Vietnam in 2004. The virus is believed to have mutated since then, health officials said.

"In order to be prepared, we need to continue to develop new vaccines," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said Monday at an immunization conference.

In Austria, state authorities said Monday that three cats have tested positive for the deadly strain of bird flu in the country's first reported case of the disease spreading to an animal other than a bird.

The cats had been living at an animal shelter where the disease already was detected in chickens, authorities said.

Poland reported its first outbreak of the disease, saying Monday that laboratory tests confirmed that two wild swans had died of the lethal strain.

Chan told more than 30 experts in Geneva that the agency's top priority was to keep the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu from mutating.

"Should this effort fail, we want to ensure that measures are in place to mitigate the high levels of morbidity, mortality and social and economic disruption that a pandemic can bring to this world," she said.

WHO says 175 people are confirmed to have caught bird flu, and 95 of them have died.

"No one can say when this will end," Chan said.

Global influenza pandemics _ as opposed to annual recurrences of seasonal flu _ tend to strike periodically. In the 20th century, there were pandemics in 1918, 1957 and 1968.

WHO said bird flu could potentially cause more deaths than those from the global flu pandemics. Because the H5N1 virus is airborne, it is easier to transmit and much more contagious than HIV/AIDS, WHO officials said.

Dr. Mike Ryan, director of epidemic and pandemic alert and response at WHO, said, "We truly feel that this present threat and any other threat like it is likely to stretch our global systems to the point of collapse."

This is the first time world health authorities have tried to stop a global influenza pandemic before it begins. Chan referred to the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, as evidence of "how much the world has changed."

SARS infected 8,000 people, killing 800 of them.

"In a globalized economy, with high volume of international travel, vulnerability to new disease threats is universal," she said. "It is the same for the rich and for the poor."

WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng said experts hope to isolate areas where there is a bird flu outbreak and establish agreements allowing international health authorities to respond quickly, testing viruses and implementing containment measures.

Public health measures to quarantine areas, isolate people or help give antiviral medicine to those infected with bird flu also are on the agenda of the meeting, which ends Wednesday.

Even if a pandemic cannot be stopped, WHO says such measures can buy time for health authorities to improve their response strategies and stave off the disease until a pandemic vaccine can be produced.

Meanwhile, a top animal health official with the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said developed countries had responded slowly to bird flu, failing to control the disease in Asia and not doing enough to prepare poor countries, particularly in Africa, for its spread.

"In 2004 we said it will be an international crisis if we don't stop it in Asia, and this is exactly what is happening two years later," said Joseph Domenech, head of FAO's Animal Health Service.

"We were asking for emergency funds and they never came. We are constantly late."

Sweden

New cases of H5 bird flu discovered in Sweden​

www.chinaview.cn 2006-03-07 06:18:57

STOCKHOLM, March 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Eight new cases of H5 bird flu were detected in Sweden at weekend, the Swedish Board of Agriculture said Monday.

Tests carried out on 31 wild birds found dead along Sweden's south-eastern coast revealed that eight tufted ducks were carryingwhat appeared to be a highly pathogenic strain of H5 bird flu virus.

The eight new cases of H5 were discovered in close proximity tothe spot in Oskarshamn where two tufted ducks were found and tested positive for the virus last Tuesday.

Researchers have yet to determine whether the Swedish ducks died from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, which in its most aggressive form has killed 100 people worldwide.

Decisive test results are expected back from a British laboratory early this week.

If the virus does turn out to be the H5N1 strain, Sweden will be the ninth country in the 25-member European Union to be affected by the deadly virus. Enditem

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/07/content_4267059.htm

The bottom is gonna fall out on us soon enough. Crap and I got asked back to work the E.D. I love the timing, I'm screwed.

March 6, 2006 -- The World Health Organization said today it is seeking ways to curb the spread of bird flu and called the outbreak in poultry around the world "historically unprecedented."

Margaret Chan, who is heading a team of health officials searching for ways to prevent bird flu from infecting humans, told a meeting of experts that in Asia alone more than 160 million poultry have been killed by the disease or culled to prevent its spread.

Chan noted that so far the disease has not mutated into a form that can easily infect humans, but she cautioned that 174 people had caught bird flu and 94 had died.

"We want to make sure that full exploitation of all opportunities is fully taken advantage of to prevent the H5N1 virus from developing the ability to ignite a pandemic," Chan said.

"And should this effort fail, we want to ensure that measures are in place to mitigate high levels of morbidity, mortality, and social and economic disruption."


http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticl...a131c887d0.html