03/21 | Daily BF Thread: Cabinet officials note Alaska's role in bird flu detection

Link to yesterday's thread: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=190387

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

For additional information about these reports, visit the
World Health Organization Web Site.

Updated February 8, 2006

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

* Africa:
o Cameroon
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 Myanmar (Burma)
o Thailand
o Vietnam

* Europe & Eurasia:
o Albania
o Austria
o Azerbaijan
o Bosnia & Herzegovina (H5)
o Bulgaria
o Croatia
o Denmark (H5)
o France
o Georgia (H5)
o Germany
o Greece
o Hungary
o Italy
o Poland
o Romania
o Russia
o Serbia and Montenegro (H5)
o Slovak Republic
o Slovenia
o Sweden
o Switzerland
o Turkey
o Ukraine

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

* 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 20, 2006
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/outbreaks/current.htm#animals

WHO, Avian Flu Timeline in .pdf: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/timeline.pdf

Cabinet officials note Alaska's role in bird flu detection​

By ANNE SUTTON, Associated Press Writer

(Published: March 20, 2006)

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - As migrating birds return to Alaska this spring, the state will become a focal point in federal efforts to detect the arrival of a potent form of bird flu on U.S. shores.

Speaking to reporters Monday from Washington, D.C., Interior Secretary Gail Norton, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt unveiled a plan to increase monitoring of migratory birds that are likely to bring the bird flu virus to North America.

"If migratory birds carry the highly pathogenic H5N1 or a similarly dangerous virus to the United States, it's most likely to arrive via the Pacific Islands or Alaska," said Norton

Wild migratory birds can serve as both a "pathway" for the disease and an "indicator" of its arrival in the U.S., said Norton.

"Therefore we need a robust system to detect the virus in wild birds as an early warning system," she said.

Federal and state agencies plan to test between 75,000 and 100,000 live and dead migratory birds across the country for the disease, concentrating their efforts on migratory bird nesting areas in Alaska, as well as Central, Atlantic and Mississippi flyways.

The sampling will include testing sick or dead birds, swabbing live and hunter-killed birds, monitoring free-range poultry and waterfowl and sampling the birds' water habitat.

In France the death of wild swans was an early indication of the presence of the H5N1 strain in Europe. Nearly a million domestic fowl were to be culled.

Bush administration officials say the virus is "increasingly likely" to be found in the United States this year though they caution that its presence does not signal the start of a human pandemic.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 98 people in Asia, the Middle East and Turkey since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Experts fear it may mutate into a form passed easily between people and spark a pandemic.

So far no humans have contracted avian flu directly from a migratory bird. Human deaths from the disease have been limited to those working in close contact with poultry.

Administration officials say their goal is a timely and transparent monitoring process.

Norton said she anticipated initial, so-called "presumptive" H5N1 results could be announced 20 to 100 times this year but those first tests would not tell whether the virus was a high or low pathogenic strain.

"It's quite possible we will have dozens of H5N1 reports with not one of them turning out to be the highly pathogenic variety," she said.

Norton said discovery of the bird flu was not a reason to panic and low pathogenic viruses cause little problems in birds and pose no danger to humans.

She said if the highly pathogenic strain is found, the response will depend on the circumstances.

The primary risk to human health however is not from wild birds, she said. And scientists believe that limiting contact between poultry and wild birds is a more effective way to manage the virus than restricting hunting.

She said state agencies are working with subsistence hunters to underscore the importance of handling wild birds in sanitary manner. Properly cooking an infected bird will destroy the virus.

She said culling wild birds is not considered to be an effective means of controlling the disease.

If the pathogenic virus is found in domestic poultry flocks, the USDA will act quickly to quarantine the area, destroy the birds and disinfect the area.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/ap_alaska/story/7550068p-7461670c.html

Brits in denial?

Bird flu could hit Britain, but might not hurt​

Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:24 PM GMT

By Elizabeth Piper

LONDON (Reuters) - Bird flu might arrive in Britain in wild birds in August or September, but poultry could escape the virus that has wiped out a farm in France, the British government's chief scientific adviser said on Monday.

David King said Britain was on "high alert" after France was struck by the deadly H5N1 flu strain, but offered soothing words to farmers who have struggled with a series of animal health scares, including mad cow and foot-and-mouth disease.

"If you look at migratory patterns, unless the weather gets even colder than it is now we would say it is very unlikely that there is going to be wild bird migration from Europe over to Britain in this winter period," he told Reuters.

"So following wild bird behaviour, what we would anticipate is that it's unlikely to come to the United Kingdom before the next return migratory pattern which would be in the summer, in August or September ... this isn't to say I believe that it will be here ... but that is the next higher probability period."

"To date we are pretty confident it is not in the wild bird population."

Britain has so far been spared avian influenza, which has spread from Asia to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. It has killed more than 90 people and millions of birds worldwide and was diagnosed at a turkey farm in the east of France last month.

Scientists fear that if it mutates into a form that is passed easily between humans, it could kill millions.

But King said even if it arrived, Britain's poultry farmers and human population could be spared.

"If it comes in the wild bird population what is the likelihood it happening in the poultry holdings? Quite possibly zero, it's going to be a small, a very small number of farm holdings that would go down," he said.

Ruling out the kind of destruction caused by foot-and-mouth disease, which in 2001 led to the mass killing of sheep and cattle, King said the way poultry was farmed in Britain meant the spread would be limited.

And there was more chance of winning the lottery than a human catching the virus.

"If it became endemic in not only wild birds but poultry, which I think is extremely unlikely, but if it did ... the chance of a human being getting the disease is less than one in 100 million," he said.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/new..._01_L2019731_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BIRDFLU-BRITAIN.xml

This should have been the lead story..., but then you would call me a sensationalist

Bird flu will kill us all​

Richard Carnes
Special to the Daily
March 20, 2006

Like religious convictions and global warming, I suppose it depends upon whom, or what, one chooses to believe.

One side of the cuckoo fence claims a potentially cataclysmic pandemic (global epidemic) that could kill up to 2 million Americans, with a "best case" scenario of only 200,000 American deaths.

Okey-dokey.

The other side claims government and corporate heads are conspiring to create the type of panic that will allow them both to make over $200 billion in worldwide vaccine sales.

Sounds pretty cut and dry.

So which is it?

The only thing scientists on both sides seem to agree on is the name "H5N1," which is nothing more than a standardized coding system of proteins involved in the virus itself. From that point forward they tend to agree as well as Sunnis and Shiites.

Recent history has seen a number of major flu pandemics, beginning with the most devastating in 1918 that killed more than 500,000 in the U.S. and anywhere from 20 million to 50 million worldwide (I can only assume the act of counting was more difficult back then).

For those searching for magical beings or evil New World Order type governments to blame for the curse, it was believed to have originated in Kansas.

Feel free to draw your own "intelligent" conclusions.

After that we had the 1957 Asian flu (first identified in China) that caused roughly 70,000 deaths, followed by the Hong Kong flu of 1968 killing about 34,000.

H5N1 emerged in 1997, and marked the first time that an influenza virus jumped directly from birds to humans, which is of course the main reason behind all the hyperbolic reactions of today.

According to scientists at WHO (World Health Organization), at least seven strains of H5N1 have evolved since, each connected in one way or another with poultry, affecting almost 200 people, killing half.

Notice the use of the word "evolved"? For those still stuck in the 14th century, it is formally called evolution, and has been occurring daily for the past 3 billion years or so on our planet.

These little H5N1 buggers constantly adapt to an ever-changing environment in order to survive, just like every other living entity that has ever existed on this planet, including those with the ability to gamble during March Madness. Think about that next time some of you are trying to convince yourselves about the planet only being 6,000 years old and you are living your entire life for the sole purpose of being lifted up to Neverland while the rest burn in hell.

But I digress.

Make no mistake about it, these tiny little microbial creatures do indeed exist, and their sole purpose is to survive, regardless of the consequences to other trivial life forms that happen to get in their way.

Hence the fear.

Evidently we learned nothing from the SARS panic of 2002, or even worse, the swine flu scare in the mid-'70s. That was the one allowing pharmaceutical companies to rush out and produce 5 million vials of questionable vaccine while the nation jumped up and down in collective panic, and ended up causing more deaths (along with the Guillain Barre paralysis syndrome) with the vaccine than the swine flu epidemic itself, which of course never actually materialized.

And now (last Sunday) we have the National Jewish Front claiming the bird flu outbreak in southern Israel is God's punishment for the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank disengagement.

Yep, that'll help calm the masses. Plus I'm sure it means a great deal to the families of those that have died from the bird flu in southeast China, being that they're so closely related and all.

Anyway, we must understand that most of the people who have acquired H5N1 were bird handlers in continuous contact with sick birds. We just need to relax, take a step back, and realize that the odds are better for each of us to win the lottery on the same day we get struck by lightning than getting the BS (Bird Super) flu.

Eat right, exercise, take vitamins, get plenty of sleep, and for Pete's sake stay away from coughing and sneezing birds with runny beaks.

While some will equate it with the coming of the Apocalypse, I put it along the lines of CostCo coming to Eagle County. We'll see what happens if and when it gets here.

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20060320/EDITS/103200057

Egypt

Cairo woman may have bird flu​

March 21 2006 at 03:32AM

Cairo - Egypt said on Monday that a third suspected human bird flu case had been discovered and the woman afflicted by the virus was in hospital.

The state MENA news agency quoted Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali as saying a 30-year-old woman had been admitted to hospital with symptoms of infection by the bird flu virus.

The woman came from Qaloubiyah, 40km north of Cairo, where two other cases had been reported in the last three days.

In one of the cases a woman died.

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=qw1142887505432B216

PCViking said:

Bird flu could hit Britain, but might not hurt​

Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:24 PM GMT

By Elizabeth Piper

LONDON (Reuters) - Bird flu might arrive in Britain in wild birds in August or September, but poultry could escape the virus that has wiped out a farm in France, the British government's chief scientific adviser said on Monday.

David King said Britain was on "high alert" after France was struck by the deadly H5N1 flu strain, but offered soothing words to farmers who have struggled with a series of animal health scares, including mad cow and foot-and-mouth disease.

"If you look at migratory patterns, unless the weather gets even colder than it is now we would say it is very unlikely that there is going to be wild bird migration from Europe over to Britain in this winter period," he told Reuters.

"So following wild bird behaviour, what we would anticipate is that it's unlikely to come to the United Kingdom before the next return migratory pattern which would be in the summer, in August or September ... this isn't to say I believe that it will be here ... but that is the next higher probability period."

"To date we are pretty confident it is not in the wild bird population."

Britain has so far been spared avian influenza, which has spread from Asia to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. It has killed more than 90 people and millions of birds worldwide and was diagnosed at a turkey farm in the east of France last month.

Scientists fear that if it mutates into a form that is passed easily between humans, it could kill millions.

But King said even if it arrived, Britain's poultry farmers and human population could be spared.

"If it comes in the wild bird population what is the likelihood it happening in the poultry holdings? Quite possibly zero, it's going to be a small, a very small number of farm holdings that would go down," he said.

Ruling out the kind of destruction caused by foot-and-mouth disease, which in 2001 led to the mass killing of sheep and cattle, King said the way poultry was farmed in Britain meant the spread would be limited.

And there was more chance of winning the lottery than a human catching the virus.

"If it became endemic in not only wild birds but poultry, which I think is extremely unlikely, but if it did ... the chance of a human being getting the disease is less than one in 100 million," he said.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/new..._01_L2019731_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BIRDFLU-BRITAIN.xml

Click to expand...

I guess Britian is 'special'.......I think they are living in a fantasy world.....or just a strong case of DENIAL!!!!!

When / If Bird Flu goes H2H will the U.S. secure borders?

Perhaps not much "if", but "when" H5N1 makes the transition to H2H transmission; do you think the U.S. (or other countries), will halt or secure their borders? Do you think that the U.S. will deny legal entry into the country for people to appear to have flu like symptoms? Or do you think that once bird flu does go H2H that the spread will be so fast and so devastating that closing borders will be a moot point?

How? We don't even attempt to secure them now with the threat of an Islamonuke....

http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2006/03/20/afx2608739.html

Denmark confirms 9 more cases of H5N1 bird flu in ducks
03.20.2006, 07:57 PM

COPENHAGEN (AFX) - Denmark has confirmed nine more cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus in ducks, the country's veterinary authorities said, two days after nine tufted ducks were found to be H5-infected.

They were found in the town of Aeroeskoebing, on the island of Aeroe in the south of the country on Saturday, Agence France-Presse reported.

Ministry source: Human carrier likely brought deadly virus into Israel from Egypt​

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/696514.html

By Amiram Cohen

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu probably entered Israel from Egypt, sources at the Agriculture Ministry said yesterday.

This conclusion - which ministry officials are currently willing to offer only off the record - is based on the fact that the virus was first discovered in southern communities (Holit and Amioz) located near the Egyptian border.

According to the officials, the disease apparently came from Sinai via people who visited Egypt and carried the virus back with them on their shoes, clothing or personal effects.

At least one such person was then apparently employed by the turkey farms where the virus first erupted - possibly as a supplier of food or equipment, or as a driver who transported the birds to the slaughterhouse - and he transmitted the virus to these birds.

Another possibility, though this is considered less likely, is that the virus was carried from Sinai by camels, donkeys or horses ridden by Bedouin smugglers, and that these animals then transmitted the disease to a Bedouin employed at one of the affected turkey farms.

Transmitted by tourists?

A third possibility - though this, too, is considered unlikely - is that the virus was carried by tourists from Turkey, or by Israelis who had visited affected areas of Turkey.

The most unlikely possibility, according to the ministry sources, is that the virus was carried by migrating birds.

Had wild birds been the source, they explained, it would be unlikely that the virus would have broken out at more than one farm, or two at the most, at the same time, and it is also unlikely that all the affected farms would have been raising tur keys rather than some other kind of poultry.

The fact that the disease broke out at several farms, all of them turkey-breeding facilities, appears to indicate that the source was probably a human being, or vehicle, that had visited all of these farms over the past two weeks.

The officials said that it might even be possible to locate the person or vehicle in question, as the incubation period for bird flu was three to five days.

Since the disease was first diagnosed in the middle of last week, the initial infection probably took place either early last week or the preceding weekend.

However, the exact source of the disease may never be determined, the sources added.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=6968

Plan for Bird Flu Now

Grant Czerepak
March 17, 2006

As predicted the WHO has informed us that it is likely that Bird Flu will be spreading into North America come the fall of 2006. As the virus spreads globally the likelihood of an outbreak of human to human infection increases. In fact representatives from the United States Health and Human Services have stated that it is time to begin building up rations at home.

An informal survey of the general public gives the impression that most people feel there is nothing that can be done. But is this true? Perhaps a pandemic virus cannot be evaded, however there are many "side effects" that can be dealt with. For example, you can prepare for temporary food and water shortages, you can prepare for interruptions in power and communication, you can determine where to go to learn to care for someone who comes down with influenza (simple dehydration is the greatest risk), you can learn how to get your children out of school, temporarily leave your job and still cover your bills. And this is the message the author believes our governments are trying to get across to us.

The greatest impact a pandemic will have is upon the personnel of the global supply chain. Companies are preparing for staff shortages of sixty to ninety percent. Thirty percent of employees are expected to be sick. Thirty percent of employees are expected to be caring for the ill. Thirty percent of the employees will simply remain at home afraid to have contact with others. The consequence is money and materials including essential services such as food, water and electricity will be impacted negatively to a degree no one can accurately forecast.

We live in a culture where we expect the government to provide assistance to tend to our every need. But in the case of a global pandemic there will be no cavalry. Every community will be attending to its own needs and every household will be pressed to provide for itself. This is why you have to have a plan.

Recently, The Bird Flu Insider Team, talked to a highly regarded health professional about how the health care system will deal with bird flu victims. She laughed and explained they did have gymnasiums allocated to house the sick, however health care personnel are already stretched to the maximum looking after the current workload. There will simply be no professionals available to address the needs of the sick in these temporary facilities. Again we emphasize, there will be no cavalry. Your ability to weather a pandemic will be directly related to the extent to which you make plans now.

If the US government is telling its population to “start stocking up on tuna”, it is reasonable to assume that we are only getting part of the story and that the tuna is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The Bird Flu Insider Team has tended to underplay the seriousness of the issue as we did not want to be perceived as alarmist "Chicken Littles". However, in the wake of the Katrina disaster it is patently obvious that the government understates the potential disruption of an impending disaster and the pandemic is shaping up to become a disaster of unparalleled proportions.

We are not advocating you rush out you buy dry food, masks and generators, however you have to begin thinking about the implications for your physical and financial health. It is time to prepare a plan. It is time to have a discussion with you family. It is time to bring up the subject at work. It is time to bring up the issue now, because when "the levies break" good decision making will fall to the wayside.

US chickens may wing it through bird flu
By Henry Hamman in Shelbyville, Tennessee
Published: March 20 2006 23:29 | Last updated: March 20 2006 23:29



For US poultry farmers, it is not a matter of whether but when bird flu will strike. Their much-maligned factory farming, however, is giving them some confidence they could cope with an outbreak more easily than their struggling Asian and European counterparts.

As Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East battle with the spread of the disease, industry executives, university researchers and government officials display widespread optimism that the $50bn(€41bn, £28bn)-a-year industry would emerge largely unscathed if migratory birds brought the virus to the US.

Apart from niche producers of free-range birds, the US poultry industry is a vertically integrated business that looks less like agriculture and more like a just-in-time manufacturing business.

The industry says the tight control that comes with such integration would be key to keeping its 1bn chickens free of bird flu.

Tyson Foods’ complex in Shelbyville, Tennessee, is typical of an industry that has been the target of protests from animal rights groups. It comprises a hatchery, feed mill and processing plant and 260 farmers who operate 700 chicken barns. The complex produces 62m chickens per year.

The chickens see blue sky only twice in their lifetime – once during the ride in a specially designed van that takes hatchlings to the plant and once again on their way to the abattoir.

This isolation drastically cuts the chance of exposure to avian diseases, even if, as critics of the industry argue, the tightly-controlled growing cycle produces bland-tasting birds.

Similar to manufacturing industries, the big producers constantly seek to improve productivity. The Shelbyville complex proudly showcases Tyson’s latest weapon in the productivity struggle – the automated chicken barn.

Christy Warner, a former production engineer for a tyre company, manages the complex’s eight barns with the help of one worker who passes through them daily to remove dead birds. A computer tracks the mortality rate.

Officials at the US Department of Agriculture say tight controls in the US industry have proved themselves. Although the US was home to the serious human influenza pandemic of 1918, believed to have originated from birds, the country has experienced only four significant outbreaks of high-pathogenicity bird flu since 1924.

Richard Lobb of the National Chicken Council, which represents big commercial producers such as Tyson and Pilgrim’s Pride Corp, says the news from Asia and Europe has heightened attention to safety in the industry: “We are taking the precautions that we ought to be taking. Biosecurity is at a very high level.”

Paul Knepley, state veterinarian for Pennsylvania, says: “The US has the safest poultry supply in the world with regard to avian influenza.” But he admits that the state’s smaller operations that raise chickens outdoors for live sale, as well as game birds such as pheasant and quail, are “significantly vulnerable”.

No one knows how many of these flocks exist. As one local agriculture official in Tennessee says: “It would be impossible to have a list of every person who had fowl.” Besides, he adds: “Some folks out there are raising [illegal] fighting roosters, and they don’t want anybody contacting them.”

And for all their optimism, industry executives and agriculture officials have also watched with dismay how consumer fears have hit countries such as Italy, where poultry consumption has fallen dramatically.

Consumer fear is “quite a serious potential problem”, says Gary Thornton, editor of Watt Poultry USA, the industry’s oldest trade journal. “We can control a disease outbreak, but we have no control over consumer reaction.”

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1432c0dc-b869-11da-bfc5-0000779e2340.html

Moot point. When they hear about case 1 will they turn the planes around in mid air and send them back to wherever they came from. Or maybe they land fuel up and take off again with nobody not even the pilots leaving the plane. This could get interesting. Remember the movie Quarantine? The president and family evacuate to Whidby Is. off Seattle and anyone approaching is threatened with flambeau.

Gotta add it was a made for tv movie and is very difficult to find. The bio-accident happens in Heathrow and the agent is very much like birdflue. A WCS with a happy ending to appease the sheeple.

Bird Flu Is Underreported In Africa, Allowing Spread

/noticias.info/ Bird flu has affected more countries in Africa than the four nations that have officially reported outbreaks, and reluctance to publicly disclose infections is contributing to the virus's spread said a World Health Organization (WHO) official, Agence France Presse and Bloomberg (03/20) report.

Nigeria, Egypt, Niger and Cameroon are the only countries that “dared announce their results,” the WHO's representative in Gabon, Andre Ndikuyeze said. “Others haven't been so brave and have not taken the necessary steps, which is another factor in the spread of the epidemic.” As widely pointed out by numerous experts, bird flu poses a particularly worrying threat for Africa, which lacks the basic healthcare and infrastructure of the developed world, and where poultry and humans tend to live in close proximity. Also, any large scale slaughtering of poultry, the best weapon against the virus, is bound to have severe economic and nutritional consequences in an impoverished continent where the chicken plays such an important role in diet. Representatives from the WHO, the United Nations, aid organizations and governments are scheduled to meet in Gabon Monday for three days of talks aimed at galvanizing a pan-African response to avian influenza.

http://www.noticias.info/asp/aspComunicados.asp?nid=157229&src=0

Bird flu: 106 human & 2000 bird samples sent for testing

Jalgaon, Mar 21: As culling operations ended and no suspected human case of bird flu has been found till now, the local administration, in a precautionary measure, sent 106 human samples and 2000 bird samples for further testing before declaring the area "bird flu free."

"The situation in Jalgaon is under complete control after five days of health surveillance of four lakh residents in the four birdflu affected villages and no suspected case of birdflu has been detected till now", Jalgaon Civil Surgeon Adhar Chaitran told here today.

He said 106 more samples were sent yesterday of which 95 has been sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune, and 11 samples to national institute of communicable diseases in Delhi.

"The results of all these reports are awaited. Once they are received, we will know the exact position if there are any other symptoms of bird flu in humans," Chaitran said.

Apart from the 106 human samples sent for testing, 2000 fresh bird samples from 15 other talukas of the district covering 102 villages will be sent to Animal Disease Centre in Bhopal, according to deputy commissioner of animal husbandry, Jalgaon district Mohammed Moinuddin.

"These samples are sent through our special messenger. All the doctors who are involved in the culling process has been kept in quarantine and they will be under observation for the next five days. There are around 64 members of culling team with 60 doctors and four supervisors," he added.

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=282948&sid=REG

CelticRose said:

Perhaps not much "if", but "when" H5N1 makes the transition to H2H transmission; do you think the U.S. (or other countries), will halt or secure their borders? Do you think that the U.S. will deny legal entry into the country for people to appear to have flu like symptoms? Or do you think that once bird flu does go H2H that the spread will be so fast and so devastating that closing borders will be a moot point?

Click to expand...

JohnGaltfla said:

How? We don't even attempt to secure them now with the threat of an Islamonuke....

Click to expand...

Don't forget about the economics... They're in denial as is... they were in 1918 too. It'll probably be downplayed until it's totally 'out of hand'.

I'de reccomend watching for stories in local media of whole schools being closed, becasue so many students are sick, or mystery flu stories, etc. Niman, said the thing to watch for was brush fires (family clusters, etc) all over the place... that would be the sign that it had started... right now it appears more like that than it did 1, 2, 3, 4 months ago. But, we're not there yet.

ER doctor says bird flu could swamp hospitals​

Tuesday, March 21, 2006
TROY GOODMAN
News staff writer

It's unclear if a bird flu virus setting off alarm bells around the world will ever make its way to the United States and Alabama.

But if it does, hospitals throughout Jefferson and Shelby counties will not have enough room in their ERs or on patient floors to handle the hordes of infected patients who are likely to show up, said Dr. Thomas Terndrup of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"I think the question is what do we do about surge capacity and are we prepared? The answer is no," said Terndrup, a Vestavia Hills resident and chairman of UAB's emergency medicine department. His comments came last week during a forum held by Vestavia Hills' volunteer Health and Emergency Response Committee.

Mayor Scotty McCallum asked the group, led by Terndrup, to get together and begin talking about bird-flu preparedness and the responses needed. Others who attended were Dr. David Freedman, a UAB professor of geographic medicine, and Kirk Avent of the Jefferson County Health Department.

If a flu pandemic becomes a reality, Terndrup said there is very little the general public can do to halt the spread, except maybe cancel meetings, close schools and remind others to cover their cough and wash their hands.

Freedman said similar pandemics have happened in the early to mid-1900s, so there is a sense of how long the flu outbreak will last before receding to manageable levels.

"The reality from someone sitting here in Vestavia Hills is that it's going to last about six weeks; that's been the experience," Freedman said.

Last week U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said wild birds infected with a virulent strain of bird flu are expected to arrive on American soil later this year. That finding would not, in itself, trigger a public health emergency since the virus has not developed the ability to spread easily among humans, Leavitt said.

Since the re-emergence of the deadly H5N1 bird-flu virus in 2003, it has killed more than 90 people. Most of the concern on H5N1's spread is focused on Asia and Africa, although Europe and Middle Eastern regions are now at risk.

As they begin to draft plans, municipalities are being advised by the state Department of Health to get ideas from business leaders, educators, health care workers and other groups to prepare for worst-case scenarios like mass hospitalizations and public confusion.

As McCallum said, "We want to be as self-sufficient as possible."

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1142936372260360.xml&coll=2

Egypt

Egypt reports 4th human bird flu​

From: Reuters From correspondents in Cairo
March 22, 2006

EGYPT has reported a fourth suspected case of bird flu in humans - a 17-year-old boy whose father had an outbreak of the disease on his chicken farm in the Nile Delta.

Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali said the boy was taken to hospital in the town of Tanta and treated with Tamiflu, the drug used to fight bird flu in humans.
His condition was "good and stable", he said.

The teenager was the fourth Egyptian suspected of contracting the disease from infected birds. Of the first three, one died, one recovered and the third is receiving treatment.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18561286-23109,00.html

<table width="100%" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3" bordercolor="#000000" height="43"><tr><td bgcolor="D08153"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b><font size="4" color="#FFFFFF">Bird flu virus 'now in two forms' </font></b></font></td></tr><tr><td bgcolor="#f5f5dc" height="2"><div align="left"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><b><font size="2">Fair use policy applies
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4828078.stm</B>

The H5N1 virus responsible for the current virulent strain of bird flu has evolved into two genetically distinct strains, US scientists have confirmed.
They fear this could increase the risk to humans - and complicate the search for an effective vaccine.

The US team analysed more than 300 H5N1 samples taken from infected birds and people between 2003 and summer 2005.

Details were presented to the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.

Prior to 2005 every known human case of bird flu had been caused by a particular subtype of the H5N1 virus, which infected people in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

But the latest analysis by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified a genetically distinct variant which appears to have emerged last year, infecting people in Indonesia.

Researcher Dr Rebecca Garten said: "As the virus continues its geographic expansion, it is also undergoing genetic diversity expansion

"Back in 2003 we only had one genetically distinct population of H5N1 with the potential to cause a human pandemic. Now we have two."

Pandemic concern

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia and killed nearly 100 people worldwide and infected about 180 since it re-emerged in 2003.

Scientists fear it could evolve to gain the ability to jump easily from human to human, at which point it could trigger a pandemic, resulting in millions of deaths world-wide.

All influenza viruses mutate easily, and H5N1 appears to be no exception.

Dr Nancy Cox, chief of the CDC's influenza branch, stressed that neither of the two genetic subtypes of H5N1 had the ability to pass easily from human to human.

US authorities are now working on vaccines to combat both subtypes. However, the development of a definitive vaccine can only take place once the exact form of a pandemic virus is known.

Despite this researchers are confident that a vaccine that could protect against one subtype of H5N1 would also offer at least partial protection against the other.

Professor Hugh Pennington, a microbiologist at Aberdeen University, said flu viruses were expert at evolving rapidly to exploit new opportunities.

He said it was possible that either of the two subtypes could gain the ability to jump from person to person.

Science may have under-estimated the ability of H5N1 to spread across large areas of the world in the way that it has already done, he said.

"But no need to panic. The virus is still a bird virus, it is not yet a human virus, and it may never be a human virus.

"As long as we manage to keep it reasonably under control in the birds I think we can breathe relatively easily for at least a year or two."


</font></font></div></td></tr></table>

Shouldn't Israel, Egypt, and Denmark be on the first CDC list above? And maybe there are more countries missing...

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21771263.htm

Dutch farmers shun bird flu vaccination for now
21 Mar 2006 12:19:15 GMT

Source: Reuters
MORE
By Anna Mudeva

AMSTERDAM, March 21 (Reuters) - Many Dutch farmers are choosing to wait rather than vaccinate poultry now against bird flu because they fear a negative effect on exports, industry groups said on Tuesday.

The Netherlands launched preventive vaccination on Thursday for its 1-3 million backyard poultry and about 5 million free-range poultry against the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu virus after receiving EU permission on Feb. 22.

But the main Dutch poultry farmers organisations said most farmers have not started vaccinating because the biggest importer of Dutch poultry, Germany, refuses to buy meat and eggs from vaccinated animals as consumers fear possible health risk.

"Very few farmers have started vaccinating," said Jan Wolleswinkel, chairman of the Dutch poultry farmers union.

"Farmers want to vaccinate but not at this moment. The big problem is that German retail traders and supermarkets refuse to sell products from vaccinated Dutch chickens. 70 percent of our exports go to Germany," he told Reuters.

The Netherlands is a top world poultry exporter with annual sales of 1.5 billion euros ($1.82 billion) and Europe's second biggest producer after France.

Some of the Netherlands' 130 organic poultry farmers are also holding off vaccination for now because of export worries, said the chairman of their union, Christian Borren.

"When we see that consumers in Germany want our eggs then farmers will start vaccinating massively," Borren said.

Dutch farmers are also worried that more countries outside the European Union will follow Japan's decision to ban Dutch poultry imports after the vaccination started.

The Netherlands main poultry export markets are Germany, Britain, Belgium, France, Ukraine, Japan, Poland and Russia.

The Dutch government fears a repeat of the devastating 2003 outbreak of a different bird flu virus that led to the culling of 30 million chickens, or over a third of the national flock, and says vaccination could limit the spread of the disease.

Preventive vaccination is voluntary throughout the country and an alternative to the requirement that birds be kept indoors to avoid contact with wild birds infected with H5N1.

The Dutch farm ministry said it had no information how many farmers had registered to vaccinate their flocks so far. Vaccination will be repeated two weeks after the first round in order to be effective.

Farmers will pay for the vaccines and related logistics costs, while the government will cover the costs of a parallel monitoring programme that will detect any outbreak among vaccinated birds.

Farmers said preparations for the vaccination were taking longer than the ministry had expected. Special rings needed to mark vaccinated birds were yet to be produced in large quantities, Wolleswinkel said.

Hobby poultry can be vaccinated between March and June, while the period for organic and free-range chickens runs until June next year, the ministry said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP249700.htm

Pakistan confirms H5N1 bird flu strain in poultry
21 Mar 2006 12:19:23 GMT

Source: Reuters

MORE
(Adds poultry industry reaction)

By Simon Cameron-Moore

ISLAMABAD, March 21 (Reuters) - The bird flu virus found in two Pakistan poultry flocks late last month was the deadly H5N1 strain, officials confirmed on Tuesday.

But livestock Commissioner Muhammad Afzal said there had been no other cases of bird flu since the outbreak was first reported on Feb. 27 at farms in the North West Frontier Province.

Samples from two farms were sent to a laboratory in Britain, and the flocks -- totalling around 23,000 birds -- were culled.

"I can only confirm that the H5N1 type of virus was found in chickens from both the farms," Agriculture Ministry official Mohammad Akhlaque told Reuters.

"We have conducted tests on the people who worked on both the farms and they are healthy. There is no sign of any bird flu in those people. We have already culled all chickens so there is not much more we can do," he told Reuters.

"The situation is under control and there is no report of any further outbreak of H5N1 from any part of the country," Afzal said, adding that tests on birds from central Punjab and southern Sindh provinces have proved negative and a nationwide survey was being conducted as a precaution.

Pakistan had been bracing for bad news from the British laboratory because the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus had already been identified in neighbouring Afghanistan, India and Iran.

Moreover, Pakistan's own National Avian Influenza laboratory had identified an H5 strain at the two farms over three weeks ago, raising the probability that N1 would also be present.

The virus has spread across Asia, parts of the Middle East, Africa and Europe, and has killed about 100 people worldwide since 2003.

One farm in Charsadda, 120 km (75 miles) northwest of Islamabad, was a commercial egg farm, while the one in Abbotabad, 125 km (80 miles) north of the capital, was a small breeder farm.

"The public is assured that cooked poultry meat and eggs are safe to eat and there should not be any undue concern in this regard," the ministry's statement said.

Despite the scare, which has almost halved prices for poultry and eggs, Munir Ahmed, a 24-year-old poultry butcher in NWFP's provincial capital of Peshawar, was fatalistic.

"Life and death is in the hands of God," said Ahmed, as he slaughtered chickens by chopping off their heads in front of his customers.

"Chickens have always suffered diseases. They die too. What's the big deal?"

Maruf Siddiqui, a spokesman for of the private Poultry Farms Association, said confirmation of the bird flu had put the country's poultry industry into a big crisis.

"It has hit the last nail in the coffin. The industry is now in a deep crisis and many farms will close down very soon," he said.

There are 30,000 poultry farms in Pakistan and the country's daily chicken consumption is up to 3 million and egg consumption is 16.2 million.

Siddiqui said the industry's losses were estimated at 480 million rupees ($8 million) per day.

Seabird said:

Shouldn't Israel, Egypt, and Denmark be on the first CDC list above? And maybe there are more countries missing...

Click to expand...

The confirmation process is pretty long and involved... and lags real time, but days or weeks. Since WHO & the CDC have the final say as to counts... that's why I've opted to use their data. But, if you do notice, they are adding new countries every couple of days.

From CurEvents....

http://www.curevents.com/vb/showthread.php?t=43361

Homeland Security Digital Library....

https://www.hsdl.org/hslog/?q=taxonomy_menu/1/10

Consequences of bird flu pandemic could be devastating says new report​

In PDF Format.....Avian Influenza, or “Bird Flu”:What You Need to Know

http://acsh.org/docLib/20060309_birdflu.pdf

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<B><center>Bird Flu Undergoing Genetic Change
<font size=+1 color=blue>But that doesn't mean a human flu pandemic is imminent, researchers say</font>

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
<A href="http://www.healthday.com/view.cfm?id=531660">www.healthday.com</a></center>
MONDAY, March 20 (HealthDay News) -- The H5N1 bird flu virus continues to change, with U.S. researchers reporting that two different strains of bird flu are now infecting people in Southeast Asia, representing two distinct genetic subgroups.</b>

Whether these and other changes will increase the likelihood of a human flu pandemic remains unknown, however.

The report, by researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was presented Monday at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases, in Atlanta.

"Back in 2003 we only had one genetically distinct population of H5N1 with the potential to cause a human pandemic -- now we have two," lead researcher Rebecca Garten said in a prepared statement.

Since 2003, the H5N1 virus has been found in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East and led to the slaughter of tens of millions of domestic fowl. While infection has primarily been limited to birds, the virus has killed more than 100 people. Scientists worry, however, that the germ could mutate into a form that would make human-to-human transmission far easier, raising the specter of a pandemic that could kill millions of people.

Garten's team analyzed more than 300 H5N1 virus samples taken from both birds and humans from 2003 through the summer of 2005.

In the 2005 samples, Garten's group newly identified a second strain of H5N1, which caused flu in humans in Indonesia. Analysis of that strain found that it belongs to a genetic subgroup of the virus that was not known before to cause human disease.

According to Garten, the pool of H5N1 with the potential to cause a human pandemic is growing more genetically diverse, which makes studying the virus more complex and heightens the need for increased surveillance.

Garten said she expects the virus to continue to mutate.

"Change is the only constant," she said. "Only time will tell whether the virus evolves or mutates in such a way that it can be transmitted from human to human efficiently."

One expert thinks these mutations could have a troubling impact on efforts to develop effective vaccines.

"This complicates vaccine strategy," said James C. Paulson, a professor of molecular biology at the Scripps Research Institute, in La Jolla, Calif. "If the virus keeps changing, we can't just pick one strain and immunize everybody and be done with it."

But Paulson added that just because the virus is mutating, that doesn't mean it will necessarily develop into one that is easily transmitted between people. "These genetic changes are important," he said. "But they don't shed light on whether they will become a pandemic in humans."

Another expert thinks the new study highlights the need to control the disease in birds.

"This presents a greater mandate to control the disease in birds," said Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine and author of Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic.

Controlling the disease in birds is the best way to prevent it from triggering a human pandemic, Siegel said.

Based on these new findings, Siegel also doesn't think one can conclude that the virus will become pandemic.

"Because this virus changes a lot, because it rarely affected humans before 1997, you cannot assume that genetic change is responsible for human infection," he said. "It may have to do with the overall amount of the virus. I don't automatically assume that it's a structural change that causes it to infect humans."

Researchers haven't shown that the changes in the virus have made humans more susceptible to it, Siegel said.

In other bird flu news, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday a proposed final rule to prohibit the "extra-label use" of two classes of approved human antiviral drugs to combat influenza in poultry. Extra-label use is administering a drug in an animal in a manner not in accordance with approved labeling.

The FDA said it was doing this to help ensure the effectiveness of these drugs for treating or preventing influenza infections in humans.

Specifically, the order prohibits the extra-label use by veterinarians of adamantanes (amantadine and rimantadine) and neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir and zanamivir -- brand named Tamiflu and Relenza) in chickens, turkeys, and ducks.

"Today's action is a preventive measure designed to protect the public health and illustrates FDA's high level of commitment and key role in preparing for a possible influenza pandemic, which is a top priority for our nation," acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach said in a prepared statement.

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<B><font size=+1 color=purple><center>Bush Administration Warns Against Bird Flu Panic</font>

March 20, 2006 3:26PM
<A href="http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=11000002RKC4">www.sci-tech-today.com</a></center>
According to the World Health Organization, the virus has infected 177 people and killed 98. Nearly all of these cases were caused by direct contact with infected birds, the WHO said. There have been only a few cases of human-to-human infection with the virus. However, scientists fear that the virus might mutate into a form that would spread easily among humans. </b>

Amid expectations that migratory birds will spread bird flu to the United States this spring, the Bush administration sought Monday to ease public concerns that the bird disease could trigger a human pandemic.
"We expect it to show up in the U.S. at some point, possibly this year," Interior Secretary Gail Norton told a news conference.

But, she continued, this "will not be a reason for panic. It will not signal the beginning of a pandemic."

Norton, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt unveiled a plan to expand domestic screening of migratory birds, especially in Alaska, the crossroads of bird migration flyways and the most likely entry way for wild birds carrying the virus into the U.S. from Asia.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus has been spreading around the globe in recent months, and tens of millions of birds have died or been slaughtered to eliminate the virus.

According to the World Health Organization, the virus also has infected 177 people and killed 98. Nearly all of these cases were caused by direct contact with infected birds, the WHO said.

There have been only a few cases of human-to-human infection with the virus. However, scientists fear that the virus might mutate into a form that would spread easily among humans, setting the stage for a global outbreak, or pandemic.

There have been no reported cases of H5N1 in birds or humans in the United States.

As part of its plan to increase domestic surveillance of wild birds, Johanns said the USDA plans to collect between 75,000 and 100,000 samples from live and dead wild birds and some 50,000 samples of water or feces from high-risk waterfowl habitats across the United States.

Even if the deadly form of H5N1 high-pathogenic avian flu were found in wild birds in the United States, it does not necessarily mean the domestic poultry industry would be affected or that poultry would become unsafe, Johanns said.

"It is highly unlikely that an infected bird would enter the food supply, but even if it did, proper cooking kills the (avian influenza) virus," Johanns said. 'There is no reason to be concerned about eating chicken or turkey if you properly prepare it."

If domestic poultry became infected, Johanns said, quarantines would be established around the affected area and infected flocks would be humanely destroyed and the area disinfected. Quarantines would only be lifted when tests confirm that the virus has been eradicated.

Johanns said he is confident that the U.S. poultry industry would report any signs of H5N1 in flocks because the government will reimburse producers for any birds that are culled.

Leavitt said the H5N1 virus is constantly changing, but that right now it looks genetically similar to the virus that spurred the 1918 bird flu pandemic that is estimated to have killed some 50 million people worldwide.

He said local and state planning is vital because "there is no way in which 5,000 different communities can be responded to simultaneously" by the federal government.

Still, Leavitt warned against panic: "At this point, if you are a bird, it's a pandemic. If you are a human being, it is not. It is as simple as that."

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<B><center>Cameroon [interview]:
<font size=+1 color=red>'Bird Flu is Deadly, Contagious And Virulent'</font>

March 20, 2006
Modeste Mba Talla
<A href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200603200815.html">allafrica.com</a></center>
Okwen Tenjoh-Okwen studied forestry at the University of Dschang, Cameroon, before moving over to Germany where he obtained his MSc. Since 2003, he has been working as an independent consultant for the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, FAO.</b>

Okwen explains what the bird flu is and expresses fears of the devastating effects of the bird flu should it settle and spread in Cameroon. Yet, he hopes that with proper and effective sensitisation and preparedness, the bird flu could be checked and diverted. Information contained in this interview represents the views of the author only and do not necessarily imply the official position of FAO or any other organisation cited.

What is bird flu?

Bird flu - known technically as avian influenza - is a highly contagious viral disease, which occurs naturally in birds. It was first discovered in Italy more than 100 years ago. It can be caused by any one of about 20 different strains of the influenza virus. Many wild birds are thought to be natural hosts of avian influenza viruses (AIV) without necessarily becoming ill.

This disease, however, can kill domestic birds, mostly chickens, ducks as well as turkeys. Several of these strains are known to be capable of infecting humans, with some of them responsible for the flu pandemics recorded in the past century. The world's attention is currently focused on a highly contagious and virulent strain known as H5N1. It refers to the specific nature of two proteins, haemagglutinin and neuraminidase, found on the surface of the virus.

What is the difference between avian flu and bird flu? Or are they the same?

Yes, they are the same. Avian is another word for bird. There are several names commonly used as synonyms for bird flu. Some of them include: avian flu, influenza virus A flu, type A flu, avian influenza virus flu or genus A flu.

Why would the bird flu be devastating for Africa?

The H5N1 virus has a high ability to cause disease in birds that is capable of interfering with the proper functioning of multiple internal organs. This can result in a mortality rate of up to 100 percent in less than a week for poultry farmers. We equally have inadequate crisis management mechanisms: limited resources, difficulty in tracing infected animals to the farm owner, limited number of trained staff for monitoring and sensitisation, poor transport networks, etc.

Is there a possibility of the bird flu jumping into humans?

Until now, the AIV is not adapted to human-to-human transmission. However, there are two potential routes through which this can be facilitated. According to some scientists, a pig can be the medium for mixing of genes when infected by both a human flu virus and the H5N1 virus.

This in turn creates a hybrid that is easily transmitted by man. This is particularly possible in Africa where pig-human-poultry interactions are common. Also considering the fact that the H5N1 virus could potentially cause disease in other wild animals, several animal-to-animal strains may develop.

If a primate strain of the virus, for example, becomes available in the wild, the virus would have moved a step closer to a human strain. Consumption of primate bush meat may result in our being infected with such a virus with the potential of easily mutating into a human strain.

How dangerous is bird flu?

It kills very rapidly on infection and there is no vaccine against it. Another issue is its aggravating an already fragile nutritional and economic state of affairs within many households in Africa. Poultry is probably the best managed investment by the rural poor in Africa. As food or a source of income, H5N1 has the potential of disrupting this pattern.

More than 80 people have already died of bird flu infection in Asia. Do Africans have any chance of escaping with their lives?

Africa is fortunate that a lot is already known about the disease from its outbreak in Asia. With appropriate planning, technical and financial assistance, the situation could be far less severe. The key to Africa's escape, nonetheless, lies in massive sensitisation and awareness-raising campaigns combined with efficient monitoring of crisis management mechanisms.

Extensive use should be made of schools, churches, mosques, the radio, and television...well before the disease affects a given country.

What could FAO have done do to prevent the bird flu from leaving Nigeria?

FAO just urged neighbouring countries to tighten border inspections. They are currently giving Nigeria technical assistance in applying standard procedures recommended by FAO and the OIE international guidelines.

One major problem is that it is not clear if infection is a result of imported chicken or migratory birds. The Nigerian authorities are known to have banned the import of poultry as far back as early 2004. This, in theory, should mean migratory birds introduced the virus.

What measures should Cameroon take now?

A few months ago, it was announced that the Cameroonian government had established a bird flu crisis management plan. I am not aware of the details of the plan but I might as well say that most of what is valid for Nigeria is equally valid for Cameroon and may already have been included in this plan.

However, closing the border to poultry and bird related products from the rest of the world; this includes eggs, feather bags, pillows made of feathers, could minimise the risk of further introduction of AIV in Cameroon. Stockpiling TAMIFLU, the medication known to be most effective against the flu, against an explosion of the virus could be helpful. Educating district doctors on rapid detection mechanisms to facilitate rapid administration of the required therapy is another thing to do.

What else could be done to control the spread of the flu?

The Ministries of Public Health and Animal Husbandry, which prepared the crises management plan of Cameroon, are quite limited. Emphasis should thus be placed on the participation of the Ministries of Agriculture, Forestry and Education in monitoring and sensitising the population.

Do you think that Cameroonian authorities are ready to face bird flu?

By preparing a crisis management plan, Cameroonian authorities demonstrated their commitment to the fight against bird flu. Companies such as CDC, PMUC, Guinness Cameroon, etc, should come up with awareness raising activities and clear strategies for their staff and their families in order to reduce pressure on the government crisis management teams.

If cross-infection to humans is still relatively rare, and the experts say if the H5N1 strain mutates so it can be passed between humans, it could become a global pandemic. That is scaryâ-oe

Certainly, especially when one considers the fact that improved transportation facilities have not only shortened travel time around the world, but have equally increased travel frequency. Yet, never before have awareness and preparation for a flu pandemic been so intense.

Besides, recent advancements in technology imply we are clearly smarter than during the previous flu pandemics. These two factors have enhanced the ability of international community to control a flu pandemic at an early stage, should we get there.

One last wordâ-oe?

Bird flu is no laughing matter. Beside the potential impact of the disease on humans, its effect on livelihoods is clearly devastating. In Asia, nutritional patterns, income generating activities and even socio-cultural patterns have been adversely affected. Animal breeding has become an issue for the privileged and as a result, the poor, with limited options, become even poorer.

Equally important are the economic losses caused by fear of the disease; tourism, international trade options and business travels are at a minimum. This could happen in much of Africa, including Cameroon.

As a forestry expert, I am very much aware of what the potential transmission of the AIV virus through migratory birds implies: it is our responsibility to be at the battlefront, identifying infected birds and animals well in advance, and preventing them from contaminating domestic animals and humans.

Relevant Links

Central Africa
Food, Agriculture and Rural Issues
Cameroon
Health and Medicine

Given the huge amount of financial, technical and human resources needed, combined with the complexity of the threat, this is extremely difficult to achieve. But much can be achieved if we make use of conservation agencies such as Birdlike International, CBCS, WWF, WCS, etc that are actively present in different parts of the country. My fear is that the battlefront may move to the next stage (domestic animals and humans), overburdening animal husbandry and medical experts.

There is equally a group of professionals that can clearly make a difference: teachers. They have an abundance of the much-needed skills for sensitisation campaigns and they are present in almost every village in the country; Cameroon needs their help.

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<B><font size=+1 color=red><center>U.S. poultry industry braces for action</font>

By Melanie Warner
The New York Times
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2006
<A href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/20/business/poultry.php">www.iht.com</a></center>
NEW YORK The deadly strain of avian flu has not been found anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, but Mark Holden, a chicken grower for Tyson Foods in Ellijay, Georgia, is not taking any chances.</b>

Every seven weeks, before his chickens are sent to be slaughtered, some of them are tested. Everyone who enters or leaves the chicken houses must dunk their feet in disinfecting baths. And visitors and workers must wear plastic booties over their shoes.

"Even though we don't have any outbreak now, we want to take all the precautions we can to protect our product," said Holden, who has been in the chicken business for 10 years and lives across the street from one of his farms.

U.S. poultry producers and restaurants doubt that their chickens will be infected by avian flu or that people would catch the virus even if there were to be contamination. But they are concerned that if the virus gets to the United States, people will eat less chicken simply out of fear. And they are revving up big plans to be prepared.

In Senate testimony in early March, Michael Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, declared that it is "just a matter of time" before birds infected with the virus find their way to the United States.

The stakes are enormous. Poultry producers like Tyson, Pilgrim's Pride and Gold Kist sell 26 billion pounds, or 11.8 billion kilograms, of chicken each year to U.S. consumers. Restaurant chains - chief among them McDonald's, KFC and Wendy's - sell 45 percent of that.

And sales of chicken are growing. Over the past 10 years, consumption of chicken has increased by 22 percent, while beef consumption has remained flat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

If Europe and Asia are any indication, those sales could take quite a hit. In February after bird flu was discovered in wild swans, Italy experienced a 70 percent decline in poultry consumption, and in France sales are down 30 percent since Avian flu hit turkey farms last month. In some areas of India, sales are down 40 percent since last month's discovery of bird flu in chickens.

These declines came even though none of the 175 human cases of avian flu confirmed by the World Health Organization resulted from the eating of poultry.

Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, says most of the cases of humans contracting avian flu have been from people coming into direct contact with infected poultry, though one case in Vietnam appears to have been a result of someone drinking infected duck blood.

Public health officials consider it unlikely people would catch the virus from eating chicken. While the deadly strain of Avian flu, called H5N1, now hitting Europe and Asia can reside in poultry meat, the virus is killed by the temperatures normally used to cook poultry.

Nonetheless, a telephone survey conducted in January by the Harvard School of Public Health of 1,043 adults across the United States found that 46 percent of respondents who eat chicken said they would stop eating it if bird flu hits the U.S. poultry industry.

Chicken processors and restaurant chains are already working feverishly to minimize any blow to their sales. Tyson, Pilgrim's Pride, KFC, Chick-Fil-A and Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits all say they have formed task forces on bird flu that meet regularly and include top executives and leaders from different departments.

Some analysts think avian flu in birds may turn out to be a nonissue for consumers, much the way mad cow disease in beef has been. Since mad cow was first discovered in the United States in late 2003, beef consumption has remained constant, according to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

But some in the chicken industry worry that avian flu will be much more frightening to consumers than mad cow.

"I get asked about it all the time," said Steve Gold, vice president of marketing at Murray's Chicken, a producer of natural and humanely raised chicken. "I think people have this idea that it's going to be like Alfred Hitchcock, with all these birds flying into their community and everyone getting sick."

NEW YORK The deadly strain of avian flu has not been found anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, but Mark Holden, a chicken grower for Tyson Foods in Ellijay, Georgia, is not taking any chances.

Every seven weeks, before his chickens are sent to be slaughtered, some of them are tested. Everyone who enters or leaves the chicken houses must dunk their feet in disinfecting baths. And visitors and workers must wear plastic booties over their shoes.

"Even though we don't have any outbreak now, we want to take all the precautions we can to protect our product," said Holden, who has been in the chicken business for 10 years and lives across the street from one of his farms.

U.S. poultry producers and restaurants doubt that their chickens will be infected by avian flu or that people would catch the virus even if there were to be contamination. But they are concerned that if the virus gets to the United States, people will eat less chicken simply out of fear. And they are revving up big plans to be prepared.

In Senate testimony in early March, Michael Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, declared that it is "just a matter of time" before birds infected with the virus find their way to the United States.

The stakes are enormous. Poultry producers like Tyson, Pilgrim's Pride and Gold Kist sell 26 billion pounds, or 11.8 billion kilograms, of chicken each year to U.S. consumers. Restaurant chains - chief among them McDonald's, KFC and Wendy's - sell 45 percent of that.

And sales of chicken are growing. Over the past 10 years, consumption of chicken has increased by 22 percent, while beef consumption has remained flat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

If Europe and Asia are any indication, those sales could take quite a hit. In February after bird flu was discovered in wild swans, Italy experienced a 70 percent decline in poultry consumption, and in France sales are down 30 percent since Avian flu hit turkey farms last month. In some areas of India, sales are down 40 percent since last month's discovery of bird flu in chickens.

These declines came even though none of the 175 human cases of avian flu confirmed by the World Health Organization resulted from the eating of poultry.

Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, says most of the cases of humans contracting avian flu have been from people coming into direct contact with infected poultry, though one case in Vietnam appears to have been a result of someone drinking infected duck blood.

Public health officials consider it unlikely people would catch the virus from eating chicken. While the deadly strain of Avian flu, called H5N1, now hitting Europe and Asia can reside in poultry meat, the virus is killed by the temperatures normally used to cook poultry.

Nonetheless, a telephone survey conducted in January by the Harvard School of Public Health of 1,043 adults across the United States found that 46 percent of respondents who eat chicken said they would stop eating it if bird flu hits the U.S. poultry industry.

Chicken processors and restaurant chains are already working feverishly to minimize any blow to their sales. Tyson, Pilgrim's Pride, KFC, Chick-Fil-A and Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits all say they have formed task forces on bird flu that meet regularly and include top executives and leaders from different departments.

Some analysts think avian flu in birds may turn out to be a nonissue for consumers, much the way mad cow disease in beef has been. Since mad cow was first discovered in the United States in late 2003, beef consumption has remained constant, according to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

But some in the chicken industry worry that avian flu will be much more frightening to consumers than mad cow.

"I get asked about it all the time," said Steve Gold, vice president of marketing at Murray's Chicken, a producer of natural and humanely raised chicken. "I think people have this idea that it's going to be like Alfred Hitchcock, with all these birds flying into their community and everyone getting sick."

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<B><font size=+1 color=red><center>U.S. officials ramp up bird flu preparations</font>

By MARGARET TALEV
McClatchy Newspapers
March 20, 2006
<A href="http://shns.abc15.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=BIRDFLU-03-20-06&cat=WW">shns.abc15.com</a></center>
WASHINGTON - Springtime is here and, with it, fevered chirping about bird flu.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and outgoing Interior Secretary Gale Norton began the week by presenting a joint update on national preparedness, covering bird testing, poultry industry protections, anti-smuggling measures, vaccine development and the status of state and local emergency planning.</b>

Leavitt also is in the midst of a multi-city tour, answering questions about the virus' spread globally and telling Americans how to respond should it reach U.S. shores. He is asking people not to panic - even if it should reach birds here, that doesn't mean people are at risk - but to start stockpiling enough non-perishable food, water, flashlights, batteries and medicine to last a couple of weeks, just in case. In a report issued last week, Leavitt said: "It is only a matter of time before we discover H5N1 birds in America."

A confluence of science and politics are at work:

- The change of seasons each year, from winter to spring, sends wild birds from Asia and the continental United States north to Alaska, where they commingle while they nest and molt.

While U.S. birds, including ducks, geese and swans, follow four major migratory patterns, it is the Pacific Flyway, the route through Alaska and down through the Western states, to Mexico, that scientists predict as the most likely conduit of avian flu should it spread here through wild birds. By summer, scientists could know how great that risk appears.

- The H5N1 avian flu virus has remained resilient as it makes its way around the globe, from Asia into Europe and Africa. It has touched at least 43 countries, scientists say, overwhelmingly affecting birds but also being transmitted across species.

This month brought reports of the deaths of three women in Azerbaijan, of a dog there, and of a cat in Germany, from bird flu. The virus has been mutating. Scientists have identified at least half a dozen sub-lineages of the H5N1 strain, at least two of which can be fatal to people, prompting a call for new vaccine development.

Since 2003, the World Health Organization has confirmed 177 human cases overseas, half of which were fatal.

- The annual appropriations process on Capitol Hill is gearing up. Each spring, federal officials and lobbyists representing various industries begin making their cases to have their priority programs funded by taxpayer dollars. Late last year, President Bush last year sought $7.1 billion for avian flu preparations. Congress at the time gave him about half, or $3.8 billion.

Scientists say April through September of this year may be a crucial time frame in terms of knowing whether the disease will spread to the United States via migratory birds.

If it does, that doesn't necessarily mean humans, the poultry industry, pets, airline travel or the economy overall will be afflicted.

Globally, the disease has not been spread directly from wild birds to humans but from people handling diseased live or uncooked poultry. And disease specialists are hoping bio-security measures insulate poultry farms and processing plants from outside infection - a question being tested in Western Europe, where the virus already has spread.

Still, with the high fatality rate in those unusual cases of human transmission, and with past experience of flu pandemics - the one in 1918 killed at least 40 million people, according to world health statistics - U.S. officials are on guard for any incursion of bird flu into the country.

That has led to a major ramping up in the testing of thousands of live birds and hunted birds this year.

The emphasis now is in Alaska. Each day, biologists are trapping birds and probing them with nylon-tipped swabs for samples of their feces and cells from their digestive tracts before tagging them and setting them free.

FedEx trucks deliver these samples to the Diagnostic Virology Laboratory at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. There, scientists test the samples for viral influenza, preserve them and inject them into chicken eggs to be replicated for research. No worrisome cases have been identified.

By late summer, that lab alone expects to be processing up to 1,500 samples a day. The Agriculture Department is testing thousands of samples as well.

During the autumn, as birds head south again and hunters take to the woods, much of the focus will shift to the states of Washington, Oregon and California, because of their location in the migration route. Other spots throughout the country also are being monitored.

"We haven't bet the farm on just Alaska," said Hon Ip, director of the virology lab in Wisconsin and one of the nation's leading bird flu experts. "We have people all over the place. We are training wildlife biologists, rangers and, in some places, the public health officers as to what to look for."

Whether the Bush's administration's preparations for a pandemic that may never come amount to prudent planning - or an overcompensation for the lack of readiness with Hurricane Katrina - has been a subject of debate among government spending experts.

But in the scientific community, there is ample concern.

In most of the outbreaks in Southeast Asia in the past couple of years, Ip said, the movement of the virus was associated with the legal and illegal spread of poultry products. But with the recent spread of H5N1 in Europe, the flu tracked with the movement of wild birds, and absent the movement of questionable poultry.

"That highlights the need for a surveillance program such as we're starting in North America," Ip said.

As it now exists, he said, H5N1 has been fairly ineffective as a virus in attacking humans. "The situation in Southeast Asia has been brewing nine years now and a lot of people live in close proximity to a lot of birds. Even with that level of contact, less than 100 people have died."

The concern, he said, is that the virus could mutate and catch everyone off guard.

"People need to stay educated," he said. "What used to be OK a couple months ago may not be anymore, if it comes."

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<B><font size=+1 color=brown><center>Bird Flu — A Potential Pathway into Humans</font>

March 20 2006
<A href="http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/0320scipak.shtml">www.aaas.org</a></center>
A detailed look at the structure of one of the surface proteins of the H5N1 "bird flu" virus points toward a way that certain mutations could ease the H5N1 virus’ spread in the human population, according to a new study in the 17 March 2006 issue of the journal Science. </b>

In a H5N1 virus sample isolated from a Vietnamese boy who died from the flu in 2004, James Stevens and colleagues determined the structure of the hemagglutinin protein, which allows the virus to enter host cells. Hemagglutinin latches on to different cell receptors in avian and human-type flu, which may explain why most bird flu viruses do not spread between humans.

There are a few known mutations that can convert H2 and H3 type bird flu viruses from a bird to human receptor preference, but Stevens and colleagues show that these mutations do not cause the H5 type bird flu virus to switch to a human receptor preference. However, the researchers say that some of these mutations may make the H5N1 hemagglutinin more likely to bind to a human-type receptor, providing a possible "foothold" for the virus in the human population.

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<B><font size=+1 color=green><center>Growing Anger and Concern Among Families</font>

21:50 Mar 20, '06 / 20 Adar 5766
<A href="http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=100480">www.israelnn.com</a></center>
(IsraelNN.com) Farmers are expressing growing concerns and anger over what many are calling “government incompetence” and the release of “meaningless statements” by politicians regarding the continuing spreading of the avian flu, also known as H5N1 virus and bird flu.</b>

Some farmers blame the government of foot-dragging, reporting that in Moshav Ami Oz in the south, it was determined on Monday morning that chickens were infected. Nevertheless, the official notice declaring the coops infected and placing it in quarantine only arrived on Monday night at 8pm.

Concerned the disease will be spreading in northern areas, Golan Heights and Galilee area farmers plan emergency town hall meetings on Tuesday morning to address concerns. For the time being, northern chicken farmers are restricting entry into coops and experts are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday morning to begin inspections to determine if any of the area fowl are infected.

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<B><font size=+1 color=purple><center>Heed signs, plan ahead </font>

Mar 21 2006
By Evening Gazette
<A href="http://icteesside.icnetwork.co.uk/0400business/0008bj/tm_objectid=16843090%26method=full%26siteid=109975%26headline=heed%2dsigns%2d%2dplan%2dahead-name_page.html">icteesside.icnet.co.uk</a></center>
Financial loss for UK businesses is becoming an increasingly real threat as bird flu creeps nearer to UK shores.

Businesses which fail to develop a contingency plan are in for a rude awakening if the worst happens, says UK experts and consultants in workplace issues, Croner.

Bird flu is just another incident to add to a catalogue of events in recent years that have had a financial impact on UK businesses.</b>

Contingency planning to account for these unexpected events is vital to the long-term economic health of a business and protection of employees, and should be an integral part of the business strategy.

But it is often off-putting to businesses as it is viewed as a time consuming and difficult process to manage.


Croner has produced a new practical disaster plan pocketbook for clients to help create and maintain effective contingency plans and put them into practice when required.


Disaster planning covers a range of incidents, from major explosions or attacks, through to coping with power failure or flooding. More information can be found at www.croner.co.uk/disaster-planning.


Richard Smith, employment services director at Croner, believes too many employers take an 'ostrich-approach' to disaster planning.


"Employers' optimism that it 'won't happen to them' unfortunately doesn't stand up to the fact that businesses lose money every day through unforeseen circumstances," he added.


"And whilst devastating events such as terrorist attacks or pandemics are more often the subject of big budget movies than real life, there's nothing fictional about the London bombings or threat of a bird flu pandemic."

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<B><center>Tuesday, March 21, 2006 20:58:28 Vietnam (GMT+07)

<font size=+1 color=red>Rabbi says wrath of God behind Israel bird flu </font>

<A href="http://www.thanhniennews.com/worlds/?catid=9&newsid=13722">www.thanhniennews.com</a></center>
Turkeys are seen in Sde Moshe near the Israeli city of Kiryat Gat
An outbreak of deadly bird flu in Israel is God's punishment for calls in election ads to legalise gay marriages, according to Rabbi David Basri, a prominent sage preaching Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism.

"The Bible says that God punishes depravity first through plagues against animals and then in people," Basri said in a religious edict quoted by his son.</b>

Basri said he hoped the deaths of hundreds of thousands of turkeys and chickens would help atone for what he called the sins of left-wing Israeli political parties, the son, Rabbi Yitzhak Basri, told Reuters, a week before a national election.

The bird flu outbreak stemmed from far-left political parties "strengthening and encouraging homosexuality," Rabbi Basri's son quoted him as saying.

One of the parties aired an election commercial depicting two brides kissing. Some campaign advertisements also called for homosexual marriages to be legalised in Israel.

Basri is a prominent Kabbalist and author of commentaries on the Zohar, the main Kabbalah mystical text.

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<B><center>Tue, Mar. 21, 2006

<font size=+1 color=green>County groups plan for possible bird flu
Seven are already meeting regularly, says health commissioner</font>
.By Jennifer L. Boen jboen@news-sentinel.com
<A href="http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/14150840.htm">www.fortwayne.com</a></center></b>
<i>A detailed overview of what a pandemic flu would look like and how it would affect Allen County was the focus of Monday’s bimonthly meeting of the Fort-Wayne Allen County Board of Health. The Allen County health commissioner and federal and state health officials say it’s only a matter of a few weeks or months before bird flu arrives in the United States.</i>

<b>Health commissioner Dr. Deborah McMahan says it will likely arrive by September via birds coming from Canada.

On Monday, the Ministry of Health in Egypt confirmed that nation’s first human case of avian flu virus, H5N1. A 30-year-old woman got the disease after having close contact with diseased poultry on the family farm. She was hospitalized March 16 and died the next day.</b>

A pandemic flu virus occurs after a person is infected with both a seasonal flu virus and an avian flu virus, such as the H5N1, which is spreading in birds and poultry in Asia and Europe, McMahan explained. It can also occur when genetic changes within the virus allow it to transfer from human to human.

Avian flu has already spread to humans, although, except for perhaps one or two cases, it has only been via direct human contact with infected birds or their droppings. As of March 13, the World Health Organization reported 33 new human cases since Jan. 1, including 22 deaths. In total, since 2003, 177 people have been confirmed infected with the H5N1 avian virus; 98 of those individuals died, which is a 55 percent fatality rate.

If the disease does start spreading human to human, at the low-end, with a 15 percent attack rate, 1,400 to 4,100 Hoosiers might die, McMahan said. At a 35 percent attack rate, between 3,300 and 9,700 deaths would be expected.
“The flu virus can lie several hours on inanimate objects,” she said, and people would spread it before having recognizable symptoms.

Two anti-viral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, give some protection, but they would have to be given within two days after symptoms appear in a 6-mile radius of the cases, reaching 90 percent of people living or working in that area. Thus the best approach, McMahan said, is to be prepared. “We want to be prepared for every man. We don’t want to just be prepared for the average man.”

Seven pandemic flu preparedness working groups are already meeting regularly:

♦The health department, which will be looked to for all guidance in treatment, quarantine, infection control and related issues

♦Mass treatment group, which includes first responders and a chosen site for care

♦Pharmacy group, which must address how treatment or preventive medications will be obtained and doled out

♦Hospital surge capacity group, which must address who requires hospitalization and how staffing needs will be met

♦Mental health group, which will be called on to help control public panic, provide grief counseling to those who may have loved ones die and psychosocial support to caregivers.

♦Resource Allocation group, which will address such things as the fact Allen County currently has only 300 ventilators for people who cannot breathe on their own

♦Medical Reserve Corps, volunteer health-care providers who will be triaged to community clinics or treatment sites to help with pandemic flu patients or perhaps cover the regular health needs of the community.

Other groups that will begin meeting soon to address their roles and responsibilities in the event of a pandemic include: public officials, city/county department heads, funeral directors, nursing home directors, business leaders, and animal control and Purdue Extension staff.

If a flu pandemic comes, these groups’ responsibilities will continue for a long time, McMahan said. Businesses will likely have to close; community services could be curtailed; schools will be shut down.

“It’s not like a snow day when tomorrow will be a better day,” she said. “This can go on for weeks.”

Board member Joe Steensma said he had concerns about a public outcry against the board and department staff members if a pandemic doesn’t occur. “It should be emphasized this plan is coincidental with the bird flu. If bird flu doesn’t come, I don’t want the public to think the health department is Chicken Little,” he said.

Craig Finlayson, attorney for the board, said there needs to be clear understanding of what the board legally can and cannot do in the event of a pandemic. “We have to know what our power is. We can quarantine people, close churches, school and mass gatherings, but that’s it.” Steensma suggested the board consider a sub-group to look further into those issues with city and county officials.

A distinct timeline to get the health department’s flu pandemic preparedness plan off the ground has been established, including a mock drill of events. By August, McMahan hopes the plan is ready for board approval, after which community education forums will be held starting in September.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060321/NEWS07/603210408/1009


U.S. officials: Plan for bird flu

Don't count on government rescue, health secretary warns

March 21, 2006


BY LIZ RUSKIN

MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON -- Saying they want to inspire preparation, not alarm, three cabinet secretaries said Monday that the dangerous strain of avian flu is likely to make its first U.S. appearance in wild birds migrating from Asia to Alaska.

"It is increasingly likely that we will detect a highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian flu in birds within the U.S. borders, possibly as early as this year," Interior Secretary Gale Norton said.

The virus, which has appeared in Europe, Africa and Asia, can spread from birds to people, though there's no evidence it can be transmitted from person to person. Most human cases so far were in people who had close contact with diseased poultry, or virus-contaminated bird blood or droppings.

"At this point, if you're a bird, it's a pandemic," said Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. "If you're a human being, it's not."

But he presented a far grimmer view Monday than Norton or Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.

This strain of avian flu is highly lethal and there is no human immunity, he said. It has killed at least 98 people worldwide since 2003 and has a mortality rate of about 50%.

Genetically and in the symptoms humans get, it looks very similar to the Spanish Influenza of 1918, he said, referring to a pandemic that killed at least 20 million people in two years.

Leavitt said the government has learned from its bungled response to Hurricane Katrina, but his examples suggested the response to a flu pandemic would be even worse.

After most natural disasters, health-care workers can come from elsewhere in the country to staff clinics in the affected zone. But a pandemic strikes everywhere, and each area needs all the resources it has. It also lasts longer -- a year to 18 months, he said.

Cities, schools and churches need to develop response plans, he said. Businesses, he said, should consider how they would keep going if a significant number of employees are out for weeks at a time.

"Any community that fails to prepare with the expectation that the federal government will, at the last moment, be able to come to the rescue will be tragically wrong," he said.

The government is stockpiling Tamiflu and other antivirals, and it is supporting the development of flu vaccines, he said. It is also gathering masks and ventilators, he said.

But "there is no way in which 5,000 different communities can be responded to simultaneously," he warned.

The government set up a bird flu Web site: www.pandemicflu.gov

Bird Flu kill FIVE people in Azerbajian!

Bird flu kills five in Azerbaijan


BBC breaking news graphic
Five people have died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu in Azerbaijan since February, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

Two other people had tested positive for bird flu during tests carried out at a British laboratory, the WHO said.

The latest deaths took the world's human toll to 103 since 2003, it said.

The H5N1 virus cannot pass easily from one person to another. But there are fears it could mutate, triggering a flu pandemic, experts warn.

Bird Flu "Pandemic" fears are hysterical nonsense

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia and killed nearly 100 people worldwide and infected about 180 since it re-emerged in 2003.

Click to expand...

So, we're all worried about something that has killed 100 people WORLDWIDE in 3 years!?!?!?!

The above is from yet another story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4828078.stm

I think it's more efficient to worry about something that kills at least 100 people per YEAR?

Jeez, lighten up!

'Eddie

Seabird said:

Shouldn't Israel, Egypt, and Denmark be on the first CDC list above? And maybe there are more countries missing...

Click to expand...

Israel and Egypt, definitely. I don't believe Denmark's had any human cases yet.

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Thread merged to Daily H5N1 thread

Eddie Willers said:

So, we're all worried about something that has killed 100 people WORLDWIDE in 3 years!?!?!?!

The above is from yet another story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4828078.stm

I think it's more efficient to worry about something that kills at least 100 people per YEAR?

Jeez, lighten up!

'Eddie

Click to expand...

If you've read John Barry's "The Great Influenza", you'll realize that by the time it goes human to human(IF it does), the time to worry will be too late.