03/25 | Daily BF: ... CDC: "a few rare cases of H2H spread of H5N1 has occured"

Link to yesterday's thread: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=190844

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 Azerbaijan
(see update)
o Turkey

* Near East:
o Iraq

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

Updated March 21, 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 Afghanistan
o India
o Kazakhstan
o Pakistan (H5)


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

Updated March 21, 2006

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/outbreaks/current.htm

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

Avian Influenza: Current Situation​

Summary

Influenza A (H5N1) is an influenza A virus subtype that occurs mainly in birds, is highly contagious among birds, and can be deadly to them. Outbreaks of H5N1 among poultry are ongoing in a number of countries. While H5N1 does not usually infect people, human cases of H5N1 infection associated with these outbreaks have been reported Most of these cases have occurred from direct or close contact with infected poultry or contaminated surfaces; however, a few rare cases of human-to-human spread of H5N1 virus have occurred, though transmission has not continued beyond one person.

Nonetheless, because all influenza viruses have the ability to change, scientists are concerned that H5N1 virus one day could be able to infect humans and spread easily from one person to another. Because these viruses do not commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population and an influenza pandemic (worldwide outbreak of disease) could begin. Experts from around the world are watching the H5N1 situation in Asia and Europe very closely and are preparing for the possibility that the virus may begin to spread more easily from person to person.

Assessment of Current Situation

The avian influenza A (H5N1) epizootic (animal outbreak) in Asia and parts of Europe is not expected to diminish significantly in the short term. It is likely that H5N1 infection among birds has become endemic in certain areas and that human infections resulting from direct contact with infected poultry will continue to occur. So far, the spread of H5N1 virus from person-to-person has been rare and has not continued beyond one person. No evidence for genetic reassortment between human and avian influenza A virus genes has been found; however, the epizootic in Asia continues to pose an important public health threat.

There is little pre-existing natural immunity to H5N1 infection in the human population. If these H5N1 viruses gain the ability for efficient and sustained transmission among humans, an influenza pandemic could result, with potentially high rates of illness and death. In addition, genetic sequencing of influenza A (H5N1) viruses from human cases in Vietnam and Thailand shows resistance to the antiviral medications amantadine and rimantadine, two of the medications commonly used for treatment of influenza. This would leave two remaining antiviral medications (oseltamivir and zanamivir) that should still be effective against currently circulating strains of H5N1 virus. Efforts to produce vaccine candidates that would be effective against avian influenza A (H5N1) viruses are under way. However, it will likely require many months before such vaccines could be mass produced and made widely available.

Research suggests that currently circulating strains of H5N1 viruses are becoming more capable of causing disease (pathogenic) in mammals than were earlier H5N1 viruses. One study found that ducks infected with H5N1 virus are now shedding more virus for longer periods without showing symptoms of illness. This finding has implications for the role of ducks in transmitting disease to other birds and possibly to humans as well. Additionally, other findings have documented H5N1 infection among pigs in China and H5N1 infection in felines (experimental infection in housecats in the Netherlands and isolation of H5N1 viruses in tigers and leopards in Thailand ).

Notable findings of epidemiologic investigations of human H5N1 cases in Vietnam during 2005 have suggested transmission of H5N1 viruses to at least two persons through consumption of uncooked duck blood. One possible instance of limited person-to-person transmission of H5N1 virus in Thailand has been reported. This possibility is being further investigated in other clusters of cases in Vietnam and Indonesia.

The majority of known human H5N1 cases have begun with respiratory symptoms. However, one atypical fatal case of encephalitis in a child in southern Vietnam in 2004 was identified retrospectively as H5N1 influenza through testing of cerebrospinal fluid, fecal matter, and throat and serum samples. Further research is needed to ascertain the implications of such findings.

Page last modified March 22, 2006

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/outbreaks/current.htm

State Pandemic Planning​

To help coordinate planning, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and other federal agencies are holding pandemic planning summits with public health and emergency management and response leaders in each state.

Schedule of State Summits: http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/summits.html

State Pandemic Plans: http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/stateplans.html

General State Info: http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/tab2.html#intro

China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-03-25 08:54

The Chinese Ministry of Health on Friday confirmed that a 29-year-old woman in Shanghai in east China has died from the bird flu.

The victim, identified only by her surname, Li, was a migrant worker in Shanghai. She showed symptoms of fever and pneumonia on March 13 and died on March 21.

The Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Li's blood samples tested positive for H5N1. The municipal health department had suspected she was suffering from bird flu.

The national Center for Disease Control (CDC) re-tested on Thursday Li's samples which were also positive. The tests were made in accordance with the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO), said the ministry.

Those having close contacts with Li have been put under medicalobservation by local health authorities. So far, none have reported abnormal symptoms.

The report did not say how or where the victim might have been infected with the disease and there has been no confirmation on any outbreak of bird flu among poultry in the city.

The ministry has reported the case to the WHO, the regions of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and several countries.

Li's death brings the total number of human cases of bird flu in China to 16. Ten of the victims have died.

Worldwide a total of 185 human cases of bird flu which caused 104 deaths have been reported to the WHO as of Friday, according to the WHO's website.

There is still room for improvement in China's bird flu surveillance and early warning of the public following bird flu outbreaks, Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director of the Western Pacific, said on Wednesday in Beijing.

Shanghai's health authorities have intensified surveillance andpreventive measures in the city which has a population of about 18million people.

The city's 160 medical departments with fever outpatient service have stepped up screening of patients. Control of animal and poultry trade have also been tightened.

Booklets on bird flu prevention have been sent to communities in a bid to raise public awareness of the disease.

"There's no need to panic, but it's necessary to pay close attention to personal hygiene and avoid contact with sick or dead poultry," said Zhang Yongxin, a professor with the Huashan Hospital under the Fudan University in Shanghai.

Experts have been worrying that the bird flu virus could mutateinto a form that could easily spread among people, causing a global pandemic.

China has agreed to share virus samples from bird flu outbreaksin poultry with WHO to help develop anti-bird flu drugs and vaccines, according to WHO officials.

The first batch of 20 samples should arrive at WHO's overseas laboratories within weeks, said Julie Hall, Coordinator of Epidemic Alert and Response in WHO's Beijing office.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-03/25/content_552022.htm

Germany

1st bird flu case detected in German capital​

www.chinaview.cn 2006-03-25 10:47:06

BERLIN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The lethal strain of H5N1 bird flu was confirmed Friday in a dead wild buzzard found in Berlin, making it the first case of the virus in the German capital, health authorities said.

The dead bird was found on the terrace of a house in the Marzahn-Hellersdorf district on the eastern edge of the city, Berlin state thus becoming the seventh German region hit by the deadly virus.

About 4,000 dead birds had been found in Germany since the beginning of the year, the authorities said, adding that all the dead birds had been handed over to relevant departments for medical tests.

So far, about 200 cases of the bird flu virus have been found in wild birds in several German regions, most of them being in the Baltic Sea region where the first cases were discovered. Enditem

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/25/content_4343584.htm

Cambodian villagers quarantined after bird flu death​

http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2006/03/23/afx2618732.html

KORNG PISEY DISTRICT, Cambodia (AFX) - Cambodian health workers have quarantined part of a village near the capital Phnom Penh after a three-year-old girl died of bird flu and seven others were feared to have caught the deadly virus, officials said.

At least 42 other people who had contact with the suspected victims were also being tested in Cambodia's first outbreak of the H5N1 virus in humans since early 2005, said Ly Sovann, head of the health ministry's infectious disease department.

The girl died Tuesday in a Phnom Penh hospital shortly after falling ill, Ly Sovann said. She was the fifth Cambodian to die of bird flu since 2003.

'She had contact with dead chickens,' Ly Sovann told Agence France-Presse.

Some 200 chickens and ducks in Phum Prich village, Korng Pisey district have been killed by the H5N1 strain of the virus, an agriculture ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

Health workers had disinfected the area and were educating villagers on how to recognise and combat bird flu, according to Ly Sovann.

Three of the suspected cases also had contact with the dead birds, while the other four had come into contact with the dead girl, officials said.

'We are not allowing them to touch the others and are keeping them in one place,' Ly Sovann said of the suspected bird flu victims, adding that none of them was in serious condition.

World Health Organisation spokeswoman Megge Miller also confirmed the girl died of the H5N1 virus.

She said the health body had visited the village, 45 kilometers west of Phnom Penh, and found the suspected victims to only be suffering fevers at that point.

HYDERABAD: 2,500 chicks perish​

http://www.dawn.com/2006/03/25/local25.htm

HYDERABAD, March 24: Over 2,500 chicks died, reportedly of bird flu, in Tando Mohammad Khan on Thursday. According to reports, the chicks died in seven poultry farms. The dead chicks were buried.

The district nazim directed the EDO, health, to ensure no unhealthy chicks were sold in the market and that chicks of various poultry farms were properly tested.

District Development Council chairman Abdul Hakim Memon and Samaji Ittehad chairman Maula Bux Jiskani criticized the health department for failing to take appropriate measures to control bird flu.

Indonesian baby girl dies of bird flu, local health officials say​

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/international/news/20060325p2g00m0in017000c.html

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A one-year-old Indonesian girl died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, a senior health official said Saturday, citing local test results.

A swab and blood sample from the dead child have also been sent to a World Health Organization-sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong for confirmation, said Hariadi Wibisono, a director at the Health Ministry.

If confirmed, the girl's death raises Indonesia's death toll from H5N1 to 23, Wibisono said, adding that most of the positive bird flu virus results in Indonesia have then been confirmed by the WHO laboratory.

As of Friday, the bird flu virus had killed 22 people in Indonesia, and 105 worldwide, according to the WHO.

The baby, who died Thursday after only one day in an infectious disease hospital in the capital, Jakarta, had come into contact with dead poultry, Wibisono said. (AP)

Preparedness key to averting pandemic​

Leavitt, other officials gather in Utah to discuss concerns about bird flu​

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635194350,00.html

By Lois M. Collins
Deseret Morning News

Federal officials believe that avian flu H5N1 will likely be found in a bird in the United States in the next few months. When it happens, it will not be an emergency — unless you're a bird. For birds, it's already a pandemic.

It could become an emergency for humans, though, if the avian flu changes in ways that allow simple human-to-human transmission, which no one can predict. Instead, officials are preparing "as if," because one thing is certain: There have been 10 documented pandemics (worldwide contagions) in the past 300 years. And it will happen again, according to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.

Leavitt, the former Utah governor, and officials from Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency were in Layton Friday for "Utah Plans for Pandemic Influenza," the local version of a national series of governors' summits on preparedness designed to outline what's known, what's feared, what's uncertain and what's being done to get ready. Attendees included law enforcement, health, agriculture, education and other officials, representatives of local churches and others.

State and federal officials also signed a mutual planning agreement during the conference.

Although there have been human infections from the H5N1 avian flu, with 175 deaths, they have nearly all been caused by close contact with infected birds — contact such as playing with sick birds or sleeping in close quarters to them or swimming in canals contaminated by bird waste. Only one of the cases was confirmed person-to-person transmission. Officials say there is no danger from consuming properly cooked poultry.

The worry is that the H5N1 avian flu will undergo an antigenic shift, which is a change in the proteins on the surface of the virus through genetic reassortment, making it easy to pass among humans, who will have no protection from it.

When influenza raged in 1918, the most severe of recent pandemics, 20 million people died globally. Officials are watching this strain of avian influenza more closely in part because it is "genetically similar" to the virus responsible for that pandemic, which killed a half-million Americans.

"We're very concerned about this one," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC.

Given modern populations, a pandemic similar to 1918 would see 90 million infected, 45 million hospitalized and about 2 million dead in the United States. The estimate for Utah is 750,000 sick and 15,000 dead.

Leavitt said the history of pandemics is really the history of mankind because they reshape society, culture, prosperity, politics and everything else.

The predictions are sobering: In a pandemic, the infection rate would likely be 30 percent or higher throughout the population. Children would be hardest hit, about 40 percent. About 20 percent of working adults would become ill, according to the assumptions that officials locally and nationally are using in preparedness efforts.

About half of those who became ill likely would seek outpatient medical care, thousands would be hospitalized and the entire health care system could be overwhelmed. It all depends on the virulence of the influenza. Those most likely to be severely or fatally infected include infants, the elderly, pregnant women and those with chronic medical conditions.

People could expect cancellation of all mass gatherings, including church services, some quarantines, travel restrictions, shortages, business and economic disruptions and more. It would take a while to develop the appropriate vaccine and distribute it. Although the federal government is making preparations, communities need their own plans. The federal government could not possibly respond to everyone, Leavitt said, and any national response takes time.

What the federal agencies have done, in cooperation with local officials, is develop checklists and resources, education campaigns, partnerships, national drug stockpiles and a budding infrastructure to deal with pandemic. That includes plans to put billions of dollars into "retooling" the vaccine industry so that vaccines could be prepared and distributed quickly, Leavitt said. That is also supposed to ensure the supply of seasonal flu vaccine each year.

While Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert said Utah is in "good shape overall" in terms of preparedness, a lot will hinge on individuals and families. It is at that level the best prevention will occur, said Gerberding. The surest way to stop the spread is through good old-fashioned respiratory hygiene: Wash your hands, cover your mouth and nose, stay home when you're sick and keep children out of school. All those things slow the spread of any influenza, and in the case of pandemic, it "buys precious time to get a vaccine produced."

Families should also have emergency preparedness kits, extra food and water and medicine and other essentials to help them survive in the short term.

Leavitt likened pandemic to a forest fire. It's no big deal if someone's there to spot the spark and put it out. When it begins to rage through the forest, you just try to keep people out of the way and reduce the surge, he said.

Officials are trying hard not to cause panic, but there's a dilemma, according to Leavitt. Anything officials do "before it happens feels alarmist. After, it's inadequate."

He hopes the planning going on nationwide will become "an ethic, not an episode," so it can be used to deal with any type of national emergency.

More information on pandemics and avian influenza, as well as preparing, will be online at www.pandemicflu.utah.gov, which also has links to national sites.

Macao

UPDATED: 19:01, March 25, 2006

Macao steps up border temperature checks amid bird flu scare​

font size ZoomIn ZoomOut

The Macao authorities have upgraded the body temperature checks on the ports amid avian-flu concerns, according to an official press release issued Saturday.

The release from the Information Bureau said medical task forces have been assigned to main ports including the Macao-Hong Kong ferry, the Macao International Airport and the land border linking the mainland city of Zhuhai.

The body temperature checks will be focused on arrivals from nations including Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt, where the human-infected cases were recently reported, said the release.

The release stressed that if any suspected cases are disclosed by the temperature surveillance, the medical teams will transfer the suspected infects to hospital for further checks.

Source: Xinhua

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200603/25/eng20060325_253472.html

http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/d...tjkcollub0.6206324&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html

4 March 2006
United States Helping Lead War on Bird Flu, Says U.N. Envoy

Nation expands international cooperation, increases monitoring for disease

By Todd Bullock
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The United States is taking a strong leadership role in global efforts to prepare for the possibility of a pandemic influenza outbreak from the highly virulent H5N1 avian influenza virus, says Dr. David Nabarro, U.N. senior coordinator for avian and human influenza.

"The U.S. government is raising the importance of strategic support to stop the continued spread of influenza in animals and to prevent emergence of a human-to-human outbreak," Nabarro said March 23 at a Washington forum on avian influenza surveillance and readiness organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He cited U.S. participation and support at meetings of public health organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) and other U.N. working groups, as well as U.S. work to increase global disease-surveillance capacity. (See related article.)

Specifically, the U.N. envoy praised efforts by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for their "superb technical cooperation" with Nigerian officials in responding to the recent outbreak of H5N1 in that West African nation.

According to the WHO, the disease has been detected in flocks in 11 of Nigeria’s 37 states. (See related article.)

The two U.S. agencies quickly sent in personnel following detection of the deadly virus and are working to help Nigeria develop its own detection capacity and adopt better hygienic practices on commercial poultry farms. (See related article.)

"CDC and USAID have done an enormous amount to make a difference," Nabarro said.

NABARRO URGES INCREASED PUBLIC EDUCATION, PREPARATION

Health officials must continue to provide as much information as possible to the public and to the media as preparations are made for any public health emergency, Nabarro said.

The U.N. coordinator added that better information about hygiene and biosecurity should be disseminated to small poultry farmers who otherwise might not have access to such information. (See related article.)

International officials are issuing warnings about preparedness because the avian influenza epidemic among animals could evolve into a human influenza pandemic. With an eye toward that potential crisis, Nabarro also discussed the need for governments to develop contingency plans for maintaining continuity of government as well as the rule of law.

"In the event of a pandemic, public services are going to be stretched to their limits and certain regions in the world will be vulnerable to a breakdown in law and order," he said. (See related article.)

According to Nabarro, avian influenza has spread to 20 countries during the last six weeks alone and has recently moved into the Gaza Strip as well as settlements in the West Bank.

"We are very vulnerable," he warned. "Most of us, I think, feel that it's best to be preparing to hunker down."

UNITED STATES INCREASING DOMESTIC MONITORING FOR H5N1

The United States is developing the clinical capacity to detect the spread of avian influenza once it enters North America, Nancy Cox, chief of the influenza branch at the National Center for Infectious Diseases, said.

"Our priority is to work on a rapid diagnostic test which will be able to detect human infection of the virus and inform state and local health care providers," she said at the forum.

The CDC and the U.S. departments of agriculture and defense are collaborating to develop the test, Cox said.

"The United States has an existing mortality reporting system from hospitals which report the number of deaths from pneumonia or influenza, which will allow us to track and contain infection rates," she said.

She also noted that the United States is working with international partners on epidemiological studies to monitor any mutations of H5N1 that might increase the chances of human-to-human transmission.

For additional information on the disease and efforts to combat it, see Bird Flu.

Threat Of New Outburst Of Bird Flu In Azerbaijan Is High​

http://eng.primenewsonline.com/?c=130&a=7088

Tbilisi, March 25 (Prime-News) – Threat of new outburst of the bird flu virus in Azerbaijan is high owing to migration of birds in spring.

Ismail Gasanov, head of the State Veterinary service at Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture stated to journalists that is planned to carry out vaccination and intensify monitoring over poultry keeping farms to prevent spreading of the bird flu virus.

Gasanov noted that facts of death of wild birds on the territory of Azerbaijan reduced.

Employees of the Veterinary service have annihilated 26 000 of dead birds.

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 25 March 2006 2057 hrs

Indonesian girl is latest suspected bird flu death​

JAKARTA : A one-year-old Indonesian girl who died earlier this week was infected with the bird flu virus, a health official has confirmed, citing results from local tests.

The girl, a resident of West Jakarta, died Thursday at Jakarta's Sulianti Saroso main state-run hospital for bird flu patients, said health ministry official Hariyadi Wibisono.

"The local tests for the girl came out positive. She had a history of contact with sick chickens near her house and suffered serious respiratory problems during hospitalisation," Wibisono told AFP.

Samples from the girl have been sent to a Hong Kong laboratory accredited by the World Health Organisation for confirmation, the official said.

If confirmed, the girl would be Indonesia's 23rd bird flu fatality. Results from local tests are usually accurate.

Most cases in Indonesia have been in the capital and its surroundings, where many people live in close proximity to poultry despite the urban environment, but infections have been found in birds in 26 of Indonesia's 33 provinces.

The Indonesian government was initially accused of covering up outbreaks in birds and has since been criticised for dragging its feet to act against the steady march of the virus across the archipelago nation.

Experts fear that bird flu, which has killed more than 100 people since 2003, mostly in Asia, may mutate into a form that can pass easily between humans, sparking a deadly pandemic.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/199824/1/.html

Ontario (Canada) Health Plan for an Influenza Pandemic​

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/providers/program/emu/pan_flu/pan_flu_plan.html

Alaska & How they test

Experts will test birds for signs of avian flu ​

By ANN POTEMPA
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: March 25, 2006)

About 40 biologists from throughout the state came to Anchorage Friday to learn how to test wild birds in Alaska for H5N1, the bird flu strain that's killed birds and people in Asia and beyond.

So far, the potentially deadly virus hasn't been detected in birds or people in North America. Even more, government agencies tracking bird flu say there's no known case of it being passed from a wild bird to a person.

No one knows, however, whether wild bird-to-person transmission is possible.

Starting in a couple of weeks, biologists and others hired for the task will scatter throughout Alaska to swab birds in what's touted as the main avian flu surveillance project nationwide. Many live birds will be tested and released, while others will be hunted and tested after they have died.

Alaska is a hub for bird flu surveillance because it's at the crossroads of many wild bird migratory pathways. Some of these birds fly here from Asia, where the deadly H5N1 bird virus has been detected, said Scott Wright, branch chief with the U.S. Geological Survey's disease investigations department.

This year, people throughout the state will be watching for the virus in these birds. Disease specialists from the USGS visited Anchorage and Bethel this week holding workshops to train biologists and others how to safely look for H5N1. On Friday, these biologists practiced a quick test that involves swabbing a bird's anal opening.

Rex Sohn is a wildlife disease specialist with the USGS's National Wildlife Health Center laboratory in Madison, Wis. -- where many of Alaska's bird samples will be sent. Standing in front of a room packed with Alaska biologists, he dressed in a blue plastic apron, pulled on gloves and covered his eyes with protective goggles. He reached into a bag and pulled out a dead long-tailed duck. Grabbing its bottom, he pulled the tail back and inserted a swab into the cloaca -- the pouchlike opening where feces is defecated. The H5N1 virus is shed in the feces of infected birds, Wright said.

Afterward, Sohn watched as biologists tried the technique on large and small dead birds.

Nationwide, the goal is to sample 75,000 to 100,000 wild birds. In Alaska, about $4 million in federal money will be allocated to study about 15,000 birds, said Bruce Woods, spokesman with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The USGS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game are working together to study live birds, birds killed during the Alaska Native subsistence hunt that begins in spring, and birds killed during the fall hunt.

Wright said Alaska's remoteness will challenge the biologists collecting and shipping the samples. The best samples are ones that aren't frozen, "but we know the realities of Alaska," he said. To get the bird specimens from Alaska to Wisconsin, they have to be frozen in some way and sent thousands of miles by air to Madison. The turnaround for results will depend on a number of factors, Wright said, including the species of bird and the test used.

"People should not expect that we would be able to tell them anything about the samples in a short period of time," said Karen Sullivan, a Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman. She and Woods said significant sample results should not be expected until early May.

Other bird surveillance efforts will continue in the state. For example, researchers with the University of Alaska Fairbanks have studied thousands of birds for all types of avian influenza in recent years and plan to keep studying these birds this year, said Kevin Winker, an associate professor with the university.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation also intends to continue looking at Alaska's domestic bird populations. Last year, state veterinarian Bob Gerlach visited agricultural fairs to swab chickens, turkeys and other domestic birds. Kristin Ryan, director of the DEC's Division of Environmental Health, said her department's staff hopes to visit fairs again this summer. It also is working with people who own domestic poultry, asking them to look for and report suspicious symptoms of bird influenza.

Ryan said the state's new Environmental Health Laboratory in Anchorage will likely be able to test samples collected from domestic birds for avian flu starting this spring.

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060325/NEWS01/603250301/1002

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<B><center>Saturday, March 25, 2006
KIMBERLY JAHNKE - STANDARD-EXAMINER

<font size=+1 color=brown>Public health leaders don't want to wing it if a bird flu pandemic strikes.</font>

<A href="http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/172076/">www.heraldextra.com</a></center>
Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert convened a summit in Layton on Friday of federal, state and local health leaders to discuss and plan the state and nation's response to a potential influenza pandemic. </b>

At the summit, Michael Leavitt, secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services, and state officials adopted a planning resolution for pandemic influenza preparedness and unveiled a new state Web site to provide information for pandemic planning. The summit was the first of its kind in Utah.

The resolution outlines the responsibilities of federal, state and local governments in preparing for a pandemic. Similar resolutions will be signed in all 50 states.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who could not attend Friday because he is traveling to Iraq to visit Utah troops, signed the resolution earlier this week.

The summit, held at the Davis Conference Center, was spurred by concerns about the avian flu virus H5N1, which has infected wild and domestic birds in dozens of Asian, European and African countries.

The virus is genetically similar to the strain that caused the 1918 flu pandemic that killed 40 million people worldwide.

There have been 105 human deaths from the H5N1 virus so far, according to the World Health Organization's Web site.

The highly lethal H5N1 is not yet a transmissible virus, and may never be. Still, Herbert said the state is better off being prepared.

"We don't want to be alarmists," Herbert said. "But society will not forgive us if we don't prepare."

It will take a mutation of the virus to make it possible to spread between people. If that happens, Utah is at as much risk as any other state, Leavitt said.

"If we have person-to-person transmission anywhere, the risk is everywhere," Leavitt said.

Planning goes beyond stockpiling vaccine, Herbert said. A pandemic would overwhelm hospitals, shutter businesses and close schools. The state's economy would grind to a halt as workers stayed home sick and supply chains were interrupted.

A pandemic could last a year or more, with outbreaks occurring in waves lasting six to eight weeks. Death tolls nationwide could reach 2 million.

Leavitt said the avian flu will eventually reach American shores.

He said every family, business and local government should have a plan. In a Wyoming speech earlier this month, Leavitt proposed families purchase extra cans of tuna fish and powdered milk and store them under the bed. On the Tonight Show, Jay Leno poked fun at the suggestion, but Leavitt was steadfast.

"We all need to be prepared," he said.

For checklists and more information on how to prepare for the possible pandemic http://visit www.pandemicflu.utah.gov.

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<B><font size=+1 color=green><center>Bird Flu Has Infected 186 People Of Which 105 Have Died</font>

Main Category: Bird Flu/Avian Flu News
Article Date: 25 Mar 2006 - 15:00pm (UK)
<A href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=40300">www.medicalnewstoday.com</a></center>
Since 2003 186 people have become infected with bird flu (avian flu), specifically, the H5N1 virus strain. 105 of them have died. Here is a list of the countries:</b>

Azerbajan
Cases - 7
Deaths - 5

Cambodia
Cases - 5
Deaths - 5

China
Cases - 16
Deaths - 11

Indonesia
Cases - 29
Deaths - 22

Iraq
Cases - 2
Deaths - 2

Thailand
Cases - 22
Deaths - 14

Turkey
Cases - 12
Deaths - 4

Vietnam
Cases - 93
Deaths - 42

Total
Cases - 186
Deaths - 105

A recent study may explain why so few humans have become infected, when compared to birds. The H5N1 virus needs to get deep down into the lungs in order to make the human ill. For a human to become infected he/she needs to be in constant contact with sick birds so that a cluster of viruses can build up. Even when a human does get ill, the infection is so deep within the lungs that hardly any viruses are expelled when the patient coughs - making it much harder to infect other humans.

Hundreds of millions of birds have died of H5N1 infection since 2003.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today

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<B><font size=+1 color=blue><center>Greyhound Canada ends animal service on bird flu fear</font>

Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:11 PM EST
<A href="http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-03-24T191226Z_01_N24263363_RTRIDST_0_CANADA-BIRDFLU-CANADA-TRANSPORT-COL.XML&archived=False">ca.today.reuters.com</a></center>
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Greyhound Canada Transportation Corp. will stop transporting live birds, animals and insects from May 1 as the threat of bird flu grows, a Greyhound Lines Inc. spokesman said on Friday.

"Greyhound Canada will no longer ship animals, birds, insects, bees or other lab creatures," spokesman Dustin Clark said. "Even if it's a perception, we don't want to impact our passengers."</b>

The virulent H5N1 bird flu virus, which has spread from Asia to the Middle East, Africa and Europe, remains essentially an animal disease but can infect people who come into contact with sick poultry. It has killed at least 105 people since it re-emerged in Asia in 2003.

Clark said Greyhound Canada transported mostly chick hatchlings and bees in its luggage hold, and the service made up only a small part of the bus line's service. The service was used mostly in Alberta, an agricultural province.

Canada Post also transports bees and live chicks. A spokesman said the postal service will continue to do so.

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<B><center>Colorado:

<font size=+0 color=red>Stock up for pending pandemic</font>

<font size=+1 color=purple>Officials: We can't depend on feds for quick response</font>

By KEVIN DARST
KevinDarst@coloradoan.com
<A href="http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060325/NEWS01/603250301/1002">www.coloradooan.com</a></center>
DENVER - Colorado residents and families need to begin stockpiling for a possible flu pandemic, state and federal leaders said at a conference Friday.

While a pandemic is not imminent, officials said individual planning efforts will be a key to local and state preparation. Gov. Bill Owens said his family has already "taken some steps."

"A flu pandemic isn't something the government alone" can handle, Owens said at the Colorado Convention Center, a sprawling facility that Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt suggested could become a hospital during a severe flu outbreak that would sicken more than a million Colorado residents. </b>

Owens urged residents to make flu plans, buy disinfectants such as bleach and stock enough food to last one to two months, a recommendation called "overblown" by Larimer County's emergency manager.

"That's not a rational suggestion for the public," said Erik Nilsson, the county's emergency manager. Nilsson said a week's worth of supplies was more realistic, adding that stores would probably have less food and variety on their shelves during a pandemic.

Still, Friday's message was clear: Individuals and state and local governments shouldn't depend on the federal government to plan for them or respond in the first hours of an outbreak.

And Leavitt nixed the notion that help would even come from volunteers in other states as it did during hurricanes along the Gulf Coast last year.

"That would not be the case in a pandemic," Leavitt said.

Pandemics happen every 20 to 30 years, health officials say. The latest threat comes from the highly-pathogenic H5N1 bird flu, which has sickened about 200 people, mostly in Asia, killing 103.

Nearly all those people were infected after close contact with sick chickens. The virus hasn't shown it can jump easily from person to person, which would be the next step toward a worldwide pandemic.

Such an event could cripple businesses, utilities and supermarkets, which should plan on 25 to 50 percent of their employees staying home with the illness or caring for sick family members.

Federal officials this week said they expect to find wild migratory birds with H5N1 in the United States in the next few months. Such a discovery would not signal the start of a pandemic, they said.

States will get some federal money to prepare. Owens and Leavitt announced $1.6 million in federal funding for Colorado's pandemic flu planning efforts, money that will largely be distributed to local governments, though not until next year.

Colorado could get another payout twice as big in the coming months.

One of the biggest challenges will be "trying to change culture to be a prepared society," said Ned Calonge, the state's chief medical officer.

Owens said the state has prepared 11 executive orders the governor could sign in an emergency, giving him broad power to, among other things, call for quarantines and prevent price-gouging for medicine.

A local steering committee has been meeting since December to build a plan for Larimer County. Nilsson told the crowd Friday a plan should be ready for a tabletop exercise - or simulation - by summer or early fall.

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<B><font size=+1 color=red><center>Could your family respond to bird flu threat? </font>

Dr. Stephanie Clements Medical Reporter
3/24/2006 5:49 PM MST
<A href="http://9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=2ed6f4cc-0abe-421a-00aa-22d12a2da37c&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf">9news..com</a></center>
If some sort of pandemic hit Colorado, where would your family get food, water or medicine? What if as a supervisor at your work, 25% of your workforce was out sick? How would you operate your business? They are questions posed at a Pandemic planning summit in Denver on Friday, aimed at getting personal with bird flu preparation. The comforting part, the Department of Health and Human Services already has some great information families, businesses and churches can use. </b>

Additional Resources...
<A href="http://www.pandemicflu.gov/">What can you and your family do to prepare?</a>

"Can we just acknowledge this is a hard thing to talk about?," queried U.S. Secretary of Human Services (HHS), Michael Leavitt. He was addressing one thousand of Colorado's most interested business, academic, church, and health leaders.

The forum aimed to take pandemic prep beyond the theoretical and to the practical, without unduly frightening people. Secretary Leavitt says given the historical consistency of pandemics, we have no reason to believe that bird flu or some other illness or bioterrorism are likely to challenge us in our lifetime.

"This is not a Stephen King novel I'm talking about, this is a pandemic we will likely be facing at some point in time," says Secretary Leavitt. Both he and Colorado Governor Bill Owens signed a planning resolution Friday, committing to give the public the tools it needs to personally plan for any type of interruption a virus, natural catastrophe or bioterrorism could bring someday.

"Any community that fails to prepare with the expectation that the federal government will come to their rescue will be sadly disappointed--not because the federal government lacks a will, not because we have an insufficient collective wallet, but because there is no way that one national government can respond to five thousand communities, who at the same time will be having the same experience we have described in hundreds of towns across Colorado and thousands of towns across the country," explains Leavitt. While a pandemic is a global problem, it's worst demands are at the local level, which is why every family needs to get involved now.

A pandemic is defined as a widespread wave of illness or crisis experienced worldwide at the same time. Unlike a natural disaster like a tornado or even a tsunami, recovery from a pandemic doesn't come in days or weeks, but rather months and years. "Pandemics reshape cultures and cities, and affect every aspect of human prosperity", says Leavitt.

Leavitt says he's most concerned about two aspects of pandemic planning. One is distributing antiviral medications to the states, and the second is coping with huge surges of sick patients. Colorado is in line to receive bulk quantities of antiviral within twelve hours of Governor Owens making the request. The trick will be dividing up those drugs and getting them to individual hospitals and patients within the short time frame (48 hours) of onset of symptoms. Colorado is far ahead of most states where patient surge is concerned, already having 13 caches of hospital beds stashed throughout the state. Each cache contains some 450 hospital beds and ancillary equipment that can be assembled at a moment's notice. That could decompress hospital overcrowding very quickly. Colorado also has plans, and in some cases has already executed trouble-shooting drills to convert large buildings into hospitals and even portable intensive care units in the case hospitals are slammed with an onslaught of patients.

Leavitt also announced Friday $1.6 million dollars in pandemic preparedness grant money to help Colorado communities get ready. More money is to come, and HHS is offering a comprehensive website that businesses, schools, churches, daycare and families can use to get their ducks in a row. The website contains several easy-to-use checklists that guide us through the thought process.

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<B><center>Atlanta Info Center
<font size=+1 color=green>Warns: Be Prepared for Avian Flu</font>

March 23, 2006
<A href="http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2006/03/23/66726.htm">www.insurancejournal.com</a></center>
Insurers could face several challenges for which they need to be prepared if avian flu develops into a worldwide pandemic according to researchers in the Atlanta-based LOMA Information Center, which says almost every line of business would be hit hard.

As avian flu continues to spread among birds in Asia and Europe, scientists say there is a possibility the virus could mutate into a form that can pass between people. Insurers could face several challenges for which they need to be prepared if avian flu develops into a worldwide pandemic.</b>

According to LOMA insurers will also be affected as employers. It's possible and probable, that insurers will be operating with reduced staff during a period of heavy claims and general work overload.

The April 2006 issue of LOMA's Resource magazine will feature five insurers sharing their contingency plans for avian flu and the steps they're taking to prepare for the worst. Dr. Michael Moore, chief medical officer of Nationwide, also provides his thoughts on avian flu and what measures Nationwide is taking in case a pandemic occurs.

According to World Health Organization projections, if the avian flu virus mutates into a form easily transmitted among people, the resulting pandemic could kill 25 to 165 million people worldwide. LOMA will continue to monitor this situation as well as others impacting the insurance and financial services industry. For more information, visit LOMA's Web site, www.loma.org, LOMA members can download a free Information brief on avian flu from the members only section.

They have been airing an annual Ocean Spray cranberry commercial for the last week. It is an Autumn, and a Thanksgiving time commercial. When it is usually aired, you knew the Holidays were right around the corner. So why are they airing it now, during springtime?

It wasn't until they said, "Cranberries build up your immune system..." that it became obvious. Ocean Spray is capitalizing on any bird flu fears/ pandemic fears that might be lurking out there.

Interesting.

Three more suspected bird flu cases reported in Cambodia​

See: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1793078&postcount=6
and http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1792123&postcount=5
and http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1792254&postcount=18

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/199901/1/.html

PHNOM PENH - Three more people have been hospitalised in Cambodia with suspected bird flu, five days after the country reported its first death from the virus in a year, health officials said Saturday.

The three -- one adult and two children -- are being treated for fever and respiratory problems at a hospital in the capital Phnom Penh, said Ly Sovann, head of the health ministry's department of infectious diseases.

The suspected cases come from a village neighbouring that of a three-year-old girl who died Tuesday after falling ill with the H5N1 strain of the virus.

Five other people who had contact with the suspected cases are also being tested, Ly Sovann said.

It is unknown how the three might have become infected with the deadly virus, Ly Sovann said.

Seven Cambodians thought to have caught bird flu after the girl died tested negative for the virus, Ly Sovann said earlier.

"All the seven suspected patients are negative ... all of them are better," he said.

The seven, all from the girl's village, fell ill with fevers around the same time that the girl died.

Officials with the health ministry and World Health Organisation think the toddler became infected after playing with sick chickens in Phum Prich village in Kompong Speu province, 45 kilometres (28 miles) west of the capital Phnom Penh.

Another 42 people from Phum Prich who came into contact with the dead girl or the suspected cases have also tested negative for H5N1, which has killed five people in Cambodia since 2003, Ly Sovann said.

Health officials are investigating the deaths of chickens and ducks in Phum Prich, but an agriculture ministry official said Saturday there was no evidence yet the poultry died of H5N1.

Cambodia's last outbreak of bird flu in humans occurred in early 2005, while the virus has been found in ducks in eastern Kompong Cham province twice since February, triggering the slaughter of hundreds of birds.

Thousands of birds smuggled in from neighbouring Vietnam, where 42 people have died from bird flu since December 2004, have also been destroyed in recent months.

Most poultry in Cambodia is raised on small farms or in backyards, making it difficult to prevent the spread of the virus.

World Health Organisation figures show that bird flu has killed more than 100 people worldwide since 2003, mostly in Asia.

Pakistan

Demand for chicken meat falls​

Saturday March 25, 2006 (1620 PST)

ISLAMABAD, March 26 (Online) Consumption of poultry has declined sharply in Pakistan after the presence of deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus in the country was confirmed, officials said Saturday.

"According to our rough estimates, demand for chicken meat and its products has declined by 40 to 45 percent," said an official at the Poultry Research Institute, reports DPA.

The samples sent to the World Reference Laboratory at Weybridge, England had on March 21 confirmed the presence of H5N1 in two poultry farms of Charsada and Abbottabad districts in North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP).

Demand for chicken has since taken a nose-dive despite government`s vigorous media campaign that "chicken cooked over 70 degrees centigrade was safe for consumption." Chicken makes up nearly 45 percent of total meat consumption in the country and is cheaper than beef and mutton.

The official estimated losses suffered by the poultry industry at $20 million. M. Afzal, a government spokesman said that while precautionary measures had been taken, it was impossible to predict whether the deadly virus had been contained.

"The chances of bird flu recurring is always there, although we culled all 25,000 chickens at the farms in Charsadda and Abbottabad and adopted the WHO recommended disinfecting procedures," he said.

Pakistan had announced the presence of avian influenza H5 on Feb 27 this year in the two provincial farms before laboratory tests confirmed it as H5N1.

All provincial governments have increased surveillance and field teams are regularly visiting poultry farms to prevent an outbreak of the deadly disease.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 91 people, mostly in Asia, since its outbreak in 2003, according to the WHO.

http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=138538

Twelfth case of H5N1 bird flu confirmed in Denmark​

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/109080.asp

Denmark has identified its 12th case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu that can infect humans, the Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research said.

A tufted duck found on March 19 in Praestoe, south of the capital, carried the highly pathogenic H5 variant of bird flu. Further analysis revealed that the duck carried the most virulent H5N1 strain.

On Friday, a swan found near Frederikssund, to the west of Copenhagen, was also confirmed to have carried H5N1.

Nine other wild ducks and a buzzard found last week on the island of Aeroe, south of Fyn and on the island of Svinoe, south of Zealand, were all determined to have been infected with the H5N1 strain.

Two tested for suspected bird flu in Malaysia​

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/109076.asp

Two people in Malaysia are being tested for suspected bird flu after displaying symptoms of the disease, a senior health ministry official has said.

A three-year old girl from northern Penang state and a 26-year-old man from neighbouring Perak state are in isolation while awaiting test results for the H5N1 virus, said the ministry's director for disease control, Ramlee Rahmat.

"They have been isolated pending further investigation. They are both stable," Ramlee told AFP. "The test results will come back in one or two days."

The country has suffered five outbreaks of the H5N1 virus among poultry in the last ten days, four of them in Perak and one in Penang.

Link to tomorrows (3/26) Bird Flu thread: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=191046