7/21/07-7/27/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread:U.S. lags in bird-flu preparations

Link to Last Weeks Thread:

HEALTH - 7/14/07-7/20/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread: Where in the world is the H5N1 virus?

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=248793

Johns Hopkins on influenza:

http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/33/450/Rashid Chotani.pdf

National Avian Influenza Surveillance Information:

http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/ai/

CDC

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/index.htm

WHO

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/index.html

CIDRAP

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/

Official U.S. Government Web site

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/

FAO

http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subjects/en/health/diseases-cards/special_avian.html

Public Health Agency of Canada

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/influenza/avian_qa_e.html

European Union

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/dyna/influenza/country_en.htm

The World Bank

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXT...68427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:1793593,00.html

U.S. lags in bird-flu preparations​

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_healthblog/2007/07/white-house-say.html

Posted on Jul 20, 2007 7:01:00 AM

The White House is worried about two key issues for a global flu outbreak (or pandemic): vaccines and hospital capacity. In a new report, the Bush administration says much progress has been made in pandemic preparedness. But serious challenges remain. Among them: A lack of patient beds. Hospitals already struggle to find room for all those who need care. A pandemic would easily overwhelm the system. "We are almost certainly not going to have sufficient health and medical capability to take care of the large number of individuals that would be presented by a large pandemic," Dr. Rajeev Venkayya told Reuters.

Here's more from the Reuters story:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The United States has helped many countries watch and prepare for a bird flu pandemic, but lacks the rapid tests and hospital capacity to cope with one at home, the White House said on Tuesday.

The federal government issued a report card one year after it released a pandemic influenza plan, and said agencies had finished many of the hundreds of tasks assigned.

But some of the most difficult tasks remain, including the ability to quickly detect the spread of disease, capacity to make vaccines quickly and in large-enough amounts, and detailed plans on who gets drugs and vaccines if a pandemic hits.

"We have limited surveillance capability here in the United States," said Dr. Rajeev Venkayya, assistant to President George W. Bush for biodefense.

Hospitals are already overwhelmed with day-to-day patients. "We are almost certainly not going to have sufficient health and medical capacity to take care of the large number of individuals that would be presented by a large pandemic," Venkayya told a briefing.

The report noted that a billion dollars has been invested in upgrading vaccine manufacturing. It said U.S. antiviral drug production capacity was at 80 million regimens per year.

Mumps outbreak may preview pandemic​

http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyan...=f1b40eef-d921-4958-906a-606e9ce5b3e2&k=90626

Charles Mandel, CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, July 20, 2007

HALIFAX -- The current mumps outbreak in the Maritimes is the "canary in the coal mine," for a possible flu pandemic, according to a pediatric disease specialist in Halifax.

Writing in the most recent Canadian Medical Association Journal, Dr. Noni MacDonald said the mumps outbreak warns of the "inadequacies in our present approach to infectious disease control," including for flu pandemics.

MacDonald, who is also the CMAJ's public health section editor, suggested health officials need to learn from master marketers like beer companies and Apple on how to reach young adults for immunization programs. She said immunization needs to happen where they congregate, including in bars. Her idea was dubbed the shot for a shot campaign, but something Nova Scotia's health minister quickly rejected.

But others aren't so quick to shoot down the idea. Karen Grimsrud, acting chief medical officer of health for Alberta Health and Wellness, said they learned from their own experience with a meningitis outbreak in 2000 that reaching the twenty-something crowd is difficult.

"You have to look at different ways of delivering immunization programs if you want to capture that group," Grimsrud said. "Awareness is not enough. One of the things you would have to look at is to go where they're most likely to be found."

Some of the Maritime mumps cases have made their way West, where both British Columbia and Alberta have reported small numbers of the infectious disease. Grimsrud blamed Alberta's cases in May and June on students returning home from school in Nova Scotia.

Lamont Sweet, the deputy chief health officer for Prince Edward Island, said he wouldn't employ a strategy of immunization clinics at bars on P.E.I. simply because they wouldn't likely get the numbers they'd hope for in an immunization campaign.

However, he said such a program could work in Halifax where large numbers of youth frequent the same clubs. "I think if Halifax wants to do it, it would be wonderful," Sweet said.

Barry Barnet, the Nova Scotia minister of health promotion and protection, told a Halifax newspaper on Wednesday that they would not give inoculations in bars. "That's just not on," he said.

Brett Loney, a Nova Scotia health promotion and protection spokesman, said the minister is looking at creative approaches to reaching young adults, but shots in bars was not one of them.

David Salisbury, Ottawa's medical officer of health, said the so-called shot for shot system would be logistically difficult to deliver because of issues with sterility and other medical considerations. "It's not just take a couple of needles with you and bang them into arms."

Salisbury said Ottawa hasn't considered a similar strategy and wasn't certain offering immunization in front of bars would be any more effective than giving clinics to people in schools, colleges and universities.

Ottawa has reported four cases of mumps, two of which came from Nova Scotia.

Since February, some 447 cases of mumps have spread mostly among youths 23 and 24-years-olds in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

n her CMAJ editorial, MacDonald said a number of factors contributed to the spread, including inadequate dosages of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and the difficulty of creating a "booster 'vaccine net' around the outbreak."

"Many young adults were potentially exposed to mumps while celebrating St. Patrick's Day at packed bars," noted MacDonald. "Telling them to self-isolate when they had no symptoms was an exercise in futility."

MacDonald said in an interview Thursday that her CMAJ editorial was meant to open peoples' minds nationwide to the idea that people in the 17-to 30-year-old age group are difficult to reach.

She said they often don't have family doctors and are not the kind of people to step forward when a health intervention is offered because they think they're healthy. "They're immortal in that age group."

MacDonald said she wasn't disappointed with Barnet's reaction to her idea that health officials could set up immunization clinics at bars before they opened and entice young adults to get shots with coupons for soft drinks. "I would have been a bit surprised if he'd come out and said, 'Sure, we're going to give a beer with every vaccine'. "

Rather, MacDonald said people are beginning to understand that creativity is necessary to reach young adults and to help stop the spread of disease. MacDonald said health promotion experts would do well to look to beer companies and Apple with its iPod to understand how immunization campaigns might be marketed.

And she said health promoters need to go online to websites like MySpace and Facebook in order to get the message out.

According to MacDonald, in the 20th century young people had the highest mortality rate among the three flu pandemics that struck. MacDonald praised the province for doing a good job of managing the mumps outbreak, but added, "it's just if this was a pandemic, and much worse, we'd be in dire straits."

India

High level meeting reviews bird flu threat​

http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=38667&typeid=1

The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, Jul 19: The state chief secretary Jarnail Singh, held an emergency meeting with concerned officials of the state veterinary and health departments today to discuss the measures being taken up to counter any outbreak of avian influenza (bird flu) in the state.

According to official sources, the high level meeting analysed the emerging situation regarding the bird flu threat, and the chief secretary also advised the concerned authorities to remain on the alert.

Fears of an outbreak of bird flu in Manipur has been heightened after the mass deaths of over a hundred fowls at a private poultry farm located in Chingmeirong in the Imphal area in the last week, even as outbreaks of bird flu have been reported in the neighbouring Myanmar as well as in Bangladesh in recent months. The cause of death of the birds at the Chingmeirong farm is yet to be confirmed.

Sources said that in the meeting today, the chief secretary found fault with the health department for its lapses in taking up health care measures in the areas where there is thought to be a possibility of outbreak of bird flu.

The officials of both departments were also advised to intensify the activities of their rapid response teams in carrying out surveillance and taking up preventive measures.

In the meantime, the state veterinary department has issued an internal departmental circular intimating the peronnel of all 80 RRTs which have already been formed to immediately activate measures for surveillance and prevention in their respective areas of responsibility.

In the meantime, AB Negi, joint commissioner in the Union ministry of agriculture, department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, who has been stationed in the state capital for the last few days in the wake of the emergence of reports of mass deaths of poultry in Imphal, left today for Kohima. He is expected to return to Imphal within three days, and is likely to stay here till the results of tests on blood and sera samples collected from the dead birds are released.

In the meantime, personnel of the state veterinary department continued extensive collection of blood and sera samples of domesticated fowls and livestock in the valley areas, extending beyond the 15 km radius limit from the particular farm at Chingmeirong where the bird deaths took place.

Cuba establishes real-time bird flu detection system​

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/6221069.html

Cuba has established a monitoring system to detect bird flu, the country's public health ministry announced Friday.

The ministry's vice minister Gonzalo Estevez told a news conference in Havana that Cuba has trained personnel to face an avian flu epidemic such as the one affecting many countries in southeast Asia.

Estevez said Cuba has invested millions of dollars in the avian flu detection and control program and it is following the worldwide evolution of the epidemic.

"The threat of a possible worldwide avian-flu epidemic as well as its social and economic impact urged all the countries to be on the alert and to draw out contingency plans to deal with an emergency situation," Estevez said.

Bird flu is strong enough to infect different mammals, including humans, and has infected 306 people around the world since 2003, killing 185 of them.

UAE bans Togo, Czech, poultry imports over bird flu​

http://africa.reuters.com/commodities/news/usnBAN136263.html?rpc=401&

Sat 21 Jul 2007, 9:04 GMT

DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates banned on Saturday the import of all live birds and poultry products from the Czech Republic and Togo after an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus in both countries, the official WAM news agency said.

It said Environment and Water Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Kindi had issued the ban to prevent the spread of the deadly virus to animals or humans in the Gulf Arab country.

On July 12, Czech vets said they found cases of the type of the bird flu virus in poultry at two more farms with 71,000 poultry, bringing the number of outbreaks to four.

Last month, Togo became the seventh West African country hit by the H5N1 virus after tests confirmed an outbreak of the deadly virus at a poultry farm.

No data were immediately available on the size of the UAE's poultry imports from the Czech Republic or Togo.

The H5N1 virus has spread into the Middle East, Africa and Europe since it re-emerged in Asia in 2003. More than 30 countries have reported bird flu outbreaks in the past year, mostly in wild birds.

Although it remains largely an animal disease, it can kill people who come into close contact with infected birds.

Globally, H5N1 has killed nearly 200 people out of more than 300 known cases, according to the World Health Organisation. None of the victims were from Europe.

Jakarta

City's cat numbers rapidly expanding, pose disease threat​

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailcity.asp?fileid=20070721.D05&irec=4

Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Early one morning, while his children were still tucked up in bed, a man drove to a traditional market far away from his house, with a sack filled with kittens on the passenger's seat of the car.

With four cats already, the family had decided to get rid of their female cat's latest litter in the usual way. Her five kittens were left at the market to fend for themselves.

"It's always like that. Every time our cat has delivered kittens, which can be up to three times a year with at least three kittens in each pregnancy, we have to throw them away. We are caring for too many cats already," owner Anna Maria Anis, 30, said recently.

Anna's family is far from being the only one in the city dumping kittens in the streets, where thousands of strays already live.

A stroll down just about any street in town reveals just how widespread the problem is. Cats live in markets, upscale residential complexes, poor slums, sidewalk cafes and cemeteries.

Animal lovers have long been concerned by the plight of the city's street cats.

Cat Fancy Indonesia chairman Yulian Susanty said that the city's cat population needed to be controlled.

"If it goes up to an alarming rate, it will be unhealthy for the people," she said.

Cats can carry the toxoplasmosis virus, which if transmitted to humans can cause difficulties in pregnancy and childbirth.

It can cause miscarriages and damage the nervous system of the baby. Cats can also carry rabies.

"They can get it from dogs. Stray cats are more vulnerable to being attacked by dogs, making them prone to rabies, and then infecting humans with it," Yulian said.

It was also recently discovered that cats can contract the bird flu virus, although as Yulian noted there is as yet no evidence to suggest that they can spread it among themselves or give it to humans.

The exact number of stray cats in the city is not known, although Yulian said that with the short reproduction cycle of cats it would be a lot.

"I can't give you an exact number. But in some places that we surveyed, such as in Manggarai Market and Tanah Karet graveyard, when we first surveyed the places two years ago, there are more than 100 female cats in each place. Today the number of cats there could reach the thousands," she said.

She said that a female cat can give birth up to four times a year, meaning that each month 100 cats would probably produce 200 kittens.

"In a year, there could be up to more than 700 cats," she said.

"And that's only two sites in this city. Multiply them by the many other places in the city where stray cats live, then we have plenty," she said.

She said that the city had to know what it would face if the cat population was left uncontrolled.

"It would pose a serious disease threat, things like toxoplasmosis and rabies," she said.

Yulian said the city needed to work harder to control the cat population.

"First there should be a detailed mapping of the cat population in the city, they should be vaccinated against rabies, and there should be shelters for stray animals," she said.

She said the population could be controlled by sterilizing the male cats and that her organization had attempted to work with the city administration on the issue.

"I guess the administration had enough things on their minds though, with the recent flooding and other things," she said.

Jakarta Animal Husbandry Agency head Edi Sutiarto said that city was currently concentrating on preventing the spread of bird flu but that there were centers for stray animals.

"In Ragunan, there is a care center for animals, especially dogs and cats. It's privately owned but works in coordination with the agency," he said.

He added that agency had sterilized some stray cats in the city but it had not been an intensive program.

"Our personnel are concentrating on other stuff," he said.

Fort Monroe unit devises U.S. pandemic flu plan​

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-88990sy0jul23,0,3470924.story?coll=dp-news-local-final

FORT MONROE -- Should a pandemic flu spread across the United States, the Defense Department now has a plan of attack that incorporates the response of federal, state and local agencies.

The Fort Monroe-based Joint Task Force Civil Support - the Defense Department group responsible for coordinating the military's reaction to everything from a nuclear attack to a contagious disease - took a year to develop what it calls a "pandemic influenza playbook."

If a pandemic flu actually does hit, "there's not going to be time to figure out how we are going to do our mission," said Army National Guard Maj. Gen. Bruce Davis, who spearheaded the project. Davis is a former commander of Joint Task Force Civil Support.

Initially, the Defense Department only discussed the potential problems that could arise with the onset of a pandemic flu, said Army Maj. George Hanford, the strategic plans and policy officer. In 2006, the task force was assigned to support federal, local and state agencies.

Until now, there was no plan in place for the military to support civilian agencies, Hanford said.

"Mainly we questioned federal, local and state agencies directly," Hanford said. "For example, we questioned the Department of Homeland Security on its procedures and then coordinated efforts in writing."

The book includes information from medical professionals, logisticians, mortuaries and public affairs.

It details how the military should set up command and control stations and communicate with other agencies. It includes data about how to keep the troops responding to a pandemic flu safe from contracting the virus.

It also has a state law compendium. Depending on how large an area is affected by a flu, individual state laws could complicate response.

"There are some states that have legal barriers in place that unless a person is a licensed pharmacist in that state, nobody else can distribute medication," Davis said. "Obviously that wouldn't work. Another... example would be Nevada, which does not allow (temporary interment) unless a waiver could be granted."

It was important to gather information from agencies down to the local level, Davis said.

"One of the unique challenges in a pandemic influenza is ... it's going to start somewhere and it's going to spread," Davis said. "It's not a situation where a response force will go to that location and try to work the consequence and its effects."

"The main use of this playbook (is to) help military commanders taking on the responsibility for assisting and supporting federal, local and state agencies," Hanford said.

But each of those civilian agencies can also use the book to see how other groups are responding.

"DoD and federal agencies have devised plans to address the potential of a pandemic threat," Hanford said.

"The federal government now has organized planning and procedures to address interagency parties to make the impact of the pandemic as minimal as possible."

Egyptian woman tests positive for bird flu - WHO​

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN323930.html

Mon 23 Jul 2007, 5:39 GMT

CAIRO (Reuters) - A 25-year-old Egyptian woman has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, bringing the number of human cases in the most populous Arab country to 38, a World Health Organisation official said on Sunday.

"There is a case," said John Jabbour of the World Health Organisation in Cairo, adding that the woman was believed to have fallen ill after contact with dead household birds.

Egypt's state news agency MENA identified the woman as Naima Abdu Gamil of the Nile Delta province of Damietta, in northern Egypt. It said she developed a high fever on Friday and was in good condition after receiving the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

The infection was a rare human case in Egypt's sweltering summer months. Egyptian officials had forecast the virus would hide away during the summer following a pattern set in 2006 when human bird flu cases disappeared between May and October.

While bird flu did diminish in Egypt as the weather warmed, human cases have continued to occur sporadically. Since bird flu first emerged in Egyptian poultry last year, 15 Egyptians have died from the virus.

Bird flu did extensive damage to the country's poultry industry and the economy after its arrival in Egypt, which has had more confirmed bird flu cases among humans than any other single country outside Asia.

Most of those who have fallen ill in Egypt were reported to have had contact with sick or dead household birds, primarily in northern Egypt where the weather is cooler than in the south.

Experts fear the bird flu virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a deadly pandemic which could circle the globe and kill millions.

Around five million households in Egypt depend on poultry as a main source of food and income and the government has said this makes it unlikely the disease can be eradicated.

The government still finds it hard to enforce restrictions on the movement and sale of live poultry.

I just posted a tiny tidbit in the BS regarding .gov avian flu planning if anyone is interested.

Thanks again JPD for your continuing efforts on this topic - it is much appreciated!

garnetgirl

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=13532



Monday, July 23, 2007 by Staff Writer
Biblical recipe produces virus-fighting oil


A professor from Tel Aviv University has used a passage of the Bible to produce a modern version of an ancient priestly oil that is capable of protecting against a wide range of viruses.
Professor Michael Ovadia of the university's Department of Zoology told Israel21c that concoction is based on a recipe from a passage of the Bible describing the preparation of a special oil Israel's temple priests were to anoint themselves with prior to conducting animal sacrifices.
“I had a hunch that this oil, which was prepared with cinnamon and other spices, played a role in preventing the spread of infectious agents to people,” said Ovadia. He prepared the oil according to the biblical recipe, and sure enough, found that it was extremely effective in preventing the transfer of viruses such as the Avian flu, herpes and even HIV. Last week, Ovadia sold his discovery to Frutarom, a multinational nutraceutical company that plans to use the oil in a variety of applications, including preventing the spread of infections in airports and hospitals

Pig flu hits northern Vietnam​

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...ional/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20070723.wpigflu0723



HO BINH MINH

Reuters

July 23, 2007 at 11:21 AM EDT

HANOI — Two people have died in northern Vietnam from a pig disease while another virus has been killing thousands of pigs in recent weeks in the central region, government and media reports said on Monday.

Bird flu has also returned to the central region, killing hundreds of ducks at a farm at the weekend, they said.

Twenty-two people, most from northern areas, have been taken to a Hanoi hospital so far this year after they fell sick from the Streptococcus suis bacteria, the Vietnam News Agency said on Monday.

Two of the infected had died, it said without giving more details.

People infected by the bacteria suffer from rapid internal hemorrhage and high fever after they eat pork from a sick pig or inhale the air near the sick swine, doctors said.

Another pig disease, the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus, also known as Lelystad virus, had struck more than 16,000 pigs in the central province of Quang Nam since June 25, the Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat said on July 14.

"The disease in Quang Nam now is very serious, it is spreading wide and risks to infect other provinces and cities," Mr. Phat said in a letter circulated to provincial authorities nationwide, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

He said the transport of pigs and pork from infected areas must be banned to help halt the virus spread..

The syndrome was first recognized in the United States in the mid 1980s and was called "mystery swine disease". In some other countries including Vietnam it is referred to as 'blue ear disease'.

Since late June the virus has spread to neighbouring Quang Ngai province and Danang city, infecting more than 27,000 pigs, nearly 1,500 of them had died, the Animal Health Department said.

On Sunday state-run Vietnam Television said pig raisers in Quang Nam province had thrown hundreds of dead pigs into a local river, causing serious water pollution near the UNESCO-recognized tourist town of Hoi An.

The Animal Health Department said bird flu returned to the central region killing 220 ducks at a farm province of Quang Binh last Saturday. Tests of the dead ducks showed they had the H5N1 virus, it said.

In all, bird flu infections have been detected in ducks and chickens in two northern provinces, Quang Binh province in the centre and the southern Mekong delta province of Dong Thap.

Vietnam has detected five human infections by bird flu since May, three had been cured but two others had died, the first human casualties in the Southeast Asian country since November 2005.

State media said on Monday that the Medical Military Academy would start testing the domestically produced anti-bird flu vaccines on humans from August, with the first group involving 20 volunteers.

Globally, the H5N1 virus has killed 192 people out of 318 known cases, according to the World Health Organization, while hundreds of millions of birds have died or been slaughtered.

Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person and sweep the world, killing millions.

Bird flu strikes central province again​

http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=30280

The bird flu returned to kill 220 ducks in Vietnam’s central province of Quang Binh last week, said the Animal Health Department on Monday.

Quang Binh had earlier been officially declared bird flu free until the new outbreak struck a 3,000-duck flock in Le Thuy District’s Cam Thuy commune.

The Health Ministry recognizes a province as officially bird flu-free after the area has gone 21 consecutive days without a new case of the disease.

Two southern provinces have reported H5N1 virus resurgences since the beginning of the month.

The southernmost province of Ca Mau reported bird flu in early July but has since been wiped of the list.

The avian flu still plagues four provinces other than Quang Binh: Bac Giang, Ninh Binh, Dien Bien, and Dong Thap.

Since the beginning of the year, 153.5 million fowls have undergone a mass national vaccination throughout the country.

In related news, the National Institute for Epidemic Hygiene announced that a human vaccine for the avian virus would be tested on people next month, according to a Tuoi Tre Newspaper report.

The institute has been preparing the human vaccine for three years.

Bird flu threat looms​

http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=43954

Written By:Judy Maina , Posted: Tue, Jul 24, 2007

Kenya is at risk of bird flu following outbreaks in the neighbouring regions.

The Ministry of Health says cases of the flu have been reported in Sudan, Egypt, Nigerian and Cameroon.

However Director of Medical Services Dr.James Nyikal says the country is fully prepared to cop with the outbreak if it occurs.

He says experts have set up 24 scrutiny sites that would detect any case of bird flu.

Nyikal added that they have also sent officials to monitor the border points to ensure infected birds do not find their way into the country.

Bird flu - known technically as avian influenza - is a highly contagious viral disease affecting mostly chickens, ducks, turkeys, quails and other birds, and was first identified more than 100 years ago.

It can be caused by any one of about 20 different strains of the flu virus.

The bird flu outbreaks caused by a strain of influenza A called H5N1 are at only slightly infectious to humans and cannot be transmitted from one human to another.

However, experts fear H5N1 may evolve into a virus that could be transferred among humans.

This, they say, could lead to the first flu pandemic of the 21st century.

Symptoms of bird flu range from fever, sore throat and cough to severe respiratory illness and organ failure in fatal cases.

Since the first human cases appeared in the current outbreak in 2004, more than half those infected have died.

Vietnam is worst affected so far. Almost all victims were in close contact with infected birds.

INTERVIEW - Flu threat offers new business for Tamiflu maker​

http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-28622120070724

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - George Abercrombie, chief executive officer of drug maker Hoffman-La Roche, finds himself doing something very unusual these days -- lobbying companies to buy and stockpile his company's pills for their employees.

Drug companies usually focus their efforts on sending sales representatives to doctors' offices, but the threat of a bird flu pandemic has forced governments and companies to think about public health in ways they never did before.

And it has created an unusual business opportunity for Hoffman-La Roche Inc. -- the U.S. prescription drug unit of Switzerland's Roche Holding AG. Roche makes Tamiflu, the No. 1 drug of choice for treating and preventing bird flu.

"It is the first time I have ever engaged a business in a dialogue over a prescription medicine," Abercrombie, who trained as a pharmacist, told Reuters in an interview in Washington.

Companies are beginning to plan for a possible pandemic of bird flu, and some are buying stocks of Tamiflu for their employees in hopes of keeping them well and their businesses running if a pandemic strikes.

Abercrombie said 350 U.S. companies had bought Tamiflu, and 43 million treatment courses, generally 10 pills each, had been sold to U.S. states and the federal government.

The U.S. federal government aims to eventually stockpile 81 million treatment courses -- enough for a quarter of the U.S. population.

Abercrombie said Roche has the global capacity to make 400 million courses a year.

"Now is the time to order because it takes 6 to 9 months to make a batch of Tamiflu. It is a very complex process," he said.

Health experts agree that a pandemic of something is inevitable. They cannot specify the disease, but the H5N1 avian flu virus currently wiping out flocks from Indonesia to Africa and parts of Europe is the main suspect.

It rarely infects people but has killed 192 out of 318 people sickened since 2003.

"The threat of a pandemic is as real as ever," Abercrombie said. "Companies realize that they have to put a corporate plan together."

Most planning is good generic preparation for any disaster -- how to continue business if employees are absent, if supplies cannot be delivered, if communications go down.

But much must also be specific to a flu pandemic, and Roche is pushing hard to encourage companies to take charge of their employees' health in a way they never have before, by stocking prescription drugs -- in particular Tamiflu.

BIG NEW MARKET

Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir, was having lackluster sales as a drug to prevent and treat seasonal flu. But it was the first drug to show real efficacy in helping people with H5N1 and is now given to anyone diagnosed.

"The seasonal business doesn't put a dent into the quantities required (for a pandemic)," Abercrombie said.

Studies show the sooner someone takes it, the better, and Roche has given a supply of Tamiflu to all its U.S. employees.

They first were seen by three contracted doctors. Every employee had to pass a computer-administered exam so they would understand when it would be appropriate to take the drug -- only when a pandemic has occurred, is in the community and as soon as symptoms such as a sudden fever hit.

In the United States, many companies provide health insurance to employees, so it will be up to businesses to protect their workers when a pandemic hits, Abercrombie said.

"I am speaking around the country. I am meeting with CEOs and executives from the top five companies in various sectors," Abercrombie said.

"The spectrum runs from 'we know it is a threat but we haven't had time to plan' to companies that have full blown plans and have begun to stock Tamiflu."

"What keeps me awake at night ... for Roche, we will be in the bullseye. People will want Tamiflu and we will not be able to make it fast enough."

Bird flu, green-ear epidemics menace central Vietnam​

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2007/07/721809/

15:35' 24/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – While green-ear epidemic in pigs is developing in the central region, bird flu has suddenly broken out in Quang Binh province.

On July 23, the Quang Binh Veterinary Department received the test results on a duck flock in Cam Thuy commune, Le Thuy district, which showed that the ducks had H5N1 virus. This flock of ducks, belonging to a family in Cam Thuy commune, had 2,000 heads. On the same day, all the ducks were culled.

In other central provinces, including Quang Ngai, Da Nang and Quang Nam, green-ear disease is spreading, with many more ailing pigs reported in different places.

A veterinary expert from the Veterinary Agency said that the green-ear epidemic in the central region was spreading strongly possibly because the pigs had been infected with a completely new type of virus that is stronger than previous ones. When it accompanies other diseases in pigs, green-ear disease can kill pigs en masse.

“Quang Nam people throwing dead pigs into rivers has accidentally dispersed the disease more quickly,” the expert said.

Bird flu fears in east Bohemia​

http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2007/06/20/bird-flu-fears-in-east-bohemia.php

By Beth Potter
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
June 20th, 2007

Czech veterinary officials have cordoned off a turkey farm in east Bohemia to keep the highly contagious bird flu virus from spreading, after 1,600 turkeys died there.

Laboratory tests show the birds had the most common type of bird flu, according to a statement from the State Veterinary Association. Additional tests are expected.

The flu virus can spread to humans who work with the birds. In other countries with such flu outbreaks, about 60 percent of humans infected with the flu strain have died.

Requests for comment from the European Union office in Prague were not immediately returned. The European Union in the past has banned imports of poultry products deemed potentially risky from counties with bird flu outbreaks, according to information on its Web site.

Bird flu epidemics in Asia in recent years have killed millions of birds and scores of humans. A United Nations office created to address a potential pandemic in 2005 warned that a wider flu outbreak could kill 5 million to 150 million people.

Bird flu found in chickens in India's remote northeast​

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-07-25-06-53-06

GAUHATI, India (AP) -- Authorities in India's remote northeast said Wednesday that bird flu was responsible for the deaths of 130 chickens in the area and began slaughtering poultry, officials said.

The presence of the deadly H5N1 virus was found in samples from a farm in the state of Manipur, near the border with Myanmar, said Bimal Singh, a senior official in the Manipur chief minister's office.

The local government has started slaughtering chicken and other poultry within a five-kilometer (three mile) radius of the farm where the chickens died, he said.

Bird flu hits Manipur; govt plans ahead​

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Bird_flu_hits_Manipur_govt_plans_ahead/articleshow/2232047.cms

NEW DELHI: UPA Government has woken up from deep slumber after 133 chicken deaths have been reported from Manipur due to the deadly bird flu.

Sources divulged that following consultations with Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the centre has decided to set up a central control room in the Agriculture Ministry to prevent spread of bird flu to other parts of the country.

The control room that will also have officials from Health and Animal Husbandry Departments will send out alerts across the country and seek information on any suspected cases of 'bird flu' in their respective areas.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is expected to review the "confirmed reports" of large scale bird flu tha has hit a Chingmeirong farm in Manipur earlier this month.

It is learnt that Pawar would brief the Prime Minister and other senior Cabinet colleagues on the bird flu that has hit the North Eastern state possibly due to a virus H5N1 which must have travelled from across Myanmar and Bangladesh borders.

"Situation is grim" said an official on condition of anonimity. "The bird flu is likely to hit the economic sentiment at macro level while the poultry industry and their stocks are bound to be impacted" said this official source.

This is the third case of bird flu that has been reported with earlier cases in Maharashtra and villages bordering Gujarat.

Sources said that the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory in Bhopal has apparently confirmed the cases of bird flu after serum analysis extracted from the dead chicken in Imphal.

What is interesting is that the bird flu cases have been reported despite claims that a regular sero-surveillance was being done. This surveillance includes collection of birds' serum from across the country that is analysed on monthly basis at five designated laboratories in the country.

State has plan to deal with bird flu outbreak​

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070725/NEWS02/707250311/1009

By Paul W. Sullivan


The state health department has 500,000 doses of antiviral medicine on hand in case a mu*tation of the bird flu hits Ala-
bama, according to a state health official.

Another 700,000 treatments would arrive in the state within days of the declaration of a flu epidemic, said Cindy Lesinger, pandemic influenza coordinator for the Alabama Department of Public Health.

However, the success of the antiviral medicine against an outbreak of the bird flu vaccine would not be as effective as a vaccine, which could take months to develop.

State Health Officer Dr. Don Williamson said there is no ef*fective vaccine for the bird flu now because any virus striking people would be a strain of the influenza called H5N1.

Any mutation of H5N1 would need to be identified before a vaccine could be developed, he said.

Williamson made the com*ments during a public health de*partment-sponsored drill de*signed to mimic a flu outbreak. State and local health officials took part in the statewide exer*cise Tuesday with Garrett Coli*seum serving as a staging ground for part of the program.

Health workers treated vol*unteers posing as flu victims. They also communicated with hospitals and health officials across the city and state to test how the health system would handle a sudden epidemic.

"The exercise is done to iden*tify gaps in the process," Wil*liamson said.

The antiviral doses would be used to treat people with the new flu strain, those with symp*toms, and Alabamians filling important positions who would need to stay healthy to treat the sick, and maintain public serv*ices,Williamson said.

Medical workers would be administered the medicine in the hope that it would be effec*tive, Williamson said.

The medicine would be dis*pensed while a vaccine was be*ing produced, a process which could take up to six months, he said.

The coliseum itself might be a location where flu victims too sick to stay at home could re*ceive treatment when hospitals become overwhelmed.

Hospitals would quickly be overburdened if a new type of bird flu strikes, Williamson said. He described a possible scenario in which a traveler from overseas might bring the flu to America.

That would likely mean the first outbreak would occur in a metropolitan area giving the state some time to prepare for the onset of the sickness.

Avian influenza is a strain of flu that mainly infects migrat*ing birds, waterfowl, poultry and some wild birds. It's very contagious among birds, and can make some domesticated birds sick. Infected birds shed influenza virus in their saliva, nasal secretions and feces.

All influenza viruses have the ability to change, or mutate. Scientists are concerned that if the H5N1 virus mutates, it could infect people. If this occurs, many people will likely catch the virus because nobody would have immunity against the new strain of influenza. The result would be a worldwide outbreak of the disease.

In that case, medicine distri*bution points and treatment areas would be set up across the state to dispense medicine and treat the overflow from hospi*tals. Public gatherings and schools schedules would be af*fected as well, Williamson said.

He said studies of different actions taken by officials in Philadelphia and St. Louis in wake of the 1918 flu outbreak show an aggressive approach to limiting large gatherings of peo*ple can save lives.

More than 250 cases of avian influenza have been reported in Asia and Europe, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of the cases have resulted from people coming in contact with infected poultry, or surfaces contaminat*ed with secretions from the birds.

The 1918 flu outbreak led to high levels of illness, death and economic loss. Experts predict a pandemic flu will likely occur again and enormous numbers of people will be affected. "Individ*uals need to prepare themselves and their family," Lesinger said.

She said on average, pandem*ics hit every 40 years. With the last coming in 1968, she said America is due.

A disruption of utility and other services could have a re*sult similar to what happens during a major hurricane, she added.

AVIAN INFLUENZA NOTIFIED IN CHINGMEIRONG VILLAGE
IN EAST IMPHAL DISTRICT OF MANIPUR​

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=29403

Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries notified today an outbreak of Avian Influenza in Chingmeirong Village in East Imphal District of Manipur.

The Central Rapid response Team of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been deputed to review and firm up preparedness measures. The 21 family members in a cluster of three houses and 9 veterinary staff who got exposed to the infected birds have been put under Oseltamivir chemoprophylaxis. Their health status is being monitored and all are healthy. No residents in neighbourhood are suffering from influenza like illness.

The Central Rapid Response Team of this Ministry held discussions with State health and animal husbandry authorities, assessed the situation and a micro action plan was drawn up. For the active human surveillance 20 medical teams have been constituted, each team having one medical officer, 3 supervisory staff, 30 health workers. One health worker would cover 100 households doing house to house search for influenza like illness. Daily reports would be generated.

A team of 20 doctors would monitor the health status of cullers who would be on oseltamivir chemoprophylaxis.

Orientation training has been imparted to state medical Rapid Response Teams, hospital staff and field staff.

An isolation ward has been set up in the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital, Imphal to manage suspected human cases of Avian Influenza. Dedicated doctors, staff and ambulance have been identified.

5000 capsules of Oseltamivir, 2000 sets of personal protective equipments, 1000 sets of N-95 masks and 2 ventilators have been airlifted to Imphal. Adequate stocks of these items are available with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

The situation is being closely monitored. As of now, there is no suspected human cases of Avian Influenza.

Bird flu: Expert wants special focus on bio-security​

http://www.upi.com/AfricaMonitoring/view.php?StoryID=20070725-889986-7113-r

uly 25 (UPI) -- Abuja, July 25, 2007 (NAN) Prof. Folorunso Adene, an expert on Avian influeza, has called on the federal government to pay special attention to bio-security as a preventive measure against bird flu. Making the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) today in Abuja, Adene, the first to diagnose avian influenza in Nigeria, said the lack of bio-security culture had put the nation at risk.

He said:"Bio-security is more complex than the disinfectant and disinfection that people tend to narrow it down to.'' According to him, bio-security has two major components, including bio-exclusion which deals with poultry protection and bio-contamination which prevents germs from coming out of the poultry.

"This has to do with the total destruction of dead birds the scientific way through which the germs would be destroyed with the animals. Bio-security -- 2 "Bio-security starts from the source, which is the birds, to housing, daily management, marketing and transportation,'' he said.

Adene therefore, advised the government to focus more attention on the breeding and marketing systems, noting that they still followed the traditional closeness between birds and humans. He said a situation whereby marketers in most cases slept on chicken baskets was dangerous and required serious enlightenment and training on personal hygiene.

The expert said the government should put in place a standard policy on marketing that should include basic amenities for hygiene and adequate disinfection by the workers before and after sales. Bio-security -- 3 Meanwhile, Dr Junaid Maina, the Director of Livestock and Pest Control, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said bio-security measures had been incorporated into avian influenza management.

Maina said government was not relenting in its efforts toward eradicating avian influenza. He said the only recurrence now was "an active infection'' in a farm with 6,000 birds in Ogun. According to him, the ministry and veterinary officials have culled the birds. (NAN) FHO/NKO/EU

India working to contain bird flu outbreak​

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/2007/07/26/116165/India-working.htm

Health workers in India's remote northeast went house-to-house searching for sick people Thursday, while workers also began slaughtering 150,000 chickens near a farm where a deadly bird flu virus was found, officials said.

The move comes a day after the H5N1 virus was confirmed in samples from chickens that died on a farm in Chenngmeirong village in India's Manipur state, near the border with Myanmar.

Health workers were going to houses in the area to see if anyone was complaining of influenza-like symptoms, while 21 people who lived in the immediate vicinity of the infected farm were being preventatively treated with drugs, said Dorendra Singh, Manipur's animal husbandry director.

Some 130 dead chickens were found earlier in the month and samples were sent to India's High Risk Animal Disease Laboratory in the central Indian city of Bhopal.

Bird Flu was found in seven of the eight samples, said Upma Chowdhry, a senior official in the federal Animal Husbandry Ministry in New Delhi, adding that 150,000 birds would be slaughtered.

Singh said the disease appeared to be confined to Chenngmeirong.

"Samples collected from within a five-kilometer (three mile) radius of the farm have tested negative," Singh said.

India confirmed an outbreak of H5N1 in the west last year, but declared itself bird flu free after slaughtering hundreds of thousands of chickens. No human cases were reported.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 192 people, largely in Asia, since late 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

Most of the fatalities have been among people who work in close contact with poultry.

Unknown illness hits Indonesian village, 8 dead​

http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyan...=19456768-2789-4d1f-8f69-b58e3dc05333&k=58174

Reuters
Published: Thursday, July 26, 2007


JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian doctors are investigating the outbreak of an unknown illness that has killed eight people and infected 22 in a Java village, a health ministry official said on Thursday.

"This is not SARS or bird flu, but it is certainly as worrying," Marwan Nusri of the Disease Control and Environmental Health Department told Reuters.

"At first we suspected poisoning, but after checking their food and water we didn't find any toxic substance."

Nusri said around 30 people in the remote Kanigoro village, in Central Java province, had been hospitalized in the past three days with similar symptoms such as severe nausea and seizures.

The first batch of eight people died because of delayed treatment, he said.

Nusri added the health ministry was looking at the possibility of a virus or bacteria that targets a specific internal organ, but declined to give details.

Another health ministry official said the illness had spread fast through the village, but does not appear to have any obvious infection pattern.

"Initial findings indicate the virus or bacteria causes liver dysfunction," said the official, who refused to be named.

So far, the hospital has released nine people, and of the 13 people still undergoing treatment, two are in critical condition, he said.

Both officials said tissue samples from the victims would be sent to Jakarta this week for further examination.

Local officials initially linked the outbreak with bird flu, a disease endemic in bird populations in most parts of Indonesia, media reports said.

Indonesia has had 81 confirmed human deaths from bird flu, the most of any country in the world.

Several local media said the victims were targets of "dark magic." Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, but mysticism is an integral part of local culture.
© Reuters 2007

Bird flu victim describes ordeal​

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_west/6917306.stm

A smallholder has spoken for the first time of the moment she and her partner realised they had caught bird flu.

Barbara Cowling and Tony Williams showed the symptoms after an outbreak among chickens at their home near Cerrigydrudion, Conwy, in May.

She said the "most scary" moment of the ordeal was when doctors arrived in the early hours to administer medicine.

At one time, 252 people, including pupils and staff at a school near Denbigh, were monitored for the virus.

A 1km (0.62 mile) restriction zone was put in place around the property at Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr on 24 May after the "low pathogenic" H7N2 strain of bird flu was confirmed in chickens which died there.

The outbreak was eventually declared over on 5 June.

Health officials stressed the disease found was not the more virulent H5N1.


Nobody really sat us down and said, "This is what's happening"
Barbara Cowling

Of the 252 monitored, 17 people suffering conjunctivitis or a flu-like illness were identified with the bird flu virus.

Ms Cowling said: "The most scary thing was the doctors coming at quarter to three in the morning to give us all this stuff.

"That was scary and I was thinking, 'Gosh, I really must be ill."

'In the dark'

Although "quite ill at the time," Ms Cowling said she was not initially worried about developing bird flu symptoms, because "I didn't think it was the really deadly serious one".

At the time of the outbreak, police guarded the entrance to the property and enforced the exclusion zone, while officials from the National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS) investigated the outbreak.

Ms Cowling said officials handled the situation "quite well," but said she and her partner were "a bit left in the dark".

She added: "Nobody really sat us down and said, 'This is what's happening,' which I thought was a bit wrong really."

Ysgol Henllan, near Denbigh
Staff and pupils at Ysgol Henllan, Denbigh, were among those treated

She described being under virtual house arrest as "absolutely horrible," adding: "We couldn't go out at all.

"You couldn't go to the shops, we couldn't do anything.

"We had to rely on people, phone people - friends and family - to actually go and meet the police in the village to transfer whatever we wanted and to bring them up here."

The outbreak began after the couple bought chickens from Chelford market near Macclesfield, Cheshire, and one died the next day, followed by several others.

Ms Cowling said: "The first diagnosis from the vet was, 'Don't worry about it, it's within the egg chamber and that's why they're dying,' so we took no notice until the next week."

The following week, she came home from work one day to find "people in white suits" at the property. The remaining chickens were later slaughtered.

She added: "When everybody came the next day, the police were here, Defra [Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] were here, the ministry were here, yourselves [BBC Wales] were here, and I just thought, 'Right, there's a major problem here."

Despite the outbreak, she said she would consider keeping chickens again, but not from the same dealer.

Search for the sick​

http://www.bahraintribune.com/ArticleDetail.asp?ArticleId=163397&CategoryId=3

GAUHATI, India (AP)
Fear of deadly bird flu strikes eastern states

Health workers in India’s remote northeast went house-to-house searching for sick people Thursday, while workers also began slaughtering 150,000 chickens near a farm where a deadly bird flu virus was found, officials said.

The move comes a day after the H5N1 virus was confirmed in samples from chickens that died on a farm in Chenngmeirong village in India’s Manipur state, near the border with Myanmar.

Health workers were going to houses in the area to see if anyone was complaining of influenza-like symptoms, while 21 people who lived in the immediate vicinity of the infected farm were being preventatively treated with drugs, said Dorendra Singh, Manipur’s animal husbandry director.

Some 130 dead chickens were found earlier in the month and samples were sent to India’s High Risk Animal Disease Laboratory in the central Indian city of Bhopal.
Bird Flu was found in seven of the eight samples, said Upma Chowdhry, a senior official in the federal Animal Husbandry Ministry in New Delhi, adding that 150,000 birds would be slaughtered. Singh said the disease appeared to be confined to Chenngmeirong. “Samples collected from within a five-kilometer (three mile) radius of the farm have tested negative,” Singh said.

India confirmed an outbreak of H5N1 in the west last year, but declared itself bird flu free after slaughtering hundreds of thousands of chickens. No human cases were reported.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 192 people, largely in Asia, since late 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

Most of the fatalities have been among people who work in close contact with poultry.

Bird Flu In India, Birds Being Culled​

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=275796

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, July 27 (Bernama) -- After an 11-month hiatus the life-threatening bird flu started to flap northwards in India, forcing health workers to quickly quarantine 21 farmers in a remote poultry village.

On Wednesday, positive traces of the highly pathogenic H5N1 Avian influenza strain were found in Chingmeirong village near Imphal, capital of Manipur, a northeastern state bordering Myanmar.

So far, 132 infected chickens have died since the outbreak on July 7, but no human infection was reported.

Although none of the farm workers showed any sign of bird flu, health workers are on high alert with control and containment operations stepped up to avert any major outbreak in the populace.

Manipur Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Department secretary K.K.Chhetry said all safety measures were being taken to curb any major health disaster in the area.

"We started culling the birds this afternoon. Health workers and farmers within a 3km radius are put on anti-flu (drug) Tamiflu as a preventive measure," he told Bernama from Manipur.

The authorities are preparing to slaughter at least 150,000 fowls within a 5km radius of the village.

Chhetry said the department had imposed a ban on poultry imports from neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar since two months ago due to bird flu threats.

The northeastern region is particularly vulnerable because of continuing outbreaks in neighbouring countries.

Bird flu fear consumes Punjab poultry industry​

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articl...ird flu fear consumes Punjab poultry industry

Chandigarh, July 27: The bird flu outbreak in Manipur has caused panic among poultry traders in Punjab, as a result of which wholesale prices of eggs and broilers in the state have dipped by three and 12.5 per cent respectively.

The Centre had yesterday confirmed the outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in Manipur, nearly 2,000 km from here.

However, market watchers felt that the prices would pick up soon as the bird flu in Manipur was not going to affect the industry here. Officials had said yesterday that they believe the outbreak in Manipur's Chingmeirong area to be an isolated case.

The Punjab-based poultry trade was, however, consumed by fear after the news of discovery of pathogenic avian influenza in poultry of Manipur spread. As a direct fallout, the rate of 100 eggs came down from Rs 150 to Rs 145.

Similarly, the prices of broiler, which took a major beating, dipped to Rs 35 per kg from Rs 40 per kg after the reports.

"The prices fell just because of panic among poultry traders due to bird flu in Manipur," Punjab Poultry Farms Association president Mohinder Arora said.

However, there was no visible impact on the movement of supplies of eggs and broilers from Punjab to other states.

"We are regularly sending our supplies of broiler and eggs to other states such as Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh and we also do not see that there can be any impact on these supplies as we are far away from the state in which the bird flu has been discovered," said another poultry owner.

Link to next weeks thread:

HEALTH - 7/28/07-8/03/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread:Bird Flu alert in three states of India

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=250468

Has bird flu infected humans?​

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Has_bird_flu_infected_humans/rssarticleshow/2252029.cms

NEW DELHI: Four children, all under 14 years, from a farm in Chingmeirong village in Manipur have been quarantined and administered Tamiflu, the most affective antibiotic against bird flu, after investigations revealed that they had handled dead poultry in their farm, soon after the disease was detected in dead chickens from a nearby farm. All of them, part of the same household, were found suffering from fever and throat infection by health officials carrying out door-to-door surveillance on humans, within the 5-km radius of this year's bird flu outbreak site. The throat swabs of the four children have been sent to National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Delhi and National Institute of Virology, Pune, for testing.

Till now, all those who have been infected in bird-flu outbreaks across the globe have actually been poultry workers who came in contact with infected birds.

The WHO says, globally at least 192 people have died due to bird flu out of 319 cases since 2003. The next 24 hours will be a nervous wait for the government and India's health experts as results of these tests are expected on Friday morning.

India has not reported a single human infection with the H5N1 virus till now. What's worrying the health ministry officials most is the fact that they don't know whether the chicken that died in the farm of these four teenagers had been infected with H5N1 or not.

This is because soon after the government announced the outbreak, the four sold off their stock of 120 birds to a nearby hotel owner. So, the scientists failed to collect samples of these birds.

Interestingly, the teenagers also confessed to health officials of having eaten some of the dead chickens. Chicken cooked at over 70 degrees Celsius is safe as the virus gets killed.

Speaking to TOI, a health ministry official, who did not want to name the teenagers and also the farm for safety reasons, said, "No unusual mortality was reported from the farm of these four teenagers. But investigations did reveal that some birds had died at their farm the same time as bird flu was detected in a neighbouring unit. Because the flu scare made them sell off their entire stock, we couldn't get samples for testing. That's why we don't know whether the birds were sick or not. We are concerned about these four cases and hope its isn't H5N1."

On July 25, India's department of animal husbandry announced that the deadly virus had returned to haunt India for the second year in a row, with this year's outbreak being reported from a small poultry farm in Chingmeirong village of East Imphal district in Manipur.

Over 132 bird samples from this farm tested positive with the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

Mask warning as flu pandemic threatens​

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=283198

By Wade O'Leary
ninemsn

The AMA is pushing for all flu sufferers to wear masks in public as infection levels skyrocket and a worldwide pandemic looms.

A four-year-old boy died in Brisbane's Mater Hospital this week after contracting the Ekka virus and AMA Queensland spokesman Steve Hambleton says the health service has treated twice as many sufferers as last year.

"You're doing a very good service to your workmates and your family by wearing a mask," he said.

"We need to use every flu season from now on to teach the public about transmission and desensitise them to the idea of wearing masks because when we get the epidemic, that's what we're going to have to do.

"We've had three huge flu pandemics right throughout the world — 20 million people died in 1918 and there are a lot more people on the planet now.

"A pandemic really could sweep the world."

Mr Hambleton said many people didn't understand how resilient the flu bug is in relation to how it is spread through either air or contact.

A flu sufferer who sneezes sends out highly infectious droplets one metre from their face, and sneezing into hands merely captures droplets that remain infectious via contact for two hours.

Droplets that land on clothing are active for 12 hours and those that sit on hard surfaces are infectious for a full 24 hours.

Mr Hambleton warns flu is also a hidden factor in many deaths attributed to other illnesses like cardiovascular disease and that this impact is certain to grow further.

"We've had double the notifications that we had last year: that's where people are sick enough to report to hospital, and they're the indication that there's an enormous increase in infections," he said.