9/8/07-9/14/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread:Bird flu continues to spread in Germany

Link to last week's thread:

HEALTH - 9/1/07-9/7/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread: WHO confirms 5 human bird flu cases in Vietnam

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=255063

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

Bird flu continues to spread in Germany​

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/6257907.html

Bird flu continues to spread in Germany after authorities identified new cases in two more duck farms, local reports said Friday.

German authorities have ordered to kill 205,000 ducks after bird flu was found on two duck farms near the town of Nittenau in the southern state of Bavaria, said German news agency DPA.

"Clear evidence" of the bird flu virus was found, said the report, citing German health officials.

Two weeks ago, dead ducks from the farm in Wachenroth in Bavaria's Erlangen-Hoechstadt area have been tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus strain, which experts fear may transfer to humans.

Several cases of the deadly H5N1 strain in wild birds has been identified in the German states of Bavaria and Sachsen in June.

According to the World Health Organization, 195 people globaly, mostly in Asia, have died from the H5N1 virus.

Hospitals test flu readiness​

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070908/NEWS01/709080312/1002

Marsha Sills
msills@theadvertiser.com

The concert of coughs, wheezing and fear in Lafayette General's emergency room Friday morning was all play - but not for fun.

The hospital along with nine others in Acadiana tested how their procedures for handling a flu pandemic on Friday.

The drills were part of the state's preparedness strategy for a pandemic - a global outbreak of the flu, which experts say is inevitable given that there is no readily available vaccine for the avian flu, a strain of influenza that can be transmitted from birds to humans.
The drills were held across the state to test if Louisiana's hospitals are ready for an outbreak.

During the drills the "patients" were practical nursing students who role-played as mothers, fathers, children and aging adults stricken with flu-like symptoms.

"It's important because you have to have a plan. It may not be perfect, but it's a starting point," said Joan Stokes, Lafayette General's infection control practitioner and drill organizer.

While other Lafayette hospitals like Lourdes, Southwest, Women's and Children's and UMC also participated in the drill, Lafayette General volunteered as an evaluation site for the state.

Evaluators observed and interviewed "patients" and staff during the process.

The evaluators and staff will later help the hospital and state adjust its plan.

Nursing students acted as patients with each given specific symptoms to role play. Student Lauren LeJeune was an 88-year-old woman with flu-like symptoms.

"It's a good experience if something ever happened when I'm in the work field," LeJeune said after talking to a nurse.

Though the situations were fake, the process was very real. Patients went through the triage process and were evaluated. Those with flu-like symptoms were masked and then wheeled to an area separate from the main ER. There a nurse and doctor would see the patient and a decision would be made whether the patient would be hospitalized or receive a prescription and discharged.

In a real pandemic situation, the hospital would follow the same protocol, Stokes said. The hospital's outpatient surgery area will serve as a quarantine area for the infectious patients. The area has negative airflow capabilities, meaning that the air from the rooms won't be recirculated to other parts of the hospital.

Stokes said one challenge that many larger hospitals will face will be the influx of patients as smaller hospitals will be unable to handle the patient loads.

The last pandemic was in the late 1960s. More than 34,000 people in the United States died.

It's expected that if a pandemic were to occur that our daily lives would be altered. Schools would need to be closed and public gatherings would be discouraged to prevent the spread of the infection.

A flu by any other name

There are different types of the flu. The seasonal flu or common flu is a respiratory illness transmitted from one person to another. Vaccines are available.

Avian flu or bird flu is caused by influenza viruses found naturally in wild birds, but a highly pathogenic H5N1 is deadly to birds and can be transmitted from birds to humans. Humans are not immune to the bird flu and vaccine availability is limited.

Pandemic flu is a global outbreak of the human flu. Because there is little natural immunity, the disease can spread easily from person to person.

Source: www.pandemicflu.gov

Most recent pandemics in history

Pandemics death toll since 1900

1918-1919

U.S. - more than 675,000

Worldwide - more than $50 million

1957-1958

U.S. - More than 70,000

Worldwide - 1 to 2 million

1968-1969

U.S. - More than 34,000

Worldwide - More than 700,000

Source: Pandemicflu.gov taken from CDC statistics

Area participating hospitals in this week's pandemic flu drills:

American Legion Hospital

Compass Behavioral Center of Crowley

Lafayette General Medical Center

Lafayette Surgical Specialty Hospital

Optima Specialty Hospital

Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center

Savoy Medical Center

Southwest Medical Center

University Medical Center

Women's and Children's Hospital

Chickens Culled in Southern Russia After Bird Flu Outbreak​

http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-national.php?Id=2106&yr=2007

About 22,000 birds have been culled at a poultry farm in south Russia's Krasnodar Territory following a bird flu outbreak, local emergency services said.

Specialists from the local veterinary watchdog have launched a set of measures to contain the spread in the Bryukhovetsky District, including health checks, thermal processing of seeds, and scaring wild birds away from farms. Revaccination of domestic birds in the region is underway.

Local health authorities decided to cull birds in two buildings near the pavilion in which the outbreak was detected. As no new cases of bird flu have been registered so far, a complete cull on the farm is unlikely.

Ex-Soviet republic Armenia announced it would put an embargo on poultry imports from Russia as soon as it receives an official notification of the outbreak from Russian authorities.

A local prosecutor said criminal charges could be pressed against the farm's managers.

The Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations warned last month of a threat of bird flu outbreaks in the Chelyabinsk Region, in the south Urals.

Global pandemic a real threat: WHO​

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s2026616.htm

This is a transcript from The World Today. The program is broadcast around Australia at 12:10pm on ABC Local Radio.

The World Today - Friday, 7 September , 2007 12:34:38
Reporter: Alison Caldwell

ELEANOR HALL: The World Health Organisation is warning that infectious diseases are a growing threat to global security. Last week, a new study confirmed that bird flu was transmitted from human-to-human in Indonesia last year.

And while the world narrowly avoided it then, the WHO's Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases says the possibility of a global pandemic is still very real.

Dr David Heymann has been telling Alison Caldwell that people have been lulled into a false sense of security about the threat posed by infectious diseases.

ALISON CALDWELL: Last week's confirmation that bird flu was transmitted from human-to-human on the Indonesian island of Sumatra last year, confirmed the fears of many health experts that a global pandemic was and is still possible.

The World Health Organisation's Dr David Heymann is one of the world's foremost experts on infectious diseases.

He's visiting Melbourne as a guest of the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne.

DAVID HEYMANN: As long as the H5N1 virus is circulating in chicken populations in the world, there will be a threat of a pandemic. So, today what's most important is to get rid of that virus from chicken populations in the world and also from bird populations.

But there are also other avian viruses, avian influenza virus - H7 viruses, H9 viruses - which also are capable of infecting humans, and which are also thought to be capable of causing a pandemic.

So, today we have many different viruses that come from avian or bird populations infecting humans, and any one of those could cause a pandemic.

ALISON CALDWELL: Dr Heymann says centuries old threats including influenza and malaria and new emerging infectious diseases are increasingly threatening global public health security.

He cites the recent diagnosis of polio in a Melbourne-based university student who'd returned home to Pakistan for holidays.

DAVID HEYMANN: This student was a student who had been vaccinated as a child against polio, but still developed polio. And this happens. There are certain children who don't develop the proper protection against polio after they receive vaccine and he unfortunately was one of those children.

He brought polio into Australia, but Australia has an extremely excellent immunisation program and children are all… most all protected against polio. So, polio therefore didn't spread within Australia. And that's part of the defence system that Australia has against public health security threats.

ALISON CALDWELL: If that can happen with polio, a disease that we thought had been eradicated, what other infectious diseases could we see reappear?

DAVID HEYMANN: The importance of a newer, emerging infectious disease is that no one really understands the potential of this disease because it's never before been known. And so a disease that emerges in one country and spreads to another country, and spreads further, even into that country, is a very dangerous threat to security.

ALISON CALDWELL: One of the other diseases that's affected this region has been SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). Is that now under control?

DAVID HEYMANN: There has not been any activity or any SARS case since the end of the SARS epidemic in 2003, except for three laboratory accidents - when laboratories handling the virus that caused the epidemic had accidents which cause infection either of laboratory workers or of laboratory workers and then contacts of those laboratory workers, including family members.

With all infectious diseases, it's very important that we not only worry about diseases as they effect humans, but we also worry about the biosecurity of the laboratories that are handling those specimens.

ELEANOR HALL: That's the World Health Organisation's Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases, Dr David Heymann, speaking to Alison Caldwell in Melbourne.

Biologists test N.D. ducks for bird flu​

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/in...OKEN=35170813&jsessionid=8830428bddda6913125a

Associated Press
Published Sunday, September 09, 2007

UPHAM, N.D. – Federal biologists have tested ducks at a northern North Dakota wildlife refuge as part of a bird flu surveillance effort.

“The reason they came here is that we can catch a lot of ducks, and they can get a lot of samples,” said Gary Erickson, assistant manager of the J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge.

Erickson and his staff captured several hundred migratory ducks on Friday with the use of cannon nets. The ducks were outfitted with leg bands and then tested.

Bob Dusek, a biologist with the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., said testing was done for different types of avian flu, including H5N1.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 199 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and led to the slaughter of more than 200 million birds since 2003.

It is hard for humans to catch, but experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a global pandemic. To date, most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.

“H5N1 has not been found in North America, (but) it is important to keep monitoring it,” Dusek said. “It could be fairly devastating to the poultry industry and to agriculture.”

Biologists also are working to refine testing techniques, to, one hopes, lead to earlier detection of bird flu. Dusek said test results from the ducks at the J. Clark Salyer refuge will be compared with similar samples taken in Canada.

It likely will be several months before test results from the refuge are known.

Tamiflu Blanket Over Tanggamus Island in South Sumatra​

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/09060701/Tamiflu_Blanket_Tanggamus.html

Recombinomics Commentary
September 5, 2007

Accordingly, in order to prevent illness bird flu self side already mebagikan medicine type Tamiflu to entire resident Pulau Tabuhan, especially they who their poultry experience death.

The above translation indicates the Tamiflu blanket covers the entire island, which is located in the Taggamus regency in Lampung at the southern tip of Sumatra. Although the poultry has not been reported as H5N1 positive, the birds displayed classical H5N1 symptoms, which included a blue comb, throat and nasal secretions, and sudden death. The poultry deaths exceeded 1000 and patients symptoms coincided with the poultry deaths, which began about a month ago.

The island is near an earlier cluster in southern Sumatra in the Tanggamus regency in Lampung province. That cluster was described in detail in the New England Journal of Medicine. All three family members survived. They were lab confirmed, but one family member was not immediately tested for H5N1 because his symptoms were mild and he was misdiagnosed as having typhoid fever. H5N1 was subsequently confirmed with antibodies in convalescent serum. Similarly, the other two family members were confirmed via H5N1 PCR assays, but H5N1 virus was not isolated from the family members (although H5N1 was isolated from their dead poultry).

These non-fatal infections in three family members, signaled an efficient transmission to humans. H5N1 was not detected in additional family members, but the cluster raised concerns about undetected mild cases which would resolve in the absence of anti-viral treatment (only two of the three family members were treated, and treatment began days after the recommended 48 hours post symptoms).

The current outbreak is linked to four deaths in children, but the majority of patients have recovered and have been diagnosed as having typhoid fever. Media reports do not mention H5N1 testing of poultry or patients.

However, the throwing of a Tamiflu (oseltamivir) blanket over the entire small island signals concerns of H5N1 spread in humans on the island in the Tanggamus regency, Lampung Province, in southern Sumatra

Swan dies of bird flu in southern Russia​

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070910/77669729.html

KRASNODAR, September 10 (RIA Novosti) - Laboratory tests have confirmed that a dead swan found in the Krasnodar Territory was infected with H5 bird flu virus, but not with the N1 strain, a source in the local administration said Monday.

This is the only case of bird flu detected in the territory since 410 chickens died from the virus and 22,000 birds were culled at a local poultry farm in southern Russia.

A regional laboratory identified the lethal H5N1 virus in the dead chickens, and took steps to contain the spread.

The losses from the outbreak are estimated at 20 million rubles ($702,000).

WHO warns over complacency on bird flu​

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5idd0JvOgFnZaddh7HL5kxX8DFz5Q

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea (AFP) — The World Health Organisation warned Monday against complacency in the fight against bird flu, saying another human influenza pandemic is inevitable sooner or later.

"I am often asked if the effort invested in pandemic preparedness is a waste of resources," director general Margaret Chan told a regional meeting of the world organisation.

"Has public health cried wolf too often and too loudly?" she said in a speech.

"Not at all. Pandemics are recurring events. We do not know whether the H5N1 (avian influenza) virus will cause the next pandemic. But we do know this: the world will experience another influenza pandemic sooner or later."

WHO regional director Shigeru Omi noted that bird flu deaths in the Western Pacific -- which excludes Indonesia -- had fallen from 19 two years ago to five in the past year.

But he said the virus was still "entrenched" in several countries.

"Because the virus continues to evolve and mutate, we must maintain constant vigilance," he said.

Speed would be the key in handling any human pandemic triggered by bird flu, he said.

"If a human pandemic associated with avian influenza were to break out in the region, rapid containment would be our highest priority. Such an effort would require the massive deployment of antiviral drugs, personal protection equipment and other supplies."

A stockpile was established in Singapore in April with the support of Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, he noted, urging members to consider using military transport planes to move equipment to affected areas.

Takeshi Kasai, WHO regional adviser for communicable disease surveillance and response, reiterated that the main fear is of H5N1 mutating into a forum easily transmissable between humans.

He told AFP in an interview that past experience and data indicated it might be high time for a new human global influenza outbreak, following pandemics in 1968, 1953 and 1918.

"Sadly, the H5 virus is mutating and changing very rapidly. Usually the bird flu virus changes slowly but this one changes very, very fast," he said.

Kasai said it was unclear if this was an indication that it could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans. "But these are the facts that make the WHO concerned."

"I'm sure if people are ready, its impact would be low, but if they are not, there would be big disasters."

Omi in his speech noted progress in fighting other regional diseases. He said the Western Pacific had become the only WHO region to meet intermediate 2005 targets for tuberculosis control.

It was also making progress against HIV/AIDS, with prevalance among adults falling in some countries. In Cambodia the percentage had fallen from above two percent in 1998 to around 0.9 percent now.

Deaths from malaria continued to fall but drug-resistant strains hampered control efforts, Omi said. And dengue fever and dengue haemmorhagic fever remained "major public health problems" in many regional countries.

He noted a massive outbreak in Cambodia this year, with more than 30,000 infections and 327 deaths. Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam also reported increased cases this year.

Omi said the Western Pacific "continues to bear a disporoportionate share of the world's suicide burden." The WHO had begun a project to counter the trend in partnership with the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention.

GAO Report Reveals Serious Shortcomings in National Strategy
to Counter Pandemic Influenza​

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1473

Chairman Waxman, along with Rep. Tom Davis, Rep. Bennie Thompson, and Sen. Judd Gregg, release a new GAO report revealing serious shortcomings in the nation’s pandemic preparedness.

The report urges a clearer definition of the federal government’s role, promotes interagency cooperation, and advises the development of a coherent national strategy to deal with pandemic influenza. The lawmakers call on the Administration to address the problems identified in the GAO analysis.

Actual Report PDF

Bird-flu found in German frozen ducks - were any eaten?​

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/105026.html

Berlin - Ducks infected with the H5N1 bird-flu virus might have been eaten by unsuspecting Germans, but would not have infected anyone once the meat was roasted, a state health official said Monday. He spoke after more than a third of a million ducks had been slaughtered at poultry farms and incinerated to curb an outbreak of the disease 140 kilometres north of Munich, in Germany's Bavaria state.

H5N1 avian influenza had been found in 18 deep-frozen ducks set aside as batch samples at a poultry-company slaughterhouse.

In Germany's biggest-ever animal-health cull, a total of 365,000 ducks were being destroyed in the small towns of Wachenroth and Schwandorf. The killing was set to be completed by Monday night.

Asked if infected meat from the Wachenroth butchery could have reached shops, Roland Eichhorn of the Bavarian consumer affairs ministry said, "We can't completely exclude that."

But he said that commerce officials moved after the first sign of the outbreak and impounded all meat produced at the farms on or after July 30. Federal animal-health scientists believed the outbreak began August 1.

"This type of duck is casseroled, and then the meat poses no danger to the consumer," Eichhorn said.

Pro-animal groups voiced rage at the cull, and said poultry farms should be made illegal.

Water birds are especially susceptible to the H5N1 virus, which can be fatal to humans. The fight against its spread is driven by the fear that the virus could mutate and possibly cause massive loss of human life worldwide.

Global Bird Flu Deaths Reach 200; H5N1 Virus Lingers (Update2)​

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=a4IdDiK5W_vw&refer=healthcare

By Karima Anjani

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu fatalities worldwide reached 200 after a 33-year-old man who died in Indonesia five days ago was confirmed to have been infected with the virus, the World Health Organization said.

The man, from Riau province on the island of Sumatra, developed symptoms on Aug. 25, was hospitalized on Sept. 2 and died in hospital four days later, the Geneva-based agency said in a statement yesterday on its Web site. The source of his infection with the H5N1 avian flu strain is being investigated.

Almost two of every three human H5N1 cases were fatal and most were caused by contact with diseased birds, according to the WHO. Millions could die if H5N1 becomes as contagious as seasonal flu and sparks a global pandemic. Fresh outbreaks in chickens and ducks were reported in Germany and Russia this month, prompting the slaughter of thousands of fowl.

``Every country is doing its best to combat the problem and doing so with moderate success, but the problem hasn't vanished and it would be difficult to completely eradicate it,'' said Menno de Jong, head of virology at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City. ``If there's a human infected, and the virus makes the right changes in that human, then a pandemic could occur within no time.''

Studies show no significant changes have occurred in the H5N1 virus to make it more dangerous to humans since it began circulating in Asia 10 years ago, de Jong said in a telephone interview today.

`Enormous Research'

Concern that the virus may become more adept at infecting people, not just birds, has ``stimulated enormous research, and we know much more about influenza viruses and pandemics than we did four years ago,'' Margaret Chan, the WHO's director-general, told a meeting in Jeju, South Korea, yesterday.

``We do not know whether the H5N1 virus will cause the next pandemic,'' Chan said. ``But we do know this: the world will experience another influenza pandemic sooner or later.''

Indonesia has received the most attention after reporting at least one human H5N1 case every month for the past two years. That amounts to a third of the 328 human H5N1 cases globally.

The latest fatality there brings the nation's death toll from avian flu to 85. The man may have been infected by a chicken he bought from a local market and slaughtered shortly before he fell ill, Indonesia's health ministry said in a statement on Sept. 6.

About 300 million chickens, ducks and turkeys in 60 countries have died from the virus or been killed to prevent its spread. Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Turkey, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Djibouti, Nigeria and Laos have also reported human infections during the past four years.

The total number of H5N1 fatalities is a fraction of the deaths caused each year by seasonal flu, which usually numbers between 250,000 and 500,000 worldwide, according to the WHO. Most deaths from seasonal flu in developed countries occur in people over 65.

Bird flu conference to start in Bali​

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20070911.H12&irec=5

JAKARTA: An international conference on bird flu, titled Key Partners on Avian Influenza and Pandemic Preparedness, will be held in Jimbaran in Bali on Tuesday.

"Three Indonesian ministers -- Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari and Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono will attend the meeting," Iqbal, a member of the meeting's organizing committee, said in Denpasar, as quoted by Antara.

Some 150 participants, including several from countries which have been providing financial assistance to Indonesia for bird flu control, will attend the conference, he said.

Speakers at the meeting, which will be officially opened by Minister Aburizal Bakrie, will include David Naborro of UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and Bayu Krisnamurthi, the executive chairman of the National Commission on Bird Flu Control and Avian Influenza Pandemic Preparedness.

Bali Governor Dewa Made Beratha is scheduled to explain efforts made by the Bali provincial administration to deal with bird flu on the island at the event.

Two Balinese people recently died after contracting bird flu.-- JP

Vietnam seizes thousands of chickens smuggled
from China in bird flu battle​

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-09-11-01-45-25

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Authorities in northern Vietnam confiscated 2,500 chickens smuggled in from neighboring China, highlighting the challenges of stopping bird flu, officials said Tuesday.

Authorities confiscated 1.3 tons of chickens found in a truck early Tuesday morning, said Nguyen Thang Loi, director of Lang Son provincial market control department. The chickens will be destroyed, he added.

In neighboring Quang Ninh province, authorities on Sunday confiscated 4.3 tons of chickens smuggled in from China in two separate cases, said provincial chief market inspector Nguyen Dang Truong.

Loi said his staff have confiscated some 50 tons of chickens smuggled in from China so far this year, while authorities in Quang Ninh have confiscated and destroyed more than 60 tons of the birds in the same period.

"We are fighting an uphill battle against smugglers who use two-way radios to deal with us," Loi said.

The H5N1 bird flu virus has hit Vietnam hard this year, ravaging poultry stocks across the country. It has killed 46 people in Vietnam since the virus began spreading in late 2003. Animal experts have blamed unvaccinated birds smuggled across borders for fanning the disease, but local officials have struggled to stop the illegal transport across Vietnam's long porous border with China.

Loi said many local residents who live along the border have been lured to work as porters who haul chickens on their backs and could be paid up to 100,000 dong (US$6.2) a day, a much better income than working as farmers.

Quang Ninh province's chief market inspector Truong said it's very difficult for authorities to completely stop the smugglers, who are motivated by huge profits.

"They bought the chickens for only 10,000 dong (62 U.S. cents) to 12,000 dong (75 U.S. cents) per kilogram in China and sold (for) four to five times as much in Vietnam," he said.

Vietnam had been hailed as a bright spot in Asia for combating bird flu after starting a nationwide poultry vaccination campaign. No human cases were reported in the country in 2006, but the virus flared again in poultry early this year.

The virus has killed at least 200 people worldwide, but remains hard for people to catch. Experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic.

Indonesia To Start Producing Tamiflu​

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=284606

DENPASAR, Sept 12 (Bernama) -- Indonesia will start producing oseltamivir (tamiflu) pills in an adequate amount this year in anticipation of the possibility of a further spread of the bird flu virus, Indonesia's ANTARA news agency reported.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said here on Tuesday the drug would be produced in an adequate quantity so the country no longer needed to import it.

He made the statement after opening the Government of Indonesia Meeting with International Key Partners on Avian Influenza attended by 150 participants from 11 countries.

He said the authority to produce the anti-bird flu medicine was fully in the hands of the minister of health. "It is the minister of health who will designate the company that will produce the medicine," he said.

He hoped production of the medicine at home could be done well like producing generic medicines so that the price could be made as low as possible.

The pills would later be distributed to community health care centers across the country as well as to general hospitals in districts and provinces in anticipation of the possibility of a further spread of the disease.

The virus had so far affected 12 out of the country's 33 provinces , including the tourist island of Bali.

The head of Bali's health service, Dr Dewa Ketut Oka, said supply of anti-bird flu pills in Bali was adequate.

Bird flu test being used on horses​

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Bird-flu-test-being-used-on-horses/2007/09/12/1189276761193.html

A test developed for bird flu by the CSIRO and the Australian Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre (AB-CRC) is being used to test horses for equine influenza (EI).

EI is caused by a strain of influenza that is related to the strain which triggers bird flu.

AB-CRC chief executive Dr Stephen Prowse said the nucleic acid-based test could detect both strains of the bird flu virus as well as other strains of influenza virus and was completed in a few hours.

"A rapid diagnostic test for influenza ensures that appropriate control and containment measures are implemented quickly," he said.

The bird flu test was developed within the microbiologically secure environment of CSIRO Livestock Industries' Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong and was transferred to all major government veterinary laboratories in Australasia.

ndonesia takes steps to contain bird flu: minister​

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/6260631.html

Indonesian Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said Tuesday that his country has taken six strategic steps to contain the spread of bird flu virus in accordance with UN recommendations.

"In general, the six strategic steps have been taken to prevent the spread of AI (avian influenza) virus," Antara news agency quoted the minister as saying after opening a meeting between the Indonesian government and international key partners on avian influenza in Bali, a resort island in Indonesia.

150 participants from 11 countries attended the meeting.

Among the strategic steps were preventing the virus from spreading further, conducting intensive communications with the public on the danger of the deadly disease, and promoting the people's understanding about the restructuring of national poultry industry, he said.

"Some of the strategic steps have been successful. However, we still need time and work hard to restructure the national poultry industry," he said.

Indonesia has reported 106 people infected with H5N1 and 85 of them have died - more than 40 percent of the recorded fatalities worldwide.

Pacific flu threat 'serious as ever': WHO​

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s2032361.htm

Last Updated 13/09/2007, 20:22:36

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the threat of avian flu in the Pacific region is as serious as ever.

Members of the WHO's western Pacific region are currently in South Korea to discuss ways to combat bird flu after reports that many countries do not have the minimum systems in place to deal with an outbreak.

The WHO's director for communicable diseases, Tee Ahsian, says in the western Pacific region, the avian influenza situation remains serious and the human influenza pandemic threat shows no sign of abating either.

He says the virus has become entrenched in many parts of Asia and since 2003 has killed about 200 people.

Most of the human cases were contracted through contact with sick birds or their faeces but there have also been documented cases of human-to-human transmission.

The WHO guidelines on responding to a bird flu epidemic call for quarantine and distribution of the drug Tamiflu.

Global fatality rate from bird flu at 61 percent: WHO ​

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/techscience/2007/09/12/0601000000AEN20070912007400320.HTML

By Tony Chang

SEOUL, Sept 12 (Yonhap) -- Approximately six out of 10 people around the world who have contracted bird flu have died, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said Wednesday, stressing the need for improved contingency systems.

"A total of 328 human cases and 200 deaths from avian influenza had been reported in 12 countries worldwide since 2003, with a case fatality rate of 61 percent," Shigeru Omi, WHO's regional director for the Western Pacific, said at the 58th WHO Western Pacific Regional Committee meeting held on Jeju Island, South Korea's southernmost island.

What's the Economic Cost of a Flu Pandemic?​

http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/recommend/archive/2007/Pandemic_Flu_Recession_Trust.html

In a word, recession. Losses would vary state by state and industry by industry, but even a mild pandemic would likely halt growth nationwide.

Worth Reading: The Quick Take from Kiplinger


September 2007
The Trust for America's Health

The Trust for America's Health (TFAH) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that seeks to make the prevention of disease a national priority. TFAH estimates that more than 90 million Americans live with chronic disease, which accounts for seven out of every 10 deaths in this country, and argues that the majority of those deaths are preventable.

A pandemic flu outbreak is in our future, probably sooner rather than later. Whether it's avian flu or something else, health experts say the United States must bank on being hit by a severe flu in coming years that could sicken roughly 90 million people and kill 2.25 million.

Such a wrenching human cost will lead to financial losses so crushing that they could push the United States into a recession -- perhaps one of the worst since World War II -- according to the Trust for America's Health (TFAH). The trust's report, Pandemic Flu and the Potential for U.S. Economic Recession: A State-by-State Analysis, seeks to estimate losses in each state and in particular industries.

It warns that industries "that require a high degree of social interaction, such as entertainment and tourism, would likely experience the greatest decline in demand." For that reason, it's little surprise that Nevada, which derives 17.6% of its economy from tourism and entertainment, is forecast to suffer the highest percentage economic loss of any state, an estimated 8.08%, or nearly $9 billion. Other states that depend heavily on tourism include Hawaii, which counts on tourism for 10.1% of its economy, Florida (5.4%), Vermont (5.3%) and Mississippi (5.2%).

David Nabarro: We can be certain one day there
would be another influenza pandemic​

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070914/78736154.html

RIA Novosti's interview with United Nations System Influenza Coordination (UNSIC) senior coordinator David Nabarro

Question: It's now almost five years have passed since people had started dying of the bird flu. Its no big news any more, it's just a new death in that row of two hundred. Would it be correct to say that the biggest danger of the bird fly is to forget about the danger of the bird flu?

Answer: In public health we are often dealing with problems that have potentially serious consequences. And they are small news when we are actually responding to them but they become big news when they get out of control after we fail to do our job. I would like to see intense work by governments, by community organizations to deal with this issue. I would like to see it as number one. High media publicity for me is not so important.

What would not be helpful actually is to scare people into thinking massive pandemic starting any second now and have them in uncertainty on what they should be doing. So I'm not distressed about the reduced media coverage, I think we are reaching a more balanced media coverage by this time. What I'm very concerned about is to ensure there's still a sustained popular action and sustained governement action in the next few years to do with the issue. If governments stop thinking about it or if people stop thinking about it then we would have something to worry about.



Q: So this is NOT a situation of a pandemic probably starting every second?

A: In my job it is normal to behave as if a pandemic could start tomorrow, because this is my job, this is what I have to deal with 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But I wouldn't want you in your job spending a lot of time thinking a pandemic is about to start. I want you to get on with your life and rely on those who are responsible of dealing with this issue.



Q: Can you give any quantitative assessment of the probability of a pandemic?

A: I wish I could. I'll tell you how I do it: if we look at history, we can be certain one day there would be another influenza pandemic. But we cannot say with any certainty at all when it would happen, where it would start, how severe it would be. So the only certainty we can share with each other is that it would happen one day.



Q: Just like an earthquake?

A: People in Indonesia are very used to the reality that disasters and catastrophes will happen, unfortunately, that they don't know when they will start and how severe they are going to be. People that I talked to in Indonesia understand this language that I am using. In other settings people are less comfortable with it and get nervous.



Q: In your opinion what are the chances of developing a successful vaccine from a virus that doesn't yet exist?

A: In developing vaccines from evolving viruses the challenge is to find a part of the virus that would stay constant during the evolution. and have the vaccine against that common part of the virus. Then that vaccine would have the capacity to do with whatever pathogenic forms that might evolve. And this process of identifying the necessary genetic or cell material is being undertaken in many laboratories all over the world.

I can't say how likely it is that it would be successful - I have seen some vaccine research that has been amazingly successful, others like HIV vaccines turned out to be more difficult, so I can't give you the probability. But I would say that there is a scientific basis for finding a vaccine that would have a multiple coverage and personally I very much hope that that kind of research would prove to be successful.



Q: What are all these news about human to human transmission already happening in Indonesia really about?

A: When we talk about a human to human transmission of the influenza virus we are talking about sustained human to human transmission: I am giving the virus to you, you are passing the virus over to other people, and it acts like a chain reaction to end up with a wide spread disease. That is what understood as a human to human transmission, and what we see at the moment is called a sporadic human infection.

The distinction is terribly important. Sustained human to human transmission is bringing with it the threat of influenza pandemic that would change whole of our lives, it would have very major consequences. Sporadic human cases of H5N1 are very rare: we have only seen three hundred something reported in the last few years. They are very rare but they are important as they indicate to us that there is an underlying H5N1 infection in the poultry we have to worry about.



Q: What makes Indonesia so important?

A: There are more outbreaks of H5N1 infection in poultry and H5N1 infection in humans in Indonesia than anywhere else in the world, so to me Indonesia is extremely important.

Indonesia and Egypt are countries where H5N1 is entrenched in poultry population and for that reason these countries are trying very hard to control the virus and to restrict its circulation. And that is not easy to keep the virus under control when it is entrenched in poultry. Intense efforts for several years would be necessary to completely control it.

We have to remember that Indonesia is highly decentralized and that means that it is necessary for us to be encouraging authorities at the district level as well as regional governments to be taking this issue extremely seriously.

In countries with highly centralized administration it is relatively easy to issue instructions about the control of diseases in animals or in humans and then to get all levels of government to comply. With decentralized administration it is sometimes more difficult.



Q: In short, what is the general situation in fighting this highly pathogenic avian influenza you've been speaking about in Indonesia?

A: I am very pleased that we have actually seen the situation to be relatively stable in the last years. That is not of course a success but it could have been much worse

Some 22,580 chickens die of bird flu in East Java, Indonesia​

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/6263035.html

Around 22,580 chickens had died of bird flu (Avian Influenza - AI) virus in Indonesia's East Java Province from January to September 2007, a local official said.

The AI virus-infected chickens were mostly from back-yard farming, Antara news agency quoted Bambang Hermawan of the East Java provincial animal husbandry service as saying on Friday in Surabaya, capital of East Java province.

The dead chickens were found in 25 districts/towns in the province, said the official.

The East Java authorities have carried a number of measures to prevent the spread of bird flu virus.

Indonesia is one of the worst-hit countries in the world by bird flu. Bird flu has killed 85 people out of 106 affected persons in the country.

Crucell to present pre-clinical results for H5N1 Virus treatment​

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,177947.shtml

LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS -- 09/14/07 --



Leiden, The Netherlands, September 14, 2007 - Dutch biotechnology company Crucell N.V. (Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL, Swiss Exchange: CRX) today announced that its researchers have discovered a monoclonal antibody that is active against H5N1 avian influenza. The studies will be presented at the 5th International Bird Flu Summit scheduled for September 27 and 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Crucell researchers produced antibodies in PERC6® cells and tested their biophysical and immunological properties.

"Using phage display technology a set of human monoclonal antibodies active against a broad range of distinct H5N1 strains was developed," said Crucell Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Jaap Goudsmit. "We will show the ability of these antibodies to prevent infection as well as to prevent and cure disease caused by H5N1 virus in mice."

Crucell will provide more information about the research findings during the two-day conference in Las Vegas.

First hand info from a doctor to a board member. See:

HEALTH - UPDATE - Avian Flu

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=257082

Link to next weeks thread:

HEALTH - 9/15/07-9/21/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread: China finds suspected H5N1 outbreak in ducks

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=257164

My lomatium came yesterday. Hopefully it'll work this time too.