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December 21, 2005
Bird flu hits central Vietnam province - Thanh Nien Daily
| Bird flu hits central Vietnam province Thanh Nien Daily, Vietnam - ... the latest province in Vietnam to be hit by bird flu as a local official said Wednesday specimens taken from local ducks tested positive for the H5N1 strain. ... |
Posted by dymaxion at 01:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Hospitals as money-losing businesses in a pandemic
Via Medica.de, a story with an angle I hadn't considered before: Economic Cost to Hospitals Likely to Be Huge. I usually worry about the collateral damage of hospitals too swamped to look after their usual patients. The problem here is that those patients are paying customers, staying away in droves:
"If avian flu occurred in the U.S., a large financial loss would probably be borne by the treating institution unless the government offsets losses not covered by insurance," Romeis says.
"We may be reasonably well prepared to respond to the clinical aspects of the epidemic, but may be inadequately prepared for the economic and operational impact. What will not be reimbursed is the lost business at hospitals, and those indirect losses can be enormous."
Romeis made his observations based on the impact of SARS on the Taiwanese health care system in 2002-2003. He found that patients there delayed care, postponed elective procedures and stayed away from the emergency rooms of hospitals known to treat SARS patients because they were afraid of contracting the disease.
"For instance, during the peak of the SARS crisis, the National Taiwan University Hospital's number of surgeries dropped from 3,576 in May 2002 to 519 in May 2003, an astonishing decrease rate of 85 percent," he said. "At one point early in the epidemic, the hospital temporarily closed down its emergency room."
Posted by dymaxion at 01:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Details on China's first avian flu case
Via a site called Ivanhoe's Medical Breakthroughs, some details about the first case of avian flu in China.
Weizhong Yang, M.D., from the Chinese Center for Disease Control & Prevention in Beijing, and colleagues report a 12-year-old girl from Hunan, China, suffered from fever, sore throat and a cough on Oct. 8, 2005. She was diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome and died nine days later.
Her 9-year-old brother also developed a fever and cough on Oct. 10, 2005 and was admitted to the hospital on Oct. 17. He responded to treatment including antiviral amantadine and was released from the hospital, symptom free, on Nov. 17.
The children came in close contact with 191 people, all of whom were tested and reported to be disease free. The family had 22 chickens and five ducks in cages near the bathroom and toilets of the house. Researchers report between Oct. 6 and Oct. 12, up to six birds died each day.
Posted by dymaxion at 01:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
House passes bird flu bill
Via CNN Money: House passes bird flu bill.
The U.S. House of Representatives early on Monday approved $3.78 billion to begin preparations for a possible avian flu epidemic.
The bill would also shield manufacturers of vaccines and drugs from lawsuits during an epidemic. The legislation, wrapped into an unrelated defense bill, still faces an uncertain fate in the Senate later this week.
The money would be used for stockpiling potential vaccine and drugs, training emergency officials and increasing international surveillance of the flu which has been sweeping through poultry flocks in Asia and more recently into eastern Europe.
Posted by dymaxion at 01:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Indonesias Bird Flu Campain
http://breakingnewsblog.com/birdflu">Bird Flu News Blog... Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) — Indonesia’s planned door-to-door bird-flu surveillance will begin in Jakarta tomorrow,
of the H5N1 avian flu strain in birds that increase the risk of the disease infecting humans and possibly ...
Posted by dymaxion at 01:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Bird Flu - Vietnamese teenager confirmed with H5N1 bird flu
m/birdflu/birdflu.html">Bird Flu... Vietnamese teenager confirmed with
H5N1 bird flu Reuters AlertNet, UK - Nov 22, 2005 HANOI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - A Vietnamese teenager has been confirmed with the H5N1 bird flu virus, health officials said 19, 2005 The deadly H5N1 strain of the virus that causes bird flu has accounted for 71 deaths ...
Posted by dymaxion at 01:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
people's daily online -- china, who sign virus co-op deal
A draft agreement on China's commitment to share virus samples isolated from human H5N1 cases with the World Health Organization (WHO) was signed yesterday in Beijing . The agreement was signed by the WHO and the Chinese Ministry Health when Shigeru Omi, the WHO's regional director for the Western Pacific, visited the ministry and the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday... Hunan Province, which in November recorded China's first human H5N1 case. A senior US health officialPosted by dymaxion at 01:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
people's daily online -- feverish woman in singapore cleared of avian flu
A feverish woman who were isolated at Singapore 's Communicable Disease Center (CDC) following a recent trip to Vietnam has been cleared of avian flu. The 38-year-old Vietnamese woman, who married to a Singaporean, has tested negative for the H5N1 virus, which causes avian flu, Channel NewsAsia reported on Sunday. The woman, who complained of fever and giddiness, went to a clinic near her home on Saturday and was finally transferred to the CDC as a precautionary measure because she hadPosted by dymaxion at 01:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 19, 2005
David Nabarro's latest statements
``This H5N1 virus is slowly changing though genetic ressortment or mutation,'' Nabarro said. ``The change is slow, but if this virus undergoes the change that leads to sustained human-to-human transmission, then we have a major problem. ...Posted by dymaxion at 01:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Romania detects new suspected bird flu case - Reuters AlertNet
 Malaysia Star | Romania detects new suspected bird flu case Reuters AlertNet, UK - ... first discovered 300 km from Bucharest. Nine cases have been confirmed as the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain. But the disease has not ... More cases of bird flu detected in Romania Romania detects new H5 bird flu case in southeast province New cases of bird flu reported in Romania |
Posted by dymaxion at 01:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Singapore isolates feverish woman
Via Thanh Nien Daily: Feverish woman isolated as "precaution" after trip to Vietnam.
b> According to People's Daily Online, the woman has now been cleared of avian flu.A Vietnamese woman who got a fever after a recent trip to Vietnam has been isolated at Singapore's Communicable Disease Center (CDC), Channel NewsAsia reported Saturday night.
The 38-year-old woman, who is married a Singaporean, went to a clinic near her home on Saturday and was finally transferred to the CDC by ambulance, during which N95 masks and full protective clothing were used.
Posted by dymaxion at 01:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
A futures market in avian flu?
The New York Times reports on Intrade, a kind of futures market where people are Betting on Bird Flu.
Given its track record, the latest contract is enough to give pause: according to the current betting line, there is a 65 percent chance that someone in the United States will contract bird flu by March.
Posted by dymaxion at 01:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Local tests show Indonesian boy died of bird flu - Reuters.ukGoogle News U.K.
 24x7updates |
Reuters.uk -
JAKARTA (Reuters) - An eight-year-old Indonesian boy has died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu according to local tests, a Health Ministry official said on Monday. Hariadi Wibisono, head of a department charged ...
Indonesia says local tests show boy died of bird flu
World Is Losing Battle to Combat Bird Flu, UN Official Says
Posted by dymaxion at 12:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Setting compensation seen as key in bird flu fightKeralaNext:
PARIS, - Compensation for farmers whose poultry is culled to contain bird flu needs to be high enough to encourage them to report the disease but not at levels that could incite false claims, a top veterinary official said. The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has killed more than 70 people in Asia and and led to the culling of millions of poultry in the region. It has now spread to birds in eastern Europe. Experts believe migratory birds have carried the virus over long distances and fear that Africa could be the next hot spot.Posted by dymaxion at 12:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Brasovul in alerta aviara
... , Rotbav şi Ţara Făgăraşului, care sunt monitorizate permanent. Dacă se va descoperi prezenţa H5N1 la... intrare. Descoperirea unui focar de H5N1 în judeţul Buzău a pus pe jar autorităţile buzoiene, şi într..., Gheorghe Puchianu. Trei zone din judeţul Braşov sunt predispuse la contactarea virusului H5N1 ...
Posted by dymaxion at 12:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
新型インフルエンザ
... 2005年12月19日 11月以降、中国におけるH5N1のヒト感染例の発表が続いている（http://idsc.nih.go.jp/disease/avian_influenza/toriinf-whoup.html）。5つの省・自治区（湖南、安徽、広西、遼寧、江西）から確定症例が報告されており、全土に拡大している可能性がある。これに関して、11月末に中国の高強衛生相が「鳥...可能性はないだろうか。地域住民へのタミフルの予防投与もかなりの数に上るかもしれない。通常インフルエンザがすべてH5N1に思われるかもしれない。現場では、どうも病床確保以前の対策が問われるような気がして ...
Posted by dymaxion at 12:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Muere niño en Indonesia por gripe aviaria
... primeras pruebas realizadas dieron positivo al H5N1, la cepa más patógena de la enfermedad, informó ...
ABN - Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias
Posted by dymaxion at 12:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Customs Agents Seize Counterfeit Tamiflu
of the American public." The H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has ravaged poultry stocks in Asia and killedPosted by dymaxion at 12:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
NIH tests LIVE H5N1 virus for inhaled flu vaccine!
vaccine frontier may not just protect against the bird flu strain, called H5N1, considered today s topPosted by dymaxion at 12:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
isn security watch - indonesian boy dies of bird flu
ISN SECURITY WATCH (Monday, 19 December: 13.10 CET) ? Indonesia has reported the death of an eight-year-old boy from the H5N1 strain of bird flu according to local tests, a Health Ministry official said on Monday. Local test results had yet to be confirmed by a Hong Kong laboratory affiliated with the World Health Organization (WHO), but this latest incident brings the total of deaths from bird... a 39-year-old man died of bird flu last week. Since late 2003, the H5N1 virus is known to havePosted by dymaxion at 12:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
China Reports 6th Human Case of Bird Flu
(AP) BEIJING China reported its sixth human bird flu case Friday as Indonesia awaited tests that could confirm its tenth human victim. Chinese state media said a 35-year-old man in eastern China had become infected with the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of the virus after an outbreak was reported in ducks in his village. The self-employed vendor, identified only by his surname, Guo, fell ill... man's relatives and neighbors to see if they contracted the H5N1 strain. The virus has ravaged poultryPosted by dymaxion at 12:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
radio australia - news - birdflu hits malawi
The deaths of thousands of birds in the Southern African country of Malawi have raised fears of a bird flu outbreak. Africa Correspondent Zoe Daniel reports Malawi is the third country in Africa to report a bird flu scare. Both Kenya and Ethiopia also tested for the deadly H5N1 strain of flu after a high number of bird deaths, but no trace of flu has yet been found on the continent. In Malawi thousands of birds have died about 200 kilometres East of the capital Lilongwe. Authorities believePosted by dymaxion at 12:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sanofi Pasteur on vaccine progress
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine unit of drug maker Sanofi-Aventis , announced the preliminary results of the Phase I trial among 300 healthy volunteers in France. Governments around the world are attempting to halt a growing outbreak of H5N1 bird flu and prevent an influenza pandemic from developing. The virus has killed 71 people out of 138 known human cases, all of them in Asia. Signficantly, the drug maker said its vaccine proved effective when given at a lower dose thanPosted by dymaxion at 12:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Two new human cases suspected in Indonesia and Vietnam
spokesman Ilham Patu, told AFP. He had shown symptoms of carrying the potentially deadly H5N1... of his white blood cell count, Patu said. H5N1 links to a Reuters article claiming.... Addendum: more recent media reports claim the Vietnamese toddler did not die from H5N1.Posted by dymaxion at 12:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Ukraine considers full Crimea quarantine to halt bird flu
KIEV, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Ukrainian officials on Saturday considered imposing a quarantine throughout the Crimea peninsula to contain an outbreak of the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu affecting more than a dozen villages. Agriculture Ministry spokesman Oleksander Horobets said... detected in Crimea was H5N1, which is potentially dangerous to humans. He said Agriculture Minister... seasonal flu. Cases of H5N1 have also been detected in adjacent Romania and Russia. Romanian officialsPosted by dymaxion at 12:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 14, 2005
Indonesia reports new suspected human H5N1 cases
The Jakarta Post belatedly confirms a ninth human fatality from avian flu, but the real story is that new patients have been reported.
Meanwhile, Sulianti Saroso Hospital spokesman Ilham Patu said that five new suspected bird flu patients were admitted overnight on Monday and Tuesday from several areas of Jakarta.
"We now have a total of six patients being treated for suspected bird flu infections," Patu told AFP.
Some of the five admitted, he said, were in a worse condition than the sixth patient, a 23-year-old woman who has been in intensive care for the past few days.
Posted by dymaxion at 09:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Two new human cases suspected in Indonesia and VietnamAvian Flu - What we need to know
A 39-year-old Indonesian man "strongly suspected" of being infected with the deadly bird flu virus has died in hospital, a medical spokesman said here.
If confirmed, the man would be the 10th fatality from avian influenza in Indonesia. Five other infections have been confirmed here but the patients have survived.
The latest suspected victim came from South Jakarta and was admitted Monday to the Sulianti Saroso hospital, Indonesia's main bird flu treatment centre, but died on Tuesday, hospital spokesman Ilham Patu, told AFP.
He had shown symptoms of carrying the potentially deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, such as high fever and respiratory difficulties and had been moved from a private hospital in South Jakarta.
"He also showed another key symptom of bird flu infection, a rapid lowering of his white blood cell count," Patu said.
H5N1 links to a Reuters article claiming that a toddler from Vietnam's southern province of Hau Giang is believed to have died of bird flu.
Posted by dymaxion at 09:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Probable Person-to-Person Transmission of Avian Influenza A (H5N1)
... Chunsutthiwat, M.D., M.P.H. ABSTRACT Background During 2004, a highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1... and nasopharyngeal and throat swabs from the aunt were positive for influenza A (H5N1) by RT-PCR. No additional... viral gene segments clustered closely with other H5N1 sequences from recent avian isolates ...
Posted by dymaxion at 09:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Brazil stocks up on Tamiflu
Via Brazzil Magazine: Brazil gets 90 million doses of Tamiflu.
b>Thanks to the bright-eyed reader, more alert than I, who noted that Tamiflu is not a vaccine.Brazilian Minister of Health, Saraiva Felipe, reports that the country now has over 90 million doses of Tamiflu, the only known effective drug for that kind of flu.
Tamiflu is a vaccine[sic] that can be given to people who have bird flu, or used preventatively on people who do not have the symptoms.
Brazil also has 46 so-called sentinel units in place around the country which can analyze types of viruses so that the proper vaccines can be made available.
More sentinel units are scheduled to be operating by the beginning of next year. Each state will have at least one unit.
Posted by dymaxion at 09:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Bird flu in Libya
Posted by dymaxion at 09:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thai authorities unsure how latest victim contacted H5N1
Last Friday Thailand announced a 5 year old boy was the country's latest H5N1 victim. Here is a brief update on the investigation that followed the boy's death: 27 people who had contact with lad in Nakhon Nayok test ?negative?. Initial tests on people who had been in contact with the country?s latest human case of bird flu have cooled fears of a human-to-human outbreak, though it remains unclear how the infection was transmitted. None of the blood samples drawn from people who hadPosted by dymaxion at 09:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Indonesia confirms 9th death
We have received confirmation. (The death toll) is now nine, Hariadi Wibisono told Reuters about the findings on a 35-year-old man who died last month, making him the latest confirmed death in Indonesia, the world's fourth-most populous nation. Another senior health ministry official told Reuters the man lived in West Jakarta where he had contact with live chickens that carried the H5N1.... Researchers tested those birds and they were positive carriers of H5N1, said I Nyoman KandunPosted by dymaxion at 09:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
cadena ser : noticias
Mi rcoles , 14 de diciembre de 2005 . Actualizado a las 13:34 El Ministerio ucraniano de Sanidad confirm? hoy que el virus letal H5N1 de la gripe aviar ha sido detectado en once aldeas de la pen?nsula de Crimea. El virus fue confirmado por las pruebas de laboratorio efectuadas en once de las 25 aldeas de esta pen?nsula del Mar Negro en las que se ha registrado la muerte de aves, seg?n inform? una portavoz del Ministerio, Anna Trubachova. Gran V a, 32. 28013 Madrid. Tel: 34 91 347 07 00Posted by dymaxion at 09:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Ukraine says deadly bird flu in new villages
KIEV (Reuters) - Bird flu, including the H5N1 strain dangerous to humans, has spread to new villages in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, officials said on Wednesday. Both Belarus, Ukraine's northern neighbor, and Bulgaria across the Black Sea slapped bans on imports adding to measures put in place... villages in Crimea, it said, with the H5N1 strain confirmed in 11. Nearly 54,000 birds had been... confirmation of the presence of H5N1 from a laboratory in Britain later in the week. Cases of H5N1 havePosted by dymaxion at 09:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 12, 2005
Nieuw geval van H5N1 vastgesteld in Roemenië
Bij een nieuwe geval van vogelgriep dat eind vorge maand in Roemenië is geconstateerd, gaat het om de gevaarlijke virusvariant H5N1. Dat hebben de Britse autoriteiten laten weten. Monsters met materiaal van de besmette kalkoen zijn onderzocht in een Brits laboratorium.
De kalkoen was afkomstig van een boerderij in het dorpje Scarlatesti, ruim 100 kilometer ten westen van het gebied waar voor het eerst een geval van H5N1 in Roemenië werd ontdekt. De afgelopen maanden zijn er al meerdere uitbraken van dit type virus vastgesteld in dorpen in de Donau-delta.
Posted by dymaxion at 01:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
China hiding bird-flu cases?
The Globe and Mail gave me a shock this morning with a prominent story: China hiding bird-flu cases: expert.
The reporter, Geoffrey York, is a well-known journalist, and the story is based on claims by Hong Kong virologist Dr. Guan Yi:
"Quite honestly, some provinces have the virus and they still haven't announced any outbreak. I can show direct evidence, even though China is still trying very hard to block my research. The government doesn't do any surveillance studies, but they say there is no outbreak."all very exciting stuff, and Guan Yi as I recall has blown the whistle before on Chinese cove-ups. But "more than 90" dead of H5N1 in Vietnam alone? All the sources I see give a total in the low 40s, with just over 70 fatalities in all nations combined.He gave the example of Yunnan province, in southwestern China, which shares a border with Vietnam. More than 90 people have died from the bird-flu virus in Vietnam, yet the Yunnan officials denied any outbreak of bird flu in their province until Nov. 17. In reality, the virus has been circulating in Yunnan for months, according to Dr. Guan's data.
Maybe this is just a goof by the reporter, even a typo. The story is certainly worth reading and considering, but don't take it as the New Revelation.
Update: I wrote to Geoffrey York about the 90-deaths statement, and got a prompt response:
As for my story, I thought the Vietnam reference was to "human cases" rather than "human deaths". If my story said the latter, it should have been the former, and an error may have crept in somewhere along the line.
And indeed Vietnam has officially announced 93 cases of avian flu, with 42 deaths. With that cleared up, York's story becomes a major challenge to the credibility of the Chinese government.
It also raises questions about what other governments and agencies know or suspect. Is WHO being diplomatically silent, or does it really not know anything? Do the US and Europe believe what they've been told about human cases in China? And what about China's neighbours—Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, the Koreas, and Japan (not to mention Russia and the central Asian republics)?
If they know the Chinese are covering up again, what's their motivation for being so tactful? And if the Chinese aren't covering up, how do we assess Guan Yi's findings?
Posted by dymaxion at 01:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Britain could grind to a halt in a bird flu pandemic
Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.—Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1777
In between sessions of grading my students' work, I surf the Web this weekend and find increasing evidence of minds becoming wonderfully concentrated indeed.
A case in point: An Observer story on Guardian Unlimited that warns Britain could grind to a halt in a bird flu pandemic, experts fear. It's a preview of a report that the British House of Lords is expected to make public next Friday:
A pandemic would last for between three and four months and infect an estimated 25 per cent of the population so, according to government estimates, up to 7 per cent of staff would be off at any one time.om WHO are always welcome, but "cascades of failure" is the phrase that resonates. Whether it's from inside knowledge of Chinese cover-ups, or just thinking it through, some people in our governments appear to be concentrating very hard.But some companies think the real rate of absenteeism would be far higher - up to 60 per cent off at any one time.
Kevin Hawkins, director of the British Retail Consortium, told the committee last month the great vulnerability would be a shortage of lorry drivers to distribute food: 'I think our main challenge would be to keep the food supply chain going.'
Other industry figures were worried about 'cascades of failure', such as the impact if mobile phone networks were closed down by a major power failure across London.
The health service, however, has spent the past year developing detailed plans to keep services running. The World Health Organisation has said Britain and France are in the forefront of developed nations with advanced plans for such an emergency.
And if that weren't enough, consider another Observer story:
The financial crisis gripping the NHS has been laid bare in an extraordinary email sent from a senior civil servant in the Department of Health, which tells officials to ignore ministers' promises on spending. It also threatens staff with disciplinary action if they disobey an order to freeze new investment. The email - details of which have been obtained by The Observer - was sent at the end of last month from the office of Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer.d Kingdom is too poor to live, we should all be thinking as if we were to be hanged in a fortnight.It promises to sound the death knell for a range of public health programmes set up to tackle everything from alcohol abuse and cancer screening to sexually-transmitted diseases and obesity. Health experts believe the spending freeze could even hit attempts to reduce deadly MRSA outbreaks in hospitals and affect contingency planning in the event of an outbreak of bird flu. (My emphasis.)
Posted by dymaxion at 01:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thais plan health-budget cut
A story in the Bangkok Post reports, astonishingly, that the government plans a huge cut in its public-health ministry budget. The Disease Control Department is fighting the move: Planned B3bn cut from health `would hurt bird flu fight' .
Three billion baht is about $70 million US. Thailand has been staring down the barrel of a pandemic for years. If they seriously think they can't afford to sustain the fight, we're going to see an ironic replay of the old "domino theory"—but instead of succumbing to communism, Southeast Asia will just succumb, period.
Posted by dymaxion at 01:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Bird Flu Site Tracks Spread Of H5N1 Avian Flu WorldwidePR Web (The Free Wire Service) America - Post 9/11
Bird Flu Beacon discovers most damaging evidence to date of an alleged bird flu cover-up in China. [PRWEB Dec 12, 2005]Posted by dymaxion at 01:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Pandemic Flu: the race and class issuesViolette's Page
By Hillel CohenNovember 3, 2005
Will preparations for pandemic flu incorporate important lessons from Hurricane Katrina?
President Bush unveiled a $7.1 billion plan that concentrates on expanding production and stockpiles of vaccine and antiviral medicine. It may still fall far short of what is needed.
The Bush plan has prioritized protection of pharmaceutical company profits with broad protection against liability suits but did not suggest how low-income families without prescription medicine coverage will pay for medications. Conspicuously absent was a proposal for emergency licenses for generic versions of antiviral drugs to increase supplies at lower cost.
Moreover, while vaccines and antivirals undoubtedly have an important role in preparing for an epidemic, to believe that acquiring and stockpiling medicine will answer the problem is to believe that the Katrina evacuation failed because the country had too few vehicles to transport all the residents of New Orleans.
Similarly, the desperate conditions in the Superdome and Convention Center did not come about because the United States doesn't have adequate supplies of food, water and sanitation facilities. The problem was not lack of resources, but rather an infrastructure and government unable to make those resources available in a timely manner to those who needed them most. And at the root of this problem, as the television images made starkly clear, were issues of race and class.
During Katrina, race and class determined who had the resources to evacuate in time. In the event of an outbreak of pandemic flu, race and class will impact how the pandemic spreads and how effective the response will be.
Socioeconomic factors, particularly race and class, are almost always among the top predictors of who gets sick and who dies of infectious diseases like flu, tuberculosis and AIDS or chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Race and class identify those who have the weakest immune systems, those who live in environments with the unhealthiest conditions, those who have the least resources to cope with crises and those who have the least access to health information, preventive care, medical services and medications.
For example, Mr. Bush directed the public to a Web site to get advice but didn't suggest how people without internet access will be informed.
In a serious flu outbreak, people may be instructed to stay home. But what about workers who don't get paid sick leave? Where will those who live paycheck-to-paycheck get money for food, rent and heat? Families with higher incomes have cupboards filled with groceries and supplies. Poorer families will run out in a day or two. People with cars might get to food and medicine distribution centers. Those who require public transportation will be forced to risk greater infection rates in the closed quarters of buses and trains, assuming these are even available.
If businesses remain open but schools are closed, who will watch the kids of working parents? When emergency rooms are overwhelmed, who will have access to private physician offices? Despite increased production, will there be enough antiviral medication, and at what cost? Will an underground market quickly emerge to make medicine available only to those with the most cash or connections? Will government distributions consciously or unconsciously prioritize the wealthier, more politically powerful communities?
The government could mandate employers to pay sick leave for workers who are ill or must care for children. Food stores could be mandated to distribute subsidized food and medicine where needed.
In light of harsh criticism of the delay in federal response to Katrina, Mr. Bush last month proposed rapid military involvement in the event of a pandemic. But such a proposal is more frightening than reassuring? Is the administration making contingency plans for what could be tantamount to martial law? If so, martial law could itself be an incalculable disaster to public health as well as civil liberties. A photo of flooded New Orleans in which whites were carrying groceries was captioned "Getting provisions" while an identical one with blacks was captioned "Looting." Will armed soldiers react to similarly prejudiced perceptions?
It is too soon to tell whether H5N1, or avian flu, will transform into the human pandemic that many fear or whether it will pass like the 1976 swine flu. But it is already clear that failure to account for racial and economic inequalities can have deadly consequences in the event of any public health emergency.
Epidemics and natural disasters are inevitable, but repeating mistakes and ignoring lessons are not. For decades, public health infrastructure has been allowed to crumble and frantic catch-up measures will be too little and too late if the lessons from Katrina are not learned. Recognizing the role of race and class in disease and enrolling and empowering local communities to overcome the effects of social inequality must be part of any effective pandemic preparedness plan.
Posted by dymaxion at 01:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Americans And Europeans Migrating To Canada For Tamiflu Roche Sales Skyrocket1.3 PRNN e-Commerce (PR NEWS NOW)
( document scanner ) This week the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported a 10-fold increase in Tamiflu orders from Canadian Pharmacies in the past month Tamiflu is the only drug known to treat the deadly H5N1 Avian Flu virusWorldwide orders for Tamiflu are coming ...Posted by dymaxion at 01:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Something Wicked This Way Comes3quarksdaily
John Allen Paulos told me the following joke: "Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?"
"A: To cause a global pandemic."
Robert Dorit reviews The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu by Mike Davis, in American Scientist:
As Davis points out, the concentration of economic power and influence in huge poultry conglomerates militates against a rapid and rational response to outbreaks of bird flu. In chilling detail, The Monster at Our Door exposes the political pressures exerted on the government of Thailand by Charoen Pokphand (CP), the country's dominant poultry concern. These pressures have slowed the reporting of avian influenza, obstructed the monitoring of chicken and duck facilities, and limited efforts to cull infected flocks in order to prevent the spread of disease. They have also redirected the government's control measures onto the few remaining small farmers who raise chickens, often forcing them out of business and thus further tightening CP's food monopoly in Thailand. (This story of political corruption and influence is not without its surrealistic touches: In 2004, the Thai ambassador to Moscow offered to barter 250,000 tons of Thai chicken—the shipment would have begun with 60,000 tons of chicken possibly contaminated with H5N1—in exchange for Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter aircraft. The offer was declined.)
More here.
Posted by dymaxion at 01:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
В Таиланде 5-летний мальчик умер от "птичьего" гриппаЯндекс.Новости: В мире
От заболевания вирусом H5N1, способным поражать человека, скончался пятилетний мальчик.Вьетнам также объявил о двух новых вспышках заболевания, и Китай доложил о пятом случае заболевания человека.
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Pandemie (39) Vietnamees dokter die tientallen vogelgriep patiënten behandelde: “Tamiflu is waardeloos”
... Dr. Nguyen Tuong Van leidt de intensieve zorg eenheid van het Instituut voor Tropische Ziekten in Hanoï. Hij behandelde 41 slachtoffers van het vogelgriep virus (H5N1) en zag geen effect. De Vietnamese arts heeft ook ervaring met het behandelen van SARS slachtoffers. De enige behandeling die hielp ...
Welkom op de weblog van Dirk Van Duppen
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关于大流行性流感你必须知道的10件事
... 。 因此，H5N1型禽流感病毒是一种具有大流行潜力的毒株，因为它最终可能变异为一种在人类中传染的毒株。一旦发生突变，它将不再是一种禽鸟病毒，而将成为一种人类流感病毒。流感大流行是由一种能够使人类致病的新流感病毒所引发...。 3. 世界可能处在另一次流感大流行的边缘。 卫生专家几乎用8年的时间对一种新的极为严重的流感病毒 - H5N1型毒株进行了监测。H5N1型毒株首次于1997年在香港传染给人类...。如果H5N1型病毒发展为向普通流感一样具有传染性，则可能发生大流行。 4. 所有的国家均将受到感染。 一旦一种完全具有感染性的病毒出现，它势必在全球传播。各国可以通过诸如关闭边界和旅行限制等措施推迟病毒的进入 ...
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Romania finds bird flu cases outside Danube delta
been confirmed as the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, the most recent showing the virus appears to be edging west towards more populated areas. H5N1 is endemic in poultry in partsPosted by dymaxion at 12:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Roche Picks Tamiflu Partners
to come from Asia, where the H5N1 virus associated with avian flu has already been detected in the human population in several countries, including China , Indonesia , Thailand ,Posted by dymaxion at 12:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Japan Pledges $135 Million to Prepare for Southeast Asia Bird Flu Pandemic
how to control outbreaks of the H5N1 avian flu strain, which has infected at least 137 people and killed 70 in Asia, according to World Health Organization statistics. The regionPosted by dymaxion at 12:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 10, 2005
Bird flu kills young Thai boy - deputy ministerBig News Network.com - Thailand News
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Bird flu has killed a 5-year-old Thai boy, the country's 14th victim of the deadly virus, top health officials said on Friday."The boy was infected with the H5N1 virus," Deputy Hea...Posted by dymaxion at 05:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
New case of bird flu found in Romania - Independent Online
 Malaysia Star | New case of bird flu found in Romania Independent Online, South Africa - Bucharest - A turkey that was found dead in eastern Romania three weeks ago has tested positive for the "highly pathogenic" H5N1 bird flu virus, an official of ... New case of potentially deadly bird flu in Romania Tests confirm infected Romanian turkey has H5N1 Romania confirms new bird flu cases in poultry |
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