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March 28, 2006
The difficulty of containing bird flu
The speed of its migration, and the vast area it has infected, has forced scientists to concede there is little that can be done to stop its spread across the globe.
"We expected it to move, but not any of us thought it would move quite like this," said Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nations' coordinator on bird flu efforts.
The hope was once that culling millions of chickens and ducks would contain or even eradicate the virus. Now, the strategy has shifted toward managing a disease that will probably be everywhere. Officials are hoping to buy a little more time to produce human vaccines and limit the potential economic damage.
"We cannot contain this thing anymore. Nature is in control," said Robert G. Webster, a virologist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., who has been studying the virus since it emerged in 1997.
Read the full article here, and some commentary at Effect Measure.
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AIDS, TB, malaria and bird flu spread unchecked in Burma - on article in PLoS Medicine
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The 1918 Flu Killed Millions. Does It Hold Clues for Today? - New York Times
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Iraqi man dies from suspected h5n1 bird flu
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi man died from suspected H5N1 bird flu in Baghdad, while one member of his family has been admitted for tests on similar suspicions, a spokeswoman on the committee to fight bird flu set up by the Iraqi government said ...Posted by dymaxion at 10:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Avian Flu Vaccine Seen in Equine Antibodies - CNN
| Avian Flu Vaccine Seen in Equine Antibodies CNN - ... In a pilot study, purified antibodies to the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, derived from horses, proved able to prevent infected mice from dying, according to ... |
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Bird flu strikes 6 more areas in JalgaonBird Flu India Update
"Six tehsils in the neighbourhood of the recent bird flu-affected villages have been put under appropriate quarantine as per the WHO guidelines. 400-500 chickens in the poultries in these areas were affected by bird flu and about 1000 samples have been sent to Bhopal high securty lab," Kumar said.
"We will start the culling process of 2.5 lakh birds," he said, adding, "we are expecting the results of the samples from Bhopal latest by April 3."
These tehsils are Varad in Chopda tehsil, Pardhi in Dharnagar, Erandol, Uttran in Erandol, Badgaon tehsil and Talora tehsil, he said.
"Earlier, from March 15 to 18, we had collected 90 samples of which eight had resulted positive for avian influenza," he said.
Ichachapur in Burhanpur district of Madhya Pradesh, bordering Jalgoan has also been hit by bird flu and samples from there are also sent for test to Bhopal lab, he said.
Tags: bird flu|avian flu|avian influenza|bird flu india|h5n1|ichhapur|jalgaon
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March 27, 2006
Bird Flu News - Twelfth case of H5N1 bird flu confirmed in Denmark ...
Twelfth case of H5N1 bird flu confirmed in Denmark (AFP) AFP - Denmark has identified its 12th case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu that can infect humans, the Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research said. ...Posted by dymaxion at 04:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
JORDAN: With appearance of avian flu, thousands of birds culled - Reuters AlertNet
 Playfuls.com | JORDAN: With appearance of avian flu, thousands of birds culled Reuters AlertNet, UK - ... 5,000 birds will be culled on Monday in the Ajloun governorate, north of Amman, as part of an effort to stave of a possible outbreak of the H5N1 avian virus in ... Jordan confirms 1st H5N1 bird flu outbreak Jordon destroys poultry H5N1 makes its presence felt in Jordan |
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How insurers are planning
Insurers are the business world's reality check. They understood global warming long before other corporations did, because weather-related claims started soaring. Now they're taking avian flu very seriously—not only because it could lead to a lot of claims, but because their own people will likely be absent from work.
An insurers' association called LOMA has published a Special Report: Avian Flu and Insurers. It includes summaries of the pandemic plans of five major insurance companies, plus a detailed interview with the chief medical officer of one of those companies.
This is a must-read. And thanks to the reader who pointed me in the direction of this site.
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Mapping avian flu in almost real-time using Google Earth
New Google Earth maps of avian flu spread
This is the new beta of an operational service designed to provide Google Earth maps of avian flu spread on a weekly basis for the first time. As well as mapping human cases and poultry outbreaks, the maps also provide additional data on each event, and additional datasets, such as poultry densities worldwide, to let you explore avian flu.
The fact that the maps can now be regularly updated has been made possible largely through technical improvements in the initial beta map computing infrastructure , and new volunteer support in data management.
To get a link to the new maps, click HERE
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The increasingly mysterious death of Ms. Li
Via Interfax China: No evidence that bird flu death woman in Shanghai had contact with poultry.
ence of evidence is not evidence of absence. This poor young woman may well have had some unnoticed contact with poultry.No evidence has been found suggesting that a migrant worker who died in Shanghai from bird flu on March 21 had any direct contact with poultry, city authorities told Interfax today.
The Ministry of Health confirmed on March 24 that bird flu caused the death of the 29-year-old woman. Shanghai municipal Department of Health had initially said she developed symptoms of "coughing and fever" and died of unexplained pneumonia.
Director of the information office at Shanghai municipal Department of Health said there was insufficient evidence to prove the woman had direct contact with poultry, and that the cause of her infection remains under investigation.
"No abnormal condition has been found among the people who had close contact with the woman," he added.
The health administration in Shanghai says it has taken appropriate measures according to the city's bird flu response plan and people who have had close contact with the woman have been put under clinical observation in isolation.
The death toll of bird flu human infections in China now stands at 11, and the number to have contracted the infection 15.Dai Ping from the Shanghai Agricultural Commission said there was no bird flu epidemic among poultry in the municipality.
But if I were the senior health official in Shanghai, I would be in earnest conversation with the local chief of the Public Security Bureau, asking him to put his best people on tracking Ms. Li through the last two or three weeks of her life.
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Second Egyptian dies from bird flu virus
Thanks to a reader for this Reuters story: Second Egyptian dies from bird flu virus.
t on the same page, Reuters has a link to a story about H5N1 found in a mink in Sweden.An Egyptian woman died from the bird flu virus on Monday, an official from the United Nations health agency said, adding the woman was the second person in the country to die from the virus.
"The lady passed away today ... She was the second person out of the five who tested positive for bird flu to have died so far," said Hassan al-Bushra, World Health Organisation (WHO) regional adviser for communicable diseases surveillance.
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Rapport de GRAIN ( ONG ) sur la Grippe AviaireEt si on causait !!!
GRAIN le 2 mars 2006
Un rapport de GRAIN établit que l’industrie avicole mondiale est à l’origine de la crise de la grippe aviaire
Les petits élevages avicoles et les oiseaux sauvages sont injustement rendus responsables de la grippe av modifiésiaire qui affecte actuellement plusieurs parties du monde. Un nouveau rapport de GRAIN montre comment l’industrie avicole multinationale est à l’origine du problème et devrait être au centre des actions menées pour maîtriser le virus.
L’expansion de la production avicole industrielle et des réseaux commerciaux ont créé les conditions idéales à l’apparition et à la transmission de virus mortels comme la souche H5N1 de la grippe aviaire. Une fois qu’ils ont pénétré dans les élevages industriels surpeuplés, les virus peuvent rapidement devenir mortels et se développer. L’air vicié par la charge virale est transporté sur des kilomètres à partir des fermes infectées, pendant que les réseaux d’échanges commerciaux intégrés répandent la maladie par les nombreux transports d’oiseaux vivants, de poussins d’un jour, de viande, de plumes, d’œufs à couver, d’œufs, de fumier de volaille et d’alimentation animale.
« Tout le monde se focalise sur les oiseaux migrateurs et les poulets de basse-cour comme étant le problème, » indique Devlin Kuyek de GRAIN. « Mais ils ne sont pas les vecteurs effectifs de la forme fortement pathogène de la grippe aviaire. Le virus les tue, mais il est peu probable que ce soit eux qui le propagent. »
Par exemple, en Malaisie, le taux de mortalité par le H5N1 chez les poulets des villages est seulement de 5%, indiquant que le virus a du mal à se propager dans les petits élevages de poulets. Les manifestations de H5N1 au Laos, qui est entouré par des pays infectés, se sont seulement produites dans quelques fermes industrielles du pays, qui sont fournies par des établissements d'incubation Thai. Les seuls cas de grippe aviaire dans la volaille de basse-cour, qui couvre plus de 90% de la production du Laos, se sont produits à côté des fermes industrielles.
Les gouvernements des pays de l’Union Européenne ont répondu à la découverte des cygnes, des oies et des canards morts infectés avec des mesures sévères obligeant à l’enfermement des volailles. Maintenant, ils sont bien embêtés car la première et seule manifestation significative de contamination de volaille domestique s’est déclarée dans un gros élevage industriel de dindes en France, où les 11 000 volatiles étaient confinés, totalement séparés des oiseaux sauvages.
« Il apparaît de plus en plus évident, comme on l’a vu aux Pays-Bas en 2003, au Japon en 2004, en Egypte en 2006, que la grippe aviaire mortelle se déclare dans les grosses fermes industrielles et qu’ensuite elle se propage, » explique Kuyek.
Le cas de contamination nigérienne qui s’est déclaré au début de l’année a commencé par une seule ferme industrielle, appartenant à un membre du Conseil des Ministres, éloignée des axes principaux de déplacements des oiseaux migrateurs mais elle était connue pour importer des oeufs à couver hors réglementation. En Inde, les autorités locales indiquent que le virus H5N1 est apparu et s’est répandu à partir d'une ferme industrielle appartenant à la plus grande compagnie avicole du pays, les couvoirs Venkateshwara.
La question cruciale est de savoir pourquoi les gouvernements et les agences internationales, comme l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture (FAO), ne font rien pour enquêter sur la manière dont les fermes industrielles et leurs sous-produits, tels que l'alimentation animale et le fumier, propagent le virus. Au lieu de cela, ils se servent de la crise comme une occasion d'industrialiser davantage le secteur avicole. Les initiatives se multiplient pour interdire la volaille en plein air, pour évincer les petits producteurs et pour réapprovisionner les fermes avec des poulets génétiquement modifiés. Le réseau de complicités avec une industrie prise dans une série de dénis et de dissimulations semble total.
« Les agriculteurs perdent leurs moyens d’existence, les poulets locaux sont éliminés et quelques experts déclarent que nous sommes à l’aube d’une épidémie humaine qui pourrait tuer des millions de personnes, » conclut Kuyek. « Quand les gouvernements réaliseront-ils que pour protéger la volaille et les personnes contre la grippe aviaire, ils doivent les protéger contre l'industrie avicole mondiale ? »
* * *
="font-size:10pt;color:black;font-family:Arial">1. Le rapport entier, « Qui est le dindon de la farce ? Le rôle central de l’industrie avicole dans la crise de la grippe aviaire », est disponible sur le site
http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=195
2. La fiente de poulet et la litière des sols des élevages industriels de volaille sont des ingrédients courants de l’alimentation animale.
GRAIN est une organisation non gouvernementale internationale (ONG) dont le but est de promouvoir la gestion et l'utilisation durables de la biodiversité agricole fondées sur le contrôle exercé par les populations sur les ressources génétiques et les connaissances locales. Contact: Devlin Kuyek, GRAIN, à Montréal, Tél: +1 514 2737314, Email: devlin (at) grain.org Web:
http://www.grain.org
+sur+la+Grippe+Aviaire&referrer=){kind=small}
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H5N1 News: China Confirms 11th Human Bird Flu Death
... An AP newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that: A woman who died in Shanghai tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, China announced Saturday. Indonesia awaited confirmation of tests showing that a dead 1-year-old girl in Jakarta had the virus. In Hong Kong, the government said a dead peregrine falcon found in a housing complex ...Fergie's Tech Blog
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Sweden finds mink infected with bird flu virus
... Sweden finds mink infected with bird flu virus Filed under: General — site admin @ 11:14 am Grrrrrrrr! Reuters AlertNet - Sweden finds mink infected with bird flu virus — Note the sudden emergence of the term “aggressive form.” That can’t be good. STOCKHOLM, March 27 (Reuters) - Swedish veterinarians have found a mink with an aggressive ...Dvorak Uncensored
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March 23, 2006
Health Officials May Vaccinate Before a Human Pandemic BeginsA Primary Health Care Weekly
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=aCE9n0Tnx2TU&refer=canada#
March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Health officials are considering vaccinating people in high-risk countries even before avian flu becomes contagious among humans.
Keiji Fukuda, head of the World Health Organization's global influenza program in Geneva, said for the first time that health officials are weighing whether to use vaccines created to combat the current H5N1 strain before an outbreak occurs, an aggressive tactic that some suspect may help slow the growth of a pandemic that many say is inevitable.
``Can we begin vaccinating rural populations against an avian influenza where it is a problem now?'' he asked in a wide- ranging interview at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta. ``It's one of the things that has to be talked through.''
Fukuda wants to explore whether current vaccines, such as those made by Sanofi-Aventis SA and Chiron Corp., can be given safely since they're still undergoing testing, and health officials have limited experience with them. The vaccines are created using killed viruses that have proteins on their surfaces like those on the germ circulating in birds.
Fukuda didn't say who would fund such a vaccination program that focuses on poor people in undeveloped countries. The U.S. government paid Sanofi and Chiron to develop shots that can be stockpiled for use in case the strain of flu spreading in birds mutates into a human disease.
Fukuda's comments come the same day the U.S. government released a study showing that the bird flu virus spreading around the world is mutating into more variations with genetic characteristics that increase the risk of infection in humans.
Variant Virus
Researchers are finding more human cases of the disease caused by a variant that had only been seen in birds before 2005, said Rebecca Garten, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist who led the study. The research was presented today at the same conference where Fukuda spoke with a Bloomberg reporter.
More surveillance is needed to track new forms of the virus that may acquire the ability to spread from person-to-person, Garten said. Government officials said earlier this month that federal laboratories are developing a second bird flu vaccine to provide more protection against new strains.
``As the virus continues its geographic expansion, it is also undergoing genetic diversity expansion,'' Garten said in an e-mailed statement before the conference. ``Change is the only constant.''
Data Sharing
Fukuda, who became head of the WHO flu effort this year, also said in the interview that he and his colleagues at the WHO are also pushing for greater sharing of data on the virus and more virus testing sites in poor nations. The organization is currently seeking sites in Africa to fit laboratories for bird flu testing, Fukuda said.
The H5N1 bird virus has spread from Asia to Africa, the Middle East and Europe, and has recently shown increased ability to infect mammals, such as cats, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site. The disease has infected 177 people, mostly though close contact with birds, and killed 98 of them, according to the WHO Web site.
Health officials are preparing for the chance that it will mutate into a lethal form that might spread quickly around the world, like the Spanish flu of 1918 that killed at least 50 million people worldwide, 500,000 of them in the U.S.
Six-Month Gap
Experts believe it will take at least six months to develop a vaccine against a pandemic strain of influenza after it mutates into a form contagious to people. A worldwide disease outbreak would probably also cut off international travel and interfere with vaccine distribution in remote areas and poorer countries, Fukuda said.
``When I look at the current possibility for vaccination in the face of a pandemic, it doesn't look very good to me,'' Fukuda said.
Sanofi and Chiron's vaccines are still undergoing testing to see if they can be safely boosted with chemicals called adjuvants so that smaller doses will protect more people, said Nancy Cox, chief of the CDC's influenza branch.
The vaccine might be most appropriate for people at the highest risk of infection, such as health workers or those culling poultry, she said.
``It's very wise to debate and discuss how to use this vaccine that's already been produced,'' she said in an interview. ``Certainly this vaccine has the potential to provide some level of protection to those who might be at the front lines.''
Bird Testing
Fearing that the U.S. may be hit with the particularly lethal bird flu in the coming months, the departments of the Interior and Agriculture said March 8 they would ramp up testing for bird flu beginning in April. About 100,000 migratory birds are expected to be tested this year, compared with an average of about 12,000 in years past.
Testing will be concentrated in Alaska and Hawaii, said Chuck Higgins, director of the National Park Service's office of public health, on March 16. Millions of birds nest in Alaska each year, coming from Asia and North America, he said.
The genetic type of H5N1 that began infecting humans last year is called genotype Z, clade 2 and contains numerous variations that have been seen in humans, the study researchers said. In 2003 and 2004, clade 1 viruses were responsible for most
To contact the reporter on this story: John Lauerman in Boston at jlauerman@bloomberg.net.Last Updated: March 20, 2006 15:53 EST
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a verdade de ontem...caixinha de pregos
Cientistas reafirmam que o vírus se aloja em local "demasiado profundo" do sistema respiratório
Cientistas holandeses reafirmam as conclusões do estudo divulgado na revista Nature, segundo o qual o vírus da gripe das aves tem dificuldade em propagar-se entre pessoas porque se fixa num local tão profundo do sistema respiratório que é difícil ser expelido pela tosse ou pelos espirros.
A conclusão é de uma uma investigação do Centro Médico Erasmus de Roterdão (Holanda), hoje publicado na edição online da revista Science.
Já a revista britânica Nature publica um estudo semelhante de uma equipa da Universidade de Wisconsin-Madison (Estados Unidos) dirigida pelo virologista japonês Yoshihiro Kawaoka.
Segundo os estudos, o vírus H5N1 da gripe das aves infecta os seres humanos num local demasiado baixo do sistema respiratório para que tal aconteça. link
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Sendo verdade a notícia, das duas uma, ou a indústria farmacêutica quer encher a "carteira" ou andam a brincar com a tropa...
O outro mentiroso tambem dizia que o que era verdade ontem, é mentira hoje ou amanhã; bom mas, isto era o que dizia o mentiroso...
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Cambodian girl "died of bird flu"
Thanks to the reader who tipped me off to this story: Cambodian girl "died of bird flu."
Initial tests on a three-year-old Cambodian girl who died after playing with sick birds show she was infected the deadly H5N1 type of bird flu, officials of the health ministry and the UN World Health Organisation say.
The girl, whose name was not immediately available, died on Tuesday, a few days after playing with birds in the province of Kampong Speu, about 45km west of the capital Phnom Penh, said Ly Sovann, chief of the disease control bureau of Cambodia's Health Ministry.
Megge Milller, a locally based WHO representative, confirmed preliminary tests found the virulent H5N1 virus in the girl.
If confirmed by further tests, the girl would be Cambodia's fifth fatality from the disease since 2003, and the first this year.
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Albania finds second H5N1 bird flu case in poultry - Reuters AlertNet
| Albania finds second H5N1 bird flu case in poultry Reuters AlertNet, UK - TIRANA, March 23 (Reuters) - Albania found its second case of H5N1 bird flu in poultry near the capital, but there was no evidence the virus had made people ... Albania confirms its second case of H5N1 bird flu Albania, Greece cooperate to keep bird flu under control Albania confirms 2nd case of bird flu |
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New H5N1 bird flu case found in Romania - TODAYonline
| New H5N1 bird flu case found in Romania TODAYonline, Singapore - Twelve new cases of the potentially deadly H5N1 bird flu virus have been confirmed in domestic poultry in a village near Bucharest. ... Romania confirms more bird flu Bird flu approaches Romanian Capital Slovenia suspects bird flu virus in domestic poultry |
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Why bird flu does not spread easily from person to person
This week, two research groups are independently reporting results that help explain why the H5N1 avian influenza virus is so lethal to humans but so difficult to spread. Unlike human influenza viruses, the teams report, H5N1 preferentially infects cells in the lower respiratory tract. Residing deep in the airways, the virus is not easily expelled by coughing and sneezing, the usual route of spread. The results "explain a lot of the mysteries" surrounding H5N1, says K. Y. Yuen, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong.
[...] One team, led by Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, tested various tissues of the human respiratory tract for receptors to which the virus can bind. Human flu viruses preferentially bind to what are known as α 2,6 galactose receptors, which populate the human respiratory tract from the nose to the lungs. Avian viruses prefer α 2,3 galactose receptors, which are common in birds but were thought to be nearly absent in humans. Using marker molecules that bind to one receptor or the other, the team found that humans also have α 2,3 galactose receptors, but only in and around the alveoli, structures deep in the lungs where oxygen is passed to the blood. They describe their findings in the 23 March issue of Nature.
The second team, led by pathologist Thijs Kuiken of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, used a more direct technique to show that H5N1 readily binds to alveoli but not to tissues higher up in the respiratory tract. Kuiken, whose team will publish its findings online tomorrow in Science, notes that this pattern is consistent with autopsies that have shown heavy damage to the lungs but little involvement of the upper respiratory tract. Among experimental animals, the team reports, cats and ferrets more closely match the human pattern of infection than do mice and macaques. "This is an important factor to consider when planning experiments" to understand the pathology of H5N1, says Kuiken.
Yuen notes that the findings also explain clinical anomalies such as why nasal swabs of H5N1 patients are less reliable than throat swabs in detecting the virus. And they suggest that clinicians need to exercise particular care when performing procedures, such as intubation, that might give the virus a route out of a patient's lungs.
From ScienceNOW Daily News. The Washington Post has a slightly different version of the same story.
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Bad News for Katherine Harris: A false smile can be hazardous to your health
A german study suggests that "enforced jolliness on the job" isn't good for you.
They cite flight attendants, sales personnel, call centre operators, waiters and others in contact with the public for extended periods of time as being at risk of seriously harming their health.
Psychologists at Frankfurt University said the fake friendliness led to depression, stress and a lowering of the immune system itself, which in turn can trigger more serious ailments.
Sorry about the duplicate post...
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March 22, 2006
PandemicFlu.gov | The official U.S. government Web site for information on pandemic flu and avian influenza.
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US GOVT.URGES SCHOOLS TO PREPARE FOR BIRD FLU
“It’s extremely important to investigate every H5N1 case,” said Dr. Timothy Uyeki of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ... The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu remains primarily a contagious bird disease. ...Posted by dymaxion at 01:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
WHO expects agreement on system to open up controversial bird flu database
ATLANTA (CP) - The World Health Organization's top officials for pandemic influenza said Monday they expect an agreement will be struck to open up to the broader research community the growing wealth of scientific data on H5N1 avian flu viruses....Posted by dymaxion at 01:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Five die of deadly H5N1 bird flu in Azerbaijan: WHO - Baku Today
 Azeri Press Agency | Five die of deadly H5N1 bird flu in Azerbaijan: WHO Baku Today, Azerbaijan - The dangerous strain of H5N1 bird flu has killed five people in Azerbaijan, the World Health Organisation said Tuesday, while further tests were underway to ... UN carries out ‘bird flu’ prevention work in Azerbaijan. London lab confirms “bird flu” in test samples taken in Salyan ... WHO confirms 5 human bird flu deaths in Azerbaijan |
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Egypt reports 4th suspected human bird flu case
Via Reuters: Egypt reports 4th suspected human bird flu case.
Egypt reported a fourth suspected case of bird flu in humans on Tuesday, in a 17-year-old boy whose father had an outbreak of the disease on his chicken farm in the Nile Delta on Saturday and Sunday.
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Pakistan: H5N1 confirmed
Via the Khaleej Times Online: Pakistan confirms first two cases of H5N1.
Pakistan's beleaguered poultry industry braced for a further drop in sales after the government announced on Tuesday the country's first two cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
H5 avian influenza was detected in chickens at two farms in northwestern Pakistan last month, sending chicken sales tumbling by 40 percent, according to an industry association. The government said tests conducted in Britain confirmed the subtype to be H5N1.
The Agriculture Ministry said it had taken all necessary measures to stop it spreading further in Pakistan but urged farmers to be vigilant.
"We are continuously watching to see whether there is another outbreak elsewhere (in Pakistan)," ministry spokesman Mohammed Afzal told Geo television.Neighboring India, Iran and most recently, Afghanistan, have already reported H5N1 outbreaks, but officials confirmed this was the first in Pakistan.
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WHO suspects 14 Azeris may have B2H
Via MosNews, a Russian news source: WHO Suspects 14 People Infected with Bird Flu in Azerbaijan.
Experts from the World Health Organization suspect 14 more people are infected with bird flu in Azerbaijan where two girls died of the the H5N1 virus earlier this month, Interfax reported Monday.
A group of WHO experts reported their suspicions after visiting the Salyansky district of Azerbaijan, 150 km to the south of the capital Baku.
Earlier three residents of the district were provisionally diagnosed with bird flu.
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Bird Flu Survival: Generic Tamiflu CreatedRoman Wilderness
Scientists in Vietnam say they have successfully extracted a key substance from a local plant to make a generic version of Tamiflu, the drug used to treat the H5N1 strain of bird flu.Researchers say they used star anise, a plant used to flavour food, to extract shikimic acid, a key ingredient in the anti-viral drug.
Vietnam's Chemistry Institute says the breakthrough means it will be able to produce a generic form of Tamiflu in an emergency.
Star anise is extracted from the star-shaped fruit of a tree found in China and Vietnam.
The scarcity of the plant has been blamed in part for a global shortage of Tamiflu.
Worldwide demand for the drug surged last year, when dozens of countries ordered the drug for their national stockpiles.
Read Source Article: Australian Broadcasting Agency
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Avian Virus Mutates
... According to researchers, the virus responsible for the current bird flu outbreak has split into two distinct genetic subgroups. An analysis of more than 300 samples of the H5N1 virus taken from humans and birds has revealed that the virus is changing. Before 2005 every known human case of avian flu was caused by a particular subtype of the H5N1 ...Battalion Of Deborah :: Main Page
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Avian Bird Flu Milestone
... The world has now passed 100 human deaths due to confirmed cases of H5N1 infection. WHO is now reporting: - 8 countries with confirmed cases of H5N1 in humans - 184 confirmed infections - 103 deaths Mind you, these are only the cases that WHO has laboratory confirmation that they are in fact H5N1 related; the actual numbers are certainly higher, ...Tales of Fahr
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Bird Flu Outbreak In The Gaza Strip
... The first outbreak of bird flu in the Palestinian territories has been detected, initial tests claim.The H5N1 strain of the virus may have killed 200 chickens in the Gaza Strip. ...News from the web
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March 20, 2006
The second Egyptian
Via the Irish Independent, details about the second Egyptian H5N1 case.
A 30-year-old Egyptian man, who worked on a chicken farm in the province of Qalyoubiya, was the second human infected by the virus in Egypt, the Health Ministry said.
The man was recovering in the hospital after being admitted on Thursday with a fever, Deputy Health Minister Nasser el-Sayyed said.
Police identified the man as Mohammed Bahaaeddin Abdel-Menem from the village of Noqbas.
Ibrahim al-Gazzar, a cousin of the latest victim, said he doubted that other villagers were educated enough to seek medical treatment.
"They would think it was a normal flu - that will be a disaster."
The country's first-known human case, a woman who died on Friday, was from the same province, north of Cairo. The two victims had not had any contact and were from different villages, el-Sayyed said.
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US study defines two clear bird flu strains
Via Reuters: U.S. study defines two clear bird flu strains.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu in humans has evolved into two separate strains, U.S. researchers reported on Monday, which could complicate developing a vaccine and preventing a pandemic.
One strain, or clade, made people sick in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in 2003 and 2004 and a second, a cousin of the first, caused the disease in people in Indonesia in 2004.
Two clades may share the same ancestor but are distinct -- as are different clades, or strains, of the AIDS virus, the team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
"Back in 2003 we only had one genetically distinct population of H5N1 with the potential to cause a human pandemic. Now we have two," said the CDC's Rebecca Garten, who helped conduct the study.
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Egipto informa de la primera muerte humana por gripe aviar
El Gobierno egipcio ha informado de la primera muerte humana a causa de la gripe aviar. Se trata de una mujer que vivía en la provincia de Qaliubiya y que criaba aves en su propia casa y no avisó a las autoridades pese a haber perdido a varias de ellas contagiadas por el virus H5N1, según ha informa...Posted by dymaxion at 03:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Azerbaijani Deaths Likely To Push Human Bird Flu Total Past 100
Three deaths in Azerbaijan likely were caused by the H5N1 avian influenza virus, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) statement March 14, a finding that will push the global total of human deaths from bird flu to more than 100. Further analysis of samples from the three victims – all women...Posted by dymaxion at 03:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tamiflu spams spread online
Spammers are exploiting and capitalizing on fears brought on by the possibility of an avian flu pandemic. The emails try and direct you to online pharmacy sites selling Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate), the antiviral prescription drug that is most effectivPosted by dymaxion at 03:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
H5N1 Bird Flu Fatality Confirmed In Egypt
H5N1 Bird Flu Fatality Confirmed In Egypt
H5N1 Bird Flu Fatality Confirmed In Egypt
Recombinomics Commentary
March 18, 2006
Police identified the woman as Amal Mohammed Ismail, 35, saying she was admitted to hospital in the governorate’s capital Qalyoub, about two weeks ago, and was subsequently transferred to the Cairo Fevers’ Hospital where she died Friday.
A US Navy lab in Cairo found that the woman, who died on Friday, had the H5N1 virus….
The above comments confirm another H5N1 fatality in another country. H5N1 deaths have been confirmed in Turkey and Iraq and H5N1 in birds has been confirmed in Iran, Israel, and Egypt. This latest result will increase the level of concern throughout the Middle East.
Although the sequence from the cases in Turkey have not been released, media reports indicate the index case had a change, S227N in the receptor binding domain, which increases the affinity of H5N1 for human receptors. The sequence of HA from the index case in Iraq was released this week and although it did not contain S227N, it did have N186S, another change near the receptor binding domain. The US Naval Lab in Cairo, released an Iraqi human, cat and goose H5N1 sequence this week. The involvement of the lab in the fatal Egyptian case suggests sequences will be promptly released.
These sequences are important because H5N1 is evolving and already appears to be using two distinct changes to infect humans with the Qinghai strain of H5N1. It will be useful to see if either approach is used for the case in Egypt.
In addition, the database of Qinghai H5N1 sequences is increasing because labs in Russia, Italy, France, and Egypt are promptly depositing sequences in a public database. In contrast, Weybridge and Hong Kong have sequestered sequences in a WHO private database. The Weybridge sequences include isolates of H5N1 throughout Europe, but are being held until publication. Since the papers have yet to be written, these sequences could be sequestered for 6-12 months. Similarly, Hong Kong has withheld the human H5N1 sequences from Indonesia. One of these sequences has been selected for a new target for a pandemic vaccine, but the relationship between this sequence to other sequences from human cases is not possible because the sequence has not been released. Similarly, no human sequences from China have been released.
These sequences should be released immediately. H5N1 is rapidly evolving, and a full dataset is required for proper analysis. The analysis by WHO and consultants is limited. Initial efforts have focused on reassortment with human genes, which has never been reported for H5N1. More recent comments have focused on “random mutations” by a polymerase lacking a proof reading function. However, recent sequences from swine in Canada contain long stretches of RNA that has been copied with absolute fidelity for over 25 years, effectively destroying the “random mutation” explanation of influenza evolution.
Influenza, including H5N1, evolves via recombination. WHO and consultants appear to lack the background and understyanding to conduct such an analysis. Although these consultants have published sequence data in peer reviewed journals, they have failed to acknowledge the obvious examples of recombination in the sequences they have generated.
The sequestered H5N1 should be released immediately so they can be properly analyzed.
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H5N1 bird flu found in Kazakhstan fowl - Reuters AlertNet
 ITAR-TASS | H5N1 bird flu found in Kazakhstan fowl Reuters AlertNet, UK - ASTANA, March 20 (Reuters) - The deadly H5N1 bird flu strain has been found in wild fowl in western Kazakhstan, an agriculture ministry official said on Monday ... Kazakhstan registers first case of H5N1 bird flu this year Bird flu confirmed in western Kazakhstan Russia to tighten border checks as fights bird flu |
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New H5N1 case in Malaysia - News24
 Playfuls.com | New H5N1 case in Malaysia News24, South Africa - Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia on Monday announced a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in a village in the northern state of Penang. ... H5N1 bird flu detected in northern Malaysia New outbreak of H5N1 bird flu virus detected in northern Malaysia ... Bird flu found in Penang |