Bird flu warning: Antiviral pill may be useless

In 1933, MRC (Medical Research Council) researchers identified human influenza virus, at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in London – which was to become one of the most important centres in the world for flu research.

Since then the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) has been at the forefront of research in to the Influenza viruses.

It is therefore more than a little disturbing when Dr Alan Hay, a distinguished NIMR scientist drops a bombshell about the Human Influenza virus and the so called antiviral protection against the virus.

Apparently, all those countries which have been spending Millions of Dollars stockpiling Tamiflu, the main antiviral drug used to protect humans against the Bird Flu, have been wasting their money!

A Report co-authored by Alan Hay, of the UK’s National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) says that the Tamiflu is useless against the mutations of the Bird Flu virus.

The report suggests that the mutations of the H5N1 Bird Flu virus, that have emerged in human influenza, are resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

However, according to the same report, the mutations are still “strongly inhibited” by an alternative drug, Relenza.

Both drugs are commonly stockpiled but governments both in Australia and around the world have favoured the more convenient Tamiflu pill ahead of the inhaled medicine Relenza.

“The mutations cause resistance to Tamiflu but not Relenza,” Dr Hay told ABC Radio.

“It’s clear that there is greater potential for Tamiflu-resistant viruses to emerge than was previously thought. Relying on a single drug is foolhardy when more than one drug is available.”

Dr Hay says one implication of the new research is that governments should stockpile greater courses of Relenza.

That is of course, until the new drug Relenza, also becomes useless against the influenza virus due to further mutations of the virus!

Credits:

www.birdflubreakingnews.com 

http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/

http://www.nature.com/nature

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail

BirdFlu NewsFlashes Dec 11, 2007

Additional Bird Flu Victim Tissue Samples For Indonesia

There is yet another human death resulting from the Bird Flu virus in Indonesia.

A 28-year-old woman from the outskirts of the Indonesian capital has been confirmed as dying of bird flu, raising the toll in the nation worst affected by H5N1 to 92, the health ministry said Tuesday.

The victim, named Mutiah, lived in the satellite city of Tangerang, just west of Jakarta, where three other bird flu deaths have been reported since October.

Mutiah, who sold ornamental plants has died here with officials suspecting she may be the nation’s 92nd bird flu death, an official from the agriculture ministry said Tuesday.

Two laboratory tests on the woman, who died on Monday at a hospital in Jakarta, showed that she was infected with the highly pathogenic virus, a statement from the ministry’s bird flu information centre said.

Unkind people in Indonesia are (no doubt maliciously) suggesting that the Indonesian Health Minister, Siti Supari is now boasting the largest amount of tissue samples in the world, from the Bird Flu victims, in the Indonesian Bird flu Human Tissue Bank.

http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/12/11/indonesian-plant-seller-suspected-of-bird-flu-death-ministry/ 

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gGA9CiE7_wp_PvqOkvdQhNtDEeyA

http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?id=071211174315.xz87pds3&cat=null

Bird Flu case suspected at South Korea Poultry Farm.

Here we go again!

Even though its neighbour is protected from the Bird Flu virus due to the devine powers of its dear leader, South Korea has no such protection and has once again succumbed to the killer virus.

A report today Tuesday, from Reuters (Yonhap news agency)  tells us that ducks at a poultry farm tested positive for an antibody to a bird flu virus.

There was no information on which strain of bird flu, at the farm in Paju, around 24.85 miles north of Seoul, had been identified. Results of further testing should be known in about two weeks, a local official told Yonhap news agency.

South Korea’s agriculture ministry was unable immediately to confirm the Yonhap report.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKSEO9157220071211

Bird flu outbreak reported from farm in Russia’s Rostov region

A total of 35,000 chickens have died of flu at the Gulyai-Borisovskaya farm since December 5. The farm had 500,000 chickens. Lab tests confirmed it was the bird flu.

Marina Abramchenko, a spokeswoman for the local emergencies ministry said Tuesday.

Marina Abramchenko said the birds started dying November 29 from the lethal H5N1 virus at the farm, which holds some 500,000 birds, adding that quarantine restrictions have been introduced in the area.

“We have received the preliminary results of analysis,” Abramchenko said adding that the results showed traces of the H5N1 virus.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12169841&PageNum=0

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071211/91905749.html

How to find the cheapest Christmas turkey in UK?

No. It is not by calling Barnard Matthews for one of his “Turkey Specials”.

It is suggested by “This is Money” (Part of the Daily Mail group) that even though the availability of organic birds in the UK has been hit, elsewhere the predictions that the price of a turkey would soar have failed to materialise.

After the recent bird flu outbreaks in the UK, there were fears that the cost of Christmas lunch could rocket this year – with Waitrose announcing it would have no organic turkeys this year. But while the availability of organic birds has been hit, elsewhere predictions that the price of a turkey would soar have failed to materialise.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/consumer/article.html?in_article_id=427456&in_page_id=5

British Lords to look in to the spread of infectious diseases

The British Lords have now decided to examine the effectiveness of action by intergovernmental organisations, to control the spread of infectious diseases.

Their Lordships are to examine how cross-border policy issues are being addressed through UK membership of intergovernmental bodies.

The Labour peer Lord Soley, Chairman of the new Committee, said:

“Infectious diseases are no respecters of national frontiers.  Much good work to prevent or control them is being done by a range of intergovernmental organisations of which the UK is a member.

“Our Committee wishes to assess how effective these efforts are proving to be and how well coordinated they are. We also want to see what intergovernmental preparations are being made to cope with emerging diseases.

“We will be focusing initially on HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and Avian Influenza, all of them actual or potential killers on a large scale.

Of course with the recent accusations of “Money for titles” leveled at the British Government, added to the practice of the ex Prime Minister Blair of “stuffing the House of Lords with his labour cronies”, the Noble House of Lords is considered by some, to be not as NOBLE as it once was!

http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/lords_press_notices/pn101207igo.cfm

Global Bird-Flu Outbreak Map since 2003

Via ReliefWeb,

from the WHO, a very interesting visual diary of the global spread of the H5N1 virus, since the year 2003.

Click here:

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/LCZN-77LL5Y?OpenDocument&RSS20=25-P

For:

Areas Reporting Confirmed Occurrence of H5N1 Avian Influenza in Poultry and Wild Birds Since 2003 (Status as of 27 Sep 2007)

Bird-Flu returns to Bangladesh

Bird-Flu in Bangladesh, again.

As if Bangladesh did not have enough problems with floods, crop failure with poverty levels that can not even be imagined by the western minds, the dreaded Bird-Flu virus has decided to pay a return visit to the impoverished country.

United News of Bangladesh (UNB) reports that nearly 6,000 chickens were culled at Sahapur village in Sadar sub-district in Bangladesh’s northwestern Bogra district, 170 km of capital Dhaka Tuesday night, following the detection of avian influenza virus in a poultry farm.

According to UNB, that on Wednesday, Nakul Saha, owner of the poultry farm, took several dead chickens for laboratory test on suspicion that they might have died of bird flu. It said that the laboratory test confirmed that the chickens had died of avian influenza.

This is a second outbreak of the H5N1 virus in Bangladesh during 2007.

The avian influenza virus was first detected in a poultry farm in Savar, 25 km west of the Dhaka in March this year. Laboratory test results showed the existence of influenza virus of H5N1 variety. Tens of thousands of poultry birds were culled.

Sources:

http://www.unbnews.org/

www.birdflubreakingnews.com

www.hinduhumanrights.org

www.lutheranworld.org/…/DWS-Bangladesh.html

Trains and Boats and Planes, will bring Bird-Flu…directly to you

Trains and boats and planes are passing by …

The trains and the boats and planes will bring Bird-Flu….

Will bring Bird-Flu… Bring it directly to you….

Let me take you back in time. Back to the year 1918.Life moved at a much more leisurely pace back then.

The fastest way to travel across the Atlantic was with an airship travelling at a bone shaking tens of miles an hour.

Using an ocean liner, It could take weeks to travel from China to Europe or to the US.

The world was really separated by the oceans then and the Americas, Australia, New Zealand etc were in reality cut off from the main mass of humanity on the great Eurasian Continent.

The total human population on the planet at the time was a fraction of what it is today and the big Cities were not as congested as they are now.

It was very difficult for an infectious disease to spread across the globe in such conditions.

Never the less, the Pandemic Flu of 1918, DID manage to spread all over the world in an amazingly short period of time.

In doing so, it killed over 40 Million people from all parts of the world.

Yes, the returning soldiers from the Great War did help carry the deadly virus back to their homes.

Even so, it could not have been easy for the killer virus to reach every nook and corner of the globe as it did at that time.

Things are a lot different now!

The world is a much, much smaller place and you can travel across the Continents in a matter of hours.

The concentration of vast number of people in overpopulated cities is the modern witches brew for all kinds of deadly viruses.

The increasingly fast modes of travel, the trains and boats and planes, are the ideal distribution network for these messengers of death.

It is estimated that a highly infectious, airborne virus such as a Pandemic Super Flu, could spread all over the world withing 48 hours of an outbreak in any one country!

That is NOT to say that a Pandemic will happen soon,  or even in our life time.

 IF IT DOES though, the above provides us with a realistic if frightening scenario that could well follow.

Here is what WHO says about the above:

With an estimated 2.1 billion airline passengers roaming the planet last year alone, infectious diseases are spreading faster than ever before, the U.N. health agency said Thursday. The World Health Organization called on governments to follow its revised regulations for fighting dangerous health crises.

“New diseases are emerging at the historically unprecedented rate of one per year,” WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said in an introduction to the annual World Health Report.

 Sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/22/AR2007082202248_pf.html

www.birdflubreakingnews.com

Bird-Flu threat to Moon Festival celebrations.

The Chinese Moon Festival, (also known as the Mid-autumn Festival) which is normally celebrated on the 15th of the 8th lunar month, is is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese.

It is as important for the Chinese, as Christmas and Thanksgiving is for the people in the West

The Moon festival is famous for, among other things, its “Moon Cakes”.

                   

Traditionally, Lovers are supposed to spend the romantic night of the Moon Festival together, tasting the delicious moon cake with some wine, while watching the full moon.

Even for two lovers who can not be together at that time, they can still enjoy the night by watching the full moon at the same time, so that they are emotionally together at that hour.

A lot of Chinese poetry has been devoted to this romantic festival which is said to bring happiness.

This year however, there could be a problem with the bringing of happiness via the Moon Cakes.

This culprit is the Bird-Flu virus, which is a real pain in the  er.. neck.

Not only is the Bird-Flu killing millions of birds and an increasing (though still limited) number of humans, but also, it is now causing all kind of life style problems for us all.

The Chinese Government has told its people not to take moon cakes containing egg yolk or meat abroad, because of the threat of bird flu and other such diseases.

The Foreign Ministry reminded people heading to Australia for the September 25 Mid-Autumn Festival of strict quarantine laws, which prohibit the import of a wide range of food for fear of diseases such as bird flu, Newcastle disease and foot and mouth.

The strict Ausi quarantine laws carry fines of up to $49 000 and 10 years’ jail for failure to declare banned foods.

Other countries could well have similar penalties for unauthorised import of egg based products such as Moon Cakes.

Sources:

www.birdflubreakingnews.com

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=117&art_id=nw20070830095342640C269549

http://chineseculture.about.com/library/weekly/aa093097.htm 

India “Surrounded” by Countries with Bird-Flu.

Mr Naresh Dayal, the Federal Health Secretary in the Government of India, worries about  the possibility of the Bird-Flu virus mutating in to a human to human virus.

“Worldwide, human-to-human transmission is feared. We have to be able to tackle that if, God forbid, it starts,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Mr Dayal was very concerned about the fact that the counties neighbouring India seemed to have “uncontrolled” outbreaks of Bird-Flu.

“We are surrounded by countries with uncontrolled outbreaks in poultry and birds,” Dayal told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. “And further, there is Vietnam and Indonesia.”                                              

Indonesia and Vietnam — both within a couple of hours flying distance from some Indian cities — have reported human deaths from bird flu this year.

Indonesia says it has 83 confirmed bird flu deaths since 2003, the highest for any nation.

In addition, Myanmar as well as Bangladesh, another two of India’s neighbour countries, have reported cases of Bird-Flu. 

India has stepped up vigil on its borders with Myanmar as well as Bangladesh, said Dayal, adding that New Delhi had offered to help its two neighbours fight the disease.

“We are willing to provide help to Bangladesh. It is also in our own interest,” he said, adding India was also ready to help Myanmar fight the virus if requested.

New Delhi has reported no human case from its three major outbreaks in poultry since 2006, but health officials are worried about its northeast region, which also borders China, where 16 human deaths have been reported since 2003.

Authorities are increasing the number of laboratories that can test for bird flu in humans.

Besides the three existing facilities, New Delhi will set up a new laboratory in Assam as well as Kolkata, Dayal said.

Sources:

http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-28974620070814

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6392773.stm

http://www.oxfam.org.au/world/asia/asiamap.gif

www.birdflubreakingnews.com

Bird-Flu kills Two in Bali-a Neighbour is Hospitalised

Ni Luh Putu Sri Windiani, a 29 year old Indonesian woman and her five-year-old daughter Dian have died of bird flu, on the tourist island of Bali, a Health Ministry official confirmed today, bringing the nation’s toll to 83.

The latest Bird-Flu related deaths could be a problem for Bali, the last remaining Hindu region of Indonesia, which is the most popular tourist venue in the country.

Indonesia’s National Bird Flu Control Committee confirmed that 29-year-old Ni Luh Putu Sri Windani, who died in Bali’s Sanglah hospital in Denpasar late on Sunday, was positive to bird flu.

The 29-year-old woman from the northwest of the island, far from the major tourist centres, died on Sunday, while her daughter died on August 3, said Bayu Krisnamurti, head of Indonesia’s national bird flu commission.

“Both people are positive, from (tests at) the Eikman Institute and the health ministry’s lab,” he told a press briefing.

She was brought to the hospital three days earlier suffering pneumonia-like symptoms.

Her five-year-old daughter Dian, died on August 3 at a local hospital with similar symptoms.

However, her death was not linked to to bird flu and no tests were done.

It was only when the mother died from confirmed H5N1 that the authorities decided to re examine the cause of death for the daughter.

Obviously, this raises suspicions that there could well be many similar unreported deaths from the Bird-flu virus in Indonesia.

Chickens owned by a neighbour of the dead woman had previously died and have tested positive to the virus.

A two-year-old girl called Kadek Putria, a neighbour of the victims, is under observation in Sanglah Hospital with similar symptoms.

Officials said the Balinese bird flu victim came from a village in the north-west district of Jembrana, an area where poultry are known to be affected.

Health official Joko Suyono said there had been sick chickens around the woman’s house and many had died suddenly in recent weeks.

“The villagers didn’t burn the carcasses. Instead they buried them or fed them to pigs,” he said.

Kadek Putri, 2, with her mother in Sanglah Hospital,

Denpasar, yesterday. Picture: Lukman Bintoro / The Daily Telegraph

Sources:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22239424-5006009,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6943721.stm

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10457527

http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com 

Weird Australian Flu, Kills yet another Child.

It is not Bird-Flu as we know it.

Nor is it the “Normal Flu” as we know it.

A strange kind of Flu has been killing people (mostly children) in Australia.

Health authorities have confirmed that a five-year-old boy from Melbourne’s south-east had the flu when he died yesterday.

Ethan Ioannou, who was found by his mother yesterday morning in the family home in Berwick, had type A influenza, a spokesman for the Department of Human Services said this afternoon.

A four-year-old boy died in a Brisbane hospital of suspected influenza earlier this month.

Three children died last month in Western Australia after suffering secondary bacterial infections after contracting a common flu strain.

Experts are divided on the seriousness of the influenza outbreak which may have already claimed the life of a five-year-old Melbourne boy this week.

Virology professor Greg Tannock said a mutation in the virus was a possible cause of the increased reports of flu.

Flu ‘mutation’ possible

Mutations, which occur often, mean that people who had received flu shots were still vulnerable.

“Manufacturers are always behind the eight-ball, because it just changes. All vaccines are made on what was around the previous northern winter,” he said.

“If a sudden change occurs, all the previous immunity, that’s all the previous vaccines, are much less relevant.”

Major vaccine producer CSL conceded the flu vaccine is unable to protect people against new strains.

“We do tailor the vaccines very specifically to the strains in circulation at any one time but the flu vaccine is roughly 70 per cent effective because there’s always a chance that a strain can begin to be spread which is not included in the vaccine,” spokeswoman Rachel David said.

Ian Barr from the World Health Organisation said this year’s flu season was “much more intense season than” than in the past few years.

‘No sign of outbreak’

However, the state government’s Department of Human Services said its records showed no sign of an outbreak.

The strain causing concerns is likely to be H1, which has not been seen in large numbers for three years, Dr Barr said. The strain is combining with the more common H3 variety.

“It’s a little bit unusual to have two strains circulating so widely concurrently.”

DHS has described this winter’s flu as “normal seasonal activity”.

Spokesman Bram Alexander said the department had received 260 notifications of influenza, up from 245 at this time last year but down from 428 in 2005.

Australian Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment members wearing protective face masks,

working as flu doctors in Sydney, 1918. Photo: Australian War Memorial

Sources:

www.birdflubreakingnews.com

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/experts-divided-on-deadly-flu/2007/08/08/1186530424721.html

whyfiles.org/230birdflu2/index.php?g=6.txt

www.uoregon.edu/~mross3/

Pig Disease kills People and Bird-Flu kills Ducks, In Bird-Flu-Free Vietnam!

It was only last week that Vietnam was busy declaring its provinces “Bird-Flu-Free”.

The criterion for this Bird-Flu-Free status was the completely illogical “no infection in any 21 consecutive days” rule.

How did this rule come about?

Who was responsible for this ruling?

Does the World Health Organisation agree with this totally mad criterion?

If not then why is there a deafening silence from all concerned about this rule?

Discounting the main line press and the scare mongering blogs, why no comments on this subject from the two Top bird flu blogs, Effect Measure and Crawford Kilian’s H5N1 blog?

The arbitrary 21 day ruling for a virus such as the H5N1 is nothing more than a political and commercial con trick, seemingly backed by the WHO and other such institutions.

In the mean time the “Bird-Flu Free Vietnam” is now rife with the H5N1 virus, “killing hundreds of ducks at a farm at the weekend” according to the Vietnam Government.

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

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

The Pig-Disease-Free criterion (as to how many days without a new infection of the Pig-Disease would make Vietnam Pig-Disease-Free) is not known as yet.

Email inquiries regarding the Pig-Disease-Free criterion to the World Health Organisation have not received a reply.

As previously mentioned in this blog, this panic to be perceived as Bird-flu-Free, is due to the pressures from the local tourism and other commercial interests.

The idea behind the declaration of Vietnam or part of Vietnam as “Bird-flu-Free”, is really an assurance by the Government of Vietnam to the importers of poultry and other related goods from Vietnam, that there is no possibility of any contamination of its poultry with the H5N1 virus.

The same assurance is implied in this declaration by the Government of Vietnam, that it is 100% safe for you and I to bring our children to Vietnam for their holiday.

Vietnam’s president Nguyen Minh Triet

Here are links to two news items related to the above:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HAN235672.htm  

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

Bird-Flu Risk from Stray Cats.

H5N1 virus has been found in cats in Europe as well as in Indonesia.

This means that there is yet another reservoir for the H5N1 virus, where it can have a chance to develop and mutate in its own time.

In January of this year, Chairul Anwar Nidom of Airlangga University in Surabaya, Indonesia, took blood samples from 500 stray cats near poultry markets in four areas of Java, including the capital, Jakarta, and one area in Sumatra, all of which have recently had outbreaks of H5N1 in poultry and people.

Of these cats, 20 per cent carried antibodies to H5N1.

(This does not mean that they were still carrying the virus, only that they had been infected – probably through eating birds that had H5N1).

Many other cats that were infected are likely to have died from the resulting illness, so many more than 20 per cent of the original cat populations may have acquired H5N1.

This is a much higher rate of infection than has been found in surveys of apparently healthy birds in Asia. “I am quite taken aback by the results,” says Nidom, who also found the virus in Indonesian pigs in 2005. He plans further tests of the samples at the University of Tokyo in February.

“We know the 1918 pandemic was a bird flu virus that adapted to mammals in some intermediate mammalian host, possibly pigs,” says Albert Osterhaus of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. “Maybe for H5N1 the intermediate host is cats.” he adds.

It was Osterhaus’s lab which in 2004 found that cats can catch the H5N1 virus.

In addition to that, domestic cats live in very close proximity with humans.

Many more people have cats in the house than those who keep poultry in their homes.

So it is argued, that if the H5N1 virus can be transferred from poultry to humans, as is the case (though currently it is relatively rare for this to happen) then infected cats could well be another source of H5N1 infection for the virus.

Yulian Susanty, Chair of the Cat Fancy Indonesia  said that the city’s cat population needed to be controlled. “If it goes up to an alarming rate, it will be unhealthy for the people,” she said.

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

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

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

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

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

Sources for the above:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19325883.800-deadly-h5n1-may-be-brewing-in-cats.html

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

The Bird-Flu leadership Summit?

There was this Bird-Flu leadership Summit, recently held in America, headed by lots of Industry and Government big shots.

Of course it was by and for only the folks in the good old USA, because as you know, there is nothing of importance out side of here.

Accept that the Bird-Flu virus IS out side of the USA and it is slowly creeping from the East to the West, towards the Americas.

 Photo Kenneth Wong

I wonder if any one who was part of the above mentioned Summit, would let me know if the problem of the H5N1 entrenched in foreign lands was discussed at the Summit.

If so, has any actual action of any kind resulted from the said discussions or is any action planned in the near future?

Of Bird-Flu, Pigs, Cats, Dogs, Shrews, and Tigers.

Crawford Kilian’s H5N1 Croftsblogs and the Effect Measure are two of my favourite sounding boards, for all matters regarding the Bird-Flu virus.

Refreshingly, almost all of the posts as well as the comments of the visitors to these two sites are well thought out and reasonable and even though the boffins on the Effect Measure do have their shin dings every now and then, it is almost always based on facts and not fiction.

Of course there are exceptions.

So as I was going through the Effect Measure blog today about the really interesting problem of the apparently invisible source of the H5N1 virus that seems to appear out of no where, causes a certain number of human infections and then promptly vanishes as quietly as it had arrived.

I was impressed with the bit at the end of the post saying:

“Maybe it’s not true that almost all cases are from infected birds. Maybe there are other reservoirs in the environment, animate or inanimate. There is some equivocal data from feral cats. What else? There has been very little systematic surveillance of wildlife other than birds for infection with this virus. Maybe it’s time to do it. Just a thought.”

Revere, I believe that you are absolutely correct.

This is exactly the conclusion that I have arrived at after monitoring the Bird-Flu saga over the last 3 years. 

It is true that every now and then there is a small “cluster” of Bird-Flu fatalities resulting in the repeat of the banner headlines in the main line media as well as in the flubie blogs declaring a mutation of the virus enabling it to be able to jump the species barrier from birds to humans.

If you examine all the statements closely however, you will find that there was never a definite positive confirmation of a human to human infection at any of these clusters.

Instead, there is always a “negative proof” (such as there were no birds near the victim) provided for the perceived  human to human infection of the virus.

There is ample proof on the other hand, of other reservoirs of the H5N1in the environment.

The H5N1 has infected not only birds and humans, but also many other mammals over the last few years.

The H5N1 has been found in creatures, ranging from shrews, pigs, cats, dogs to even tigers and leopards!

  

See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15663858

(Moreover, a close look through the very large archived data, comprising of Bird-Flu News as well as Blogs at the birdflubreakingnews.com, will show that these non-bird-H5N1 cases have been more frequent than is realised by most of us.)

I have lived in South East Asia for a while and can tell you that the flocks of poultry are not the only form of life in constant and close contact with humans in the rural settings in that area.

So I thought that the post by Revere was really informative.

A responding comment from Sigrid van Dort of Holland was also very interesting.

He is from the why-panic-about-the-bird-flu camp and presents fairly reasonable arguments for the same.

I think that he is wrong about many things but his posts are worth reading.

But then, along came JOHN, the exception that I was talking about.

There was this post that began with the very firm and apparently absolutely true statement:

“It has already been established that the virus has spread from person to person.” said John, adding that “The death rate is extremely high”. 

“The real problem arises if it mutates into a form that spreads more easily.” John informed us, “Some think this is just a matter of time, given the nature of flu viruses.” he said, sounding now very much like the phseodo bird flu site that are really pointers to a bird flu related product for sale.

Sure enough in the next line John invited us all to go to his site where he is offering all kinds of goodies, including a free guide to the Pandemic Bird Flu! John, I would like to respectfully suggestt that even though there is nothing at all wrong in trying to promote any products, could I please persuade you not to peddle your products at this blog, as there is very little chance of any one here receiving the undoubted benefits of the said products. 

Here are links to two of the best Bird-flu related sites:

http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2007/07/where_in_the_world_is_the_h5n1.php

http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2007/07/away-one-more-t.html

Mystery of the latest Indonesian Bird-Flu Victim!

The saving grace for the Bird-Flu virus, if there is one, has been that up to now it has passed only from infected poultry, to a fairly limited number of humans.

The reason for this is that the crossing over of the species barrier for the H5N1 virus in its current form, from birds to humans has been not easy.

However, H5N1 like all Flu viruses is constantly mutating and the fear has been, that sooner or later it will mutate to a form that will make it easy for it to jump from the birds to the humans.

That would change the current H5N1 virus in to a new form of a human super flu virus, similar to the 1918 Super Flu virus which had produced the devastating Flu Pandemic at that time, with more than 50 Million fatalities.

That is why, each time there is a human death resulting from the H5N1, the source of the infection is carefully    located and up to now, infected poultry has been found to be the culprit in each case.

Although there have been from time to time some rumors of human to human infection, these have never been confirmed.

So it is understandable that there has been a growing sense of panic in the medical circles in the case of the latest Indonesian Bird-Flu fatality.

The problem is that according to the Indonesian agriculture ministry, the victim, a six years old boy from Cilegon in Banten province just west of the capital Jakarta, who died of bird flu last weekend, had no apparent contact with poultry! 

Memed Zulkarnaen, director of the agriculture ministry’s bird flu unit, said no infected poultry had been found within a radius of up to 300 metres (yards) from the boy’s home.

“The Indonesian medical community is still puzzled and does not understand from which source the victim was infected with the bird flu virus,” he told AFP.

“We are puzzled because the H5N1 virus needs to ‘stick’ to an object such as poultry and cannot freely circulate in the air,” he said.

Asked whether there was a possibility the boy had contracted the virus from another person, Zulkarnaen said it was too premature to tell and investigations involving personnel from the UN’s health and agriculture agencies were ongoing.

So how did the boy get the dreaded virus infection?

Did he sneak out and played around with infected poultry without any one knowing about it?

If not then could it be that the H5N1 has now mutated enough for it to infect humans in some other way?

Watch this space for the answer to this and many other mysteries of life.

Here is the news link to the news item from ANTARA:

http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/7/11/indonesian-bird-flu-victim-had-no-contact-with-poultry–official/

The Brits Ban French Pigeon Racing. Tour de France will still go on though!

The Brits Ban French Pigeon Racing. Tour de France will still go on though!

International pigeon racing from continental Europe to Britain has been banned after H5N1 was discovered in wild birds in France, Chief Veterinary Officer Debby Reynolds from the Environment Agency said. Domestic racing will be allowed to continue, she said.But racing from continental mainland Europe, including the Channel Islands, has been banned as a precautionary measure.

Ms Reynolds, who is not a relation of the famous Hollywood actress, said: “Given the current period of uncertainty about avian influenza in Europe and the possibility that further spread may occur, a precautionary approach is being taken based on ornithological and veterinary advice.”

France confirmed on Thursday that three swans found dead in eastern France had been killed by the H5N1 bird flu virus.

It is believed however that Tour de France, the famous cycle race, which is expected to start its first lap from the UK on Sunday the 8th of July 2007, will still be allowed to go on as planned.

Here is a link to the news item from Javno:

http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=60108

Vietnam Bird-Flu victim Raised Fighting Cocks and Ducks!

The Deputy Health Minister of Vietnam, Trinh Quan Huan has confirmed that a 20 year old Vietnamese man, died of the Bird-Flu, bringing the death toll to 43.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung 

“Tests confirmed a 20-year-old man from northern Ha Tay province died from the H5N1 bird flu virus a week ago,” the Vietnam News Agency quoted Vice Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan as saying Saturday at a bird flu meeting in Hanoi.

He died of the H5N1 strain of influenza type A at the Ha Noi-based National Contagious and Tropical Diseases Hospital on June 10.

The man got ill on 2nd June, and after being admitted to the hospital, died on 10th June. The news agency also said that the vicinity has been disinfected and cleared of all possible signs of bird flu virus.

Further to our recent post in this blog, Fighting cocks, the source of Malaysian Bird-Flu? it appears that the victim was in close contact with Fighting Cocks!

“The reports revealed that the man’s family reared about two dozen fighting cocks along with ducks. However, the television report did not say how the victim got the H5N1 infection.”

Vietnam was hailed as the best region where the measures were strict and 100% safe, leading the international health experts say that the country is like a role model in keeping the H5N1 virus at bay.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently blamed the surge on unvaccinated ducks grazing in newly harvested rice paddies after Vietnam lifted in March a ban on waterfowl hatching.

Experts warn that ducks can be “silent carriers” of bird flu, spreading the virus through their feces as they roam across rice fields and ponds while seldom showing symptoms of illness themselves.

“This is not going to go away,” said WHO’s Vietnam communications officer Dida Connor, speaking before news of the human death. “There is a sense of complacency which is potentially catastrophic if it was to increase.”

We hope that the Malaysian Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek will take note of that remark from the WHO, before going ahead with his decision to declare Malaysia “Bird-Flu-Free”. 

 Here is a link to the article in Thanh Nien, one of the most prestigious and influential newspapers in Vietnam:http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=29123 

(Mutated?) Bird-Flu Hiding in Healthy Indonesian Chickens!

According to a report by Reuters, filed today from JAKARTA :

“Indonesia has found traces of H5N1 bird flu in apparently healthy-looking poultry, making it tougher to detect the disease in the country hardest hit by the virus, officials said on Monday.”

“…..there is a trend that chicken or poultry are infected by the virus but they don’t die. So, the H5N1 virus is not fatal to poultry,” Musny Suatmodjo, director of animal health at the agriculture ministry, told a news conference.

“Sick or dead chickens are used as a sign of H5N1 infection, but the appearance of “asymptomatic” chickens means humans could become more easily infected with bird flu.”

This could be a serious development in the H5N1 saga and raises two very urgent and important questions:

                                                                                              

  

1. Has the H5N1 mutated to a form that can remain in Poultry without killing the host?

2. Without the hitherto clearly visible symptoms of the poultry infected with the H5N1 virus, how would it be possible to find (and avoid human contact with) the infected poultry?

Bird-Flu – Mass Killers of Birds needed, in a “final Solution” for the infected Poultry!

The Bird-Flu experts are scratching their collective heads about a difficult problem.

Under the government rules, flocks infected with the Bird-Flu virus are put to death as quickly as possible. That’s because if the disease spreads, it imperils both farms and foods they raise, not to mention the fact that some strains of the virus can also kill people.

An earlier cousin of today’s bird flu strains killed perhaps 40 million people around the world during the 1918-1919 pandemic of Spanish flu.

More than 23 million fowl have been exterminated in U.S. outbreaks since the early 1980s.

The industry prefers the term “depopulate,” but no euphemism softens the raw reality of putting down birds by the tens of thousands. This may be done by electrocuting, gassing or chopping under international standards.

Yet, in a virulent outbreak, even these may be too slow and spare too many.

 So representatives of industry, academia and government have been looking for another way.

For three years, they’ve investigated the fastest, cheapest and, they say, most humane way to dispatch birds en masse. After debating and field-testing, they say they’ve found an answer in an unlikely place.

The new poultry-killing instrument of choice is foam.

These soapy air bubbles, adapted from what firefighters use to smother blazes, can smother birds within several minutes, with minimal contact between workers and infection. Supporters say this method saves precious hours and costly labor.

The problem is that some consider it less humane than gassing. Carbon dioxide at least knocks birds unconscious before it poisons them, say its advocates.

Foam simply fills their windpipes and strangles them. “You might as well drop them in a bucket of water,” fumes Dr. Mohan Raj, a British veterinarian at the University of Bristol who specializes in animal welfare during disease control.

So what we really need are Mass Killers of Birds needed, for the final Solution of the infected Poultry!

Please do read this amazing news item, via Philly.com, by JEFF DONN writing for The Associated Press: http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/7919106.html

Do we really know the Bird-Flu situation in Indonesia?

As a fall out from the on going “negotiations” for the Human H5N1 tissue samples between the WHO and Indonesia, we now know even less of what is really going on in that country.

Every other day, right out of the blue, there is news of yet another person, who apparently  had been “ infected with bird flu and died a day after being admitted to hospital ”    

What in Gods name is going on?

How many of these potential instant fatalities are out there in that unfortunate disaster prone country?

We hope that the Indonesian powers-that-be will understand that we are all on their side (we have no choice really!!!) and can only help if they will open up and let the rest of the world in as to the extent of the problem that exits over there.

Here is a news item from the Jakarta Post with the story about another of such “Instant Fatality” of the Bird Flu virus:

Bird flu may have claimed another victim National News – Sunday, June 03, 2007

INDONESIA: A child thought to have been infected with bird flu died Friday, a day after being admitted to hospital in Medan, North Sumatra, an official said Saturday.The 11-year-old boy from Asahan regency passed away at Adam Malik hospital. The hospital’s deputy director, Nur Rasyid Lubis, said the child was treated for one day at a clinic in Indrapura district before being taken to the hospital after displaying symptoms similar to those of bird flu.

He said the victim was in poor health when he arrived at the hospital, giving the team of doctors little chance to save his life.

He said it is likely the boy died after being infected with the H5N1 virus. Aside from displaying the symptoms of bird flu, the victim also had contact with fowl.

“The child’s death, clinically, is likely to have been caused by bird flu. But we are still waiting for blood test results from the Health Ministry’s lab,” he told The Jakarta Post .

This week bird flu claimed another two lives in the Central Java towns of Grobogan and Kendal, taking the country’s human toll to 79, the highest in the world. — JP

Bird-Flu in Wales- British Stiff Upper Lip????

There is almost no mention of the spread of the Bird-Flu (mild) to hundreds of people in Wales in any of the British media.

Is this the traditional Brit Stiff Upper Lip in face of a possible disaster?

Or could it be that the authorities are keeping every one in the dark by a deliberate squeeze on news regarding the Bird-flu outbreak in Wales?

Staff and patients at two hospitals – Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and Ysbyty Gwynedd – have been identified as potentially at risk of contracting H7N2.

They are among a list of 221 people who have been identified as contacts, although the number of people confirmed as showing signs of contamination remains unchanged at 12 – none are seriously ill.

It emerged last night that 79 patients and staff from ward six at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd have been offered Tamiflu as a precaution after coming into contact with a healthcare worker who is being treated for the virus.

And a further 69 patients and staff who were treated at Ysbyty Gwynedd’s accident and emergency department, Trysfan and Gogarth wards, have also been contacted by health officials.

Health officials have not yet been able to rule out person-to-person spread of avian flu, although it is understood that the majority of confirmed cases had some form of close contact with the smallholding at the centre of the outbreak.

 

Dr Marion Lyons, lead consultant in communicable diseases for the National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS), said, “We are actively managing the outbreak. This involves taking every precaution in identifying possible contacts of the infected poultry or people who have been ill after contact with the infected poultry.

“We have assessed the risk to others and can confirm that the healthcare worker was working at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd during the time when she may, possibly, have been infectious, between May 21 and May 23.

“Consequently the patients and staff with whom the healthcare worker has had contact are being offered Tamiflu as a precaution.”

Please go to www.birdflubreakingnews.com  for an excellent news item by Madeleine Brindley, via icWales™ with the heading: Health worker contracts Avian Flu Virus.      

Bird-Flu being used to Slaughter the small poultry sector???

I recently came across a really interesting though may be a bit controversial article from the GRAIN.org Via the www.birdflubreakingnews.com.Grain is an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) which promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity based on people’s control over genetic resources and local knowledge.

The article highlights a totally different point of view of the Bird-Flu virus, by suggesting that the bird flu is being used to advance the interests of powerful corporations, putting the livelihoods and health of millions of people in jeopardy.

It says that the agribusiness is using the calamity to  consolidate its farm-to-factory-to-supermarket food chains as its small-scale competition is criminalised, while pharmaceutical companies mine the goodwill invested in the global database of flu samples to profit from desperate, captive vaccine markets.

It points out that even though it is now wildly accepted that the large-scale industrial poultry farms and the global poultry trade were spreading bird flu — not wild birds nor backyard flocks yet little is being done to control the industrial source of the problem, and governments still shamelessly roll out the wild bird theory to dodge responsibility.

It reminds us that just a few weeks ago, Moscow authorities had blamed migratory birds for an outbreak near the city — in the middle of the Russian winter!!

Here is the full article: http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/templates/birdflu/window.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.grain.org%2Farticles%2F%3Fid%3D22

Bird-Flu Outbreak a Tourist Attraction???

Who would have thunk it?

On on the 29th of March 2006, a dead Whooper Swan was found floating in Cellardyke harbour, small village in Fife, Scotland.

Subsequent tests on the blood samples from the wild swan confirmed that the swan had died of the highly pathogenic H5N1 variant strain.

News of the presence of the Bird-Flu virus in the city would be greeted with horror by any city council any where in the world.

Not so in Cellardyke however! 

It appears that the H5N1 infected swan has created a wave of “horror Tourism” with thousands of visitors flocking over to the very beach on the shore of Cellardyke, where the swan with the Bird-Flu had been found floating lifelessly!!

Cellardyke community councillor Martin Dibley loves the the unaccustomed experience of finding himself and his little village under the world’s spotlight with journalists, photographers and film crews flocking to his village.

Here is the news item from the Edinburgh Evening News:

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=532692007&format=print

Fri 6 Apr 2007

 Bird flu scare has tourists flocking in

BIRD flu has helped Cellardyke experience a mini-tourism boom.

It is a year today since Britain’s first case of deadly bird flu was confirmed in a dead swan which had washed-up in the harbour slipway.

The normally sedate fishing village in the East Neuk of Fife was thrust under the world’s spotlight with journalists, photographers and film crews – as well as scientists – flocking to the area.

Cellardyke community councillor Martin Dibley said: “People still come along to see where the swan was found and anytime bird flu is on the news we get a mention. But to be honest it has all been quite positive.

“I think it showed the village and the area in a positive light.

“Everyone was saying how nice the area was and how friendly the people are and it has in a bizarre way increased tourism a little bit.

Mr Dibley said that property in the area has been snapped up in the last year.

He added: “It is more to do with people seeing it on the news and thinking ‘what a nice little place that is’.”

New Bird-Flu Research tool from the Imperial College London

A new way of understanding how highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) spreads among farm birds is published today.

The new study, carried out by mathematical modellers from Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, focuses on how H7N3, H7N7 and H7N1 strains of the virus were transmitted between different farms in three recent outbreaks.

The study could help analyse the success of different control measures in the event of future outbreaks.

Imperial College London is rated as the world’s ninth best university in the 2006 Times Higher Education Supplement University Rankings, Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 11,500 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality. 

Here is a link to the article from the Imperial College London:

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_4-4-2007-10-24-53?newsid=9494

Teenage girl from Jakarta is the 93rd Indonesian infected with Bird Flu.

A teenage girl in Indonesia is infected with the deadly bird flu virus, becoming the 93rd confirmed case in the country worst hit by the disease, a health official said Thursday.

The girl who was identified only as R, was transferred from Carolus Hospital in Central Jakarta to Sulianti Saroso bird flu referral hospital on April 2, 2007, said Ningrum, a staff with the Health Ministry, Thursday.

“The laboratory test has confirmed of H5N1 positive,” Ningrum was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

Here is the news item as reported by the 

 Young girl latest Indonesia bird flu case  05-Apr-2007 | 306 words, 1 images

JAKARTA (AFP) — A teenage girl in Indonesia is infected with the deadly bird flu virus, becoming the 93rd confirmed case in the country worst hit by the disease, a health official said Thursday.

The 15-year-old lives in the country’s sprawling capital, Jakarta, and is in intensive care in one of the city’s hospitals, a spokesperson from Indonesia’s bird flu information centre said.

“Specimens taken from her have tested positive for the H5N1 virus in two tests,” said the official, referring to the deadly strain that has killed 72 people here.

Meanwhile a 29-year-old man died Wednesday in Solo after showing bird flu symptoms, said Refiono, a doctor from the hospital that treated him. Solo lies about 500 kilometres (300 miles) from the capital.

“Results of tests have yet to be completed but the patient’s body is being treated as a bird flu case,” the doctor told AFP, adding the victim had been in contact with infected chickens.

Most human infections have occurred after contact with sick birds. The government has banned the popular practice of keeping poultry in backyards in Jakarta to try and stop the spread of the disease.

The World Health Organisation says the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has infected 288 people and killed 170 of them, mostly in Southeast Asia, since 2003.

Scientists say multiple strains of the disease originated in southern China and spread elsewhere.

They worry the virus could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.

The fear stems from the lessons of past influenza pandemics. One in 1918, just after the end of World War I, killed 20 million people worldwide.

© 2007 AFP Copyright © 2003-2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.

New Bird-Flu Research tool from the Imperial College London

A new way of understanding how highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) spreads among farm birds is published today.

The new study, carried out by mathematical modellers from Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, focuses on how H7N3, H7N7 and H7N1 strains of the virus were transmitted between different farms in three recent outbreaks.

 

The study could help analyse the success of different control measures in the event of future outbreaks.

Imperial College London was rated as the world’s ninth best university in the 2006. Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 11,500 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality. 

Here is a link to the article from the Imperial College London:

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_4-4-2007-10-24-53?newsid=9494

Bird-Flu, now in an American Turkey “Farm”!!!

knocking softly at America’s door?

A strain of the H5N1, Bird-Flu virus, different from the one that has been killing birds and humans in Asia and Africa, has been found in a turkey farm in West Virginia.

Even though this has resulted in the killing of 25,000 West Virginia turkeys, the public has been told not to worry!

“People should not be worried,” said Buddy Davidson, a spokesman for the state Agriculture Department. “This should not

 affect the average person at all.”

 Recently a virulent strain of the Bird Flu virus had been discovered at the now infamous Barnard Matthews Turkey Factory farm in England.

I am sure that we all want to know,  if the conditions in the turkey farm in West Virginia, are as bad as were found at the Barnard Matthews Turkey Factory farm in England.

 

What kind of a “farm is it?   Is it really a farm?

Or is the word “farm” being used to describe a windowless shed, where the unfortunate turkeys spend all of their wretched lives in unnatural cramped conditions without ever seeing the light of the day?

Experts agree that the H5N1 virus is much more likely to mutate within domestic poultry under such “factory farm” conditions than it is in the wild bird population.

Here is a link to a report by AP via Via KSBW Channel:

http://www.theksbwchannel.com/health/11510370/detail.html

Bird-Flu vaccine that no one wants???

We have recently had a major international tussle between the WHO and the Indonesian Government regarding the possible manufacture of a vaccine for the H5N1 virus.There has been a continuing effort from the commercial companies around the world to come up with effective vaccine for the H5N1 virus.

The recent problems with the Tamiflu reported in Japan has made the creation of an alternative vaccine even more urgent.

So then why is it that even though there has apparently been an effective and inexpensive vaccine against the H5N1 since July of this year, yet there has been no interest shown by the world medical community in this product?

The said vaccine has been developed by the HSADL, (High Security Animal Disease Laboratory) a research institute based in Bhopal, India.

HSADL, which has the technique for identifying the avian influenza virus among poultry, tested thousands of bird samples, including droppings of migratory birds. It had conducted the tests for the H5N1 variant of bird flu and had isolated 48 virus strains from more than 80,000 bird samples during its vaccine trials.

The cost of the vaccine has been worked out at 27 paise per dose. It is expected to go up to 35 paise (A VERY small fraction of the cost of Tamiflu) including the trader’s profit and cost of transportation.

As reported by the World Poultry Magazine, the HSADL joint director H.K. Pradhan said: “The vaccine can be used immediately after a bird flu outbreak to control the spread of the virus as well as for vaccination in anticipation of an outbreak.

“The immune response is good and the protection offered by the vaccine has been found to be above 90%. The protection should last up to six months for hens. For a broiler it needs to be administered only once,” he added.

The point is that the H5N1 vaccine was developed back in July 2006, and since then but no drug manufacturing company has contacted the lab to buy either the preserved doses or the formula for commercial use!!!

What is going on?

Is the vaccine not fit for the purpose?

Is it too cheap and since no one will be able to make any profit from selling it, so no one one wants to distribute the vaccine?

Why is it that no one wants to use this apparently cheap and effective vaccine against the bird-flu virus????????