The New Editor - Avian Flu

Bird Flu Resurfaces in Vietnam

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:03:00 -0700

Bird flu is popping up after a yearlong hiatus in Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia, and experts are warning now is the time for the H5N1 virus to flourish. The big question: Just how far will it go this winter?

As temperatures drop during traditional flu season, bird flu typically spreads. A year ago, the virus swept across countries in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and into Europe. Even so, officials say it's hard to predict what such an unpredictable virus will do.
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Despite the developments, some experts expressed optimism that the situation is improving globally and that a repeat of last year's pattern is unlikely.

The number of outbreaks among poultry today "pales by comparison" to early 2004, when bird flu first emerged in Asia, said Juan Lubroth animal health expert at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome.

Human-to-Human Transmission of Bird Flu in Indonesia?

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Tue, 23 May 2006 15:40:00 -0600

From Bloomberg: (via Instapundit)

All seven people infected with bird flu in a cluster of Indonesian cases can be linked to other patients, according to disease trackers investigating possible human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 virus.

A team of international experts has been unable to find animals that might have infected the people, the World Health Organization said in a statement today. In one case, a 10-year- old boy who caught the virus from his aunt may have passed it to his father, the first time officials have seen evidence of a three-person chain of infection, an agency spokeswoman said. Six of the seven people have died.

Bird Flu Defies Control Efforts

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 10:29:00 -0700

From the Los Angeles Times: (via Instapundit)

The spread of avian influenza to at least 29 new countries in the last seven weeks â one of the biggest outbreaks of the virus since it emerged nine years ago â is prompting a sobering reassessment of the strategy that has guided efforts to contain the disease.

Since February, the virus has cut a wide swath across the globe, felling tens of thousands of birds in Nigeria, Israel, India, Sweden and elsewhere. Health officials in the United States say bird flu is likely to arrive in North America this year, carried by wild birds migrating thousands of miles to their summer breeding grounds.

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.

Continue reading "Bird Flu Defies Control Efforts"

Turkish Deaths put Europe on Bird Flu Alert

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 00:01:00 -0700

From the Sunday Times of London:

The number of Turkish people thought to be infected with avian flu rose to more than 50 this weekend, prompting concern that the disease may be about to spread into Europe.

Yesterday a British laboratory confirmed that a Turkish brother and sister who died last week had the feared H5N1 strain of avian flu.

A third child from the same family in Dogubayazit, in eastern Turkey, has now died of avian flu and dozens more suspected cases have emerged.

âThe laboratory in the UK said that they have detected H5N1 in samples of the two fatal cases,â said Maria Cheng, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organisation. They are the first fatalities outside East Asia.
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Professor John Oxford, an expert on flu at Queen Maryâs medical school, London, said the most worrying aspect of the deaths in Turkey was the large number of human cases resulting from exposure to a small number of birds.
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In southeast Asia, more than 70 people have died from H5N1 since 2003 but none has involved human-to-human transmission.

China Announces New Human Case of Bird Flu

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:49:00 -0700

From AP:

A school girl in southern China is undergoing emergency treatment in hospital after contracting bird flu, becoming the fourth human case in the country.

The 10-year-old girl surnamed Tang from Ziyuan County in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region developed fever and pneumonia-like symptoms on November 23, it said, adding that the ministry of health had confirmed the case.

Tests showed she was H5N1 positive, the agency said quoting China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The ministry of health had alerted the World Health Organisation, it said.

It is the fourth confirmed human case of bird flu reported in China which has reported two deaths from the virus.

Latest Conspiracy Theory: Drug Companies Behind Avian Flu

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 10:17:00 -0700

Of course it was only a matter of time before we started hearing conspiracy talk regarding the potential public health threat posed by the worldwide outbreak of avian flu.

Recently, as I comb my way through the rantings from the fringes on the Left, I have been reading and hearing more and more that the threat posed by the avian flu is simply something that has been cooked up to benefit the drug companies.

This letter to the editor, published in the Austin American-Statesman, illustrates my point:

Flu talk a sick ploy?

Am I the only one who questions the sincerity of the flu pandemic discussions heard everywhere? Who will be the main beneficiary? The drug companies.

What a nice diversion to take our attention away from Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation of the Valerie Plame affair, the Hurricane Katrina debacle, Tom DeLay â the list goes on.

Anyone remember the anthrax scare? Rule by fear is the rule of thumb for this administration.

What's more remarkable, that people hold these conspiracy theories, or that papers like the Statesman lend credence to such theories by publishing them?

Update: Perhaps mainstream papers like the Statesman should publish the thoughts of people like this.

China Closes All Beijing Poultry Markets

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 10:22:00 -0700

From AP:

Authorities ordered all live poultry markets in China's capital to close immediately and went door-to-door seizing chickens and ducks from private homes, as the government dramatically beefed up its fight against bird flu on Monday.

Beijing also announced that 6 million birds had been slaughtered around the site of China's most recent bird flu outbreak, and the World Health Organization said it had been asked to help in the reopened investigation of the country's possible first human cases of the virus.

The escalation of anti-bird flu measures in the world's most populous country came as a meeting of hundreds of international experts in Geneva opened with warnings that a global human flu pandemic is inevitable and could cost the global economy at least $800 billion.

"It is only a matter of time before an avian flu virus ... acquires the ability to be transmitted from human to human, sparking the outbreak of human pandemic influenza," WHO director general Lee Jong-wook told the gathering.
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Beijing on Sunday reopened an investigation into whether bird flu killed a 12-year-old girl and sickened two people last month in cases originally ruled not to be H5N1.
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The three possible Chinese bird flu victims lived in or near Wantang village in central Hunan province where 545 chickens and ducks died of bird flu last month.

The girl, He Yin, who came into "close contact with sick birds," died last month after developing a high fever, Xinhua said. Her 9-year-old brother was hospitalized with similar symptoms but recovered. The third suspected case was a 36-year-old middle school teacher who reportedly fell ill after chopping raw chicken while suffering from a minor injury to his hand, Xinhua said. He also was recovering.

All three initially tested negative for H5N1. But Wadia said it was not unusual for initial tests for a virus such as H5N1 to be wrong. Final results could take weeks.

China, Vietnam, Japan Report Flu Outbreaks

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 11:22:00 -0700

From AP:

China reported its fourth bird flu outbreak in three weeks, saying Friday that 8,940 chickens died in a northeastern village despite a nationwide effort to contain the virus. The discovery prompted authorities to destroy about 370,000 birds.

Authorities in Japan have detected signs of bird flu at a northern farm and plan to kill 180,000 chickens after they detected antibodies in some for the H5 family of bird flu virus. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, which is the only one that has spread to humans, has not yet been detected in Japan but the less virulent H5N2 strain hit the country last year.

Japan's Agriculture Ministry said it ordered 30 farms in eight prefectures across the country to undergo testing because previous tests at these farms had been carried out by private veterinarians. This called the results into question, said ministry spokesman Hirofumi Kugita.

Vietnam also confirmed bird flu outbreaks in three northern villages, despite stepped up efforts to fight the disease. More than 3,000 poultry died or were killed this week in the Bac Giang province, said Nguyen Dang Khoa, vice chairman of the People's Committee of the province.

Bush Outlines $7.1B Flu Preparations

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 13:03:39 -0700

From the Washington Post:

President Bush asked Congress today for $7.1 billion in emergency funding to combat a possible influenza pandemic brought on by bird flu originating in Asia.

In a speech at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda to announce a "comprehensive national strategy" against pandemic flu, Bush warned that although bird flu has not reached U.S. shores and remains primarily an animal disease, there is "cause for vigilance" because a pandemic could develop rapidly with devastating effects.

"Scientists and doctors cannot tell us where or when the next pandemic will strike or how severe it'll be, but most agree: At some point, we are likely to face another pandemic," Bush said.

"Because a pandemic could strike at any time, we can't waste time in preparing," he said. "So to meet all our goals, I'm requesting a total of $7.1 billion in emergency funding from the United States Congress."

Bush said that by investing that money now, the United States will not only strengthen its ability to protect against a global pandemic, but will "bring our nation's public health and medical infrastructure more squarely in the 21st century." Among the key elements of the plan, he said, is development of an ability to produce vaccines for a range of illnesses, including common seasonal flu.

"It is vital that our nation discuss and address the threat of pandemic flu now," Bush said, adding that "if we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare."

Girl in China bird Flu Village Dies: Hong Kong Paper

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 00:04:00 -0600

From Reuters:

A 12-year-old girl has died suffering flu-like symptoms in a village in central China where the mainland's third outbreak of bird flu in a week has been reported, the South China Morning Post said on Thursday.

If confirmed, it would be China's first known human death from bird flu which experts across the world fear could mutate to spread easily from human to human and become a pandemic.

He Yin and her 10-year-old brother fell ill about a week ago after eating a chicken that had died from an unspecified illness in the village of Wantang, the Post said, quoting their father, He Tieguang.
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So far there was no evidence linking her death to the outbreak of bird flu in the village in Hunan province and none of the adults in her family had shown any flu symptoms, the paper said. Doctors told her family she had died from fever.

The newspaper did not say when the girl died.

A spokesman for China's Health Ministry said he doubted the girl's death was caused by bird flu.

"We haven't received any relevant report on that and I have no information if health authorities there have done autopsy on the girl either," he told Reuters.

"To be honest, we don't even know how the chicken died."

Asian Bird Flu Spreads to England

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 15:02:00 -0600

From AP:

The British government said Sunday that a strain of bird flu that killed a parrot in quarantine is the deadly H5N1 strain that has plagued Asia and recently spread to Europe and Turkey.

Russia Reports New Bird Flu Cases

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 00:05:00 -0600

From AP:

Russian authorities detected a deadly strain of bird flu south of Moscow on Wednesday and China reported a fresh outbreak in its northern grasslands â signs the deadly virus was spreading across Siberia to the Mediterranean along the pathways of migratory birds.
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In Asia, crucible of the virus, China's official Xinhua news agency said 2,600 birds in the northern grasslands had died of the disease. It did not give details on when the birds were found, and sought to reassure the public that the outbreak was contained.

The H5N1 strain was detected in Siberia in July. Migratory birds flying over the region from elsewhere in Asia were blamed for the outbreak, and the virus had been registered in six districts in Siberia and the Urals region.

Preliminary genetic tests now have found an H5N1 flu virus in samples of birds taken from a village south of Moscow, the Russian Agriculture Ministry said. Further tests are needed to confirm the finding and determine whether the H5N1 strain is the same one that has devastated flocks in Asia since 2003.

If so, it would mark the first appearance of the virus in European Russia, west of the Ural Mountains.

Continue reading "Russia Reports New Bird Flu Cases"

Bird Flu Confirmed in Greece

tpelia@yahoo.com (Tom Elia) — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 12:39:00 -0600

From BBC News:

Greece has become the latest country to report a case of bird flu as the virus appears to spread across Europe.

The country's agriculture ministry said a form of the virus had been found in a turkey on a farm on the Aegean Sea island of Oinouses.

Twelve swans have also tested positive for bird flu in a second cluster in Romania.

And the European Commission has ordered urgent tests on dead birds found in Croatia.

At this stage, neither of the new outbreaks in Greece or Romania have been confirmed as the lethal H5N1 form of the bird flu virus, which has been linked to more than 60 human deaths in Asia.

However, tests are continuing, and the Greek outbreak is known to involve the H5 strain, of which the deadly form is a member.

Update: "Is the avian flu being overhyped?," asks Glenn Reynolds, who published the following e-mail from a researcher:

As a medical researcher, I want to make a gentle but sincere plea to the blogosphere to calm down this flu hysteria just a bit. The main way that flu kills is by predisposing its victims to "superinfection" by bacterial illnesses - in 1918, we had no antibiotics for these superimposed infections, but now we have plenty. Such superinfections, and the transmittal of flu itself, were aided tremendously by the crowded conditions and poor sanitation of the early 20th century - these are currently vastly improved as well. Flu hits the elderly the hardest, but the "elderly" today are healthier, stronger, and better nourished than ever before. Our medical infrastructure is vastly better off, ranging from simple things like oxygen and sterile i.v. fluids, not readily available in 1918, to complex technologies such as respirators and dialysis. Should we be concerned? Sure, better safe than sorry, and concerns about publishing the sequence are worth discussing. Should we panic? No - my apologies to the fearmongers, but we will never see another 1918.

Patrick Cunningham M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Section of Nephrology
University of Chicago