Posted on 06/10/2006 2:39:57 PM PDT by blam
Asia-Pacific passes bird flu pandemic test, Australia says
Fri Jun 9, 4:02 PM ET
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian officials praised as creative the responses of Asian and Pacific countries to a hypothetical bird flu pandemic which included discouraging kissing and building a factory to make protective masks.
The scenario tested involved a new strain of bird flu, dubbed the 'Malacca Straits Flu', reaching pandemic proportions within the region after several infected fishermen were rescued by a passing cruise ship.
"The scenario successfully achieved the goal of testing communication responses during the exercise, which lasted 26 hours across eight time zones," the ministers said in a statement.
The exercise, which began in New Zealand on Wednesday and concluded on Thursday with calls to the United States, was designed to test communication links between APEC members.
"The exercise attracted credible responses," Downer and Ruddock said.
"Some of the more creative responses included one offering to immediately build a factory to supply the region with more protective masks and another (member) whose suggested advice to its citizens included to 'Stop kissing and to eat more vegetables.'"
Neil Head, of Emergency Management Australia which coordinated the exercise, said that despite some glitches, the exercise proceeded smoothly.
The main problems were human factors, such as a death in the family of a key official in one case, and the fact that at least one participant was concurrently dealing with a real outbreak of bird flu.
Head said the level of cooperation was encouraging.
"The pandemic threat is remarkable because it's almost entirely preventable," he told AFP.
"The things that make it preventable are early detection, close cooperation and information sharing, and the rapid sourcing and the development of appropriate antibodies and medicines.
"The fact that these (countries) seem willing to do all these things we would have to say is a very positive outcome."
The results of the exercise will be presented at an APEC ministers and leaders conference in Singapore in November.
More than 120 people have died from bird flu since late 2003, most of them in Asia, and world health officials fear that H5N1 virus could mutate into one spread via human-to-human contact.
APEC includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
A new thread to post updates and facilitate communications on FR.
Fitchburg, MA
Volunteers needed for bird flu response (Excepted)
By Jonathan Graham
Saturday June 10, 2006
Hundreds of volunteers are needed throughout the region to help man vaccination stations in the event of a bird flu epidemic, officials said Thursday.
Charles Coggins, Leominster' emergency management director, said the state told him last week that the vaccine, once available, needs to be completely distributed in less than 48 hours.
"It requires a huge number of people," Coggins said.
Each town of about 10,000 people is supposed to have about 70 people to run a center, Nashoba Associated Boards of Health Executive Director James Garreffi said.
About half of those people should have some type of medical background, Garreffi said.
http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/local/ci_3922884
Excepted = Excerpted
Excepted = Accepted.
Sofia News Agency
"Enforced" Bird Flu Strain Found in Hungary
Politics: 10 June 2006, Saturday.
The EC has said that a H5 highly pathogenic strain of bird flu had been found in a domestic flock of geese in Hungary.
Samples will be sent to the European Union's reference laboratory for avian flu in Weybridge, near London, for further tests to determine whether it is the deadly H5N1 strain.
The Hungarian authorities found the infected flock in Bacs-Kiskun in southern Hungary. Cases of highly pathogenic bird flu were detected in wild birds earlier this year in this county.
The European Union's executive arm said officials have slaughtered all 2,300 geese in the flock and are also culling poultry and ducks within a one kilometre radius of the site in Bacs-Kiskun.
Rigorous control and monitoring of other holdings in the surrounding area is being carried out. A high risk area has been established around the outbreak with a 3 km protection zone and 10 km surveillance zone.
In the protection zone, poultry must be kept indoors and movement of poultry is banned except directly to the slaughter house.
If confirmed, it would be the fifth outbreak of high pathogenic H5N1 avian flu in domestic poultry in a EU member state, following outbreaks in domestic poultry in France, Sweden, Germany and Denmark.
Cases of avian influenza H5N1 have occurred in wild birds in thirteen EU member states.
More than 120 people have died from bird flu since late 2003, most of them in Asia.
Ping to a new thread for developments, news, etc.
eThekwini taking no chances with bird flu
The eThekwini Municipality is finalising a programme to counteract the outbreak of bird flu
June 10, 2006, 16:30
The health division of the eThekwini Municipality is finalising a programme to help it cope in the event of an outbreak of bird flu. At least 500 migratory birds fly to Durban from northern Asia every year and stay for the summer.
The city is working in co-operation with national government, which has secured reservations with a Swiss pharmaceutical company for supplies of Tamiflu, the anti-viral that is used in the treatment of avian influenza.
In February, UN health officials declared a regional bird flu crisis in Nigeria and Niger, bringing the deadly virus closer to home. A Preparedness Plan is awaiting approval by the eThekwini Municipality.
Plan looks at culling birds The plan looks at the culling of birds and isolation of the infected, if an outbreak occurs although pre-detection is the most important step. A study conducted on migratory birds in Durban late last year revealed no trace of bird flu.
The strain has killed 128 people worldwide since it began spreading in Asia in late 2003
Oops! You beat me to it.
No problem; I asked for mine to be pulled since your article is more comprehensive.
F.D.A. Imposes Long-Delayed Rule to Require Tracking of Prescription Drugs
NY Times ^ | June 10, 2006 | BARNABY J. FEDER
Long-delayed federal rules requiring most wholesalers to be able to track prescription drugs from factory floor to pharmacy door will finally take effect in December, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday.
The regulations, stemming from a 1988 law intended to combat counterfeiting by verifying a drug's pedigree, were originally drafted in 1999.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1647594/posts
Several updates today:
http://www.pandemic-news.info/
L
The next time my Chief asks me "So how did it go?" I'm going to say that and see what happens.
I can't make heads or tails of it. Can you?
L
We run one about every 60-90 days or so.
We just can't get enough people to sign up for them.
L
Thanks, that is a really nice specialty feed site.
Don Joe, if you want to come back let's just agree not to post to each other or about each other. Some people miss your material.
Spread of bird flu to humans only "matter of time"
Monday, 12 June 2006, 9:51 am
Press Release: University of Auckland
An Australian expert on the flu virus has warned that it is only a matter of time that one of the present strains of bird flu will jump species and be spread from human to human.
However, Dr Jose Varghese, Chief Research Scientist of the Division of Molecular and Health Technologies at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Melbourne, says both New Zealand and Australia are well-prepared to handle any outbreak.
Dr Varghese, who was visiting the national Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, hosted by The University of Auckland, said all global flu pandemics had avian origins.
“We are worried of course that the virulent avian strain that has been killing people recently will eventually become ‘humanised’ and jump the species. I guess it’s just a matter of when, not if.
“The current theory is that farm animals, typically pigs, become infected with both an avian and a human flu strain at the same time. The two viruses exchange genes in the animal host and produce a human adapted virus.”
Dr Varghese determined the structure of a surface enzyme (neuraminidase) of the influenza virus with a CSIRO colleague, Dr Peter Coleman, in 1983, leading to the development of a new class of anti-viral drugs in the late 1990s which are potent inhibitors of the enzyme.
The first of these, the drug, Relenza ™ was developed by CSIRO and Biota Holdings Ltd using structure-based drug design methods, based on the three dimensional atomic structure of neuraminidase. The drug was then taken to clinical trials by Glaxo Pharmaceuticals.
The drug Tamiflu ™ was developed later in the United States based on the structural work of the CSIRO group and the lead compounds subsequently identified for new drug development.
Both drugs target a small “pocket” in the surface enzyme, neuraminidase, which is identical in every strain of influenza, making them effective against all strains and sub-types of influenza irrespective of their origin.
These drugs can also be used prophylactically to prevent the spread of infection if used early in an outbreak. As both drugs act as a molecular “plug” which prevents the virus replicating, they also shorten the duration of the illness, enabling more effective management and treatment.
Dr Varghese says because the flu virus can mutate rapidly, flu vaccines are only effective against known strains of influenza and cannot deal effectively with emerging strains, particularly those that arise during global pandemics.
“The fact that we now have these anti-viral drugs that work against whatever strain of flu is around is a big bonus. We also learnt a lot from the SARS epidemic – that if we get to the places where an infection is breaking out and contain it quickly, we are able to control these diseases.”
The possibility of emerging drug resistance to the neuraminidase inhibitors is being closely monitored by the CSIRO, says Dr Varghese.
“We‘re finding very little drug resistance at present, but we are watching what we consider may be a weak link in Tamiflu ™. Unlike Relenza ™, to work, Tamiflu ™ depends on the viral neuraminidase itself making an internal change. This provides an opportunity for the influenza virus to mutate to stop that happening.”
Dr Varghese says the methodology which led to the design of the anti-viral neuraminidase inhibitors has huge potential for new drug development and technologies to combat other infectious diseases, and major killers such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
“Structural biology – that is our understanding of how proteins work at a molecular level – has revolutionised biology. It is a discipline that has grown exponentially in the last 20 years and will make a huge contribution to medical science this century.
“By understanding protein structures and how processes work at a molecular level, we can manipulate and modulate biological systems and avoid the hit and miss approach we have used in the past to develop new drugs.”
Structure-based drug design, says Dr Varghese, overcomes the lack of specificity of drugs developed by traditional, high through-put, chemical screening.
“One of the problems with the traditional approach is that we know certain compounds inhibit certain functions, but we don’t know if other processes in the body are being affected. The benefit of structure-based drug design is that we can design a drug, like these anti-viral drugs, that is exquisitely selective.”
The Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery is one of seven national centres of research excellence established by the Government in 2002 to drive new drug development and technologies to combat major diseases in New Zealand. It is taking a leading role in post-genomic science by merging traditional scientific disciplines to improve human health.
-ends-
In case anyone missed this:
Not even killer flu to shut U.S. border
WorldNetDaily ^ | May 2, 2006
While nationwide demonstrations focus America's attention on the issue of illegal immigration and U.S. borders, the federal government will apparently not close the border even in the face of deadly bird flu or a super strain of influenza.
That according to a draft of the national response plan obtained by the Associated Press.
The report says a major outbreak of disease could prompt the government to limit international flights, quarantine exposed travelers and restrict movement in and around the country, with the exception of the border.
It notes "a complete shutdown of the border would not be likely, nor would it do more than slow the pandemic's spread by a few weeks," according to AP.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1625139/posts
Another:
Many Md. health staff would flee if flu hit
upi via email no link | 4/18/6
BALTIMORE, April 18 (UPI) -- Some 46.2 percent of Maryland public health workers say they likely would not report for work if there were a pandemic flu outbreak, a study concludes.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1617112/posts
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