Posted on 01/26/2004 9:20:59 AM PST by CathyRyan
Indonesia has become the latest country to admit that a massive outbreak of bird flu has been ravaging its chicken farms for months. The disease has now led to the death of many millions of birds across south-east Asia, and at least seven people.
The scale of the epidemic is unprecedented, says Klaus Stöhr, a senior virologist at the World Health Organization. "Never in history have we seen such outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza over such a wide area, simultaneously," he told New Scientist.
Stöhr warns that if a person becomes infected simultaneously with both bird and ordinary human flu, the viruses could hybridise to cause a deadly global pandemic.
With no end to the spread of the avian virus in sight, that risk will continue to rise. So on Tuesday, health authorities and drug companies will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, to tackle the daunting task of agreeing and implementing protective measures.
Drug resistant
The WHO plans to ask countries in the southern hemisphere if they will give up some of the vaccine against ordinary human flu which they have ordered for the coming southern winter.
The WHO wants to use it to vaccinate people slaughtering infected chickens in southeast Asia, to reduce the chance that a person will contract human flu as well as bird flu.
Another protective measure the WHO wants to pursue is giving anti-flu drugs to people at high risk. However, the avian virus has now been found to carry a mutation which confers complete resistance to rimantidine and amantidine, the cheapest antivirals that work against flu.
The WHO will also ask companies which of them will offer to test and mass-produce a vaccine against pandemic flu, if it becomes necessary.
Huge archipelago
On Sunday, Indonesia's Director-General for the Development of Animal Husbandry, Sofjan Sudardjat, admitted that avian flu had broken out on Java on 29 August 2003 and had since spread across the huge Indonesian archipelago.
He had denied the presence of the disease on Saturday. It remains to be confirmed that it is the virulent H5N1 strain affecting other countries, but this seems probable.
Thailand has also belatedly admitted to an outbreak of bird flu that started back in November, joining South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and probably Laos. A small outbreak in Japan this month has now been controlled.
In Vietnam and Thailand the virus has caused an unknown number of human infections. Seven deaths have been confirmed as due to H5N1 so far, with a six-year-old Thai boy the latest victim. But the number of cases, and countries affected, is likely to rise.
Dead duck
Pakistan stated on Monday that bird flu has killed four million chickens in Karachi since November. It blames the H7 and H9 strains, which pose less threat to humans. But after Thailand and Indonesia tried for weeks to blame their chicken deaths on other diseases, the claims are being viewed with some mistrust.
So are claims by China that it is free of the virus. News media in Hong Kong reported on Monday that "hundreds of ducks" have died in the southern province of Guangxi, which borders hard-hit Vietnam. There was no official statement on the cause, but this H5N1 virus - unusually for a bird flu - kills ducks.
Chinese officials were also said to be culling poultry in the immediate surrounding area and vaccinating birds, common methods of containing bird flu.
I wonder if Klinton's buddies at Tyson have anything to do with this?
Date: Mon 26 Jan 2004
From: ProMED-mail
Source: World Health Organisation (WHO) WER and Epidemiological Bulletin, Mon 26 Jan 2004 [edited]
Avian influenza A H5N1) - WHO update 7
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Two further cases confirmed in Viet Nam
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Laboratory tests have confirmed 2 additional human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) virus infection in Viet Nam. The cases, both in Ho Chi Minh City, are 2 children, an 8-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy. The boy died on 22 Jan 2004. The girl is hospitalized in stable, but critical condition. The 2 cases are the 1st to be confirmed in the south of the country.
They bring the total number of confirmed H5N1 cases in Viet Nam to 7, including 5 in Hanoi. Of the 7 cases in Viet Nam, 6 (5 children and one 30- year-old woman) have died since 30 Dec 2003.
A WHO team is in Viet Nam working closely with health authorities to assess the current situation, conduct epidemiological investigations, and identify the most appropriate control measures.
Overview of the current situation: Viet Nam & Thailand
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Yesterday, health authorities in Thailand announced laboratory-confirmed avian influenza A (H5N1) virus infection in 2 boys. Additional patients with respiratory symptoms that might signal H5N1 infection are being tested, and results are expected next week.
At present, Viet Nam and Thailand are the only 2 countries in which human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) virus infection are known to have occurred in the current outbreak. The 1st recorded outbreak of H5N1 infection in humans occurred in Hong Kong in 1997, when 18 persons developed serious disease and 6 died. The present human cases in Viet Nam and Thailand coincide with an historically unprecedented spread of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in the poultry populations of Asian countries. Since mid-December 2003, outbreaks of avian influenza A (H5N1) disease in poultry have been confirmed in the Republic of Korea, Viet Nam, Japan, Thailand, and Cambodia. Additional countries [Indonesia and Pakistan] have detected deaths in poultry flocks, and the cause is currently under investigation.
In Viet Nam, avian influenza A (H5N1) virus infection in poultry has now been detected in 23 of the country's 61 provinces. Since 23 Dec 2003, about 2.9 million poultry stock have either died or been destroyed because of the disease. WHO has identified the rapid culling of H5N1 infected or exposed poultry as the major line of defence for preventing further human cases and possibly averting the emergence of a new influenza virus capable of causing an influenza pandemic. At present, WHO has no evidence of person-to-person transmission.
Laboratories in the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance Network are characterizing avian and human viruses obtained from the current outbreaks. Preliminary results indicate that these viruses are significantly different from other H5N1 strains isolated in Asia in the recent past, thus necessitating the development of a new prototype strain for use in vaccine manufacturing. Viruses are needed from all areas currently experiencing outbreaks in either infected birds or humans. Information from these viruses will then be used by WHO network laboratories to develop H5N1 prototype strains for vaccine manufacturers. Information about viruses from all outbreak sites is needed to ensure that the vaccine composition recommended by WHO will protect humans against all currently circulating H5N1 strains.
Implications for food safety
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Since 1997, when the avian influenza A (H5N1) virus is 1st known to have caused infections in humans, fewer than 30 laboratory-confirmed cases have been documented worldwide. The 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong has been extensively studied. However, data about this disease in humans and its modes of transmission are limited by the small number of cases. Investigations of the Hong Kong outbreak determined that close contact with live infected poultry was the source of human infection in all 18 cases. For this reason, the practice of marketing live poultry directly to consumers should be discouraged in areas currently experiencing outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza among poultry.
While trade restrictions have been put in place by some countries to protect animal health, on the basis of presently available data WHO does not conclude that any processed poultry products (whole refrigerated or frozen carcasses and products derived from them) and eggs in, or arriving from, areas currently experiencing outbreaks of avian influenza A (H5N1) in poultry flocks, pose a risk to public health. It is well-known that influenza viruses are killed by adequate heat. WHO continuously emphasizes, and in this particular situation reiterates, the importance of good hygiene practices during handling of poultry products, including:
- hand washing,
- prevention of cross-contamination and
- thorough cooking (70 deg C).
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