Pigs Test Positive for Bird Flu

AP via FOX ^ | February 06, 2004 | Unknown

[Blood of Tyrants]

HANOI, Vietnam

[Blood of Tyrants]

Can the "Flight of the Swine" be far behind?

[vpintheak]

Does anyone really know what this Bird flu is? It seems to be able to do a different thing every day.

[skip2myloo]

My Grandma always said: "I'll believe that when I see pigs fly."

[Sacajaweau]

Oh, man...It's going to be rice with rice...You'll really be hungry a half hour later.

[sopwith]

It looks like its the pig flu now.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I hear that it can erase your hard drive, leave the seat up on the toilet, let the cat out, cause the milk to curdle, stop up your sink, and make your hair frizzy.

Bad juju.

[per loin]

Yikes!

[Blood of Tyrants]

That's just not fair! There has already been a Swine Flu! Twice!

[Living Free in NH]

Pigs Test Positive for Bird Flu

The Clintons?

[DJtex]

The problem with this Bird Flu, like SARS, is that we have no built-up immunity to it, that it has a 50-70% mortality rate, and that all the world's annual flus, and 30-year pandemics come from China/S.E. Asia.

The only saving grace of the Bird Flu, like the version that hit Hong Kong a couple of years ago, is that--while it killed millions of chickens and a few humans--it couldn't be passed from human to human, only from bird to human.

Viruses have this nasty capability of wholesale swapping of genetic material with other related influenza viruses. If the Bird Flu virus mixes with a human influenza virus, probably with a pig as it's host, then we'll end up with a watered-down Bird/Pig/Human flu bug that would kill, not 36,000 (like the Flu killed this year in the USA) but millions.

Let's not forget that SARS already passes from human to human. It was barely controlled last year and is coming back this year, still not well-understood, still with no vaccine, and still with a 40-50% mortality rate.

[per loin]

    GENEVA, Feb. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday there is not enough evidence so far to prove that the bird flu virus infects pigs.

    WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib made the statement in response to the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) announcement of detecting H5N1, the most infectious bird flu virus, in several pigs in Vietnam.

    Dick Thompson, a spokesman for WHO's communicable diseases division, said FAO's conclusion is preliminary and it is too early to make a final conclusion.

    Earlier on Friday, an official of the FAO, Anton Rychener, said pigs in and around Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi tested positive for the H5N1 virus.

    The finding is alarming because pigs, whose immune system is similar to that in humans, can become a "mixing vessel" for the flu virus and then infect people.

    The bird flu has rapidly spread across half of the Asian continent in 10 countries or regions and claimed 18 deaths since last December. Enditem

[ZinGirl]

"Moi?"

[ex-Texan]

Bird flu is another "mystery disease" originating in Asia. Thus far, it has spread to eight Asian countries and Germany. Avian flu has an incredibly high death rate (50% to 75%). Researchers are attempting to find a link between bird flu and the Spanish Flu of 1918 that killed 20 million people.

I believe myself that H5N1 is possibly a bio-engineered disease. There are too many combinations of bird, human and pig virus in the mix. Emerging Diseases has reports about possible DNA experimetation.

If bird flu has links to the 1918 Spanish Flu, I believe we will hear reports coming out of Asia about Chinese and North Korean bio-weapons. There were reports in 1998 or 1999 about Chinese researchers digging up cadavers of people who died from the Spanish flu to try to grow it in their labs. All the labs in China are linked to the military. Frightening, really. 'Nuff said.

[Voteamerica]

Is there a human vaccine for it? Are they working on one?

[NYFriend]

It used to be assumed that bird to human transmission was impossible and that that pigs had to be the intermediary, as they were susceptible to both bird and human flu viri. The way this works has to do with how flu viri carry their DNA, something about eight chains or eight legs or something like that, and if two infect the same cell their DNA can mix. I'm not sure exactly what the mechanism is of this. Someone else here probably knows. I'm told that there has been a documented case of direct transmission of bid flu to humans. However, this would presumably be rare so having pigs infected would increase the risk of this virus jumping species.

[NYFriend]

It used to be assumed that bird to human transmission was impossible and that that pigs had to be the intermediary, as they were susceptible to both bird and human flu viruses. The way this works has to do with how flu viruses carry their DNA, something about eight chains or eight legs or something like that, and if two infect the same cell their DNA can mix. I'm not sure exactly what the mechanism is of this. Someone else here probably knows. I'm told that there has been a documented case of direct transmission of bid flu to humans. However, this would presumably be rare so having pigs infected would increase the risk of this virus jumping species.

[genefromjersey]

Thank you for posting that !

This jump to pigs - if it has,in fact,actually happened,is very serious news !

Perhaps not as "important" as "Janet's Jugs",or "gay marriage" in Massachusetts,or the proper handgun to wear to church (That new S&W Nifty Fifty ought to make those ushers think twice before trying to shake you down with a damn collection basket !),or what some anally extruded professor told the class....only life or death important.

The avian flu (Big Bad Bird) is a direct descendant of the Hong Kong flu-that killed thousands,the Swine flu-that killed thousands,and the Spanish flu-that killed at least 20 million people.

Some years it has a taste for chicken;some years for pork;and some years,an insatiable appetite for humans; and, this year,it may want a good sample of all three...

[ex-Texan]

I have really bad, bad news for you. Recent testing of H5N1 has confirmed human to human trasmission. See my post # 13 and click the link. Or go to Here and scroll down. NewsPundit's site is updated frequently and features reports about the Bird Flu.

[Judith Anne]

"I'm told that there has been a documented case of direct transmission of bid flu to humans."

Yes, there have been cases of bird flu directly transmitted to humans. More than one, if I recall correctly...

So far, we haven't seen cases of bird flu transmitted from human to human, as far as I know, but the pig vector could change all that, since pigs readily transmit viruses to humans.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Does anyone really know what this Bird flu is?

Apparently it is something that makes pig fly.