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Asia prepares for bird flu pandemic; experts pessimistic
NewsTarget.com ^
| 2/4/2005
| Staff
Posted on 02/05/2005 7:45:07 PM PST by ex-Texan
Friday, February 04, 2005 Asia prepares for bird flu pandemic; experts pessimistic
Asian nations are stocking up on Tamiflu and making plans for civil-defense type measures in the event of an outbreak of bird flu. The World Health Organization has warned that the bird flu virus is epidemic throughout Asia; if the disease mutates into a form which can be readily transmitted from human to human, the results could be catastrophic.
Overview:
- Richer Asian nations may be arming themselves to fight off a feared bird flu pandemic, but experts say such a scourge would be almost unstoppable and urged tougher action to stop the virus from spreading in poultry.
- The H5N1 virus has killed nine people in Vietnam in recent weeks and health experts say they are aware of unreported outbreaks of the disease in poultry in nearby countries -- all alarm bells after the World Health Organisation warned of a potential pandemic that could kill millions this winter.
- Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and China have all stocked up on drugs and stepped up their fight against the virus in poultry.
- Drug firms are racing to produce a super vaccine.
- "If the virus gets adapted to humans, no one, no place could cope with it because it is so infectious, and the mortality rate is so high," said Leo Poon, an expert on the virus and professor of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong.
- Japan has stocked up enough Tamiflu, a drug that the WHO says can protect against bird flu, to treat 20 million people, but it has a population of more than 127 million.
- Thailand has approved a three-year, $104 million plan to combat the disease with education programmes, more laboratories, drugs and surgical masks.
- It plans to double its stocks of Tamiflu, although that will only be enough for just over 5 percent of its 7 million population.
- Lo Wing-lok, an infectious disease expert in Hong Kong, said the infectivity of the H5N1 virus could far outstrip SARS, which infected about 8,000 people around the world in 2003 and killed about 800, straining healthcare systems to their limits.
Source: http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29239/story.htm
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: birdflu; health; outbreak; pandemic; who
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1
posted on
02/05/2005 7:45:08 PM PST
by
ex-Texan
To: ex-Texan
I guess those face masks I got for SARS isn't gonna do me any good?
2
posted on
02/05/2005 7:48:29 PM PST
by
blam
To: ex-Texan
I saw that on world news tonight. It could get very bad. I heard on Albuquerque news last night that NM had 2 deaths from the flu this past week. It's very late starting this year. The two people who died were adults but not seniors. That's pretty scary.
3
posted on
02/05/2005 7:54:33 PM PST
by
NRA2BFree
(NO AMNESTY, NO UN, NO PC, NO BS, NO MSM, NO WHINY @SS LIBERAL BEDWETTERS, NO LIBERAL JUDGES! YEAH!)
To: Mother Abigail; flutters; Judith Anne; Cindy
To: NRA2BFree
Chinese 'New Year' celebrations have the potential of setting off Asian epidemics or perhaps even worse. The farmers take their birds to market for the celebrations. In small towns, hundreds of not thousands will be brought in from the country. Cock fighting abounds in Asia.
5
posted on
02/05/2005 8:00:32 PM PST
by
ex-Texan
(Democracy Was Born From Judeo-Christian Tradition)
To: ex-Texan
And if millions of people die around the world, we should nuke the rest of these idiots who caused this disease by co-habiting with livestock.
To: ex-Texan
And if millions of people die around the world, we should nuke the rest of these idiots who caused this disease by co-habiting with livestock.
To: rmmcdaniell
And if millions of people die around the world, we should nuke the rest of these idiots who caused this disease by co-habiting with livestock.LOL!
8
posted on
02/05/2005 8:33:34 PM PST
by
NRA2BFree
(NO AMNESTY, NO UN, NO PC, NO BS, NO MSM, NO WHINY @SS LIBERAL BEDWETTERS, NO LIBERAL JUDGES! YEAH!)
To: ex-Texan
Chinese 'New Year' celebrations have the potential of setting off Asian epidemics or perhaps even worse. The farmers take their birds to market for the celebrations. In small towns, hundreds of not thousands will be brought in from the country. Cock fighting abounds in Asia.It could jump around the world in a very short time. I'm surprised that some disease didn't come out after the tsunami. I think we may have dodged the bullet on that one.
9
posted on
02/05/2005 8:37:26 PM PST
by
NRA2BFree
(NO AMNESTY, NO UN, NO PC, NO BS, NO MSM, NO WHINY @SS LIBERAL BEDWETTERS, NO LIBERAL JUDGES! YEAH!)
To: NRA2BFree
Please pardon me, but, admittedly, I'm a bit of a conspiracy buff (conspiracies work because they are secret). I thought SARS was only a test by Beijing of WHO scientists and U.S. prevention protocols. China was not cooperating with WHO investigators and at one point even imprisoned hundreds of patients in military hospitals and allowed them to die in secret. In the end, Beijing blamed civet cats, exotic racoons, rats and fleas for the SARS epidemic raging through trashy apartments. Now Beijing has set up WHO again; they will blame chickens and migratory foul for spreading this disease!
Asian Bird Flu has a 73% fatality rate. Again, I am inclined to believe that it is no accident that the Bird Flu has suddenly mutated. China, N. Korea and Vietnam may be heading down the long, hard road of exotic global pandemics as just a means to an end.
Oh, well . . . Whatever. I am just a guy living in the Peoples' Republic of Oregon.
10
posted on
02/05/2005 9:04:40 PM PST
by
ex-Texan
(Democracy Was Born From Judeo-Christian Tradition)
To: Domestic Church
Thanks for the ping. I think I'll go find out who makes Tamiflu, and where the company is located....BRB
11
posted on
02/05/2005 9:05:37 PM PST
by
Judith Anne
(Thank you St. Jude for favors granted.)
To: Judith Anne
Someone on CE said Tamiflu is OTC some countries and can be purchased online. Might as well add it to my next simvastatin order.
12
posted on
02/05/2005 9:10:53 PM PST
by
steve86
To: ex-Texan
Tamiflu, which has shown some signs of being at least partially effective against H5N1 in humans, must be given within 48 hours of the beginning of flu symptoms.
Tamiflu takes about a year to manufacture. Roche makes it. I don't think they can make enough to make a difference...and I don't trust China to report human-to-human transmission...
13
posted on
02/05/2005 9:12:04 PM PST
by
Judith Anne
(Thank you St. Jude for favors granted.)
To: blam
I guess those face masks I got for SARS isn't gonna do me any good? Why do you say that? Is there something I missed? AFAIK, the N95 and N100/P100 masks, if fitted properly, give near 100% protection against influenza virus-sized particles.
14
posted on
02/05/2005 9:14:14 PM PST
by
steve86
To: BearWash
Wonder how much it costs?
I have a cold right now, my first in well over 5 years. My daughter, who is 30 yo, and physically in better shape, gave it to me, but she is much sicker, now with bronchitis...
15
posted on
02/05/2005 9:14:27 PM PST
by
Judith Anne
(Thank you St. Jude for favors granted.)
To: NRA2BFree
NM had 2 deaths from the flu this past week. Bear in mind that has next to nothing to do with the N5 avian flu.
16
posted on
02/05/2005 9:16:20 PM PST
by
steve86
To: Judith Anne
Keep hitting up the Sambucol. I seemed to have stopped several things with it this year. Also am taking Oil of Oregano.
17
posted on
02/05/2005 9:18:03 PM PST
by
steve86
To: BearWash
I found Tamiflu available for $110 for ten doses--supposed to take 2 a day for 5 days.
18
posted on
02/05/2005 9:18:36 PM PST
by
Judith Anne
(Thank you St. Jude for favors granted.)
To: Judith Anne
I think the CE post quoted something like $60 or $80 for ten doses. Sometimes they add on a lot for express international shipping.
19
posted on
02/05/2005 9:20:43 PM PST
by
steve86
To: BearWash
I'm on the mend, almost over it. I don't take anything special, I just don't get a cold very often. This is the only one I can actually recall, so I'm guessing it's been more than 5 years.
20
posted on
02/05/2005 9:21:38 PM PST
by
Judith Anne
(Thank you St. Jude for favors granted.)
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