Posted on 05/09/2005 10:18:08 AM PDT by Dog Gone
Some folks suggested that we begin a thread similar to the Marsburg Surveillance Project for monitoring developments regarding Avian Flu.
The purpose is to have an extended thread where those interested can post articles and comments as this story unfolds.
If we're lucky, the story and this thread will fade away.
Okay, it's settled then.
Thanks Gabz. Much appreciated. I didn't know you absolutely TORE UP your ankle and had to have surgery!
little jeremiah, thank you for stepping up and offering, that means a lot. By the way, would you FReepmail me your list of essential oils with the uses? I've been meaning to ask ever since you first mentioned them...
Me either, until 2 days after I first mentioned the ankle....and the surgery was done 2 days later...........so last week sort of disappeared on me :)
I can't do much of anything for at least another 3 weeks because I can't drive........so I might as well do something useful :)
T'storms coming in........power just flickered, I need to log off.
Later.
I'll freepmail it to you later; and I'm putting together a list of EOs and herbs that are considered to help boost the immune system. That won't be done for a few days.
Thanks. That will be a good resource on the prep thread, plus I want it for myself. ;-D
Your post 1024 with the migratory patterns of wild birds over the world map is absolutely priceless! And very beautiful, I might add.
Thanks for that useful and lovely link...
Thanks for the link! ;-)
http://maconareaonline.com/letters/letter.asp?id=36
Migratory birds as terrorist bioweapons
by Brad Arnold
The Asia H5N1 avian flu reservoir appears to be in migratory birds. These hardy fowl withstand infection and shed virus across state and country borders. Their feces hits the barnyard, drys, and then blows in the wind. The RNA strand of influenza is actually composed of eight segments that are adapt at reassortment. The more strands in circulation, the more of a chance that the H5N1 avian flu will change into a supervirus that would infect people. Since animal pathogens are less controlled, and RNA is so adaptable, the bioterrorism strategy of sowing an animal pathogen would not only be agriculture bioterrorism, but would be an effective strategy to create a human pandemic. WHO is not recommended culling migratory birds, which are the obvious reservior of the H5N1 avian flu. This is equivalent to our not seeking to exterminate mosquitos that carry the West Nile virus, and are a presumed reservoir of the disease. Basically, there are potential animal/virus reservoirs that can't be eliminated, and that would make any bioweapon that used such a niche unextinguishable. The viral smoldering could last for years, or even decades, before a supervirus flared. One person could be infected with a highly contagious bioweapon, and they could fly airplanes and walk through crowds while shedding the virus, causing a epidemic, then a pandemic. You could infect one migratory bird, and cause an avian pandemic, which could turn quickly into a human pandemic. North American birds will be returning from the South this Spring. Will a deadly, highly contagious pathogen be delivered with them? How easy would it be to smuggle a sample of H5N1 avian flu from Asia, where it is a pandemic, to America, to be introduced to our migratory bird population? Such a sly attack probably wouldn't even be labeled a bioterrorism attack, but just a natural occurrence. Who needs airplanes filled with gasoline to use as a missiles? All you need is one migratory bird shedding the H5N1 avian virus.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8742214/
Update from MSNBC on the "swine flu" in China.
Very interesting. The article says that streptococcus suis is known as "swine flu"--but that's the first time I've EVER heard anything like that--swine flu was an influenza outbreak from the 70s, as I recall, and was definitely a virus, NOT a bacteria.
This is so weird. I truly think reporters are absolutely stupid. Whoever wrote this story is ignorant of the most basic knowledge about bacteria and viruses.
I'm just appalled at the article...but I have to tell you, I'm glad you posted it. This is the kind of incorrect and ridiculous stuff we're going to see in the media if and when H5N1 starts causing real trouble.
Drudge is linking an article from the Washington Post reporting that A H5-N1 flu has been reported in Russia.
Daily Bird Flu News Updates:
ndtv.com - 29th July 2005
Bird flu kills two in Vietnam
VIETNAM - Bird flu has killed two more people in Vietnam days before the country is to begin mass vaccinations of poultry, an official said on Friday. A 24-year-old man from Tra Vinh province died on Monday and a 26-year-old woman from Ho Chi Minh City died on Wednesday, said Phan Van Tu, chief virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City.
Okay, I found this article posted at curevents.com and I'm bringing it here for us to mull over:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/07/29/China-illness-050729.html
____________________________________________________________
China deploys 50,000 to fight pig illness
Last Updated Fri, 29 Jul 2005 14:23:25 EDT
CBC News
Some 50,000 health workers are being deployed in China's Sichuan province as the human death toll continues to climb from a mystery epidemic involving bacteria spread among pigs.
(A worker monitors the screens showing the production of vaccines at a Bio-pharmaceutical company in Guangzhou, China. (AP Photo)
The health workers are going to an estimated 1.4 million farming households, trying to register every pig in the region.
China's Ministry of Health said Friday that 31 people have now died of the mysterious illness.
Twenty-seven others have been hospitalized and are in critical condition. As well, there are more than 152 less severe confirmed or suspected cases.
The disease is blamed on the bacteria Streptococcus suis, which is commonly found in pig populations. It has spread through dozens of villages in Sichuan province since June.
No person-to-person transmissions have been reported.
"The epidemic is at present under control," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted the country's health minister, Gao Qiang, as saying on Thursday.
FROM JULY 26, 2005: Deadly illness in China linked to pig bacteria
Still, the source of the outbreak has not been determined.
Symptoms include fever, bleeding under the skin, nausea, vomiting, and, in some cases, meningitis.
Medical officials are still trying to find a drug to treat the disease. For now, they are relying on heavy doses of antibiotics.
The government is warning that precautions should be taken, including a ban on the selling, transportation and killing of pigs.
In addition to registering pigs, the country has also embarked on a massive public awareness campaign.
In one city, Ziyang, officials have issued more than two million posters telling farmers not to slaughter or eat sick pigs, the China Daily News reported.
As well, all pork exports from the southwestern province of Sichuan have been suspended.
The outbreak has raised fears that China may be dealing with a disease that could cause as much havoc as SARS, the respiratory ailment that swept through parts of the country in 2003.
It also comes as the country is trying to deal with an outbreak of bird flu in its northwest
____________________________________________________________
Okay, first of all, I don't think this is a strep suis outbreak. I don't think this is Ebola, I don't think this is Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever, I think this is H5N1, and I think that these 50,000 "health workers" are also likely to be composed at least partly of military. Registering pigs does not sound, to me, like a way to control anything. I don't think that's what's happening.
I also don't understand why an outbreak of a KNOWN pig disease with KNOWN treatment and control measures that has killed less than 200 people qualifies for 50,000 "medical" or any other kind of worker.
Interesting information, and I believe that China is using those 50,000 "workers" to control something.
H5N1, big trouble in Sichuan, that's what I'm thinking.
The symptoms don't resemble flu symptoms, assuming they're being reported accurately. Either it's a very strange mutation of H5N1, or it's something altogether unrelated but no less troubling.
I would love to see a preparedness thread.
It could start off with a list of the virus-fighting and other essential oils from little jeremiah and build from there.
There are lots of things I would like to know. Simple stuff. Like:
What is an N-95 mask and where does one get one?
What are elderberries and how do you get them?? What do you do with them?
I am also a Clorox man (by the bucketfull), like Iowa Granny. What else should we do?? Why?
There is a lot of common sense stuff like stockpile water, food, and basic medicine. Wash your hands a lot. Quarantine yourself. What is the unusual stuff??
What about electrostatic air purifiers?? Any experience?
Some great posts so far and great links about general emergency preparedness. It's sort of general; boy scout stuff. What would be particularly interesting is information specific to an Avian Flu pandemic.
Thanks
I'm thinking brand new variant-made to order.
WHO: Too Early to Say China Pig Disease Under Control
By Daniel Schearf
Beijing
29 July 2005
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is too early for China to say if a pig-borne disease that killed at least 30 people is under control. A WHO official says China did a good job of responding to the disease, but more investigating and testing needs to be done.
China's Health Minister, Gao Qiang, has called on local officials and health workers to step up inspection work and prevent the transport of sick pigs.
Mr. Gao says the government has "preliminary control" of the bacterial disease that originates in pigs and has infected dozens of people.
Bob Dietz is a spokesman for the World Health Organization. He says although the outbreak seems to be localized in one province of China, the disease has spread to more towns in the area.
"As we see the numbers continue to rise, both in terms of the apparent number of cases and the apparent numbers or deaths, that when you're in a situation like that, to say that its under control does seem premature," said Mr. Dietz.
China's Ministry of Health said the death toll reached 31 people by Thursday afternoon, four more than the day before. There were also 21 new infections, bringing the total confirmed or suspected infections to more than 150.
The disease, which was discovered in June in China's southwestern Sichuan Province, infected farmers and pig-slaughterers who came in contact with infected pigs. So far there have been no cases of it spreading from human to human.
The WHO says it is not disputing preliminary laboratory tests in China indicating the disease is caused by a known pig-borne bacteria.
Mr. Dietz says the Chinese government is doing a good job responding to the outbreak and sharing information with the World Health Organization.
China's state media say roadside checkpoints have been set up to keep sick pigs or infected meat from spreading around the country. Thousands of health workers have been sent to farming households around the city of Ziyang, where most of the infections were found, to inspect and register every pig in the region.
Two observations:
1. Antibiotics work only on bacteria. Even if this is Avian Flu, the Chineese evidently believe that it is baterial.
2. There have been an awful lot of deadly, strange diseases appearing in China recently: Avian Flu, (several variants), Ebola (many variants), and now, perhaps this bacterial infection. This is complicated by the fact that this is the first time I have heard of Ebola outside of Africa, and evidently there is a lot of it. Finally, it is complicated by the nearly complete news blackout by Chineese authorities (and we thought the Angolan ministry of health was bad).
I find this coincidence quite disturbing, although I have no idea about a possible common cause.
I read this earlier today, can't remember where.
I tend to agree with you, altho I don't have the background to make an informed decision.
I'm a farmer, by trade. Livestock, primarily hogs, have been on this farm for at least 70 years. We've been here almost 40 years.
This Strep thing in pigs is nothing new, altho the strain may be a new, hot one.
IF, and this is a very big IF, 50,000 people are going in to help ID pigs, it's my guess they are going in to take some cultures and work them up. Quite frankly it doesn't make much sense to me for them to be doing it, but it's a possibility.
I would tend to agree they are up to something else. About 30 years ago there was a hot strain of something or other running thru sow herds here in Iowa. Our vet took dead baby pigs who had died with it, ground them up and made a vaccine to inject other sows who hadn't farrowed yet. The next litters didn't die. They *might* be going to try that. It sure as he!! would beat treating them with vaccine intended for human use, which I understand they've already tried, and thus probably made it ineffective for humans in the upcoming flu season.
Could very well be that you've hit the nail on the head, Judith Anne.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.