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.
http://www.denverpost.com/frontpage/ci_3133273
Online sales of flu drugs soar
Trend likely linked to fears of pandemic. Health officials deplore hoarding of antiviral drugs because it reduces supplies needed by the public.
By Katy Human
Denver Post Staff Writer
Stockpiles of the flu-fighting drug Tamiflu are shown Wednesday at an undisclosed location in Great Britain. The U.S. government also is amassing Tamiflu, other antiviral drugs and flu vaccines in case a pandemic strikes the nation. (AP / Chris Radburn)
Internet sales of antiviral drugs at some online pharmacies are up by 1,000 percent or more this year, and health officials, who suspect the trend is related to fear of a flu pandemic, are calling the practice of hoarding both unethical and dangerous.
Private U.S. citizens, including many in Colorado, are purchasing huge amounts of antiviral drugs online, according to several pharmacies.
"We are strongly discouraging this," said Ned Calonge, Colorado's chief medical officer.
"This behavior ... has the potential to reduce supplies that are available for seasonal flu," said Bill Hall, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Tests have shown that both Tamiflu and Relenza can disable the H5N1 strain of bird flu that has killed about 60 people in Asia this fall.
But buying the drugs and tucking them into a drawer in case a pandemic strikes is a bad idea for personal and public- health reasons, health officials said.
Viruses often develop resistance to drugs, experts said. Moreover, antivirals, especially Tamiflu, are in short supply this year, Hall said, and they're needed for the regular flu season. The sole manufacturer, Switzerland's Roche Holding AG, has announced it will build a plant in the United States.
"Their production capacity clearly can't meet demand," Hall said.
Online, demand by individuals is skyrocketing.
"It's crazy," said Mark Catroppa, a vice president with CanadaMedicineShop.com in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company has about 175,000 U.S. customers.
Last year, his company sold no more than 10 doses of Tamiflu or Relenza in any month, with no orders from Colorado, Catroppa said. During the past two weeks, about 400 people a day ordered the drugs, with deliveries to Colorado representing 7 percent of sales, he said.
Drugstore.com, based in Bellevue, Wash., declined to disclose actual sales amounts but reported a huge spike of Tamiflu orders this month. "Demand is well over a 1,000 percent increase over last year," said spokesman Greg French.
People ordering the drugs preventively should be aware that they may not be effective against a flu strain that does become pandemic, said Dave Daigle, spokesman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1506401/posts
I have found the recent news to be very hopeful.
They're doing the right things, culling and quarantining (in Romania), and I have hope that we will be spared.
"Scientists discover deadly bird flu began in Scotland"
I believe there isn't much migration from northern Europe and Asia to North America but there may be some. But, as this q&a points out, some type of transport of birds or human activity, as you say, are much more likely to bring in the influenza:
Q. What is the likelihood that avian influenza will jump the Atlantic to North America?
A. Migration routes tend to be north-south, so there is not a lot of bird traffic from Europe and Asia to North America.
The greatest risk of H5N1 spreading from Asia to Canada is through human activity: travel, illegal transportation of infected birds and movement of poultry products.
West Nile virus, for example, is believed to have come to North America in ducks imported from Israel. However, there is virtually no legal importation of poultry from Asia or Europe.
Dr. Éva Nagy, a virologist at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, Ont., said the risk of avian influenza comes from individual travellers, not poultry or migratory birds, and it is essential that travellers who come into contact with poultry abroad stay away from Canadian farms for at least two weeks. "When you return to Canada and fill out a customs form, it's really important to tell the truth when answering the question about visiting a farm," she said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20051014.FLUSIDE14/TPStory
I would add that bird stowaways on freighters and other vessels are not at all uncommon.
Not true. Birds migrate from Siberia/russia over the Bearing Strait into Alaska and Canada. These birds then move from Canada into the Lower 48 states. Along several pathways. The largest being the Miss. Pathway that includes 12 states.
Hungary Says Bird-Flu Shot Works, Nations Interested (Update1)
Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Hungarian officials said their vaccine that's shown promise against bird flu has drawn interest from countries including the U.S. and Germany that are seeking ways to avert a possible pandemic.
Hungary's health commissioner Mihaly Kokeny today said in an interview on Hungarian television that a vaccine tested in 100 volunteers, including himself and Health Minister Jeno Racz, may protect against the current H5N1 avian strain that killed at least 60 people in Asia and was found in birds in Romania, Turkey and Russia. The country plans to make doses to inoculate its citizens and sell to other nations, health officials said.
(More in link)
Daily Bird Flu News Updates:
BBC - 21th October 2005
Tests show Thai boy has bird flu
THAILAND - A 7-year-old boy in Thailand has tested positive for bird flu, two days after his father died from the disease, a Bangkok hospital has said. But Siriraj Hospital stressed they did not believe the boy, who is recovering, had caught the virus from his father. The 48-year-old farmer was the 13th person in Thailand to die from the flu. The man is said to have slaughtered and eaten a sick bird in his home province of Kanchanaburi, where avian flu outbreaks were reported this week.
Just heard a news blurb on FoxNews about bird flu in wild swans...in Croatia. The imagery/meaning of this boggles me. Have you heard anything through the Orthodox grapevine on how the people are handling this?
My hubby said FoxNews also mentioned that a parrot in Great Britain had it!(Wouldn't that mean it was imported?! What kind of parrot would be in Great Britain now?!)
That's a great question.
Sounds like an import, but I could be wrong.
" For the first time, the virus can survive in chicken faeces and in dead meat, without requiring the flow of fresh blood. This has made it stealthier, claiming victims who had no obvious connection with the agricultural industry. "
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2121462005
Very, very interesting!
FoxNews just said it ***Was*** and imported from ....(drumroll)....
South America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That makes sense.
Thanks DC for the update.
Bird flu found in parrot in British quarantine
By Andrew Gray LONDON (Reuters) - A parrot that died in quarantine in Britain had contracted bird flu but officials do not yet know if it was the lethal strain which has sparked alarm in Europe in recent weeks, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.
Traces of the highly pathogenic H5 avian flu virus were found in the parrot imported from Suriname, South America, and held with other birds from Taiwan, a ministry statement said.
"We've got a lot of work going on in investigating the background to this very important development," Britain's chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds said. "The parrot was in quarantine (and) the birds have been culled in quarantine."
The government said it did not yet know if the virus was of the H5N1 strain, which has killed more than 60 people in four Asian countries since breaking out in late 2003 in South Korea.
It has now reached as far west as European Russia, Turkey and Romania, tracking the paths of migratory birds.
H5N1 has triggered widespread concern because it can transfer to humans in some cases, although only if they have had prolonged and close contact with infected birds, and some experts fear it could mutate to transfer between humans.
Reynolds said it should take a "small number of days" to determine whether the parrot had H5N1. It would be the first case of the strain recorded in Britain, although the parrot was not officially inside the country as it was in quarantine.
Hugh Pennington, a leading microbiologist, said bird flu posed no risk to human health in Britain for now and the case should be simple to tackle as the parrot had been in quarantine.
"It should be very, very easy to nip this particular problem in the bud as we have done in the past with bird flu," he said.
"Bird flu comes to Britain every now and then and it's always been controlled ... by a slaughter policy of birds who the infected birds have met and it hasn't spread into the general bird population of the country," he told BBC News 24 television.
The parrot was part of a mixed consignment of 148 birds that arrived on September 16, the ministry said. They were held with another consignment of 216 birds from Taiwan.
An official with Suriname's Ministry for Natural Resources said the government had not issued any permits for export of animals to England this year, adding veterinary specialists checked birds' health before granting such permits.
The bird had been held in a secure quarantine unit and all the birds there were being culled, Britain's ministry said.
The small number of people who had been in contact with the birds were receiving antiviral treatment as a precautionary measure, the statement added.
"It is very difficult for humans to contract avian influenza. However, the necessary actions to protect human health have been taken in this instance," the ministry said.
"The confirmed case does not affect the UK's official disease-free status because the disease has been identified in imported birds during quarantine," Reynolds said.
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No.
Thanks for the ping M. Espinola.
Apparently so. Which completely amazes me.
So maybe this parrot was from Taiwan as well?
OK, never mind about Taiwan.
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