Avian Flu Surveillance Project

The vaccine from Hungary has a great chance of being effective if the virus mutates, btw, because it will stimulate polyclonal antibodies.

migration discussion

"So maybe this parrot was from Taiwan as well? "

The article states the following:

"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."

The question is where is the bird (or birds) which gave this poor parrot Bird Flu?

With Avian Flu in conjuntion with key geostrategic flash points, Syria & Iran, it's going to be a long winter...

A good question.

I was watching Studio 2 on TV Ontario the other day, and some woman medical bigwig with the Canadian Health Ministry was being interviewed. She mentioned 10 million potential fatalities in Canada wasn't unreasonable. Moreover, the express concern at this moment is a recombinant form arising where an individual already infected with the regular seasonal H2H influenza's is exposed to H5N1 somehow. They said that scenario would be most likely with farmers. She said that is a situation they're watching very closely.

I wonder how they're growing the virus; its 100% lethal to chickens.

Nevermind

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_World_Bird_Flu.html

Countries try to prevent bird flu cases
By CATHERINE MCALOON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

LONDON -- Britain and Croatia confirmed cases of bird flu on Friday as countries around the world scrambled to put in place measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

In Croatia, the Agriculture Ministry said the country's first cases of bird flu were confirmed in six swans found dead in a national park. British officials said a parrot that had been imported from South America died of bird flu in quarantine.

In both cases, authorities did not know if the birds had the deadly H5N1 strain that has devastated poultry stocks across Asia and killed 60 people in the last two years. The strain has recently been found in birds in Russia, Turkey and Romania.

The European Union said Friday it was preparing a ban on all poultry imports from Croatia. EU officials have previously ordered restrictions on bird markets and shows and urged nations to present a program of vaccination for zoo birds as part of measures to head off the spread of the disease.

The EU's executive office said Croatian veterinary authorities had told them the H5 bird flu virus had been isolated in samples taken from wild swans found dead near a pond and a fish farm in the eastern part of the country.

About 1,500 migratory swans arrived in the area a few days ago and a fish farmer then found about 15 of them dead, the EU said. Tests carried out by Croatian experts on samples from six of the birds led to the discovery of the virus.

Croats had feared the arrival of bird flu in their country - a major migratory route for various bird species.

Britain's chief veterinarian, Debby Reynolds, said Friday the diseased parrot, which had been imported from Suriname and held in a quarantine unit with a shipment of birds from Taiwan, had tested positive for a "highly pathogenic" form of bird flu.

Further tests were being carried out to see if the bird carried the H5N1 strain, which is easily transmitted between birds, but is hard for humans to contract. Experts are closely watching the disease, however, for fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted between humans.

The EU, which has also taken measures to restrict the import of live birds and feathers from Russia following the spread of bird flu there, said its vets were continuing to carry out tests on samples from suspect birds found in Greece.

Norway on Friday joined other European countries in ordering poultry farmers to keep their flocks indoors as a precaution against the disease.

In Latin America, meanwhile, top health officials from six Andean nations made plans to prevent a pandemic as Venezuela closed its border with Colombia over concerns about a milder strain not fatal to humans.

Top regional health officials held a hastily arranged meeting Friday in Peru's capital of Lima, downplaying the risk of bird flu hitting Latin America because it is largely isolated from migratory bird routes thought to be responsible for carrying the disease recently to Turkey and Romania.

But Peruvian Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti said the six nations did agree to negotiate as a bloc to obtain Tamiflu, the drug thought to be most effective in treating the disease in humans.

The Andean officials also agreed to establish a group to develop "a proposal to permit confronting jointly an eventual flu pandemic that would affect our region," according to a statement.

Honduras and Panama also said Friday they were monitoring their borders, had prohibited importation of birds from affected nations and would keep an eye on migratory birds, which officials fear could carry the disease to the Americas from Asia

Ukrainian Specialists Do Not Rule Out Pandemic of Mixed Flu on Basis Of Human And Bird Flu

Indonesia 'covered up' bird flu: paper

Bulgaria Awaits Risky Bird Migration in 10 Days

Doctors plan to flee flu (Australia)

Bird Flu in Croatia, UK Confirmed

Top news: 22 October 2005, Saturday.

Croatia and the UK have both confirmed single cases of avian flu on their territories on Saturday.

Croatia's Agriculture Ministry announced that six dead swans were tested positive for the avian flu virus. Following an emergency cabinet meeting called by PM Ivo Sanader, Croatia has established a crisis unit in an attempt to restrict the spreading of the disease.

The six dead swans were found near the Croatian borders with Hungary and Serbia. The deadly virus has not been detected in swans before, Croatian media claim. According to Croatian virologists there is a possibility that cases of avian flu are present in Europe but have not yet been found.

Sanader claimed that the virus discovered in the swans is not of the deadly H5N1 strain.

A parrot that died under quarantine was infected with the avian flu virus, Great Britain confirmed as well.

Veterinary officials announced that the bird was imported from Surinam in September but did not give any information about its time of death.

This case did not mean that there was avian flu in the UK, officials stated, because the bird had been imported and had died in quarantine, so there was a possibility that the virus hadn't reached any local birds.

It is still unclear whether the virus that killed the parrot is of the deadly H5N1 type.

In the meantime reports by Chinese newspapers claimed that in case of registered human-to-human bird flu transfers, the country is prepared to close its borders. Saving lives would be a priority for Chinese authorities, the reports stated, even if it meant slowing down the economy.

Cases of the potentially lethal H5N1 strain of bird 'flu were confirmed in Romania, Turkey and Russia.

About 120 people worldwide have been diagnosed with the H5N1 strain since 2003, leading to 60 deaths.

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=54104

"Ukrainian Specialists Do Not Rule Out Pandemic of Mixed Flu on Basis Of Human And Bird Flu"

Yep,that's about what I'd expect...that's why it's important to get the flu shot this year.

Swedish dead duck....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1507405/posts

Avian Flu Updates

It's Flying Westward

Sweden confirms case of bird flu

Hindustan Times, October 22d, 2005: "Sweden confirmed at least one case of bird flu late on Saturday, but said it was not yet known if it was the deadly strain that has swept through Asia."

========================================

Scientists try to identify bird flu strains found in Croatia, Sweden, Britain

Canadian Press, October 22d, 2005: LONDON (AP) - Scientists were conducting tests Saturday to determine whether bird flu cases discovered in Britain, Sweden and Croatia are the lethal strain that has killed more than 60 people, as countries around the world scrambled to halt the spread of the virus.

======================================

Bird flu drugs to be kept safe in secret hideaways

Sunday Star-Times October 23rd, 2005: The (New Zealand)government will soon have 850,000 doses of the anti-viral medicine Tamiflu in secret "secure locations" around the country ready for an influenza pandemic.

The procedure for distributing the drug has yet to be finalised but the Health Ministry says if an isolated outbreak occurs it will be used to ringfence the sick and those close to them.

The ministry says about 60,000 front line health workers, police, custom officials and civil defence workers will be eligible for a dose of Tamiflu as soon as they show symptoms of the disease. No one will get a course of the antiviral drug to be taken preventively.

If an outbreak occurs in many centres or across the country then the Tamiflu will be distributed through 80 temporary facilities to those who are sick and meet criteria. They will either be assessed for eligibility by a GP or nurse at a community assessment centres or by telephone."

=========================================

Call for ban on wild bird trade in flu alert

Telegraph.co.uk, October 23rd, 2005: Public health experts fear that exotic birds smuggled into Britain will provide the "Trojan horse" for the spread of deadly avian flu.

The warning came as scientists carried out more tests on a batch of parrots and other exotic birds culled on Friday after the discovery of the country's first case of the H5 strain of the virus."

A vet examines a "Polly the parrot" at a zoo in in Rome

===========================================

Armed police to guard bird flu drugs

The Independent (UK) October 23rd, 2005: "Armed police are to guard stocks of drugs used to fight bird flu as part of emergency measures if a pandemic hits Britain, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

The drugs will be handed out at chemists and specialist walk-in centres to prevent doctors being overwhelmed by demand.

The new measures, contained in Department of Health documents, follow a realisation that the health service will be unable to cope as the virus sweeps through the country.

=========================================

New bird flu cases emerge

ABC Online, Australia - October 23rd, 2005:As Russia and Sweden report new cases of bird flu, "Red" China says it will close its borders if it finds a single case of human-to-human transmission.

China's sheer size and its attempts to conceal the SARS epidemic in 2003 have prompted fears among some experts that it has had more bird flu cases than officially recorded.

Russian authorities say they have uncovered more cases of bird flu in the Urals and are investigating a suspected outbreak in the Altai region close to the Kazakh border.

Bosnia banned the import of poultry from neighbouring Croatia and also forbade the transport of wild fowl and poultry and the slaughter and sale of poultry in outdoor markets.

Italy said it was banning imports of live poultry of any species and all related products from Croatia, Romania and other Balkan countries.

Slovenia, also a neighbour of Croatia, prohibited outdoor poultry breeding in one part of the country in line with the EU regulations."

======================================

Thai boy with bird flu has fully recovered: health officials

CBC News, Canada, October 22nd, 2005: BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - "Public health officials have ruled out human-to-human transmission of bird flu in a seven-year-old boy whose father died of the disease last week, a senior Thai health official said Saturday, adding that the boy has fully recovered.

Ronarit Benphat no longer has a fever or lung infection, but doctors will monitor him for two more weeks, said Dr. Thawat Suntrajarn, director-general of the Department of Communicable Disease Control."

Click here

Understanding Bird Flu

Map /H5N1 Outbreaks as of 8-30-05 Major Flyways of Migratory Birds

I talked to my physician last week about the avian flu. I wanted him to prescribe Tamiflu and let me buy it from Canada or somewhere. He told me that stock piling Tamiflu is a waste of time and money because Tamiflu doesn't stop Avian flu, and that all the known human cases of bird flu are with people who kept and/or ate contaminated birds.

Who should I believe, my phisican or the blow dried bimbo on the 11oclock news?

Thanks for taking this on...

Oh boy Medical men in conflict LOL

My doctor firmly believes that for now, Tamiflu should be purchased and held in reserve and then only taken ..if.. Avian Flu has been confirmed in the Northeast area. Then with a 3 to 6 month supply (which he already issued) the Tamiflu is taken as a preventative measure, once daily.

He also said to go ahead and get the regular flu shot and the pneumonia shot which covers a numbers of years (I need more data on that one)

He did state if this thing mutates and then is a mutation of the mutation all of us are sunk until a vaccine is produced and that could 6 to 8 months.

In terms of relying on the government, forget-about-it. We are on our own. As a precaution I feel having the Tamiflu won't hurt, and if nothing else it does cover existing A & B influenza.

Prior to a serious, bimbo, media driven panic on Tamiflu, in my opinion, and my Doc's, it's better to be safe then what around listening to the foolish mindset telling us not to be concerned about anything. I heard that relating to my 'paranoia' over future Islamic terrorism - just prior to 9-11. When crude oil sunk to $30 (2003) brokers said it would not rise to $50, as I stated, plus scores of other baloney.

The doctor mentioned Relenza Diskhaler as equal, possibly even better then Tamiflu (Both meds may be advised) in addition to others, coupled with homeopathic remedies for 'Bird Flu', but even he required more research in that department. At least was open to discussing a very broad range of solutions.

It helps to have a friendly doctor-patient relationship as well. The doctor & I speak on all the major issues of economics, global events, etc. My dentist also advised taking precautions. These guys have that feeling something is in the wind and in the near future.

Vira 38 - Shown to inhibit and prevent infection of Bird Flu Virus (H5N1) and Type A human influenza virus in vitro.

Run on Drug for Avian Flu Has Physicians Worried

This is interesting...and cheaper than the $$$ La Roche $$$ Swiss version...

Generic version, 99 percent similar to Tamiflu, was manufactured ...

****

Been hearing about this thing.
Thanks for the ping and maybe I better read the thread huh?
Plus I travel overseas and could be more at risk....so thanks man.

"..maybe I better read the thread huh?

It wouldn't hurt :)

"Plus I travel overseas and could be more at risk.."

[Right now] in the Europe, Russia, Near East (Turkey) & the UK the most recent 'reported' cases making the news are bird to bird transmissions of Avian 'Bird' flu (H5N1).

However there could conceivably be a mutation from the current bird to bird, bird to human transmission, to the deadly human to human transmission. If the mutated form of Avian flu does take place, picture the following scenario;

The Schlub & The Bird Flu

There's this schlub who visits London, departing from JFK. While in London the schlub gets stuck in an elevator with a lady coughing her head off. In a couple of days the poor schlub begins sniffling & coughing a bit.

By the 3rd day the now Bird flu infected schlub begins to really feel run down, plan lousy, thus decides to return to NY, so he changes his ticket at Heathrow, hops on a fully loaded Virgin Airways flight, coughing & sneezing, all the way across the Atlantic.

Once back at JFK the sickly schlub grabs a cab and coughs his way back to Midtown, with the cabie asking "Are you alright man? You might want to see your doctor."

Regrettably the schlub is not the only one who needs to see a doctor.

(Within 48 hours of contracting (H5N1) Avian 'Bird' flu, current available medicine must be taken to counter the effects.)

Bird Flu Special Report - www.techcentralstation.com

Bird flu – answers to some frequently asked questions - Radio Nederland Wereldomroep