Avian Flu Surveillance Project

Various ^ | May 9, 2005 | Vanity

[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.

[unseen]

The WHO works well only as long as they get help from the host country, When the host country says no we don't want that to be reported or no we don't want you to do this the WHO follows along with them. That is the problem with the UN everyone wants the US to concede to their demands but they do not want to have to concede to the same demands. We should not handcuff ourselves for the sake of the world not being scared of us. This is where we need a very strong Diplomatic corp. I had hope that Condi would shake things up on that front but I think the Diplomats are as bad as the politicians. The STATE DEP. should step in and offer incentives/ trade/ joint treaties and threaten embargos/ aid cut-off/ etc to get the countries to do what is best for the world population. If the truth about the pandemic would hurt the countries trade we could help. We need to be the White-hat cowboy again not the evil Satan.

[Judith Anne]

WHO is next to useless.

[unseen]

yeah pretty much. I wonder if they will be able to sleep with themselves when millions die and they could have reduced or stopped the bloodletting. NAH....Rwanda didn't seem to phase them, nor Dafur, nor Cambodia

[Dog Gone]

If the collective analysis on this thread is correct, it's too late for WHO to assist in coming up with an effective vaccine for avian flu in time for next winter's American flu season.

So, either it will hammer us or it won't, but WHO will be irrelevant to that outcome.

[Kelly_2000]

"World Health Organization (WHO), which is in charge of the global effort against the virus, has so far received just six samples, the last of which was sent in October 2004."

yes I have seen this release, I can also say personally that is is complete rubbish.

[Dog Gone]

That's somewhat more encouraging, if rather cryptic.

[Kelly_2000]

I am part of the data exchange program in both Europe and USA, our lab exchanges data as XML and CSV that includes data form other locations. There are complete record sets for Asian Pacific rim Europe by west and eastern regions and the Americas.

[Dog Gone]

If you're seeing spreadsheets with real data, then those stories are bogus. But why is WHO complaining about the lack of data? CYA time?

[Dog Gone]

Bird flu found in Indonesian pigs
Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) -  Bird flu has infected pigs in Indonesia, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday, raising fears of a wider outbreak in the world's fourth-most populous country and Southeast Asia's biggest economy. The ministry conducted tests on pigs after local scientists reported that pigs in several farms on the main island of Java were infected. "We will continue to take some measures to prevent the avian influenza virus from spreading," said Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyanto. "As soon as we have enough details, we will explain it further." So far there have been no reports of people in Indonesia being infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus. Since 2003, 36 Vietnamese, 12 Thais and four Cambodians have been killed by the H5N1 strain. Pigs can carry human flu viruses, which can combine with the avian viruses, swap genes, and create virulent new strains, health experts say. They fear the virus could mutate into a form which can pass easily among humans and trigger a global pandemic that could kill millions. Specimens from Indonesian poultry workers have been sent for tests in Hong Kong as a precaution, officials said. "At the moment, the government doesn't have an effective way to prevent the disease being transmitted from fowl to pigs. There is no vaccination yet for pigs," said Tri Satya Putri Naipospos, director of animal health at the ministry.
Jakarta Post

[Kelly_2000]

Not sure what this means, the idea of a lack of data is ridiculous. I am going to forward this release to the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme (EISS) see what they say also. This is pissing me off to be honest

[Kelly_2000]

"Bird flu found in Indonesian pigs"

And this is news?????

[Kelly_2000]

"If you're seeing spreadsheets with real data, then those stories are bogus. But why is WHO complaining about the lack of data? CYA time?"

I just got a phone with a friend in London who I visited last month during a round trip to China. Please look at this web resource for a better impression of what is happening in the European part of the network. For reasons I mentioned earlier I cannot mention where I work on line, so i am leaving the US laboratory network out of the picture. there are 4 times as many collaborative laboratories in the Americas:

"Laboratory network description The CNRL (Community Network of Reference Laboratories) for human influenza in Europe has its roots in a collaborative effort to perform influenza surveillance through sentinel networks which started in 1996 with seven European countries. Over the years, the collaboration was further intensified leading to the creation of the CNRL. The CNRL is closely associated with the WHO through its network of National Influenza Centres (NICs) and collaboration with the WHO-Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Mill Hill, London. The CNRL currently includes (32 laboratories 25 of which are NICs in 21 countries) in 24 countries and, ultimately, reference laboratories from all European Union countries will be included. "

EISS Laboratory Resources

[Kelly_2000]

Sorry that last link appears to be broken:

http://www.eiss.org/html/lb_description.html

[unseen]

IT IS STARTING .......

Although WHO has complained about a lack of samples, they have indicated that they were too busy to verify the fatal swine infections in Korea. Moreover, the WHO makes pronouncements about the absence of reassortment in Vietnam H5N1 isolates, although they have very limited data. Likewise, there has been no announcement on the fatal infections in dogs in the United States. Explanations for the meningitis outbreaks in the Philippines and India have also been lacking.

The recent infections of people, birds, pigs, and dogs create striking parallels with the 1918 flu pandemic. The fatal infections in the fall were preceded by mild but unusually widespread reports of atypical infections in the spring.

Although it is 87 years later and the number of scientific and medical advances has been significant, simple monitoring of various influenzas, including H5N1 is scandalously poor.
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05130501/H5N1_Meningitis_India.html

[Kelly_2000]

Yes there is a some problem here with what that WHO spokesman has said. Unless you are involved in a direct way with the surveillance program, you are unaware that a international data system that is accessible to anyone with an Internet connection and a PC is available. With data warehousing, mapping, access, synchronization etc. I cannot believe they would imply that nothing exists. What the hell is going on???????

look here if you do not believe me:

NEDSS

And this is a system I synchronize data with almost every month and reference every day:

System Overview

[Kelly_2000]

One last link so you know more about NEDSS and what is happening in the background that is not reported by the media.

What IS NEDSS

[unseen]

Kelly,

The genie is out of its bottle, WHO is in cover your tracks mode blame the other guy

[Kelly_2000]

Again I am speechless at this point.

[Judith Anne]

I just finished reading a thread over at curevents, I'm going to post a link here:

http://www.curevents.com/vb/showthread.php?t=14235

Then, I'm going to ping everyone to read it.

[Judith Anne]

I'm pinging everyone to the curevents.com thread at the link in post 99.

A bunch of more current information, and a lengthy discussion about the meaning of the information is contained there; my assessment is that the far east is stirring a soup which may turn out to be lethal...