Posted on 01/15/2006 2:08:30 AM PST by Mother Abigail
ANKARA (AFP) - A five-year-old Turkish boy has been hospitalized in Istanbul with suspected bird flu which has already killed three children in the east of the country, Anatolia news agency reported.
If confirmed, the boy would be the first case of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu near Turkey's biggest city and commercial capital, in the far west bordering the rest of Europe.
The boy, from the town of Gebze around 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Istanbul, had been in contact with chickens kept in the yard surrounding his house, Anatolia reported.
Suffering from a high fever, he was brought first to a medical center in Gebze for tests before being transferred to the hospital in Istanbul on Saturday. In addition to the three other children, all siblings, who died last week in the eastern city of Van, 15 others have been infected. At least three of those have recovered, according to Turkish press reports.
The siblings were the first human casualties of the disease outside Southeast Asia and China, where the disease has killed nearly 80 people since 2003.
Condition of Two Children Infected with Bird Flu in Turkey Deteriorates
The condition of the two children, hospitalised in the Turkish town of Van with symptoms of bird flu has deteriorated, AFP reported, citing sources from the hospital.
12-year-old Fatma Ozkan is in critical condition and is on assisted breathing, the Chief doctor of the hospital Hussein Avni Sahin said. He added that the two children were in contact with infected domestic birds and were moved to hospital too late, six days after initial symptoms appeared.
When do you suppose each new case of bird flu in Turkey will cease to be "Front Page News," as far as you are concerned? Just asking.
Judging from your screen name, you may want to keep in mind that The Stand is a work of fiction. The plain-old every-day flu is a much bigger threat than bird flu or Captain Tripps.
Good morning, and thanks for posting the article.
Prayers for the little guy and his parents.
Funny thing, I was just thinking about that...
It will cease to be "Front Page News" as far as any of us are concerned when there are thousands of such cases...
Bird flu mutation sparks concern Genetic tweak makes virus favour human nose and throat.
Researchers have sequenced the bird flu viruses that killed two people in Turkey in early January, and say that one of them contains a worrying mutation.
This genetic tweak can make the H5N1 virus more adapted to humans than to birds, and more adapted to the nose and throat than to the lungs. This latter effect could help to increase the chances of bird flu being transmitted between people, researchers say.
Nose and throat
The mutation also has a secondary effect, which may be more worrying.
There are two subtypes of receptors in the human respiratory tract: alpha 2.3, which occurs mainly in the lower respiratory tract; and alpha 2.6, which occurs mainly in the nose and throat. Human flu viruses typically show a preference for the 2.6 receptors, whereas H5N1 strains typically prefer 2.3.
This is good news for those worried about bird flu, since human-to-human transmission is thought to be more likely via droplets coughed from the nose and throat than from infections lower down. But the mutation found in the Turkey viruses is also known to be able to increase the affinity for H5N1 to the 2.6 receptors, points out Sylvie van der Werf, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics of Respiratory Viruses at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France.
Van der Werf adds that this affinity will, however, be affected by other genetic changes in the virus, which at present are an unknown factor.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1558395/posts
I don't understand what point you are trying to make. Are you being sarcastic, or you suggesting that a few dozen cases of a particularly virulent flu is going to cause the media to disband in the near future? That could be a good thing. Then they would cease to become obsessed with Chicken Little non-stories in countries that don't matter and we could all return to the relevant.
Good morning to you..
Just that one little 5 yo boy with H5N1 HPAI won't be front page news, when there are thousands of such cases.
I certainly know the dangers of "ordinary flu"--my brother's 17 yo strong, athletic, brainy and beautiful son died in 2005, Dec. 20, from myocarditis caused by "ordinary flu."
And good morning to you. ;-D
Can you tell me how many people have died from bird flu since media crackpots first started obsessing about it a couple of years ago? I know that it originated in China, where it has so far killed about a dozen people.
As much as anybody who would pick "Mother Abagail" for a screen name secretly awaits the global pandemic so she can fufill her destiny, you may want to think about picking a more promising disease. Bubonic Plague is currently a much bigger threat.
Sure, I can tell you how many have been reported to WHO, that is.
But why?
According to you, "Then they would cease to become obsessed with Chicken Little non-stories in countries that don't matter and we could all return to the relevant."
Just a suggestion: If you think Avian Influenza, High Pathogenicity is a Chicken Little non-story, why not ignore it, and return to the relevant? After all, it's just us fear-mongering panic spreading types that care about it, anyway...
I have no argument with you, and pray that you are correct and I am mistaken. If you think that's crazy, ignore me and go focus on something else.
Children 'critical' in bird flu outbreak
Two Turkish children who have been tested for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu were in a critical condition today, a health ministry official said.
Eighteen people have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain in Turkey and tests were under way today to determine whether more people, including the two children in hospital in the eastern city of Van, have the virus, said Ali Coskun, a senior Health Ministry official.
"Two patients are in a critical condition," Coskun said.
"They are not among the 18 confirmed H5N1 cases."
Coskun identified the children as Fatma Ozcan, 15, and her five-year-old brother Muhammet Ozcan, adding that new test results would be announced this afternoon. It was not clear whether the brother and the sister had been in contact with fowl.
Health officials have said that all 18 people with confirmed H5N1 infection - including three children who died last week in eastern Turkey – apparently had touched or played with birds, and that there was no evidence of person-to-person infection.
The volume of available articles for posting is an indication of the fact that people are talking about this movie virus whether we like it or not. Whenever you, personally find a subject unappealing, you are free to exercise your right to ignore it.
A little background.
In 1997 a mysterious new virus spread like wildfire through the live chicken markets of Hong Kong, killing poultry with alarming speed.
Then, to the shock of scientists, the virus jumped directly from birds to humans - something that had never happened before and has chilling implications.
Virus hunters attempted to get the outbreak under control by slaughtering every chicken in Hong Kong, but then in 2003 a new strain of the virus ripped through the poultry farms across SE Asia where it has now killed over 60 people.
Scientists call it H5N1. So far 75% of the people it has infected have died - a mortality rate higher than smallpox and even the bubonic plague.
And all the while, the H5N1 has been mutating lethally - first killing wild birds that normally carry it without symptoms, then tigers and cats, and then ominously, passing from one human to another.
Every day, H5N1 gets one step closer to becoming a contagious, airborne disease like the common flu.
Good Morning and thank you for the ping.
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.