Posted on 05/18/2006 6:04:27 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe
JAKARTA, May 18 (Reuters) - Pigs have tested positive for bird flu in the same village on Indonesia's Sumatra island where five people have been confirmed infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus, a minister said on Thursday.
The case involving up to seven family members, six of whom have died, has raised alarm around the world because authorities cannot rule out human-to-human transmission.
But the World Health Organisation and Indonesian health officials had been frustrated by the lack of evidence pointing to a source of the virus, usually infected poultry.
The WHO confirmed on Wednesday that five members of the family had contracted H5N1 and tests on a sixth were pending.
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
Wait'll they get around to investigating "The Giant Rat of Sumatra".
Obviously pigs DO fly......
The WHO are really getting around these days.
Not good.
That is a sign that it will jump to people soon. Hope it only give a case of the sniffles when it does.
It certainly seems to increase the probability of a variant humans can readily transmit. Hopefully, the strain which emerges will be far less deadly.
I can see, too, where there would be reticence to slaughter pigs which could represent substantial wealth compared to poultry, although that is a hard enough hit to some folks there.
And I thought birdcrap all over the car was bad enough...
ping
Well all-RIGHTY then - we're back to the big swine flu apocalypse. It's official, we're all gonna die.
Human ingenuity knows no bounds and we'll built the population back up to fighting strength in just a handful, or two, of decades, maybe centuries.
This time, though, there won't be a Dark Age, and no new religions.
Yes, we ARE all gonna die - not necessarily from this. I don't think Third World village health care, or lack thereof, is any indicator for how the disease will affect the US.
Thanks for the ping. I've made my bird flu opus, and I'm sticking to it.
There's no reason to participate or share information when all that happens is ridicule and baiting. Apparently, the group that wants information is much much smaller than the group that thinks discussion of emerging diseases is hilarious.
I would feel better if those who opine that the chance of an Avian Flu pandemic is vanishingly small, would post some actual information by scientists in the field, however, and not "scientists" like Siegel, who are hawking their books.
Never teach a pig to sneeze.
Yeah, but Mohawks will be back in style.
The Democrats will try and put lipstick on those pigs. They always have their heads in the sand.
You mean Beavis and Butthead really aren't interested in new diseases?
Some are, and there's no Beavis or Butthead on my old ping list. But FR isn't the place to discuss them, imho. Too many people who have no interest in the topic feel a need to participate in one way or another.
Fun, huh?
Is there a ping list, and if so, who should I contact?
Yep. Sooner or later. Last time I checked, there is (allowing for those alive) a rough 1 to 1 correspondence between live births and demises, regardless of cause. There is no evidence to suggest the trend will change in the immediate future.
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