Posted on 06/10/2006 2:39:57 PM PDT by blam
Asia-Pacific passes bird flu pandemic test, Australia says
Fri Jun 9, 4:02 PM ET
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian officials praised as creative the responses of Asian and Pacific countries to a hypothetical bird flu pandemic which included discouraging kissing and building a factory to make protective masks.
The scenario tested involved a new strain of bird flu, dubbed the 'Malacca Straits Flu', reaching pandemic proportions within the region after several infected fishermen were rescued by a passing cruise ship.
"The scenario successfully achieved the goal of testing communication responses during the exercise, which lasted 26 hours across eight time zones," the ministers said in a statement.
The exercise, which began in New Zealand on Wednesday and concluded on Thursday with calls to the United States, was designed to test communication links between APEC members.
"The exercise attracted credible responses," Downer and Ruddock said.
"Some of the more creative responses included one offering to immediately build a factory to supply the region with more protective masks and another (member) whose suggested advice to its citizens included to 'Stop kissing and to eat more vegetables.'"
Neil Head, of Emergency Management Australia which coordinated the exercise, said that despite some glitches, the exercise proceeded smoothly.
The main problems were human factors, such as a death in the family of a key official in one case, and the fact that at least one participant was concurrently dealing with a real outbreak of bird flu.
Head said the level of cooperation was encouraging.
"The pandemic threat is remarkable because it's almost entirely preventable," he told AFP.
"The things that make it preventable are early detection, close cooperation and information sharing, and the rapid sourcing and the development of appropriate antibodies and medicines.
"The fact that these (countries) seem willing to do all these things we would have to say is a very positive outcome."
The results of the exercise will be presented at an APEC ministers and leaders conference in Singapore in November.
More than 120 people have died from bird flu since late 2003, most of them in Asia, and world health officials fear that H5N1 virus could mutate into one spread via human-to-human contact.
APEC includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
One more:
[Can you imagine the amount of bacteria and viruses passed between people when clothing are washed in a public laundromat?]
Fear the phone, not the doorknob, US germ expert says
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent Tue May 2, 8:39 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Worried about colds, flu and other germs?
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"Usually the dirtiest handles in public restrooms are urinal flush handles,"
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"Most people don't realize that they actually should wash their hands ( before and ) after they make dinner and also after they do the laundry," Gerba said.
Americans have moved to short-cycle, cold-water washes to save energy and wear and tear on clothing, but this leaves viruses and bacteria largely intact.
"Water at 140 degrees F (60 degrees C) will sanitize laundry," Gerba said. But only 5 percent of Americans use hot water for laundry.
And viruses such as hepatitis A, rotavirus and bacteria such as Salmonella -- all of which cause stomach upsets and diarrhea -- can easily survive the average 28-minute drying cycle.
These are all carried fecally. "There is about a 10th of a gram of feces in the average pair of underwear," Gerba says. "You don't want to be doing your handkerchiefs with your underwear."
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-05-02T123900Z_01_N01451015_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-GERMS-DC.XML
To me that could run the full gamut from immediate access to indefinite delay, depending on who you are dealing with.
I mean, if I decided to call his Holiness, The Pope, on a whim, whipped out my cell phone and, (assuming I knew the number), punched it in, a 'credible response' is that my call would be redirected to someone other than the Pope.
From there I would expect an arduous process before I actually got a chance to confer with him, if ever.
I would find similar results with heads of State, Members of Parliament, Congress, etc., quite "credible".
In this instance, with planning and possible foreknowledge, I guess they were basically checking the phone lines.
As to whether that equates with "successful", well, that is another story.
OTOH, it could be another way to look inside your medicine chest, or see what you had on your person, check it against a prescription database, and have probable cause to search you fro bootleg whatever, even if you were just taking your spouses' meds to them after they forgot them that morning. Every sword has two edges. Time to stock up on what you think you'll need in the near future, imo.
Some things just need to be washed in HOT water, imo.
I have mentioned before that those who grew up in our grandparents' generation had a better understanding of personal hygiene than many modern folk do, just because of the realization that germs brought infection, and before most antibiotics, infections killed people.
As a culture, we have become incredibly hygenically lax.
by Staff Writers New York NY (SPX) Jun 12, 2006
In an effort to improve the tracking of avian influenza, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded $5 million in support for a new initiative that will monitor wild bird populations for the disease around the globe, according to the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which will spearhead the project involving more than a dozen private and public partners.
Called the Global Avian Influenza Network for Surveillance (GAINS), the initiative has also received an additional $1 million from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to continue global monitoring and surveillance efforts underway by WCS and its network of partners.
Specifically, GAINS will help provide increased capacity to: detect avian influenza, including
- the highly pathogenic form of the virus, in wild migratory and resident bird populations;
- gain information on viral strains to track changes;
- use that information to guide domestic and global preparedness and vaccine development;
- and create an open database for real-time information sharing on highly pathogenic avian influenza and other pathogens.
WCS will work in tandem with USAID, the CDC, Wetlands International, Birdlife International, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and others on the initiative.
"We applaud USAID for taking this important step in the fight to prevent the spread of avian influenza," said Dr. Steven Sanderson, President and CEO of WCS. "With help from key partners across the globe, we will be able to eliminate critical gaps in our understanding of this deadly pathogen. With continued funding, this network can become a great bulwark against global threats to public health."
The funds for the new initiative were created when the President signed into law the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Pandemic Influenza (attached to the Defense Appropriations Act), which was passed by Congress in late December 2005. The package includes funds for international disease surveillance and tracking of the movement of avian flu in both wild and domestic bird populations.
"This new partnership marks another important step in U.S. efforts... excerpt more at Terra Daily
Akzo Nobel says it developed prototype for mass application of birdflu vaccine
AMSTERDAM (AFX) - Akzo Nobel NV said its veterinary medicine division Intervet has developed a prototype for the mass application of a vaccine against bird flu and possibly Newcastle Disease.
The prototype vaccine may be sprayed instead of injected, the company said.
"The new prototype vaccine consists of a safe live vaccine against Newcastle Disease (a condition affecting many bird species), which acts as a carrier for....excerpt> more at: link
Good thread--posting fresh articles here on it will be helpful for keeping up.
Thanks, everyone.
First bird flu cases in northern Ukraine June 12, 2006
KIEV (Reuters) - Teams of veterinarians have been sent to destroy domestic poultry in northern Ukraine after the first appearance of bird flu in the region, Interfax Ukraine news agency reported on Monday.
Avian flu had previously been detected late last year in the Crimea peninsula, a major stopover point on migratory routes jutting into the Black Sea in southern Ukraine.
Specialized teams of sanitary workers destroyed well over 200,000 birds after the outbreak in Crimea. No human cases were recorded.
Ukraine's authorities have said that outbreak was brought under control but have predicted further difficulties during the passage of migratory birds through the country this year.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060612/wl_nm/birdflu_ukraine_dc_2
Hope you don't mind a couple of older articles:
Hospitals may help spread flu pandemic
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
"Many reports have shown that hospitals can be a source for spreading such diseases, because health care workers fail to follow even basic hygiene practices such as washing their hands after touching any patient or piece of equipment."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051208/ts_nm/birdflu_usa_dc
Dangerous contamination found in water on US planes
NewScientist.com news service by Kurt Kleiner
Dangerous levels of bacteria have been found in drinking water aboard 15% of planes at US airports, an investigation carried out by the US Environmental Protection Agency has found.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8187
ping... to miscellaneous updates on the thread.
Japan suspends Hungarian poultry imports over bird flu concern (AFP via Yahoo! News)
posted on June 13, 2006 05:27:31 am
Japan has announced a temporary suspension of imports of Hungarian poultry including foie gras over concerns about bird flu in the East European country.
http://www.pandemic-news.info/
Hong Kong reports suspected human bird flu case in south China
HONG KONG (AFP) - A 31-year-old man is suspected to have contracted bird flu in southern China.
The man is in critical condition in hospital after visiting a wet market in Shenzhen city where live chickens were on sale, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said in a statement Tuesday.
It said health department officials from China's Guangdong province had notified Hong Kong of the case. Thousands of people cross the border daily from Guangdong into the southern Chinese territory of Hong Kong.
"He developed fever and pneumonia on June 3. He is now under treatment in a local hospital. His condition is critical," said the statement.
---
The new case was not reported by China's official media on Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060613/hl_afp/healthfluchinahongkong_060613130528
We use copious amounts of water to shower and wash clothes, but look around on the AM commute and see how many nosepickers there are driving down the freeway. That booger could be coming to a doorknob near you...
Even though I question the sanitary nature of the all purpose handkerchief of just a couple of generations ago, we always washed up before we ate, covered out coughs and sneezes, and if used properly, managed to contain most of the effluvia in that old snotrag--without wearing it on our hands.
I have seen folks lately who just don't get it though, wearing the little plastic gloves (in food serving establishments I no longer frequent), running their finger back and forth under their nose, or absent-mindedly picking at a zit as if the glove were to protect them from the food instead of the other way around...uncovered sneezes and coughs abound, and that ejecta is what could spread a virus most effectively.
At present, though this one (H5N1) preferrentially inhabits the deeper spaces in the lungs, and is less likely to be spread through ejaculative exhalation than more common virii which inhabit the upper respiratory tract.
Ag secretary says bird flu easily found (Timewise in humans)
By Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer Tue Jun 6, 8:29 PM ET
WASHINGTON -
Four hours also is how long it takes to get preliminary results in people infected with the H5N1 virus,
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said in the joint interview. But if bird flu ever begins spreading easily among people, that's too long, he warned.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060607/ap_on_sc/bird_flu_interview
Successful patient recruitment helps bring new vaccines to market via 112 locations nationwide
p BALTIMORE, June 13 /PRNewswire/ --
Passport Health, an immunization and travel health center with national headquarters in Baltimore, reports that its participation in vaccine trials will expand this year with several new clinical trials in the pipeline.
"We're helping pharmaceutical companies and the FDA bring vaccines to market because this cannot be done without successful clinical trials and proper recruitment of patients," says Fran Lessans, RN, MS, Founder & CEO of Passport Health, which is the largest private purchaser of vaccinations in the U.S.
With more than 65,000 travel health client visits annually through its 112 nationwide locations, Passport Health can recruit from a large patient population.
The new trials involve a Phase III flu vaccine, as well as vaccines for exotic diseases (shigella and cholera) that are prevalent in Southern Hemisphere and Third World countries.
Previously, Passport Health has worked on clinical trials for anthrax, hepatitis B, influenza and yellow fever. In addition to its many resources,...excerpt more at link
UK scientists call for more research into bird flu
Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:18pm ET
LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists called on Tuesday for more research into how avian flu is spread from wild birds to domestic poultry.
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Easton said there was also a lack of scientific data about how the H5N1 avian flu virus can spread to cats and humans.
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Britain confirmed a case of H5N1 in a dead wild swan in Scotland in April.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=globalNews&storyID=2006-06-12T231829Z_01_L12368940_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIRDFLU-BRITAIN.xml
California June 9th
A rare outbreak of dog flu has swept through a kennel in southern California, raising concerns over the possible spread of an untreatable virus, animal control officials said on Thursday.
The disease, a type A influenza virus called H3N8 by scientists, is believed to have mutated from a horse flu common at racetracks where it leapt to greyhound dogs in the state of Florida in 2000.
The virus, however, does not appear to be transferable humans, experts said. No vaccine is currently available for the dog flu, and it cannot be treated by any specific drug, said Dunne.
The flu spread like wildfire at the facility run by Canine Companions for Independence, an organisation that pairs trained dogs with the disabled that is based in Oceanside, a small town south of Los Angeles. Two dogs have tested positive for the virus and the 62 other dogs in the kennel are displaying characteristic symptoms of coughing and sneezing. All dogs at the facility have been quarantined.
While humans are not thought to be at immediate risk from the virus, influenza changes continuously and further species mutation cannot be completely ruled out, Dunne warned.
http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?id=6363&cat=dis&lang=eng
Thanks so much Lucy--You're tireless at bringing us the latest news, and I appreciate being able to read it here on one thread.
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