Dogubayazit, Turkey — As Turkey reported more suspected cases of bird flu among people, a World Health Organization official said Monday the likelihood of the H5N1 virus mutating into a more dangerous form increases with every new human infection.
Contact between poultry and people must be minimized to contain the threat, said Guenael Rodier, a senior WHO official for communicable diseases.
“It's clear that the virus is well-established in the region,” Dr. Rodier said.
“The front line between children and animals, particularly backyard poultry, is too large,” he said, adding that contact poultry-human contact must be reduced.
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“The more humans infected with the avian virus, the more chance it has to adapt,” Dr. Rodier said during a visit to the village Dogubayazit, home of two teenage siblings confirmed to have died of the H5N1 virus last week after they were hospitalized in the nearby city of Van.
A third sibling was also believed to have died of bird flu, but a WHO lab has not yet confirmed H5N1 as the cause. The doctor who treated the three children in Van said they probably contracted the illness while playing with dead chickens.
The fourth case in Turkey confirmed by the WHO also involved a person in close contact with fowl.
So far, Dr. Rodier said, the Turkish patients appear to have caught the disease from infected domestic birds — the normal path of the disease — and not from each other.
Health officials are monitoring the disease's spread for fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted between people and spark a pandemic. WHO labs also watching for genetic changes in the virus that could allow it to move from human to human.
The findings of new research released Monday, however, offer a bit of hope. Although not definitive, the study suggests the virus is more widespread than thought but it probably doesn't kill half its victims, as feared.
“The results suggest that the symptoms most often are relatively mild and that close contact is needed for transmission to humans,” wrote Dr. Anna Thorson of Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm and colleagues who conducted the study. It was published in Monday's edition of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Indonesia and China each reported a new case of suspected avian flu among people on Monday, but the situation in Turkey remained the focus of attention.
The death of the two Turkish teens from Dogubayazit last week were the first fatalities from the H5N1 strain of the virus outside East Asia.
Turkish health officials said Monday their preliminary tests are showing more human cases. The new results raised the number of cases among people in Turkey to 15, according to Turkish authorities.
The WHO indicated Monday there may be 10 additional preliminary positive cases in Turkey but maintained its confirmed count at four until it has complete laboratory information. WHO does not formally count cases until its own labs have confirmed the results, thus explaining the discrepancy between the WHO and Turkish counts.
Turkish officials said new cases are turning up in towns and villages hundreds of kilometres apart, in every section of Turkey except the west.
In addition, more than 60 people with flu-like symptoms who came in close contact with fowl had been hospitalized around Turkey and were being tested, officials said.
On Monday, a fourth sibling of the three who died was released from Van hospital after tests indicated he did not have the disease. Six-year-old Ali Hasan Kocyigit, the family's only surviving child, left hospital in his uncle's arms, shyly gazing at cameras and journalists waiting outside.
Two suspected H5N1 cases reported Sunday in Ankara, about 1,900 kilometres west of Van, involved boys aged five and two who apparently caught the virus while playing with gloves their father used to handle two dead wild ducks.
An eight-year-old girl hospitalized in Van with what Turkish labs showed was H5N1 apparently contracted the virus by hugging and kissing dead chickens.
On Monday, Health Minister Recep Akdag arrived with WHO officials in Dogubayazit.
“If as a community, we take the necessary measures and educate (people) we can in a short period of time combat this,” Mr. Akdag said.
But he said because Turkey was on the path of migratory birds, the country would continue to be at risk. He urged people to abandon raising poultry in backyards.
“The earlier we realize this, the earlier we will be rid” of bird flu, he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesian authorities reported Monday that a 39-year-old man with a history of contact with poultry had died of bird flu, according to preliminary tests.
In China, authorities said tests indicated a six-year-old boy in stable condition at a hospital in the central province of Hunan has tested positive for the H5N1 strain. Poultry at the boy's home died before he fell ill, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Xinhua said the WHO had been alerted. If confirmed by the WHO, it would be China's eighth known case of human infection, including three people who died.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060109.wbyrdfloo0109a/BNStory/International/
So what would you do if bird flu came to Canada. I mean H5N1 not the bird flu this summer.
And does anyone know what the Canadian government will do?
And finally, will the U.S get involved in domestic issues if Canada or Mexico birds show signs of H5N1?
Contact between poultry and people must be minimized to contain the threat, said Guenael Rodier, a senior WHO official for communicable diseases.
“It's clear that the virus is well-established in the region,” Dr. Rodier said.
“The front line between children and animals, particularly backyard poultry, is too large,” he said, adding that contact poultry-human contact must be reduced.
Advertisements
Stock Profile Quote
For an in-depth look at Canadian and U.S. stocks. Enter your stock symbol here. GO Symbol Lookup
Sponsored by:
For an in-depth look at Canadian and U.S. stocks. Enter your stock symbol here. Symbol Lookup
Sponsored by:
“The more humans infected with the avian virus, the more chance it has to adapt,” Dr. Rodier said during a visit to the village Dogubayazit, home of two teenage siblings confirmed to have died of the H5N1 virus last week after they were hospitalized in the nearby city of Van.
A third sibling was also believed to have died of bird flu, but a WHO lab has not yet confirmed H5N1 as the cause. The doctor who treated the three children in Van said they probably contracted the illness while playing with dead chickens.
The fourth case in Turkey confirmed by the WHO also involved a person in close contact with fowl.
So far, Dr. Rodier said, the Turkish patients appear to have caught the disease from infected domestic birds — the normal path of the disease — and not from each other.
Health officials are monitoring the disease's spread for fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted between people and spark a pandemic. WHO labs also watching for genetic changes in the virus that could allow it to move from human to human.
The findings of new research released Monday, however, offer a bit of hope. Although not definitive, the study suggests the virus is more widespread than thought but it probably doesn't kill half its victims, as feared.
“The results suggest that the symptoms most often are relatively mild and that close contact is needed for transmission to humans,” wrote Dr. Anna Thorson of Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm and colleagues who conducted the study. It was published in Monday's edition of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Indonesia and China each reported a new case of suspected avian flu among people on Monday, but the situation in Turkey remained the focus of attention.
The death of the two Turkish teens from Dogubayazit last week were the first fatalities from the H5N1 strain of the virus outside East Asia.
Turkish health officials said Monday their preliminary tests are showing more human cases. The new results raised the number of cases among people in Turkey to 15, according to Turkish authorities.
The WHO indicated Monday there may be 10 additional preliminary positive cases in Turkey but maintained its confirmed count at four until it has complete laboratory information. WHO does not formally count cases until its own labs have confirmed the results, thus explaining the discrepancy between the WHO and Turkish counts.
Turkish officials said new cases are turning up in towns and villages hundreds of kilometres apart, in every section of Turkey except the west.
In addition, more than 60 people with flu-like symptoms who came in close contact with fowl had been hospitalized around Turkey and were being tested, officials said.
On Monday, a fourth sibling of the three who died was released from Van hospital after tests indicated he did not have the disease. Six-year-old Ali Hasan Kocyigit, the family's only surviving child, left hospital in his uncle's arms, shyly gazing at cameras and journalists waiting outside.
Two suspected H5N1 cases reported Sunday in Ankara, about 1,900 kilometres west of Van, involved boys aged five and two who apparently caught the virus while playing with gloves their father used to handle two dead wild ducks.
An eight-year-old girl hospitalized in Van with what Turkish labs showed was H5N1 apparently contracted the virus by hugging and kissing dead chickens.
On Monday, Health Minister Recep Akdag arrived with WHO officials in Dogubayazit.
“If as a community, we take the necessary measures and educate (people) we can in a short period of time combat this,” Mr. Akdag said.
But he said because Turkey was on the path of migratory birds, the country would continue to be at risk. He urged people to abandon raising poultry in backyards.
“The earlier we realize this, the earlier we will be rid” of bird flu, he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesian authorities reported Monday that a 39-year-old man with a history of contact with poultry had died of bird flu, according to preliminary tests.
In China, authorities said tests indicated a six-year-old boy in stable condition at a hospital in the central province of Hunan has tested positive for the H5N1 strain. Poultry at the boy's home died before he fell ill, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Xinhua said the WHO had been alerted. If confirmed by the WHO, it would be China's eighth known case of human infection, including three people who died.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060109.wbyrdfloo0109a/BNStory/International/
So what would you do if bird flu came to Canada. I mean H5N1 not the bird flu this summer.
And does anyone know what the Canadian government will do?
And finally, will the U.S get involved in domestic issues if Canada or Mexico birds show signs of H5N1?