Bird Flu- concerns

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NickFun

Electoral Member
Mar 4, 2005
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In a Tunisian Prison awaiting extra
It is NOT ineveitable. The Swine Flu was also said to be inevitable and it never amounted to a hill of beans. If it does hit then we should all have lots of Theraflu - though I heard it may not be effective against the bird flu. Maybe we're all screwed?
 
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Reverend Blair

Council Member
Apr 3, 2004
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Winnipeg
It is inevitable. We know that flu viruses transfer from birds to humans quite often. We know that flu pandemics happen fairly regularly. We know that it is inevitable that, unless we make huge scientific steps, at some point a (not the) bird flu will be responsible for a pandemic in humans.

Scientists severely doubt that we will make huge scientific steps before such a pandemic happens again.
 
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Hard-Luck Henry

Council Member
Feb 19, 2005
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Re: RE: Bird Flu- concerns

NickFun said:
It is NOT ineveitable.
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You can take your pick of sources, Nick, they all say the same thing: It's not "if", it's "when".


http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP40109.htm

http://www.theregister.com/2005/09/08/bird_flu_pandemic/

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=16945

http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=2021342005

http://www.countrydoctor.co.uk/precis/precis - Flu pandemic preparations.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4184496.stm
 
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no1important

Time Out
Jan 9, 2003
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Why an exotic fruit is the world's only weapon against bird flu

A rare herb grown in China used to flavour duck dishes and treat infants for colic is at the centre of a worldwide search for a cure for avian flu.

Tamiflu cannot prevent infection with avian flu but it can reduce its severity. In the absence of an effective vaccine - which has not yet been developed - it is all that stands between the world and what could become a modern plague.

Interesting nevertheless, even if it is not a cure. But reducing effects is a start anyhow.
 
Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze

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Jun 5, 2005
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Bird Flu spread to Greece

BIRD FLU SPREADS TO GREECE
18.10.2005. 07:30:15



Greece's agriculture ministry has confirmed the first positive result for an avian flu virus, following tests from a northeastern Aegean island which detected the presence of the H5 strain in a local turkey.

The positive test was established by an Athens laboratory, based on a batch of nine samples taken on Thursday from a small farm on Oinousses, an island of the northeastern island of Chios near the Turkish coast, the ministry said in a statement.

However, Agriculture Minister Evangelos Bassiakos said experts would need "seven or eight days" to conduct tests to determine whether the virus is the H5N1 strain that can be lethal to humans.

"Before seven or eight days, the time needed to isolate the virus, we cannot talk about a flu virus" potentially transmissible to humans, Mr Bassiakos told a news conference.

Further tests will be carried out in a European Union-certified laboratory in the northern port city of Salonika, the ministry said.

In an emergency note to the local Chios prefecture, deputy agriculture minister Alexandros Kontos ordered local officials to isolate and sanitise the farm, test all other poultry on the island and send the samples to the Salonika lab.

Croatia tests

Meanwhile the European Commission says four wild birds found dead in Croatia will be tested for bird flu, as soon as possible.

Bird flu hasn't been detected in Croatia which has banned poultry imports from 15 mostly Southeast Asian countries affected by the disease, as well as from Turkey and Romania.

Bird flu comes in several forms but H5 itself is not necessarily considered deadly and has been detected in various parts of the world.

The EU's executive said today it was preparing to impose a ban on the movement of live poultry and poultry products from the island of Chios.

The initial test result came as Europe attempted to balance moves to test for outbreaks of deadly bird flu with the need to reassure EU citizens amid growing concern about a disease with the potential to mutate and cause a pandemic among humans.

No human cases have been reported in Europe, but the World Health Organisation said it was concerned European countries might divert funding and attention away from South-East Asia, which was the most likely ground zero for any pandemic.

Greece's neighbour Turkey, only a few kilometres off Chios, has also detected cases of deadly birdflu, as well as Romania, both of which have culled thousands of birds in the past few days.

Greek government officials said there was no need to cull any of the other birds but jittery neighbours and European countries on migratory routes stepped up testing of birds.

Dead swans

Romania recorded no new cases of bird flu after a mass cull of poultry today in the Danube delta but was testing 12 swans found dead last week.

"The swans are suspect of having died of bird flu and further tests would be carried locally to see whether they are infected with the virus," Marian Avram of the delta's veterinary watchdog told Reuters.

US Health Secretary Mike Leavitt, speaking in Indonesia, warned no nation was properly prepared for a birdflu pandemic and said the disease could spread.

"If one thinks of the world as though it were a vast forest, if there is a spark in the forest and you are there to see it, you are able to simply snuff it out," Mr Leavitt said.

"However, if it's allowed to burn for an hour or two hours, it often becomes uncontainable."

The feared mutation of the virus into a form that is easily transmitted between humans is most likely in South-East Asia, where millions of birds were culled to try to halt the disease's spread, said Peter Cordingley, spokesman for the WHO in Manila.

Bird flu origins

The H5N1 strain first emerged in Hong Kong in 1997, when it caused the death or destruction of 1.5 million birds. Eighteen people fell ill, of who six died.

It re-emerged in 2003 in South Korea and has spread to China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Turkey and Romania. H5N1 has infected 117 people in four countries and killed 60, according to the WHO.

While the EU appealed to countries to test dead birds, its centre for communicable diseases tried to play down the threat to the public.
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Jo Canadian

Jo Canadian

Council Member
Mar 15, 2005
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PEI...for now
 
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Hard-Luck Henry

Council Member
Feb 19, 2005
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One of the benefits of being an island is that strict quarantine regs mean we avoid outbreaks of diseases, such as rabies, which often afflict the continent.

There's nothing we can do to stop wild bird migrations, though. The drug companies must be rubbing their greedy little hands with glee.
 
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Reverend Blair

Council Member
Apr 3, 2004
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The news broke less than a day after Britain announced its first case of bird flu, in a parrot that died in a quarantine after being imported from Suriname on South America's northeast coast.
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It wasn't actually dead, it was pining for the fjords. :wink:
 
N

no1important

Time Out
Jan 9, 2003
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Australia lifted a ban on live bird imports from Canada

Sydney — Australia lifted a ban on live bird imports from Canada on Wednesday, imposed after three racing pigeons carrying bird flu antibodies were destroyed in quarantine.

Australian Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said Canadian officials had provided compelling evidence that the country was “free of highly pathogenic avian influenza” and capable of meeting the new testing requirements.
 
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