Bird Flu Could be Unstopable.......???

[Tbar]

US warns bird flu could go global Wed Oct 12,11:40 AM ET



PHNOM PENH (AFP) - The US health secretary said that an outbreak of bird flu in Southeast Asia could spark an unstoppable pandemic, as he led a team through the region to find ways of stopping the deadly disease.

"If we find there is human-to-human transmission anywhere, there is danger everywhere," Secretary for Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt told reporters.

"So it is of significant importance to both Cambodia and other countries in the region, and the United States and the nations of the world that have the capacity, to identify at the earliest possible moment when that has occurred."

Scientists fear that the H5N1 bird flu virus, which has killed more than 60 people in Southeast Asia since late 2003, could mutate to spread easily among humans, causing a global pandemic that could kill millions.

"Once it starts, it is impossible to stop. But if we can catch it before it begins to spread widely, it can be stopped to the benefit of us all," Leavitt said.

Leavitt is leading a top-level team of US health officials and the head of the World Health Organization, Jong Wook Lee, though Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to see how the region has tried to contain the H5N1 virus.

He urged Cambodia and other countries in the region to educate farmers, health care workers and public health officials on the symptoms of bird flu so that any human cases can be tested and treated quickly.

His team met Wednesday with Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun before heading to the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh to discuss ways of fighting the disease, US embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle told AFP.

The United States and Cambodia signed a cooperation agreement Tuesday to combat the feared pandemic. Leavitt also pledged 1.86 million dollars to help Cambodia boost defences against the disease.

In Laos, where the delegation landed late Wednesday, he was expected to sign a deal with the government boosting joint efforts to monitor for bird flu, with the United States promising experts and other aid if an outbreak occurs.

The delegation was then set to travel to Vietnam.

Some cases of bird flu were reported in poultry in Laos in 2003. The communist nation has not recorded any human victim and said poultry have been clean so far this year.

US President George W. Bush last month announced a new global effort to prevent a pandemic, as European nations have bolstered their efforts to prevent the disease's spread.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051012/pl_afp/healthflucambodialaos_051012154016

 

[JohnBoyToo]

So if I understand this correctly...
the ONLY way it spreads is by people going to the region and then bringing it out....

right ?

Sorta like what THESE people are doing ?????!!!!!????

Have we heard the word Quarantine ?

 

[W4RLR]

But they're DIPLOMATS! The rules don't apply to them!

 

[Tbar]

Deadly Asian bird flu reaches fringes of Europe By Jeremy Smith
Thu Oct 13, 8:45 AM ET



BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A strain of bird flu that can be deadly for humans has spread from Asia to the fringes of Europe, the European Commission said on Thursday, warning countries to prepare for a potential pandemic.

EU Health and Consumer Protection chief Markos Kyprianou said a strain of bird flu found in Turkey had been identified as the same H5N1 virus that killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003 and forced the slaughter of millions of birds.

The European Union's executive was also assuming that bird flu found in Romania was the same virulent strain, he said, though further tests are needed to confirm this.

"The virus found in Turkey is avian flu H5N1 high pathogenic virus," he told a news conference. "It's true that scientists caution us and warn us that there will be a pandemic."

Experts fear H5N1 could mutate into a virus which spreads easily among humans, possibly killing millions of people.

The European Commission has banned imports of live birds and poultry meat from both Turkey, where it was discovered at a farm near the Aegean and Marmara seas, and Romania.

Romania said it had detected bird flu in the Danube delta, a major migratory area for wild birds coming from Russia, Scandinavia, Poland and Germany. The birds mainly move to warmer areas in North Africa including the Nile delta for winter.

Romania's chief veterinarian Ion Agafitei told Reuters scientists detected the avian influenza virus in samples taken from three ducks which died last week.

The samples will be sent to a British laboratory, where it could take up to two days to establish the type of virus, British scientist Ruth Manvell said.

THOUSANDS OF BIRDS CULLED

Thousands of birds have been culled in Turkey and Romania to prevent the spread of the disease.

In Turkey, Yuce Canoler of the Poultry and Breeding Stock Producers, told Reuters there was no need for additional measures on top of steps already being taken by Turkey. "We've already tried to take measures by considering the worse case scenarios."

Farm Ministry official Beytullah Okay told CNN Turk there were no plans to widen the current 3-km (2-mile) quarantine zone around the one farm affected to date.

"All the meat from birds killed in the zone by veterinary teams is healthy. Well-cooked, it can be eaten," he said.

Bird flu began sweeping through Thai poultry flocks in late 2003, all but wiping out markets for what was then the world's fourth largest poultry exporter.

Avian flu is currently transmitted to humans only if they eat or live in close contact with infected birds. But scientists say the H5N1 strain is mutating toward a form that could pass between humans.

Kyprianou said the European Commission was considering establishing a 1 billion euro "solidarity fund" to help pay for anti-virals in the event of a pandemic.

He said the Commission had been in talks with pharmaceutical companies about boosting the capacity to produce such drugs.

EU experts on avian influenza and migratory birds will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels on Friday.

The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health said on Thursday that 3,673 wild waterfowl had died in Iran, but the cause was unclear.

"No pathological agent has been identified yet," it said on its Web site, citing a report from Iran's chief veterinary officer. "No post-mortem lesions are seen in the dead birds; weakness and death are the only evidence."

In Iran, the veterinary authority said no signs of bird flu had been discovered. "We don't know the reason," spokesman Behrouz Yasemi said. "We have quarantined the area."

Bulgaria has tested around 30 birds discovered dead around the country for avian flu but found no cases of the disease, officials said on Thursday.

Greek health authorities were checking a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship near the port of Piraeus after finding suspect dead and living migratory birds on board.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/birdflu_dc

 

[JohnBoyToo]

Killing infected flocks is fine,
but the problem lies in the wild birds coming in proximity of infected birds and then flying off !!!!!

Hard to stop that !

 

[bonfire]

Don't thousands of people die from the flu (avian or not) every year in every country? At this point, there isnt even human to human communicability. Is there a chance?.....sure. I've even heard htis compared to the spanish flu of 1918 and the catastrophe that tht resulted in millions of deaths. Gee, do you think we've learned anything about virology, biochemistry and sanitation in the last CENTURY. Maybe this will be the next West Nile Virus, Sars, or black mold. its about time for another media induced panic. Maybe I'm just cynical

 

[Rookie]

I work for public health and we are gearing up just in case.