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Avian Flu Update Through Feb 27 2009
408 cases reported. 256 deaths. World Health Organization NOTE I think this may be very important. Indonesia has reported no new cases in 2009, despite having the largest number of cases and the highest death rate. Has the feud between WHO and the Indonesian government resulted in them withholding information as well as samples? Reports of infection in Indonesian poultry Avian influenza has struck a second district in Bali despite efforts to contain the spread of the disease on the island, the district’s animal husbandry, marine and fisheries agency said on Friday. I Gusti Ngurah Sandjada, the head of the agency in Jembrana district in western Bali, said the outbreak was discovered after 52 chickens in the village of Banyubiru died over the course of four days. “We immediately conducted a rapid test and found … Read entire article »
Filed under: Analysis, Avian Flu, Medicine, Original writing
Avian Flu Update for 1-21-2009
A Facebook conversation prompts me to examine the current situation with the A type H5N1 influenza virus, known as “bird flu” or “avian flu”. Birds suffer from several types of influenza, however, and most are not contagious for humans. The terms “bird flu” and “avian flu” are, thus, very non-specific. A)H5N1 is the influenza virus that was discovered in Scotland, in birds, in 1959. It was first seen in humans in 1997, after 1996-97 outbreaks in birds in China and Hong Kong. To date, the World Health Organization is reporting 397 cases, of which 249 were fatalities. 63% of the reported cases were fatal. Indonesia has had the most cases and one of the highest death rates at 81%. Vietnam runs second, and its death rate is 49%. 12 countries in Asia and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Avian Flu, Commentary, Medicine, Original writing, Pandemic
Bird Flu Update
WHO table for all cases through January 7, 2009 China The Ministry of Health in China has reported a new case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case is a 19-year old female from Chaoyang District, Beijing. She developed symptoms on 24 Dec 2008, was hospitalized, and died on 5 January 2009. The case was confirmed by the national laboratory. The case had contact with poultry prior to her illness. All contacts have … Read entire article »
One Quarter of Bird Flu Cases Unexplained
Reuters The H5N1 bird flu virus may sometimes stick to surfaces or get kicked up in fertilizer dust to infect people, according to a World Health Organization report published on Wednesday. The WHO team reviewed all known human cases of avian influenza, which has infected 350 people in 14 countries and killed 217 of them since 2003, and found that 25 percent of cases have no explanation. Most are passed directly from bird to people, they noted in their report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And very rarely one person can infect another — always close relatives via intimate physical contact. … Read entire article »
Avian influenza – situation in Pakistan
As is the normal procedure, the samples here have been sent to a lab capable of accurately determining if it is bird flu. Local labs are wrong 50% plus of the time. WHO The Ministry of Health in Pakistan has informed WHO of 8 suspected human cases of H5N1 avian influenza infection in the Peshawar area of the country. These cases were detected following a series of culling operations in response to outbreaks of H5N1 in poultry. One of the cases has now recovered and a further two suspected cases have since died. Samples taken from the suspected cases have tested positive for H5N1 in the national laboratory and are being forwarded to a WHO H5 Reference Laboratory for confirmation and further analysis. The MoH is taking steps to investigate and contain … Read entire article »
Bird Flu Deaths By Year
YEAR KILLED TOTAL CASES 2007 49 73 2006 79 115 2005 43 98 2004 32 46 2003 4 4 World Health Organization … Read entire article »
Bird Flu in Europe
Two items from Reuters, France and Germany France confirms H5N1 flu virus in swans PARIS, July 5 (Reuters) – Tests have confirmed that three swans found dead in eastern France were killed by the H5N1 bird flu virus, the French agriculture ministry said on Thursday, France’s first cases of the disease in over a year. The government raised its alert level to “high” as a result, meaning that birds and poultry in mainland France will either have to be locked up or protected by nets to avoid all contact with wild birds, a ministry official said. Pigeon races and other events where birds are gathered will be forbidden. “Michel Barnier, minister of agriculture and fishing, is putting in place the risk-prevention measures corresponding to the shift from the ‘moderate’ level to the ‘high’ level,” the … Read entire article »
Bird Flu in Indonesia
It looks like some accomodations have been made by WHO concerning Indonesia. WHO WHO can now confirm 15 additional cases, including 13 deaths of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza that occurred in Indonesia from the end of January 2007 up to the present and has updated its table of confirmed human cases accordingly. Testing for H5N1 influenza virus infections is not done routinely by many laboratories and among the laboratories that do test for H5N1, experience and levels of diagnostic capacities can vary. (see WHO criteria) WHO had previously required external confirmation of laboratory results from Indonesia, but following a formal on-site assessment of the capacity of national laboratory in Jakarta to diagnose H5 avian influenza viruses, WHO will now accept the results from the national laboratory, in collaboration with the … Read entire article »
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Avian Flu Update – February 3 2009
February 3rd, 2009 | Comments Off
China appears to be the focal point for avian flu [H5N1] cases so far in 2009. Of 9 reported cases, 7 are from China. Nearly all are reported to have had contact with poultry. In Third World nations, especially rural regions, when livestock become sick, the rush is to slaughter them and perhaps use them before they die. Since H5N1 is primarily transmitted through contact with infected poultry, this means that every sick bird is a tiny hotspot of infection. Here are the latest two reports from China. WHO update 3 27 January 2009 — The Ministry of Health in China has announced three new confirmed human cases of H5N1 infection. The first, a 31-year-old female from Urumqi, Xinjiang Autonomous Region had onset of symptoms on 10 January. She received treatment in hospital … Read entire article »
Filed under: Avian Flu, Commentary, Medicine, Original writing