Bird Flu - Archives
March 13th - March 21st,
2006
Bird Flu Symptoms
With bird flu spreading
throughout Europe and the Middle East, and with repeated warnings that it
will hit North America, many people are concerned about the symptoms of the
disease.
Here’s what
BUPA, the British private medical care provider, says:
Human flu symptoms are:
fever
cough
sore throat
muscle aches
conjunctivitis
Cases of bird flu are
more likely to cause breathing problems and pneumonia, and can be fatal.
A factsheet from the US
Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention advises:
Symptoms of avian
influenza in humans have ranged from typical human influenza-like symptoms
(e.g., fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches) to eye infections,
pneumonia, severe respiratory diseases (such as acute respiratory distress),
and other severe and life-threatening complications. The symptoms of avian
influenza may depend on which virus caused the infection.
March 21st,
2006
Bird Flu Masks
Will
wearing a mask
protect you in the event of a bird flu epidemic? According to an AP
dispatch, the Institute of Medicine is preparing a report for the US
government on this topic. However, scientists doubt that there are clear
answers:
Health workers use masks to prevent infection while treating sick
patients. Experts say supplies will run short if the public wants to use
them as well during a pandemic. Simple surgical masks or better-filtering
ones with respirators are only supposed to be used once and then thrown out.
Health officials are trying to see if there are ways the ones with
respirators can be reused.
Other questions
involve how long the masks can be worn and how to make sure they're used
correctly. The Institute will issue its report this spring.
In the UK, the
government is reviewing its
policies
on face masks:
Stockpiles of masks and protective clothing will be increased if
necessary, said Rosie Winterton MP, a health minister. However, masks will
not be issued to the public in the event of an outbreak.
"We have recommended
the use of face masks for healthcare professionals who would be working
closely with infected patients," Ms Winterton said.
She added that stock
levels of masks and protective clothing, such as gloves, normally available
in the National Health Service and its supply chain, were also being
reviewed and could be increased if studies suggested it were necessary.
"The Chief Medical
Officer commissioned the Health Protective Agency to review the scientific
evidence for the use of face masks by the public during an influenza
pandemic. This review did not find any clear evidence that such a policy
would be of benefit. However, the evidence is regularly reviewed."
March 21st,
2006
Punishment from God
Yesterday the chairman
of the National Jewish Front was quoted as labelling the Israeli bird flu
outbreak a
punishment from God for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the
West Bank.
A Gaza imam apparently
agrees.
Ynetnews reports:
The bird-flu virus found in Israel last week was sent by Allah to punish
the Jews for being "the worst of humanity" and is the beginning of the
outbreak of other diseases meant to destroy the Jewish state within the next
20 years, a Gaza preacher said at mosque services this weekend.
Sheikh Abu Muhammed,
an imam at the popular Al-Tadwa mosque in Beit Lahia north of Gaza City,
went on to ask Muslims at his Friday night sermon to pray for the sexual
organs of Jews to "dry out" so they cannot reproduce, a Palestinian in
attendance at the mosque services told WorldNetDaily.
March 21st,
2006
Mideast Latest
A woman has died of
suspected bird flu in
Egypt
and a man is being tested for the disease.
Authorities in
Israel believe it certain that H5N1 has arrived, and a mass cull of
hundreds of thousands of turkeys and chickens has begun. Also in
Israel,
the chairman of the National Jewish Front has said the bird flu outbreak in
the country is punishment from God, after Israel withdrew from the Gaza and
parts of the West Bank.
Jordan is on maximum alert.
March 20th,
2006
Israel Braces for the
Worst
About 11,000 turkeys
have died in
Israel and more are being culled. Authorities are waiting for test
results, but assume bird flu. Several reports are already labelling it H5N1,
and at least
one report says three workers are in hospital.
March 18th,
2006
GM Tomatoes – the Latest
Bird Flu Weapon
Do
generically-modified tomatoes hold the key to a bird flu vaccine? Here
in Melbourne a plant scientist thinks so.
March 18th,
2006
Denmark, Malaysia,
Afghanistan, India, Myanmar, Israel
It’s
getting worse.
March 17th,
2006
Bird Flu Impact Spreads
Bird flu is having an
impact beyond plunging poultry sales. For example, there is
this:
Over the centuries,
Buddhists in Cambodia and elsewhere in Asia have released the sorrows born
of sickness, hunger and war through the simple, cathartic act of buying
caged birds and setting them free, sometimes with a kiss.
….But the tradition,
in which devotees seek blessings for this life and the next, could now prove
to be a curse. Animal health experts warn that the practice of capturing
wild birds, holding them in confined quarters and then turning them over to
human hands could spread avian flu among birds, across species and on to
people.
And
this:
The feathers of the badminton world are being ruffled by the threat of
bird flu.
Shortages of goose
feathers in China and tightened manufacturing regulations are pushing up
prices of shuttlecocks, the feathered projectiles hit over the net in
badminton.
The H5N1 epidemic has
added to long-term concerns about the supply chain of feathers because it
has led to the culling or deaths of some 200 million birds since late 2003.
March 17th,
2006
Latest
Denmark reports its first case of H5 bird flu. Further tests will
determine whether it’s H5N1.
A dog is believed to
have died from bird flu in
Azerbaijan.
Hungary
might have developed the world’s most effective bird flu vaccine.
March 16th,
2006
Bird Flu Deaths “Top
100”
The World Health
Organization is still awaiting full confirmation that
three deaths in Azerbaijan were the result of bird flu, but its early
assessment is that this is the case. It will push the confirmed number of
global bird flu deaths since December 2003 to over 100.
March 15th,
2006
Prepare for Pandemic
American politicians are
warning citizens to start preparing for the
arrival of bird flu:
"When you go to the
store and buy three cans of tuna fish, buy a fourth and put it under the
bed. When you go to the store to buy some milk, pick up a box of powdered
milk, put it under the bed," said Health and Human Services Secretary Mike
Leavitt. "When you do that for a period of four to six months, you are going
to have a couple of weeks of food. And that's what we're talking about."
And
Reuters
reports:
The
U.S. government is treating avian flu as a scourge that will inevitably
reach the United States and is preparing for the arrival of the deadly
virus, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said on Tuesday.
However, according to an
AFP dispatch, a pandemic is
not looming:
"The virus has
changed -- that's what viruses do for a living, but there is no evidence to
show that it has mutated into a form that could cause a pandemic in humans,"
[WHO Asia Pacific spokesman Peter] Cordingley said.
Frederick Leung, dean
of science at the Hong Kong University microbiology labs that have played a
pivotal role in unravelling the secrets of the virus, agreed.
"We are no closer to
a pandemic at the 100-death stage than we were at the first death," said
Leung.
March 15th,
2006
Getting Worse
Three people who died
earlier this month in
Azerbaijan
were infected with bird flu.
Afghanistan has reported a bird flu outbreak – it is thought likely to
be H5N1.
Myanmar confirms H5N1.
Germany’s H5N1 outbreak may have spread to domestic poultry.
Pakistan is testing for H5N1.
A bird flu pandemic –
looking increasingly possible – could
cripple global finance, trade and banking, according to the IMF.
March 14th,
2006
More Cover-Ups in China
Britain’s Sunday
Times – in an article published online by The Australian – says “Chinese
state secrecy and academic squabbles” are denying important research
material to scientists working to develop a bird flu vaccine.
According to Julie
Hall, who heads the World Health Organisation's bird flu team in China, the
[Agriculture] ministry has only now changed its policy after international
pressure. Dr Hall confirmed the WHO had received no live virus material from
the Chinese since 2004, when five samples were handed over.
….Local officials are
still covering up episodes of bird flu in southern China, where it has
become endemic. The latest outbreak has claimed 10 lives.
March 13th,
2006
Myanmar Testing
Myanmar
(Burma) is testing for bird flu, after the discovery of “scores” of dead
chickens and quails. Back in October, various officials were warning that
the secrecy that prevails in Myanmar meant that the country could become the
launching pad for a
new bird flu pandemic.
March 13th,
2006
Cameroon Confirmed
Cameroon has become the
fourth country in Africa – after Nigeria, Niger and Egypt – to report bird
flu, although it is still not known if it is H5N1. Meanwhile, testing is
being carried out in Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia and Sierra Leone.
March 13th,
2006
|
