Topic: BIRD FLU Jumped to humans today in France

[StoneChimes]

I am worried. I got a picture of the bird that kicked down my front front door and sneezed all over my gran.

I believed in miracles. Then you came along. You Skeksi thing.

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[Refuckulator]

I'm trying to avoid this topic as much as possible. I really dont need to be reminded about other ways epoepl could die. Kinda scary...

[StoneChimes]

I'm trying to avoid this topic as much as possible. I really dont need to be reminded about other ways epoepl could die. Kinda scary...

Good luck with that.

[Shit machine gun]

Vietnam finds new strains of bird flu viruses

By Nguyen Nhat Lam Wed Nov 16, 7:08 AM ET

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnamese scientists have found more variations of bird flu viruses in poultry, adding to the health risk to people if these strains keep circulating, a health official said on Wednesday.
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Dong Manh Ha, director of Ho Chi Minh City Regional Animal Health Center, told Reuters a study conducted by the center found new avian influenza strains of the H3 and H4 subtypes in poultry.

Scientists say strains of the H3 and H4 subtypes are capable of causing death in birds but are generally less virulent and spread more slowly than the H5 subtype they fear could trigger a human pandemic.

The H5N1 virus is endemic in poultry in several countries in Asia and has killed 64 people, including 42 in Vietnam, since late 2003. Experts fear that H5N1 could mutate into a form that passes easily among people, triggering a pandemic.

"The presence of more subtypes of the flu virus in poultry make the virus all the more dangerous," Ha said, adding that samples had been sent to a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) laboratory in Australia for further investigation.

State media reports said the new virus strains are H3N4 and

H4N5.

HIGHLY VIRULENT

Vietnam is tackling more than a dozen H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and has stepped up culling in its two main cities. The virus is highly virulent and can kill poultry in a matter of hours. It has killed about half the people it has infected.

In the latest outbreak, an Agriculture Ministry report said 286 chickens and geese had died or been slaughtered in the northern province of Son La.

That took the number of the affected areas to 14 of Vietnam's 64 provinces since the virus returned in October.

Hong Kong infectious disease expert Lo Wing-lok said that with heightened surveillance, it was not surprising for other subtypes, such as H3 and H4, to turn up although these are not generally thought of as being highly pathogenic.

But Lo, a member of a scientific committee on zoonotic and emerging diseases in Hong Kong, said if the strains were allowed to spread in poultry, people in close contact with the birds would be at risk.

There was also the risk of these subtypes mixing and exchanging genetic material with the H5N1 virus. There would then be the possibility of the H3N4 and H4N5 strains becoming more pathogenic.

Influenza type A viruses, which include human and avian flu viruses, are categorized by H and N components, which denote specific types of proteins on their surface.

The H component governs the ability of the virus to bind to and enter cells, which become virus-making factories. The N component governs the release of the newly made viruses from the animal host cell.

There are 16 H subtypes and nine N subtypes. Human influenza viruses are usually strains of H1N1, H2N2 and H3N2 but avian flu subtypes H5 and H7 can also infect people.

Media reports said two more people in Hanoi, a 15-year-old girl and a 71-year-old woman, were in hospital with symptoms of bird flu and were being tested. The latest cases bring to five the number of suspected infections in Vietnam.

(Additional reporting by Tan Ee Lyn in Hong Kong)

[Jonnyboy]

Ya even Ozzy Osbourne is scared of getting Bird Flu Now. He was quoted saying how he does not do drugs or drinks anymore. He said he is quite unlucky (maybe he means he is unbalanced now that he is clean?????) He said with his luck some bird with bird flu will crap on him and he will be the first person in England to catch bird Flu.

I sure hope not. but hey, maybe Ozzy and his highly toxic dope blood might be the cure for Bird Flu!!!!!!!

Jonny

[tellkyle]

So you thought the bird flu (and its thread) died...

India seals off 'bird flu town'

Officials in India's Maharashtra state have begun sealing off an entire town where bird flu has been discovered.

No-one will be allowed in or out of Navapur, which has a population of nearly 30,000, or 19 nearby villages.
--http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4739800.stm

One of Australia's leading bird flu scientists suspects the virus is already in the country, brought in by migrating birds through northern Australia.

Professor Mark von Itzstein, who is at the forefront of research into anti-flu drugs, is worried Australia is becoming complacent about bird flu.

He says while there is no need to panic, it is naive to think the virus could sweep across Asia and Europe and miss Australia.
--http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1576522.htm

Indonesia says a woman has died of bird flu, raising the number of human bird flu deaths in that country to nine this year alone.
--http://edition.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/02/22/birdflu.asia/

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The dead uncle of an Iraqi girl who died last month after contracting bird flu also had the disease, U.S. and U.N. officials said Thursday, citing test results at a U.N.-certified laboratory in Egypt.
   One further test must be carried out by a London laboratory certified by the World Health Organization before the United Nations confirms that the uncle did in fact have the H5N1 bird flu virus.
   In Europe, German and Slovenian officials confirmed their first cases of bird flu. Countries from Liechtenstein to Romania ordered poultry indoors or quarantined villages to stem the spread of the disease.
--http://www.sltrib.com/nationworld/ci_3518659

Pace of Bird Flu Spread Accelerating

More European nations report disease; containment efforts under way

By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington � The spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus has affected more countries in the month of February than in any similar period in the more than two-year-old epidemic.

The lethal H5N1 virus was detected in February in 13 new countries on three continents.

The World Health Organization (WHO) lists the nations in the order of their reports of bird flu: Iraq, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Egypt, India and France.

Wild dead birds also have been found in Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia and Bosnia in recent days. Tests are under way to determine if H5N1 caused the deaths of animals in those nations.

A February 21 WHO assessment of the recent spread notes significant differences in the way the disease is appearing in the various countries.
--really long link

[StoneChimes]

or.. Do not ask for whom the the bell tolls.. it toll's for thee!!

Stupid complacent Australians... they're punishment will be DEATH!!   

[4bz]

WEll fuck this... I'm gonna poison my family with Kool Aid tomorrow morning before we all climb into the van of death... should all drop as we're pulling out onto the highway and cause a major accident killing at least 20 or 30 more innocent fuckers... but who cares, apparently we're all gonna fuckin die next week from bird flu anyway...

I hate this lousy fucking planet sometimes...

[tan]

  LOL @ 4bz...i dunno why but the kool aid comment made me laugh...hehe

that is scary shit though....here i am sick while reading this....i am now dying till ferther notice.....

[Canuckguy]

Tanny get some Cold-FX pills from the pharmacy they rock.  They reduce how long you are sick for, and they prevent future colds and flus.

[_DrP_]

[tan]

i actually feel fine...i do have a cold though but not enough to fuss over....and it is the first in over 2 years so i think i'm healthy.....i just wish i could find my voice....fucker ain't coming back too fast....probably off partying 

tan

[Barry100877]

It's a lot of shit to be honest.  Worldwide it has only killed 90 people, most of them were from asia in poor communities where they sleep next to birds and livestock in the same room.  Nothing to worry about trust me, just the government with ther usual crap trying to scare us all.

[Maddoggystyle]

no more eating birds for me!

[EvilTwin]

...

I hate this lousy fucking planet sometimes...

I know EXACTLY how you feel. 

[Bailey]

It's not a matter of how many are affected, the point is that it's possible for virii from animals to jump to humans, sure the media is a fear factory, especially the american media (when crime dropped by 40% [i think] the amount of crimes reported on the news over the same period went up 300%, from bowling for columbine i think, hard to argue with those kind of figures),  but it should draw attention to the fact that proper animal handling/disposing is important, and for the general public, read between the lines, i know for a fact the mass isn't that stupid.

[Bailey]

But then stupidity and no access to proper education are two completely different things. and whilst we're at it, perhaps we should be looking at why these third world countries are being raped for cheap produce, whilst putting the local produce under even more pressure to lower their prices, yet because of outsourcing cheap labour and produce thru imports, it makes it nigh on impossible for local produce to sustain itself in the lowered market.  Putting a lot of people out of business.

edit lol, just cause not everyone is speedin along, i thought i should throw a fullstop in there lol.

[Saucy Bastard]

You make some good points Baily.

[Canuckguy]

I had the most fucked up vivid dream about bird flu when I was sick with the flu the other night.  I don't remember some of it but I do remember it wiped out most of us, and I was a survivor but fighting for my life trying to stay un-exposed to the virus with dozens of other survivors.  It was a very grim vision of the future and such an incredibly vivid dream.

[tan]

   been watching some stephen king movies lately there canuck dude....lmao

[Canuckguy]

  been watching some stephen king movies lately there canuck dude....lmao

Perhaps I should write a novel/screenplay based on that dream!!!

My strongest gift has always been writing, although I did originally want to become an airline pilot.  After researching the field, and looking at the wage and demand for pilots, I decided to take journalism instead, and focus mainly on war journalism.  Maybe I can write a great fictional thrill novel about the bird flu, the catastrophic deathtoll, and the world war that will follow.

[tellkyle]

The third of the recently diagnosed H5N1 cases in Egypt has now died, bringing that country's total to 18 cases with 10 deaths, the largest outside asia, southeast asia or Indonesia. The case count for 2006 now shows more cases (114) and more deaths (79) than any previous year. And the virus was more deadly, at last measured by a case fatality ratio (deaths divided by total confirmed cases). Indeed the number of deaths in 2006 exceeded the total of deaths for 2003, 2004 and 2005 combined (79 versus 78), although the number of cases exceeded last year's by only 18%, compared to an 88% increase in deaths over 2005.

any emphasis is mine. from a great blog (focused on public health) called effect measure.
http://www.scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/

[tellkyle]

I just found a resource called fluwiki which tracks these things better than I could ever hope to.

http://www.newfluwiki2.com/frontPage.do