[RIPSmithianEconomics]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PhilBiker', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')t's all a scheme by the Freemasons, in cahoots with the Jews, in cahoots with the Liberals, in cahoots with the Communists, in cahoots with the UN, in cahoots with the aliens, in cahoots with the EU.

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')5N1 spreading among humans?Epidemiology in Vietnam raises the possibility of human-human spread; sequence data to be published soon | By Katherine Schlatter Avian influenza (H5N1) virus is possibly spreading between humans in Vietnam, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a document made public on its website on Thursday.

The Scientist

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b][B]WHO Expert Panel: World 1 Step Closer to Killer Flu

By Daniel DeNoon
WebMD Medical News

May 20, 2005 -- The world is one step closer to a devastating killer flu pandemic, World Health Organization (WHO) experts suspect.

Two developments in northern Vietnam spur the renewed concern:

Deadly bird flu infections are being seen in larger clusters of people -- with a much wider age range -- than ever before.
The virus is changing in ways that suggest it may be adapting to humans.
Also of concern is the revelation that one virus isolate was partially resistant to TamiFlu, the only effective treatment for human infection with type H5N1 bird flu.

"All countries, both those affected and unaffected by avian H5N1 … should move ahead as quickly as possible and develop or finalize practical operational pandemic preparedness plans," the panel advised.
Another Tick of the Pandemic Clock

The WHO lists six stages leading from the detection of a new flu virus in animals to a global human flu pandemic. So far, the H5N1 bird flu has been at stage 4: small, highly localized clusters of human infections. At this stage, the virus cannot spread easily from person to person.

The new evidence suggests -- but does not yet prove -- that bird flu may be moving to stage 5. That would mean the virus is becoming increasingly better at person-to-person spread. When stage 6 is reached, there will be rapid human-to-human flu spread and pandemic flu.

It's only a matter of time, says virologist Klaus Stöhr, PhD, DVM, project leader for the WHO Global Influenza Program.

The H5N1 bird flu virus could, theoretically, become a pandemic flu virus overnight. That could happen if a person or animal were infected with a human flu virus and the bird flu virus at the same time. In that case, the viruses could "reassort" -- that is, swap genes.

On the other hand, what seems to be happening is that the H5N1 virus is only gradually learning how to pass more easily from human to human. That, Stöhr says, is giving us time to prepare. But when the virus does learn this trick, it's going to be hard to stop. [poster's comment: I suggest it may already be doing this]

This last happened in 1968, when a new human flu virus appeared in Asia. It took six to nine months to reach the U.S. Today, it would probably take only three months.

Right now, the world has only 2 million doses of a new vaccine against H5N1 bird flu -- all in the U.S. Safety tests aren't yet complete. And it's not even clear whether the vaccine will really work against the strain of flu that eventually emerges.[/B]

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Dr. Julie Gerberding, who heads the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters, "We agree that the question is not if a pandemic will occur, it is when will the pandemic will occur."

"We don’t know when, but right now the situation that we see in South East Asia, is one that is characterized by a very large amount of virus circulating widely among poultry and waterfowl, and evidence of transmission to people with a very bad outcome," Gerberding said. "So it is a very virulent, deadly form of the virus, and we can’t afford to take the chance that this is the one that will become more transmissible to people, so we’re taking all the steps now that we can to try to prevent it from evolving, but also to be prepared to contain it if it should emerge and protect people more broadly if that becomes necessary."

Env. News Service

[OilsNotWell]

Take a look at this...then look at the source...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')ore Bird Flu Cases in Asia as Health Leaders Warn of Pandemic
Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia report further human cases; total nears 100

By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer


U.S. Department of State

[OilsNotWell]

Bird flu spreading to China. No reports in humans...yet.


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')hina takes emergency measures to prevent spread of bird flu
www.chinaview.cn 2005-05-21 00:00:22

By An Bei

BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhuanet) -- The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture(MOA) Saturday required the whole country to take emergency measures to curb further spreading bird flu shortly after they confirmed that the reported death of migratory birds in West China's Qinghai Province was caused by the deadly bird flu virus.

The ministry said the national bird flu reference laboratory confirmed that the latest death of migratory birds in Niannaisuoma village, in Gangcha County of Qinghai Province, reported on May 4 was caused by the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

Sources from the MOA confirmed that some migratory birds had been killed by the virus migrated from Southeast Asia.

According to the national bird flu reference laboratory, different from that spreading in China, the bird flu virus detected in southeast Asia is more deadly and possibly contains a gene for human contraction.

To bar the further spread of the deadly bird flu virus, the MOAhas asked the whole country to pay keen attention to the new confirmed cases of migratory birds and to take effective measures to curb possibly spreading the epidemic.

The MOA asked veterinarian institutions across China to contact local forestry departments to know about the species and territory of migratory birds in their regions to improve emergency projects and to take prevention and control measures.

The ministry noted that all regions should take essential quarantine measures, prohibiting people to enter the habitats of migratory birds, and stop contact with poultry. Disinfecting measures should be taken effectively to stem the spreading of the virus.

Everyone in the country should enhance monitoring for the epidemic and improve their early-warning system, noted the ministry.

Habitats and routes of migratory birds and regions covered by rivers and lakes, or frequented by water fowl should be taken as the major monitoring points. If spotted, abnormal diseases or deaths among migratory birds should be reported as soon as possible.

The ministry has also called for taking compulsory immunity measures on poultry with habitats and routes of migratory birds and the nearby regions as well as large poultry farms as the emphasis.

According to the ministry, scientific knowledge and measures should be popularized and taken in the move of bird flu prevention and control around the country.

Furthermore, as the prevention and control work for the highly deadly bird flu virus is so arduous and important, it should be taken under the joint efforts of all related departments and institutions, said the ministry.

According to the MOA, there have been no reports of the disease spotted in Qinghai spreading to human beings or fowl.

Qinghai took emergency measures by closing off spots to prevent people and fowl from contacting wild birds. Quarantine measures have also been adopted.

Since China has a mature bird flu diagnosis, monitoring and prevention system, people need not be too worried but should be confident that the new cases can be brought under control as effective measures have been taken by the government, said Cui Shangjin, an expert from the national bird flu reference laboratory.

This is the first report of H5N1 virus detected in China since the country successfully brought 50 cases of bird flu under control last year.

From January 27 to March 16, China reported 49 confirmed bird flu cases in 16 provinces, municipalities or autonomous regions of the country. With measures taken by China's governments at all levels, the deadly virus was curbed in over one month.

The 15th case reported last July in east China's Anhui Province was successfully brought under control pretty soon, too. All those cases had no human contraction in China. Enditem
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2...ent_2985222.htm

[OilsNotWell]

Bird flu infected a few Japanese this past December I just came across..

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')irst human case of bird flu hits Japan
22 Dec 2004

Authorities in Japan have confirmed the country's first human case of bird flu. Four other people are being tested for suspected bird (avian) flu. Authorities say that none of the five patients is critical.

Four of them worked at a poultry farm near Kyoto. The same farm had a bird flu outbreak in February this year (no humans then, just chickens). The other person is a city official who was involved in disinfecting the farm during the outbreak.

Blood tests have shown that all five have tested positive for bird flu.

The city employee only suffered from a mild sore throat - he is fine now.

Health officials say the five people do not pose a public health risk - they have not developed any serious problems. Humans with bird flu cannot infect other humans.

Health experts around the world fear that one day the virus could mutate and then spread from human to human. They say the most likely way this could happen would be for a pig to become infected, the pig would then infect a human with a mutated virus, the human would then infect other humans.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medical ... wsid=18203

[OilsNotWell]

Here's OSHA's guidance for protecting against bird flu

OSHA Guidelines to Protect Workers from Avain Influenza

[OilsNotWell]

If what Dr. Niman says is correct, that the cases of mengititus/menegococcemia, then we are in for a heap of trouble sooner than we think...


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hree more deaths, meningococcemia afflicts 351
New Delhi, May 21 (PTI): Three more deaths were reported due to suspected meningococemia in the capital today taking up the toll to 33, while the total number affected by the disease swelled to 351.

One death each was reported from Lok Nayak Hospital, Lady Hardinge Hospital and Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, a release from the MCD said here.

With these, the death toll has risen to 33 and the total number of people suspected to be infected by the bacteria causing Meningococcemia has risen to 351, including 14 new cases reported since yesterday.

Ninety people are admitted at various hospitals across the city, while 228 have been discharged so far, it said.

Hindu News

[OilsNotWell]

Here's kind of a freaky cool site:

FluWatch

USATrendMap

Still interesting even though latest data is from 2002.

This is also interesting-



which is from the CDC site:

CDC Weekly Flu Update

Here's another pic from that site:



and some recently updated info here:

Information About Influenza Pandemics

which included this:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')tages of a Pandemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a global influenza preparedness plan, which defines the stages of a pandemic, outlines WHO’s role and makes recommendations for national measures before and during a pandemic. The phases are:

Interpandemic period

Phase 1: No new influenza virus subtypes have been detected in humans. An influenza virus subtype that has caused human infection may be present in animals. If present in animals, the risk of human infection or disease is considered to be low.

Phase 2: No new influenza virus subtypes have been detected in humans. However, a circulating animal influenza virus subtype poses a substantial risk of human disease.

Pandemic alert period

Phase 3: Human infection(s) with a new subtype, but no human-to-human spread, or at most rare instances of spread to a close contact.

Phase 4: Small cluster(s) with limited human-to-human transmission but spread is highly localized, suggesting that the virus is not well adapted to humans.

Phase 5: Larger cluster(s) but human-to-human spread still localized, suggesting that the virus is becoming increasingly better adapted to humans, but may not yet be fully transmissible (substantial pandemic risk).

Pandemic period

Phase 6: Pandemic: increased and sustained transmission in general population.

Notes: The distinction between phase 1 and phase 2 is based on the risk of human infection or disease resulting from circulating strains in animals. The distinction is based on various factors and their relative importance according to current scientific knowledge. Factors may include pathogenicity in animals and humans, occurrence in domesticated animals and livestock or only in wildlife, whether the virus is enzootic or epizootic, geographically localized or widespread, and/or other scientific parameters.

The distinction between phase 3, phase 4 and phase 5 is based on an assessment of the risk of a pandemic. Various factors and their relative importance according to current scientific knowledge may be considered. Factors may include rate of transmission, geographical location and spread, severity of illness, presence of genes from human strains (if derived from an animal strain), and/or other scientific parameters

[blackaddr]

yes.

[heyhoser]

No.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilsNotWell', 'P')S. Is anyone still reading this?

[UIUCstudent01]

Yes. Please keep updating.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

yes. I would also be interested in any Canadian flu maps you come across.

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')o.

[OilsNotWell]

Oh, the mixed messages we receive....


A bird flu patient lies under a respirator at Hanoi's Institute for Tropical Diseases. A World Health Organisation study in Vietnam has raised the possibility that bird flu is becoming more capable of human-to-human transmission, the WHO said. [AFP]

Bird flu capable of human-to-human infection

[OilsNotWell]

Here's another site to bookmark if you wish:

http://www.birdflutoday.com/



I'm not going to stop eating chicken, though! Properly cooked, it will do no harm...

Besides, it tastes like...chicken!

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'y')es. I would also be interested in any Canadian flu maps you come across.

[OilsNotWell]

Let's not forgot about our European cousins:

Welcome to the website of the
European Influenza Surveillance Scheme (EISS)

EISS

VERY informative, map page here:

EISS Map Page (Interactive)

which can also map historic influenza geographical spread AND intensity. COOL!