[OilsNotWell]

a snip from another site...rumors of H5N1 in India...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')ature.com (subscription), UK - 10 minutes ago
Sampath Krishnan mumbled unintelligibly, decried news that avian influenza had been found in India as "malicious rumors," and then hung up the phone, all ...

(This is a subscription site, I don't have access to. Does anyone here?)
The above is all the info I could access.

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Bird flu threat urgent, medical journal says

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ATLANTA — In an attempt to draw attention to what it believes is an underappreciated threat, the scientific journal Nature is devoting most of today's issue to the likelihood that the avian influenza circulating in Southeast Asia could spawn an international epidemic that would kill millions.
Nine papers in the London-based journal, five written by respected scientists and four by the magazine's staff, call for immediate changes to mitigate or prevent a pandemic.

The authors prescribe strong steps, from revamping national vaccine research and animal health programs to creating a permanent international rapid reaction task force. The collective effect is an urgent call to action summed up in the lead editorial: "Repeated warnings about the international community's failure to respond to the pandemic threat have fallen on deaf ears."

Nature intended to be provocative, acknowledged Peter Aldhous, the chief news and features editor and co-author of the editorial, because the journal's staff believes the stakes to be so high. "We felt it has gotten to the point that the situation needs to be laid out for everybody to understand," he said.

Numerous scientific bodies, including the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have warned that the world is overdue for a pandemic of influenza and that avian influenza H5N1, the strain now in Asia, is the organism most likely to cause one.

Influenza pandemics occur roughly every 30 years. The worst on record, in 1918, killed an estimated 40 million.

Past pandemics are believed to have been caused by strains of flu that jumped from animals to humans. H5N1 usually affects poultry and waterfowl but since December has sickened 97 people and killed 53.

Governments must begin planning for an H5N1-caused pandemic because the bug would devastate economies as well as populations, Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota warns in one of the Nature papers.

"Even if a country could vaccinate its entire population against pandemic influenza — which no country can — they cannot isolate themselves from economic havoc," he said in an interview.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, the CDC's director, will testify on pandemic planning in Washington today before the House Subcommittee on Health.

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Global Effort to Prepare for Flu Pandemic Launched

SciDev.Net (London)
May 26, 2005
Posted to the web May 26, 2005
Catherine Brahic


A global initiative to prepare nations worldwide for an expected global flu epidemic got underway today with the launch of the Pandemic Preparedness Project.

The initiative is the inaugural project of the UK Royal Institution's World Science Assembly, also called RiSci.

AllAfrica.com

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he U.S. isn’t prepared for bird flu or a global economic crash
Filed under: H5N1 by site admin @ 6:02 am on 05.26.2005
If and when bird flu becomes pandemic, we’re going to have to be prepared to shore up more than emergency facilities and the doctors and nurses who run them. As USAToday points out, our own economy will suffer, not only because U.S. employers are sorely unprepared for a pandemic, but because the entire global economy will bend to its knees. Then the big question, after the pandemic passes, how does a nation kickstart its economy to get it running again?

Meanwhile, Chinese scientists claim they have developed two new vaccines for birds, but WHO thinks that these vaccines might only be masking the symptoms and not truly killing off the virus.

By the way, CIDRAP reports that 519 birds of at least five migratory species have died in the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in China’s Qinghai province, according to data the Chinese government provided the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). This is a much broader outbreak than had previously been reported.

If the bird flu causes a pandemic in China, Southeast Asia, and Indonesia – a likely beginning scenario – the economy of the U.S., Canada, and the UK will grind to a slow pace. An alliance of major nations should be formed now to help combat bird flu in the Bird Flu Triangle. We should be throwing everything we’ve got, from brains to cash, at Asia right now, before it gets off a plane at San Francisco International. We cannot let WHO fight this battle alone. As U.S. scientist David Ho says about the worldwide effort, we’re relying on a “grossly underfunded” epidemiological system to spot disease outbreaks.

But I guess we’re too busy chasing runaway brides, Osama, and judicial appointees

PathogenAlert

[OilsNotWell]

I'm beginning to suspect why the Chinese authorities said this a few days ago...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]China urges citizens not to panic

Filed under: H5N1 by site admin @ 5:19 am on 05.23.2005

Godzilla-like fear seems to be sweeping over a Chinese province known as Qinghai, where health officials are scrambling to vaccinate three million birds in response to the first confirmed outbreak of avian flu in nearly a year.

“People do not need to panic and should be confident that the new cases will be brought under control as effective measures have been taken by the government,” Cui Shangjin, a bird flu specialist, told the China Daily paper on Monday.

One problem is, there’s something called Bird Island in the middle of Qinghai Lake, where about 100,000 birds like to hang out. It’s a perfect breeding ground for H5N1. More details here

-Pathogen Alert, from news article:

YahooNews

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')o infection.... Emergency measures.... All out to prevent... health dept's mobilized ... where the avian flu cases were reported, have opened up a separate outpatient department forfeverish patients alone ...screening all pneumonia and flu-like cases among human beings ... sterilize the infected areas and properly dispose of birds' droppings.... Quarantine measures have also been adopted .....

Nope. doesn't sound like anything much is happening over there. Everybody can go back to sleep.


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'X')INING, May 26 (Xinhuanet) -- No human infection of avian flu or unexplained pneumonia case has been detected in northwest China's Qinghai Province and health departments are going all out to prevent a possible outbreak of bird flu, according to a local health official.

Emergency measures have been taken by the provincial health authorities after Ministry of Agriculture investigators confirmed on Saturday that migratory birds found dead in Quanji Township of Gangca County had been killed by the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, said Ai Keyuan, an official with the provincial health bureau.

Health departments in the provincial capital Xining and at least four prefectures have been mobilized. They have stepped up infectious disease control and prevention by closely monitoring and screening all pneumonia and flu-like cases among human beings,fowls and livestock, Ai told Xinhua in an interview Wednesday.

Ai said hospitals in Gangca County, where the avian flu cases were reported, have opened up a separate outpatient department forfeverish patients alone. "The county's health department, meanwhile, is assisting the provincial disease control and prevention center in medical observations of people who had had close contacts with the birds," he added.

Ai said his department is also helping local animal husbandry departments to sterilize the infected areas and properly dispose of birds' droppings.

"All hospitals have been told to set up a task force and put aside medication and facilities for the treatment of any avian flucases that might be detected," he said.

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

The Ministry of Agriculture has told the public not to get too nervous but said monitoring for the epidemic and the early-warningsystem should be enhanced.

The World Health Organization warned that the virus poses a great potential threat to humans if it develops the ability to spread easily from person to person. There is no evidence so far of such a change and most cases have been traced to contact with sick birds.

[OilsNotWell]

China Rushes Bird Flu Vaccines to Qinghai Amid New Warnings

HONG KONG—China has rushed 3 million doses of bird flu vaccine to the Western province of Qinghai and said all livestock birds must be inoculated, as the World Health Organization (WHO) called for stepped-up surveillance of the deadly virus.

Some 178 bar-headed geese found in a nature reserve in Qinghai, which has a substantial Tibetan population, were the first cases of bird flu China has reported since July 2004.

The first 150 dead birds were found on May 4-6, and the other 28 on May 8, the official China Daily newspaper said.[Poster's comment: And just when were the other 400 'discovered'???!!!???]

Experts fear the birds, which cross the country on routes from Siberia to New Zealand, could spread the virus to the China's vast population of domesticated ducks and geese.

The number of doses matched the poultry population in the province, the China Daily quoted an official from the Ministry of Agriculture’s animal diseases office as saying.

Deadly strain
Agriculture officials confirmed that the dead birds carried the H5N1 bird flu strain from Southeast Asia—a more deadly variety of bird flu that may contain a gene allowing transmission to humans.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has been confirmed in eight South East Asian countries since 2003—including Vietnam and Cambodia.

Last week, WHO said bird flu may be capable of human-to-human transmission, raising fears of a global pandemic.

The WHO meanwhile urged Asia countries to step up surveillance of the virus. “There is still the possibility for this to jump to humans,” WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng said in Beijing. [Poster's note: Umm...Earth to Maria...it already has..54 dead and counting...]

The WHO has said bird flu poses a threat to humans if it develops the ability to spread from person to person. So far most cases in humans have been traced to contact with sick birds.

Worried about the disease's spread, Malaysia on Monday said it was banning all imports of chicken and meat products from China.

One more dead in Vietnam
In Hanoi, Vietnam reported Monday that another person died from bird flu, bringing the regional death toll to 54 as the communist country continues to fight the disease.

Vietnam has started but has yet to complete developing the bird flu vaccine. It targets to test the vaccine on humans in August while initial tests on poultry showed the birds have shown anti-bodies.

A 46-year-old man from the northern province of Hung Yen died May 19 at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi after being admitted three days earlier with classic bird flu symptoms that included a high fever, coughing and breathing problems, said Phan Tien Son, director of the Hung Yen provincial preventive medicine center.

The man tested positive for the H5N1 virus on May 18 while he was hooked to a respirator, he said.

It was unclear how the victim became infected. No bird flu outbreaks had been reported among poultry in the man's village and he had not traveled outside the area, but the family did raise ducks, Son said.

None of the poultry appeared sick and the man did not eat duck, he added.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
RadioFreeAsia

[OilsNotWell]

Bird Flu Spreads as China Slammed for Patchy Disclosure
2004.02.06
Vietnam maps part of virus as poultry sales ban takes effect

Asia continues to grapple with an outbreak of a bird flu virus that has killed at least 18 people, as strong doubts emerge about the reliability of China's internal reporting system, RFA's Mandarin and Vietnamese services report.

RadioFreeAsia

Yikes, my mistake. Old article.

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]United States Unprepared?

According to Reuters news service, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department does not even have a plan for dealing with an epidemic

"Although many levels of government are paying increased attention to the problem, the United States remains woefully unprepared for an influenza pandemic that could kill millions of Americans," said Dr. Andrew Pavia, chairman of the Infectious Disease Society of America's Pandemic Influenza Task Force.

If a pandemic occurs, more than 30 million people would be hospitalized and more than 5 million of them could die.

WSAV News

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Nature urges world to take pandemic threat seriously

May 26, 2005 (CIDRAP News) – The British magazine Nature trained a floodlight on the threat of an influenza pandemic today with a collection of 10 articles that explore the danger and possible remedies and demand a more serious global response.

"The level of current efforts is not commensurate with the threat we face," the editors write. "The time for diplomacy and denial is over. It is time for advocacy and action."

CIDRAP News

[OilsNotWell]

A poster at another site published a translation of one of the reports coming out of Qinghai....

Since this Chinese news web site allows open posts (kind of like a blog), there is a possibility that this a hoax or stunt in order to bring world attention to the region..

In any case, however, the reports are too important to casually dismiss considering the circumstances, and I'll post information if I can one way or the other...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Here's the translation to the original article. It is very time-consuming to translate. Reading this the possibility that this is a ploy to bring attention to the region crossed my mind. Just a thought.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')ranslation
Answered: "boxun.com unable to verify Qinghai avian flu epidemic situation"
(May 26, 2005 boxun.com)

Answered: The related news about Qinghai avian flu epidemic situation is blocked, according to the news writer, therefore the Boxun.com is unable to verify.

Merely using telephone interview won’t be able to obtain the concrete information, some mainland China media also disclosed very little information. The only way is to do the on-the-spot investigation. The recent information obtained by nine young people who spent few days and did some observations around Qilian County. Because we would like to have thorough fact on Qinghai’s avian flu, we went to the area to do actual interview by acting as tourists. We could have had some pictures and materials but the police had confiscated our two cameras, so we have to use the writing to transmit messages, please understand.

Only if you have been to the locality to understand that how the shocking impoverish China can be, anybody who has the conscience can cry for this. Many helpless, constrained anger, as primitive society’s barren, the prosperous traveling is insulated from these people. Perhaps the avian flu can bring to many people’s vital interests so it has caught people’s attention. Will anyone pay attention to native's survival? (boxun.com)

What kind of environment is this? People are separated remotely, even between their neighbors. Where can people get treatments if they are infected by disease? How do they get treatments without money and struggle to make ends meet? Perhaps the government should disburse money to take care of epidemic problems, but here the official also wants people to pay for their own. No money no treatment. The visual broadcast, internet, and newspaper are sealed & constrained. The outside knows about the news but not the localities. They only know their situation about the avian flu when we told them. Some people even look at us with suspicion. They thought we are falsely reported the news and to deceive their money. Because there are some people deceived by government officials when they did not have any solution themselves. They can only say it is all right, we take care of own sickness. We don’t need government help. We don’t have money for treatments because the government’s treatments need to be paid.

If you want to know the truth about Qinghai, the poor Qinghai, the constrained Qinghai, don’t look at the official media, only those who has connection with Qinghai people, or actually go to Qinghai to obtain the actual information. Don’t think that you may obtain any confirmed information with the official medias. That is extremely stupid.

Don’t think that the epidemic situation has not exploded or proliferated to assume there is no people decease and the reports are not true. If you do not believe, please visit Qinghai, talk to the local people, those who are not controlled or warned by the government official. They can tell you the whole truth.

We are able to provide Qinghai avian flu information as it, because we are not able to obtain more news at this time. We have to gather funding to obtain more information, because information requires on-the-spot verification. Please pay attention to Qinghai. Thank you the fair reports of boxun.com, since the domestic platform deleted all of our messages.

The nine young people’s who published the Qinghai avian flu information (Boxum News free press zone) (boxun.com)

[SidneyTawl]

I did a story for a client (in production) on bird flu over a month ago.

One of the doctors I talked to (off camera and to remain unidentified) said one of his main concerns was China was underreporting the problem.

The doctor in charge of the department recieved an invitation to this years meeting of the Bohemian Grove. ( I overheard an office employee say it to another as I was standing around).

funny, the person said,..(they sent promotional stuff etc. Looks like a fag place to me, I told him he wasn't going to a place like that). then laughing by others in the office

(I bet not one of them knew anything about BG except for seeing the trip invitation, brochure)

It's true all the above. I just loved the fact the person had that "impression" after looking at the info about the "trip".

My impression is there seems to be an urgency in tracking the virus. I'm not an expert, but its my understanding when it mutates to easily transmit from human to human it is very possible that it will lose some of its viral attributes and not be as potent. However, that is not a certainty.

I did see a bunch of eggs, that fo sure.

[OilsNotWell]

Interesting post, Sidney...

I had to look at a few of your posts to realize you work in film/media production.

Your comments also tell me you know a little about BG and what may have or does actually occur there. Nixon had an interesting comment on tape about BG, But that's a topic for another day.

Oh, I had an idea for an indie film about the present topic. I could write, direct, and star... No, seriously, send me a PM if you like.

[SidneyTawl]

Oil,



I only stick my neck out so far.
I'll keep it in mind though.

Ill read it and critique it if you like.

[OilsNotWell]

?

Anyhoo,

that earlier report regarding the incompleteness of plans was correct:

Expert: U.S. bird flu plan incomplete
BradentonHerald

And SOMEONE'S trying to SCARE up some sales, don't you think?



http://www.urgentebooks.com/h5n1.htm

[OilsNotWell]

Know your enemy...



H5N1

H5N1


Influenza


Influenza


These too...


Poliovirus

Foot & Mouth Disease Virus

Ebola

Now that's something I bet you don't see everyday...

Maybe we'll have some new fashion statements...I bet Armani and Ralh Lauren get into the act...

[PenultimateManStanding]

So they're saying it could mutate and they're saying it could kill millions. and they're worried it might spread. Seems like a lotta coulda, mighta, maybe for 14 freakin' pages of posts.

[OilsNotWell]

This is interesting too....

[OilsNotWell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')o they're saying it could mutate and they're saying it could kill millions. and they're worried it might spread. Seems like a lotta coulda, mighta, maybe for 14 freakin' pages of posts.

[OilsNotWell]

Sidney, I couldn't figure out your reaaction and then I realized you might have thought I was talking about BG...no no no no no no no.. way on Earth.

Talking about script for something along the lines of '28 Days Later'....

But as Roseanne Roseannadanna would have said: "Never mind."