A fatal strain of bird
flu has recently infiltrated human populations
in Vietnam and Thailand. The result
of this merging might result in a new,
highly infectious, rapidly fatal flu
virus. Such a new virus would be transmitted
rapidly from person to person with potentially
devastating results.
Common flu - kills up to 2 percent of
people it infects, with elderly, young
children and people in developing countries
more at risk.This means that sensitive
people who need the medicine to overcome
ordinary flu, primarily the elderly,
will need medication to help avoid and
fight the bird flu virus.
An initial government solution being
introduced is to only stockpile quantities
of medication that are sufficient for
key personnel who are essential to the
continued functioning of society, such
as medical personnel, rubbish collectors
and government officials. Burning questions
arise. Is such selection ethical? Who
is essential?
The following top latest information
& resources will help you find out
the facts, including how it is transmitted
, containment, symptoms, treatments
& danger.
MILLIONS KILLED
IN GLOBAL FLU OUTBREAKS
There were three major flu
pandemics in the 20th Century.
In a mere 18 months between 1918-19,
"Spanish" flu is believed
to have killed up to 40 million people
world wide - some estimates put the
death toll even higher.
In 1957 "Asian" flu killed
around a million people, although
it was thought to have infected more
than 10% of the world population.
The latest outbreak was in 1968 when
"Hong Kong" flu also killed
about a million people.
Health experts expect a pandemic to
emerge from south-east Asia, but the
Foreign Office is not advising people
to stay away from the area. However,
almost 150,000 anti-flu jabs will
be ordered for our communities as
fears rise that the world is facing
a threat from deadly strains of the
virus.
The UK government plans to spend £200m
buying 14.6m doses of Tamiflu, an
anti-viral drug which eases flu symptoms.
After announcing the 14.6 million
doses of Tamiflu, health secretary
John Reid said: "It makes sense
to ensure we in the UK are as prepared
as we can be and have drugs for use
against an influenza pandemic here.This
will enable us to treat one in four
of the population which WHO recommends
we plan for."
Local health protection bosses are
now preparing to meet NHS chiefs,
GP's, emergency services, voluntary
groups and councils to make sure that
areas of the country do not grind
to a halt if there is a massive outbreak.
Since January last year here have
been 42 human deaths from "bird"
flu in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The World Health Organisation (WHO)
believes that such viruses could become
more infectious, and in the age of
mass air travel, could spread quickly
across the globe.
Consultants in communicable disease
control believe that it is a question
of when - not if - a flu crisis will
strike. The big fear is that a new
strain of flu, possibly starting among
animals, will turn into a human pandemic
- when a new strain emerges which
people have no immunity against.
We are long overdue for another pandemic
(about every 30 years) and have to
consider how we keep society working.
Without medical precautions, experts
believe that 50,000 people in the
UK could die from a new lethal virus
- more than four times the normal
annual death toll.
At the moment an effective vaccine
is impossible to develop because nobody
knows which strain will emerge.
The government's chief medical officer
Sir Liam Donaldson added: "Wherever
in the world a flu pandemic starts,
we must assume we will be unable to
prevent it reaching the UK. When it
does, its impact will be severe in
the number of illnesses and disruption
to everyday life."
AVIAN FLU - YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Q. Why should humans worry about bird
flu?
A. Avian, or bird flu, can be spread
to humans, probably through the breathing
in of dried bird droppings which can
carry the virus.
Q. Is it more dangerous than normal
flu?
A. There are 15 strains identified
so far - including the H5N1 version
of the virus which is proving deadly.
Humans have not been able to build
up immunity to these strains and so
have little defence.
Q. Is it always deadly?
A. No, although the current death
rate is high. Since January 2004 there
have been 55 confirmed cases of bird
flu, with 42 deaths. Experts believe
that a more easily-passed strain may
have a lower death rate.
Q. Can I still eat chicken?
A. Experts think eating chicken is
still safe, although the Foreign Office
advises people in south-east Asia
to be careful about making sure the
meat is cooked.
Q. Can bird flu pass from person to
person?
A. Probably, although so far not easily.
The strains so far are thought to
have been passed between relatives,
but only in small clusters rather
than on a massive scale.
Q. What are the chances of it reaching
Britain?
A. Very low at present, but if a new
strain of bird flu develops, or it
combines with human flu, the virus
could spread rapidly across the whole
globe.
Here
are many more questions and answers
from the World Health Organization
website.
The
poultry and people connection
In other parts of Asia, the majority
of victims were people who had worked
in large chicken farms, or at least
been exposed to such an environment.
This is not the case in Indonesia,
where many victims appear to be urban
dwellers.
This puts the spotlight on the billions
of yards and small enclosures across
the country that are full of chickens
and ducks reared and eaten by individual
families.
"We can't fight this disease
in the hospitals and clinics,"
said Mr Cordingley. "We need
to concentrate on the backyards where
the chickens and ducks are."
"Until these are cleaned up,
this disease will always be around,"
he said. In fact, Mr Cordingley believes
that the close living relationship
people in Asia have with their animals
is a major reason why bird flu epidemics
repeatedly start in the region - and
he said such living arrangements were
"not appropriate anymore".
But he conceded that such a lifestyle
change would take years of re-education
and a major political commitment.
Read the full article here on
the situation in Indonesia.
Migrating
birds are prime suspects
Experts see Alaska as U.S. front
against bird flu
Biologists carefully tracking migratory
fowl for signs of deadly virus
Reuters Updated: 2:01 p.m. ET Aug.
30, 2005
Read
the full article here.
WASHINGTON - Bird experts working
in some of the most remote areas of
Alaska have begun checking migrating
birds for avian influenza to see if
they are spreading the feared virus
out of Asia.
A team heads off later this week
for the Alaskan Peninsula to test
Steller’s eiders, a type of
duck, for the virus, U.S. Geological
Survey experts said. Other teams have
already begun testing geese and ducks
in other refuges, taking advantage
of regular ecological studies to test
birds migrating from Asia for the
H5N1 virus.
“We think that Alaska is likely
to be the front line,” said
Hon Ip, a virologist at the USGS National
Wildlife Health Center in Madison,
Wisconsin. Other states are vulnerable,
too, he said.
“There are birds that fly directly
across the Pacific from Southeast
Asia to our western states like California,
Oregon and Washington,” Ip added
in a telephone interview.
The H5N1 avian influenza virus, which
re-emerged in China in 2003, has caused
the death or destruction of more than
100 million birds across Asia, from
Japan to Russia’s Siberia. Migrating
birds in China and Mongolia have been
found to be infected with the virus.
So far it has killed more than 50
people, although it does not easily
infect humans. Experts fear it will
eventually acquire the ability to
spread easily from person to person
and cause a global pandemic of exceptionally
deadly influenza.
Migrating birds are prime suspects
No one is sure how it is spreading,
but migrating birds are a prime suspect.
Officials fear birds such as ducks
and geese could bring the virus to
Western Europe, Africa and the Middle
East over coming months.
1918
Influenza Origins Long Unknown:
Now Certain Link to Birds Announced
BBC News, October 5, 2005
The Spanish flu virus that killed
up to 50 million people in 1918-19
was probably a strain that originated
in birds, research has shown. US scientists
have found the 1918 virus shares genetic
mutations with the bird flu virus
now circulating in Asia.
Writing in Nature, they say their
work underlines the threat the current
strain poses to humans worldwide.A
second paper in Science reveals another
US team has successfully recreated
the 1918 virus in mice. The virus
is contained at the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention under
stringent safety conditions. It is
hoped to carry out experiments to
further understand the biological
properties that made the virus so
virulent. The virus was recreated
from data produced by painstaking
research by a team from the US Armed
Forces Institute of Pathology.
Working on virus samples from the
remains of victims of the 1918 pandemic,
the researchers were able to piece
together the entire genetic sequence
of the virus. They found the virus
contained elements that were new to
humans of the time - making it highly
virulent. And analysis of the final
three pieces of the virus' genetic
code has revealed mutations that have
striking similarities to those found
in flu viruses found only in birds,
such as the H5N1 strain currently
found in south east Asia.
Read
the full report here.
Practice
of Raising Domestic Ducks
by Feeding Them in Rice Fields Questioned
Avian flu may
be carried by ducks which are herded
daily from farm to field,
later sickening chicken and people.
Pigs and migratory birds are part
of the mix too.
Here's a report on a community
in the Phillippines which is trying
to deal with this volatile mix.
'Candaba likely area for bird flu
outbreak' By Tonette Orejas Philippine
Daily Inquirer Oct 10, 2005
The local government's study revealed
the presence of major factors here
that could host an epidemic.
First, this town's portions of the
32,000-hectare Candaba Swamp are winter
refuge and breeding sanctuaries of
Asian migratory birds suspected as
carriers of the avian flu virus.
The study, which included inputs
from members of the Wild Bird Club
of the Philippines, said the migratory
birds came mostly from China.
Pelayo said birds started arriving
here in July. Huge flocks were observed
to have gathered at the swamp this
month, he said.
The study team also consulted members
of the Candaba Swamp Migratory Birds
and Wildlife Foundation Inc., a local
bird watching club, who explained
the behavioral patterns of the migratory
birds.
At just one site covered by the Asian
Water Bird Census 2005 here in January,
Timothy Fisher, one of five authors
of the book "Guide to Birds in
the Philippines," counted over
1,000 globetrotting mallards (Anas
platyrhynchos) or ducks known locally
as dumara.
Second, Pelayo said the town itself
hosts about 500 enterprises that raise
local ducks in wetlands, instead of
controlled coops and cages, to avail
of rice and corn grits and snails
in the swamp.
This traditional way of raising ducks
is done for eight months. Migratory
birds come halfway into that period,
mingling occasionally with domestic
fowls when they feed on common grounds,
Pelayo said.
The Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR) said as much
as 40,000 species of birds are known
to migrate to the swamp from September
to February. While most migratory
birds shun people, they roost on trees
and shrubs, leaving droppings there.
Herons usually visit farms and fishponds
to catch fish there.
Third, unlike the 20 or so marshlands
being monitored across the country
by the government's anti-bird flu
task force, Candaba is surrounded
by more than 1,000 poultry and pig
farms. The swamp straddles the provinces
of Pampanga, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija
where the industry thrives.
"The risks of exposure to the
virus and its transmission must be
controlled," Pelayo said.
The human population in the path
of the hazard includes not only some
105,000 people in Candaba's 33 villages
because Metro Manila, which has over
10 million people, is only 55 km southeast
of the town.
Dr. Juvencio Ordoña, director
of the Department of Health in Central
Luzon, said the study was discussed
with him.
"The mere presence of migratory
birds there and the large poultry
population in the area and nearby
towns make it really a potential ground
zero," Ordoña said.
Read
the full article here.
Rice-Duck
Production, an otherwise praiseworthy
organic and sound method for a win-win
production of both duck meat and rice:
now a possible factor in the spread
of the deadly avian flu.
Here is more on the practice of
rice-duck production in Vietnam, a
country that has witnessed multiple
outbreaks of flu in humans.
The duck industry has been developed
in Vietnam over a long time and plays
an important role in providing income
for smallholders, and meat and eggs
in the diets of the people. Ducks
can be found throughout the country,
but are concentrated in the Mekong
Delta which has about 60% of the total.
The farmers have various traditional
systems for raising ducks, of which
the rice-duck system is very common.
In this system ducks forage in the
growing rice fields and farmers can
get more production from rice due
to the fact that ducks control insects
and weeds and excrete manure which
fertilizes the rice plants, and decreases
the need for chemicals.
Damage by insect pests is a serious
problem for the young rice plants,
especially the high yielding rice
varieties commonly cultivated today
(Kim 1984. So, the rice producers
must make large investments in the
purchase of various kinds of pesticides
and insecticides, which also involves
additional labour for spraying, particularly
as several pesticides are required
to kill pests at different periods
of growth of the rice. Over-use of
toxic chemicals in rice cultivation
has resulted in pollution of the environment,
especially damaging to the health
of humans, fish and other aquatic
and domestic animals when their residues
are deposited in the soil and washed
into the canals and waterways. By
applying various biological control
methods the farmers could limit the
developments of pests and weeds in
their fields. The use of ducklings
to control pests and weeds is one
strategy already known by many producers
in the Mekong Delta, although very
little research has been done to evaluate
the mechanisms involved.
Along with these benefits the producers
can get more benefit from ducks raised
in the harvest season, because they
forage for natural feeds and left-over
rice in the rice fields and decrease
the need for investments in purchased
feeds. Also, small flocks are commonly
let loose in the backyards or gardens,
and are fed household wastes or rice
by-products, and obtain other feeds
by scavenging. Additionally, duck
production helps reduce unemployment
in the rural areas and increases the
incomes of the poor farmers, especially
landless farmers.
Read
the full report here.
Links
for further information
National
Geographic Magazine, October 2005
includes:
multimedia
presentation with photographer
Lynn Johnson sharing her thoughts
and
a
forum for discussion of the killer
flu
An
Investors' Guide to the Avian Flu
This is the most complete and up-to-date
summary of what is and is not known
about the potential pandemic facing
the world. Investors are urged to
contact their government officials
and major financial institutions to
get involved in emergency planning.
How
people get the flu
Poster
guide to the Avian Flu
The
World Health Organization home page
for Avian flu
United
States Centers for Disease Control's
Avian flu site
Nature
Magazine avian flu timeline and links
Reuters
avian flu timeline
http://www.fewings.ca/polcan/040406BirdFlu.html
