June 11 Flu Update
The New York Times weighs in on the Chinese situation, with concern about the virus, but discrediting of the reports of human cses:Note this:
For the last two weeks, rumors circulated on some Web sites tracking infectious diseases that more than 120 people, including six tourists, had died of avian flu in Qinghai, and that hundreds had been quarantined.
However, they all proved traceable to a site run by antigovernment dissidents, which said it could not verify information members had posted anonymously. Pictures on the site purporting to show hundreds of dead birds were grainy, and allegations that the site's "reporters" had been arrested were unconfirmed.
Effect Measure comments on the Times story.
Note Revere's further comments on the area where the reports originated, and what happens when trust is hard to regain.:
As we noted earlier, Qinghai province is a politically complex mixture of muslim, Chinese and Tibetan ethnicities, and the source of the reports was a dissident ex-patriate site that warned its reports were unverified. On the other hand, given the stakes, the situation and China's past record in the 2003 SARS episode, some amount of skepticism is warranted when Chinese officials deny such reports. It is a graphic example of the extraordinary difficulty of regaining trust once it is lost.
From England, a story on the bird flu fears, millions could die.
Hidden nugget here, WHO official acknowledges that transparency is important to fighting the bird flu.
A bird flu vaccine is a race against a clock, Thai response, which is gearing up to produce vaccine. They claim US efforts are not getting the job done.
H5N1 on the Thai story.
CBC on more bird flu cases in China.
Recombinomics reports on cattle dying mysteriously in India, wonders if anyone is checking for H5N1.
posted by Orange @ 9:11 AM
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