October 9 Flu Update
Forbes has the ongoing story of Turkey and Romania, as it bounces through the world.MSM all over this story now, CBS news says "We aren't ready."
An editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle says that the US response has been "sensible and hyperbolic." Sensible in the Senate's actions on drugs, and hyperbolic in calling in the US military.
Turkey initiates a small cull.
A boy in Indonesia has the bird flu.
Reuters has a good article on Myanmar, which is surrounded by countries with bird flu and almost for sure has it as well, but there is little to no chance of getting any information out of there. They say its the "black hole" of bird flu.
Michael Osterholm says what I think everyone knows--the bird flu response will primarily be a local, not federal affair.
IHT with an excellent article on how economics effects bird flu protection measures--as with many things, affluence helps.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an interesting perspective that might have been lost in the Taubenberger hoopla. The ability to do such things does herald a step forward on a long-term basis in our battle with the virus.
In counterpoint, H5N1 found this interesting link--the New Scientist wonders if Taubenberger is wrong to be doing what he is doing.
Ian Frazer, who invented the first cancer vaccine will brief the Australian cabinet on bird flu.
The Pueblo, Colorado paper says we must be prepared for bird flu.
Newsweek has flu coverage today.
The Daily Telegraph in Sydney reviews flu plans.
The Observer in UK has a little bit of an hysterical bird flu story.
The San Francisco Chroncile says Vietnam efforts are key to winning the bird flu fight.
Effect Measure on the end of Pandemic Awareness Week, and what they learned and accomplished.
Ever reasonable, Revere says:
This is a problem of community mobilization. Leadership is needed, so if your "leaders" are missing in action, step up and lead yourself. If we sit down rationally and calmly BEFORE the shit hits the fan we will be able to get through it rationally and calmly. It will still be painful, but less painful and more easily endured. Share what you know and what you learn with others. The Flu Wiki is designed for that.ProMed has various news reports on Turkey.
Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.
Note this mod comment:
[From the map referenced above, it seems clear to me that, at least up until now, the virus has not been spread by migrating birds, since the direction of spread has been east-west, cutting across several north-south flyways and following the frontier between Russia and Kazakhstan westwards from the Mongolian border. Could there be a flourishing trade in poultry along the border? - Mod.JW]H5N1 has the news of Korean planning for bird flu, with an alert due to be announced on Saturday.
posted by Orange @ 10:52 PM
2 Comments:
I repeat the question: In light of the current danger, why can't Roche either be persueded or forced to license their 'recipe' for Tamiflu to as many other drug companies and governments as possible so that massive quantities of the stuff can be made in a short amount of time?
Ideally, Roche should either drastically reduce their licensing fees for Tamiflu or eliminate them altogether.
Even if that is done, Roche still stands to make massive amounts of money. At this point it seems like Roche is obligated to do this out of a sense of decency in order to prevent millions of deaths. If not out of a sense of decency, then perhaps they can be persuaded to do it in order to keep the world economy out of a deep recession or depression brought on by avian flu - that could help their bottom line as well as everyone else's.
Anonymous--if I recall correctly, there has been some discussion of this in the past. Roche has also talked about (and possibly actually completed) a large contribution of drugs to the UN or WHO.
One issue is that the flu that hits us might end up being resistant to Tamiflu, although we learned this week that isn't as big a deal as we were told. Another might be quality control if the drug was produced in many locations.
The basic underpinning of your question is on the mark however. When does the market approach yield to the overall global need that created the market in the first place.
As always, thanks for reading and thanks for your thoughts.
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