April 12 Flu Update
WHO report on Indonesia.A note here that Indonesia has a new bird flu case, but David Nabarro is backing the local government's decision not to cull birds, calling in impractical (which it may well be.)
Seven suspected cases has been quarantined in India.
Nick Zamiska is back in the Wall Street Journal, with a less than comforting review of pandemic plans in Europe. They are not consistent and not comprehensive, as significant numbers don't address veterinary services, and significant numbers of others do not look at service provision.
"It's like looking at the wiring diagrams of a Maserati and a Ferrari, and looking at which one handles better on the road without turning on the ignition," said Angus Nicoll, influenza coordinator for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Stockholm, who was sent an early draft of the study for review. However, he called the study "a useful piece of work."
ProMed looks around the world....
[1] Azerbaijan - confirmation of suspected case in Salyan
[2] China - suspected case in Guangdong
[3] Indonesia - suspected case confirmed
The two Azeri girls have been released from the hospital.
There was a mass outbreak in Southern Russia among birds that were already vaccinated.
Myanmar says the bird flu is under control.
Afghanistan says a third province now has a bird outbreak.
Somewhat strange article from Russia on clinical vaccine trials.
They are doing local preparation for a pandemic in Hattiesburg, MS.
Yesterday, we noted New Scientist criticism of British flu surveillance. Effect Measure comments....
As does Recombinomics.
From ProMed this is actually pretty good reading. The one sick swan in Scotland (end of tongue twister) could have floated over from Germany. Or, it could have circulated around the island prior to dying. The answer clearly matters. Doesn't help that they misidentified the species.
CIDRAP on Dr. Fauci, who says that the bird flu wouldn't have the same impact is US as it has in poorer countries.
African report on environmental factors in flu pandemic--which, generally, are really agricultural practices.
Effect Measure on the unanswered--and, for now, unanswerable--question of whether you can get the bird flu by eating an infected bird. Entire industries hang on this question.
USA Today editorial..."Things to Know, not fear."
Promed on yesterday's news from Indonesia and three other countries.
Promed with all the avian detail any person could need.
Turkmenistan was praised by WHO for its flu program.
Cambodians say they were unaware of bird flu risk.
When a flu report brought culling to a Cambodian village, the people who made the report were ostracized.
Vietnam says poultry smuggling is a big problem.
Alaskans are making bird flu plans....
as are people in Mt. Shasta, WA...
and California.
Every day there's a story on Tamiflu, shikimic acid and the sweetgum tree, which generally I don't pass along, but here's a new one.
posted by Orange @ 10:08 PM
2 Comments:
thanks for your blog. It is very comprehensive. I check it every day. I'm the only person I know who is interested in bird flu (i'm sure there are lots of people I just don't know them..). When I talk to people about avian flu they say 'yeah, yeah, what about SARS, nothing happened'. I'm ready to panic (but in a good way) as soon as you post the time to panic story. In the meantime I've learned a lot of interesting issues related to the bird flu. Thanks again.
Alice--Thanks for the kind words. People react the same way to me, in general, but I've enjoyed keeping this blog up. Thanks for reading and for commenting. Keep in touch.
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