Saturday, May 06, 2006

May 6 Flu Update

Flu outbreak in Qinghai, where many people think it all started last year.

ProMed on Qinghai reports. Note mod comment:

The bar-headed goose (_Anser indicus_) is known to breed in Central Asia and migrate over the Himalayas to winter in the wetlands of India. Could the affected birds have recently returned from H5N1-affected areas in India? The input of knowledgeable sources (ornithologists?) might help. -Mod.AS
H5 antibodies were found in a bird in Arkhangelsk, which is in Russia. Luckily, hunting season is on the way.

ProMed/OIE on Europe, including potential small outbreaks in Denmark and France.

WHO says only half of cases are reported within two weeks...obviously, faster reporting is vital to the containment model.

Interseting point from Dr. Omi of Thailand...the surveillance system for bird flu is most likely to break down at the village level.

How to protect your cat from getting the bird flu.

Article from India on computers being used to help combat the bird flu.

Last month Lancet wrote that Ireland had an excellent bird flu plan. Today, local public health doctors beg to differ.

Conservationists seize the momentum, and push the "bird trade" theory of the spread of the flu.


Speaking of begging to differ, Recombinomics strongly refutes this idea.

A pandemic summit was held in Texarkana.

He said one of the difficulties containing a flu pandemic is that “people can actually be infectious before they’re symptomatic.” Workers could be infecting people “right and left,” but it would not be known until symptoms show, he explained.

Similar work underway in the Cumberland Plateau Health Group in Virginia.

Greenhammer on why the bird flu is different from other "continuity" planning.

Indianapolis Star on government efforts to stress the safety of chickens...perhaps a coincidence that it comes right before the bird flu drama coming on TV Tuesday.

Flu info from the National Chicken Council.

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