June 1 Flu Update
Indonesia has started slaughtering poultry as part of a "get serious" campaign. As Crofsblogs notes, there is a kicker in this story: a new case.
A hospitalized 8-year-old girl from Pamulang, on the outskirts of Jakarta, also tested positive in local tests, Nyoman Kandun, a senior Health Ministry official, said Thursday.
CIDRAP on this new case.
A WHO expert says that Indonesia is doing a band aid job fighting the bird flu.
"The situation is that there is a leak in the roof, and the Ministry of Health is just mopping up the floor every day," epidemiologist Steve Bjorge said.
Same WHO expert says that figure out the cluster in Indonesia isn't so easy.
A bird flu researcher in Indonesia says he is convinced that H2H has occurred.
"I am convinced human-to-human infection has been taking place because studies have found the development of H3N2 and H1N1 strains of bird flu virus which originated from H5N1 virus. Much more, fowl-to-human infection cannot yet be proven since the death of Iwan in Tangerang," he said on the sidelines of a seminar on bird flu in Surabaya, East Java, on Friday.
Howard County, MD, is doing bird flu planning--just in case.
Prince George's County, also MD, is doing the same.
West Virignia is also talking about its bird flu prep.
Must read, which came from a reader. A former Seattle City Councillor is travelling in Bucharest, and has an interesting perspective on how bird flu is being handled there.
If the mood in Bucharest is short of hysteria, it is not by much. Television images show health workers in moonsuits stuffing shrieking roosters into garbage bags en route to the incinerator. Last week, authorities swooped down on a seven-street area here in the capital city, searched 80 houses, finding many people were raising chickens at home. The birds were confiscated and destroyed, but within days more H5-infected chickens were found in the same quarter of the city.
Australia's Health Minister has controls over the way nearby Indonesia is handling the bird flu.
An economist told the Edmonton chamber to prepare for bird flu--a good outcome is to remember it like Y2K.
The World Economic Forum met, as discussed the problem of bird flu emerging in Africa.
Flu experts warn the risk of a pandemic could go on for years.
There's going to be a flu journal, edited by an expert.
CIDRAP on EU wild bird suveillance.
Yesterday, we linked to Declan Butler's must read post from his blog. Effect Measure is back with his comments--simply put, there need to be new rules. Sequences need to be shared.
On the same topic (in fact), Effect Measure notes a practical reason for needing the sequences. If the flu is amantandine sensitive, then countries could save precious funds using that antiviral over Tamiflu.
posted by Orange @ 8:53 PM
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