September 28 Flu Update
A Dutch company says it has found antibodies that will help in the treatment of bird flu.Even though it is not H5N1 there are concerns over H7N3 found in Western Canada.
ProMed notes that in 20004 the H7N3 in Sask. was high path.
The USDA issues a statement on the Canadian outbreak.
ProMed on the news from yesterday on transplacental transmission.
ProMed on a recent outbreak in Thailand.
A County official from New York testifies in DC.
Memphis paper asks if business in that area are ready for bird flu.
They're scanning fowl in Montana during hunting season.
There are problems with Finland's pandemic program.
Finland's planned vaccination programme to deal with a possible bird flu pandemic has been delayed. The National Public Health Institute has broken off its deal with the Dutch pharmaceuticals company Solvay, because of its inability to deliver the medication on schedule.
posted by Orange @ 9:47 AM
1 Comments:
Orange;
I’m not too worried about the outbreak of H7N3, whether its HPAI or LPAI (there seems to be a little confusion with the USDA account), because the Canadians have a excellent track record of getting it under control from their 2004 experience and with SARS.
I’m a whole lot more concerned about our neighbors to the south.
In 1993 in Mexico, it's very well documented that a low-grade H5N2 virus transferred from wild birds into nearly the entire poultry population in and around Mexico City. They did not even know a new virus was in their environment and it lingered a year and then mutated into an extremely HPAI. Initially, it was no more than mild respiratory symptoms in chickens, but within that one year short timeframe, it infected the large industrial poultry facilities outside Mexico City and turned deadly, eventually affecting nearly a billion birds throughout the country. Bob Webster knows all about what I just said. Yep, we were probably pretty close to a pandemic back in 1993 and didn't even realize it.
Currently, the Mexican government and economy is in near shambles, so if avian influenza starts spreading in North America – it will most probably originate from south of the border, at least in my view. Several million migrants cross our borders each day at various points, so it doesn’t take a rocket scientist fro CalTech to calculate the enormous risk surrounding this fluid arrangement.
I see old George Abercrombie, president and CEO of Hoffman-LaRoche, has made another public speech in Tennessee, attempting to get people sensitized and motivated to prepare for a pandemic. I am quite sure the guy doesn’t need the publicity or the honorarium, so I’ll give him extremely high marks for his selfless dedication and conviction – we need a few thousand more like him in our own government, to stand up and start motivating the citizens. No matter what the important topic, it all comes down to leadership if you want action.
I think the Fin’s need to hustle a little bit and find another pandemic vaccine supplier real fast, and get themselves in the que (so to speak).
There’s time now, but it’s running short.
Wulfgang
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