Avian Flu - What we need to know

Dear Readers:

It is with sadness that we announce that avianflu.typepad.com is going dormant.  This is for two reasons.  First, our original mission was to provide accurate information on a newly developing topic.  While misconceptions continue to prevail, there are now numerous informative and excellent sites on the avian flu topic.  You will find many of these listed on this very blog.  Second, both Silviu and Tyler have some external commitments, which prevent them from upgrading our offerings to remain unique.

We have not forgotten about the issue and we will keep the site standing, if only as a directory to other sites.  And we have not ruled out resurrecting the blog at some point in the future, especially if the issue becomes more pressing.

Thank you all for reading us and thank you for your comments and suggestions.  Let's all hope that this blog can stay dormant forever.

Tyler & Silviu

Latest bird flu news

China announced its 12th human casualty today:

A 21-year-old migrant worker has died of the H5N1 bird flu virus in China, the country's 12th human fatality from the disease since November, the government said Friday.

The man, identified only by the surname Lai, died Wednesday at a hospital in the central city of Wuhan, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing health officials.

The government hasn't said how Lai was exposed to the virus. China has suffered dozens of flu outbreaks in poultry, prompting the government to destroy millions of chickens, ducks and other birds that contain the virus.

Lai became ill on April 1 and was hospitalized with a fever and pneumonia. He was confirmed Monday to have the H5N1 strain.

Earlier this week Indonesia confirmed its 24th casualty.

Elsewhere, two wild swans found dead in France earlier this week tested positive for H5N1. A new poultry outbreak was discovered in Pakistan. In Denmark an airplane was briefly quarantined when a passanger was suspected of being infected with H5N1 (turned out to be a false alarm). Finally, the WHO cleared a Sudanese poultry farmer suspected of having contacted bird flu.

Indonesian family infected with bird flu

A family of five was admitted to Abdul Moeloek hospital in Bandurlampung on Sunday, all suffering from suspected bird flu.

The family -- Abidi, the husband and his wife Sarmawati, both 52, and three of their six children, Septi, 12, Fitri, 8 and Putra, 5 -- are now being treated in an isolation room. The five have all demonstrated a high fever and a cough, symptoms of the deadly bird flu.

Sarmawati has been treated at the hospital since last Thursday. Her other three children had been diagnosed with bird flu earlier. Mohtar Rozi, 15, died March 31, and Betharia, 19, died April 4, while Bakhrudin, 26, is still being treated at the hospital.

Both Mohtar and Betharia died at home before they could be sent to the hospital. Their parents had limited funds and knew little about the virus.

Laboratory tests on drug samples taken from the patients confirmed Bakhrudin, Septi, Fitri and Putra were infected with the bird flu virus, while Abidi and Sarmawati were negative, according to data from the Lampung health office.

From the Jakarta Post, via H5N1.

China reports 17th human case

China has reported its 17th human case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu since November, in a 21-year-old security guard from the central city of Wuhan.

A WHO spokesperson said the man was confirmed to have the virus, but the source of his exposure was still under investigation.

He became ill on April 1 and was hospitalised in a critical condition with a high fever.

Source.

South Asia's bird flu struggles

Reuters published a good article on the current situation in the region. Here are a few bits:

Since February, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar have culled hundreds of thousands of chickens and shut poultry farms, yet the virus has kept spreading to new areas.

Surprisingly, no humans are known to have been infected in South Asia, where hundreds of millions in the countryside live with their livestock.

[...] "Has any disease which has come in the last 50 years into India gone away?" said H.K. Pradhan, head of India's only animal diseases laboratory that carries out tests for bird flu.

Worse still is a lack of laboratories, trained veterinary personnel and ignorance about the disease.

Officials admit they face an uphill battle against bird flu, which experts fear could mutate and spread easily from person to person, triggering a pandemic.

In a region where many have little or no access to stretched health services, a mutated strain could spread rapidly among humans, leaving countless numbers of people to fend for themselves.

While officials might feel a sense of crisis, the reaction of many ordinary people is slowly turning from panic to cautious resignation.

In a region of more than 1.3 billion people, bird flu is just one of many threats they face as they try to overcome poverty, the danger of other illnesses, militancy and natural disasters.

Pakistan finds bird flu on second farm

The H5N1 bird flu virus has been confirmed at another Pakistani poultry farm, an Agriculture Ministry official said on Sunday.

Authorities confirmed outbreaks of the H5N1 virus at two poultry farms in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) in February.

The new outbreak was discovered on a farm near the capital, Islamabad.

"It was an small farm and we have already destroyed a total 3,500 chickens there," Mohammad Afzal, the ministry's livestock commissioner, told Reuters.

From Reuters.

The Washington Post on US pandemic plan

President Bush is expected to approve soon a national pandemic influenza response plan that identifies more than 300 specific tasks for federal agencies, including determining which frontline workers should be the first vaccinated and expanding Internet capacity to handle what would probably be a flood of people working from their home computers.

The Treasury Department is poised to sign agreements with other nations to produce currency if U.S. mints cannot operate. The Pentagon, anticipating difficulties acquiring supplies from the Far East, is considering stockpiling millions of latex gloves. And the Department of Veterans Affairs has developed a drive-through medical exam to quickly assess patients who suspect they have been infected.

The document is the first attempt to spell out in some detail how the government would detect and respond to an outbreak, and continue functioning through what could be an 18-month crisis, which in a worst-case scenario could kill 1.9 million Americans. Bush was briefed on a draft of the implementation plan on March 17. He is expected to approve the plan within the week, but it continues to evolve, said several administration officials who have been working on it.

[...] To keep the 1.8 million federal workers healthy and productive through a pandemic, the Bush administration would tap into its secure stash of medications, cancel large gatherings, encourage schools to close and shift air traffic controllers to the busier hubs -- probably where flu had not yet struck. Retired federal employees would be summoned back to work, and National Guard troops could be dispatched to cities facing possible "insurrection," said Jeffrey W. Runge, chief medical officer at the Department of Homeland Security.

The administration hopes to help contain the first cases overseas by rushing in medical teams and supplies. "If there is a small outbreak in a country, it may behoove us to introduce travel restrictions," Runge said, "to help stamp out that spark."

Read the full article here.

Seven suspect cases hospitalised in India

Seven persons, including six women, suspected to be affected with bird-flu were admitted in the isolation ward of the TB Hospital, Chief Medical Officer KK Vijayvargiya said on Wednesday.

"Their blood samples have been collected and were sent to Delhi for examination," he said.

"The suspected persons were referred from Mortakka in Khandwa district with suspected bird flu fever," he said, adding that they were examined by doctors and initial reports did not reveal anything suspicious.

Only after getting the report from the Delhi laboratory it can be confirmed whether they are affected with the bird flu or not, he said.

The suspected persons consumed a chicken dish few days back following which it was suspected that they are affected with the disease, he said.

They complained of vomiting, fever and pain in hands and legs, he added.

Source.

Bird flu preparedness

Nicholas Zamiska writes in a WSJ article that there is wide variability between European countries when it comes to bird flu preparedness. The piece is a review of a coming Lancet Journal article. Some received the story with skepticism:

"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."

Effect Measure briefly reviews the status of the US flu defenses.

Latest human cases

Indonesia reported two more cases on Monday, read the details at Recombinomics. For more on Indonesia try the Jakarta Post here and here, or this recent Bloomberg story.

Yesterday Egypt reported its 12th human case of bird flu, the BBC has some details.