Case Summary from the June 28 News Thread
Regional Color Code: EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, ASIA, NORTH AMERICA, AUSTRALIA/NZ, AFRICA
ROMANIA
THAILAND
Dumb Fish Joke of the Day
One day there were two sharks who live in the ocean near a beach. This beach is very popular and many people are always swimming around in the water. The sharks never miss a meal and often eat more than they should.
In trying to manage their expanding waist lines, the sharks decide to go on a diet and agree to try a low-carbohydrate approach.
Shark #1: “I wonder if we are still allowed to eat those tasty humans?”
Shark #2: “Well, my Atkins Diet manual says it’s okay as long as we skip the buns.”
:-)
“That was INCREDIBLE!”
“No hooves, no horns, no hair — just pink and soft!”
(OK, maybe the sharks ate me in particular….)
credit to G. Larson….
Heather —
Methinks ‘twas your idea (originally, here) to include the clever joke of the day. May He bless you, dear child!
Dumb prep joke of the day.
Do you know why I bought RED fire extinguishers?
In case I need to put out a fire.
They didn’t have any blue ones????? Got me??? Why
DUH I get it….It’s been hot down her and I was in the sun all day………Thats my excuse and I’m stickin to it
Alaska media. Good photos, large PDF file.
It’s been slow & quiet in the News threads lately. Just FYI, if anyone’s interested, there’re a few postings on the Australia and New Zealand 19 about Discovery Channel’s recent programmes on Flu Time Bomb(26/6), Countdown to Superflu(27/6) & Avian Influenza: Human Epidemic(28/6).
“GAZA (Reuters) - A spokesman for gunmen in the Gaza Strip said they had fired a rocket tipped with a chemical warhead at Israel early on Thursday.
The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the claim by the spokesman from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement.
The group had recently claimed to possess about 20 biological warheads for the makeshift rockets commonly fired from Gaza at Israeli towns. This was the first time the group had claimed firing such a rocket.”
Pogge, Perhaps the part about 20 biological warheads is of interest. Why? How is this flu related? I recall several outbreaks in Isreal recently. The use of bio weapons may make it a bit hard to track future flu outbreaks. Correct? This story was clearly related and very important. Not to mention the possibliity of the bioweapon agent (?) spreading to other countries and clouding the picture even more. We will know more about this situation in the following days. I’m wide awake now (3am) because this could be the start of something very, very serious. Tracking the avain flu will become difficult at best.
Roman and Pogge,
I agree it is kinda relevant. Besides what Roman mentioned, which is one issue….I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed that when the BIG avian flu mutation occurs it will be on a slow news day so the press will give it the attention it deserves and regular people will pay it the attention it deserves.
If we’ve got a full-fledged nuclear war going on in the Middle East — what with the WHO trying to downplay bad news anyway and reluctant to change the alert level — bird flu might hardly be a blip on anybody’s radar…until it is too late.
“Tracking the avain flu will become difficult at best” This is beyond “kinda relevant”.
This story from June 21 from TuvaOnline (local news source for the Tuva Region in Russia) offers a few more details about the outbreak there including the fact that dead mice have been discovered in the area. H5 has been found in dead birds at this lake, Uvs Nuur.
babelfished from Russian:
Laboratory investigations confirmed that the reason for the mass case of wild ducks in Ubsu lake Of Nur (Tuva) could be the bird influenza
June 21, 2006
In the blood serum of the wild ducks, discovered in the water area Of Ubsu-Nur lake, are revealed the antibodies to the virus of bird influenza. At this preliminary conclusion arrived the specialists of laboratories to Kemerovo and Novosibirsk, where serum was sent for a study. This information at the recently completed session of operational staff reported the leader for the administration of the Federal Service for veterinary and fitosanitarnomu supervision on Tuve Of Aldyn-ool Of Kenden, the press-service of government transfers.
Specialists on the basis of clinical results confirmed that the killed birds were infected by bird influenza; however, it is not established accurately, in what category it is placed (as the most dangerous for the people it is considered virus H5N1). More detailed examination will be carry ouied in Vladimir.
Let us recall that on the whole in the region Of Ubsu lake Of Nur (Tuva, Mongolia) were discovered 169 small carcasses of wild migratory birds [now many, many more]. According to main state sanitary doctor Tuvy To Lyubovi Of Oorzhak, first about this reported on 13 June the local residents. In the region of lake immediately left the group of the specialists of veterinary and sanitary services, spasateley of 15 people. Alertness of specialists caused communications about the detection in the lake of the small carcasses of mice [ìûøåé], what, in their opinion, is unprecedented fact.
Anti-epizootic measures in Tuve are conducted since the beginning of the mass loss of birds. By the colleagues of epidemic care and prevention center are accomplished also the circuits per farm - thus far on the fifth day of the observation of the cases of infecting the people it is not revealed. The members of operational staff will developed detailed measures for localization of the center of infection. The solution about the introduction of quarantine or limiting measures will be accepted only after the entering of the official results of laboratory investigations from Kemerovo and Novosibirsk, and also Vladimir city.
Ubsu-Nur lake find on the territory of the famous state natural biospheric preserve “Ubsunurskaya basin”, which since 2003 entered into the list of the objects of the world heritage OF UNESCO.
http://www.tuvaonline.ru/2006/06/21/grippe.html
This is the first report of the bird deaths at Ubsu-Nur (Uvs Nuur) in TuvaOnline (local news source).
babelfished from Russian:
In in lake Ubsu-Nur (Tuva) of wild birds. Epidemiologists do not exclude the bird influenza June 15, 2006
On the coasts Of Ubsu-Nur lake in the state natural biospheric preserve “Ubsunurskaya basin”, which since 2003 is the component part of the object of the world heritage OF UNESCO, are discovered the small carcasses of wild birds. On this reported today main state sanitary doctor Tuvy Ëþáîâü Îîðæàê.
According to her, into the region of lake left the operations group of the specialists of veterinary and sanitary services, spasateley of 15 people. The small carcasses of birds are sent for Novosibirsk. Only by the results of the conducted there laboratory investigations it will be it is possible judge the reasons for the mass loss of feathered. Tuva epidemiologists do not exclude and the virus of “bird influenza”. In the five-kilometer zone around the lake preventive measures are conducted. In particular, the course of preventive treatment is assigned 28 to shepherds and to the members of their families, whose chaylagi are broken in this zone.
The measures of preventive maintenance are undertaken in the attitude of 15 members of the brigade of epidemiologists, veterinarians and spasateley, that left into the region of lake and had direct contact with the dead birds. or purposes of preventive maintenance they all assume “remantadine” and other antiviral preparations.
The animal peace Of Ubsu-Nur lake is very rich. Here dwell more than 350 it is specific feathered. Among the discovered small carcasses - in essence of seagull.
Let us recall that during September of past year in the region of sphere -Nur lake the boards -Xemskogo of region was discovered the small carcass of wild duck, which was sent for the examination for Novosibirsk. The suspicion for the presence of the virus of “bird influenza” was not confirmed after the conducted there laboratory investigations.
http://www.tuvaonline.ru/2006/06/15/ubs.html
Uvs Nuur: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uvs_Nuur
Confirmation of dead birds (ducks) on the Mongolian side of the lake. (Not surprisingly….)
babelfished from Russian:
The case of bird is fixed in the Mongolian section Of Ubsu-Nur lake June 28, 1006
The specialists for main management MCHS [EMERGENCY AND DISASTER RELIEF MINISTRY] of Russia on Tuve reported that their Mongolian associates confirm the case of wild ducks in the Mongolian section Of Ubsu lake Of Nur (one third of which are fallen to the territory of Russia). Let us recall that on 13 June the inhabitants Of Tuvy focused attention of local authorities to the mass case of birds in the water area of Tuva-Mongolian lake. Are until today discovered already more than 3000 fallen ducks.
http://www.tuvaonline.ru/ [No permanent link.]
BF cover-up in Abkhaziya (Georgia)?
babelfished from Russian:
MOMENT “To apkhazeti” declares about the danger of bird influenza in Abkhaziya June 26, 2006
International initiative-taking group “To Apkhazeti” extended communication about the danger of bird influenza in Abkhaziya and charges the authorities of unacknowledged republic with the concealment of information about the possible threat to health and to the lives of people. As transmits correspondent IA Regnum, in the communication it is noted that about 8 [in the] mornings on 10 June the representatives of initiative-taking group located in Abkhaziya was bound at sea, when they noted several frightened neighbors, which examine two dying poultry, in which on the beak was seen uncommon skin.
“Those disturbed by the repeated telemetric information about the bird influenza, gathering did guess - not with this whether they did encounter? To the question: they did report about this into the appropriate service, one agitated neighbor said that - yes, but no one thus far appeared, but they already hour, as they guard birds from the strangers, it is said in the communication. - After a certain time on the usual passenger motor vehicle drove up several men and one of them simply selected the hens (to their arrival they had time to imprint that happened by camera) and it assumed into the cellophane packet. After which those arrived in a hurry left, no one anything having explained. To the surprise of the gathering people not there was limit, since the rubber gloves were only protective sanitary measure in them. What already there to speak about the disinfection.
“Subsequently we attempted to find out anything, but answer so they did not obtain, but more lately went rumor, which local authority forbids to reveal the facts of the case of birds, it is noted in the communication to organization. - During several days from vacationers came information about other similar cases, including about the loss of birds in the urban park. After which it became understandable that the local administration conceals these information and, moreover, undertakes no preventive measures. In Moscow we turned themselves into the Ministry of Pub. Health RF with this information and request to isolate means for the preventive maintenance of hen influenza in Abkhaziya in order to protect both local and Russian vacationers, but they refused to us, referring to the absence of the corresponding demand from Abkhaziya”.
As it is emphasized in the communication, “is completely intelligible the attempt of the Abkhazian leaders to draw as much as possible vacationers, in order to render at least minimum assistance to its population” however in Abkhaziya “often take the scene of action of completely opposite nature, that little resemble the concern about the people”, and “to keeping secret the danger of bird influenza is attached great significance, than to the health of people - indeed, takeing into account cheap health resort zone, the discussion deals with the mass inflow of tourists, and it means, the inflow of profits”.
NY Times and elsewhere - “up to 11% of Fed Katrina Aid has been wasted” Gov’t Accounting Office reveals. Not only via fraud (hotel owner submitted $250,000 for Katrina ictims he never housed)but incompetence (like 10,000 empty trailers sitting in Alabama while people still don’t have homes). Gov’t admits they will be persuing these cases for years.
Another demonstration (as if you didn’t need one) that you’re on your own with this one! Even if they WANTED to help, i’m not sure they’d be ABLE to!
lauraB – at 06:34
Maybe paraphrased as:
Even if they were ABLE to help, and decided they WANTED to, it probably will be NO help at all.
Federal “help” is best described by the old military term-cleaned up for the web- as a “cluster ****”
imagine that $11M going to real pandemic planning…… :(
Dead, sickly birds wash up on Calif. beach
Dead, sickly birds wash up on Calif. beach
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press WriterThu Jun 29, 12:58 AM ET
Bird rescuers are trying to determine what caused dozens of dead and sickly tern chicks to wash up on a beach Wednesday.
Rescuers with the International Bird Rescue Research Center collected the bodies of about 200 Caspian and elegant tern chicks after getting calls from lifeguards earlier in the day, said Christina Verduzco, a wildlife rehabilitator.
The birds were all about a month old and many hadn’t even grown feathers yet, she said. http://tinyurl.com/ogt4x
Severe Flu Pandemic May Cost Up to $2 Trillion, World Bank Says
June 29 (Bloomberg) — A flu outbreak killing 70 million people worldwide may cause global economic losses of as much as $2 trillion, a World Bank official said.
A slump in tourism, transportation and retail sales, as well as workplace absenteeism and lower productivity, may cause the world economy to shrink by 3.1 percent, said Milan Brahmbhatt, a lead adviser in the East Asia region, citing a study by the Washington-based World Bank. The study predicted a surge in corporate bankruptcies in companies with a high level of debt to equity, such as airlines.
It goes almost without saying that these broad scenarios are not meant to be forecasts…
Hungary may test bird-flu vaccine on Police
Hungarian medical authorities are asking police to volunteer for clinical trials of the country’s human avian influenza vaccine next month…
Rivky770, if the chicks hadn’t grown feathers yet, what the heck were they doing in the water? Have you guys had a storm out there recently? That sounds like they were washed into the water from their nests. A wet, featherless bird would quicky succumb to hypothermia regardless of the season. But a month old bird should be feathered to some extent, I bet they were younger than that.
Read the Bloomberg article. Rosy scenario if u ask me. They predict a gobal pandemic will kill 3% of those infected. I guess they are using the 1918 figures. trouble is nobody really knows what the CFR was in 1918 and some are now saying it was more like 20% instead of the 2% that is widely used. When were talking about 6.5 billion people a 1% pt. means a lot of people. I hope they’re right.
Re birds washing up on California shores. I spent yesterday at beach in Carlsbad (southern California). Been there a zillion times. Strange thing happened. Big seagull struggling just beyond water breaking onto the sand. Some guys with boogy board went out and helped bird onto board and then onto sand. Seagull was all floppy, trying to flap flap flap its wings. Couldn’t get anywhere. Would flap its wings then flop onto itself. Never seen that before.
My hubby went to lifeguard tower to warn lifeguard that bird could possibly be h5n1-infected and that no one should touch bird and what could lifeguard do about it. Lifeguard said that in past year he has observed some strange bird things. He said he has seen many grey pelicans (I think he said pelicans) struggle up out of water and then stagger about on the sand and lurch toward people and then flop over and die.
Theresa42. Thanks for the efforts on these sources. That area of the world is critically important to the adaption and evolution of H5N1…it warrants watching closely.
This is not exactly news but I thought I might put it here for visibility. A couple of short presentations give us some good news about tamiflu. Marie Anne Rameix-Welti of Institut Pasteur showed in vitro studies comparing the efficacy of oseltamivir against H5N1 isoltated in Hong Kong in 1997, 2003, and 2004–5. The drug had >20 times activity against the last group 2004–5 than previous strains.
Also, summarizing antiviral treatments for H5N1, Eik De Clercq, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Belgium, said that indications are that tamiflu works but we need to use it for longer and he also advocated double dose. ie 150mg 2x daily for 10 days. Then he also said that if you have probenecid maybe you can use a lower dose.
Which is pretty much what we have been saying here.
Also, I had a conversation about the Turkey cases from the Turkist doc (didn’t get her name) who was presenting a poster. Seems that local tests showed 21 positve cases out of 71, but the London lab only confirmed 12 cases, some of the samples were not sufficient being given as one of the reasons. However, all the other cases ie 71–12=59 were subsequently antibody negative, according to her. She also said the 12 cases belonged to several family clusters, but that none of the clusters were connected to the other clusters.
A Roche representative standing around said that the tamiflu data from Turkey is not accepted for publication because of issues of how the H5N1 tests were performed. So looks like we won’t see those numbers in print.
anon_22 – at 11:37 — Can you find out from the doc who the 12 cases were, i.e. their names? The names of the final list of 12 confirmed by the WHO were never revealed — not all of them anyway.
From today’s posts above from wikians: Sick and Dying Birds Along the California Coast
Long Beach: 200 Caspian and elegant Tern chicks
Northern CA beaches: starving and weak baby pelicans
Orange County: sick pelicans
Carlsbad, CA: sick seagulls, pelicans
This is how wikians scrutinize the news. Has H5N1 reached the birds on CA’s coast?
Birds and ocean critters often wash up on the CA coast. Please report all observations.
(edit from CA - typing nerves) CA Coast:
Long Beach: 200 Caspian and elegant Tern chicks
Northern CA beaches: starving and weak baby pelicans
Orange County: sick pelicans
Calrlsbad, CA: sick seagulls, pelicans
I was on the West Coast last week and saw a news story about the baby pelicans - evidently they had a very successful breeding season last year and now there are too many of them competing for food in the same areas. Because they are young they don’t have the stamina to fly further for larger fish reserves, so they are falling out of the sky starving. Could be happening with other birds as well?
From Yahoo news:
Rescuers with the International Bird Rescue Research Center collected the bodies of about 200 Caspian and elegant tern chicks after getting calls from lifeguards earlier in the day, said Christina Verduzco, a wildlife rehabilitator.
The birds were all about a month old and many hadn’t even grown feathers yet, she said.
The team also found 10 living terns, which officials at the rehabilitation center said appeared well-nourished.
Verduzco said rescuers discovered an abandoned barge Wednesday about two miles off the coast that was home to hundreds of tern nests. She said they believe something — a loud noise or the intense heat — scared the chicks out of their nests and into the water.
US set to boost banknote supply if flu breaks out
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government officials are bracing for a possible greater need for paper currency and coins in the event of an influenza pandemic in the United States, a Treasury Department official said on Thursday.
“In the immediate aftermath of any disaster, there may be some movement toward a greater use of currency,” said Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary Scott Parsons. He was testifying before a House of Representatives financial services panel.
A new paper out from the American College of Physicians “The Health Care Response to Pandemic Influenza”
The link is HERE
Credit to CIDRAP from which the link was derived.
Another illuminating article in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Another article on the role of wild aquatic birds as an H5N1 reservoir from the UN FAO:
“The animal species playing a role in the transmission, spread or introduction of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus are essentially domestic and wild birds. Although some fifty non-domestic bird species have proved susceptible to infection from he virus, it would appear from the epidemiological data currently available that, among he wild birds implicated in the transboundary introduction of the virus, aquatic birds play a major role.”
Should wild birds now be considered as a permanent reservoir of the virus?
Despite the threat of re-igniting the controversy of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named serving his time-out on his virtual Elba - you have to hand it to him. It seems he was right when a lot of other ‘experts’ declaimed him as an ornithological Rasputin.
(Having lobbed the grenade, Sarge ducks back into the foxhole.)
Gardener - at 14:25: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government officials are bracing for a possible greater need for paper currency and coins in the event of an influenza pandemic in the United States, a Treasury Department official said on Thursday.
It’s reading articles like this everywhere lately…..I keep coming back to…..”watch what they do….not what they say”. It really gives me borderline paranoia. Ugh! What the heck does the Government know? I guess I would feel better if there was some current news. Makes me uncomfortable.
Re dying birds in California, there is currently an unprecedented plankton bloom happening off the Canadian/ Northern Washington Pacific coast, which may or may not be toxic (we apparently don’t have the budget to go out and test it). See amazing NASA photos of it here: http://tinyurl.com/gjskm
Anon-22, very interesting news re the 21 cases in Turkey. Do you know if the 21 included HCWs or non-blood relatives in those family clusters (i.e. possibly pointing to H2H among non-blood relatives)?
Interesting, at least in terms of timing:
Zoo’s birds moved to reduce avian flu risk
This is at the National Zoo in D.C., BTW. In the “petting zoo” area. Makes sense to me, but I wonder about why now?? (Maybe I’m just paranoid?)
D*mn grenade was a dud. Sarge scrabbles around in the bottom of the foxhole looking for another one… ;)
Commonground – at 15:19
I agree- gives me the willies. I had mentioned this yesterday. Where was all this when things were looking so bad just a few weeks ago? I have no problem believing “they” know so much more than they are willing to tell us.It seemsthey were letting the info in drops and then a trickle and now it’s a steady stream. It doesn’t bode well.
Sorry, that was me
I thought I read somewhere that paper currency can carry and thus spread a virus. Has anyone ever heard about this?
Heather, thanks for the news updates and the joke of the day. I got this one rigth away as I was on the Atkins Diet for about 6 months. Great joke.
Cinda: I’m so glad I’m not the only one! As far as paper currency, I know during the 1918 Pandemic, they would give their money over, closest to the amount -and not accept any change. For sanitary reasons.
Jambi was stated by KLB Cikungunya on Wednesday, June 21 2006 | 00:02 WIB
The Interactive TIME, Jambi: the Section Head the Health of the Muarojambi Regency, Aspan Effendi, stated the illness cikungu him at this time in his area has entered the category of the extraordinary incident (KLB), remembered the time hose for the last ten days already 23 people were whipped by this illness and a person including dying. The “illness cikungu him that attacked the citizen in the region of Temple Housing of Masurai Ii the Village Mendalo the Land, the Jambi Subdistrict out of town, at this time has entered KLB, because of the size of the number of sufferers as well as was seen by the outbreak method simultaneously,” said Aspan, yesterday. Was based on results of the inspection, the sufferers were stated positive was affected by the illness that was caused by the Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes bite. Currently the sufferers are still being treated in the Raden Mattaher Public Hospital, Jambi. Syurono, 32 years, one of the sufferers was stated died also was stated positive terjangkit this illness. However the local side of the Health Service still could not confirm whether he died resulting from this illness, remembers generally Cikungunya did not cause the death. Syaipul Bakhori http://www.tempointeraktif.com/hg/n…1-79195,id.html Translation: http://www.toggletext.com/kataku_trial.php
As a help to readers, could posters list the ‘country for machine translations first?
Jambi is in Sumatra, Indonesia, yes?.
Sorry bout that. Yes, Indonesia.
anonymous – at 15:46
“It seemsthey were letting the info in drops and then a trickle and now it’s a steady stream. It doesn’t bode well.”
There is some interesting information on a CDC ftp site concerning avian influenza if anyone wants to check it out. Most of it deals with hazard communication and such. It it open to the public according to the “readme” file. Here is the link:
Open the “pub” folder, then the “avian influenza” folder. Inside that folder I found the folder labled “Session D” interesting.
I found the WHO ftp site, but it had a warning message that it was for only “authorized” folk, and that they were watching and would prosecute if you peeked. I decided that I would not peek.
Okieman - at 18:15
Hmmm. Wonder what supersecret info the WHO ftp site could have and why mere mortals aren’t allowed to see it? I mean what could they possibly have that they would not want everyone else to know? I understand a bank or a for-profit company wanting to keep people out of places, but that is why they have security on their networks.
BBC radio has had an item on the news all day about supplies of this year’s seasonal flu vaccine being delayed. They are saying that all over Europe the manufacturers are having difficulty creating the vaccine for this year’s variation. There are priority groups to get the earlier limited supplies, eg healthcare workers, elderly, etc. Avian influenza not mentioned at all.
CDC recommends flu shots for more toddlers
Name,
I saw your post. I’m having patchy internet access here, that’s why I couldn’t write anything earlier. I’ll try to look up Dr Yilmaz tomorrow, but I don’t know if the poster or the poster :-) will be there.
Hate wireless…
Couldn’t find appropriate “Topic” to ask this question but I just wanted to know if Pneumonia Vaccination would be of any benefit prior to or against acquiring H5N1?
Rural dweller,
Pneumonia and influenza are two different bugs. Pneumovax is valuable for preventing secondary infections of pneumonia as a result of flu but it won’t prevent flu.
Name @ 15:36 “…there is currently an unprecedented plankton bloom happening off the Canadian/ Northern Washington Pacific coast, which may or may not be toxic.”
George Ure on his site http://www.urbansurvival.com/week.htm mentioned the plankton bloom today and linked to an article about it, also with photo. Apparently, the web bot group has been speculating there might be a major earthquake in that specific area during this time frame. [End of June through July 4th holiday] George mentions that there was another such plankton bloom in the vacinity of the 9pt Indonesian quake prior to its occurance. So there may be another reason that this is important to watch. If this happens, it will be the last of 5 predicted quakes, 4 of which have already occured. [“Five toes kick ass.”]
I had an interesting encounter today…nothing significant, but interesting enough and kinda fun so I thought I’lll share it with you guys :-)
The conference dinner today was on a boat on the river Seine in Paris. I had gotten used to most people in Europe knowing nothing about Fluwiki. So I sat down at a table, with 2 people across from me and the guy on my left having taken off their name tags so I had no idea who they were, being rather dyslexic in that department. The one on my right had a nametag but seeing as we were seated rather close together you have to literally lean right on the table and turn around to see his name, and I’m kinda chicken about stuff like that :-)
Anyway, I had my nametag on and I introduced myself, and lo and behold, they said, Oh we know about the fluwiki.
Turns out the 2 across from me and the one on my right were folks from THE GOVERNMENT OF THE GOOD OLE’ US OF A!! Think-tank/adviser types from DC. You know, like Josh Lyman on West Wing <lol>, writing up papers for Congress or whatever.
And the guy on my left was a public health official from the Canadian government.
And they all read the fluwiki.
Uhmm..ok….how did that happen… :-)
It was actually quite pleasant and we had some good discussions about policymaking and stuff. I don’t know whether they are representative of the US govt, but if they were, then you guys are luckier than most countries, cos they actually do get it, or at least the major pieces. I think. How well that can be translated into effective action is anybody’s guess, but at least SOMEONE thought it was important enough to send 3 people across the ocean to do this.
I did tell them the CDC should release the sequences.
OK I gotta stop. This useless wireless is driving me nuts :-(
anon,
Have a great trip home. And, yes, we are read in the corridors of power, we’ve known this by sitemeter for some time. We’ll be waiting to hear your digest of the conference.
I’ll be at the next DC conference in July.
MAinVA – at 20:44
The previous plankton bloom-earthquake linkages were made after the fact, they were not in fact predictions. The paper that points out the plankton blooms that occured before previous earthquakes that i have read did not discuss the Sumatra earthquake, and since your reference doesn’t quote his reference I can’t judge the relevance of it, or if he did infact misremember his recall. The link between plankton blooms and earthquakes is tenous at best at the moment. The papers do not show a long period of plankton observations to indicate whether the blooms are common occurances in the areas in question, which would indicate that any correspondance in time could be strictly coincidental. There is no real quantitative mechanism shown to link the earthquakes with the plankton blooms, just a VERY vague hypothesis. It is something to think about, but at the moment is not nearly enough to base anything called a ‘prediction’ on, nor to cause undue alarm. Of course, everyone should realize that earthquakes in the US pacific northwest are a fact of life, and everyone should be prepared, and if this discussion leads to more awareness that is good, but the plankton-earthquake prediction does not exist at this moment, and may not in fact ever lead to something that can be relied on.
Timber and CAMike - Glad you like the jokes. A bit of my history here on Fluwiki if I might be so bold…
I had been a lurker for quite a while and then decided that it was time for me to actually contribute something to this great forum where I have learned so much. I had never posted on a forum before and was a bit unsure about how this whole thing works. Being a bit shy, I didn’t feel all that comfortable posting on some of the other threads. (still don’t but I’m working on it…) So, I thought the news would be a good neutral place to start. I could not keep up with all the BF cases and started to do summaries of all the BF cases each night. (I worked in the insurance industry for 8+ years and developed a nack for summarizing rate plan changes for our management group :-)…
Anyway, MaMa, the news queen, was so nice and assured me that everyone here was very easy going and had a good sense of humor. As a joke, I added a “Dumb Bird Joke of the Day” to the bottom of one of my summaries one night. Well, the jokes are still there and I quickly ran out of bird jokes. I now try and use jokes that are relevant to some of the current thread topics. (Disclaimer… none of these jokes are my own and most of them are really, really Dumb…)
That being said, I began to wonder if some people may be put off by reading a silly joke after such serious BF cases. The feedback I received suggested that the jokes added levity and people preferred I keep them in the summaries. I do not include the jokes on the “printable copy” so if anyone is bothered by them, you may want to go there for your summary.
This forum world is such an addicting, fabulous, informational and crazy invention. I’m communicating with people I have never even met and I actually think I know them. Wierd.
Oh, by the way, I found a great joke about forum behavior for tonight…
:-)
Commentary rather than news…
Commonground – at 20:07 CDC recommends flu shots for more toddlers
That is good because they were not listed in the summary I read from Am College of Physicians (see above). I think kids spread bugs more than the 65+ population. Toddlers are underrepresented. Do you really need a lobbying group to just do something that makes sense? Adults are contagious for 7 days and children for 21 days.
In the Jan 1, 2006 issue of American Journal of Health-System Pharmacists there is an article on alternative medicine for URI in children. 2nd sentence…”On average, a healthy three-year-old child suffers from 6–10 colds per year.” That means parents miss some work almost every month when their kids are sick. Too bad you can vaccinate for colds.
Corection.. “can’t vaccinate for colds.”
Heather:
By all means, post to the other threads! Some can get a little heated (raging debates on replication mechanisms and such), but they are more free-wheeling, also. I don’t post here much because (despite this post) I believe the news thread should keep on topic because people want the news, not the chatter. Not to mention you and MaMa are hard to beat to a story. Go ahead! Feel the rush! You be glad you did! (but ALWAYS stay in the news thread, too, please) :)
See, should read “You’ll be glad you did.” I guess the rush got to my head. :)
Heather – at 21:27
You left out the part about mastering both PmWiki markup and making the news interesting and readable for us all. Thanks for all you do!
Many Cats and Dem…
Thanks and you’re welcome.
Dr. Jean-Claude Manuguerra, virologist, Institut Pasteur, Paris:
Q. Do you share the criticisms of the virologists who report the absence of transparence about the viral sequences found at the contaminated persons?
A. It is a complex problem. The analyses of these sequences are performed by the four reference centers (Atlanta, London, Tokyo and Melbourne), that is in one or some of 15 called laboratories ‘ H5 ‘, lately united in network by the WHO. At present, it is true that the human genetic sequences of viruses H5N1 isolated are not made public before their scientific publication. They are nevertheless shared within the network of reference laboratories and within network ‘ H5 ‘. Some people, as my Italian colleague Ilaria Capua of the laboratory of Padua, denounce forcefully and in audaciously such a system. They request, for health reasons, a general distribution of the knowledge. It is necessary to know that, paradoxically, if this information must, straightaway, be shared by the scientific community, we would meet a lot of difficulties in collaborating. This information can make the object of publications, in effect in prestigious scientific magazines, only if they were not made public before. And these publications are the essential criterion assuring the financing of future researches. As a result, if a complete transparence was imposed, the researchers would be inclined to share their knowledge less than today. The present situation is, in some way, a lesser evil.
fredness at 21:28: I was wondering if you could fill me in on the American College of Physicians. I did a little research on them, but I really don’t know where they fit in, in the scheme of things. Are they referred to by all in the medical community? How much power do they carry. Are they the “middle man” that the medical community refers to as a go between them and the Government? I’ve only had 2 cups of coffee - too early - I am having a hard time trying to explain myself. In other words, the Government sets up guidelines, the American College writes up additional recommendations to those guidelines. Would the college then publish results in the end, that all in the medical community would refer to?
anon_22 – at 11:37 — Also, I had a conversation about the Turkey cases from the Turkist doc (didn’t get her name) who was presenting a poster.
According to the program, the two posters about Turkey were both presented by a Dr. Yilmaz:
Are The Influenza Antigen Tests Sensitive To H5N1? Yilmaz, N., The Ministry of Health, Refýk Saydam Hygiene Center, National Influenza Reference Center, Ankara, Turkey
Avian Influenza Outbreak in Turkey Yilmaz, N., The Ministry of Health, Refýk Saydam Hygiene Center, National Influenza Reference Center, Ankara, Turkey
http://www.isanh.com/avian-influenza/accepted-abstracts-poster.php
It would be out of this world if you could find out from her who the final 12 WHO-confirmed H5N1 cases were. That would certainly clear up (or, perhaps, raise) a lot of questions about the clustering in Turkey.
Thanks!
Commonground:
ACP is a college of medicine, like the American College of Surgeons, etc. that is a professional society focused on internal medicine and related specialties. They have 120,000 members
move to new thread