Summary from Indonesia Outbreak as at 26 October 2006
| Cases Discussed | Jun-06 | Jul-06 | Aug-06 | Sep-06 | Oct-06 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Died, no tests | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| Died, tested positive | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| Other tested positive | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Suspected symptoms | 4 | 2 | 46 | 38 | 27 | 117 |
| Tested negative | 0 | 6 | 26 | 19 | 7 | 58 |
| Totals | 10 | 14 | 81 | 64 | 41 | 210 |
Please visit these threads for latest information from these regions
(Please see the thread Volunteers Needed as Lookouts Worldwide if you want to help)
(From WHO as at 16 Oct - latest update) Total human cases worldwide 256, deaths 151 (2006 – 109 with 73 deaths)
(If you want the links to open in a new window, hold down the shift key and then click on the link)
Canada
China
India
Indonesia
Ireland
South Africa
Sudan
United States of America
General
Link to news thread for 26 October (link News Reports for October 26 )
(Usual disclaimer about may not have captured everything. Feel free to add your own where omissions have occurred.)
Please note that I copy the links directly from the thread so if they don’t work you may need to re-visit the Thread.
Study Questions Value of Flu Shots
By Amanda Gardner HealthDay Reporter
Thu Oct 26, 7:04 PM ET
THURSDAY, Oct. 26 (HealthDay News) — The flu vaccine is much ado about nothing, according to a new study that contends the annual shots aren’t as effective as billed.
“We’ve got an exaggerated expectation of what vaccines can actually do,” said study author Dr. Tom Jefferson, coordinator of the Cochrane Vaccines Field in Rome, Italy. “I’m hoping American and European taxpayers will be alerted and will start asking questions…..
U.S. expecting more low-pathogenic bird flu Thu Oct 26, 2006 9:59pm ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government said on Thursday additional tests of ducks in Ohio showed the birds did not have a low-pathogenic strain of the H5N1 virus, but warned new cases of bird flu would be found in the coming months in the United States as more tests are conducted.
Preliminary tests had detected a strain of the H5N1 virus in “apparently healthy” wild birds sampled October 8 in Ottawa County, located on Lake Erie about 15 miles southeast of Toledo. Additional tests showed that no virus was present.
Studies show global warming increase incidences of respiratory diseases
EARTH TALK From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine
Climate change accelerates the spread of disease primarily because warmer global temperatures enlarge the geographic range in which disease-carrying animals, insects and microorganisms — as well as the germs and viruses they carry — can survive. Analysts believe that, as a result of global temperature rises, diseases that were previously limited only to tropical areas may show up increasingly in other, previously cooler areas.
For example, mosquitoes carrying dengue fever used to dwell at elevations no higher than 3,300 feet, but because of warmer temperatures, they have recently been detected at 7,200 feet in Colombia’s Andes Mountains. And biologists have found malaria-carrying mosquitoes at higher-than-usual elevations in Indonesia in just the last few years. These changes happen not because of the kinds of extreme heat we’ve experienced in recent months, but occur even with minuscule increases in average temperature.
<snip>
Bird flu is another example of a disease that is likely to spread more quickly as the Earth warms up, but for a different reason: A United Nations study found that global warming — in concert with excessive development — is contributing to an increased loss of wetlands around the world. This trend is already forcing disease-carrying migrating birds, who ordinarily seek out wetlands as stopping points, to instead land on animal farms where they mingle with domestic poultry, risking the spread of the disease via animal-to-human and human-to-human contact….
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2006
More Mud-Slinging in W.H.O. Election The knives are now out for Dr. Julio Frenk, Mexico’s candidate for director general of the World Health Organization. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that some anti-smoking activists are attacking Dr. Frenk for a deal he made as Minister of Health of Mexico to use tobacco company money to fund health programs.
this article worth the read from the NIH:
New Study Has Important Implications for Influenza Surveillance
Vaccine Formulation Research Provides New Insights into Evolution of Flu Virus
Researchers are reporting results of a study that substantially alters the existing understanding of how the influenza virus evolves and that could have important implications for monitoring changes to the virus and predicting which strains should be used for flu vaccine. The study, which will be published in the online journal Biology Direct Oct. 26, 2006, was conducted by researchers from the National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and Fogarty International Center , both part of the National Institutes of Health.
The analysis revealed a picture of flu evolution that was surprisingly different from the prevailing conception of how the virus changes. Evolution of influenza A virus is commonly viewed as a typical Darwinian process. In this mode of evolution, the virus’ main surface protein, hemagglutinin (HA), is thought to continually change to evade human immune response, resulting in new dominant strains that eliminate all competitors in a series of rapid successions. Unexpectedly, however, the study found that the periods of intense Darwinian selection accounted for only a relatively small portion of H3N2 flu evolution during the ten-year period examined.
The study found that much of the time the H3N2 virus seemed to be “in stasis”; that is, the HA gene showed no significant excess of mutations in the antigenic regions (those recognized by the immune system). During these stasis periods, none of the co-circulating strains is significantly more fit than others, apparently because multiple mutations are required to substantially improve the virus’ ability to evade the immune system. As a result, an increased variety of strains accumulates. Ultimately, however, one of the variants will come within one mutation of achieving higher fitness and becoming dominant. Once the crucial last mutation does occur, virus evolution shifts from stasis to a brief interval of rapid Darwinian evolution, where the new dominant virus rapidly sweeps through the human population and eliminates most other variants.
Leo7 – at 02:49 commentary This looks like “fractal evolution” or “micropandemics”. There was this theory that joined together the largest war with smaller wars, local conflicts and even a single murder. Single murders would happen most frequently, then higher degree “conflicts” happen with less frequency and so on. So they somehow determined the probability, for a given period, of an all-out war.
The basic idea was that the probability was related to size, so bigger ones were less frequent according to some power-law. (Not that I know the details at all.)
So even without knowing the precise virus or bug, someone might want to look at the same thing regarding epidemics, and look into the likelihood (starting with whatever assumptions, and if there’s a probability curve that fits available data), over a long period of time and without getting into “Monday morning” specific theories, of a “really big one”.
It wouldn’t change what we’re doing. And I don’t think it would change what anyone else is doing.
Bird flu fears back with cold weather Oct 27 2006
COOLER weather could mean a return of the bird flu threat to Britain. That was the warning this week from Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council’s trading standards manager Steve Johnson, whose staff will have to deal with the crisis if any affected birds are found within his patch.
He said: “With the arrival of cooler weather, thousands of birds are starting their annual migration to warmer climates and the threat of avian influenza or bird flu is back in the public eye. “Should there be an outbreak in the borough, we have plans to work with DEFRA (Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs) to make sure the disease is controlled and eradicated as soon as possible. <snip> “
Steve said that anyone spotting dead wild gulls, waders, ducks, geese or swans, or more than ten dead birds from other species in the same place should contact the helpline <snip> If the disease is found people are being told that pet birds will not be affected, provided owners take steps to ensure that no wild bird droppings get into the house.Cat and dog owners might be asked to keep their pets inside or on a lead.
(UK) Wild bird trade ban ‘should stay’
A temporary ban on importing wild birds into the UK to prevent the spread of bird flu should remain in place, conservationists have said. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) claims the ban has saved hundreds of thousands of exotic birds from death or a life in captivity.
It was imposed when imported birds died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu while in quarantine in Essex in October 2005.
The RSPB says it now fears the ban could be lifted. … More at http://tinyurl.com/y8hbn4
Reported on Flutrackers by Theresa42
Google-translated from Arabic:
Panic Bank of avian flu outbreaks Oct 26, 2006
There is a state of panic among citizens enough after the seizure of the child Basma Essam seven months yesterday on suspicion Bismnod ????????? infected birds. The bodies of the Ministry of Health had seized two cases in the last few hours and another case a few days ago have been transferred to the Abbasiya Hospital of the gravity of their situation. The Ministry of Health issued strict instructions to the health departments nationwide not to issue any statements on the epidemic only after consulting the ministry spokesman!! [their emphasis] On the other hand, the Department of Health to take preventive action to ensure that the transition of the epidemic Mkhalten and take samples for examination in the central labs.
Goju – at 08:12
In what country is this taking place?
Egypt?
Ministry of Health intertwines all efforts for facing the bird flu return (Egypt)
http://birdflu.sis.gov.eg/html/flu01021140.htm
Minister of Health and Population Dr. Hatem El-Gabali confirmed that all capabilities were mobilized to face the return of the bird flu, particularly after the emergence of a new human infected case on 10/10/2006. This is the case no. 15 since the virus detection last February.
The Minister elucidated that the teamwork headed by him takes rapid response to any virus infected case. He made it clear that emergency status is declared 100% all over the country’s hospitals and positive detection for the patients were condensed allover the governorates.
There is strategic storage of the Tamiflu medication and such storage will reach 250.000 packets at the end of this year, the Minister pointed out.
Official spokesman of the Ministry of Health Dr. Abdul-Rahman Chahin urged the reporting of any bird suspected case that could be infected by the virus to take the necessary protective procedures. He said that in case of any new infected locations, all contacting persons will be under medical supervision. In case of any suspicion among people, they must go to the nearest hospital to be clinically tested.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-10/25/content_5249115.htm
BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) — Chinese scientists called on to set up a monitoring system on the animal-born diseases in China and strengthen the cooperation between the medical research of animal and human being.
At a recent scientific forum held in East China’s Shanghai, Wen Yumei, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said China lacks the basic research on animal-born diseases for a long time.
Among the 1,145 known infectious diseases of human being, 62 percent come from animals, scientists say.
Researches on some animal diseases have been conducted. But thediseases are new problems for human disease researchers when they are spread to human being, because the separate research of the two fields, said Wen.
Rabies has emerged on the top of public health agenda in China, with 2,254 rabies cases recorded in the first nine months of this year, an increase of 29.69 percent over the same period last year.
But researchers have no clear idea about the epidemic situation among wild dogs.
China suffered a lot from animal diseases in recent years. In 2003, the deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was believed to be linked to civet cats.
China has reported 21 human infections of bird flu since 2003, including 14 deaths.
The Ministry of Agriculture on Tuesday warned of a new outbreak of bird flu as winter is coming
In China’s plan of scientific and technological development (2006–2020), the surveillance, quarantine, testing and diagnosis of animal-born diseases were listed as crucial tasks.
Goju at 08:12 - link isn’t working, and I also wonder what Country. I couldn’t find it over at FluTrakers.
Recombinomics Commentary
October 26, 2006 - excerpt
“H5N1 bird flu sequences were released this month via the NIAID Influenza sequencing project (see list here). The samples were submitted by the Capua lab in Italy. Although HA sequences from several of the isolates had been reported previously, many were partial sequences and in most cases the sequences from the other seven gene segments were not released.
The NIAID program generates full sequences on all eight gene segments, which provide powerful profiles that can be used to trace origins or newly emerging genes, which can be used. These origins can be used to predict new sequences, as was done for S227N in Turkey at the beginning of this year.
Recent data from northern China has included compelling evidence that H5N1 in China is evolving via recombination. These sequences are transmitted and transported by migratory birds, which has led to widespread detection of the Fujian strain, which was present in all human cases in China, and subsequently detected in wild birds in Hong Kong, as well as Laos and Malaysia earlier this year. Moreover, these sequences are also appearing in human Indonesian isolates, which do not match the poultry isolates.
‘’‘Thus, a full sequences of all eight gene segments are essential for predicting new sequences generated by recombination. The full sequence of the HA gene of a Qinghai isolate from Afghanistan demonstrates how recombined regions are excluded in partial sequences, and raises questions on why the H5N1 sequences generated by St Jude and Hong Kong University are largely partial sequences. The partial sequences are from H5N1 isolates in Hong Kong, China, and Vietnam and are important in mapping the interactions in dual infections involving H5N1 in Asia.
It remains unclear why the majority of H5N1 sequences from Hong Kong, China, and Vietnam submitted by St Jude and Hong Kong University are partial sequences, particularly for the four genes most likely to show recombination (PB2, PB1, PA, and NP), but full sequences should be generated and placed in the database to provide a clearer picture of recombination and dual infections involving the various versions of H5N1 in Asia.”
story http://www.alwafd.org/front/detail.php?id=15193&cat=sec&PHPSESSID=59b3111154fcadd806b5d9457c6c75be
FT http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11473
Niman http://www.recombinomics.com/News/10270601/H5N1_Egypt_Grow_2.html
The story posted by Goju - at 8:10 is from Egypt. Theresa42 had also posted (http://tinyurl.com/yg98l9) an unusual story about Dakhalia Governerate and Aswan on Oct. 15 that I found by googling the hospital mentioned as it sounded familiar.
Casualties of some kind of mystery virus were also transported to Abbasiya Hospital Western Province during the outbreak earlier in the month. That story is all over the map, with conjectures of lead poisioning, contaminated water or food, cholera, typhoid,and also bird flu (they specifically make mention of the recently confirmed female H5N1 patient Hanan (39)). Theresa42′s story stated that at least 14 people had become seriously ill, including some hemmorhagic deaths, reported symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, and high temperature. The article says one village was quarantined (I think). Anyway, I presume the story Goju posted above is taking place in the same general area since those casualties were also taken to Abbasiya Hospital.
Yesterday or so, we got information about the lack of home care in case of a pandemic. Here are the links to the study itself.
“the survey also finds that a substantial share of Americans would have no one to care for them if they become ill or would face serious financial problems if they had to stay home from work for a week or more.
To view the complete survey and Power Point slides see:
www.hsph.harvard.edu/panflu/IOM_Avian_flu.ppt
www.hsph.harvard.edu/panflu/panflu_charts.ppt
www.hsph.harvard.edu/panflu/panflu_release_topline.doc “ summary article here. http://tinyurl.com/yy7typ
Goju – at 08:12 what country?
Abbasiya Hospital is in Egypt. Notice this is where the BF cases were taken back in May:
“27-year-old woman from Egypt who died yesterday, the Geneva-based WHO said today. The woman had been treated at the Abbasiya Hospital for double pneumonia since May 1, Egypt’s government said on its Web site. She is the country’s fifth H5N1 fatality and the first new case in a month. …” (this is dated May 5th)
I have not found any current news for Egytp on bird flu outbreaks, or any other disease out breaks.This food poising article is from 10/13/06. The egyptian government site hasn’t been updated since the 10th.
Did however find this article, and it’s headlines could be the secondardy disease Dr. Dave’s friend was talking about.
XDR TB Now more cases than bird flu www.aids.com under todays news
Georgia, USA
Hi, I have just seen a commercial produced by GlaxoSmithKline. It starts out showing a scientist who works for them that describes their work on diabetes, other diseases, and she starts talking about the pandemic that has not even happened yet. They are hyping their search for a vaccine and giving you a feel good about their company at the same time. Last image is the scientist walking toward DH and child.
Gives the website of GSK-birdflu.com. It’s funny. I’ve been doing research for Central and South America, and I ran across an article that said that Americans only believe what they see on TV and not what comes out of politicians mouths. Ironic that I should see this TV commercial today, especially considering that I have been thinking about changing the channel since the news ended 2.5 hours ago. Procrastination finally pays off! http://tinyurl.com/y7sr9o
Washington, DC, USA
Economists Use Computer Models to Size up Costs of Pandemic Flu By Rosanne Skirble Washington DC 27 October 2006
Health experts fear that a major influenza pandemic could kill millions of people worldwide and cripple the global economy. Since 2003, the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus has spread to nine countries, largely in Asia and Africa. It has wreaked havoc on the poultry industry and killed 150 people. But should the virus mutate and spread more easily among humans, the consequences are difficult to predict.
What plans should a country make and how can a nation prevent widespread death and economic collapse? New computer models based on a history of 20th century pandemics are helping to answer those questions… http://tinyurl.com/yeuq9g
Bangkok
Review of ban on vaccine use urged
APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL & KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
The Public Health Ministry has proposed that a plan to vaccinate poultry be dusted off to prevent bird flu outbreaks and animal-to-human transmission.
Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla said yesterday that it was necessary to review the ban on fowl vaccination following a series of avian flu outbreaks since 2004.
Moreover, the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus tended to mutate in a virulent form which, without stringent preventive measures, could lead to a human pandemic, he said.
“A flu pandemic could happen at any time and affect people’s health and the national economy as long as the virus still circulates in the atmosphere,” said the minister…
Massachusetts, USA
Research Describes Affordable Method for Businesses to Prepare for the Pandemic
Methodology Helps Synchronize Readiness Investments Across the Supply Chain
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct 27, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) — ChainLink Research released a report today which found that fewer than 1 in 60 companies have an adequate, tested pandemic preparedness plan covering the expected duration of the pandemic. However, through understanding the issues of pandemic characteristics and supply chain challenges, ChainLink has derived a method for synchronizing trading partners’ investments in preparing for the expected bird flu pandemic…
USA
Contact: Cheryl Dybas cdybas@nsf.gov 703–292–7734 National Science Foundation
‘’‘NSF, NIH award Ecology of Infectious Diseases grants Ecologists will study West Nile virus, malaria, bird flu and other infectious diseases’‘’
Over the past 20 years, unprecedented changes in biodiversity have coincided with the emergence and re-emergence of numerous infectious diseases around the world. To address this problem, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have announced funding for eight projects under the Ecology of Infectious Diseases (EID) program, a multi-year, joint-agency effort now in its seventh year of funding.
“The joint program supports efforts to create a predictive understanding of the ecological and biological mechanisms that govern relationships among human-induced environmental changes and transmission of infectious diseases,” said Samuel Scheiner, program director in NSF’s biological sciences directorate, which funds the EID program along with NSF’s geosciences directorate.
<snip>
This year’s awards include developing a better understanding of the effects of avian migration and human-caused change on the distribution and risks of avian influenza; predicting variations in West Nile virus transmission in different regions; the changing dynamics of malaria and other diseases in Papua New Guinea; disease resistance in estuarine populations like oysters and the response to climate change; sudden oak death and links among pathogens, hosts and environments; the influence of environmental change on how parasites move through human, invertebrate and environmental pathways; and others.
Pixie – at 10:13 “That story is all over the map, with conjectures of lead poisioning, contaminated water or food, cholera, typhoid,and also bird flu (they specifically make mention of the recently confirmed female H5N1 patient Hanan (39)).”
I used to direct a surveillance program for adults with elevated blood lead levels. You do not see a fever or hemorrhagic symptoms with lead overexposures.
I would think that Egypt would want to provide a quick answer to why these people are ill to reassure the people. It is strange that they are so quiet about the situation.
India
Paying eggs-tra for that dozen? Blame it on bird flu, say traders Swapna Anesh Pillai
Ahmedabad, October 27: First was the hike in vegetable prices during Diwali. Now more is being ’eggs-tracted’ from the common man. Reason? The hike in egg and chicken prices. All because of bird flu, say poultry traders. From a wholesale rate of Rs 165/100 eggs just a week ago, the prices have shot up to Rs 180/100 this week. The retail price of eggs shot up from Rs 22 per dozen last week to Rs 30 this week. Even the chicken prices have gone up from Rs 70–80 last week to nearly Rs 90–100 this week…
WHO to report on ethical issues in pandemic planning
Robert Roos News Editor
Oct 27, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to issue a report in January on ethical issues raised by pandemic influenza planning, such as how to provide fair access to available drugs and vaccines, WHO officials said today after 2 days of meetings in Geneva.
More than 30 leading experts on pandemic flu, ethics, and public health attended the meetings Oct 24 and 25, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said at a news teleconference today.
“This was not designed to reach any conclusions, but to raise issues,” Hartl said. “The idea was to get people talking about these issues before the pandemic started.”
Dr. Alex Capron, a professor of law and medicine at the University of Southern California, said the discussions focused on four main topics: equitable access to therapeutic and prophylactic measures; ethical aspects of interventions such as quarantine and social distancing; what healthcare workers should be expected to do during an outbreak and what obligations are owed them; and issues that arise between governments when developing a multilateral response to a pandemic.
The WHO report will stress the need to have broad public involvement in decisions and to base choices on an accurate understanding of the pandemic, officials said.
“The recognition that emerged very strongly [at the meetings] was that it was going to be essential to have public engagement in all aspects of planning and a frank and candid recognition that the questions of the pandemic are going to be not just technical questions, but also ethical questions,” Capron said.
He said the WHO is not aiming for “a single set of prescriptions for all circumstances.” Instead, everyone involved in planning will be dealing with “the need for trading off among a number of different ethical values.”
He cited several examples: the principle of utility, which stresses the need to “maximize welfare”; the principle of fairness, which emphasizes justice; the principle of liberty, which says individuals should be able to make their own choices as much as possible; and the principle of reciprocity, which says that people who contribute to the public good are owed something in return.
“These may point in different directions,” Capron said.
In response to a question about vaccine rationing, Capron said, “One of the things that emerged very strongly is the necessity for good ethics to rest on good facts.” Some at the meeting challenged the assumption that children and elderly people will be at greatest risk, and suggested, he said, that health agencies may need “contingency plans depending on what the virus turns out to be like, how it behaves.”
In an apparent reference to suggestions that the pandemic may hit young, healthy adults hardest, as occurred in the 1918 pandemic, Capron added, “The assumption that the youngest or oldest are most at risk is the assumption that applies to seasonal influenza, [which] may or may not be the case here.”
Dr. Elaine Gadd, a senior medical officer and ethics specialist with the United Kingdom Department of Health, seconded Capron’s comments. “It’s very important that any plans are responsive to the actual characteristics of the pandemic, which we do not know in advance. Any plan must be capable of amendment in light of the actual facts.”
In response to another question about vaccine allocation, Dr. Richard Heymann, the WHO director-general’s acting special representative for pandemic flu, said the groups that will most need protection include health workers and their families along with police and fire fighters.
As for journalists, Heymann said he hopes they can be protected too. “But it has to be decided by the local community and the countries,” he added. “WHO just meets and makes broad recommendations and studies the issues.” (Experts say no vaccine well-matched to the pandemic virus will be available for ’at least‘ the first several months of a pandemic, and after that it will be in short supply.)
A report on the ethics meeting will be drafted and circulated to participants and other stakeholders in November, with a goal of publishing the report and some “guiding points” in January, said Dr. Andreas Reis, a WHO technical officer for ethics and health.
The World Health Organization reporting on ethical issues planning…now there is an oxymoron.
USA
Would Americans Panic In A Flu Pandemic?
A large majority of Americans would comply with government orders to avoid work, school, or other public places in the event of a flu pandemic, according to a survey released Thursday.
[snip]
But researchers warn such willingness would likely erode after just a few weeks as lost wages, food shortages, and runs on medical attention mounted.
[snip]
A similar lack of planning for the potential upheaval of a major flu outbreak would quickly undo the public’s initial goodwill, Blendon told a panel convened by the Institute of Medicine.
“The people that are going to run out of gas first are very low income, they’re hourly workers.” Blendon said.
“If things go wrong, people are going to change their behavior,” he warned.
[snip]
Few hospitals have planned for the surges in patients that would likely turn up for medical attention in the first wave of a pandemic, Henderson says. Few have stockpiled filtration masks or other medical supplies.
Blue Ridge Mountain Mom – at 15:27
That article is basically a press release that links to the companies site where businesses can buy the plan for $795. Seemed legit coming under the NYT masthead, but not so.
…company’s site…
Comment:
Edna Mode – at 20:13 Seemed legit coming under the NYT masthead, but not so.
The NYT has not been very helpful nor do they represent things in an unbiased way. They print things that would better be left as secret and the keep secret things that would better be told. They want to make news instead of reporting it. They could do so much to help people prepare but they are missing their chance. Can you imagine how much a single “pull out” in the NYT on flu preperation would do and how many lives it could save? I can see why some think that NYC will not survive even a moderate pandemic.
Commonground - at 19:17: “The WHO report will stress the need to have broad public involvement in decisions and to base choices on an accurate understanding of the pandemic, officials said.”
I noticed that part about the pandemic too. If fact this week’s news reports had Nabarro talking about the pandemic rather than apandemic.
Perhaps I am too particular, or maybe it is just a function of my experience as a female, but I know that when a woman is thinking of having a baby, she talks about a baby.
When she is pregnant, and she can feel the baby kick and see for herself its growth in her belly, she invariably calls it the baby.
Now we just need to wait for the official birthdate and maybe find a name.
Illinois, USA
Flu clinic and pandemic exercise to be held in Salem
There will be more than just a flu clinic taking place in Salem next week. In addition to the clinic, the Marion County Health Department will be holding a Pandemic Exercise on Friday, November 3rd at the First Christian Church located at 1200 West Boone Street in Salem from 9–11.
Health Department Director of Nursing Shelly Yoder says that the exercise is needed to practice their implemented plan in case of a pandemic. She says the purpose is to prepare staff, volunteers and community members to run a dispensing clinic in the event that a pandemic would occur.
[snip]
The Health Department will be administering influenza vaccine for the 2006–2007 Flu season during this exercise. The fee is 25-dollars for the vaccine or Medicare Part B will be accepted.
North Carolina, USA
Drill tests pandemic preparedness
“At some point, the state is saying we will be faced with a pandemic flu,” said Michelle Etheridge, health education supervisor for the county. “If we did have an emergency it would be overwhelming, but at least we would have had done some planning and will be prepared.”
About 15 actors and nearly all the Health Department’s staff participated in the drill, which was put on with funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Participants used all the proper equipment and gear to make the scene as real as possible.
USA
Health Experts Discuss Flu Pandemic Strategies
Washington authorities who are preparing for the next flu pandemic acknowledge that the best tools for protecting Americans are the same ones used 88 years ago, in the great flu pandemic of 1918.
Those tools, which met with varying degrees of success, included wholesale home quarantines, school closures and cancellation of public events.
In a two-day workshop this week at the National Institute of Medicine, experts heard from medical historians about what worked, and what didn’t, in various U.S. cities in 1918.
Arizona, USA
County: Pandemic is possible and probable
In a worst-case scenario, as many as 40 percent of Americans could contract the disease, and 20 percent of those men, women and children would die. That’s 24 million people across the nation, and an estimated 1,700 people dead in Pinal County within a 12 to 18-month time span.
[snip]
Schryer said without a plan for coping, mass deaths across the country could cause near chaos. He said thinking ahead starts locally, and at home.
[snip]
“We look at it as house to house, each family has to be prepared because we’re not going to be able to look after everybody.
[snip]
“Pinal county’s goals are to limit death and illness and preserve the continuity of essential business and government functions,” he said. “(Also) minimize social destruction and minimize economic loss.
“We’re going to do that by working with all of our government and business partners to try to have them as prepared as possible. That way when there is a tremendous shortage of necessities you’ll at least have some sort of a stockpile to take care of people.”
Thailand
Govt to build plant for bird-flu vaccine
Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla yesterday gave the go-ahead to plan for a vaccine plant to produce both influenza and bird-flu vaccines for humans in case of a global pandemic.
“The world’s total capacity to produce [the two] vaccines is only 300 million doses and if it [global pandemic] really happens, no one will ever give us some,” Mongkol said after chairing a ministry meeting to review the bird-flu situation.
“How could we survive?” he said.
[snip]
Another priority for the ministry is to make bird flu a national agenda item in order to improve the handling of outbreaks of the disease, which has become endemic in the country, and push for completion of the preparedness plan for the feared influenza pandemic.
In a couple of weeks at most, the ministry needs to have all clear-cut scientific bird-flu information in hand and ready for submission to policymakers through a Cabinet meeting, Mongkol said.
[snip]
Reports of bird-flu cases either in humans or poultry pose a big “question mark”, while records of many deceased patients list the cause of death as simply “severe pneumonia with reasons unknown”, he said.
“Could it be bird flu? We don’t know exactly. The virus has evolved and this is what we fear the most,” Mongkol added.
Iran
“An inception workshop under regional network on avian influenza in central asian countries will be held in Tehran from 30 october to 2 November 2006.
According to the United Nations Information Center, …. representatives (mainly chief veterinary officers) from the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will participate in the workshop. “
Increase news on the web, but why not in the main stream media, ie, newspapers, t.v.?
Hey Pixie - 20:32
Let’s call it “WHO’s Baby”
I am starting the News Summary then I will open a new thread.
You might like to save your posting for about 30 minutes.
Cheers and thanks