Summary from Indonesia Outbreak tracking as at 26 September 2006
| Cases Discussed | Jun-06 | Jul-06 | Aug-06 | Sep-06 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Died, no tests | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| Died, tested positive | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
| Other tested positive | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Suspected symptoms | 4 | 2 | 46 | 38 | 90 |
| Tested negative | 0 | 6 | 25 | 5 | 36 |
| Totals | 10 | 14 | 80 | 49 | 153 |
(From WHO as at 25 Sep – excludes Thailand case reported 25 Sep)
Total human cases worldwide 249, deaths 146 (2006 – 102 with 68 deaths)
(If you want the links to open in a new window, hold down the shift key and then click on the link)
Indonesia
Thailand
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Algeria
United Kingdom
Dominican Republic
Australia
Canada
United States of America
General
Link to news thread for 26 September (link News Reports for Sept 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.
Once again I ask that, where possible, you create a TinyURL, as it saves considerable time when creating the Summary.
New Zealand Schools told to prepare for bird flu
5pm Wednesday September 27, 2006 By Sarah McDougall
A pandemic will strike New Zealand and schools need to be preparing for it now, the Ministry of Education’s pandemic planning manager said today.
Graeme Marshall told the annual meeting of the New Zealand Education Institute there was a high risk of bird flu becoming a pandemic that would strike New Zealand, and it could kill between 30–50,000 people.
“We will get a pandemic at some stage. It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. <snip> Not panicking was imperative. People needed to remember the pandemic would pass and life would go on, Mr Marshall said.
As government representatives, school staff needed to reflect on how the best of a bad situation could be achieved.
<snip>
Prohibiting students from attending schools was one way medical officers of health might try to stop the spread of infection, he said. Sick students may also be sent home by principals.
Correspondence schooling should be organised for those students, Mr Marshall said.
Staff themselves would need to be monitored for signs of sickness, and schools needed to be prepared for up to 50 per cent fewer staff at the height of a pandemic.
“You must be sure to stay home when you’re sick. “
Every school should have an action plan in place and individuals should have an emergency kit of medication and food in their own homes, he said.
Hong Kong officials seize 6,000 chickens being smuggled
(AP) 27 September 2006 … link http://tinyurl.com/rrkcp
HONG KONG - Hong Kong officials have seized about 6,000 live chickens being smuggled into the territory from mainland China, the government said.
The seizure on Tuesday highlights the challenges Hong Kong faces as it tries to protect against the threat of bird flu spreading from mainland China, where several outbreaks have been reported in the past year.
The 6,000 birds were found in two containers at a cargo handling area, the government said in a statement. The truck driver surrendered the birds, which were then destroyed, it said.
Laboratory tests run on samples from the chickens showed no sign for bird flu. More tests were being done by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, the government said. [more]
Indonesia Rules Out Human Source in Latest Case of Bird Flu
By Karima Anjani
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) — Indonesia’s health ministry ruled out a human source in the country’s latest bird flu case involving a 20-year-old man whose brother died three days ago.
The 20-year-old from Bandung city in West Java province tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza strain, the ministry said yesterday, raising concern the infection may be associated with his brother’s death, the cause of which can’t be determined because a specimen wasn’t collected before burial.
Test results on a 15-year-old sister who also developed respiratory symptoms indicated she has seasonal flu, not H5N1, I Nyoman Kandun, the health ministry’s director general of disease control and environment, said in a text-message today.
The 20-year-old’s “condition isn’t improving and his breathing is being supported by a ventilator, while the sister is getting better,” Hadi Yusuf, a doctor treating the siblings, said in a telephone interview today. Both patients are receiving Roche Holding AG’s Tamiflu antiviral medicine, he said.
<snip> Poultry Source
Diseased poultry is the most likely source of infection in Indonesia’s latest case, the health ministry said yesterday.
The siblings fell ill after feeding a dead chicken to their dog, Fatimah Resmiati, an official at the West Java health office, said yesterday. The family also kept chickens and ducks in the home. Tests on the fowl showed some had been previously infected with the H5N1 virus.
The health ministry said yesterday that limited culling of poultry is taking place in the neighborhood “as a precautionary measure pending the laboratory results.” [more] http://tinyurl.com/hajan
No bird flu in traveler, Australia police called in [link http://tinyurl.com/r9szt ] Wed Sep 27, 2006 11:00 AM BST
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian health authorities ruled out bird flu after a sick man was taken off a flight from Vietnam and hospitalized for tests on Wednesday, with police later saying they were investigating the case.
The unidentified man was taken by ambulance to a hospital near Sydney airport and put in isolation for tests as part of routine quarantine precautions used whenever a person becomes unwell on an inbound Australian flight.
“Public health experts have ruled out avian influenza as the cause of illness for the man arriving at Sydney Airport earlier today,” the New South Wales Health Department said in a statement.
Officials gave no other details about the man but media reported that he became unwell soon after boarding the Vietnam Airlines flight from Hanoi via Ho Chi Minh City and had been unconscious for at least part of the flight. Australian Broadcasting Corp. television said the man was a Vietnamese-Australian national in his 40s.
The Australian Federal Police later said it was aware of the case and that officers had gone to the hospital to see the man. They gave no other information and would not comment on media reports that the man might have been trying to smuggle illegal drugs he had swallowed. Television networks reported the man had been treated for a heroin overdose.
27/9/2006 14:02 WIB http://tinyurl.com/pxtcd
Officially Semarang City Agriculture found Illegal Meat and Glonggongan
Edi Prayitno - Semarang, the Semarang Service of City Agriculture was with police’s Jakarta’s Village Police Unit (Satpol PP) found tens kilogram illegal meat and meat glonggongan that was circulated in several traditional markets in Semarang, Central Java. The section head the Health of the Semarang Animal of the Service of City Agriculture, drh Totok Susanto to ELSHINTA, on Wednesday (27/9) today said, initially his side carried out the sudden inspection in the Beautiful Semarang Coral Market, and there was found 10 kilogram meat that was not given the stamp from the reduction house in the animal (RPH). Further, ditempat that other, clear drh Totok, was found by the existence of meat glonggongan that was sold secretly. Where meat glonggongan was beef that the process penyembelihan him before was pumped with water, so as these cattle lost his power. And when in the limp condition, these cattle just afterwards in the piece so as heavy meat heavier from normal cattle. According to drh Totok Susanto, beef glonggongan apart from damaging in a manner the potential also opinion caused the illness. Because of water that was pumped in the cattle stomach that would disembelih was not known hygienic or not
Actualites-news-environnement 27 sptember 2006
“A new bird flu death in Thailand were confirmed . The Ministry of Public Health in Thailand has confirmed the country’s 25th case of human infection with the H5N1 bird flu virus. The case, which was fatal, was the third detected this year and the third death, said WHO organisation.
The new case with the H5N1 bird flu virus occurred in a 59-year-old farmer from Nong Bua Lam Phu Province in the north-eastern part of the country. He developed fever on 14 July, was hospitalized on 21 July, and died on 10 August.
Possible H5N1 bird flu virus infection was suspected when relatives reported the sudden death, in the days prior to symptom onset, of several fighting cocks raised by the farmer. Local veterinary authorities noted a number of poultry outbreaks in this area.” excerpt
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Sept 27 (TNA) - “There was no outbreak of bird flu in Thailand’s lower northeastern region after the last outbreak in Nakhon Phanom on August 2, a senior Department of Livestock Development official said Wednesday.
Deputy Director General Chaweewan Leowijuk said the department had campaigned intensively to prevent the spread of bird flu during the past month, and there was no sign of outbreak in the northeast or elsewhere in the country.
She said that although the latest bird flu virus fatality was confirmed in Nong Bua Lam Phu, a northeastern province, it will not be declared a “red-zone” under a special monitoring for bird flu since the latest checks found no outbreak there.
“Since the victim developed the bird flu-like symptoms in August, livestock officials inspected and culled poultry in the vicinity of his home, but found no trace of the virus,” she said.
A traveller from Vietnam was hospitalised for tests on arrival in Australia on Wednesday because he felt unwell, but he is unlikely to be suffering from bird flu, Australian health officials said.
Probably not BF, but this is how it will arrive in our (your) country when the time comes. Dodged this bullet, but what about next time, and next time, and next time.
NJ jeeper, here here.
COMMENT
AnnieB @ 6:35 What if this guy does have bird flu? What if it is just another false negative? The other passengers on the plane were allowed to go home. This is how H5N1 could spread quickly.
I also read in the Indo reports yesterday that they were testing HCW from one of the cluster’s there. Watch what they do, not what they say.
Just wanted to say thanks to Annie B for all the hard work and good summaries.
Egypt
New case of bird flu detected in rural area 27 Sep 2006 12:46:04 GMT Source: IRIN
CAIRO, 27 September (IRIN) - Another case of avian flu in birds has been confirmed in Egypt. Ministry of Health officials and World Health Organisation (WHO) staff said on Wednesday that a case of H5N1 (avian flu) in birds was detected in a house near Aswan, in Upper Egypt.
<snip>
This year, Egypt suffered the worst outbreak of avian flu outside Asia. The disease was largely brought under control, although fears remained of a new outbreak. <snip>
Fourteen human cases of bird flu have been found in Egypt since mid-March, al-Bushra said. Of these, six have died. The last was a 75-year-old woman who died on 18 May.
<snip>
Soon after the announcement of the first cases of bird infections, a law was passed banning domestic breeding in urban areas. Health authorities did not push for similar restrictions in rural areas, however, where domestic breeding is more widespread and economically vital.
“A ban [in rural areas] would lead many to conceal their birds, heightening the danger rather than quelling it,” said health ministry press spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahine at the time. “Instead, we’re working to help them increase awareness to prevent the emergence of new cases.”
Although health authorities sought to assure the public through various awareness campaigns that the consumption of cooked chicken was risk-free throughout the crisis, the collapse in demand and the mass culling combined brought the poultry industry to a standstill.
Infections among birds were found in 20 of the country’s 26 governorates, according to the health ministry, and until the latest case on Wednesday the situation was presumed to be under control.
However, faced with the continued prospect of the virus mutating into a new, more dangerous form, health authorities have maintained safety measures. “Until the last virus is eradicated, the risk continues to exist,” said al-Bushra.
Comment This article just highlights parts of my frustration with TPTB. Culling alarms consumers, the economy suffers, we back off the H5N1 virus because we presume that it is under control, and then it rears its ugly little head again. URGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
Enough ranting. Going for more coffee.
Indonesia
Indonesia was hit by a new record in terms of the number of bird flu deaths after Sunday when a 23-year-old man in Bandung died of the bird flu virus.
His 20-year-old brother is in a critical condition and is now getting medical treatment at Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung. Their relatives explained that both suffered from a high fever and found it hard to breathe after feeding their dog with dead chickens they had bought near their home.
The 23-year-old man was the 52nd victim of bird flu in Indonesia. “According to the symptoms, we suspect that they are a new cluster (of the bird flu virus),” said the head of environmental health department at West Java office…. http://tinyurl.com/p97t9
Annie B. at 5:43--The siblings fell ill after feeding a dead chicken to their dog, Fatimah Resmiati, an official at the West Java health office, said yesterday. The family also kept chickens and ducks in the home. Tests on the fowl showed some had been previously infected with the H5N1 virus.
So all the poultry does not die after infection? If some recover, is that a good sign or more dangerous? Are recovered birds still contagious? Or are these all culled birds and it’s a translation problem?
Ireland
North American companies more prepared for catastrophe than those in
Although preparation for catastrophes-such as terrorism, pandemic outbreak or extreme weather events-is becoming an increasingly important aspect of risk management, levels of preparedness vary significantly from region to region, according to a new survey of 225 risk managers worldwide by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Overall, 67% of respondents said they had increased the amount of time and resources they dedicate to catastrophe risk management in the past three years, but US respondents were more likely than those from either Asia-Pacific or Europe to have considered specific threats such as terrorism, extreme weather events and avian flu.
Sixty-four percent of US respondents had considered avian flu as part of their risk management processes, compared with 62% in Asia-Pacific and 43% in Europe. For terrorism, the figures were 71% in the US, 62% in Asia-Pacific and 50% in Europe; and for extreme weather events, the results were 73% in the US, 49% in Asia-Pacific and 44% in Europe.
These results form part of Catastrophe Risk Management: Preparing for potential storms ahead, a newly-released Economist Intelligence Unit survey and report sponsored by ACE, IBM and KPMG. With companies around the world facing a variety of potentially devastating threats, the report examines current thinking around catastrophe risk management and explores levels of confidence and preparedness among executives from a range of industries and regions.
“Most of the executives we questioned recognise the need to prepare for catastrophe as part of their risk management processes,” says Rob Mitchell, editor of the report, “but North American companies appear to have the edge over those from both Asia-Pacific and Europe when it comes to considering specific threats.”
Other key findings of the report include:
Power outage seen as the most significant threat that companies face. When asked about how serious they consider a range of threats to be to their business, respondents to our survey cite power outage as the most significant, perhaps reflecting what they see as the relatively high probability of such an event occurring. Next on their list comes bird flu, which is cited by 43% of respondents as either significant or very significant, and then terrorism, which is seen as a significant or very significant threat by 35%. Respondents from North America are most likely to see extreme weather events as a significant threat, no doubt reflecting growing concerns about the intensity of storms along the eastern and southern coast of the US, while respondents from Asia-Pacific are most likely to consider the threat from avian flu as significant….
AARP The Magazine: Dr Webster Intererview
Robin Williams sitting on a tricycle is on the cover.
Bird Flu By Claudia Dreifus A leading virologist warns of a coming pandemic. How concerned should you be?
They show the article in online table of contents, but do NOT link to it, meaning they didn’t bother uploading it. . . Arrrg (plop)
From Article
Q. If H5N1 mutates, what could readers do to protect themselves?
Webster: You mean if they can’t get a vaccine? I’d say: If they have a house in the hills, then go to it-and stay there for 3 months. And have enough food there already so that you can stay as far away from neighbors as possible.
Q. So you advocating people stockpiling food and medicane
Webster: Absolutley. Most of us can afford dry food for 3 months. One bottle of clorox is enough to purify all the water you need out of local rivers. (NOTE: I have trouble with this)
Q. Why get the standard flu shot?
Webster: It may do a little bit against bird flu. A little bit. Another thing: Tamiflu or Relenza, have them on hand. . . I keep a supply myself. I always take it with me when I travel-just in case I get exposed. . .
THERE IS NO LINK TO THIS ARTICLE:
AARP says: Note: All articles from the magazine do not necessarily appear online. Look for hyperlinks below to identify and access articles that are available online. Check back each week for new online content. . .
I have contacted the editor with this message: aarpmagazine@aarp.org ; . . SUBJECT: “Bird Flu and You” by Claudia Dreifus
Dear sir or Madam,
PLEASE post (upload) the interview with Dr Robert G. Webster titled “Bird Flu and You” by Claudia Dreifus. that now appears in the Nov / Dec issue.
Literally, thousands and thousands of people could benefit from this insightful piece, but are unable to read it because they are too young to be members or live outside the US of A and don’t have access to your fine magazine.
What a wonderful opportunity to expose future (read: younger) members to your website, magazine and your great organization.
Yours Truly,
. . I ask you to do the same. CONTACT the editor and feel free to cut and paste my letter
Jakarta (SIB) At Least 167 from 260 kontener livestock food was made from mad cattle bones (MBM) from Spain with a value of Rp 7 billion was kept
The regional office IV the Duty and Duties Tanjung Priok, along with 1 kontener China rattan, 3 kontener textile and 2 kontener the second-hand car.
Hundreds kontener this livestock food according to the official apart from containing the mad cattle illness also it was worried about contained the bird flu virus, because of 4 importers of the owner of this livestock food uptil now each month imported between 1.000–5.000 tonne this livestock food to Indonesia for the requirement for the chicken breeder more than one Indonesia.
Along with that the brightness of the bird flu illness.
His profit the Duty side and Duties Tanjung Priok like that received information immediately kept hundreds kontener that contained PMK (the Foot-and-mouth Disease).
More here (but nothing relevant) http://tinyurl.com/zhnh4
LONDON (Reuters) Scientists uncover why Spanish flu was so deadly.
What we think is happening is that the host’s inflammatory response is being highly activated by the virus, and that response is making the virus much more damaging to the host,” said Dr John Kash, of the University of Washington in Seattle, who headed the research team.
“It is an overblown inflammatory response,” he said in an interview, adding that it could have caused a similar immune response in humans”
So tell us something we don’t know!!
I updated the fluwiki human case chart adding 2 more cases (Indonesia and Thailand) with 1 death (Thailand).
I usually wait to update this chart until the WHO has updated their charts. That way, the WHO source link is accurate. Thanks AnnieB for the summaries and to all those working so hard on getting us all the information. I know how hard and time consuming it can be! It is very much appreciated.
Thanks.
Thank You Heather!
Hi Commonground!… You are very welcome.
Hi Heather - any time you want the job back you are most welcome! But it is the usual case of many hands make light work :-O)
‘’‘EffectMeasure” Commentary (and we are mentioned)
Need to go to site to view graph. http://tinyurl.com/fffjf
Bird flu after 22 months
Posted on: September 27, 2006 7:19 AM, by revere
When we first began to cover the bird flu problem — back in 2004 — it wasn’t being discussed much anywhere, including the blogs. We started talking about it for two main reasons. First, it seemed to us, as it seemed to many informed public health scientists, that this was a possible freight train coming down the tracks. We didn’t know then (nor we know now) how far the train was, whether it would get all the way to us or how fast it would be going if it did get to us. But we could feel the vibrations on the tracks and we knew enough about train wrecks of the past to worry. That was the first reason.
The second reason is more complex. For us, the response (or lack of response) to the genuine possibility of a pandemic of influenza from an avian subtype that had already shown itself capable of infecting humans to deadly effect, was a grotesque metaphor for failed public health leadership, both in our on country (the US) and most everywhere else. The US CDC was preoccupied with a phantom bioterrorism threat and remodeling the agency and US public health in general to respond to the Bush administration message: “be afraid, be very afraid.”
CDC Director Gerberding’s complicity in this will be her shameful legacy at CDC (along with a wrecked agency). Her “staying on message” delayed by at least a year, maybe two, the need to send a signal to state and local public health authorities that it was time to get busy planning. A signal was needed because state and local officials were struggling to keep their heads above water after a tax cutting frenzy had weakened routine public health. Every day was a battle to put out fires and rescue the sick and weak. Planning for a pandemic was not on the agenda, and CDC didn’t put it on the agenda for them. CDC’s disbursal of “bioterrorism funds” did more damage by distorting public health and in general making us less safe (see our post here. This was the counterpart to the Bush administration Iraq debacle, which we now know even their own intelligence establishment is saying has made us less safe.
Now it’s almost two years later and the bird flu train has not arrived. But the tracks are vibrating more strongly, we can hear the engine noise more loudly and we know the train is in the vicinity, crashing through half the world’s poultry flocks, flicking off various other mammalian host species and the occasional human (251 at last count). We know much more about the virus than we did two years ago, but some of what we have learned is that what we thought we knew was wrong. That’s progress, but of a peculiar sort. Still no effective vaccine in production and no likelihood of significant quantities for several years, if then. Uncertain quantities of antivirals on hand and with uncertain efficacy. And public health systems still tottering on the edge, with social service systems weakened as well. These are gross failures of government, and those government failures are traceable to gross failures in leadership.
The leadership void is in every sector, including my own, academia. There are notable exceptions. Dr. Michael Osterholm of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota warned us early, often and persistently, and he continues to do so. But many flu scientists have continued business as usual in a setting that is anything but usual. Sharing of information, including isolates and sequences, has improved (under pressure it must be said) but there is still a long way to go. Dr. Ilaria Capua of Italy has shown genuine leadership in this area, but it has not been an easy sell. Overall, I am not proud of leadership in academic science.
Government? WHO has had its ups and downs. They’ve made many mistakes which have damaged their credibility, its most precious asset. Now they need a new Director General and most of think they are going to screw this one up, selecting a diplomatic “go along to get along” type instead of one willing to break some china. They are still centrally important and we need to strengthen the hands of the best in the agency by our support and criticize the worst. The record of the US has been mixed. Health and Human Services Secretary Leavitt has done the right thing by going to all the fifty states to rally them to the need to prepare. But the administration he is part of, and the party in power that supports it, has done incredibly little to provide the resources to get ready. Worse, as noted above, they have hurt us. There has been some genuine progress on the local and community planning front. Not the “plans,” most of which are probably worthless, but the process of getting together, talking, mobilizing the community. Baby steps, but steps nonetheless. And even the small amount that has been done will pay off handsomely if the balloon goes up.
The conventional print and broadcast media are also a mixed bag. Some really terrific flu reporters have emerged, the standout by any measure being Helen Branswell of Canadian Press. She has been joined by others such as John Lauerman at Bloomberg, Maggie Fox at Reuters, Nick Zamiska at the Wall Street Journal, Declan Butler at Nature and a few more who write about the subject occasionally but well for some of the large news outlets. For the most part, though, the reporting has been terrible. Superficial, often inaccurate, just repackaging of official press releases or repetition of clearly false mantras. The broadcast media are largely absent. Worse than terrible.
Then there’s the internet. The official sources have their sites, of varying quality but they are usually not very timely. Plain vanilla. The real flavorful ones come from the active flu blogs and wikis, chief among them (I’m prejudiced, of course) The Flu Wiki. Started in June 2005 as an experiment in community participation in pandemic readiness it has grown to a sizeable venue with two separate parts, an active Forum or Discussion section, that buzzes with the latest news, analysis and speculation; and a resources section (the wiki proper) that has links, original postings and resources of all kinds. This site is not a bird flu site, per se. It is a public health blog, but we have done quite a lot of bird flu here because of our broader interest in public health leadership and how citizens can participate in and make public health better. Along with our wiki partners DemFromCt and Melanie Mattson we started The Flu Wiki in 2005. Those two, joined by our tech guru pogge and our colleague, moderator and friend, anon22, now do the heavy lifting. I am more a shadowy figure in the background but keep a hand in policy decisions with my colleagues.
In addition there are numerous flu forums, each with its own small community and character. Feisty, cantankerous, informative, maddening, exhilarating. Something for everyone but also not to everyone’s tastes. And there are the blogs. There are quite a few now in FluBlogia (the term for the flu-oriented sites of the blogosphere) and I will risk hurting the feelings of some really excellent sites by mentioning only two, Crawford Killian’s H5N1 (crof’s blog) and The Coming Influenza Pandemic. These functions primarily as newsfilters, combing the net for bird flu news and commentary of interest and providing the links with some excerpts and some brief comment. If you look at our left sidebar you’ll see a bunch of other great sites in our blogroll. Try them. Many people also like to see what’s up at Henry Niman’s company site, Recombinomics. It’s not a blog, because comment isn’t allowed, but Henry has his own special take on things and a loyal following. Again, I’m prejudiced, but I view the internet as the most significant development in the collection and dissemination of pandemic flu related news in the last two years. By far.
This site, despite its interest in the bird flu problem, isn’t a news filter, leaving that to others. In the early days we reported every case, but that’s not needed now because others do it exceptionally well. We usually hang back for a bit to take the measure, hoping that our commentary and observations add some value to a raw reporting of developments. We think this is even more necessary now, two years down the line, because it is harder and harder to see the big picture.
And what is the big picture? Here’s a picture, at least, a slightly updated version of the same graph we put up last week:
http://tinyurl.com/k4e9x Excerpt:
Ecology and epidemiology of avian influenza in North and South America.
“Since 2002, three outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have occurred in the Americas; one each in Chile (H7N3), United States (H5N2), and Canada (H7N3). In each of these outbreaks, a precursor virus of low pathogenicity mutated to become highly pathogenic after circulating in poultry. The HPAI viruses recovered from the three outbreaks had unique molecular and phenotypic characteristics that do not conform to other known HPAI viruses. These findings emphasize the need for monitoring wild and domestic bird species for presence of influenza A viruses.”
http://tinyurl.com/za8bx
Nature. 2006 Sep 7;443(7107):45–9. Epub 2006 Aug 16.
The structure of H5N1 avian influenza neuraminidase suggests new opportunities for drug design.
The worldwide spread of H5N1 avian influenza has raised concerns that this virus might acquire the ability to pass readily among humans and cause a pandemic. Two anti-influenza drugs currently being used to treat infected patients are oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza), both of which target the neuraminidase enzyme of the virus. Reports of the emergence of drug resistance make the development of new anti-influenza molecules a priority. Neuraminidases from influenza type A viruses form two genetically distinct groups: group-1 contains the N1 neuraminidase of the H5N1 avian virus and group-2 contains the N2 and N9 enzymes used for the structure-based design of current drugs. Here we show by X-ray crystallography that these two groups are structurally distinct. Group-1 neuraminidases contain a cavity adjacent to their active sites that closes on ligand binding. Our analysis suggests that it may be possible to exploit the size and location of the group-1 cavity to develop new anti-influenza drugs.
Commonground – at 16:25
Please don’t post entire articles. Please post a relevant para or two with a link. Thanks.
H5N1 Influenza Viruses in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Excerpt) http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no10/06-0658.htm
Sequence analysis indicated that the new H5N1 isolate (A/duck/Laos/3295/2006) (GenBank accession no. DQ845348) was not closely related to the other viruses circulating in Southeast Asia during 2003 and 2004. It clustered phylogenetically with H5N1 viruses isolated in China in 2005 and was most closely related to a 2005 human isolate from Anhui, China (A/Anhui/1/2005) (11). Furthermore, the 2004 Laotian H5N1 virus strains clustered with 2004 isolates from Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. This evidence suggests that the H5N1 virus had recently been introduced into Lao PDR; however, its direct source is unknown. Despite its origin in China, it clustered with a 2005 Vietnamese virus isolate (A/duck/Vietnam/568/2005) and therefore may have crossed into Lao PDR from Vietnam. A Malaysian H5N1 isolate (A/chicken/Malaysia/935/2006) also clustered with this group rather than with Malaysian isolates from 2004, which indicates that it was likely a new introduction into Malaysia.
Surveillance for H5N1 continued in the area surrounding the infected farm. Two months after the isolation of H5N1, 40 cloacal swabs and 28 serum samples were collected from ducks at the infected and surrounding farms. All cloacal swabs had negative results for influenza viruses, and serum samples had negative results for antibodies to H5N1. As of June 2006, no reports of infected poultry have been made since the isolation, which indicates that H5N1 did not spread and its introduction may have been an isolated event; however, surveillance is ongoing.
H5N1 Influenza Viruses in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Excerpt) http://tinyurl.com/np3j9
This evidence suggests that the H5N1 virus had recently been introduced into Lao PDR; however, its direct source is unknown. Despite its origin in China, it clustered with a 2005 Vietnamese virus isolate (A/duck/Vietnam/568/2005) and therefore may have crossed into Lao PDR from Vietnam. A Malaysian H5N1 isolate (A/chicken/Malaysia/935/2006) also clustered with this group rather than with Malaysian isolates from 2004, which indicates that it was likely a new introduction into Malaysia.
Surveillance for H5N1 continued in the area surrounding the infected farm. Two months after the isolation of H5N1, 40 cloacal swabs and 28 serum samples were collected from ducks at the infected and surrounding farms. All cloacal swabs had negative results for influenza viruses, and serum samples had negative results for antibodies to H5N1. As of June 2006, no reports of infected poultry have been made since the isolation, which indicates that H5N1 did not spread and its introduction may have been an isolated event; however, surveillance is ongoing.
Sorry bout that. Mods delete 18:43 please?
UN’s Influenza Pandemic Task Force Meets Thursday, 28 September 2006
“The United Nations health agency’s Influenza Pandemic Task Force (IPTF), which will advise the world body on how best to respond to health issues of global concern related to bird flu and pandemic influenza, has held its first meeting in Geneva.
The Task Force is a temporary body that will operate until the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR) come into force on 15 June 2007, the agency said, at which point an emergency committee will be convened if and when needed to advise on disease events of global public health importance….WHO said, adding that the 21-member body would also give advice on the appropriate phase of pandemic alert….”
a follow up from yesterday’s news
Bird flu man may have been drug courier
“A man who sparked a bird flu scare when he became ill on a flight to Sydney from Vietnam may have been a drug courier whose illness was caused by a heroin-filled condom bursting in his stomach….
Bird flu patient dies
“ A bird flu patient suspected of being a member of a new cluster of infections died Thursday, his doctor said, raising the toll in the country hardest hit by the disease to 52.
The 20-year-old Indonesian died at 2:20 a.m. at Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung city, said Hadi Jusuf.
His brother died Sunday with symptoms of bird flu before samples could be taken and his sister, hospitalized with high fever and respiratory problems, also is being treated as a suspected case.
Fatimah Resmiati, a West Java health official, suggested the siblings could represent a new family cluster of the disease. Experts closely monitor such cases for signs that the virus may have mutated into a form more easily passed between humans…”
Sept 28/06
The Jakarta Post, Bandung
‘’‘Officials at the Bandung Agriculture Office are still trying to determine the origin of a possible bird flu cluster in West Java that may have involved human-to-human transmission.
Office head Yogi Supardjo said Wednesday the results of serological tests on 13 chickens and four ducks raised by the family of a hospitalized 20-year-old male resident of Bandung, who tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, showed some of the birds were infected with the virus.
The patient’s 23-year-old brother died Sunday of bird flu, while his 15-year-old sister was admitted to Hasan Sadikin Hospital after developing a fever and cough. This has led to speculation of a bird flu cluster, though the source of the infection has yet to be determined.’‘’
“We originally thought the infection came from chicken used to feed the family’s pet dogs, but then further tests found some of the neighbors’ chickens and birds belonging to the family are also positive for the virus,” Yogi said.
He said that despite tough controls put in place at the city’s 26 chicken slaughterhouses, the virus continued to spread in densely populated areas in Bandung’s 14 subdistricts
“It’s difficult to control the distribution of livestock in Bandung because of all the small access points where there are not checkpoints,” he said.
Residents of the Kebonwaru neighborhood unit remain in shock that three of their neighbors have been infected with the virus.
They have voluntarily handed over their chickens and pet birds to officials from the agriculture office for culling. “Rather that killing humans, it’s better for the birds to die first,” said resident Dadang Solihin, who had three pet birds culled.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari confirmed Wednesday the 20-year-old man treated at Hasan Sadikin Hospital had contracted bird flu after the death of his brother.
“On the matter of bird flu, another case is positive,” the minister said as quoted by Agence France Presse.
Fatimah Resmiati of the West Java Health Office said the patient remained in critical condition Wednesday.
She said Tuesday the three family members were being investigated as a possible cluster case, but cautioned that further tests needed to be carried out.
Nadirin, a doctor at the national bird flu information center, said the family kept ducks and fighting cocks which had shown immunity to the H5N1 virus, meaning they had been infected at one point.
This, along with the fact the family fed dead chickens to their dogs, raises the possibility they caught the virus directly from the poultry, rather than each other.” - excerpt
Sorry I am so late (long day on the golf course and just got home) but I will now create a News Summary and get a new thread started for you - give me about 30 minutes please.
Recombinomics Commentary September 28, 2006
‘’‘The above translation provides additional detail on the dogs raised by the two fatal cases in Bandung. Earlier reports indicated that had traveled to Garut to buy some chickens for the dogs. The first cluster in the Cikelet in Garut also was linked to the collection of dead poultry for food for dogs.
Poultry around the household of the dead patients has tested positive for H5N1, and such infections are widespread. However, the poultry isolates from Java do not match the vast majority of human isolates, including those from Bandung and Garut.
The match failure indicates that there is an alternate reservoir leading to the human cases. The only match on Java is with an isolate from a cat in Jakarta. This finding, as well as H5N1 isolates from a variety of carnivorous mammals raises the possibility that these mammals act as a reservoir and the infections may give rise to H5N1 selected for growth in mammals.’‘’
Some media reports have indicated that 11 dogs in the neighborhood of the above fatal cases are being tested. Other reports indicate the dogs were penned with a boar, which would be another host for selection of a mammalian version of H5N1.
Clearly, more widespread testing and sequencing is required. A younger sister of the above cluster has also been hospitalized and has tested positive for H1N1. However, a positive H1N1 test would not exclude a dual infection. Since the patient is being treated with Tamiflu, the H5N1 levels may be below detection levels. This was seen in a patient in Thailand who was tested 9 times for evidence of H5N1, which was not detected until autopsy.
These data highlight the need for follow-up antibody testing on recovered patients, such as those in the cluster above as well as those who recovered after Tamiflu treatment in Garut.
More testing of mammals and wild birds in the area of these clusters is warranted, as is H5N1 isolation from associated poultry. The match failures indicate that H5N1 positive poultry in the area of the H5N1 positive patients may simply lead to H5N1 testing in patients and infection of alternate hosts in the area, rather than directly to humans, which have an H5N1 that fails to match the poultry sequences.”
“died because of breathing problems”
1 hour, 39 minutes ago
JAKARTA (Reuters) -“A 20-year-old Indonesian man who health officials thought had been part of a family cluster of bird flu cases died of the disease on Thursday, a hospital official said.
The man’s 25-year-old brother died on Sunday after displaying bird flu symptoms but there has been no positive confirmation he had the disease because no samples were taken for testing.
A third sibling, a 15-year old girl, is being treated at Hasan Sadikin hospital. Tests for her have been negative.
‘’‘He died because of breathing problems which he had suffered since he was admitted to the hospital,” said Hadi Yusuf, who heads the bird flu ward at Hasan Sadikin hospital in Bandung, West Java’s provincial capital.
The government said earlier this week the 20-year-old man had bird flu after a series of positive tests for the H5N1 avian flu virus. ‘’‘
(Software translation from Indonesian)
“20 WIB, died in the Handsome Sadikin Hospital, Bandung, West Java.
His body of plan Divine Guidance was buried in the funeral of the family in the Village probed the Stone, the Sukaratu Village, the Subdistrict Banyu Official, the Garut Regency, West Java. Divine guidance will be buried was neighbouring with his older brother’s grave, Indra Jaya flowers, that also died because of being suspected of being infected by the bird flu virus. Before dying Divine Guidance underwent the maintenance for five days in RSHS. since entering, the condition for Divine Guidance has been critical.
According to the medical team, the temperature of the body high Divine Guidance had not descended. At daybreak earlier, the Divine Guidance body was at once despatched to the funeral parlour in Garut to be buried. In the meantime the full brother Divine Guidance, the precious stone Diamond that could be hot high and the cough up to now still is treated in RSHS Bandung in Poinciana Tree Space, special space the bird flu patient. However, the condition for the Diamond has it was reported improved.
With the death of Divine Guidance, significant already six people from eight bird flu patients who had been treated in RSHS, died. Two bird flu patients who had been treated in RSHS, were stated recovered.” - excerpt
Klatu- there is a Sept. 28 thread…
Closed to maintain Forum speed.