October 10th News Reports http://tinyurl.com/zszp6
Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:21 AM BST
JAKARTA (Reuters) - An Indonesian woman being treated in hospital has tested positive for bird flu, a health official said on Wednesday.
Indonesia has become one of the frontlines in the battle against the disease. So far, 52 people have died of bird flu, the highest of any country, with the majority of deaths occurring since the beginning of this year.
“A 67-year-old woman living in the Cisarua area of Bandung had contact with fowl,” the official from the bird flu information center said by telephone. The woman was admitted to the hospital on October 7 and was still alive, the official added.
The woman tested positive to the H5N1 virus after a test at a health ministry laboratory and one conducted by NAMRU, the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit based in Jakarta, the official added.
Link for above: http://tinyurl.com/ny8bk
By Karima Anjani
Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) — Bird flu infected a 67-year-old woman in Indonesia’s West Java province, raising the country’s tally of human cases to 70. Egypt reported its first case of the virus since May in a 39-year-old woman.
The Indonesian woman was hospitalized in the city of Bandung on Oct. 7, two days after she began showing flu-like symptoms, said Joko Suyono, an official at the health ministry’s avian flu information center. Diseased poultry are the most likely source of the woman’s laboratory-confirmed infection from the H5N1 avian influenza strain, Suyono said over the telephone today.
In Egypt, a woman has been hospitalized with H5N1 and is in stable condition after being treated with the Roche Holding AG antiviral drug Tamiflu, Reuters reported yesterday on its Web site, citing a regional World Health Organization adviser.
Recombinomics Commentary October 11, 2006
“The above description confirms H5N1 bird flu in an elderly patient (67F) from the Bandung area. There is also evidence for neurological involvement, which is unusual for cases in Indonesia. Similarly, the patient is markedly older than most cases in Indonesia. The sole survivor from the infection in Karo also had neurological complications, but those problems may have been due to a secondary bacterial infection.
It remains unclear if the infection in the older patient with neurological complications represents a new H5N1 strain in the Bandung area. A large number of patients in the area have been hospitalized with symptoms, but most tested negative for H5N1 and recovered after Tamiflu treatment.
Although poultry was dying in the vicinity, to date all reported patients from Bandung have been infected with H5N1 with a novel cleavage site and additional markers that did not match the H5N1 in poultry on Java. The only bird isolate on Java with the novel cleavage site was from a duck on Indramayu and matched a small subset of patients from 2005. All of the more recent isolates were readily distinguished from the H5N1 from the duck in Indramayu.
Recent reports from Indonesia have described H5N1 in cats. H5N1 from a kitten in the Indramayu is the only match for the vast majority of the human H5N1 isolates.” - excerpt
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/10110601/H5N1_Bandung_Confirmed.html
http://tinyurl.com/gvneb 11 October 2006
The Ministry of Health in Egypt has confirmed the country’s first case of human infection with the H5N1 virus since May of this year.
The patient is a 39-year-old woman from the Gharbiya governorate in the Nile Delta. She developed symptoms on 30 September and was hospitalized on 4 October. She subsequently developed pneumonia. She remains hospitalized in stable condition.
Her recent history includes the home slaughter and defeathering of around a dozen ducks when signs of illness and deaths began to occur in the flock
Egypt reported a recurrence of poultry outbreaks in backyard flocks in September 2006.
Previous human cases occurred from late March 2006 through May. To date, the country has reported 15 cases, of which 6 were fatal.
Good Morning,
I updated the fluwiki human case chart for the additional Egypt case.
On Wednesday, October 11 2006
(Software Translation)
Bandung — MIOL: “Mama Komariah, 67, that was treated in RS Handsome Sadikin (RSHS) Bandung positive terjangkit the bird flu virus.
The assurance was received after Litbangkes checked the sample of casualties’s blood in the third inspection.
Casualties were also recorded as the first bird flu patient in Indonesia that experienced the attack of the bird flu virus to the stick of the brain.
Beforehand, the inflammation attack of the brain because of this virus just was found in Thailand, explained the Section Head the Health West Javanese Yudi Prewar, on Wednesday (11/10).
Especially to Mama, Litbangkes took the sample of blood through to four times, among them also took the sample of his spinal cord.
‘’‘Casualties did not experience pneumonia to his lungs, but precisely the inflammation of the brain or meningitis, that was caused by the bird flu virus
The inflammation attack of this brain, explained Yudi, caused comma casualties while being treated. However, this incident was very rare happened, so as the community might not worry him.’‘’
The chairman Tim the Handling of bird flu of RSHS Bandung Hadi Jusuf said, the condition Mama still was very ugly. Although his awareness has begun to be available, also had the movement of the hands, and good blood pressure, but casualties’s breath was still being very heavy.
The “neurologist’s inspection showed the existence of the brain of the inflammation, or ensevalitis that was caused by the virus.”
However, this the bird flu virus or not, we were still being waiting for results of Litbangkes, he stated.”
bump
Looks like the tide is starting to turn! A step in the right direction-let’s follow the members listed in the article.
CDC Awards $5.2 Million to Evaluate Community Strategies to Reduce Impact of Pandemic Influenza Posted on: 10/10/2006 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces $5.2 million in new cooperative agreements designed to evaluate the effectiveness of community-level measures that could be used during an influenza pandemic to reduce the spread of infection.
Because developing a vaccine against a pandemic influenza strain could take several months, community prevention strategies that don’t involve vaccines or other drugs (also called “non-pharmaceutical interventions”) may serve as a first line of defense to help delay or reduce the spread of disease. However, little scientific research currently exists on the effectiveness and potential impact of such strategies. Therefore, these studies are designed to identify and evaluate quickly what kinds of non-pharmaceutical strategies, alone or in combination, may help reduce or contain the spread of pandemic influenza.
Read article here: http://tinyurl.com/r83ru
On Wednesday, October 11 2006
(software translation)
Semarang — MIOL: the Semarang Service of City Agriculture accepted help 125 thousand doses tamiflu from the Central Javan Provincial Government.
Help was given following the discovery of the positive poultry was infected by the virus Avian influenza (AI/bird flu) in the Gisikdrono district, Semarang.
According to the Section Head Semarang City Agriculture, Beautiful Enthis in Semarang, on Wednesday (11/10), apart from tamiflu, his side also got totalling 200 litre disinfectant to spray the poultry pen.
“This number was enough to mengcover the prevention of the spreading of the AI virus in 16 subdistricts in the Semarang City,” Beautiful Enthis words, sembari added that each subdistrict will be placed clinical the animal as well as 10 thousand Tamiflu doses.
Now especially for the Gisikdrono village territory, the agricultural Service took the step in anticipation in stages in order to avoids the citizen’s unrest.The location of the poultry that was infected by the AI virus that must him was isolated in the distance 1 kilometre, continue to got pengawsan the official.
The “step that we took began the lowered stage previously, the radius 1 Km that must be isolated indirectly by us the isolation.” - excerpt
October 11, 2006
CAIRO, OCT. 11, (BNA)--“EGYPTIAN MINISTER OF HEALTH AND POPULATION, HATEM EL GABALI, SAID THAT HOSPITALS ALL OVER EGYPT WERE PUT ON A HIGH STATE OF ALERT AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES WERE BEEFED UP TO CONFRONT A POTENTIAL RESURGENCE OF BIRD FLU IN THE COUNTRY.
A NEW HUMAN CASE TESTED POSITIVE ON TUESDAY FOR THE LETHAL H5N1 STRAIN OF BIRD FLU BRINGING THE NUMBER OF THOSE WHO HAVE CONTRACTED THE VIRUS TO 15 SINCE ITS OUTBREAK IN EGYPT LAST FEBRUARY. ACTION GROUPS HAVE ALSO BEEN FORMED FOR A SWIFT RESPONSE AND EARLY DETECTION OF THE DISEASE, EL GABALI ADDED. “
Bird flu case in Thai dog raises questions about infection
Canadian Press / Globe & Mail / http://tinyurl.com/mloee
Thai scientists have reported a case of H5N1 influenza infection in a dog, a finding that lengthens the unusually long list of mammals this avian flu virus can infect.
The report, which suggests the dog became infected by eating ducks killed by the virus, also underscores a need to figure out whether the virus can be transmitted through consumption of infected animals, a World Health Organization scientist said Wednesday.
“This is the third species or fourth species that has been infected by eating carcasses. So I think we really have to think about the risk of oral ingestion,” said Michael Perdue, an avian flu expert with the WHO’s global influenza program.
“I mean, these guys are getting infected somehow and we don’t know how.”
Since H5N1 flared up in Asia in late 2003, tigers, leopards, domestic cats and now dogs have become infected with the virus by eating infected chicken or duck carcasses. Other mammals — a stone marten, and a small number of pigs — have also been shown to be susceptible to infection, though in those cases the mode of transmission isn’t yet documented.
There have also been some human cases where it’s thought ingestion of virus was the mode of infection — most notably a trio of brothers in Vietnam who fell ill after eating uncooked soup made from duck’s blood.
Influenza infection occurs in the respiratory tract, when the mucous membranes of the nose and throat come in contact with viruses propelled through the air by sneezes and coughs. A person can also become infected by touching items onto which viruses have been sneezed and then touch their nose or mouth.
It’s not thought that infection can occur in the human gastrointestinal tract. And the WHO’s official position is that there is no evidence people can become infected by eating properly cooked poultry or eggs.
When tigers and leopards cats in Thai zoos died after being fed infected chickens in late 2003 and again in 2004, scientists speculated infection occurred when the animals ripped apart the carcasses. They believe the cats breathed in viruses that had been lodged in the birds’ feathers.
Perdue said that may indeed be the way these infections have occurred. But he questions whether something else might be at play — and thinks the scientific community ought to nail down the answer.
“Is there tissue that’s infectible before it (the infected meat) gets to the stomach? That’s the other option. Esophogeal tissue or mucosal tissue (in the gastric tract) that allows the virus to infect?” he wondered in an interview from Geneva.
The case of the dog, reported in the November issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, actually occurred in October 2004. Scientists and people who follow H5N1 developments on Internet blogs and websites were aware of it, but this article by scientists from Thailand’s Kasetsart and Chulalongkorn universities is the first scientific publication showing canine infection with the virus.
The dog developed high fever, panting and lethargy about five days after eating infected duck carcasses and died the following day, the scientists reported. H5N1 viruses were recovered from the dog’s lung, liver, kidney and urine.
The authors say the proof that dogs too can be infected with this virus “warrants concern and highlights the need for monitoring domestic animals during outbreaks in the future.”
Other scientists said that while it is important to determine whether dogs are becoming infected and could potentially transmit the virus to other animals or back to poultry, the evidence to date suggests they aren’t falling victim to nearly the same degree as cats.
There have been multiple reports of domestic and stray cats dying from H5N1 infection in several Asian countries, especially badly hit Indonesia which has the highest H5N1 death toll of any country.
“We’ll have to look into it,” said Dr. Peter Roeder, an animal health officer with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
“(But) we’ve not seen any evidence for dogs . . . becoming sick. So it doesn’t feature very highly in our understanding at the moment. But perhaps it’s something else we ought to look at.”
Another expert, Dr. Ab Osterhaus, said it would be important to try to infect dogs in a laboratory, then see if they are able to transmit the virus to nearby uninfected dogs. Such work, which Dr. Osterhaus’s lab undertook with cats, would indicate how easy or difficult it is to infect dogs and whether they are able to spread the virus.
“That type of experiment will tell you a little bit about the relative risk for dogs to become infected,” said Dr. Osterhaus, director of the Institute of Virology at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He said his lab intends to conduct this experiment.
American Public Health Association has a website to encourage preparing for panflu.
APHA Launches Get Ready Campaign to Help Americans Prepare Themselves for Flu Pandemic APHA has officially launched its Get Ready campaign to help the public prepare for a potential influenza pandemic and outbreaks of other emerging infectious diseases. Unlike existing efforts, APHA’s campaign will ‘’‘speak directly to individuals, families and communities and help fill gaps by telling people exactly what they need in order to prepare themselves’‘’. Currently, the campaign includes a blog, fact sheets and podcasts available through the Get Ready Web site at www.getreadyforflu.org. Future plans for the campaign include grassroots activities, toolkits, community partnerships, preparedness surveys and a calculator to help people determine what supplies they will need to prepare for pandemic flu or other emerging infectious diseases. For more information, e-mail pandemicflu@apha.org .
http://www.apha.org/getready/newsite.htm
comment hurray!
Pixie. Thanks for the interesting article. In my opinion, none of this is good. H5N1 probably is in more unknown reservoirs then in animals we do now about and even this list is growing…
…more species…more opportunity…more animal species means to me that the goal of the virus was not to adapt to birds but to adapt to animals…hope we aren’t the ‘end game’.
In Vietnam, Bird Flu on the Serang Brain the Older Brother Beradik
Jakarta, CyberNews / Rabu, 11 Oktober 2006 / http://tinyurl.com/rnjtt
‘’‘The bird flu virus that attacked the brain evidently only did not happen in Indonesia and Thailand. The similar case had also happened in Vietnam’‘’.
This fact was raised by Dr Tjandra Yoga Aditama from the Pulmonologi Department & Medical the Faculty’s Medical Respiration the Indonesian University (FKUI) in his press release to SM CyberNews, on Wednesday night.
Explained by the doctor RS the Friendship, Jakarta this, there were several interesting datas about the case in Vietnam this that is happening to 2 older brothers was siblings was 9 years and 4 years old.
Both of them did not experience the sign of breathing completely, only mencret then the disturbance of the brain. “Leucocytes at first normal, then descended (leukopeni), the temperature both of them above 38 C, and his diagnosis were encephalitis,” he said. According to Dr Tjandra, the bird flu virus was found to the liquid serebro spinal (from the spinal cord), faeses, the throat and the serum of the patient’s blood. “Because of these results then this patient it was confirmed suffered Bird Flu on the brain.” Necessarily the same method was also carried out if having the same suspicion the occurrence of the spreading of bird flu to the brain, he said.
TomDVM: I have a question maybe you can answer. That post on the dog says:
The dog developed high fever, panting and lethargy about five days after eating infected duck carcasses and died the following day…
So if the dog was then asymptomatic for five days, would he have been shedding the virus during that time period? And, we don’t know much about the cats in Indonesia yet, but would you think the same viral shedding period would apply to them as well?
Pixie. There is nothing special under the sun about humans…we are just another animal species in the world…and a not very important one in the large scheme of things…
…the main reason that influenza is the most successful pathogen is because humans are infectious before they even know they are sick…in contrast to SARs where the patients only became infectious when they were very sick and the end result was that the spread mainly occurred in a hospital setting where healthcare workers were in intimate contact with the patients.
If we remember Karo last spring, questions were asked why healthcare workers were not infected…as it turns out influenza is probably not very infectious once the symptoms have set in and the patient is in hospital…this was confirmed by the descriptions in the Philledelphia hospital in ‘The Great Influenza’ by John Barry.
The answer to your question is a little complex…in the sense that in a new species sometimes the virus can infect but not be shed…my bet is that this virus has now adapted enough that in most of these species, the animal is shedding virus before it demonstrates symptoms…in the same way as humans with seasonal influenza…but that has not been proven as yet.
Hope that helps…if not ask another question.
USA
U.S. Pandemic Flu Plan: Hole Up at Home
Could you work from home for weeks at a time? How long could you hole up without needing to go to the grocery or drugstore? Would you be willing to wear a face mask and isolate yourself from others?
Harvard researchers are surveying Americans on questions like these as the government wraps up work on a plan to use primitive infection-control measures to deal with a killer flu outbreak until drugs and vaccine become available.
[snip]
This week, CDC awarded $5.2 million in grants related to the plan, including research on whether to recommend face masks to the public. CDC also asked the Institute of Medicine, a group of scientific advisers, to meet on these measures later this month.
[snip]
However, skeptics say parts of the plan amount to wishful thinking with little evidence they would work.
“A lot of these things sound good but they lack practical application,” said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota health expert involved in the planning.
Advising people in big office buildings to avoid elevators and stay 6 feet away from each other is impractical, and people can’t stay in their homes for weeks or months without needing insulin and other medications, he noted.
Indiana, USA
Indiana counties complete local pandemic influenza response plans
All of Indiana’s 92 counties have completed a local pandemic influenza response plan.
[snip]
The plans go beyond public health-related issues to also include issues related to other essential government services. Since a pandemic could potentially affect a large percentage of the population, the plans also consider how those services will continue to be provided with a drastically reduced workforce.
[snip]
State officials are still encouraging citizens to also take steps to prepare themselves and their families from the threat of a possible influenza pandemic. An emergency supplies kit is recommended in case a pandemic results in requests or orders for citizens to “shelter in place.” This kit should include a two-week supply of food and water, as well as other necessities such as medications.
North Carolina, USA
Exercise scenario: Flu pandemic hits Clay County
On Saturday, the Clay County Health Department, Clay County Emergence Medical Service, the volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad, county dispatcher, the Area 6 Medical Reserve Corps and Murphy Medical Center conducted a drill to see how well the county and adjacent resources could respond to a major emergency health situation.
Fiji
Specialist warns of major flu pandemic
AN epidemiologist has warned of Fiji losing its young and productive talent and population if the country was hit by an influenza pandemic.
Dr Narendra Singh from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community told senators yesterday that influenza was serious and most cases being monitored now targeted the 15 to 45 year age group.
“This is like the pandemic in 1918 which killed 9,000 people. The flu that went around Fiji at that time infected the same age group (15 to 45 years) and we were not aware that there is a pandemic of influenza,” Dr Singh explained.
He said very little had been done to get everyone informed on what should be done and emergency plans in place to ensure that influenza did not spread rapidly.
UK
Flu pandemic: it’s not ‘if’ but ‘when’
The Bird Flu that hysterical sections of the media predicted would have wiped out many thousands of the UK population by now may have failed to arrive – but complacency would be foolish, health experts warn.
It’s not a question of “if” but “when” the next flu pandemic strikes the UK, stresses Dr Mike Lilley, a consultant in communicable disease control from Beds and Herts Health Protection Unit.
[snip]
And – showing just how seriously our experts take the threat – the Bedfordshire and Luton Local Resilience Forum carried out a mass vaccination exercise on hundreds of “patients” to test the efficiency of their plans for coping when that pandemic arrives.
Georgia, USA
Officials plan for potential pandemic
Malindy Ely, nurse manager, has become a popular speaker at civic clubs and other groups as well as governmental entities during the past several weeks. She has met with a number of agencies in countywide meetings that are developing strategies for a plan that would be put in place if the unthinkable happens. “It can and did,” she said.
[snip]
Ely, in a report to the Polk County Board of Commissioners, said it is important for all residents to understand the difference between pandemic flu and avian flu. Traditionally pandemic flu is historically linked with a mutated form of Avian Influenza, she said.
[snip]
Facts presented included: Moderate outbreak, 12,150 ill with 6,075 outpatients; 117 hospitalized, 18, ICU cared; 9 ventilated and 28 deaths. A severe incident could result in 12,150 ill, 6,075 outpatients, 1,337 hospitalized, 200 ICU cared, 100 ventilated and 256 deaths. She informed the group that they could not count on federal rescue or rely on mutual aid resources, state or federal assistance to support local response efforts. “They will be dealing with the same problem,” she added. Other factors noted were the fact that a vaccine would probably not be available for six to eight months and antivirals (if not resistant) would be in limited supply.
Oregon, USA
Providence drill prepares for possible flu pandemic
Providence Health System is helping state health authorities learn how many people can be immunized against the flu in 48-hours.
Providence is using this opportunity to practice mass immunizations to prepare for a potential pandemic influenza outbreak — one that could cause the death of hundreds or even thousands without proper prevention and treatments.
They are holding the immunitations next Wednesday, October 18th and next Friday, October 20th.
Providence Health System nurses will use mobile carts to bring vaccine to employees in their work environment. And they will immunize as many staff members as possible during a 48-hour period at their three Portland area hospitals.
The Egyptian website, http://birdflu.sis.gov.eg/html/index.htm, still does not list the new case!
Tom DVM – at 20:56: “my bet is that this virus has now adapted enough that in most of these species, the animal is shedding virus before it demonstrates symptoms…in the same way as humans with seasonal influenza..”
Thanks Tom - yup, that about answers my question. I just had no idea if dogs & cats shed virus in the same manner that humans do before symptom onset. The ramifications of this are considerable.
China steps up infectious disease training
BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) — China’s Ministry of Health is to train all medical professionals on prevention and control of key infectious diseases, including bird flu.
All medical institutes in China are instructed to begin the training immediately and complete it by the end of November, said the ministry in a circular on Thursday. <snip>
All the medical professionals must be aware of key infectious diseases, including bird flu, SARS, bubonic plague, pneumonia with unknown causes and major endemic diseases. <snip>
Yin Chengjie, Vice Minister of Agriculture, has warned that autumn and winter were critical periods, and officials should be aware of the dangers and not underestimate the difficulty of controlling the bird flu virus…. <snip>
The Health Ministry last month required doctors and grass-roots health organizations to report infectious diseases within two hours of detection, including SARS, poliomyelitis and bird flu. http://tinyurl.com/l33r9
Just opened the news thread for this a.m.
Closed to maintain server speed