Avian Influenza AUG 2007 Photo Gallery

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 0:47 AM PDT The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee recently approved $450,000 in federal funding for Delaware to improve avian flu preparedness and local irrigation systems. (DE)	Wed Aug 1, 11:21 AM ET Live poultry sales and shows were to resume in West Virginia on Wednesday. While the ban was to be lifted at midnight Tuesday, Douglass said it will remain in effect until Aug. 8 for the State Fair of West Virginia because of interstate movement of birds. (WV)
Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:25 PM PDT Virginia's poultry ban forced several county fairs to cancel poultry shows. On July 19, state veterinarian Richard Wilkes lifted part of the ban -- the transfer and application of poultry litter in 17 counties. Nearly 5 million birds were destroyed in 2002 when Virginia had a full-fledged avian flu outbreak. (VA)	AFP/File - Wed Aug 1, 1:27 PM ET A chicken farm in Yangon is seen in March 2007. Military-ruled Myanmar has detected its second outbreak of bird flu in less than a month, this time on a poultry farm in the central region of Bago, health officials said Wednesday.(AFP/File/Khin Maung Win) (Myanmar)
Wed Aug 1, 3:27 PM ET Hastings College may cancel classes or hold them online if pandemic avian flu hits the region. In addition to establishing a pandemic action plan, Hastings College is collecting extra supplies of food and medicine, and is developing preparedness kits to give to students. (NE) Hastings College develops plan for pandemic flu - NE The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates a third of the population could fall ill if the H5N1 strain of the bird flu mutates into a form that spreads easily from person to person.	Wed Aug 1, 4:47 PM ET Preparing for the worst, Ohio authorities are moving forward with plans for a possible outbreak of flu pandemic. The department plans to spend $1.8 million for the antiviral medicine Relenza and $13.5 million for the antiviral Tamiflu. (OH) Ohio Prepares For Pandemic Flu Flu pandemic hit the U.S. several times in the past, including in 1918, 1957 and 1968. The worst was in 1918, killing 8,602 people across the country. Preparations for another outbreak began more than a year ago. It includes the purchase of a large quantity of medicine to treat people. "The purchase of these antivirals is one part of a large plan for Ohio, other states and the Unites States to prepare for what we feel is the eventual outbreak of pandemic or a pandemic of influenza," said Bret Adkins of the Ohio Department of Health.
Wed Aug 1, 6:48 PM ET Franklin Square is taking part in a statewide drill to test readiness for a full-blown pandemic of bird flu. (MD) Hospital Takes Part in Avian Flu Drill - Maryland	Wed Aug 1, 7:46 PM ET Indian experts remove poultry from a farm following an outbreak of bird flu near Imphal, July 27, 2007. Health officials in India were monitoring four children suffering from fever on Wednesday after they had contact with dead or sick poultry in Manipur state, where authorities are fighting a bird flu outbreak in fowl. (INDIA)
Thursday, August 2, 2007 7:10 AM EDT A village is seen submerged in flood waters in Darbhanga in the Indian state of Bihar, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007. Unusually heavy monsoon rains have devastated large swaths of northern India and Bangladesh, killing at least 164 people, displacing or stranding millions of others and washing away vital crops, officials said Thursday. ( AP Photo) (INDIA)	Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:46 AM PDT Planning for pandemic: Stock up on food, water and medicine. Plastic sheets and duct tape could factor into self-preservation at some point, but emergency planners say stores of food, water and medicine are all things residents should have. Speakers discussed Avian influenza, or bird flu H5N1, and the prospect of a pandemic that could eventually result in the quarantine of entire communities. (PA)   Planning for pandemic: Stock up on food, water and medicine - PA
Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:16 AM PDT StatC Outperforms TAMILFU in Multiple Animal Model Flu Tests. These studies were performed in partnership with Virion Systems Inc. of Rockville, MD. (MD)	Thu, 02 Aug 2007 12:59 AM PDT LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - Preparation for a pandemic takes the teamwork of numerous organizations coming together to plan for the worst, while hoping the scenario never happens. A group of more than 100 first responders, health care workers, government officials and business leaders gathered Wednesday at Lancaster County Public Safety Training Center to discuss what coordination needs to take place before disaster strikes. (PA)   Panel plans for worst but hopes for best - PA
Thu, 02 Aug 2007 1:12 PM PDT The closure of live poultry stores within city limits as a precautionary measure against avian flu and other hygiene concerns went into effect yesterday after a three-year grace period, which included one extension. (SAUDI ARABIA) Live Poultry Sale Ban Comes Into Effect - SAUDI ARABIA Municipal officials are only now tendering bids to build the new 50,000 square meter slaughtering facility. The new slaughterhouse will inspect the poultry before wrapping and freezing them and supplying them to the shops that can no longer sell live poultry legally. Jeddah resident Saleh Al-Nimi says he won't miss the live poultry shops in his neighborhood. "The shops stink. The workers look filthy," he said. "Even the water they use to clean the slaughtered chicken is dirty."	Thu, 02 Aug 2007 1:45 PM PDT Africa: Space Technology Used to Fight Bird-Flu. The H5N1 strain has killed millions of birds and poultry around the world as well as more than 192 humans thus far, mostly in Asia. Of the 319 human cases and 192 deaths so far, 256 and 165 cases respectively have been in the Asia-Pacific region. The proposed application of the space technology could be used as part of an integrated early-warning system. (AFRICA) As more innovative solutions are sought to combat bird-flu, the United Nations has revealed it is looking towards applying space technology to help countries fight the virus, writes Lavinia Mahlangu.
Thu Aug 2, 5:44 PM ET Nearly 2,000,000 chickens have been killed in Imphal's Thangmeiband District, before being thrown along with eggs into huge pits that were then covered with lime and salt and finally with soil. Out of the 45,032 houses surveyed, 935 were having backyard poultry. A total of 2,035,161 persons were covered. (Manipur) Culling of chickens over, mopping begins in Manipur Health officials have checked more than 235,000 people around the affected farm since the weekend for flu symptoms, while veterinary workers have culled a similar number of birds in the northeastern state. Myanmar has battled several outbreaks of bird flu in chickens this year, including one reported last week.	Fri Aug 3, 1:27 AM ET Good habit: Hand-washing can reduce the incidence of communicable infections by up to 59%. Pictures courtesy of the Hygiene Council The most basic and inexpensive way to protect yourself from picking up infections is simply by washing your hands. "With the advent of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, SARS, bird flu and other viruses, hygiene plays a huge part in preventing the spread of these diseases as they are spread through direct and indirect contact.
Fri Aug 3, 1:27 AM ET   Fight against germs: The basic household bucket with all the 'tools' you need to keep the house clean and safe.   What is the best way to avoid getting the flu? Among the respondents, 45% put hand-washing at the top of the list. Surprisingly, 20% indicated "avoiding public places" and another 20% stated "avoiding animals". "Avoiding travel" and "refraining from eating meat" were listed by 5% of the participants.   "Malaysians seem to go by visuals and smell, to figure out where the most germs are in the home. But germs are too minute to be seen and are mostly odourless, so people tend to forget the most common places - door handles, taps, switches, rubbish bins and surfaces of objects in the house, especially the kitchen. And don't forget the remote control for the TV," says Dr Lee, to the amusement of those present.  Only 8% of Malaysians consider the laundry basket a key source of household germs. But what they don't realise, according to the council, is that the levels of bacteria in dirty laundry can be high. Fabrics that require washing in cold water, or below 60°C, can harbour infectious bacteria and contaminate the whole wash. Many germs, such as Salmonella, Hepatitis A and rotavirus (the main cause of diarrhoea in children) can survive drying.	Fri Aug 3, 3:20 AM ET Has bird flu infected humans? Four children, all under 14 years, from a farm in Chingmeirong village in Manipur have been quarantined and administered Tamiflu, the most affective antibiotic against bird flu, after investigations revealed that they had handled dead poultry in their farm, soon after the disease was detected in dead chickens from a nearby farm. (INDIA) All of them, part of the same household, were found suffering from fever and throat infection by health officials carrying out door-to-door surveillance on humans, within the 5-km radius of this year's bird flu outbreak site. The throat swabs of the four children have been sent to National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Delhi and National Institute of Virology, Pune, for testing. Till now, all those who have been infected in bird-flu outbreaks across the globe have actually been poultry workers who came in contact with infected birds. The WHO says, globally at least 192 people have died due to bird flu out of 319 cases since 2003. The next 24 hours will be a nervous wait for the government and India's health experts as results of these tests are expected on Friday morning. What's worrying the health ministry officials most is the fact that they don't know whether the chicken that died in the farm of these four teenagers had been infected with H5N1 or not. This is because soon after the government announced the outbreak, the four sold off their stock of 120 birds to a nearby hotel owner. So, the scientists failed to collect samples of these birds. Interestingly, the teenagers also confessed to health officials of having eaten some of the dead chickens. Chicken cooked at over 70 degrees Celsius is safe as the virus gets killed. Speaking to TOI, a health ministry official, who did not want to name the teenagers and also the farm for safety reasons, said, "No unusual mortality was reported from the farm of these four teenagers. But investigations did reveal that some birds had died at their farm the same time as bird flu was detected in a neighbouring unit. Because the flu scare made them sell off their entire stock, we couldn't get samples for testing. That's why we don't know whether the birds were sick or not. We are concerned about these four cases and hope its isn't H5N1."
Fri Aug 3, 7:10 AM ET Some 700 of Darbhanga's 1,200 villages are "fully or partly submerged" affecting around 2.1 million people, the official said in his headquarters in Darbangha district town, where foliage-laden muddy water was surging in. (INDIA)   Desperation for flood victims in Darbhanga continues   DARBHANGA: The noise of a hovering helicopter quickly draws villagers in eastern India, desperate for food and fresh water, from their partly flooded huts. But hopes that relief has arrived are soon dashed as the chopper, loaded with emergency supplies, turns away, its crew deciding for safety reasons against landing in driving rain. "There is just nothing left to eat," said drenched farmer Ashish Thakur in submerged Kaanti village in Darbhanga district. "Even the relief helicopters are not landing anymore," he said. "People are fighting for food like dogs, I have no strength left," the farmer wept, hugging his two hungry children and shivering wife. Relief teams in India, Bangladesh and Nepal are battling to bring food, clean drinking water and medicines to nearly 20 million people stranded across the region by the massive flooding. In India's Darbhanga district, the rains, far heavier than usual, have cut roads and rail lines, officials said. "We need help and very quickly," said a volunteer at a privately run relief agency supplying medicine to the district, where submerged graveyards also pose a looming health hazard.	Fri Aug 3, 1:27 PM ET The City of Titusville Board of Health and the Avian Flu Steering Committee have assembled Emergency Preparedness Kits which are being displayed at community events throughout the city and in the former Carpenter's Corner store front windows. (PA) City entities assemble emergency preparedness displays, information - PA Hand-outs have been prepared and will be available with the display at the coming Oil Festival event here in Titusville on Aug. 11. When new pandemic flu spreads, it creates a public health emergency. This emergency will not be like anything we've faced before. A pandemic will last longer, make more people seriously ill, and will cause more deaths than any other health crisis in our time. An outbreak of pandemic flu could mean drastic changes in many areas of our lives. Schools and businesses may need to temporarily close. Public transportation could be limited or cancelled. Many people will be ill and they will not be able to go to work. It is very important to plan ahead The services and supplies that we count on every day may not be available. It is important for you to be prepared to take care of yourself and your immediate family. There simply may not be other people available to help you.
03 Aug 2007 06:39:22 GMT NEW DELHI, Aug 3 (Reuters) - India has completed health checks on thousands of people after an outbreak of bird flu in the remote northeast, and cleared four boys who had been suffering from fever after handling dead or sick poultry. Throat swab and tissue samples of the four boys had been sent for testing but no sign of bird flu was found. "They are negative," Vineet Chawdhry, a joint secretary in India's health ministry, told Reuters on Friday. (INDIA)	Sat Aug 4, 5:15 AM ET "Kissing is an unhealthy habit. On many occasions, you cannot be sure whether the one kissing you is ill or not," says Adel Ashour, Paediatrics professor. Illustration by Luis Vasquez/Gulf News. (EGYPT)   Kicking the kissing habit to stay healthy
Sat Aug 4, 5:22 AM ET A rooster looks out from cage at a poultry farm near Agartala, capital of Indias northeastern Tripura state in July 2007. The bird flu epidemic appears to have stabilised as far as humans go but several developing nations have not been able to stem its spread amongst poultry and domesticated birds, experts said Friday.(AFP/File/Bapi Roy Choudhury) (WHO)	Sat Aug 4, 5:30 AM ET The Department of Health wants your help in detecting the West Nile Virus and Avian Flu. (HAWAII)   Birds May Show the First Signs of A Pandemic
Sat Aug 4, 6:47 AM ET GlaxoSmithKline said HHS asked for 22.5 million doses of H5N1 bulk vaccine used to prevent bird flu, under a contract awarded in November 2007. That is on top of the 5 million doses ordered in November 2006. (VACCINE) U.S. Government Orders More of Glaxo's Bird Flu Vaccine to Fill National Stockpile	Sat Aug 4, 12:30 PM ET Members of the German Federal Relief Agency (THW) mount bird flu warning signs close to a lake in Ascheim, near Munich, August 3, 2007. Three ducks found dead at the lake near Munich in the southern state of Bavaria tested positive for the dangerous H5N1 strain of the disease. REUTERS/Michael Dalder (GERMANY)
Agartala, Aug. 4: The Tripura government has sounded a red alert on avian influenza in the state and asked the BSF to keep vigil along the 856-km-long porous border with Bangladesh, where bird flu cases have been reported. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting last night. Tripura animal resources minister Pranab Debbarma said although no cases of bird flu have been reported in the state, precautionary measures have been taken to check the spread of the disease. Strong vigil is being maintained on trucks and vehicles entering the state from Bangladesh, he added. "Measures have been taken to spray medicines on trucks coming from Bangladesh". The state has formed 71 rapid response groups to tackle any cases of flu. A state-level emergency committee on avian influenza, headed by chief secretary Shashi Prakash, has also been formed to monitor the situation. The panic heightened after Divyoday Krishi Vigyan Kendra, a central government- funded farm at Chebri in Khowai subdivision of West Tripura, slaughtered and buried more than 500 chickens with symptoms like fever and spasms on Thursday.	IT'S TOTAL SHUTDOWN Sat Aug 4, 7:30 PM ET The search for the source of Britain's latest foot and mouth outbreak focused on a research laboratory last night amid fears it could have been Sabotage. The lab is just three miles from the farm where the outbreak was discovered...and officials haven't ruled out the virus being released deliberately. The Institute for Animal Health in Pirbright, Surrey, is the world's leading centre for research into foot and mouth and scientists fear a leak may have led to the disease escaping into the air and to cattle grazing nearby. A spokesman for the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "At this stage it is too early to rule out anything. We will be looking into all possibilities. "These include sabotage of the Pirbright laboratory or elsewhere." Police were yesterday guarding a TWO-MILE protection zone around Woolford's Farm in nearby Elstead, with gunshots ringing out as the slaughter of the 60 affected beef cattle began. Shortly afterwards a red crane began loading carcases on to a truck ready to be taken away.
Baltimore, Maryland Mon Aug 6, 2:03 AM ET BALTIMORE - Johns Hopkins University last week released information about an accidental infection of an employee with tuberculosis and a study revealing how little doctors know about this once "vanquished" infection. Dr. Michael Greger, a Rockville-based infectious disease expert and author of "Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching," talked to The Examiner about how serious these risks are. (PANDEMIC) Three-Minute Inteview: Dr. Michael Greger Will H5N1, the bird flu, crop up on our shores this year? "I'm doubtful of this migratory bird hypothesis. This virus is highly pathogenic and dead birds don't fly. So far it hasn't mutated to spread easily from person to person, but if it does, it's going to be catastrophic. If it is going to land in this country, it won't be on the wings of a sick bird, it will be on the wings of a 747. There's no organization on the planet that's ready for it".	Mon Aug 6, 5:24 AM ET "We're trying to detect the virus as soon as possible -- if it does arrive here," said Jane Weiskittel, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who was one of the scientists testing birds Friday at the Cook County forest preserve. (IL) Sandpiper: Canary in the coal mine - Illinois Local species tested as early warning case After the spotted brown sandpiper flew into netting perched on a mud flat at the McGinnis Slough in Palos Township, wildlife biologist Chris Anchor slogged through knee-deep muck in waders to retrieve the bird. Back on solid ground, Anchor carefully held the eight-inch-long bird as another scientist gently swabbed its beak and backside. Then they released the shorebird, which likely spent part of the summer foraging for food in Alaska or northern Canada. The two are searching for a deadly strain of bird flu that in the last decade has killed dozens of people -- mostly in Asia and Africa. The hunt is reaching into Cook County, where a team of biologists for the first time has captured shorebirds like the sandpiper to check for the lethal H5N1 virus. Last year, the USDA tested 135,000 birds nationwide -- including 85,000 waterfowl. This year, the federal agency plans to collect samples across the country from about 50,000 birds, said spokeswoman Carol Bannerman. In Illinois, that effort includes testing about 100 shorebirds in Cook County and two Downstate counties for signs of the virus. "We're just trying to space our samples geographically around the state," said Weiskittel. Biologists from the Cook County Forest Preserve District and the USDA on Friday netted shorebirds of five different species at McGinnis Slough, a shallow swamp crowded with dozens of types of waterfowl. Shorebirds -- like the pectoral sandpiper caught early Friday -- are being targeted in the study because they could mix with migrating birds from Asia that could be carrying the virus.
Mon, 06 Aug 2007 7:11 AM PDT House afire. When the virus finally hit America: "It went like a house on fire," recalls D. A. Henderson, then the chief of the United States Epidemic Intelligence Service. Exacerbated by school openings that fall, the flu spread so rapidly from a few counties in Louisiana that just eight weeks later it had heavily infected more than half the counties in nearly all 50 states. (US)	AFP/File - Mon Aug 6, 11:49 AM ET A motorist transports chickens in Jakarta, May 2007. Indonesia, the country hardest hit by human cases of bird flu this year, is putting the world at risk by failing to share samples of the virus, a senior international health official said.(AFP/File/Bay Ismoyo) (INDONESIA)
Tue Aug 7, 3:36 AM ET The farming community is not known for its rosy outlook, so the foot-and-mouth scare - coming after the floods and an earlier outbreak of bird flu in Suffolk - will not improve its mood. (UK) Notebook: Can-do in the countryside - Foot-and-mouth scare If the leak resulted from failures of biosecurity at the Pirbright Centre, shared by the Institute for Animal Health and the US-French Merial Animal Health laboratory, anger may be directed at foreign companies, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, or both. Yet, after more than a decade of calamities including BSE and the 2001 foot-and-mouth plague, there are shafts of sunlight. The price of farmland, having declined between 1997 and 2003, is rising at its fastest rate for 30 years: up by 27 per cent in 12 months, according to Knight Frank. Wheat prices, bolstered by growing global food shortages, are up by a third on a year ago. True, these optimistic signs do not extend to cattle farmers, who for years have had to sell milk and beef at below the cost of production. It is also true that much of the land is going to "lifestyle farmers" spending their City bonuses. Traditional farmers accounted for 61 per cent of land sales so far this year but only 37 per cent of purchases. But even this trend belies a more innovative approach: farmers are looking for new ways to exploit their assets. Many of the lifestyle and foreign buyers do not work the land but subcontract it to other farmers, who can achieve economies of scale for their expensive machinery. Farmers themselves are getting into specialist markets, from ice-cream and tourism to (more controversially) willow coppice to burn as biomass, rape seed for biodiesel and wheat for bioethanol.	Tue Aug 7, 5:24 AM ET India's health ministry says 51 people in Manipur have been quarantined following an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of influenza in chickens last month in the northeastern Indian state. According to a senior official all of them had worked on the culling or sanitising operations or had been involved in the monitoring of people's health around the affected poultry farm. (INDIA) Vineet Chawdhry from the health ministry says most had complained of being unwell, so had to be quarantined and monitored as a precaution. It is unclear whether any had flu-like symptoms but all have been given the drug Tamiflu, to prevent and treat bird flu, says the health ministry. The slaughter of more than 330,000 chickens, ducks and pigeons involved hundreds of cullers last week in Manipur, a state bordering Myanmar that saw two outbreaks of bird flu in chickens in July this year. The culling took place within a 5-km radius around the affected poultry farm near Imphal, and health officials have completed checks of around 235,000 people in the area which is being closely monitored. Although four boys who had been suffering from fever after handling dead or sick poultry in Manipur, have been cleared by the authorities, officials in Tripura remain on alert after around 500 chickens died in a commercial poultry farm in a district bordering Bangladesh, where avian flu has spread to a number of areas this year. Blood and tissue samples have been sent for testing, but it is suspected the deaths may have been caused by an infectious bursal disease, a viral illness, along with coccidiosis, a parasitic illness found in animals.
Tue Aug 7, 9:41 AM ET David Heymann, assistant director-general for communicable diseases at WHO, said the agency had received three specimens from Jakarta in May, but none contained any live virus. (WHO)	Tue Aug 7, 11:36 AM ET Chandigarh, Aug 7: The Haryana Animal Husbandry Department has increased the routine serum sampling for avian influenza (bird flu) in the state as a precautionary measure. The department had constituted 250 Rapid Response Teams and intensified surveillance work. An Action Plan for control and containment of the bird flu had been circulated to all departments concerned and poultry breeders. (INDIA) Bird flu: Haryana takes precautionary measures- INDIA The department sent 800 samples for testing at Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RDDL), Jalandhar in Punjab and High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL), Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh during the current financial year which were found negative, a spokesman for the Animal Husbandry Department said here today. He said avian influenza was a Zoonotic disease of chicken, Turkey, Guinea, Fowls and other avian species especially migratory water fowl. It was caused by a virus and H5N1 strain of this virus was highly pathogenic for birds and humans. The spokesman said there were no chances of the spread of bird flu, which had struck the North Eastern state of Manipur, to Haryana as migratory birds, which would start flying to the state in the month of October, followed the route from the Kashmir side. He said there were about 214 lakh poultry birds being reared in about 2000 poultry farms in the state.
AFP/File - Tue Aug 7, 1:18 PM ET A farmer unloading chickens at a local poultry market in the northern Vietnamese province of Ha Tay, March 2007. A Vietnamese student has died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the country's fourth victim of avian influenza this year, state media reported on Tuesday.(AFP/File) (VIETNAM)	Wed, 08 Aug 2007 2:03 AM ET HANOI (Reuters) - Bird flu has killed a teenager in northern Vietnam, the second death from the poultry virus within a week, state-run Vietnam Television (VTV) quoted Health Ministry officials as saying on Tuesday. (VIETNAM) Bird flu kills Vietnamese teenager - TV report The 15-year-old victim died last Saturday while on the way to a Hanoi hospital from the northern province of Thanh Hoa, a VTV news bulletin quoted health officials as saying without giving the name or gender of the deceased. Laboratory tests in Vietnam have confirmed the patient had contracted the H5N1 virus, bringing to seven the number of human infections so far this year and the Southeast Asian country's fourth death from bird flu in 2007. The teenager developed a fever and received preliminary treatment in Thanh Hoa province before being rushed to Hanoi. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has not confirmed the latest infection from bird flu, which killed a 22-year-old pregnant woman from northern Vietnam on July 27. The poultry virus has killed 46 of the 100 confirmed cases in Vietnam since late 2003, including the latest death. Globally, the H5N1 virus has killed 192 people out of 319 known cases, according to a WHO tally. Hundreds of millions of birds have died or been slaughtered. The H5N1 virus remains mainly a virus of birds, but experts fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person and sweep the world, killing millions.
Wed, 08 Aug 2007 2:29 AM ET JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia will not resume full cooperation with the World Health Organisation on sharing of bird flu virus samples until a fair mechanism is in place, a health official said on Tuesday, but denied sending unusable specimens. (INDONESIA) Indonesia rejects criticism on bird flu samples David Heymann, WHO assistant director general for communicable diseases, said on Monday that Indonesia was now the only country that had not shared samples of the H5N1 virus that drug makers can use to develop vaccines. He said three specimens Jakarta sent in May to a WHO collaborating laboratory in Japan contained fragments, but no live virus. Triono Soendoro, head of the Indonesian health ministry's research and development centre, dismissed Heymann's remarks. "He doesn't understand about viruses. Just tell him to ask the virologists in Japan and let them explain to him," Soendoro said by telephone. Indonesia, the country worst hit by bird flu with 81 human deaths, has accused WHO of misusing its specimens by sharing them with drug companies without its permission. Jakarta argues these companies use the specimens to develop vaccines poor countries like Indonesia cannot afford. Soendoro said in the past Indonesia had shared specimens with WHO as a goodwill gesture despite a lack of a proper mechanism for virus sharing. "We sent the samples in May good faith. It was a donation, a courtesy, in the hope that there would be a fair mechanism in the near future," he said of the samples sent in May. "But so far no such mechanism exists. It is still being discussed. If we do it again now, we are worried that we will be deceived again," he told Reuters. He said Indonesia for now would give specimens on a bilateral basis and did not have to share them with WHO first. Bird flu is endemic among birds in most parts of Indonesia, where millions of backyard chickens are kept close to humans. Heymann said Indonesia's failure to share bird flu samples raised the risks of a global pandemic. Experts fear the constantly mutating virus could change into a form easily transmitted from person to person and sweep the world. Jakarta earlier this year refused to share virus samples with the WHO unless it had guarantees they would not be used commercially. While it later agreed to ship specimens under a deal with the Geneva-based agency meant to improve access to vaccines, Heymann said Indonesia had not shared any virus samples since the three unusable ones were shipped.	Wed, 08 Aug 2007 4:44 AM ET CHENNAI: The highly pathogenic version of bird flu, avian influenza H5N1 which created a havoc in the poultry sector last year, was likely to resurface in India, Jacques Diouf, Director General of Food and Agricultural Organisation, United Nations said on Tuesday. Launching the `Knowledge on Wheels' programme at the M S Swaminathan Foundation here, he said there were possibilities that avian influenza H5N1 would flare up again with a potential catastrophe for the poultry industry. (INDIA)     Avian influenza may resurface in India, warns UN official     Factors like size of poultry sector, density of production plants, combination of large-scale commercial and smallholder units, live bird markets, mix of domestic waterfowl and terrestrial poultry species with wild water birds could determine the spread and persistence of the disease, as observed in other Asian countries, he said.   "Given the presence and persistence of bird flu H5N1 viruses in neighbouring countries, it is possible that India will face repeated incursions of this important threat to both animals and humans", he said.   Further, he said that FAO will put in place a full-fledged bio-energy programme by the end of 2007 to make sustainable use of bio-mass resources.   The increasing demand for bio-energy could result in the situation where the poor lacked access to energy, food, land and water.   The production of bio-energy might have substantial effect on agricultural world markets and food prices, he said adding there might be strong implications for food availability and prices.
Wed, 08 Aug 2007 5:27 AM ET LONDON: Britain's rural community is fearing a repeat of the foot and mouth epidemic six years ago, which devastated the countryside economy. The epidemic battered the farming and tourism industries, costing Britain's economy an estimated 16.3 billion dollars. The grisly spectacle of cattle carcasses ablaze on giant pyres and dark smoke filling the air became a familiar distressing sight across the country as between 6.5 and 10 million animals were culled. (UK)   Britain fears repeat of 2001 'foot and mouth' epidemic   The outbreak caused trauma and misery for farmers already hammered by the epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (bse or mad cow disease), and many were driven out of business. In 2001, the rural tourism industry was blighted by the closure of pathways across open land, restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the highly infectious disease. The army was called in to help deal with the crisis and even the general and local elections date was postponed, the first such delay since world war. A total of 2,026 cases of foot and mouth were confirmed the length and breadth of Great Britain between February 20 and September 30, 2001. The first outbreak was confirmed in pigs at an abattoir in Essex, eastern England on February 20, 2001. However, the epidemic's origin was traced to a pig unit in Northumberland, North-eastern England. By the end of march, up to 50 cases a day were being confirmed nation-wide and outbreaks occurred elsewhere in Europe.	Thu Aug 9, 1:34 AM ET LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Four countries have temporarily banned the import of Nebraska poultry after a turkey flock in Seward County tested positive for a mild strain of bird flu. (NE) Nebraska poultry barred by four countries Yap ordered inspectors at the country's major airports and seaports to confiscate all poultry shipments from Nebraska and Virginia Deputy state veterinarian Del Wilmot said Wednesday that the flock shows no sign of illness and was being prepared for slaughter and entry into the food supply. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and trade groups for the poultry industry have said no human cases of bird flu have ever been traced to eating properly cooked poultry or eggs. But officials in Japan, Russia, Turkey and the Philippines are taking no chances. Wilmot said those countries have barred all poultry and related products, such as eggs, coming from Nebraska. "This ban and other emergency measures were necessary to protect human health and the poultry industry in the Philippines," Arthur Yap, agriculture secretary for the Asian country, said in a news release issued Tuesday. Yap ordered inspectors at the country's major airports and seaports to confiscate all poultry shipments from Nebraska and Virginia, which last month faced a domestic band on live poultry sales after 54,000 turkeys tested positive for avian flu antibodies. The Philippines is among three countries in Asia , the area with the greatest number human cases , to remain free of bird flu since 2003. "The restrictions these countries have placed have absolutely nothing to do with science," said Toby Moore, a spokesman for the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council. Karen Eggert, with the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the department has no qualms about sending the Seward County turkeys into the food supply. She explained that the turkeys tested positive for the presence of antibodies that indicate a possible prior exposure to an H5N1 avian influenza virus that does not pose a threat to humans. She noted that humans cannot get sick from poultry that carries bird flu if it is cooked to the USDA's minimum internal temperature recommendation of 165 degrees. The flock's positive results came back in June, when the Nebraska Department of Agriculture administered its routine testing for the disease, said state veterinarian Wilmot. How those birds contracted the disease was not known, but Wilmot said it could have been from contact with waterfowl, which often carry a form of bird flu. "When all these birds are off the farm and the place is clean and disinfected, we'll notify the USDA," said Wilmot. As part of international trade agreements, the USDA notifies foreign countries of the presence of bird flu and its absence. Once the all-clear notification goes out, the ban will likely be lifted. In the Nebraska, the poultry industry is estimated to account for $1.35 billion of the state's economy each year. It was not known Wednesday what impact the temporary bans will have.
Thu Aug 9, 1:38 AM ET Surveillance and containment of the bird flu outbreak in Manipur was hampered with 752 health workers' protesting over the non-payment of their DA. Despite the slack, bird flu appears to be contained, with the 30 blood human samples tested at the National Institute of Communicable Disease at New Delhi and the National Institute of Virology at Pune having all tested negative. (INDIA) As of now, increasing the compensation amount paid including for the governor's 16 ducks imported from Vietnam -- is top of the mind for state government. "We hope farmers will get more money. We've written to the government and I hope government will do something," said Dr Th Dorendra, Director of Veterinary department. Currently, poultry farmers are getting Rs 10 per chick, Rs 30 per broiler and Rs 40 per layer chicken culled. Poultry farmers say the compensation amount is too little to sustain them through the three months through their farms would be sealed under international regulation to contain bird flu. "About 4,000 poultry farmers don't have enough money to re-establish their trade after the three months sanitisation period is over. The monthly turnover of our business is around 3 crore, so we'll be losing Rs 10-15 crores in three months" says T Kunje, secretary, Manipur Poultry Farmers and Traders Association. Containment measures include destroying poultry and feed in a 3-km radius o the infected farm, and monitoring of sudden death in poultry and symptoms of fever in humans in a 10 km-radius. So far, the state government has spent Rs 70.28 lakh as compensation for the culling of 3,31,606 chickens, 28,222 eggs and 23,153 kg of feed. Bird flu in domestic and wild birds has been reported in 70 countries in four continents since it was first identified in Hong Kong in 1997. It has been confirmed in birds in neighbouring China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. China has confirmed 3 human cases and two deaths in 2007. On February 18, 2006, India confirmed H5N1 a bird flu virus subtype -- in poultry birds in Maharashtra. Between January 27 and April 18, 2006, several outbreaks were reported in two districts (Navapur and Jalgaon) of Maharashtra and adjoining areas in Gujarat. More than one million birds and over 1.5 million eggs were destroyed in a 10 km radius of the infected farms. India was declared free of bird flu in August 2006. Though bird flu has been reported in humans in a dozen countries since 2003 - including neighbouring China and Thailand - no human cases of the disease have been reported in India. Worldwide, there have been 319 confirmed human cases and 192 deaths. Containment measures have begun and the state government has asked the border security forces to stop people from bringing in poultry from Bangladesh, China and Mynamar. The Manipur government, the other six northeastern states too, had in April banned the import of chicken and other livestock from Myanmar following the outbreak of bird flu in that country. A similar ban was imposed on fowl imports from Bangladesh.	Thu Aug 9, 1:40 AM ET (HealthDay News) -- In a finding that could save countless lives in the next flu pandemic, U.S. researchers have discovered that such public health measures as quarantines, school closings and bans on public gatherings reduced the death toll in the great influenza outbreak of 1918-19. A pandemic is feared if a flu strain -- such as avian flu, which has killed some people in scattered outbreaks, primarily in Asia -- mutates so that it passes easily from person to person. Current vaccines and people's immune systems aren't prepared to protect against such a new infectious virus -- exactly the situation that occurred when a new strain called Spanish flu struck the world in 1918-19, killing 40 million people, 550,000 of them in the United States. (PANDEMIC) Limits on Social Contact Helped Fight Flu Pandemic "Public health people have been talking about the risk of a flu pandemic for some time," said study lead author Dr. Howard Markel, director of the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine. "Even though it's now the 21st century, it would still take roughly six months once a pandemic starts to have enough vaccine manufactured and distributed." Specialists at the University of Michigan worked with experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on non-medical protective measures taken in 43 cities. They studied public health records, newspaper reports and other chronicles of activity from Sept. 8, 1918, through Feb. 22, 1919. "We paired with CDC to see whether things like quarantines and school closings could do anything to reduce the toll," Markel said. "We traveled through the country, looking at state archives, collecting two newspapers a day from each city and getting information from federal and state sources, combing all of this to create a database on incidence. Lo and behold, we found that those cities that responded earliest and sustained their response did best." For example, St. Louis closed schools and canceled public gatherings early in the pandemic and maintained those measures for 10 weeks. Statistics showed that St. Louis had a markedly lower number of flu deaths than other cities. The findings are published in the Aug. 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Here is something we could apply," Markel said. "These old-fashioned methods hopefully could buy us time until a vaccine could be created and put in the arms of people who need it." But what worked in the United States of 1918-19 might not work today, said Philip Alcabes, associate professor in the School of Public Health at Hunter College in New York City. "The world is a dramatically different place," Alcabes said. "We don't have people working in big factories where there are a lot of people under one roof. We commonly use private transportation. We have smaller families. We live in suburbs, where the pathogen is not as likely to be transmitted as quickly as it was then." The new study is "a very, very good piece of historical epidemiology," Alcabes said. But, he added, "It's not clear that the interventions that were effective against the flu in 1918 are relevant to the preparations we are making today." Markel countered that the world is not that different in basic ways. Children still have runny noses and poor respiratory habits, people still pass the virus from one to another in the same way. The study provides evidence that basic public health measures can slow that passage of germs, he said. "No one has even gotten any evidence that it works in the past," Markel said. "You don't want to do a multibillion dollar policy unless you're sure it works." Guidelines on such measures would be recommended by the federal government and carried out by the states, Markel said. The states are working with the federal government to cover implementation, he said. By Ed Edelson HealthDay Reporter (US) More information A vivid history of the Spanish flu pandemic is supplied by Stanford University.
Thu Aug 9, 1:42 AM ET The victim dies of bird flu due to direct contact with diseased waterfowl (Photo: AFP). A sample taken from the patient, who died en route to Hanoi from a medical clinic in Thanh Hoa Province for emergency treatment, tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu strain. (VIETNAM)   Fourth bird flu victim dies - VIETNAM   VietNamNet Bridge - A fifteen-year-old Vietnamese boy, Cao Dinh Toan from the northern province of Thanh Hoa, died of bird flu, the Central Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute announced on August 7. A sample taken from the patient, who died en route to Hanoi from a medical clinic in Thanh Hoa Province for emergency treatment, tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu strain. The patient had contacted diseased waterfowl, according to a report from the Institute. Authorities have since disinfected his house and examined 33 people living nearby but found them free of the H5N1 virus. Free Tamiflu was distributed as a precaution. Since May, seven people nationwide have been infected with the bird flu virus and four have died. (Source: SGGP)	Thu Aug 9, 1:39 PM ET Midland Daily News. Featured photo. A safe nest for a feathered friend. When a major health crisis such as SARS hits a community, pain spreads far beyond the physical, said a Toronto doctor who's lived through such a crisis. Dr. Robert Maunder, staff psychiatrist and senior researcher at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, shared his story with about 120 health professionals from Midland and surrounding counties Wednesday. (PANDEMIC) Disease pandemic brings isolation, burnout - Toronto When a major health crisis such as SARS hits a community, pain spreads far beyond the physical, said a Toronto doctor who's lived through such a crisis.  It all started one day in March 2003 when the chief of Maunder's department called the staff in for an emergency meeting "to tell us that everything in our hospital had changed. So did everything in the health care community in Toronto." A Toronto woman had visited Hong Kong, come home, developed pneumonia and died. Her son sickened, and there began the spread of an unknown disease that eventually was termed Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome.     "There was a brand-new disease with an unknown agent that was rapidly being spread by an unknown transmission," Maunder said.  The Provincial Ministry of Health took over infection control and set up a command center in each hospital. Procedures and clothing requirements changed daily. As the disease spread, patient transfers between hospitals were virtually forbidden. Health workers had to show IDs and have their temperatures taken. Lines of people waiting to enter their workplaces stretched down the block. Workers were told not to hug or shake hands with each other because of the "get-up" of masks and other medical apparel, and that spawned isolation.
Thu Aug 9, 2:19 PM ET In current times, with transcontinental travel more common, a flu outbreak could spread more quickly, officials say. Although the possibility may be remote, the Wilton Public Health Preparedness Committee is preparing for a potential pandemic flu as a worst case scenario. Mr. Schole said he has read that residents should have anywhere from three days' to three months' worth of supplies. Sharon Bradley, president and CEO of Nursing & Home Care, said a three- to four-week time period seemed to be what many were moving towards supporting. "The townspeople need to know where they can get water if their wells don't work," said Mr. Kamen. He said with an epidemic there was the possibility of a power failure, rendering wells useless. He gave two suggestions for purifying water: putting 15 drops of unscented bleach into the water or boiling it for 12 minutes. (PANDEMIC)   Though outbreak unlikely: Is Wilton prepared for pandemic flu? - CT Although the possibility may be remote, the Wilton Public Health Preparedness Committee is preparing for a potential pandemic flu as a worst case scenario. "The town recognizes we have... to work and be prepared," said Steven Schole, director of the town's health department. He said creating a plan requires a lot of departments working in concert. "This is not a one-person activity," he said. Pandemic flu, as opposed to H5N1, more commonly known as the bird flu, occurs when a flu virus strikes on a global scale. Millions of people across the world died during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 to 1920. In current times, with transcontinental travel more common, a flu outbreak could spread more quickly, officials say. In order to be ready for such an epidemic, the town and residents have to do their part, said Mr. Schole. He said one of the committee's main objectives is educating all residents in emergency preparation. So how can one prepare for the worst? Mr. Schole said he has read that residents should have anywhere from three days' to three months' worth of supplies. Sharon Bradley, president and CEO of Nursing & Home Care, said a three- to four-week time period seemed to be what many were moving towards supporting. "It's not as hard as people think to do this," said Mr. Schole, noting that residents may stockpile cans of food and bottled water. Such a supply can be rotated within what a family uses every day and be replenished, he said. Ms. Bradley also said residents should remember to stock up for their pets as well. Mr. Schole also pointed to the town's emergency preparedness guide, mailed out last September, as a resource for residents wondering how to prepare for the worst. An electronic copy of the guide is available on the town Web site at wiltonct.org. One Wilton resident, Roy Kamen of Powder Horn Hill, said in an interview he believes three months of supplies is the appropriate amount. Mr. Kamen, while not a medical doctor or health expert, has "completely immersed" himself in the issue of pandemic flu and educated himself, he said. In recent weeks he has questioned whether the town is adequately prepared to handle an epidemic.	Maryland Community Newspapers Online Thu Aug 9, 2:42 PM ET State needs to work on timing of its avian flu drill - Maryland. The avian flu drill last week couldn't have come at a worse time. Several county agencies, including the volunteer-based Community Emergency Response Team, participated in a three-day statewide drill early last week in preparation for a flu outbreak. The only problem was the run-through came just after dozens of dead birds were found at area Metro stations, causing the stations to be temporarily shut down. (MD) State needs to work on timing of its avian flu drill - Maryland The avian flu drill last week couldn't have come at a worse time.   Several county agencies, including the volunteer-based Community Emergency Response Team, participated in a three-day statewide drill early last week in preparation for a flu outbreak.   The only problem was the run-through came just after dozens of dead birds were found at area Metro stations, causing the stations to be temporarily shut down.   ''People were calling just to say, 'Has it really hit?'" said Calvin Hawkins, at the county's Office of Emergency Management.   But as was widely reported, the birds found at the Metro stations had ingested poison from a pest control contractor, and the contractor just failed to remove the birds.   Hawkins said despite the bad timing, the avian flu exercise went on as planned, and that residents understood it was just a drill.   He said 46 CERT members ran through the exercise in Berwyn Heights, where they sent out a fake newsletter to residents the week before telling them to put up signs on their doors during the simulation notifying responders how many people in each household were sick.   Hawkins said 315 households participated.   Meanwhile, the Health Department sent out press releases warning of shortages of Tamiflu and announcing the quarantine of Berwyn Heights.   Fortunately for the media, the press releases said very plainly that they were all part of an exercise.
Reuters - Thu Aug 9, 5:17 PM ET A health worker seen injecting a chicken with the bird flu vaccine inside a poultry farm in China's Hubei province, in this November 8, 2006 file photo. Researchers studying bird flu viruses said on Thursday they may have come up with a way to vaccinate people ahead of a feared influenza pandemic. REUTERS/China Daily (RESEARCH) New vaccine may beat bird flu before it starts WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers studying bird flu viruses said on Thursday they may have come up with a way to vaccinate people ahead of a feared influenza pandemic. Experts have long said there is no way to vaccinate people against a new strain of influenza until that strain evolves. That could mean months or even years of disease and death before a vaccination campaign began. But a team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Maryland and the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta said they may have found a short-cut. The vaccine might protect people against the mutation that would change the H5N1 avian flu virus from a germ affecting mostly birds to one that infects people easily, the NIAID's Dr. Gary Nabel and colleagues report in Friday's issue of the journal Science. "What Dr. Nabel and his colleagues have discovered will help to prepare for a future threat," NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni said in a statement. "While nobody knows if and when H5N1 will jump from birds to humans, they have come up with a way to anticipate how that jump might occur and ways to respond to it." They found a tiny mutation that makes one strain of the H1N1 virus more easily infect birds, and another one prefer humans. It lies in the part of the virus that attaches to cells in the respiratory tract. They then made the same alteration in an H5N1 virus, and vaccinated mice with some of this genetically engineered H5N1 DNA. They found one immune system protein called an antibody that could neutralize both types of H5N1 -- H5N1 adapted to birds, and an engineered form that would in theory prefer humans.	Fri, 10 Aug 2007 1:18 AM ET Government scientists say they have created mutant viruses that could help them understand how a human ''bird flu'' pandemic might start and how they might fight it. (PANDEMIC) (VACCINES) (RESEARCH)   Mutant virus may aid bird flu fight   Studying the mutated H5N1 viruses could open the door to more rapid vaccine development or even ways to come up with preemptive vaccines and antiviral drugs before a pandemic begins, they say.   The World Health Organization has confirmed that 319 humans have contracted H5N1 from contact with infected chickens, ducks and other fowl, and 192 of them have died.   The international organization says that the virus has so far not spread from person to person. But if H5N1 mutates into a form that can do so, millions could die before a vaccine is ready, experts say.   Working with biochemists at Emory University in Atlanta, scientists at the National Institutes of Health have deliberately created mutant viruses that appear to have at least some of the physical characteristics of a virus that would spread in humans.   ''While nobody knows if and when H5N1 will jump from birds to humans, [the researchers] have come up with a way to anticipate how that jump might occur and ways to respond to it,'' said Dr. Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health.   Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said, ``Now we can begin, preemptively, to consider the design of potential new vaccines and therapeutic antibodies to treat people who may someday be infected with future emerging avian influenza virus mutants.''   ''This research could possibly help to contain a pandemic early on,'' he added.   The discovery is being reported today in the journal Science by a team led by Dr. Gary Nabel, head of vaccine research in Fauci's agency, and Dr. David Smith of the Emory School of Medicine.   Miami Herald Cox News Service
Fri, 10 Aug 2007 2:22 AM ET Trying to cope with a mass outbreak of flu would be "nuts," a participant in a mass clinic simulation at Oshkosh West High School said after the exercise. (PANDEMIC) (WI) (US)   Officials get glimpse of impact of flu pandemic - Wisconsin   City officials, police officers, firefighters and staff from many entities around the city gathered at the school Thursday to test the communication and command structure in the event of a major infectious disease outbreak in Oshkosh. During the simulation, those interested had to deal with issues such as wet floors, disruptive patients, thunderstorm warnings and volunteers showing up to help. "If something like this really ever does happen, it would be nuts," said Jill Vaughan, who works at City Hall and participated Thursday. "Lets hope nothing ever does." About 100 people participated in the simulation, which showed how things would be run in case of an emergency. Participants learned where each station pharmaceutical, supplies, medical evaluation rooms and staff rooms would be set up within the high school. A simulation was also conducted as part of the mass clinic. "We have a requirement to increase the ability to be prepared for man made or natural situations," said Paul Spiegel, city of Oshkosh health officer. "Pandemic flu is one of those issues. The potential for it to disrupt society is great." Spiegel aid that while the simulation wasn't a training activity it was designed to help people prepare for a real emergency. Sgt. Steve Sagmeister from the Oshkosh Police Department said he thought it was beneficial. "If you never practice, you'll never know," he said. "I don't think anyone can imagine the magnitude of what it would look like if it were real." Spiegel said evaluation forms form the simulation will be looked at by consultants and an action report will be created to help the health department know what they did well and what could use improvement. "Next year, we'll probably do something similar to this on paper and refine it," he said.	Fri, 10 Aug 2007 3:37 AM ET Togo`s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing, Yves Madow Nagou, has banned the sale and distribution of poultry in the country`s maritime region, including the capital, Lome, in a bid to check the spread of avian flu in the country, a government statement said here Thursday. (TOGO)   Authorities ban poultry distribution in Togo`s maritime region     Lome, Togo - Togo`s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing, Yves Madow Nagou, has banned the sale and distribution of poultry in the country`s maritime region, including the capital, Lome, in a bid to check the spread of avian flu in the country, a government statement said here Thursday.   "Starting from today, until further notice, anyone caught distributing or selling poultry in any one of the maritime region markets will be considered as committing a breach of the law and treated relevantly,"the minister warned.   It called on the population to ensure a strict compliance with the ban as well as the laws set up to fight against avian flu in the country.   A team of technicians, security forces and personnel from the town councils and prefectures involved have been moving around to ensure such protective measures were respected, the statement further said.
Fri, 10 Aug 2007 6:31 AM ET Washington - An extensive new study has gone back in Indiana history to help prevent a future health disaster. Indianapolis was one of 43 cities included in research on fighting a flu pandemic. Researchers look to Indiana history for pandemic preparedness It could be as simple a question as whether or not to close schools and when. In the flu pandemic of 1918, which killed 40 million people worldwide, including half a million in the US, researchers say cities that took steps early to limit the spread of the disease had fewer deaths. It might seem like a point that didn't need to be proven. "The concept of closing schools during a true severe pandemic does seem to make sense," said Rich Hamburg, Trust for America's Health. But in the 21st century, cancelling big games or sending school kids home for weeks at a time might be tough decisions. "In this day and age, will the parents be home to take care of the kids?" said Hamburg. The research shows that 90 years ago, Indianapolis closed schools and banned public gatherings within a week after deaths started to climb, and had a lower death rate than New York which kept schools open. Whether bird flu or something else, the theory is that acting early will buy enough time for modern medicine to do what wasn't possible in 1918 in minimizing the death toll. Experts say it makes sense to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. "The general health of people, the availability of medications, the access to health care that's available for most people will assist in not having the same level of death that the 1918 pandemic had," said Jonathan Best, an emergency preparedness consultant. But even in this day and age, some say the simplest things may turn out to be the most effective. The new study was compiled by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and the University of Michigan.	Fri, 10 Aug 2007 8:11 AM ET Jennifer Jones with the North Central Health District said, "We would rely on all of our stations here as well as our newspapers and radio to get information out." "It's hard for people to plan for something that they're really not sure about or that they've never seen happen." "The thought of empty stores and streets sounds eerie, but it's a reality families should prepare for." (PANDEMIC) (GA) (US) Preparing For A Pandemic - MACON, GA   The North Central Health District, local media and emergency responders are preparing for an outbreak of a pandemic flu. Thursday Houston County officials briefed 13WMAZ and other local media on what role the media would play in informing the community about a possible outbreak. The health district wanted a point person from each media outlet to contact if or, as they say, "when" the pandemic flu hits. They also want people to know the correct information about a pandemic flu now, so they're prepared later. Director of the Houston County Emergency Management Agency Jimmy Williams briefed a room full of media on what to expect if a pandemic flu hits. Williams said, "It's the fear of the unknown. You never know when it's going to happen." Williams said when the pandemic flu does happen it could affect 35-percent of the population. He said it could cause stores to close down, and crowd emergency rooms. "Basically our work force is going to be diminished as well, so people are going to have to take care of themselves," Williams said. Emergency responders say they will depend on the media to tell people how to care for themselves. A pandemic flu could shut down schools. She said they might ask T.V. stations to broadcast assignments or print homework in a newspaper. She suggests that families prepare now by stockpiling a three day supply of water, canned foods and medical supplies. History shows that a pandemic flu happens every thirty to forty years. The last one in the United States was in the 1960's and killed about 36,000 people.
Sun, 12 Aug 2007 6:05 PM ET Lake and river swimmers should be aware of what may be floating around them, even if no warning signs are posted. (MI) (US)     Enjoy the lake, but don't drink the water - Michigan     Michigan has no laws regulating when or how public and private beach operators should test their water for harmful bacteria levels, said Steve Norton, environmental quality analyst for the state Department of Environmental Quality, Water Bureau.   "That's been the case for a long time," he said. "Anytime you swim in a natural water body, you will be exposing yourself to pathogens. ... You are taking a risk."   Calhoun County Department of Public Health tests at least one public beach, the often-crowded Willard Beach on Goguac Lake in Battle Creek.   Kalamazoo County tests each week between May and September nine public access lakes within its borders, said Jeff Reicherts, surface water specialist for Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department, Environmental Health Bureau.	Sun, 12 Aug 2007 7:41 PM ET Jane Clary, health specialist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service, said a pandemic influenza will be far worse than the seasonal flu outbreaks that schools and communities experience each year. "We're definitely due" for a pandemic. (MS) (US) Preparation called key in handling flu outbreak - Mississippi "We're definitely due" for a pandemic, specialist says Influenza becomes an issue in schools every winter, but the increasing threat of a pandemic flu demands more efforts to minimize the spread of germs. "A pandemic flu is much more contagious, because most people will not have any immunity to the virus strain," Clary said. "Because of the rapid, global spread of the virus, health services and supplies would be overwhelmed. There would likely be social and economic disruptions, including school and day-care closings." Clary stressed that health officials are preparing for "when," not "if," a pandemic occurs. Each year that passes without a pandemic should provide more time for institutions to prepare. "Pandemics typically occur about every 10 to 50 years. About 1 million people died worldwide in the last flu pandemic in 1968, so we are definitely due for another one," Clary said. The worst pandemic occurred in 1918, when 40 million people died from the flu and related infections, Clary said. That was at a time when antibiotics had not been invented to reduce the threat of secondary infections. According to the World Health Organization's Web site, influenza epidemics cause between 250,000 and 500,000 deaths every year around the world. Art Sharpe, director of emergency planning and response with the state Department of Health, said preparedness and education are the department's primary messages. "We are not in the middle of a pandemic, but we are in the prepandemic stage. The most important thing we can do is educate school officials about the virus and how to protect themselves, their students and their families," Sharpe said. "People need to be aware of how viruses spread and should work to reduce the spread of any communicable illness."
AFP/File - Sat Aug 11, 3:40 PM ET A Togolese poultry farmer cares for his animals in the town of Baguida, June 2007. Three new cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu have been detected in poultry on farms in the west African nation of Togo, national television has reported.(AFP/File/Emile Kouton) (TOGO)	AP - Sun Aug 12, 10:08 AM ET Indonesian hospital staff load up a coffin containing a suspected bird flu victim who died at Sanglah hospital into car in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2007. Indonesia has confirmed that it will not share live samples of bird flu virus with the World Health Organisation (WHO) until it is guaranteed access to affordable drugs to fight the disease (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati) (INDONESIA)
Mon Aug 13, 3:19 AM ET The villagers didn't burn the carcasses. Instead they buried them or fed them to pigs. Indonesian hospital staff carry a coffin containing a suspected bird flu victim who died at Sanglah hospital in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2007. (INDONESIA)	Mon Aug 13, 6:36 AM ET Tourists leave a bird stall at a market in Denpasar, on Bali island, in May. A 29-year-old Indonesian woman died of bird flu at the weekend on the tourist resort island of Bali, the first human death there and the nation's 82nd confirmed fatality, a health official said.(AFP/File/Sonny Tumbelaka) (INDONESIA)
Monday August 13, 8:03 am ET A study conducted by the CDC, in conjunction with NIOSH and OSHA, has determined that N95 respirators are ineffective in disasters and pandemic events. This study, involving 538 participants in New Orleans, following Hurricane Katrina, found that 76% of participants could not correctly fit the mask. In a pandemic situation, these individuals would inhale deadly pathogens. (PANDEMIC) (US)	Tue, 14 Aug 2007 12:39 PM ET Four ducks found dead last week in northeast France had the H5N1 strain of bird flu that can be fatal to humans, officials said on Tuesday. (FRANCE)
Monday August 13, 3:00 pm ET An analysis of historical records in 43 US cities indicates that the early use of nonpharmaceutical measures, such as isolating the sick and banning public gatherings, saved lives in the influenza pandemic of 1918-19. (PANDEMIC)	Monday August 13, 6:26 pm ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Treasury Department is urging banks and other financial services companies to participate in an exercise next month that will test the industry's ability to respond to a pandemic-like crisis, such as an outbreak of influenza. (PANDEMIC)
Reuters - Wed Aug 15, 9:45 AM ET A man tends to his ducklings at a village in Ha Tay province, 20 km (12 miles) outside Hanoi, August 15, 2007. Vietnam has detected a bird flu outbreak in the northern province of Cao Bang bordering China, the country's second infection among poultry so far this month, the Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Kham (VIETNAM)	Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:45 AM ET The Northern Cape Department of Health's Rapid Response Team recently underwent a three-day training session in preparation for a possible pandemic of the avian Influenza type A virus. "Outbreaks of influenza in animals, especially when happening simultaneously with annual outbreaks in humans, increase the chances of a pandemic through the merging of animal and human influenza virus," the department explained. (AFRICA)   South Africa: N. Cape Medics Trained to Fight Bird-Flu
AFP/File - Thu Aug 16, 12:04 PM ET Chicken are kept in a cage at a poultry shop in a local Hong Kong market. A 17-year-old Indonesian teenager has died of bird flu, bringing the death toll from the country worst hit by the virus to 83, the health ministry said Thursday.(AFP/File/Samantha Sin) (INDONESIA)	Thu, 16 Aug 2007 3:45 PM ET WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - A new additive has allowed doctors to stretch an experimental GlaxoSmithKline bird flu vaccine, offering some hope of being able to vaccinate more than just a few people in case of a pandemic. (VACCINE) (PANDEMIC) Glaxo bird flu vaccine can be stretched - study The new additive, called an adjuvant, allowed a dose one-quarter the size of that used in the annual seasonal flu vaccine, the company-funded researchers reported in Friday's issue of the Lancet medical journal. The approach could allow a limited vaccine supply to be stretched up to 25-fold, meaning as many as 25 people could be vaccinated with a dose that would normally only protect one person, outside flu vaccine experts said. "These findings are important to anyone involved in pandemic preparedness because the number of prepandemic vaccine doses can be stretched 20 to 25-fold, when compared to the ... dose required by the current A/H5N1 vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration," Dr. Suryaprakash Sambhara and Dr. Gregory Poland of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a commentary. Geert Leroux-Roels of the Centre for Vaccinology at Ghent University in Belgium and colleagues tested various doses of Glaxo's experimental H5N1 vaccine in 400 adults. The vaccine uses a new adjuvant called ASO3, which stimulates the immune system with oils, water and detergent. They tested the blood of their volunteers after injection and found the smallest dose stimulated what is considered a protective immune response in more than 84 percent of them.
AFP/File - Thu Aug 16, 7:04 PM ET A pigeon is seen on a roof in Indonesia. A novel vaccine against the H5N1 bird flu could mean that far more people will be protected against the deadly disease in case of a worldwide pandemic, a study released Friday showed.(AFP/File/Bay Ismoyo) (PANDEMIC) (VACCINE) 'Diluted' vaccine works better against bird flu	Cooperative Extension Department of Poultry Science Date: July 30, 2007 To All poultry fanciers, exhibitors, and 4-H leaders interested in exhibition of poultry From: Phillip J. Clauer, Senior Instructor Re: NPIP Program Please see the following memo regarding Maryland Auctions from Nannette HanshawRoberts, DVM, Animal and Poultry Health Manager, Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services, P A Dept of Agriculture. P.S. If you have an e-mail address, please e-mail my staff assistant, Patti Burns, at plb8(@)psu.edu, so you can be included on our e-mail list to save us postage charges. Thank you! -----Original Message----- From: Hanshaw, Nanette [mailto:nhanshaw@state.pa.us] Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 To: pclauer@psu.edu Subject: FW: MD poultry auctions Please spread the word that MD state requires testing for AI for their shows. But not for auctions, although they are changing that so they want us to ask for AI testing if we can get it. These people taking poultry into MD need a permit from MD. On this permit they must state that they are an NPIP pullorum clean flock. I have to sign it. They cannot test for pullorum to get in. Getting the word out might be difficult but I will email it out to the CPTs on our list. Thanks, Nan
AP - Fri Aug 17, 2:31 AM ET Balinese local administrator volunteer culls a bird which is suspected of being infected by bird flu, by giving an injection in Denpasar on Bali, Indonesia, Friday, Aug. 17, 2007. Indonesia confirmed on Monday its first human bird flu death on the popular island resort. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati) (INDONESIA)	Sat Aug 18, 2:31 AM ET Hong Kong's government is encouraging 90 percent of the city's hog farms to close, citing health risks as the population expands. (HONG KONG) Hong Kong hogs losing ground to humans The Hong Kong government has stepped up measures to tighten hygiene standards for farms and markets since about one million chickens were culled during an outbreak of bird flu in 1997. HONG KONG: Li Chung Woon started his first hog farm here in the rural district of Tai Wai 40 years ago. When housing began to encroach, he moved to the border with mainland China. Now he has nowhere to go. "The government is concerned about the handling of manure and sewage," said Li, 70, who will shut his 4,600 square-meter, or 50,000 square-foot, farm by year's end because he cannot afford to meet proposed hygiene standards. "I want to continue the business, but these stringent measures have deterred me." Like most Chinese societies, Hong Kong takes fresh pork seriously. The meat dangles, unrefrigerated, from hooks in street stalls and so-called wet markets. Some supermarkets offer fresh pork counters, where butchers cut to order. Pigs slaughtered daily account for 42 percent of consumption, compared with 54 percent for frozen pork and 4 percent for chilled, according to the Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. "Restaurants rely very much on fresh pork," said Simon Wong, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades. Frozen meat is scorned for its poor taste, he said. The Hong Kong government has stepped up measures to tighten hygiene standards for farms and markets since about one million chickens were culled during an outbreak of bird flu in 1997. It is preparing a farming code with 59 rules governing safety, carcass handling and inspections. Hong Kong's 265 hog farmers raised 430,000 pigs last year. The 243 who have agreed to surrender their licenses will share as much as $120 million of compensation, according to the government.
Sat Aug 18, 5:21 AM ET An evolving strategy would draw on customs agents and devices to detect dangerous substances. In recent months, the list of tainted goods from China has grown beyond pet food to include bulk food ingredients, toothpaste, automobile tires and some kinds of fish. This week, Mattel announced a recall of millions of toys made in China because of worries about lead paint and design problems. Two years ago, Leavitt oversaw another administration effort to confront an emerging health threat: bird flu. (HHS) (FDA)   After recalls, federal plan to target tainted imports   Two years ago, Leavitt oversaw another administration effort to confront an emerging health threat: bird flu. Two years ago, Leavitt oversaw another administration effort to confront an emerging health threat: bird flu. The president proposed a $7-billion preparedness plan that was largely embraced by Congress. This time, however, Leavitt has been reluctant to talk about funding increases. Asked whether the plan would call for hiring more FDA inspectors, he said: "Nothing has been foreclosed." Consumer groups maintain that years of federal budget cutting, and the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have diminished the reach and effectiveness of safety agencies. "Government watchdog agencies are woefully underfunded and understaffed, and won't be able to handle the onslaught of unsafe products filtering into our country," said Donald Mays, a product safety expert with Consumers Union. An unusual coalition of consumer and industry groups has been calling for big increases to the FDA budget. The agency's foods budget, about $450 million a year, should be doubled, said former senior official Hubbard. About 450 FDA inspectors are assigned to import duties and must cover everything from fruits and vegetables to cosmetics and prescription drugs, he said.   Customs and Border Protection has about 18,000 officers screening people and goods at airports, borders and seaports.	Sat Aug 18, 4:00 PM ET To help safeguard the health of Maryland's poultry flocks, to maintain consumer confidence in poultry products and to protect public health, Maryland regulation requires all persons who intend to sell, offer for sale or distribute hatching eggs or live poultry must hold a valid permit from the Maryland Department of Agriculture. (MD)   Poultry Health Enforcement Compliance Actions - MD   No table/shell eggs (infertile eggs intended for human consumption) may be sold at the WESTMINISTER Livestock Auction Market.   The Maryland Department of Agriculture in conjunction with numerous agencies is renewing and upgrading enforcement compliance activities to improve and ensure poultry health in the State. These activities will impact persons selling eggs, poultry and game birds. Avian influenza (AI, "bird flu"), Salmonella pullorum ("Pullorum Disease"), Salmonella gallinarum ("Fowl Typhoid"), and Salmonella enteritisis (SE) are four reportable diseases of birds which can cause severe disease in those species. Two of these bird diseases are potentially zoonotic (humans can become ill from handling or eating contaminated birds or eggs). The Maryland Department of Agriculture conducts monitoring and control programs for these potentially deadly and economically important diseases of birds. To help safeguard the health of Maryland's poultry flocks, to maintain consumer confidence in poultry products and to protect public health, Maryland regulation requires all persons who intend to sell, offer for sale or distribute hatching eggs or live poultry must hold a valid permit from the Maryland Department of Agriculture.
Sat Aug 18, 5:00 PM ET (Reuters) The Agriculture Ministry has said 232 camels died in the space of four days in the Dawasir Valley, 400 km (250 miles) south of Riyadh. King Abdullah has promised compensation for owners, who say the real number of deaths is far higher. (SAUDI ARABIA)   Hundreds of Saudi camels die from mystery ailment   RIYADH - Hundreds of camels have died in Saudi Arabia this week from a mystery ailment. The Agriculture Ministry has said 232 camels died in the space of four days in the Dawasir Valley, 400 km (250 miles) south of Riyadh. King Abdullah has promised compensation for owners, who say the real number of deaths is far higher. Agriculture ministry officials have denied an infectious disease caused the deaths and blamed them on animal feed supplied by food storage authorities. "The disease has to be limited to one place to prevent it spreading and then they have to find a serum," said camel breeder Hamad al-Harthy, who talked of hundreds of deaths. "They need to bring in help from abroad to find a solution," said trader Turki Abdelaziz. Camels are big business in the desert kingdom and are traded by Bedouin tribes for thousands of dollars each. The animals are used for racing and their meat is also prized Authorities have been on the lookout for signs of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu over the last year. The virus was found in birds in two instances, in March and last year. The Agriculture Ministry has lifted bans on poultry imports.   (Reuters) (SAUDI ARABIA)	Sun Aug 19, 1:28 AM ET Since 2003, 192 people have died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu. Contingency plans drawn up by the NHS are based on a 3 per cent chance in any given year that the virus will mutate into a form that infects humans. However, an international review at a summit of avian flu experts put the risk of a pandemic during the next year as between 5 and 20 per cent. (PANDEMIC) (BRITAIN) (UK)   Risk of bird flu pandemic 'greater than claimed' The current stockpile covers 25 per cent of the population, although the Government admits that the lethal virus could infect twice as many people. Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said that it was "astonishing" that government plans were based on "meaningless" statistics. "The Government needs to do more than look at history to make its plans," he said. "All the evidence is that the circumstances that would lead to a pandemic are significantly higher now, especially with this persistent new strain of avian flu, which is widespread in the bird population." The Treasury is discussing with the Department of Health whether to increase the number of antiviral drugs, which could be used to treat infected people or those who had come into contact with them. Last week, a deal for "sleeping contracts" to develop sufficient vaccine to protect the whole population was signed. However, work on the vaccine cannot start until a specific strain of flu has been identified, leaving a time lag of several months during which the virus could spread rapidly.
Sun Aug 19, 10:00 PM ET Instead of attacking wild birds for our new disease problems, a far more cost effective approach should focus on keeping wild animals separate in the places where they often commingle: in wildlife markets and international trade, according to wildlife health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in a recent issue of the prestigious Journal of Wildlife Diseases. (FAO) (GAINS) Cost-Effective Disease Prevention Starts In Wildlife Markets   "This is an ounce of prevention that we really need to use in trading hubs where human commerce of wild animals allows for the spread of diseases," said Dr. William Karesh, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Field Veterinary Program and lead author of the peer-reviewed paper titled 'Implications of wildlife trade on the movement of avian influenza and other infectious diseases.' "The wildlife trade, and markets in particular, serve as very dirty mixing bowls for diseases. We can significantly reduce the threat of avian flu and other emerging diseases by decreasing contact among different animal species in markets and thus giving pathogens fewer opportunities to mutate and spread."	Sun Aug 19, 11:15 PM ET Responders get rundown on bird flu. An outbreak of avian bird flu in Western Massachusetts is not out of the question. (US) (MA) Responders get rundown on bird flu - Massachusetts   SPRINGFIELD - An outbreak of avian bird flu in Western Massachusetts is not out of the question. That was the message from local disaster responders conducting pandemic flu preparedness training at a local Red Cross chapter yesterday. Experts said that this highly vaccinated, well-traveled society is fertile ground for illness to sweep a region, state, or even a small country. "In this sterile community we live in, we aren't as able to fight off illness and we can be in the United States one day and in China the next," said Pioneer Valley Red Cross training director Joel Perkins. There have been confirmed outbreaks of bird flu among humans in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia dating back to 2004, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There also was a rash of cases among Canadian poultry workers in 2004 and a single confirmed case in New York in 2003, agency records show.
AFP/File - Mon Aug 20, 3:20 AM ET A chicken vendor at a market in Jakarta, 16 August. Indonesia has offered to cooperate with Japan in developing a human bird flu vaccine, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Monday during a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.(AFP/File/Ahmad Zamroni) (INDONESIA) (JAPAN) (VACCINES) Indonesia, Japan to cooperate on bird flu vaccine	Mon, 20 Aug 2007 0:40 AM PDT Palu, Central Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Despite health authorities` efforts to contain a two-week-old bird flu outbreak in Palu, Central Sulawesi`s provincial capital, the virus proves to have spread to neighboring Donggala district, a local official said.   Bird flu in Palu spreads to Donggala, Central Sulawesi The provincial administration had conducted a number of measures to prevent the virus from spreading to other areas, Greesje Kuhu, head of veterinarian health affairs at South Sulawesi`s agricultural, plantation and animal husbandry office, said here on Monday. A total of 208 chickens were found dead in Palu recently. Rapid tests were conducted to find out the cause of the sudden deaths and the results of the tests showed that 29 chickens had died of bird flu (Avian Influenza) virus or H5N1. In Dolo subdistrict, Donggala District, two chickens died of bird flu on Sunday (Aug. 19). The local authorities carried out insecticide sprayings in areas infected with the virus and imposed restrictions on the transportation of chickens into and out of Palu. "If chicken transportation is supervised tightly, it won`t spread to the neighboring district (Donggala)," he said. The first bird flu case in Palu was detected two weeks ago. Three out of four sub districts in Palu are currently infected with the virus. More than 3,000 chickens were culled in Palu in order to contain the deadly disease. Palu municipal authorities have establish rapid response teams in every neighborhood to check the spread of the disease.
Mon, 20 Aug 2007 3:47 AM PDT A two-year-old girl has been admitted to hospital in Indonesia's Riau province for developing bird flu symptoms, local press said Monday. (INDONESIA) Indonesian toddler hospitalized for suspected bird flu A two-year-old girl has been admitted to hospital in Indonesia's Riau province for developing bird flu symptoms, local press said Monday. The girl is being treated at the Arifin Achmad Hospital in the provincial capital of Riau after local laboratory tests and x-ray result indicated that she had bird flu, reported the national Antara news agency. "She is now undergoing bird flu therapy. Her blood sample was sent to Jakarta today," the hospital's head Dr Azizman Saad was quoted as saying. Bird flu fatalities in Indonesia have reached a record 83 since the first human case was confirmed in mid 2005. The latest victim was a 17-year-old housemaid, who died in the Jakarta suburb of Tangerang last Friday. Source: Xinhua People's Daily