Tuesday, October 25, 2005

News - CTV.ca | Doctors say speed the key in treating bird flu


Researchers studying bird flu survivors in Indonesia think the virus might be far more treatable than initially believed.

Eight-year-old Firdaus Baskara is a case in point.

Authorities quarantined him last month after his parents noticed he was coughing and had a fever. Then they learned his aunt had tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

She died, her condition going rapidly from typical flu symptoms to pneumonia.

Once the pneumonia strikes, bird flu victims can die within three days. Doctors have learned the virus zeroes in on lung tissue, causing the lungs to fill with mucous and blood and drowning the victim.

"With the bird flu, pneumonia quickly develops. It can be very lethal," said Dr. Ilham Patu of the Sulianti Saroso Infectious Diseases Hospital in Jakarta.

CTV.ca Doctors say speed the key in treating bird flu

Monday, October 24, 2005

SITREP - WHO | Avian influenza � situation in Thailand, Indonesia � update 36

Avian influenza – situation in Thailand, Indonesia – update 36

24 October 2005

The Ministry of Public Health in Thailand has confirmed an additional case of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza. The patient, a 7-year-old boy from Kanchanaburi Province, developed symptoms on 16 October and was hospitalized on 19 October. He is recovering. He is the son of a confirmed case who died on 19 October.

These are the first two confirmed cases in Thailand in a year. Since the start of the outbreaks in Asia, Thailand has confirmed 19 cases, of which 13 have been fatal.

Indonesia

The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed two additional cases of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza.

The first newly confirmed case is a four-year-old boy from Sumatra Island in Lampung Province. He developed symptoms on 4 October, was hospitalized, recovered fully, and has returned home.

This case is the nephew of the 21-year-old man from Lampung, who was reported on 10 October 2005. Although the two cases are related and lived in the same neighbourhood, human-to-human transmission is considered unlikely.

The second newly confirmed case was a 23-year-old man from Bogor, West Java. He was hospitalized on 28 September and died on 30 September.

Epidemiological investigations uncovered exposure to infected poultry as the likely source of infection in both cases.

To date, Indonesia has reported 7 human cases of H5N1 avian influenza. Four of these cases were fatal.

WHO Avian influenza � situation in Thailand, Indonesia � update 36

SITREP - WHO | Avian influenza � situation in Thailand � update 35

Avian influenza – situation in Thailand, Indonesia – update 36

24 October 2005

The Ministry of Public Health in Thailand has confirmed an additional case of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza. The patient, a 7-year-old boy from Kanchanaburi Province, developed symptoms on 16 October and was hospitalized on 19 October. He is recovering. He is the son of a confirmed case who died on 19 October.

These are the first two confirmed cases in Thailand in a year. Since the start of the outbreaks in Asia, Thailand has confirmed 19 cases, of which 13 have been fatal.

Indonesia

The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed two additional cases of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza.

The first newly confirmed case is a four-year-old boy from Sumatra Island in Lampung Province. He developed symptoms on 4 October, was hospitalized, recovered fully, and has returned home.

This case is the nephew of the 21-year-old man from Lampung, who was reported on 10 October 2005. Although the two cases are related and lived in the same neighbourhood, human-to-human transmission is considered unlikely.

The second newly confirmed case was a 23-year-old man from Bogor, West Java. He was hospitalized on 28 September and died on 30 September.

Epidemiological investigations uncovered exposure to infected poultry as the likely source of infection in both cases.

To date, Indonesia has reported 7 human cases of H5N1 avian influenza. Four of these cases were fatal.

WHO Avian influenza � situation in Thailand � update 35

Friday, October 14, 2005

News - CTV.ca | Resistance to Tamiflu found in bird flu patient


A Vietnamese girl who came down with the H5N1 avian flu strain appears to have shown resistance to the flu treatment Tamiflu.

That's raising worries that Canada's first line of attack, in the case that bird flu leads to a human pandemic, may not be effective.

A team of researchers, led by influenza expert Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin, reports that the 14-year old girl was given the drug in late February yet continued to shed resistant viruses after treatment.

Tamiflu is the brand name for oseltamivir and is thought to be one of only a few available flu treatments effective against the deadly H5N1 strain.

For that reason, many countries have been rushing to stockpile the drug in advance of what many epidemiologists say is an inevitable influenza pandemic. Many are worried that H5N1 could be the strain that leads to a human pandemic

Canada has plans to stockpile just under 16 million pills of Tamiflu, enough to treat 1.6 million people, for the first wave of a mild to moderate pandemic.

CTV.ca Resistance to Tamiflu found in bird flu patient

Thursday, October 13, 2005

SITREP - WHO | Avian influenza � situation in Indonesia � update 33

Avian influenza – new areas with infection in birds – update 34

13 October 2005

Tests conducted by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have today confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in samples taken from domestic birds in Turkey.

In Romania, investigations of recent poultry deaths have, to date, identified the H5 subtype of avian influenza virus. Further testing is under way to determine the strain and whether the virus is highly pathogenic. Authorities in the two countries have undertaken control measures as recommended by OIE and FAO. WHO is sending diagnostic reagents and other supplies to support testing in national laboratories. Viruses from both outbreaks have been sent for further analysis to the Central Veterinary Laboratory Agency-Weybridge (UK), which is an OIE/FAO reference laboratory. Viruses are also being sent to WHO reference laboratories for comparison with human H5N1 isolates from Asia.

Public health implications

The spread of H5N1 to poultry in new areas is of concern as it increases opportunities for further human cases to occur. However, all evidence to date indicates that the H5N1 virus does not spread easily from birds to infect humans. WHO advises countries experiencing outbreaks in poultry to follow certain precautions, particularly during culling operations, and to monitor persons with a possible exposure history for fever or respiratory symptoms. The early symptoms of H5N1 infection mimic those of many other common respiratory illnesses, meaning that false alarms are likely.

The WHO level of pandemic alert remains unchanged at phase 3: a virus new to humans is causing infections, but does not spread easily from one person to another.

WHO continues to recommend that travellers to areas experiencing outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 in poultry should avoid contact with live animal markets and poultry farms. Large amounts of the virus are known to be excreted in the droppings from infected birds. Populations in affected countries are advised to avoid contact with dead migratory birds or wild birds showing signs of disease.

Direct contact with infected poultry, or surfaces and objects contaminated by their droppings, is considered the main route of human infection. Exposure risk is considered highest during slaughter, defeathering, butchering, and preparation of poultry for cooking. There is no evidence that properly cooked poultry or poultry products can be a source of infection.

Countries located along migratory routes need to be vigilant for signs of disease in wild and domestic birds. Recent events make it likely that some migratory birds are now implicated in the direct spread of the H5N1 virus in its highly pathogenic form.

WHO Avian influenza � situation in Indonesia � update 33

SITREP - WHO | Avian influenza � new areas with infection in birds � update 34

Avian influenza – new areas with infection in birds – update 34

13 October 2005

Tests conducted by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have today confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in samples taken from domestic birds in Turkey.

In Romania, investigations of recent poultry deaths have, to date, identified the H5 subtype of avian influenza virus. Further testing is under way to determine the strain and whether the virus is highly pathogenic. Authorities in the two countries have undertaken control measures as recommended by OIE and FAO. WHO is sending diagnostic reagents and other supplies to support testing in national laboratories. Viruses from both outbreaks have been sent for further analysis to the Central Veterinary Laboratory Agency-Weybridge (UK), which is an OIE/FAO reference laboratory. Viruses are also being sent to WHO reference laboratories for comparison with human H5N1 isolates from Asia.

Public health implications

The spread of H5N1 to poultry in new areas is of concern as it increases opportunities for further human cases to occur. However, all evidence to date indicates that the H5N1 virus does not spread easily from birds to infect humans. WHO advises countries experiencing outbreaks in poultry to follow certain precautions, particularly during culling operations, and to monitor persons with a possible exposure history for fever or respiratory symptoms. The early symptoms of H5N1 infection mimic those of many other common respiratory illnesses, meaning that false alarms are likely.

The WHO level of pandemic alert remains unchanged at phase 3: a virus new to humans is causing infections, but does not spread easily from one person to another.

WHO continues to recommend that travellers to areas experiencing outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 in poultry should avoid contact with live animal markets and poultry farms. Large amounts of the virus are known to be excreted in the droppings from infected birds. Populations in affected countries are advised to avoid contact with dead migratory birds or wild birds showing signs of disease.

Direct contact with infected poultry, or surfaces and objects contaminated by their droppings, is considered the main route of human infection. Exposure risk is considered highest during slaughter, defeathering, butchering, and preparation of poultry for cooking. There is no evidence that properly cooked poultry or poultry products can be a source of infection.

Countries located along migratory routes need to be vigilant for signs of disease in wild and domestic birds. Recent events make it likely that some migratory birds are now implicated in the direct spread of the H5N1 virus in its highly pathogenic form.

WHO Avian influenza � new areas with infection in birds � update 34

Saturday, October 08, 2005

News - Focus on Bird Flu



How far "bird flu" virus has traveled down the evolutionary path to becoming a pandemic virus is unknown. Nor is it certain that the much-feared strain will ever acquire all the genetic features necessary for rapid, worldwide spread. Nevertheless, the similarities between the Spanish flu virus of 1918 and the H5N1 strain slowly spreading through Asia provide unusually concrete evidence of how dangerous the newer virus is.

Focus on Bird Flu