Mad Cow, Bird/Swine Flu, Foot and Mouth, E.coli, Salmonella, Ebola, Marburg...

[eve]

Australia is funding 10,000 doses of an anti-viral medicine to protect health workers and is contributing to a World Health Organisation team that is going to Jakarta. Two girls in Jakarta have died after showing bird flu symptoms, while nine others have been quarantined. The Indonesian Government says an epidemic could break out at any time.

Mr Abbott also says he has been assured by Australian health officials that there is still only a 10 percent chance of this strain of bird flu mutating and developing into a human bird flu pandemic. "Ten to one shots do come home at the races, but more often than not they don't," he said.

Meanwhile, the federal Opposition has accused the Government of dragging its feet on devising a scheme to protect Australia from a potential outbreak of bird flu.

[StmpyElephant]

Well we all KNOW the government can predict all *sarcasm*

[Kiran]

MORE DEATHS

News from the Poultry site

Sep 22

Three workers from Jakarta's Ragunan Zoo have been hospitalized with suspected H5N1 avian influenza, increasing the number of suspected human cases in Indonesia to as many as seven, according to news services. The zoo was closed yesterday after 19 captive birds tested positive for the H5N1 virus. The ailing zoo workers include a 28-year-old guide and a 39-year-old vendor, the Associated Press (AP) reported in a statement attributed to I Nyoman Kandun, Indonesia's director general of communicable disease control.

[Spiral]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4269310.stm

Nearly 10,000 chickens have been slaughtered as part of contingency plans to deal with any bird flu outbreak in Northern Ireland.
Veterinary experts preparing for the potentially fatal disease used gas to destroy poultry in Moy, County Tyrone.
Officials stressed there was no fear of infection in the birds, who were no longer to be used for laying eggs.

[Kevster]

'Flu outbreak may 'overwhelm' NHS

Experts warn there are too few NHS critical care beds in England to cope with an outbreak of avian flu.
Scientists say it is only a matter of time before bird flu becomes readily transmissible between humans, which could cause a pandemic.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4274642.stm

[Kiran]

Bird flu pandemic could kill up to 150 million - Says UN

Read the story here.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/30092005/323/un-warns-bird-flu-pandemic-kill-150-million.html

[vegforlife]

this is some scary stuff. it has a "the stand" feel to it. i told my mom a few days ago that if it starts to spread, that i would do the family grocery shopping for her and my grandparents as my mom is a magnet for flu and my grand's are getting elderly.

[eve]

Three domestic ducks have died of bird flu in eastern Romania, sparking fears that the Asian virus has hit Europe. Officials suspect that tests under way in Britain will confirm that the birds were infected with H5N1, the strain of avian flu which experts are tracking for fear it could mutate and spawn a human flu pandemic.

The dead birds were found in the village of Ceamurlia near the Black Sea late last month. Samples were sent to a laboratory in Bucharest, where bird flu antibodies were found. The lab did not have the capability to determine the exact strain of the virus and sent the samples to Britain, where results are expected in the next few days.

Officials have killed nearly all the domestic fowl in Ceamurlia killed and banned hunting in the Danube delta. The movement of people in and out of the village has been restricted and the transport of animals banned. Medical teams were going to administer flu vaccines for residents.

Unfortunately in some countries, particularly in SE Asia, many people keep shtum if their chickens become sick. The problem is the spread from one country to another, sometimes through migratory birds. There is avian flu in parts of Russia, and where I live in Australia, we have birds arriving from Russia - guess it's warmer here!

The thing is, that it can really spread fast. So far millions of birds have been crammed into bags and dumped into pits.

[mophoto]

it's kind of creepy that the press coverage here is limited, as if they don't want to scare the population.

a few years ago when west nile first came about, there was some news coverage but when the crows in the yard where i work started dying (with odvious neurological problems) we called the health department, they told us they couldn't help the dying crows but once they died put them in the fridge(watching them die was horrible). who the hell would put a dead sick bird in their refridgerator, until someone could pick it up? my dad put them in a garbage can with a giant note that said dead crows. the health department never showed. there used to be a very large flock of crows, 4 years later there are none.

west nile is nothing compared to the avian flu. i hope they respond a bit faster.

[adam antichrist]

it's kind of creepy that the press coverage here is limited, as if they don't want to scare the population.

a few years ago when west nile first came about, there was some news coverage but when the crows in the yard where i work started dying (with odvious neurological problems) we called the health department, they told us they couldn't help the dying crows but once they died put them in the fridge(watching them die was horrible). who the hell would put a dead sick bird in their refridgerator, until someone could pick it up? my dad put them in a garbage can with a giant note that said dead crows. the health department never showed. there used to be a very large flock of crows, 4 years later there are none.

west nile is nothing compared to the avian flu. i hope they respond a bit faster.

No if they want to scare the population in the US they'll just talk about a 'specific threat to the NY subway' which mysteriously came just a day or so after bushcakes detailed three 'foiled terrorist plots' in the US that for some reason had gone unmentioned until now.

[Kevster]

George is a hero.

[adam antichrist]

http://static.flickr.com/27/50724620_6233fed025_o.jpg

[eve]

What can he hear by listening to the wrong end of the phone? Notice the photo behind him where you'd think his wife's would be? :)

[adam antichrist]

What can he hear by listening to the wrong end of the phone? Notice the photo behind him where you'd think his wife's would be? :)

probably his wife on the phone.
"I can't hear you honey!" :D

country dumb

[Kevster]

'Europe bans Turkish bird imports

Staff and agencies
Monday October 10, 2005

The European commission today banned all imports of live birds and feathers from Turkey after positive tests for bird flu in the country.

The commission said it also offered to send vets to Turkey to assess the situation. In western Turkey, military police set up roadblocks at the entrance to a village near Balikesir and quarantined the area, while vets and other officials destroyed poultry at two turkey farms.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,14207,1588927,00.html

[Kevster]

'Turkey bird flu 'deadly strain'

The bird flu virus found in Turkey is the H5N1 strain dangerous to humans, the EU Commission has said.

Scientists have been carrying out tests for the strain on dead birds from a farm in Kiziksa, north-west Turkey.

EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said the assumption was that a bird flu outbreak in Romania would also prove to be the H5N1 type. Tests are continuing.

EU states should be ready for a potential flu pandemic and stockpile anti-viral drugs, Mr Kyprianou urged.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4337918.stm

[eve]

According to today's abc health news, if a pandemic emerges in the coming year, there will not be enough supplies of drugs or vaccines to stop it and basic medical equipment that could slow its spread is also lacking.

World leaders have been stepping up their efforts to battle avian influenza in recent weeks, holding meetings, making international visits and ordering vaccines and drugs. US health and human services secretary Mike Leavitt and a contingent of US and World Health Organization (WHO) flu experts are visiting affected southeast Asian nations this week and diplomats are working to make better alliances for sharing information quickly about any human outbreaks.

But many experts agree that little real progress has been made in stopping the spread of H5N1 bird flu. :(

Does anyone think the upcoming disaster is karma for what we've been doing to the chooks for so long?

[Kevster]

I think the piece about farmers facing a disaster over bird flu is disingenuous, they'll get bailed out, as they were over BSE and foot and mouth....

'EU vets debate bird flu strategy

Staff and agencies
Friday October 14, 2005

European Union veterinary experts are meeting today to discuss moves to halt the spread of bird flu as the continent awaits test results from a second suspected outbreak.

British scientists yesterday said the virus found in Turkish poultry was the H5N1 strain that health experts fear could mutate into a human disease and kill millions of people worldwide. The virus has killed 60 people - mostly poultry farm workers - in Asia since it first emerged in Hong Kong in 1997.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,14207,1592238,00.html

[sugarmouse]

this worries me.because i know the government plot to do it again.i was thinking of working with my father and writing a book about what happened really last time it happened. does anyone have any views.

[Mr Flibble]

Why does it worry you? There may well be more to it than this, but in my nieve view, I don't think foot and mouth was a tragedy for animals, it isn't a life threatening disease. The tragedy was to animal farmers, who are already off my christmas card list. The upshot of it was that a lot of animals which were destined for slaughter anyway were slaughtered a bit earlier, but in the public eye. The more people stopping eating meat from fear of catching things can only be a good thing.

[adam antichrist]

Saw on the news tonight a Biotechnology company with potential to profit from H5N1 bird flu, Biota has increased in value by over 300% in the last four months.

Perhaps the whole thing is a farce after all, to big up profits for companies like these.

[Kevster]

Media has kinda conveniently forgotten this:

'ANIMAL WELFARE ABUSES TO BLAME FOR BIRD FLU

With the threat of a global pandemic of avian - or bird - flu dominating the headlines, concern centres on its risk to human beings. Clearly this is of paramount importance, but it is about time we focused on the suffering of millions of avian victims who are being slaughtered in attempt to stop the spread. Coverage of the mass precautionary culling taking place throughout Asia and latterly, Turkey, Greece and Romania, never mentions the welfare of the birds, who are being killed in the most brutal ways. Nor the fact that it is the intensive systems in which they are kept that are to blame for this latest disease outbreak. It is only time before this virus mutates and starts to spread among the human population.'

http://www.animalaid.org.uk/

[eve]

According to today's abc news on-line, a 48 year old man who had been slaughtering chickens in Thailand, is the latest human death from bird flu, taking its national total to 13, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra says.

But I agree with kevster, the news reports barely mention the welfare of the birds, who are being killed in the most brutal ways.

[Kevster]

Hunters at risk.

'Wedded to the shotgun

Avian flu is now at large in Europe but the Berlusconi government appears still to support the annual Italian hunt of migratory birds, writes John Hooper

Thursday October 20, 2005

The arrival of avian flu in Europe has sparked a debate in a country with one of the continent's strongest gun lobbies over whether to ban the shooting of migratory birds.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1596565,00.html

[Flame7]

Just thought Id add this article i was sent here. Do with it what you will, but some of you may find it interesting. Patrick Holford for anyone who doesnt know is a well respected nutritionist (and advocates a vegan diet).

xxFlame7

Can Vitamin C Kill Bird Flu?

By Patrick Holford



In the July issue of my newsletter I interviewed Dr Thomas Levy, who has provided the definitive proof in his book ‘ Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases and Toxins: Curing the Incurable’. He is one of the world’s experts in effects of vitamin C on viruses. Here’s what he says “Regarding the bird flu, I have not found any virus for which vitamin C does not exert a virucidal effect, as long as enough vitamin C reaches the virus, such as in any acute infection. I don't know about Tamiflu, but the vitamin C is virtually devoid of negative side effects.”

Although there no studies yet published specifically treating Asian bird flu with vitamin C, immune expert Dr Robert Cathcart, who has treated thousands of cases of life threatening infectious diseases with high dose vitamin C says “Treatment of the bird flu with massive doses of ascorbate would be the same as any other flu except that the severity of the disease indicates that it may take unusually massive doses of ascorbic acid orally or even intravenous sodium ascorbate. I have not seen any flu yet that was not cured or markedly ameliorated by massive doses of vitamin C.”

Antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu, work by inhibiting something called neuraminidase, produced by viruses and essential for their ability to replicate. So too does vitamin C but this is only one of more than ten ways that vitamin C knocks out viruses, both by inhibiting the virus itself, and by strengthening the body’s own immune response, for example by improving the number of function of immune cells (eg macrophages, lymphocytes and neutrophils), upping interferon and nitric oxide and making more antibodies which target viruses. Vitamin C also has direct antiviral effects and has been shown to inhibit viral replication in laboratory studies, such as HIV-infected immune cells. In the case of HIV viral infection was inhibited by 99% within four days, according to research published by the National Academy of Sciences. (It is really a tragedy that this research hasn’t been followed up with a large scale human trials, but the sad truth is that, even though vitamin C has been shown to outperform AZT in lab studies , there’s no money in it. So it appears that there is sufficient biological plausibility for its role against the flu, but since we don't have the controlled human trials, it’s not proven. It’s a tragedy that these studies aren’t done for life-threatening diseases such as HIV and bird flu, but the sad truth is there’s no money in it because vitamin C is cheap to make and not patentable – unlike drugs such as Tamiflu. Vitamin C, in high doses, has been well proven to be non-toxic in both adults and children over many years. The same cannot be said for this new generation of antiviral drugs.

However, we do know that vitamin C reduces the severitiy of colds and flu. Over 20 controlled trials using at least 1 gram a day against the common cold have been published, showing that the duration is typically decreased by about 25% and symptoms are much less severe. You are going to need much more than this if you contract any kind of flu. One recent human trial found that students who took hourly doses of 1,000 mg of vitamin C for the first 6 hours and then 3 times daily had a decrease in symptoms of 85% compared to students in the control group. In the case of bird flu that might well be the difference between life and death.

It’s highly likely that vitamin C would be effective against bird flu if you can get the dose high enough. Dr Mark Levine, who works for the National Institutes of Health in the US, has shown that you can get plasma levels up to 200mcmol/l with 3 grams of vitamin C six times a day, at which point vitamin C becomes profoundly anti-viral. However, with intravenous infusion of 100g a day concentration goes up to 15,000mcmol/l. No virus has yet been shown to survive at that level.

The ideal amount of vitamin C for any flu is up to ‘bowel tolerance’. Start with 1 gram an hour. If you get diarrhoea halve this dose. If you don’t, double it. There are some forms of vitamin C, notably sodium ascorbate with riboperine, and lipospheric vitamin C that allow even more to be absorbed without reaching bowel tolerance. They are marginally better than straight ascorbic acid. Some people find ascorbic acid too acidic, in which case an ascorbate, such as sodium ascorbate, can be taken. It might be useful to have a supply at hand if an epidemic does break out. There is no harm in having 100 grams a day short-term, stopping once all symptoms are gone. If even this didn’t stop the flu I’d find a doctor who could administer intravenous sodium ascorbate. The trick with any infection is not to get it in the first place by keeping your immune system strong. I take 1 gram of vitamin C twice a day. If Asian flu breaks out I’m doubling that to 4 grams – one every 6 or so hours, and taking 1 gram an hour if I get any symptoms.