Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2...lu-threat.html
Asian countries address lasting bird flu threat
The Asia News Network (Vietnam News), Vietnam | Tue, 04/24/2012 2:55 PM
Experts from countries hit hardest with the H5N1 virus have arrived in Ho Chi Minh City to discuss ways to prevent and control avian influenza amid continuing outbreaks.
The three-day conference that opened yesterday is addressing the evolution and geographic spread of new viral strains that are gradually responding less to existing vaccines and control measures.
Of the 602 human cases to date, nearly 60 per cent of them were fatal, the conference heard.
Over the past 10 years, more than 300 million poultry have been culled globally due to H5N1.
The technical and policy discussion for prevention and control of H5N1 HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) is hosted by the government of Viet Nam with support from the US Agency for International Development.
It gathers senior officials from five highly affected countries, including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Indonesia and Viet Nam, along with representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand that have also been affected by H5N1.
In the past few years, a newer variant of the H5N1 virus, referred to as clade (an organism from the same family) 2.3.2.1, has emerged and expanded its geographic range from Southeast Asia to Europe, East Asia, and South Asia.
Some variants of the clade are different enough from other H5N1 HPAI clades so that poultry vaccinations are becoming ineffective in some countries.
Speakers at the conference were told that nearly all H5N1 human infections were the result of the transmission of the virus from poultry to people.
The H5N1 virus is still considered a serious pandemic threat because of its continued presence in poultry in numerous countries, its tendency to quickly mutate and change, its ability to infect humans and its continuing high mortality rate.
Experts estimated the average fatality rate for people who contract the disease at about 60 per cent...
Asian countries address lasting bird flu threat
The Asia News Network (Vietnam News), Vietnam | Tue, 04/24/2012 2:55 PM
Experts from countries hit hardest with the H5N1 virus have arrived in Ho Chi Minh City to discuss ways to prevent and control avian influenza amid continuing outbreaks.
The three-day conference that opened yesterday is addressing the evolution and geographic spread of new viral strains that are gradually responding less to existing vaccines and control measures.
Of the 602 human cases to date, nearly 60 per cent of them were fatal, the conference heard.
Over the past 10 years, more than 300 million poultry have been culled globally due to H5N1.
The technical and policy discussion for prevention and control of H5N1 HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) is hosted by the government of Viet Nam with support from the US Agency for International Development.
It gathers senior officials from five highly affected countries, including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Indonesia and Viet Nam, along with representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand that have also been affected by H5N1.
In the past few years, a newer variant of the H5N1 virus, referred to as clade (an organism from the same family) 2.3.2.1, has emerged and expanded its geographic range from Southeast Asia to Europe, East Asia, and South Asia.
Some variants of the clade are different enough from other H5N1 HPAI clades so that poultry vaccinations are becoming ineffective in some countries.
Speakers at the conference were told that nearly all H5N1 human infections were the result of the transmission of the virus from poultry to people.
The H5N1 virus is still considered a serious pandemic threat because of its continued presence in poultry in numerous countries, its tendency to quickly mutate and change, its ability to infect humans and its continuing high mortality rate.
Experts estimated the average fatality rate for people who contract the disease at about 60 per cent...
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