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  • Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

    via email -


    Talk about rumour mongerers!!!.....And H1N1 WILL be able to sustain itself once it comes to Indonesia....

    It is about time that Indonesia officially reports the human cases to date for 2009.


    Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made
    2009-04-28 06:55:49.358 GMT


    JAKARTA, April 28, 2009 (AFP) - Indonesian Heath Minister Siti
    Fadilah Supari said Tuesday the deadly swine flu virus could have
    been man-made
    , as she urged calm over its spread around the world.

    The controversial minister did not elaborate but in the past she
    has said Western governments could be making and spreading viruses
    in the developing world to boost pharmaceutical companies' profits.

    "I'm not sure whether the virus was genetically engineered but
    it's a possibility,"
    she told reporters at a press conference called
    to reassure the public over the government's response to the swine
    flu threat.

    No cases of the disease have been reported in Indonesia, the
    country worst hit by the bird flu virus which has killed about 250
    people worldwide since 2003.

    Indonesian authorities have increased body temperature scanners
    at airports and banned imports of live pigs and pork products, amid
    World Health Organisation (WHO) warnings of a pandemic.

    Supari, a cardiologist, also claimed that the H1N1 strain of
    swine flu, which is believed to have killed more than 150 people in
    Mexico, could not survive in tropical countries like Indonesia.

    "We have to be alert at all times although swine flu in
    Indonesia is not a cause for panic," she said.

    "H1N1 survives in countries with four seasons. The type A H1N1
    virus hopefully won't be able to sustain itself once it enters the
    tropical climate of Indonesia," she added.


    The virus has been found in 11 countries including Mexico, the
    United States and Spain, while several other countries from Colombia
    to New Zealand are investigating suspected cases.

    Supari said the health ministry had prepared 100 hospitals to
    handle swine flu cases should the disease enter Indonesia.

    The minister has refused since 2006 to share all but a handful
    of Indonesia's bird flu virus samples with WHO researchers, saying
    the system is being abused by rich countries to develop profitable
    vaccines which poor countries must buy.
    ads-smc/ft

    -0- Apr/28/2009 6:55 GMT

  • #2
    Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

    Unbelievable
    "There's a chance peace will come in your life - please buy one" - Melanie Safka
    "The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be" - Socrates

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

      Of Course! I am suprised no one had mentioned this before. If your country has less than four seasons than you are immunue to H1N1. Got that...It has nothing to do with the climate or where the virus best replicates in the human body.

      Yup...what matters most is that the H1N1 virus loves the number 4 and any area that has four seasons. Always has....always will...
      "H1N1 survives in countries with four seasons"
      Mexico's Seasons:

      Dry Season (November to April) ? arid and warm weather with little rain. While November is the most ideal month in the Yucatan; November till January are the prime months for Mexican winter storms in Cancun and Cozumel.
      Rainy Season (May to October) - is the Mexican weather season when the risk of tropical storms and hurricanes are higher. Even though rain can put a soaker on any Mexican holiday, lower temperatures due to sporadic rain storms can make for breezy, cooler sightseeing conditions.
      Humid Season (May to July) ? during this time the Mexican weather temperatures can be unbearably hot and sticky.
      High Season (end of December to Easter) ? Mexico?s high season boasts calm, warm weather, perfect for snorkeling, diving, and fishing ? no wonder the Yucatan and Cancun are especially overcrowded.


      Indonesia's Seasons:

      There are two discernible seasons in Indonesia: the dry season, which extends from June to October, and the rainy season, which lasts from November to March. Both are hot. The coastal regions, however, are often cool, and in the mountains the air is often chilly.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

        Well I'm sure she must have grounds to believe that this virus cannot survive in Indonesia's climate.

        After all, a report published today by the Asian Development Bank claims that "Indonesia [is the] biggest greenhouse gas emitter in Southeast Asia". Combined with an unfavorable tropical climate, I'm sure the present Pandemic Virus Contender may not want to take a vacation over there and take, in addition, the risk of meeting its fierce cousin and competitor, the other Pandemic Virus Candidate.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

          Well,

          I have some doubts myself to put it mildly.

          The comments I read on this thread sure will help to lower some personal tension or may be even lower the bloodpressure.

          I am not sure about any other positive effects .
          ?Addressing chronic disease is an issue of human rights ? that must be our call to arms"
          Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief The Lancet

          ~~~~ Twitter:@GertvanderHoek ~~~ GertvanderHoek@gmail.com ~~~

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

            Any country with seriously paranoid leaders is in trouble, but then,
            fabricating external causes to relieve themselves of responsibility is nothing new.

            My sister lived in Indo for 18 years - it's media/govt SOP.

            Hopefully, the availability of modern communications will allow those seeking the truth to know the actual situation.

            .
            "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

              That explains why Swine Flu had front row seats to The Jersey Boys, wouldn't take its dang hat off either...

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

                Originally posted by Dutchy View Post
                Well,

                I have some doubts myself to put it mildly.

                The comments I read on this thread sure will help to lower some personal tension or may be even lower the bloodpressure.

                I am not sure about any other positive effects .
                Putting it this way: Humor is also a way to bring attention to a serious subject and offer a "learning moment". A reader may want to investigate further after seeing such ironical comments - which, by the way, are mild compared to what some others may have written. Hopefully this reader will find on FluTrackers the tools necessary to make an informed jugdment on the opinion voiced by this Health Minister.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

                  While the minister's actions visa vie the release of virus samples and information from her country has been reprehensible, the fact is there has been considerable behind the scenes discussion of just this very topic.

                  At the DHS press conference yesterday Dr. Bessler was asked by an NBC correspondent whether the new H1N1 could be a bioweapon to which he said CDC had no information to suggest that.

                  I think this answer was technically correct but not strictly a denial.

                  At any rate, here are a few anomalies to consider;

                  #1) Despite the fact that viral labs, health departments, and world heath authorities in every corner of the globe have been hyper-alert for 3 years for a pandemic flu outbreak, nobody identified this virus until it was already fully h2h capable.

                  #2) Despite being an H1N1, the virus is sensitive to Tamiflu while every other H1N1 isolate infecting people this past flu season has been resistant to this drug (a anomaly in itself since this occurred all of a sudden from 2007 to 2008). Why H1N1 is sensitive to Tamiflu while all the other N1H1s in circulation are not is not known but one possible explanation is that it was sequestered somewhere, i.e. out of common circulation with its peers. This sequestration would have had to of occurred sometime prior to 2008 when most members of this viral family were susceptible.

                  If sequestered, where?

                  #3) The fact that this virus is composed of big parts from three other known strains that span 3 continents is bizarre. There is lots of mixing among these randy little critters, which usually results in a lot more mishmash of small pieces of gene segments within one gene. The components of this new Swine Flu include Swine, Humans, and Avian genes and to me has a lot more in common with Mary Shelly's Frankenstein than a virus that evolved in nature.

                  What's more, how could a virus that evolved in a sequestered natural environment that was never detected anywhere before be composed of genetic material from Asia, Europe and North America?

                  Since it is already known what flu strains the various genetic pieces this new virus was composed from this probably means that these specimens reside in the various gene banks. If I was Sherlock Holmes, it would be interesting to learn who had access to them.

                  GW
                  The Doctor

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

                    Why H1N1 is sensitive to Tamiflu while all the other N1H1s in circulation are not is not known but one possible explanation is that it was sequestered somewhere, i.e. out of common circulation with its peers. This sequestration would have had to of occurred sometime prior to 2008 when most members of this viral family were susceptible.
                    According to gsgs data at: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...99&postcount=3

                    The closest sequences of human NA & areas of common alignment are in Italy/95/H1N1 and Cote d' Amor/00/H1N1

                    If I'm understanding the data, it looks like the lack of tamiflu resistance is explainable.

                    .
                    "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

                      Originally posted by the doctor View Post

                      #3) The fact that this virus is composed of big parts from three other known strains that span 3 continents is bizarre. There is lots of mixing among these randy little critters, which usually results in a lot more mishmash of small pieces of gene segments within one gene. The components of this new Swine Flu include Swine, Humans, and Avian genes and to me has a lot more in common with Mary Shelly's Frankenstein than a virus that evolved in nature.

                      this was also touted by major conspiracy theorists such as alex jones... even though these people know next to nothing about virology we must admit that this is a very rare recombination... and people with more credentials have pointed this out as well

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

                        Originally posted by the doctor View Post
                        At any rate, here are a few anomalies to consider;

                        #1) Despite the fact that viral labs, health departments, and world heath authorities in every corner of the globe have been hyper-alert for 3 years for a pandemic flu outbreak, nobody identified this virus until it was already fully h2h capable.

                        GW
                        This WAS found by an active surveillance system, designed to act in this manner. How else would you expect it to be found? The chances of THE person where initial transmission had occurred showing up at the ER for swabs is highly unlikely. Most people shrug off the flu and continue to go about their daily business. Given that swine have both receptors for avian and human strains, it is not a difficult thing for swine flu to adapt to H2H.

                        Perhaps the situation in Mexico could have been investigated a little better BUT after all, it was flu season and they had flu like illnesses. Given the lack of vaccination there, this isn't too surprising. Also keep in mind that the current near civil war situation there doesn't really lend itself to epi-studies.

                        --camster
                        NHRC-We found the swine in 2009!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

                          Thanks for the feedback. Admittedly, I tend to see the dark side and therefore focus on the worst possible explanations for common events. In this case what I am wondering about is could the Dear Minister be right for once?

                          While I am an MD, my understanding of the genetics of influenza is rudimentary. This is why I posed these questions on this forum; a place where I know there are a number of experts who can explain to me why the anomalies described in my last post are benign rather than evidence for a more nefarious origin for this new H1N1.

                          GW
                          The Doctor

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

                            the main reason against a bioweapon is IMO the big number of
                            differences to all known viruses in all segments.

                            How would you produce such a thing ? You can't easily add hundredths
                            of mutations in a lab.
                            And then, what virus to start with ?

                            They "could" have to have taken an American swineflu-virus from 10years ago,
                            grow it secretly in swine-populations (natural mutations)
                            then do the same with an Eurasian virus also ~10 years
                            then reassort the both in a lab.
                            But even then, which viruses to take and how to test them ?

                            And why not just start with one of the available viruses ?
                            Why so much effort to hide it ?

                            And then in a pandemic all countries are affected, not just
                            "the enemy".

                            sounds completeley unlikely to me.
                            I'm interested in expert panflu damage estimates
                            my current links: http://bit.ly/hFI7H ILI-charts: http://bit.ly/CcRgT

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Indonesian minister says swine flu could be man-made

                              Source: http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2009/...-on-swine-flu/

                              04/29/09 18:46
                              Health minister denies AFP report on swine flu


                              Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari has denied a recent foreign news agency report that quoted her as saying the current swine flu pandemic was possibly man-made.

                              "What I did say was that we had better not engage in speculations (on what caused the outbreaks) when one of the journalists asked me about it," she said here on Wednesday in response to an AFP report which was picked up by many mass media including Antara news egency.

                              She also asked the media not to worsen the situation amid the spread of swine flu by publishing speculative and assumptive reports, adding it was better to focus on efforts to anticipate the spread of the virus.

                              Although no swine flu case had so far occurred in Indonesia, the government already had the capability to anticipate the spread of the virus, she said.

                              Since the first outbreak of bird flu in Indonesia in 2005, various steps had been taken by the government to overcome and anticipate the spread of the disease and the government would do the same thing in fighting swine flu, the minister said.

                              The government was preparing various supporting facilities, including public health centers, hospitals and laboratories in addition to establishing a disease surveillance network, a communication network among relevant agencies and providing health volunteers with training on how to overcome the spread of the virus.

                              "We made great progress in the handling of bird flu and conducting simulations on it. These capabilities can now also be used to anticipate other disease, including swine flu," she said.

                              The minister said the government still had enough medicines like antivirus oseltamivir which was an effective cure for swine flu.

                              "We don`t need to worry too much about the disease but remain cautious because the H1N1 virus (that causes swine flu) caused a pandemic in 1918 in Spain in which tens of millions of people died," the minister said.

                              She further said people could help prevent the outbreak or spread of the disease by following a clean and healthy life style, for example by washing their hands before eating something and after defecating, minimizing contact with animals.
                              (*)

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