Alarm at Indonesia bird flu ads

Mingus · Jan 12, 2007

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6255763.stm

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=629 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=629>Last Updated: Friday, 12 January 2007, 14:12 GMT

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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=629 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>Alarm at Indonesia bird flu ads

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=416><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=416 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=bottom>By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Jakarta
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Indonesia has been criticised over its handling of the disease

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Indonesian bird flu chiefs have hit back at a wave of adverts featuring air conditioners which manufacturers say can tackle the virus.
Several world-renowned manufacturers claim their products can kill bird flu using new technologies including a substance derived from a Korean pickle.
Indonesia is the country worst hit by bird flu.
Scientists here say their main concern is with the claims being made in newspaper and television adverts. 
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It has not been scientifically proven that air conditioners can prevent the spread of the virus

Bayu Krishnamurthi
Indonesia's bird flu taskforce chief

Kimchi 'may cure bird flu'

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Several companies say they are selling air conditioners and air purifiers which can kill 99% of the bird flu virus.
Some manufacturers say they rely on ionizing the air to kill the virus, while others say that an enzyme derived from the Korean pickle kimchi is just as effective.
Continued infections
But scientists at Indonesia's foremost agricultural institute say more tests are needed to verify these claims.
The head of Indonesia's bird flu taskforce, Bayu Krishnamurthi, said he was worried by the message being sent to customers.
"It has not been scientifically proven that air conditioners can prevent the spread of the virus," he said.
"We have communicated this to companies that have broadcast advertisements saying their product can prevent the spread of the virus.
"We have asked them to conduct product tests using the Indonesian strain of the H5N1 virus."
Criticism over the country's handling of the disease has led to fresh attempts over the past year to raise awareness.
Funding has been increased and new public education and training programmes launched - but infections continue.
Two people died from the disease this week, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 59.
Most human cases are the result of contact with sick poultry. But experts worry that human infections increase the chances for the virus to mutate into a form that is easily passed between people, which
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aardvark · Jan 12, 2007

Re: Alarm at Indonesia bird flu ads

Funny timing.

I was just reading about one of these technological claims a couple of weeks ago and had been meaning to post a link here.

I suspect that the "ion" based antiviral mechanism referenced with such scepticism in the news story is the one described in the following press release from the Sharp Corporation from June 05.

http://www.sharp.ca/pdf/Release_PCI_jun06_05.pdf

In their defense, they have made at least some effort to obtain external verification of their claims. I haven't the slightest idea whether their "plasmascluster ions" do all of the wonderful things they suggest, but for what it's worth, this technology is already available in Sharp's consumer air purifiers.

The first couple of paragraphs of the press release:

Plasmacluster Ions? Proven Effective Against Airborne Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza - A World First Among Air Purification Technologies*

Sharp Corporation has demonstrated that Plasmacluster Ions reduce activity of the highly fatal and highly pathogenic airborne H5N1 avian influenza (?bird flu?) virus by 99%.

This research was conducted in collaboration with Retroscreen Virology, Ltd., an organization which was established by one of the world?s leading authorities on virology, Professor John S. Oxford of the University of London School of Medicine & Dentistry, and which works in compliance with Good Laboratory Practice*3 (GLP). Among the diverse range of air purification technologies available, Plasmacluster Ions are the first in the world to have been proven effective against this virus.

Plasmacluster Ion technology was developed in 2000 and is an air purification technology that disables airborne microorganisms by releasing positive and negative ions into the air. In the five years since its development, Sharp has been working together with academic research organizations around the world based on a ?collaborative research approach to product marketing*4? and has demonstrated that Plasmacluster Ions are effective against a total of 26 kinds of harmful airborne substances, including bacteria, mold fungi, viruses and allergens?.

canagica · Jan 12, 2007

Re: Alarm at Indonesia bird flu ads

Mingus said:
Indonesian bird flu chiefs have hit back at a wave of adverts featuring air conditioners which manufacturers say can tackle the virus. [/B]
Several world-renowned manufacturers claim their products can kill bird flu using new technologies including a substance derived from a Korean pickle.

There is some experimental evidence from ~2 years ago that an extract of kimchi was successful in increasing flu recovery in a small group of exposed chickens, though their experiment was hardly convincing (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4347443.stm). LG started marketing birdflu-targeting air conditioners about a year ago, touting the kimchi-derived compounds:
The new products, nicknamed ``Anti-A.I. Aircon,'' have a filter covered with an anti-bacterial substance extracted from kimchi, South Korea's spicy fermented cabbage dish, the company said in a press conference.

``A special filter is coated with a substance called leuconostoc citreum, which is derived from kimchi. After tests, the filter was found to block viruses that causes bird flu,'' said Seo Seok-jang, chief of the company's air conditioner research lab, during the conference held at Grand Hyatt Hotel in central Seoul. (http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200601/kt2006011218045911910.htm).

GaudiaRay · Jan 12, 2007

Re: Alarm at Indonesia bird flu ads

With any media, the question of the duration of effectiveness, the point at which the media reaches half life, is the essential question.

If the media works well and degrades quickly, the cost of replacement media can quickly dwarf the cost of the original unit (cite our printer cartridges which get used up and replaced often), and availability of during bird flu pandemic are key questions.

Before the virus is airborne, the filters would appear to be a mere extra cost and an abundance of caution. After the virus is airborne, businesses would not be able to stock replacement filters given the immediate high demand.

Further, if the airconditioner does not filter all the air in a room at the moment that the virus is introduced, someone standing in an area poorly reached by the unit will be at the same high risk of exposure as if there were no unit in operation.

Wishing for safety we all do. Reality of safety should guide one's buying decision. This is not a panacea unless inside one's one already well protected, well sealed home space.

The logic of reality bites hard. Public spaces such as elevators and hallways and bathrooms cause the use of one of these in an office space, for instance, to be of great value only if one can arrive at the space, remove one's goggles, face mask, outer protective clothing, shoe covering, head covering and gloves well before entering the office.

If one is protectively sequestered, the airconditioning unit is frosting on the cake. If one is commuting to and from work, passage through bird flu environs would mean it will be extremely difficult to get much benefit from "filtered, clean" air, as the risks would have been abundant and exposure high long before arriving at the airconditioned, "safe" workspace.

It's very easy to delude oneself without thinking about the reality of the reality at the time of phase 6 pandemic.

If there were massive units installed in public spaces, and like the gas chambers of Nazi Germany, everyone stood around for a period of time, whatever that is, for the air and the air pockets in their clothing and hair to be well exposed completely to ionization, I'd say that would be a first step.

Then there would need to be similar, smaller units in every public space as a person who has been exposed and yet asymptomatic would be a walking disease spreader, the moment they stepped outside of the ionization space.

Further, while in the ionization space, all exhalation would carry the same high risk of infection.

This is a mind-boggling challenge to design a logic flow that would truly be effective.

When LC and Sharp decide to explain to the public how their units can be used in a way which solves these and many more reality of exposure hurdles, I will be the first to order them. But, right now, the holes in the logic of protection are large enough to be an ineffective filter for the purpose intended.

Niko · Jan 12, 2007

Re: Alarm at Indonesia bird flu ads

<table bgcolor="white" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="530"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="bottom">There is some evidence to support the use of Kimchi for it's anti-viral properties. I recalled reading about this a long time ago (hopefully Shannon, Snowy, LMonty and others can dredge up their previous reserach):

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<table align="center" bgcolor="white" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" width="510"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="white" width="510"> Kimchi Culture Could Cure Bird Flu
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Among the many miraculous properties attributed to the Korean staple side dish kimchi may be the ability to cure bird flu, Seoul National University scientists say. A research team lead by Prof. Kang Sa-ouk said Tuesday they created a food mixture containing a lactic ferment from kimchi that is effective against the avian flu and sent it to Indonesia, where the virus is rampant.

In March, Kang and his team fed an extract of the lactic ferment found in the pickled cabbage dish -- dubbed Leuconostoc kimchii -- to a group of chickens infected with Newcastle Disease, avian flu and other respiratory illnesses. After one week almost all of the chickens had recovered completely. Reports on the study have appeared as far afield as BBC broadcasts and the Wall Street Journal.

?Our research team has been distributing feed additives made from the lactic ferment culture fluid to poultry farms across the nation since last August,? Kang said. ?There were requests from zoos in Indonesia that had to close down due to the bird flu, so we sent a 400 kg shipment of feed additives made from the culture to each of them last week.?

The team also commissioned another group of scientists led by Prof. Mo In-pil of Chungbuk National University to help develop a remedy for bird flu by conducting full-scale experiments of the extract on animals.

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url: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200510/200510110009.html

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Alarm at Indonesia bird flu ads

Mingus

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aardvark

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canagica

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GaudiaRay

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Niko

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