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India: It?s Spreading
- Thread starter ukcz
- Start date
Eggs replace water balloons
Eggs replace water balloons
Eggs replace water balloons in Jammu
Jammu, Mar 14 (UNI) Thanks to bird flu, people here literally ended up with eggs all over their faces, as innovative youths swapped them for water balloons on the occasion of Holi.
With the eggs finding hardly any takers after the avian flu sacre, local youths chose the occasion to put them to good use on this occasion.
Motorcycle-borne youths, with faces painted beyong recognition, hurled them indiscriminately on pedestrians.
Besides, more conventional ways of sprinkling colours -- like sprayer -- were also used and people, cutting across religious lines, exchanged sweets and gulal.
http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG3_sub.asp?ccode=ENG3&newscode=133765
Eggs replace water balloons
Eggs replace water balloons in Jammu
Jammu, Mar 14 (UNI) Thanks to bird flu, people here literally ended up with eggs all over their faces, as innovative youths swapped them for water balloons on the occasion of Holi.
With the eggs finding hardly any takers after the avian flu sacre, local youths chose the occasion to put them to good use on this occasion.
Motorcycle-borne youths, with faces painted beyong recognition, hurled them indiscriminately on pedestrians.
Besides, more conventional ways of sprinkling colours -- like sprayer -- were also used and people, cutting across religious lines, exchanged sweets and gulal.
http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG3_sub.asp?ccode=ENG3&newscode=133765
Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
India reports fresh bird flu outbreak
India reports fresh bird flu outbreak
India reports fresh bird flu outbreak
New Delhi - India reported Tuesday a fresh outbreak of bird flu among poultry in the Jalgaon district of western Maharashtra state.
The site of the fresh cases is about 140 kilometres east of Nandurbar in Maharashtra where the first cases in the country were reported last month, federal agriculture ministry official Upma Chaudhry said in New Delhi.
'There is no need to panic and no human case has been reported from the country so far,' federal health ministry official Vineet Chaudhry was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.
Samples from poultry farms in Jalgaon had been sent to a state-run laboratory on February 25. Chickens from one commercial farm in the area had tested positive for the H5N1 virus, Chaudhry said.
She said 50 rapid response teams had been sent to the area and it was likely 75,000 chickens would be culled.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/health/article_1136945.php/India_reports_fresh_bird_flu_outbreak
India reports fresh bird flu outbreak
India reports fresh bird flu outbreak
New Delhi - India reported Tuesday a fresh outbreak of bird flu among poultry in the Jalgaon district of western Maharashtra state.
The site of the fresh cases is about 140 kilometres east of Nandurbar in Maharashtra where the first cases in the country were reported last month, federal agriculture ministry official Upma Chaudhry said in New Delhi.
'There is no need to panic and no human case has been reported from the country so far,' federal health ministry official Vineet Chaudhry was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.
Samples from poultry farms in Jalgaon had been sent to a state-run laboratory on February 25. Chickens from one commercial farm in the area had tested positive for the H5N1 virus, Chaudhry said.
She said 50 rapid response teams had been sent to the area and it was likely 75,000 chickens would be culled.
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/health/article_1136945.php/India_reports_fresh_bird_flu_outbreak
Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Milestones and stonewalls
Milestones and stonewalls
Milestones and stonewalls
Someday we may look back wistfully on the day the death toll from bird flu reached only 100, but at any rate, today's the day, the future being what it will be.
The melancholy figure was attained when it was announced (Reuters) that three young women from Azerbaijan had died of bird flu (confirmation still pending but expected). The presumptive diagnosis was done by a competent US Naval mobile laboratory on loan from its base in Cairo. Official confirmation from a WHO reference lab would seem to be a formality. Two of the cases were from the same region, the other from a different locale. Contact with infected birds is being blamed, but no details were available. Lab reports from a suspected cluster of six other related patients have not yet been announced. Azerbaijan is at the junction between Europe and Asia and lies along major migratory bird flyways. I would speculate it has had infected birds for some time but they have only now been detected.
Meanwhile the Indian government has announced that tests from birds sent to a laboratory on February 27 have come back positive for H5N1 and control measures are now being instituted. Yes, let me repeat that date: February 27. Almost three weeks ago. But for some in authority, bird flu is not a big deal. Here's what the Agriculture Minister told the newspapers (and apparently the Prime Minister) the day before (hat tip, CW):
posted by Revere
http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/2006/03/milestones-and-stonewalls.html
Milestones and stonewalls
Milestones and stonewalls
Someday we may look back wistfully on the day the death toll from bird flu reached only 100, but at any rate, today's the day, the future being what it will be.
The melancholy figure was attained when it was announced (Reuters) that three young women from Azerbaijan had died of bird flu (confirmation still pending but expected). The presumptive diagnosis was done by a competent US Naval mobile laboratory on loan from its base in Cairo. Official confirmation from a WHO reference lab would seem to be a formality. Two of the cases were from the same region, the other from a different locale. Contact with infected birds is being blamed, but no details were available. Lab reports from a suspected cluster of six other related patients have not yet been announced. Azerbaijan is at the junction between Europe and Asia and lies along major migratory bird flyways. I would speculate it has had infected birds for some time but they have only now been detected.
Meanwhile the Indian government has announced that tests from birds sent to a laboratory on February 27 have come back positive for H5N1 and control measures are now being instituted. Yes, let me repeat that date: February 27. Almost three weeks ago. But for some in authority, bird flu is not a big deal. Here's what the Agriculture Minister told the newspapers (and apparently the Prime Minister) the day before (hat tip, CW):
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday [March 13 2006] chaired a high-level meeting to review bird flu situation.
At the meeting, various rehabilitation packages for poultry farmers in the affected areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat were also discussed.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar briefed the Prime Minister about the cleaning-up operations and indicated that the bird flu has successfully been contained.
[snip]
The minister also highlighted that the bird flu issue was blown out of proportion, which ultimately turned out to be a localised event. (Hindustani Times)
Here's what another newspaper said the next day (yesterday):At the meeting, various rehabilitation packages for poultry farmers in the affected areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat were also discussed.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar briefed the Prime Minister about the cleaning-up operations and indicated that the bird flu has successfully been contained.
[snip]
The minister also highlighted that the bird flu issue was blown out of proportion, which ultimately turned out to be a localised event. (Hindustani Times)
The Indian government on Tuesday confirmed bird flu cases in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, weeks after the country's first case of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza was found in another district of the state.
Some samples of dead birds sent last month to a laboratory in Bhopal from four villages in the Jalgaon district have tested positive for the global disease that has killed nearly 100 people in Southeast Asia, mainly in Vietnam.
State government officials said a team of experts and doctors had been sent to the affected villages to prevent the spread of the virus. Over 75,000 birds are likely to be culled in the four villages. (Times of India)
This gives new meaning to the word "prevent." It now covers actions you should have taken but no longer can. Thought I'd mention that.Some samples of dead birds sent last month to a laboratory in Bhopal from four villages in the Jalgaon district have tested positive for the global disease that has killed nearly 100 people in Southeast Asia, mainly in Vietnam.
State government officials said a team of experts and doctors had been sent to the affected villages to prevent the spread of the virus. Over 75,000 birds are likely to be culled in the four villages. (Times of India)
posted by Revere
http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/2006/03/milestones-and-stonewalls.html
Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
It?s Spreading
It?s Spreading
It?s Spreading
BIRD FLU has struck chicken in four new villages in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, about 140 km away from Navapur, which was declared free of bird flu just two weeks ago. Of the 22 samples collected from poultry in Jalgaon, four tested positive, each from a different village.
"Since February 18 when bird flu was first confirmed in poultry in Navapur, we've tested 6,600 samples, of which only these four have tested positive," says S.K. Bandhopadhyay, animal husbandry commissioner, department of animal husbandry, Ministry of Agriculture. "Even though the district is new, we consider it a localised outbreak because the new cases are in the same state and just a district away from Navapur." The samples from Uchchal in Gujarat that tested positive were collected before February 18.
The affected villages are Hated, Sawada, Salve and Marul. All the samples that tested positive were collected on February 25 from backyard poultry. "Since most of the chicken are kept in backyard farms, the number of birds to be culled will be smaller -- about 75,000 -- but there's cause for concern since if the birds do not exhibit symptoms and die in large numbers, the infection may spread before it's detected," says Bandopadhyay. Isolated cases of bird deaths in small numbers take longer to be noticed and identified. What made the government hone in on these case was the fact that surveillance was intensified after the initial outbreak in Navapur. But given that the outbreak among birds is more diffused this time, poultry will have to be culled in an area of 1,200 sq km.
"About 75,000 birds will be culled within a 10 km radius from these villages," says P.M.A. Hakeem, secretary, department of animal husbandry. "The numbers are relatively small as there's just one small commercial farm in the villages with some 3,000 birds."
In Navapur and Uchchal, over 4.2 lakh chicken were culled in 57 farms in the last week of February.
No human cases have been reported in India so far and all the people under observation in Navapur and Uchchal were discharged on March 3.
"The government has seven lakh doses of Tamiflu (the drug used to treat bird flu) in stock and Cipla and Hetero Drugs have assured us that they can provide unlimited number of the drug within two days," says Vineet Chawdhry, joint secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Bird flu is spreading rapidly across the world.
Since February 1, the first cases of H5N1 or H5 infections in poultry or wild birds have been reported in Iraq (H5), Nigeria, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Egypt, India, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina (H5), the Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Niger, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro (H5), Pakistan (H5), Albania, Poland, Georgia, Cameroon, and Myanmar.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1650833,0015002500000000.htm
It?s Spreading
It?s Spreading
BIRD FLU has struck chicken in four new villages in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, about 140 km away from Navapur, which was declared free of bird flu just two weeks ago. Of the 22 samples collected from poultry in Jalgaon, four tested positive, each from a different village.
"Since February 18 when bird flu was first confirmed in poultry in Navapur, we've tested 6,600 samples, of which only these four have tested positive," says S.K. Bandhopadhyay, animal husbandry commissioner, department of animal husbandry, Ministry of Agriculture. "Even though the district is new, we consider it a localised outbreak because the new cases are in the same state and just a district away from Navapur." The samples from Uchchal in Gujarat that tested positive were collected before February 18.
The affected villages are Hated, Sawada, Salve and Marul. All the samples that tested positive were collected on February 25 from backyard poultry. "Since most of the chicken are kept in backyard farms, the number of birds to be culled will be smaller -- about 75,000 -- but there's cause for concern since if the birds do not exhibit symptoms and die in large numbers, the infection may spread before it's detected," says Bandopadhyay. Isolated cases of bird deaths in small numbers take longer to be noticed and identified. What made the government hone in on these case was the fact that surveillance was intensified after the initial outbreak in Navapur. But given that the outbreak among birds is more diffused this time, poultry will have to be culled in an area of 1,200 sq km.
"About 75,000 birds will be culled within a 10 km radius from these villages," says P.M.A. Hakeem, secretary, department of animal husbandry. "The numbers are relatively small as there's just one small commercial farm in the villages with some 3,000 birds."
In Navapur and Uchchal, over 4.2 lakh chicken were culled in 57 farms in the last week of February.
No human cases have been reported in India so far and all the people under observation in Navapur and Uchchal were discharged on March 3.
"The government has seven lakh doses of Tamiflu (the drug used to treat bird flu) in stock and Cipla and Hetero Drugs have assured us that they can provide unlimited number of the drug within two days," says Vineet Chawdhry, joint secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Bird flu is spreading rapidly across the world.
Since February 1, the first cases of H5N1 or H5 infections in poultry or wild birds have been reported in Iraq (H5), Nigeria, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Egypt, India, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina (H5), the Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Niger, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro (H5), Pakistan (H5), Albania, Poland, Georgia, Cameroon, and Myanmar.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1650833,0015002500000000.htm
Sally Furniss
Well-known member
India culls birds, hunts for flu in humans
India culls birds, hunts for flu in humans
India culls birds, hunts for flu in humans
By Krittivas Mukherjee
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Veterinary workers began throttling more than 70,000 birds in western India on Thursday, stepping up efforts to contain a second outbreak of avian influenza in poultry.
"There is no time for niceties. The birds have to be killed as fast as possible," said Bijay Kumar, animal husbandry commissioner of the state of Maharashtra, where bird flu resurfaced this week in backyard poultry.
Veterinary and civic workers wearing protective gear moved door-to-door collecting chickens and eggs after paying owners 40 rupees (0.5 pounds) for every bird as compensation. Eggs went free.
The birds had their necks twisted and were then stuffed in black plastic bags and buried in shallow pits. Disinfectants and lime powder were then sprinkled over the graves.
Health authorities said they were not taking any chances and had sent dozens of medical teams looking for people with flu-like symptoms to every household of the affected area.
Hundreds of people in a nearby area have complained of fever. Doctors say they are most likely suffering from dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease -- but they have sent blood samples for bird flu tests anyway.
Hospitals in Malegaon, 140 km from the latest outbreak, have treated nearly 2,000 people in 15 days.
India culls birds, hunts for flu in humans
India culls birds, hunts for flu in humans
By Krittivas Mukherjee
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Veterinary workers began throttling more than 70,000 birds in western India on Thursday, stepping up efforts to contain a second outbreak of avian influenza in poultry.
"There is no time for niceties. The birds have to be killed as fast as possible," said Bijay Kumar, animal husbandry commissioner of the state of Maharashtra, where bird flu resurfaced this week in backyard poultry.
Veterinary and civic workers wearing protective gear moved door-to-door collecting chickens and eggs after paying owners 40 rupees (0.5 pounds) for every bird as compensation. Eggs went free.
The birds had their necks twisted and were then stuffed in black plastic bags and buried in shallow pits. Disinfectants and lime powder were then sprinkled over the graves.
Health authorities said they were not taking any chances and had sent dozens of medical teams looking for people with flu-like symptoms to every household of the affected area.
Hundreds of people in a nearby area have complained of fever. Doctors say they are most likely suffering from dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease -- but they have sent blood samples for bird flu tests anyway.
Hospitals in Malegaon, 140 km from the latest outbreak, have treated nearly 2,000 people in 15 days.
Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Indian town reels as bird flu hits
Indian town reels as bird flu hits
Navapur is a tiny, underdeveloped town in the Indian state of Maharashtra that has got little attention for its many problems.
But now it is firmly on the map after the authorities confirmed on Saturday that it had recorded the first case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in India.
Since then, government and health officials have been swarming the place, trying to control the spread of the deadly disease.
For years, the people of Navapur had to contend with bad roads, poor electricity and social issues such as deaths of children due to malnutrition.
Now they have to deal with bird flu - and many of them do not even know what it is, let alone how it is spread.
All areas within 3km (nearly 2 miles) of Navapur have been quarantined and 60 medical teams have been deployed in the area with a clear brief of slaughtering all the chickens - nearly 900,000 in number.
Farms empty
Men dressed in blue protective gear, wearing gloves, masks and dark glasses, move from one poultry farm to another, killing the birds as well as taking blood samples from some for further tests.
None of my chickens have died due to the disease and neither I nor my labourers suffer from any of the symptoms
Hashim Kursiwala
Poultry farmer
The poultry farms wear a deserted look as the chickens are killed and then buried in deep pits in the land nearby. The huge chicken sheds now only have bird feathers and waste to show for their recent inhabitants.
Shut and empty, they paint a woeful picture in the town that relies primarily on chicken-rearing for its livelihood.
Poultry farmers are still coming to terms with their loss.
Hashim Kursiwala had a flourishing poultry business until Saturday. Now, he is left with empty chicken sheds.
He believes that nothing is wrong with his chickens and to prove his point, moves around his last batch of live stock without a mask and handles them with naked hands.
Health officials have descended on the town
However, he had 10,000 birds slaughtered on his farm because "the authorities said so.
"There is no bird flu here. None of my chickens have died due to the disease and neither I nor my labourers suffer from any of the symptoms.
"Yet I must shut my business and now look at another means of livelihood," he laments.
He also said that although some farms may have reported cases of bird flu, not all have been affected - and the government should get the blood samples of chickens tested to ascertain which ones have.
Big loss
Other farmers are outraged at the media for giving a "bad picture of poultry business in Navapur" and blame them for their present situation.
The government has announced a compensation of about a dollar for each killed chicken but the farmers say that would not cover even 50% of their costs.
Navapur residents move around with a sense of apprehension and uncertainty: uncertain about what is happening or could happen to them - and most of all, unsure how to deal with the new situation.
Shops at the local market are open, with people buying groceries and going about their work as they would on any other day.
But further down the road, some people prefer to move around with handkerchiefs covering their nose and ears as a makeshift mask for protection against the disease.
Health scare
Parts of town - especially those near the chicken farms - are deserted, as most people have left their homes and moved to other areas as a safety precaution.
Local residents are scared of contracting bird flu
College student Yogesh Shampi keeps his face covered at all times.
He is nervous about staying back but has no choice, as he has examinations due in a few days.
"My parents have been calling me, asking me to come home. I am afraid too and would like to leave Navapur as soon as possible, but the college won't let me.
"I must appear for the exam, even though I can't study for it because the mind is always thinking, what if I stayed on and got the bird flu?"
One of his classmates, Balwant Dawhade, is suffering from a cold and fever and fears the worst even though he has not been near a poultry farm and the doctors have assured him it is not bird flu.
"I am a little relieved after the doctors told me I am not suffering from bird flu but if I continue to stay here, then who knows? If I could, I would have left immediately."
The authorities already face the difficult task of handling the spread of bird flu detected for the first time in the country. They have to ensure that they have ample vaccines at hand and other measures in place to deal with any eventuality.
But dealing with the sceptics and explaining the gravity of the situation without creating panic may prove more difficult.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4731694.stm
Indian town reels as bird flu hits
Navapur is a tiny, underdeveloped town in the Indian state of Maharashtra that has got little attention for its many problems.
But now it is firmly on the map after the authorities confirmed on Saturday that it had recorded the first case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in India.
Since then, government and health officials have been swarming the place, trying to control the spread of the deadly disease.
For years, the people of Navapur had to contend with bad roads, poor electricity and social issues such as deaths of children due to malnutrition.
Now they have to deal with bird flu - and many of them do not even know what it is, let alone how it is spread.
All areas within 3km (nearly 2 miles) of Navapur have been quarantined and 60 medical teams have been deployed in the area with a clear brief of slaughtering all the chickens - nearly 900,000 in number.
Farms empty
Men dressed in blue protective gear, wearing gloves, masks and dark glasses, move from one poultry farm to another, killing the birds as well as taking blood samples from some for further tests.
Hashim Kursiwala
Poultry farmer
The poultry farms wear a deserted look as the chickens are killed and then buried in deep pits in the land nearby. The huge chicken sheds now only have bird feathers and waste to show for their recent inhabitants.
Shut and empty, they paint a woeful picture in the town that relies primarily on chicken-rearing for its livelihood.
Poultry farmers are still coming to terms with their loss.
Hashim Kursiwala had a flourishing poultry business until Saturday. Now, he is left with empty chicken sheds.
He believes that nothing is wrong with his chickens and to prove his point, moves around his last batch of live stock without a mask and handles them with naked hands.
However, he had 10,000 birds slaughtered on his farm because "the authorities said so.
"There is no bird flu here. None of my chickens have died due to the disease and neither I nor my labourers suffer from any of the symptoms.
"Yet I must shut my business and now look at another means of livelihood," he laments.
He also said that although some farms may have reported cases of bird flu, not all have been affected - and the government should get the blood samples of chickens tested to ascertain which ones have.
Big loss
Other farmers are outraged at the media for giving a "bad picture of poultry business in Navapur" and blame them for their present situation.
The government has announced a compensation of about a dollar for each killed chicken but the farmers say that would not cover even 50% of their costs.
Navapur residents move around with a sense of apprehension and uncertainty: uncertain about what is happening or could happen to them - and most of all, unsure how to deal with the new situation.
Shops at the local market are open, with people buying groceries and going about their work as they would on any other day.
But further down the road, some people prefer to move around with handkerchiefs covering their nose and ears as a makeshift mask for protection against the disease.
Health scare
Parts of town - especially those near the chicken farms - are deserted, as most people have left their homes and moved to other areas as a safety precaution.
College student Yogesh Shampi keeps his face covered at all times.
He is nervous about staying back but has no choice, as he has examinations due in a few days.
"My parents have been calling me, asking me to come home. I am afraid too and would like to leave Navapur as soon as possible, but the college won't let me.
"I must appear for the exam, even though I can't study for it because the mind is always thinking, what if I stayed on and got the bird flu?"
One of his classmates, Balwant Dawhade, is suffering from a cold and fever and fears the worst even though he has not been near a poultry farm and the doctors have assured him it is not bird flu.
"I am a little relieved after the doctors told me I am not suffering from bird flu but if I continue to stay here, then who knows? If I could, I would have left immediately."
The authorities already face the difficult task of handling the spread of bird flu detected for the first time in the country. They have to ensure that they have ample vaccines at hand and other measures in place to deal with any eventuality.
But dealing with the sceptics and explaining the gravity of the situation without creating panic may prove more difficult.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4731694.stm
Native breeds catch bird flu - India
Native breeds catch bird flu - India
Native breeds catch bird flu
Surinder Sud / New Delhi March 17, 2006
http://www.business-standard.com/co...leftindx=2&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=218972
The detection of fresh cases of bird flu in four villages of Jalgaon district in Maharashtra has lent a new dimension to the avian influenza epidemic.
This is because the affected birds are of native breeds kept by villagers in their backyards and not of poultry farms, as was the case with the earlier outbreak in the neighbouring Nandurbar district.
This has heightened the danger that the flu infection may be present in other areas as well and that more cases may surface in the days to come, poultry experts feel.
Official sources also maintain that the H5N1 viral infection could not have been communicated to these birds from Navapur areas where it was successfully contained and controlled. The virus may have spread simultaneously to Navapur and elsewhere.
?We are not taking any chances. We are being pro-active in spotting bird flu cases in all the possible areas to effectively contain and control the infection there itself,? said Animal Husbandry Ministry Joint Secretary Upma Chowdhry.
Going by the official reckoning, the four villages where the infection has been detected have a substantial backyard poultry with a total bird population of about 75,000.
Besides, these villages have a human population of about 21,500, who potentially may have come in contact with the poultry birds.
But the state government has imposed curbs on the movement of poultry birds and people out of this belt without being properly disinfected. All poultry birds in a 10-km radius around four infected sites are proposed to be culled immediately by the state government.
The Rs 32,000-crore poultry industry, severely hit since February-end due to the Navapur epidemic, is a worried lot. The prospects of its revival, which had begun to look up, will again be jeopardised. So will be the prospects of poultry product exports which were likely to touch about Rs 230 crore this year.
?The wholesale prices of poultry meat, which had recovered a bit to Rs 28 a kg on the day of Holi yesterday, have again dropped down to Rs 14 a kg today,? said Amit Sachdev, a leading poultry consultant representing Bluecross Consultants.
An awareness campaign was needed to bring home the point that well-cooked chicken meat as well as eggs were safe to eat. This had been ascertained by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well, he added.
The fresh cases have also confounded the mystery of the original source of infection. ?Though migratory birds are believed to have brought this infection to India, but there is no confirmation about this as yet,? said officials of the animal husbandry ministry.
Samples have been taken from migratory birds present in that belt for analysis at the Bhopal-based laboratory for the detection of the virus. So far, there has been no confirmed case among the wild birds.
Poultry industry sources are equally at loss to hazard a guess about the origin of this infection. ?The information we have been getting shows that there has been no case of H5N1 virus infection among the wild birds in that area,? Sachdev said.
He said relatively small poultry farms would be the worst-hit by the current crisis. The big poultry farms had, of course, already taken necessary bio-safety measures to ward off the disease.
Sachdev suggested that bio-safety measures were now needed to be extended to backyard poultry as well. Besides, barring the areas of potential infection, the other tracts should formally be declared as disease-free zones, as done for buffalo meat. This will inspire consumer confidence in poultry products.
The animal husbandry ministry officials said surveillance had been extended to all the districts in the vicinity of Nandurbar and Jalgaon. These 38 districts fall in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. An area with a radius of 100-kms will, thus, come under intense surveillance.
Survey and surveillance plans had also been dispatched to all other states as well, the officials pointed out. The government was paying compensation to poultry farmers for the chicken being destroyed under this campaign, they added.
Native breeds catch bird flu - India
Native breeds catch bird flu
Surinder Sud / New Delhi March 17, 2006
http://www.business-standard.com/co...leftindx=2&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=218972
The detection of fresh cases of bird flu in four villages of Jalgaon district in Maharashtra has lent a new dimension to the avian influenza epidemic.
This is because the affected birds are of native breeds kept by villagers in their backyards and not of poultry farms, as was the case with the earlier outbreak in the neighbouring Nandurbar district.
This has heightened the danger that the flu infection may be present in other areas as well and that more cases may surface in the days to come, poultry experts feel.
Official sources also maintain that the H5N1 viral infection could not have been communicated to these birds from Navapur areas where it was successfully contained and controlled. The virus may have spread simultaneously to Navapur and elsewhere.
?We are not taking any chances. We are being pro-active in spotting bird flu cases in all the possible areas to effectively contain and control the infection there itself,? said Animal Husbandry Ministry Joint Secretary Upma Chowdhry.
Going by the official reckoning, the four villages where the infection has been detected have a substantial backyard poultry with a total bird population of about 75,000.
Besides, these villages have a human population of about 21,500, who potentially may have come in contact with the poultry birds.
But the state government has imposed curbs on the movement of poultry birds and people out of this belt without being properly disinfected. All poultry birds in a 10-km radius around four infected sites are proposed to be culled immediately by the state government.
The Rs 32,000-crore poultry industry, severely hit since February-end due to the Navapur epidemic, is a worried lot. The prospects of its revival, which had begun to look up, will again be jeopardised. So will be the prospects of poultry product exports which were likely to touch about Rs 230 crore this year.
?The wholesale prices of poultry meat, which had recovered a bit to Rs 28 a kg on the day of Holi yesterday, have again dropped down to Rs 14 a kg today,? said Amit Sachdev, a leading poultry consultant representing Bluecross Consultants.
An awareness campaign was needed to bring home the point that well-cooked chicken meat as well as eggs were safe to eat. This had been ascertained by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well, he added.
The fresh cases have also confounded the mystery of the original source of infection. ?Though migratory birds are believed to have brought this infection to India, but there is no confirmation about this as yet,? said officials of the animal husbandry ministry.
Samples have been taken from migratory birds present in that belt for analysis at the Bhopal-based laboratory for the detection of the virus. So far, there has been no confirmed case among the wild birds.
Poultry industry sources are equally at loss to hazard a guess about the origin of this infection. ?The information we have been getting shows that there has been no case of H5N1 virus infection among the wild birds in that area,? Sachdev said.
He said relatively small poultry farms would be the worst-hit by the current crisis. The big poultry farms had, of course, already taken necessary bio-safety measures to ward off the disease.
Sachdev suggested that bio-safety measures were now needed to be extended to backyard poultry as well. Besides, barring the areas of potential infection, the other tracts should formally be declared as disease-free zones, as done for buffalo meat. This will inspire consumer confidence in poultry products.
The animal husbandry ministry officials said surveillance had been extended to all the districts in the vicinity of Nandurbar and Jalgaon. These 38 districts fall in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. An area with a radius of 100-kms will, thus, come under intense surveillance.
Survey and surveillance plans had also been dispatched to all other states as well, the officials pointed out. The government was paying compensation to poultry farmers for the chicken being destroyed under this campaign, they added.
Bird flu scare spreads panic in Salem
Bird flu scare spreads panic in Salem
Bird flu scare spreads panic in Salem
Published: Saturday, March 18, 2006
Salem (TN), March 18: The city woke up to a bird flu scare this morning as the news that around thirty five chickens were found dead in a household near here, started doing rounds.
The owner of the birds found all his poultry dead beside a garbage dump near his household at Manakadu. Immediately he called up media offices informing them of a possible bird flu infection.
Later, the District Collector, who came to know about this from media offices, instructed the veterinary doctors to conduct post-mortem on the carcass.
After the post-mortem, the city people heaved a sigh of relief as doctors confirmed that it was not a bird flu infection, but the birds had consumed rat poison thrown into the garbage. (Agencies)
http://www.chennaionline.com/colnew...F6-B1A9-DBEC9F56FBA1}&CATEGORYNAME=Tamil+Nadu
Bird flu scare spreads panic in Salem
Bird flu scare spreads panic in Salem
Published: Saturday, March 18, 2006
Salem (TN), March 18: The city woke up to a bird flu scare this morning as the news that around thirty five chickens were found dead in a household near here, started doing rounds.
The owner of the birds found all his poultry dead beside a garbage dump near his household at Manakadu. Immediately he called up media offices informing them of a possible bird flu infection.
Later, the District Collector, who came to know about this from media offices, instructed the veterinary doctors to conduct post-mortem on the carcass.
After the post-mortem, the city people heaved a sigh of relief as doctors confirmed that it was not a bird flu infection, but the birds had consumed rat poison thrown into the garbage. (Agencies)
http://www.chennaionline.com/colnew...F6-B1A9-DBEC9F56FBA1}&CATEGORYNAME=Tamil+Nadu
India:Tamiflu for Doctor, 11yo boy, 5yo girl, 40yo woman
India:Tamiflu for Doctor, 11yo boy, 5yo girl, 40yo woman
http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?category=National&template=birdfluscare&slug=Tamiflu+given+to+11-year-old+boy&id=85920&callid=1
Sunday, March 19, 2006 (Jalgaon):
An 11-year-old boy in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra is being given Tamiflu the only drug known to be effective against the H5N1 bird flu virus.
Doctors in the hospital, where the boy has been kept in isolation, say that his blood samples have been sent for testing and the results are expected in four days' time.
He was being given Tamiflu as a precautionary measure when it was found that he had handled a lot of dead poultry over the last one week.
The boy's fever, which developed on Friday, did not come down with paracetamol and his temperature shot up to 103 on Saturday night.
Apart from this 11-year-old boy, 93 other human samples have been sent for testing to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in New Delhi and the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.
Meanwhile, a team from NIV has checked at least 65,000 people in areas near the four villages of Hated, Sawada, Salve and Marul, where four bird samples tested positive.
India:Tamiflu for Doctor, 11yo boy, 5yo girl, 40yo woman
http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?category=National&template=birdfluscare&slug=Tamiflu+given+to+11-year-old+boy&id=85920&callid=1
Sunday, March 19, 2006 (Jalgaon):
An 11-year-old boy in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra is being given Tamiflu the only drug known to be effective against the H5N1 bird flu virus.
Doctors in the hospital, where the boy has been kept in isolation, say that his blood samples have been sent for testing and the results are expected in four days' time.
He was being given Tamiflu as a precautionary measure when it was found that he had handled a lot of dead poultry over the last one week.
The boy's fever, which developed on Friday, did not come down with paracetamol and his temperature shot up to 103 on Saturday night.
Apart from this 11-year-old boy, 93 other human samples have been sent for testing to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in New Delhi and the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.
Meanwhile, a team from NIV has checked at least 65,000 people in areas near the four villages of Hated, Sawada, Salve and Marul, where four bird samples tested positive.
Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Re: It?s Spreading
Re: It?s Spreading
Culling over, India monitors doctor for bird flu
MUMBAI, March 19 (Reuters) - A doctor with fever and respiratory problems was under observation in western India where tens of thousands of birds were culled to contain a second outbreak of avian flu, officials said on Sunday. The latest outbreak -- in backyard poultry in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra state-- was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, but it has not infected people so far.
However, late on Saturday, a doctor walked into a local hospital and asked to be put under observation, joining a 11-year-old boy with high fever and a history of exposure to dead birds. "The doctor is not from the affected region and neither was he exposed to dead birds, but we didn't want to take a chance," T.P. Doke, Maharashtra's health director, told Reuters.
Blood samples of the two had been sent for testing. The boy was being given Tamiflu, the drug that fights bird flu in humans. Health officials were monitoring 65,000 people spread over 17 villages. Of them, some 150 people had fever, but authorities said the figure was normal. "Moreover, these people aren't showing flu-like symptoms, just normal fever," said Vijay Satbir Singh, Maharashtra's most senior health official. Blood samples of about 90 people from Jalgaon had been sent for testing, but officials said that was purely out of "academic curiosity".
Veterinary officials said they had finished culling all chickens -- numbering more than 75,000 -- in four villages spread over 1,100 square km (425 square miles) in Jalgaon district identified as affected by the outbreak. Samples from unaffected poultry elsewhere in Maharashtra were being collected to ensure bird flu had not spread beyond Jalgaon. Jalgaon is 200 km (125 miles) from Navapur, where India reported its first case of the H5N1 strain in poultry last month. After the first outbreak, India tested more than 100 people for bird flu but all proved negative.
Indian authorities said last week they had contained the virus after culling hundreds of thousands of chickens in Navapur town and neighbouring areas, but within days the second outbreak was reported from Jalgaon.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL233738.htm
Re: It?s Spreading
Culling over, India monitors doctor for bird flu
MUMBAI, March 19 (Reuters) - A doctor with fever and respiratory problems was under observation in western India where tens of thousands of birds were culled to contain a second outbreak of avian flu, officials said on Sunday. The latest outbreak -- in backyard poultry in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra state-- was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, but it has not infected people so far.
However, late on Saturday, a doctor walked into a local hospital and asked to be put under observation, joining a 11-year-old boy with high fever and a history of exposure to dead birds. "The doctor is not from the affected region and neither was he exposed to dead birds, but we didn't want to take a chance," T.P. Doke, Maharashtra's health director, told Reuters.
Blood samples of the two had been sent for testing. The boy was being given Tamiflu, the drug that fights bird flu in humans. Health officials were monitoring 65,000 people spread over 17 villages. Of them, some 150 people had fever, but authorities said the figure was normal. "Moreover, these people aren't showing flu-like symptoms, just normal fever," said Vijay Satbir Singh, Maharashtra's most senior health official. Blood samples of about 90 people from Jalgaon had been sent for testing, but officials said that was purely out of "academic curiosity".
Veterinary officials said they had finished culling all chickens -- numbering more than 75,000 -- in four villages spread over 1,100 square km (425 square miles) in Jalgaon district identified as affected by the outbreak. Samples from unaffected poultry elsewhere in Maharashtra were being collected to ensure bird flu had not spread beyond Jalgaon. Jalgaon is 200 km (125 miles) from Navapur, where India reported its first case of the H5N1 strain in poultry last month. After the first outbreak, India tested more than 100 people for bird flu but all proved negative.
Indian authorities said last week they had contained the virus after culling hundreds of thousands of chickens in Navapur town and neighbouring areas, but within days the second outbreak was reported from Jalgaon.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL233738.htm
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
Culling over, India monitors doctor for bird flu
MUMBAI, March 19 (Reuters) - A doctor with fever and respiratory problems was under observation in western India where tens of thousands of birds were culled to contain a second outbreak of avian flu, officials said on Sunday. The latest outbreak -- in backyard poultry in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra state-- was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, but it has not infected people so far.
However, late on Saturday, a doctor walked into a local hospital and asked to be put under observation, joining a 11-year-old boy with high fever and a history of exposure to dead birds. "The doctor is not from the affected region and neither was he exposed to dead birds, but we didn't want to take a chance," T.P. Doke, Maharashtra's health director, told Reuters.
Blood samples of the two had been sent for testing. The boy was being given Tamiflu, the drug that fights bird flu in humans. Health officials were monitoring 65,000 people spread over 17 villages. Of them, some 150 people had fever, but authorities said the figure was normal. "Moreover, these people aren't showing flu-like symptoms, just normal fever," said Vijay Satbir Singh, Maharashtra's most senior health official. Blood samples of about 90 people from Jalgaon had been sent for testing, but officials said that was purely out of "academic curiosity".
Veterinary officials said they had finished culling all chickens -- numbering more than 75,000 -- in four villages spread over 1,100 square km (425 square miles) in Jalgaon district identified as affected by the outbreak. Samples from unaffected poultry elsewhere in Maharashtra were being collected to ensure bird flu had not spread beyond Jalgaon. Jalgaon is 200 km (125 miles) from Navapur, where India reported its first case of the H5N1 strain in poultry last month. After the first outbreak, India tested more than 100 people for bird flu but all proved negative.
Indian authorities said last week they had contained the virus after culling hundreds of thousands of chickens in Navapur town and neighbouring areas, but within days the second outbreak was reported from Jalgaon.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL233738.htm
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
Culling over, India monitors doctor for bird flu
MUMBAI, March 19 (Reuters) - A doctor with fever and respiratory problems was under observation in western India where tens of thousands of birds were culled to contain a second outbreak of avian flu, officials said on Sunday. The latest outbreak -- in backyard poultry in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra state-- was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, but it has not infected people so far.
However, late on Saturday, a doctor walked into a local hospital and asked to be put under observation, joining a 11-year-old boy with high fever and a history of exposure to dead birds. "The doctor is not from the affected region and neither was he exposed to dead birds, but we didn't want to take a chance," T.P. Doke, Maharashtra's health director, told Reuters.
Blood samples of the two had been sent for testing. The boy was being given Tamiflu, the drug that fights bird flu in humans. Health officials were monitoring 65,000 people spread over 17 villages. Of them, some 150 people had fever, but authorities said the figure was normal. "Moreover, these people aren't showing flu-like symptoms, just normal fever," said Vijay Satbir Singh, Maharashtra's most senior health official. Blood samples of about 90 people from Jalgaon had been sent for testing, but officials said that was purely out of "academic curiosity".
Veterinary officials said they had finished culling all chickens -- numbering more than 75,000 -- in four villages spread over 1,100 square km (425 square miles) in Jalgaon district identified as affected by the outbreak. Samples from unaffected poultry elsewhere in Maharashtra were being collected to ensure bird flu had not spread beyond Jalgaon. Jalgaon is 200 km (125 miles) from Navapur, where India reported its first case of the H5N1 strain in poultry last month. After the first outbreak, India tested more than 100 people for bird flu but all proved negative.
Indian authorities said last week they had contained the virus after culling hundreds of thousands of chickens in Navapur town and neighbouring areas, but within days the second outbreak was reported from Jalgaon.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL233738.htm
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
It is very telling that he requested to be put under observation.
I guess the doctor felt that he might have been exposed.
But how could he have been exposed, since he is "not from the affected region and neither was he exposed to dead birds".
Could it be that the situation in India is worse than we are hearing in the news?
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
It is very telling that he requested to be put under observation.
I guess the doctor felt that he might have been exposed.
But how could he have been exposed, since he is "not from the affected region and neither was he exposed to dead birds".
Could it be that the situation in India is worse than we are hearing in the news?
Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Re: It?s Spreading
Re: It?s Spreading
The truth about Bird Flu
By Prof. BM Hegde, New Delh
"Fear always springs from ignorance," said Ralph Waldo Emerson. Nothing could be more true than this in the case of bird flu.
This is another type of influenza. The symptoms are runny nose, headache of varying severity, body aches and pains, high fever, with or without pneumonia presenting as cough and breathlessness with scanty sputum.
In severe cases, signs of respiratory failure set in rapidly and might end up with bleeding and disseminated intra-vascular coagulation and multi-organ failure. Bleeding is more common in those with gastric type of 'Flu.
Those suffering from gastric 'flu will have severe loss of appetite, diarrhoea, vomiting and even bleeding per rectum and occasionally haemetemsis. Many will have sub-clinical infection in any epidemic.
The causative organism is a variant of the influenza virus-H5N1 variety for this pandemic, if ever it happens-hope it doesn't happen as predicted! It was predicted to start sometime between November 2005 and March 2006.
So far no authentic human to human transmission has been reported. The deaths so far have all been in those in close proximity to infected birds.
Influenza is endemic in many places in the winter season. Many a time it could reach epidemic proportions. Epidemic is where the disease spreads exponentially, so fast that the incidence doubles every few days. Pandemic is a global epidemic. In most pandemics there are almost an equal number of people infected but do not show clinical signs severe enough to be noticed by doctors. The latter could only be diagnosed by anti-body titers before and after the pandemics! They could, however, spread the virus around.
The history of influenza pandemics in the past could teach us a lesson or two if another one comes along.
In the last 400 years there were 12 pandemics, roughly three per Century. We had three in the last Century, Spanish 'flu of 1918 where there were a total of 640 million clinical attacks, 50 percent of the then population of 1.2 billion with 12.5 percent case fatality ratio with 80 million dead. The variant was H1N1 type.
Next was the Asian 'Flu of 1957 with H2N2 type. The last was the Hong Kong 'Flu of 1968 due to H5N2 variety. 1918 pandemic had three separate waves with a gap of three months and the last one in 1968 had two waves. If that trend persists in 2006, we should expect total deaths of 2-3 billion (case fatality multiplied by clinical attack rate compounded by the population) what with the population now at 6.6 billion. It could throw all our systems out of gear. The worst would be that all our hospitals, put together, would not be able to cater to even 10 percent of the patients!
This virus spreads even without contact with patients. Their coughing into the air will disseminate the virus in the atmosphere. Touching a patient, his clothes, or even shaking hands, and staying in the vicinity could all spread the disease.
Doorknobs and counter tops can harbour the virus for days! Medical care workers are at a great risk. Crowding and slum dwelling could increase the incidence and case fatality. Society will have to take the responsibility of looking after the sick in the eventuality of the hospitals getting clogged. Patients with respiratory failure will have to be made comfortable to meet their maker in heaven, as there will not be enough respirators to go round. They could be made as comfortable as possible, though.
I had personal experience of the 1968 pandemic. I was working in London and for the Xmas weekend I was the only junior doctor on call. Others were celebrating Xmas. In three days we had as many deaths as to get me cremation money of 490 Sterling pounds at four pounds per cadaver.
This was in one small sub speciality (cardiology and pulmonolgy) teaching hospital in London, when there were 12 medical schools with thrice that number of hospitals those days.
The horrible sight was people in their prime of youth just coming in and dying. The old elderly with respiratory and cardiac ailments simply perished, many of them in their own homes before help could arrive because of dehydration compounded by the winter dry heating systems in their homes. Thank God, by February it had eased a lot.
You will not believe if I told you that the vaccine arrived only in February and we were inoculated then. We were lucky to be alive, thanks to God and our immune systems. Despite all our nano-technology claptrap and claim for advances in medical sciences the situation is no way better than in 1918 or 1968. We have come back one full circle to the days of Hippocrates-"cure rarely, comfort mostly, but console always".
Educated relatives will have to take charge. Home remedies include basically keeping the hydration of the patient, making him comfortable with pain-killers and tepid sponging to get the fever down. Helping them with cleaning and feeding is additional responsibility. Many of them will have no appetite.
That should not be a worry if they recover, but fluid loss is so great that dehydration could kill very fast. Oral re-hydration fluids are better made at home as they require much more salt than the one's available in the market: four cups of boiled cooled water, two tablespoons of sugar and one level spoon of salt.
To be mixed and kept ready for use, patient must be fed continuously in small amounts. Even if they vomit one could feed them by the spoon. If they have appetite liquid food could be given. Hot food is taboo if the temperature is high, but sore throat gets better faster with sips of hot water or hot saltwater gargles.
Where the weather is dry humidifiers will help. Relatives could bolster their immune systems by eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and nutritious diet, avoiding the junk food and cooked meat. Vitamin supplements are useless. There have been three large studies published this week in the best science journals showing that multivitamins and B complexes given as tablets are useless and could even be dangerous. Unlike the claptrap, they do not seem prevent stroke, heart attacks etc. according these studies.
Vaccine against the disease is ready but already doubts are cast on its validity, as the virus seems to have mutated a bit. This is an egg embryo vaccine and takes up to six weeks to prepare and can not be prepared on mass scale.
It is only 70 percent effective, anyway, even when it is good. A total of 300 million does are expected and the G8 countries have already placed orders for 90 percnet of the stocks. We may have to ration the vaccine only for the very young, old elderly, people above 50 years, the infirm and the health workers. There is a possibility of doubling the capacity by mixing an adjuvant that might stimulate the immune system along with half dose of the vaccine!
Oseltamivir is a new antiviral drug that might have an effect on this H5N1 virus. It is called Tamiflu. Two tablets a day for five days is the recommended dose but some people believe it might have to be given for ten days.
As of now, it costs 25 dollars for ten tablets. As a prophylactic it will have to be once a week for the duration of the epidemic. We do not know much about its side effects. Another drug that might be useful in the event of Tamiflu being unavailable is Zanamivir (Relenza is the trade name).
The sad part of the story is that 90 percent of these drugs are bought by the G8 countries. The rest of the world will have to make do with the remaining 10 percent. Really Mathew Law is working here: "He who hath shall be given".
This is the level playing ground in globalization that our political masters are trying to push down our throats!
For the medical profession that wants to know more about this threat there is a nice monogram-THE MONSTER AT OUR DOOR-threat of avian 'flu- by Mike Davis. I am grateful to Mike for the material for this write up. I have been very generous in drawing information from there.
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, and not absence of fear"-- Mark Twain.
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=27932
Re: It?s Spreading
The truth about Bird Flu
By Prof. BM Hegde, New Delh
"Fear always springs from ignorance," said Ralph Waldo Emerson. Nothing could be more true than this in the case of bird flu.
This is another type of influenza. The symptoms are runny nose, headache of varying severity, body aches and pains, high fever, with or without pneumonia presenting as cough and breathlessness with scanty sputum.
In severe cases, signs of respiratory failure set in rapidly and might end up with bleeding and disseminated intra-vascular coagulation and multi-organ failure. Bleeding is more common in those with gastric type of 'Flu.
Those suffering from gastric 'flu will have severe loss of appetite, diarrhoea, vomiting and even bleeding per rectum and occasionally haemetemsis. Many will have sub-clinical infection in any epidemic.
The causative organism is a variant of the influenza virus-H5N1 variety for this pandemic, if ever it happens-hope it doesn't happen as predicted! It was predicted to start sometime between November 2005 and March 2006.
So far no authentic human to human transmission has been reported. The deaths so far have all been in those in close proximity to infected birds.
Influenza is endemic in many places in the winter season. Many a time it could reach epidemic proportions. Epidemic is where the disease spreads exponentially, so fast that the incidence doubles every few days. Pandemic is a global epidemic. In most pandemics there are almost an equal number of people infected but do not show clinical signs severe enough to be noticed by doctors. The latter could only be diagnosed by anti-body titers before and after the pandemics! They could, however, spread the virus around.
The history of influenza pandemics in the past could teach us a lesson or two if another one comes along.
In the last 400 years there were 12 pandemics, roughly three per Century. We had three in the last Century, Spanish 'flu of 1918 where there were a total of 640 million clinical attacks, 50 percent of the then population of 1.2 billion with 12.5 percent case fatality ratio with 80 million dead. The variant was H1N1 type.
Next was the Asian 'Flu of 1957 with H2N2 type. The last was the Hong Kong 'Flu of 1968 due to H5N2 variety. 1918 pandemic had three separate waves with a gap of three months and the last one in 1968 had two waves. If that trend persists in 2006, we should expect total deaths of 2-3 billion (case fatality multiplied by clinical attack rate compounded by the population) what with the population now at 6.6 billion. It could throw all our systems out of gear. The worst would be that all our hospitals, put together, would not be able to cater to even 10 percent of the patients!
This virus spreads even without contact with patients. Their coughing into the air will disseminate the virus in the atmosphere. Touching a patient, his clothes, or even shaking hands, and staying in the vicinity could all spread the disease.
Doorknobs and counter tops can harbour the virus for days! Medical care workers are at a great risk. Crowding and slum dwelling could increase the incidence and case fatality. Society will have to take the responsibility of looking after the sick in the eventuality of the hospitals getting clogged. Patients with respiratory failure will have to be made comfortable to meet their maker in heaven, as there will not be enough respirators to go round. They could be made as comfortable as possible, though.
I had personal experience of the 1968 pandemic. I was working in London and for the Xmas weekend I was the only junior doctor on call. Others were celebrating Xmas. In three days we had as many deaths as to get me cremation money of 490 Sterling pounds at four pounds per cadaver.
This was in one small sub speciality (cardiology and pulmonolgy) teaching hospital in London, when there were 12 medical schools with thrice that number of hospitals those days.
The horrible sight was people in their prime of youth just coming in and dying. The old elderly with respiratory and cardiac ailments simply perished, many of them in their own homes before help could arrive because of dehydration compounded by the winter dry heating systems in their homes. Thank God, by February it had eased a lot.
You will not believe if I told you that the vaccine arrived only in February and we were inoculated then. We were lucky to be alive, thanks to God and our immune systems. Despite all our nano-technology claptrap and claim for advances in medical sciences the situation is no way better than in 1918 or 1968. We have come back one full circle to the days of Hippocrates-"cure rarely, comfort mostly, but console always".
Educated relatives will have to take charge. Home remedies include basically keeping the hydration of the patient, making him comfortable with pain-killers and tepid sponging to get the fever down. Helping them with cleaning and feeding is additional responsibility. Many of them will have no appetite.
That should not be a worry if they recover, but fluid loss is so great that dehydration could kill very fast. Oral re-hydration fluids are better made at home as they require much more salt than the one's available in the market: four cups of boiled cooled water, two tablespoons of sugar and one level spoon of salt.
To be mixed and kept ready for use, patient must be fed continuously in small amounts. Even if they vomit one could feed them by the spoon. If they have appetite liquid food could be given. Hot food is taboo if the temperature is high, but sore throat gets better faster with sips of hot water or hot saltwater gargles.
Where the weather is dry humidifiers will help. Relatives could bolster their immune systems by eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and nutritious diet, avoiding the junk food and cooked meat. Vitamin supplements are useless. There have been three large studies published this week in the best science journals showing that multivitamins and B complexes given as tablets are useless and could even be dangerous. Unlike the claptrap, they do not seem prevent stroke, heart attacks etc. according these studies.
Vaccine against the disease is ready but already doubts are cast on its validity, as the virus seems to have mutated a bit. This is an egg embryo vaccine and takes up to six weeks to prepare and can not be prepared on mass scale.
It is only 70 percent effective, anyway, even when it is good. A total of 300 million does are expected and the G8 countries have already placed orders for 90 percnet of the stocks. We may have to ration the vaccine only for the very young, old elderly, people above 50 years, the infirm and the health workers. There is a possibility of doubling the capacity by mixing an adjuvant that might stimulate the immune system along with half dose of the vaccine!
Oseltamivir is a new antiviral drug that might have an effect on this H5N1 virus. It is called Tamiflu. Two tablets a day for five days is the recommended dose but some people believe it might have to be given for ten days.
As of now, it costs 25 dollars for ten tablets. As a prophylactic it will have to be once a week for the duration of the epidemic. We do not know much about its side effects. Another drug that might be useful in the event of Tamiflu being unavailable is Zanamivir (Relenza is the trade name).
The sad part of the story is that 90 percent of these drugs are bought by the G8 countries. The rest of the world will have to make do with the remaining 10 percent. Really Mathew Law is working here: "He who hath shall be given".
This is the level playing ground in globalization that our political masters are trying to push down our throats!
For the medical profession that wants to know more about this threat there is a nice monogram-THE MONSTER AT OUR DOOR-threat of avian 'flu- by Mike Davis. I am grateful to Mike for the material for this write up. I have been very generous in drawing information from there.
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, and not absence of fear"-- Mark Twain.
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=27932
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
93 + the 11 yr-old (plus the doc?) samples sent for testing? I wonder if these samples are from the area of 65,000 people, or from all over India. The number, 93, says something about how many people are considered "suspected of BF" - remember the first weeks of BF in Turkey, when hundreds rushed to eastern hospitals (esp. Van) and some were being treated without being tested, and some were just admitted, and some just released? This sounds quite similar to me.
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
93 + the 11 yr-old (plus the doc?) samples sent for testing? I wonder if these samples are from the area of 65,000 people, or from all over India. The number, 93, says something about how many people are considered "suspected of BF" - remember the first weeks of BF in Turkey, when hundreds rushed to eastern hospitals (esp. Van) and some were being treated without being tested, and some were just admitted, and some just released? This sounds quite similar to me.
DB said:
Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Re: It?s Spreading
Re: It?s Spreading
Indian 'witchcraft' family killed
A family of five has been beheaded in Sonitpur district, north-east India, by a mob who accused them of witchcraft.
The tea plantation worker and his four children had been blamed for causing a disease which killed two other workers and made many unwell in Assam state.
About 200 villagers tried and sentenced the family in an unofficial court, then publicly beheaded them with machetes.
They then marched to a police station with the heads, chanting slogans denouncing witchcraft and black magic.
'Pregnant wife fled'
The incident occurred at the Sadharu tea plantation near the town of Biswanath Charali, about 300 km (190 miles) north of Guwahati, Assam's main city.
Sixty-year-old Amir Munda, who was killed alongside his two daughters and two sons, was reportedly a traditional healer.
After two plantation workers died and many others became ill from mysterious illness, other members of the Adivasi Santhal community accused him and his family of being the cause.
"A trial was held to prove if Munda and his family were involved in casting evil spells in the tea garden that led to a bout of epidemics in the area," police officer D Das said. "They said the killings would appease the gods.
"Munda's pregnant wife and her three young children managed to escape before the mob killed the other members of the family," A Hazarika, a local police official, told AFP.
Six people were arrested for the killings, Mr Hazarika said.
According to police records, some 200 people have been killed in Assam in the past five years for allegedly practicing witchcraft.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4822750.stm
Re: It?s Spreading
Indian 'witchcraft' family killed
A family of five has been beheaded in Sonitpur district, north-east India, by a mob who accused them of witchcraft.
The tea plantation worker and his four children had been blamed for causing a disease which killed two other workers and made many unwell in Assam state.
About 200 villagers tried and sentenced the family in an unofficial court, then publicly beheaded them with machetes.
They then marched to a police station with the heads, chanting slogans denouncing witchcraft and black magic.
'Pregnant wife fled'
The incident occurred at the Sadharu tea plantation near the town of Biswanath Charali, about 300 km (190 miles) north of Guwahati, Assam's main city.
Sixty-year-old Amir Munda, who was killed alongside his two daughters and two sons, was reportedly a traditional healer.
After two plantation workers died and many others became ill from mysterious illness, other members of the Adivasi Santhal community accused him and his family of being the cause.
"A trial was held to prove if Munda and his family were involved in casting evil spells in the tea garden that led to a bout of epidemics in the area," police officer D Das said. "They said the killings would appease the gods.
"Munda's pregnant wife and her three young children managed to escape before the mob killed the other members of the family," A Hazarika, a local police official, told AFP.
Six people were arrested for the killings, Mr Hazarika said.
According to police records, some 200 people have been killed in Assam in the past five years for allegedly practicing witchcraft.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4822750.stm
Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
MUMBAI: A five-year-old child and two others were placed under isolation at hospitals in bird flu-hit Jalgaon over the weekend. In all, four patients are currently under isolation.
The child, Tina Nanavade from Rawer taluka, was admitted to Nhavi Hospital on Sunday afternoon after she complained of fever and sore throat. She has been put on anti-flu drug, Tamiflu, as a precautionary measure.
The other isolated patients included 40-year-old Sarla More from Jamner, which was not one of the affected villages. "She was in contact with dead poultry and had fever," said joint secretary health ministry Vineet Chaudhry, adding that she was also started on Tamiflu. More has been admitted to Jalgaon Civil Hospital.
A 55-year-old doctor from Amaner taluka also got himself admitted to the same facility after an egg cracked on his palm, though he was not from any of the affected areas.
"He has swelling in his foot and face as an allergic reaction to Tamiflu—a drug that is known to have severe reactions," said a doctor attending to him.
Earlier on Friday, an 11-year-old from Salve village had been placed under isolation at Chopada Rural Hospital. Central teams have sent 11 human samples to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), Delhi and the National Institute of Virology, Pune, for testing on Sunday...
These are in addition to the 93 samples sent on Saturday. Officials said the process was part of surveillance and had been drawn randomly from asymptomatic persons in affected areas.
Meanwhile, surveillance is being carried out in the four villages where the bird flu virus (H5N1) was detected. On Sunday, culling operations came to a close, with the animal husbandry department putting to death 91,161 birds from backyard farms of farmers for whom the state has disbursed Rs 20.8 lakh as compensation.
"Every house within the three-km radius (whether they had poultry or not) is being disinfected with formalin," said animal husbandry commissioner Bijay Kumar.
He added that by Monday morning, 100 fresh poultry samples from 15 tehsils outside the four bird flu-hit zones will be sent to the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory at Bhopal for testing.
Meanwhile, the 300 cullers who had come from other parts of the state have been placed under a week-long quarantine as per WHO norms. At the end of the quarantine period, their blood samples will be sent to NIV and only then will they be allowed to leave for their homes.
Re: India: Tamiflu given to 11-year-old boy
MUMBAI: A five-year-old child and two others were placed under isolation at hospitals in bird flu-hit Jalgaon over the weekend. In all, four patients are currently under isolation.
The child, Tina Nanavade from Rawer taluka, was admitted to Nhavi Hospital on Sunday afternoon after she complained of fever and sore throat. She has been put on anti-flu drug, Tamiflu, as a precautionary measure.
The other isolated patients included 40-year-old Sarla More from Jamner, which was not one of the affected villages. "She was in contact with dead poultry and had fever," said joint secretary health ministry Vineet Chaudhry, adding that she was also started on Tamiflu. More has been admitted to Jalgaon Civil Hospital.
A 55-year-old doctor from Amaner taluka also got himself admitted to the same facility after an egg cracked on his palm, though he was not from any of the affected areas.
"He has swelling in his foot and face as an allergic reaction to Tamiflu—a drug that is known to have severe reactions," said a doctor attending to him.
Earlier on Friday, an 11-year-old from Salve village had been placed under isolation at Chopada Rural Hospital. Central teams have sent 11 human samples to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), Delhi and the National Institute of Virology, Pune, for testing on Sunday...
These are in addition to the 93 samples sent on Saturday. Officials said the process was part of surveillance and had been drawn randomly from asymptomatic persons in affected areas.
Meanwhile, surveillance is being carried out in the four villages where the bird flu virus (H5N1) was detected. On Sunday, culling operations came to a close, with the animal husbandry department putting to death 91,161 birds from backyard farms of farmers for whom the state has disbursed Rs 20.8 lakh as compensation.
"Every house within the three-km radius (whether they had poultry or not) is being disinfected with formalin," said animal husbandry commissioner Bijay Kumar.
He added that by Monday morning, 100 fresh poultry samples from 15 tehsils outside the four bird flu-hit zones will be sent to the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory at Bhopal for testing.
Meanwhile, the 300 cullers who had come from other parts of the state have been placed under a week-long quarantine as per WHO norms. At the end of the quarantine period, their blood samples will be sent to NIV and only then will they be allowed to leave for their homes.
Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Re: India:Tamiflu 11yo boy, 5yo girl, 40yo woman
Re: India:Tamiflu 11yo boy, 5yo girl, 40yo woman
<table class="TableClas" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td>Three persons, including a boy and a doctor, who were suffering from fever, were today kept under medical observation here for suspected symptoms of bird flu. The district administration, however, said no confirmed human case of the disease had been found. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>?A woman in Jamner and a Jalgaon doctor were found suffering from fever during surveillance by medical teams today,? Animal Husbandry Commissioner Bijay Kumar said. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>The two have been admitted to hospital and were under observation. They were being administered medication, he said. Health officials also found a boy with fever in Jalgaon district and put him under observation Friday evening, District Collector Vijay Singhal said. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>The boy is reported to have handled poultry. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>The district collector said the boy was thoroughly examined by a team of specialists from National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi and National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, yesterday. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>Singhal said while the boy did not come under 'suspected' category, but as a precautionary measure, he had been kept under observation in the isolation ward and was also given Tamiflu, the most potent drug against avian influenza. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>"The outbreak in backyard poultry here was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, but it has not infected humans so far," Singhal said. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>Meanwhile, the administration has completed culling nearly 80,000 chicken in four villages declared infected by the avian influenza. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>"The culling is over. Till yesterday, 83,259 birds were killed," the animal husbandry commissioner said.</td></tr></tbody></table>
Re: India:Tamiflu 11yo boy, 5yo girl, 40yo woman
<table class="TableClas" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td>Three persons, including a boy and a doctor, who were suffering from fever, were today kept under medical observation here for suspected symptoms of bird flu. The district administration, however, said no confirmed human case of the disease had been found. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>?A woman in Jamner and a Jalgaon doctor were found suffering from fever during surveillance by medical teams today,? Animal Husbandry Commissioner Bijay Kumar said. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>The two have been admitted to hospital and were under observation. They were being administered medication, he said. Health officials also found a boy with fever in Jalgaon district and put him under observation Friday evening, District Collector Vijay Singhal said. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>The boy is reported to have handled poultry. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>The district collector said the boy was thoroughly examined by a team of specialists from National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi and National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, yesterday. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>Singhal said while the boy did not come under 'suspected' category, but as a precautionary measure, he had been kept under observation in the isolation ward and was also given Tamiflu, the most potent drug against avian influenza. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>"The outbreak in backyard poultry here was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, but it has not infected humans so far," Singhal said. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>Meanwhile, the administration has completed culling nearly 80,000 chicken in four villages declared infected by the avian influenza. </td></tr><tr><td height="5"> </td></tr><tr><td>"The culling is over. Till yesterday, 83,259 birds were killed," the animal husbandry commissioner said.</td></tr></tbody></table>
"Don't Panic" says public Health Minister
"Don't Panic" says public Health Minister
Couldn't find the thread where this was first noted, so if the mods know where it is at, they can merge
However, when I am told not to panic, then maybe I should. Check out the new disease name. I am running out of disease name parameters. After second thought chicken gunia fever could be chickungunya, you think?
No epidemic in Malegaon, minister says don't panic
Nasik, Mar 20: Maharashtra Public Health Minister, Vmal Mundada, today urged people of Malegaon, where more than 1000 people were admitted to hospitals following fever since February 27, not to panic as test reports of blood samples of patients revealed that "there is no cases of dengue or malaria".
Of the blood sample reports, two patients were having chicken-gunia-fever, but there is no reports of malaria or dengue, Mundada, after visiting Wadia and Ali Akbar hospitals in the district, where the patients have been admitted, said.
She said 78 employees of health department are daily conducting house-to-house surveys in the district.
The municipal corporation has also undertaken a clean-up drive, she said.
Bureau Report
"Don't Panic" says public Health Minister
Couldn't find the thread where this was first noted, so if the mods know where it is at, they can merge
However, when I am told not to panic, then maybe I should. Check out the new disease name. I am running out of disease name parameters. After second thought chicken gunia fever could be chickungunya, you think?
No epidemic in Malegaon, minister says don't panic
Nasik, Mar 20: Maharashtra Public Health Minister, Vmal Mundada, today urged people of Malegaon, where more than 1000 people were admitted to hospitals following fever since February 27, not to panic as test reports of blood samples of patients revealed that "there is no cases of dengue or malaria".
Of the blood sample reports, two patients were having chicken-gunia-fever, but there is no reports of malaria or dengue, Mundada, after visiting Wadia and Ali Akbar hospitals in the district, where the patients have been admitted, said.
She said 78 employees of health department are daily conducting house-to-house surveys in the district.
The municipal corporation has also undertaken a clean-up drive, she said.
Bureau Report