Re: Indonesia H2H Cover-up?
I posted this on the Breaking news Indonesia thread earlier... It's a summary of why this thread is entitled as it is... I think, however, that apparent coverup is a case of a "sin of omission" rather than a "sin of commission". I don't think Indonesia has the wear-with-all to deal with this --> so they haven't. Systemic systems problems are very difficult to fix. Poverty doesn't help...
Here's lots of stuff from H5N1 in Indonesian pigs last year (I left out one that makes the formatting go all cockeyed; use the link instead).
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... ProMed Mail, Snowy Owl links and info from last year and reports/ comments from many others including Niman ~~ from last year (4/05 through 5/05). H5N1 in pigs, the mixing vessel, his may be why Osterholm said the pandemic was likely to come out of Indonesia...
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ProMed in April, 05:
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus/..._ID:1000,28662
<table summary=""> <tbody><tr><td nowrap="nowrap" align="right">
Archive Number</td> <td nowrap="nowrap" colspan="1" rowspan="1" align="left">20050412.1058</td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap" align="right">
Published Date</td> <td nowrap="nowrap" colspan="1" rowspan="1" align="left">12-APR-2005</td></tr><tr><td nowrap="nowrap" align="right">
Subject</td> <td nowrap="nowrap" colspan="1" rowspan="1" align="left">PRO/AH/EDR> </td></tr> </tbody> </table>
AVIAN INFLUENZA - EASTERN ASIA (44):
INDONESIA, PIGS: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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A ProMED-mail post
<
http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<
http://www.isid.org>
[1]
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005
From: Irene Lai <
iwlai@attglobal.net>
Source: Kompas, 9 Apr 2005 [translated from Indonesian, edited]
Indonesia: Avian Influenza Virus Identified in Pigs
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Ca Nidom, a molecular biology researcher from [the Centre for]
Tropical Disease Control, Airlangga University, Surabaya, East Java,
has reportedly identified avian influenza virus in throat swabs and
sera of pigs by RT-PCR. [District location not mentioned].
Inactivated RNA isolates have been sent to the Tokyo University,
where 8 fragments (HA, NA, PA, PB1, PB2, M, NP, NS) were sequenced.
Results showed that the virus was [structurally?] similar to the
avian influenza virus from poultry, and is characterised by high
pathogenicity (based on the study regarding the cleavage site).
--
Dr. Irene Lai
International SOS
<
iwlai@attglobal.net>
******
[2]
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005
From: Irene Lai <
iwlai@attglobal.net>
Source: Kompas, 5 Apr 2005 [5 first paragraphs translated from
Indonesian, edited]
<
http://www.kompas.com/kompas%2Dcetak...mi/1676599.htm>
Indonesia: Agriculture Department to Investigate Avian Influenza Virus in Pigs
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The Department of Agriculture will study the discovery of avian
influenza virus from infected pigs. The agriculture department will
carry out sampling from several pig farms. More research is needed,
especially regarding the background and route through which the
infection of pigs with avian flu virus took place.
The Minister of Agriculture, Anton Apriyantono, said to the
journalist on Mon, 11 Apr 2005 in Jakarta, that his staff has already
ordered the General Director of Farming Production to investigate
that finding. "We need confirmation because the news is not clear
yet. First, it is not clear where the pigs are originally from, what
is their current location and which type of pigs have been involved".
The General Director of Farming Production will assist the veterinary
investigators in studying samples from pigs. "We are already working
on it", said Anton
As broadcast on Saturday, the molecular biology researcher in
Airlangga University, CA Nidom, discovered the avian influenza virus
in pigs. The finding was based on identification of [DNA/RNA?] and
might be interpreted as indicative for the presence of new avian
influenza cases in Indonesia. "We are responding to that report by
taking samples from pigs in Indonesia. Is it correct that pigs have
been infected? For me this is still the question", he said.
--
Dr. Irene Lai
International SOS
<
iwlai@attglobal.net>
[ProMED-mail is grateful to Dr Lai for sending us the above
translated reports. - Mod.AS]
[These reports are somewhat contradictory. On the one hand it is
suggested that the complete genome of an avian influenza virus
isolated from a pig in Indonesia has been sequenced from RT-PCR
fragments, whereas on the other hand the presence of avian influenza
virus infection in pigs in Indonesia has still to be confirmed by
isolation of infectious virus. The serotype of the virus does not
appear to have been established, so it cannot be assumed at this
stage that the virus is the H5N1 East Asian epidemic strain.
However, although the situation is somewhat confused, these reports
cannot be dismissed lightly, because the presence of H5N1 virus in
pigs might increase the risk of adaptation of the epidemic avian
influenza virus to growth and transmission in mammals -- although it
should be emphasized that the role of pigs as mixing vessels in the
generation of pandemic influenza viruses is no more than a
hypothesis. Further information is awaited with some apprehension. -
Mod.CP]
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Niman's Recombinomics Commentary FROM LAST YEAR:
H5N1 in Indonesian Pigs Confirmed
Recombinomics Commentary
May 25, 2005
The government responded to the media attention by carrying out its
own survey, and found H5N1 in three out of eight pigs it tested in Banten,
Naipospos told Nature. Like those tested by Nidom, the pigs showed no
outward signs of disease.
Despite this worrying result, communication has faltered between
Indonesia and the international organizations charged with monitoring
animal health, such as the United Nations' Food an Agriculture Organization
(FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
When interviewed by Nature last week, the OIE's regional representative
for the Asia-Pacific region still referred to the presence of H5N1 in pigs
as "a rumour".
The above story of H5N1 in pigs in Indonesia has parallels to the human and birdflu found in pigs in South Korea. WHO's initial response was that the human WSN/33 sequences were a lab error. Eventually they did send a high ranking member who saw the data generated while he was in the lab. Although he commented "something is going on here", WHO has yet to issue a statement.
Previously, the WHO had written a press release indicating that they were
going to halt verification efforts, but that release may have never circulated.
In South Korea the pigs are infected with two human (H1N1 and H1N2) and one avian (H9N2)flu virus.
The viruses are evolving, the pigs are dying, yet WHO just hears a noisy car.
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CIDRAP piece (Osterholm's organization) FROM LAST YEAR
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/con...2705avflu.html
Indonesian pigs have avian flu virus; bird cases double in China
May 27, 2005 (CIDRAP News) ? Avian influenza could be infecting up to half of the pig population in some areas of Indonesia, but without causing symptoms, Nature magazine reported in this week's edition.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials said a flu outbreak among wild birds is twice as large as previously reported, but they denied reports of human cases.
In Indonesia, Chairul Nidom, a virologist at Airlangga University's tropical disease center in Surabaya, Java, was conducting independent research earlier this year. He tested the blood of 10 apparently healthy pigs housed near poultry farms in western Java where avian flu had broken out, Nature reported. Five of the pig samples contained the H5N1 virus.
The Indonesian government has since found similar results in the same region, Nature reported. Additional tests of 150 pigs outside the area were negative. However, the story said, lack of funding for surveillance and testing is a concern to Nidom, who said he has samples from 90 more pigs from Banten, but he can't afford to test them or to broaden his investigation.
"I think pigs pose a much greater threat of spreading the disease to humans than poultry," Nidom told Nature. Pigs are often described as a mixing vessel in which human and avian flu viruses can swap genetic information, which could lead to a hybrid virus with the ability to spread easily among people.
The Indonesian government sent a report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on May 23 that describes three surveys involving "purposive and pooled sampling" of pigs, with a total 187 samples.
The first survey, Nidom's Feb 23 study on one farm, yielded 5 positives out of 10 samples tested for H5N1. The second, on Apr 14 in another village, involved 10 nasal swabs from 31 pigs and produced positives in 6 of the 10.
The third survey included six pigs from the same village as Nidom's small survey and yielded 1 positive swab. The report says that no pig has shown visible signs of avian flu. It lists the source of the pig infections as "contamination with chicken manure" from adjacent backyard chicken farms.
Additional tests included 250 blood serum and swab samples from pigs in seven provinces, the report says. All the results were negative.
The Nature report said the H5N1 virus was found in pigs in China in 2001 and 2003, but two surveys last year, involving 8,457 pig samples, found no evidence of the virus.
In China, more than 1,000 migratory birds have died of H5N1 avian flu in Qinghai province, according to a report today by Xinhua, the Chinese news agency.
The size of the outbreak, initially reported as not being H5N1, grew this week from 178 birds to 519, and now to more than 1,000. Emergency measures are being taken in Qinghai, including increasing infectious disease control and surveillance for animals and humans, Xinhua reports. The agency said earlier that authorities planned to vaccinate 3 million poultry in the region.
The Chinese government has repeatedly said that no people have been infected with avian flu, despite unconfirmed claims on Internet sites that as many as 120 people have died of the illness.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking details on the provincial outbreak, according to a Canadian Press (CP) report quoting Maria Cheng, WHO spokeswoman in Beijing.
"We've seen those reports about possible human H5N1 cases, and have requested more information from the Ministry of Health," Cheng said. The WHO is urging China to share virus samples from the dead birds as well as information on human exposure to dead birds.
"It would be premature to consider this event over," Cheng said.
In a separate report in Xinhua yesterday, Chinese researchers claimed to have developed two H5N1 vaccines that are "100%" effective for birds, animals, and people, CP reported. Officials at the WHO office in Beijing, however, described that research as involving only birds and said no animal or human clinical trials have been conducted.
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Indonesian report to OIE
http://www.oie.int/eng/info/hebdo/aIS_69.htm#Sec2
Click the link!
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Nature report on H5N1 virus in pigs in Indonesia (Java)
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...l/435390a.html
Nature 435, 390-391 (26 May 2005) | <abbr title="Digital Object Identifier">doi</abbr>: 10.1038/435390a
Bird flu spreads among Java's pigs
David Cyranoski, Tokyo
Abstract
Indonesian government scrambles to track disease.
Concerns over the presence of a dangerous strain of avian flu virus in Indonesia's pigs are growing, as government tests confirm the existence of infection. In some areas, the H5N1 virus could be infecting up to half of the pig population, without causing any signs of disease.
The initial discovery was made earlier this year by an independent researcher working outside national and international surveillance systems. Chairul Nidom, a virologist at Airlangga University's tropical-disease centre in Surabaya, Java, found the H5N1 virus in five of ten pigs tested from Banten in western Java.
The presence of the virus in pigs is a particular worry because the animals can harbour both bird and human flu viruses, and act as a 'mixing vessel' for the emergence of a strain of avian flu that can easily infect humans. There are now signs that the virus could be spreading unchecked through the pig population.
Nidom says that the pigs he tested showed no signs of illness, and the only reason he tested them was that they were kept near a chicken farm that was struck by avian flu last year.
Nature has discovered that a government survey has since found similar results in the same region.
The virus was not found in 150 pigs tested from outside the area. Although the government says it has stepped up the surveillance of pigs in its seven satellite laboratories, it may fail to spot any spread of the virus because resources are short. "It's a big country," says Tri Satya Putri Naipospos, director of animal health at Indonesia's agriculture ministry. "If you want to commit to eradicating a disease, you need more money."
Nidom is also frustrated by a lack of resources. He says he has samples from another 90 pigs in Banten, but cannot afford to test them or to expand his survey to other areas.
Some health officials in Asia fear the presence of avian flu in pigs even more than in chickens or ducks. "I think pigs pose a much greater threat of spreading the disease to humans than poultry," says Nidom.
The virus was found in pigs in China in 2001 and in 2003 (see
Nature 430, 955; 2004). The country stepped up its surveillance, and two surveys in 2004 found that all 8,457 samples tested were free of H5N1.
Nidom's discovery of H5N1 in pigs is a wake-up call for the Indonesian government. He says that when he first alerted the government to his findings in February, there was no reaction. "I don't know why they are so passive," he says. Nidom took his findings to a local newspaper, the Jakarta-based
Kompas, which ran the story on 9 April. The news spread to international media earlier this month.
The government responded to the media attention by carrying out its own survey, and found H5N1 in three out of eight pigs it tested in Banten, Naipospos told
Nature. Like those tested by Nidom, the pigs showed no outward signs of disease.
Despite this worrying result, communication has faltered between Indonesia and the international organizations charged with monitoring animal health, such as the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). When interviewed by
Nature last week, the OIE's regional representative for the Asia-Pacific region still referred to the presence of H5N1 in pigs as "a rumour".
The FAO and OIE cannot act until they have received official government reports, says Carolyn Benigno, animal-health officer at the FAO's regional headquarters in Bangkok. She hadn't heard of Nidom's work until
Nature contacted her last week. However, Naipospos complains that although she is preparing an official report for the FAO, she cannot fast-track it because the FAO and the OIE do not classify the case as an emergency. "This is not an outbreak, it's a finding," she says, because the pigs are not ill or dying. As
Nature went to press, the Indonesian government was preparing to send a report on the matter to the OIE. (See
Box).
Nidom says he would like to expand his project, and to sample pigs from eastern Java. But he is not counting on being given the resources to do so. This is his second run-in with the government ? in 2003 he caused a stir by releasing data showing that mass deaths of chickens at the time were caused by H5N1.
) Well, no such luck! An Indonesian study of many people in several areas where there had been family clusters showed others had not been infected.
