INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raised Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

[Theresa42]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Snowy Owl said
Thank you for your guidence, on this. I can only hope that I have posted a reliable source, not that I want it to be a level four.
It seems to be true, I see we have another version of the same story. I fear that I am right. I hope someone has emailed WHO on this to get the facts, straight.

Now we've seen three different sources of the story. That still doesn't verify it, of course -- but you'd think there must be something to it.

Maybe it's just all a misunderstanding -- a translation error or something -- but it's much better to get it out and cleared up than to ignore it. Many, many thanks for bringing it to everyone's attention! If the story is genuine, it's quite a big one! If it's not genuine, no bad reflection on you or anyone else here. Quite the opposite -- I think it's just a good thing that we're trying to get to the bottom of it!

 

[Siamese]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Was it really a slip-up??

French travel warning was "slip-up" : FM

Foreign Ministry said a warning for Thai travellers to cancel or postpone their trips to France was a "technical slip-up."


The government only meant to urge travellers to exercise greater caution while travelling in France after its diplomats suffered a number of violent robberies around Paris, the foreign ministry said.

"The advice for Thai travellers 'against non-essential travel to France' was a technical slip-up," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The French foreign ministry has assured Thailand that "the French authorities attach great importance to this matter and will take necessary measures to ensure the safety of Thai tourists in Paris," it said.

The ministry continues to urge Thais traveling in France to take greater precautions against crime by keeping their personal possessions with them at all times and avoiding traveling alone.

On Wednesday, Thai Foreign Ministry cautioned Thai citizens to consider postponing or cancelling travelling to France particularly this period because of the threat of crime.

The ministry issued the warning in a statement on Tuesday which said that several robberies or thefts had occurred involving cars belonging to the Thai Embassy in Paris.

"In the past month, at least four robberies occurred to embassy cars and we would like to warn Thais who plan to travel to France to increase their safety measures or consider postponing or canceling travel to France in the summer which would be crowded with tourists and possibly criminals," read the statement.

A thief broke the window of an embassy car in which the Thai commercial attache was traveling when it had stopped at the intersection of a busy road. The diplomat was slightly injured when he resisted the thief, who attempted to snatch his bag, it added. The thief is still at large.
The Nation and Associated Press

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/07/27/headlines/headlines_30009707.php

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Here is an email response I received from WHO in Indonesia this morning.

From: Tallis, Graham
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 10:35 PM
Subject: Pandemic Phase



<dir>I refer to your request to Dr Petersen, WHO Representative to Indonesia, regarding whether it is correct that WHO has raised the pandemic level to 4 for Indonesia in mid July. Dr Petersen has asked me to respond to your query on his behalf.
It is NOT correct that the pandemic phase has been changed. Please note that the WHO Pandemic Phase is applied to the entire world, and not to individual countries. The world remains in WHO pandemic alert phase 3, which means that the new influenza virus (H5N1) causes primarily animal infection but also some human infections. The world will go to WHO pandemic alert phase 4 only if there is sustained human-to-human transmission contained in a local area. Limited human-to-human transmission that is not sustained, as may have occurred in Indonesia as well as other parts of the world, is NOT a reason to go to phase 4.
I trust this information clarifies the current situation for you.




</dir>Dr Graham Tallis
Medical Epidemiologist
CSR Team - Influenza
WHO Jakarta

 

[Reeves]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Level 4 ??? Level 5 ?

WHO failing to report human-to-human transmission of H5N1 bird flu virus
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 width=530 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>WHO failing to report human-to-human transmission of H5N1 bird flu virus







</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>http://Vwww.newstarget.com/019764.html

NewsTarget) Statements published by the U.N.'s World Health Organization (WHO) concerning bird flu outbreaks have not been candid, say critics who accuse the organization of being less than truthful to the public for fear of causing panic.
Although cluster outbreaks have occurred in Asia, Turkey, and Iraq this year, WHO refused to admit that they could be caused by human-to-human transmission, even though it was aware such transmissions were possible years earlier. Following an Indonesian outbreak that was difficult to conceal, WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng finally admitted that there were "about a half dozen" instances of human-to-human transmission. WHO maintains that these clusters occurred due to group contact with a common infected animal source; however, no other agency has been allowed to examine the evidence to determine if WHO's conclusion is correct.
WHO stated that "even if human-to-human transmission did occur, it was in a very limited way," and immediately reassured the scientific community that it did not extend beyond the immediate community. Scientific evidence has shown that the H5N1 strain, which is deadly to humans, can be passed from person to person.
After genetic data leaked from a conference, Researcher Dr. Henry L. Niman was able to determine that although WHO did not give incorrect avian flu data, it withheld important truths. Extensive viral mutations had occurred to a greater extent than WHO implied.
Certain nations will not allow WHO to have access to or publish their genetic data, in order to have an advantage in developing vaccines that may soon have worldwide demand.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Thank you very much Al.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Donaldson - That news source is not reliable. It is a sales site that issues press releases to generate business.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Thank you Theresa42, Snowy Owl, Siam for your contributions to a very interesting thread.

 

[Siamese]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Just a thought here, why would WHO ever admit, to changing the levels and not announcing it. Maybe they decided to keep it as quiet as they can? There must be a reason why three different papers decided to run the story. What happened to BF in Indonesia, it's very quiet there except for the occasional story.

 

[Theresa42]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

I emailed Dick Thompson who wrote back and said: "WHO has definitely NOT changed its pandemic alert level. It remains where it has been, at level THREE."

Which didn't actually answer my question because I asked if there are separate WHO levels for different countries (I know the WHO hasn't changed its global pandemic alert level). I also asked if he could offer an explanation for the reports somehow -- I was thinking perhaps the journalist(s) mistook Indonesia gov't levels for WHO levels -- or perhaps they just got it wildly wrong.

I've emailed one of the newspapers in question to see if they can clarify.

Maybe it's a problem with the machine-translation and the article was merely speculating on what might happen -- or that the WHO was perhaps contemplating the idea. Maybe the journalist in question got the story completely wrong. I dunno. I'd still like some clarification.

Thanks for sending an email, LaidbackAl!

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Also, thanks to you Theresa for sending yours.

 

[Siamese]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Thanks everyone for following up on this, I still think if there is smoke there is fire. I am not totally convinced WHO hasn't raised the level in Indonesia.

 

[Snowy Owl]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

I would like to thank everybody for these informations, we must now wait and see, again.

Seems we must get use to these contradictory informations.

If someone finds out new informations on this please start a new thread.

Again thank you all for the heads up.

Snowy Owl

 

[St Michael]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Thanks everyone for following up on this, I still think if there is smoke there is fire. I am not totally convinced WHO hasn't raised the level in Indonesia.

:iagree:

 

[Theresa42]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raised Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

A poster on another board who speaks Indonesia translated the first article and read all three. I'm reposting his translation and his comments here so everyone can read what he had to say (I hope he doesn't mind). I think he's probably right that the journalist who wrote the initial story got it wildly incorrect. Anyway, here we go...

The translation of the original article:

Headline: Bird Flu in Indonesia Declared Acute: WHO Raises its Status to Level 4

The bird flu plague in Indonesia becomes more alarming as it enters the acute stage. The WHO has raised the status of the spread of Indonesia bird flu from level 3 to level 4.

The level 4 spread of bird flu means that this killing virus has spread between humans in small groups (?cluster?). This information makes the business world more nervous about a competative fall in product exports outside the country.

The Director of the Association for Food and Drink Businesses, Adhi Lukman, urged the government not to raise the infection status to level 5. Moreover, neither to raise it to the most serious peak, level 6.

We get heart troubles hearing the WHO raised the bird flu in Indonesia to level 4. Up one more level, our products are gone goodbye. We would not be able to compete anymore internationally,? said Adhi Lukman in a discussion about raising food safety standards in Indonesia in Jakarta, last Tuesday.

Akhi Lukman said that the more serious bird flu is in a country means that the target export country will tighten imports, Indonesia being no exception. The material goods which are more carefully watched are foodstuff and processed foods.

?The government is in a race for time. If they don?t act faster, the industrial world will suffer mass casualties,? added Adhi Lukman. Adhi urged the Department of Health to truly focus its energy on preventing the raising of the status of the infectious spread.

As is known, the WHO divides the spread of bird flu into 6 levels of seriousness. The first level is not yet epidemic. The second level is where birds spread it among livestock. The third level is where it spreads from livestock (poultry or swine) to humanity. The 4th level is where the bird flu spreads between humans at the small group level (cluster). The 5th group is when the virus spreads to groups of localized humans. The sixth level is where the virus spreads among humans widely, that is, in pandemic form.

Translator's comments:

So, what I think we have here is some business group leader making a public mistake (WHO raising it to Level 4) and the journalist blindly repeating the error. The Timur Tribune journalist actually went to the trouble of confirming it with the Indonesian Health Department who promptly denied that the WHO raised the status....

[T]he Timur Tribune [that's the second article you posted, siam] journalist actually contacted someone from the Health Department to clarify whether Adhi Lukman was correct when he said it was raised to level 4. The Health Deparment source largely, but not very strongly, denied it (perhaps because he was unsure of it).

The Bantam Tribune journalist just wrote up what Lukman said and the Bantam Tribune editor decided to make it into a WHO headline.

Sloppy journalism at the Batam Tribune or wherever they picked up the story from.

 

[Mingus]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raised Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Funny Theresa! , tonight we are on the same things

At the same time I haved found this about Adhi Lukman

zhttp://articles.ibonweb.com/magarticle.asp?num=1111

The company's Marketing Director, Adhi S. Lukman, pointed out that it would have to spend more money if it wanted to open up new markets abroad. "Therefore, we have decided to focus on the domestic market. There are still opportunities here," he said optimistically.

According to data from the Association of All Indonesian Food and Beverage Entrepreneurs (GAPMMI), US$1.02 billion worth of food and beverage products product was exported in 2001, compared with US$966.5 million in the previous year.

That guy is a business guy and is probably the source of this false info.