G
GaudiaRay
Guest
[Look at the picture of what is happening in Indonesia. No gloves, no masks, no PPE. Go to news article, below.]
WHO vigilant about bird flu in Asia
<!-- END HEADLINE --> <!-- BEGIN STORY BODY --> http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070116/hl_afp/healthfluwhoindonesia_070116163824
GENEVA (AFP) - Senior World Health Organisation (WHO) officials have said that they are maintaining vigilance over bird flu outbreaks in Asia, even though they were following a largely known pattern so far.
Outbreaks of the virulent H5N1 strain in humans in Indonesia, which have killed four people recently, appear to have been sourced from poultry, while control measures in Asia were more effective, the WHO experts told journalists in a telephone briefing on Tuesday.
"Attempts to stifle the spread of the virus in animals, have brought about "a decreased risk in individual human infection... from the H5N1 virus," said the WHO senior official in charge of communicable diseases, David Heymann.
"But that has nothing to do with the risk of a pandemic, which is there as long as this virus is in nature somewhere where it has the possibility to either adapt itself or assort with the human virus and transmit from human to human," he added.
Hours before the comments by the WHO, Japan's agriculture ministry confirmed that the virulent H5N1 strain was behind the nation's latest outbreak of bird flu in a poultry farm in the southwest of the country.
Heymann said signs that hospitals in Indonesia appeared to be overworked were largely down to standard tests on local pilgrims reporting fever after returning from the hajj in Mecca and a range of possible illneses.
WHO officials said five confirmed cases of H5N1 were hospitalised in Indonesia last week. Other suspected cases of bird flu have been negative.
Global influenza programme official Keiji Fukuda said the Indonesian cluster was "most consistent" with exposure to infected birds.
Bird flu outbreaks have also followed seasonal patterns with higher levels of infection during winter in the northern hemisphere.
Some countries with wider vaccination programmes in chickens and ducks have managed to reduce the size of any outbreaks, making them easier to contain, Heymann said.
Fukuda said the WHO was focusing on building up control measures in countries and their ability to respond to flu outbreaks or a potential, deadlier, pandemic strain of influenza that could spread around the world.
"We really feel it will come up one day, whether it's next week or 10 years or 20 years from now, we don't know," Fukuda said.
WHO vigilant about bird flu in Asia
<!-- END HEADLINE --> <!-- BEGIN STORY BODY --> http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070116/hl_afp/healthfluwhoindonesia_070116163824
GENEVA (AFP) - Senior World Health Organisation (WHO) officials have said that they are maintaining vigilance over bird flu outbreaks in Asia, even though they were following a largely known pattern so far.
Outbreaks of the virulent H5N1 strain in humans in Indonesia, which have killed four people recently, appear to have been sourced from poultry, while control measures in Asia were more effective, the WHO experts told journalists in a telephone briefing on Tuesday.
"Attempts to stifle the spread of the virus in animals, have brought about "a decreased risk in individual human infection... from the H5N1 virus," said the WHO senior official in charge of communicable diseases, David Heymann.
"But that has nothing to do with the risk of a pandemic, which is there as long as this virus is in nature somewhere where it has the possibility to either adapt itself or assort with the human virus and transmit from human to human," he added.
Hours before the comments by the WHO, Japan's agriculture ministry confirmed that the virulent H5N1 strain was behind the nation's latest outbreak of bird flu in a poultry farm in the southwest of the country.
Heymann said signs that hospitals in Indonesia appeared to be overworked were largely down to standard tests on local pilgrims reporting fever after returning from the hajj in Mecca and a range of possible illneses.
WHO officials said five confirmed cases of H5N1 were hospitalised in Indonesia last week. Other suspected cases of bird flu have been negative.
Global influenza programme official Keiji Fukuda said the Indonesian cluster was "most consistent" with exposure to infected birds.
Bird flu outbreaks have also followed seasonal patterns with higher levels of infection during winter in the northern hemisphere.
Some countries with wider vaccination programmes in chickens and ducks have managed to reduce the size of any outbreaks, making them easier to contain, Heymann said.
Fukuda said the WHO was focusing on building up control measures in countries and their ability to respond to flu outbreaks or a potential, deadlier, pandemic strain of influenza that could spread around the world.
"We really feel it will come up one day, whether it's next week or 10 years or 20 years from now, we don't know," Fukuda said.
