Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

More discussion on Tamiflu resistance in Egypt:
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01280701/H5N1_N294S_Frequency.html

Originally Posted by [URL="http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01280701/H5N1_N294S_Frequency.
html"

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01280701/H5N1_N294S_Frequency.html[/url]
The data from the Gharbiya cluster string suggests N294S is present in H5N1 circulating in Egypt.
Sequencing of bird isolates in the region are necessary to determine the distribution of N294S in
the region. However, the testing to date does not rule out the presence of N294S as a minor component
in the patients, which is not readily apparent until the minor component emerges because of the selection
pressure of the Tamiflu treatment.

This issue can be most easily addressed by sequencing of samples collected several days after the start of
Tamiflu treatment. In Egypt, all five of the confirmed patients this season have died, as have the last four
cases from last season, although all patients have been treated with Tamiflu.

So maybe they will consider treating with Amantadine? Or an antiviral cocktail?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Indonesia and South Korea:
http://www.iht.com/articles/
ap/2007/01/21/asia/AS-GEN-Asia-Bird-Flu.php
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/
L2844402.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Azerbaijan, 14 year old dead:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/
L2844402.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pandemic Flu Exercise in Britain:
http://afludiary.blogspot.com
/2007/01/operation-winter-willow-part-one.html

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Good Sunday morning to you, Indigo Girl!

I don't know what proves scarrier: the "if tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy" quote or the avian bird flu pandemic! Thank you for all of this research you have provided. Must now get serious and look at this problem with big eyes and a sound mind!

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Originally Posted by TeleRNer

Good Sunday morning to you, Indigo Girl!

I don't know what proves scarrier: the "if tyranny and oppression come to this land, it
will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy" quote or the avian bird flu pandemic!
Thank you for all of this research you have provided. Must now get serious and look at
this problem with big eyes and a sound mind!

Welcome to the thread. You are a brave soul. I know how very difficult it is to be with
this material. For support I would recommend going over to this link: http://www.<br /> flutrackers.com/fo...play.php?f=763
http://www.flutrackers.com
/forum/showthread.php?t=14101

Just introduce yourself as an nurse newcomer. That thread was provided for HCW. Believe me all of the flu forums have nurses and docs on them as well as scientists and people from many walks of life, and each has a different focus. If you choose to learn more about this information, you will need support. You can ask questions, and those folks will provide very basic lifesaving information for you.

Feel free to comment or question over here also at any time. If I do not know the answer, I will ask elsewhere. We have lots of resources and many dedicated people working for the common good. That is what it is all about, working for the common good.

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Commentary on the recent mortality in Azerbaijan:
http://www.
recombinomics.com/News/01280702/H5N1_Azerbaijan_Fatal.html
Unfortunately, this is one disease where a negative result, even several negative results, does not
mean that this boy did not die of avian flu. How can we forget that case that had several negative
tests and two post mortems before a final diagnosis of avian flu was made? The answer is, that we
can't. This case may never make the WHO's list of definitive dx of avian flu. The reality is that there
are probably more positive cases than we think there are. This case fits the profile.

Originally Posted by [URL="http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01280702/H5N1_Azerbaijan_Fatal.html"

http://
www.recombinomics.com/News/01280702/H5N1_Azerbaijan_Fatal.html[/url]
"According to information from the institute, the boy died today in the morning," Anar Kadyrly said. "Azeri
specialists suspected he had bird flu, but three tests conducted in Baku showed he had acute pneumonia."

The above comments describe the failure to detect H5N1 in three tests of a fatal pneumonia case, who was
the brother of a fatal H5N1 case last year. Last year’s case was part of one of two cluster linked to feathers
from wild birds.

The death of a 14M with “acute pneumonia” strongly suggests that the negative test results this year were false.

http://afludiary.blogspot.com
/2007/01/azerbaijan-bird-flu-suspect-dies.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2007/01/open-
and-closure.html
http://afludiary.blogspot.com
/2007/01/japan-third-outbreak-indentified-as.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continuing education credit available on panflu education:
(hat tip curevents.com/dryheat)
http://www.nurse.com/ce/Syllabus.html?CCID=3833

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Originally Posted by indigo girl

Welcome to the thread. You are a brave soul. I know how very difficult it is to be with this material. For support I would recommend going over to this link: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=763

Just introduce yourself as an nurse newcomer. That thread was provided for HCW. Believe me all of the flu forums have nurses and docs on them as well as scientists and people from many walks of life, and each has a different focus. If you choose to learn more about this information, you will need support. You can ask questions, and those folks will provide very basic lifesaving information for you.

Feel free to comment or question over here also at any time. If I do not know the answer, I will ask elsewhere. We have lots of resources and many dedicated people working for the common good. That is what it is all about, working for the common good.

I wish to follow up on indigo girl's comment about FluTrackers. FluTrackers.com is dedicated to help lessen morbidity and mortality from diseases around the world. Right now the focus is on an H5N1 pandemic because of the horrific consequences of such a pandemic. In the event of a pandemic, nurses everywhere will be on the frontlines battling the spread of the disease.

We encourage all Health Care Workers (HCW) to join FluTrackers to ask questions and share your knowledge and expertise as we face a potential pandemic.

Laidback Al
Senior Moderator
www.flutrackers.com

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Hungary continues to have problems with avian flu. Makes you wonder about the neighboring countries...
Romania and Bulgaria both found H5N1 last year. So, if the same types of migrating birds are going there
this year? Both countries are banning poultry products from Hungary in an effort to prevent H5N1 from entering.
They just can not prevent it from flying in.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/
L29137160.htm
http://www.
bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aQI4HMcUfukA&refer=worldwide
(hat tip curevents.com/dutchie)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vietnam, still battling avian flu:
http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/
2007/01/vietnam_sends_r.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A "feel good" article from India says that they have not found H5N1 in the birds that they tested. They do know,
however, that these birds are migrating from areas where the virus is being found. They just have not found it,
yet. They did find it last year.
What are the chances?
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/1...0900040001.htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Russia, in the area just north of Azerbaijan, H5N1 found in dead domestic birds.
I should point out that you are far more likely to find the virus by looking at dead birds rather than live ones:
(hat tip Flutrackers/Dutchy)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29248891.
htm
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interesting story from Japan, how did this happen?
(hat tip PIF/Rick)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/
20070130TDY02008.htm

Originally Posted by [URL="http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070130TDY02008.htm"

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070130TDY02008.htm[/url]
The operator of a poultry farm where a number of chickens died in the latest bird flu outbreak in Okayama Prefecture
said he had no idea how the chickens contracted the virus, and stressed that his farm had taken extra precautions to
prevent the disease.
At the Hashimoto poultry farm in Takahashi, Okayama Prefecture, all windows and ventilation holes have been covered
with nylon sheets and wire netting to prevent other birds from coming in.
"When I found 11 dead chickens in the corner [of the farm], I couldn't believe it," he said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More from Effect Measure on Sick Leave Policies and Compensation for Culling:
http://scienceblogs.
com/effectmeasure/2007/01/sick_birds_and_sick_workers.php#more
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Panflu Planning in Colorado:
http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2007/01/video-plan.
html
http://afludiary.blogspot.com/
2007/01/larimer-county-colorado-gets-it.html

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

This is interesting. Thank you NAMRU3 or we would never have this
timely information:
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01290701/H5N1_M230I_Convergence.html
<snip>
Recently NAMRU-3 has released HA sequences from fatal H5N1 infections
in Egypt this season. The initial sequence was from an infection in
Gharbiya in October and contained a change, M230I, adjacent to the
receptor binding domain. This change had not been previously reported
in H5N1 Qinghai isolates. However, it is present is all three human
seasonal strains, H3N2, H1N1, and influenza B. Moreover it creates
a five amino acid match with influenza B at positions 226-230 (QSGRI).
M230I is also in other serotypes involved in transmission between mammals.
<snip>

New Panflu thread starts here:
http://allnurses.com/forums/f8/new-pandemic-flu-thread-2007-a-204057.html

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Originally Posted by indigo girl

This is interesting. Thank you NAMRU3 or we would never have this
timely information:
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01290701/H5N1_M230I_Convergence.html
<snip>
Recently NAMRU-3 has released HA sequences from fatal H5N1 infections
in Egypt this season. The initial sequence was from an infection in
Gharbiya in October and contained a change, M230I, adjacent to the
receptor binding domain. This change had not been previously reported
in H5N1 Qinghai isolates. However, it is present is all three human
seasonal strains, H3N2, H1N1, and influenza B. Moreover it creates
a five amino acid match with influenza B at positions 226-230 (QSGRI).
M230I is also in other serotypes involved in transmission between mammals.
<snip>

New Panflu thread starts here:
http://allnurses.com/forums/f8/new-pandemic-flu-thread-2007-a-204057.html

Hey! Where did this thread go? I don't know the exact meaning of NAMRU3.........but isn't that an official US Navy title?

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Originally Posted by gr8greens

Hey! Where did this thread go? I don't know the exact meaning of NAMRU3.........but isn't that an official US Navy title?

Last post on this thread, but I will answer the question by giving you a link.
Please don't bash me for this link because it really points out that the military has labs in places all over the world. Who knew? NAMRU3 is Navy, yes, and that is the short answer if you don't want to do the link. AI is an abbreviation for avian influenza. PI, I think refers to pandemic influenza.

http://tinyurl.com/35fp3t

Panflu information is now at this thread:
http://allnurses.com/forums/f8/new-p...-a-204057.html

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

NAMRU 3, the U.S. Naval lab in Egypt, sent Capt Boynton to speak at a microbiology conference in northern California recently, to report the situation on the ground in Egypt with regards to H5N1. Because Tamiflu resistance is of such great concern, this conference was an eye opener to many microbiologists, no doubt.

Originally Posted by www.asm.org/Membership/index.asp?bid=23253

30-31 March, 2007. The Northern California Branch of the American Society for Microbiology 24th Annual Spring Meeting - "Spring Ahead: Microbiology Issues in 2007" at the San Ramon Marriott in San Ramon, CA. Our sessions will include: Friday AM - "Film at 11: An Expose of Biofilms" & "Mycological Musings" Friday PM - "How Safe Are My Leafy Vegetables?" Saturday AM - "MRSA, MRSA, Me!" & "Vaccine Preventable Diseases" Saturday PM - A special session "Emerging Influenza Issues" where we will have speakers telling us about pandemic response measures, emerging resistance and a view from the ground in Egypt - site of recent human H5N1 cases found with resistance Tamiflu...meeting
registration fees have been kept low in order for us to get this information out to fellow Northern California Microbiologists.

NAMRU 3 is working closely with the Egyptians:
http://www.recombinomics.com/phylo/E...aborators.html