Pandemic News/Awareness.

indigo girl · Apr 8, 2007

Bangladesh where H5N1 is still spreading:

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2007/04/bangladesh-bird-flu-in-poultry.html

He said hundreds of veterinary and health officials had been mobilised and the movement of chickens had been banned outside a 10 sq km (3.9 sq miles) area around the affected farms to check the spread of the avian flu.
Some 75,000 chickens have been culled so far from 27 farms since the outbreak was confirmed last month.
More than 500 workers at the infected farms have been given a local version of the Tamiflu anti-viral drug as a precaution, Health Ministry officials said.

indigo girl · Apr 9, 2007

Indonesia's 74th victim of bird flu, a 29 year old man has died. Indonesia has now managed to surpass Vietnam, as the country with the highest number of admitted fatalities due to H5N1:

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/04/08/2003355753

The 29-year-old man was the 94th person infected by the disease in Indonesia, the country worst hit by the virus. He died on Thursday in Solo, about 500km from the capital Jakarta.
The government had hoped to eradicate bird flu deaths this year, but instead at least 16 people have perished after contracting the virus.
People who contract the disease in Indonesia are very likely to die, as its bird flu fatality rate is nearly 79 percent.

indigo girl · Apr 9, 2007

Animated MSNBC map showing spread of avian flu in birds, other animals, and humans.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12375868

indigo girl · Apr 9, 2007

Pakistan reporting new areas of H5N1 outbreaks:

http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/2007/04/pakistan_report.html

KARACHI, April 9 (Reuters) - Pakistan reported new bird flu cases on Monday in commercial poultry farms in the southern province of Sindh and in North West Frontier Province, a government official said.

indigo girl · Apr 9, 2007

Council on Foreign Relations Live Webcast - Is Bird Flu Pandemic a Threat?

12 Apr 2007, 6 to 7 PM:

http://www.cfr.org/publication/13000/

indigo girl · Apr 10, 2007

Hindsight Can Be Very Expensive - Avian Flu Diary

An essay on the Florida state legislature decision of whether or not to purchase Tamiflu for the state's pandemic stockpile. It is very hard to believe that they could decide against this. History will judge them very harshly indeed should a category 5 event occur. That is not something that I would want on my conscience.

I wonder, will they ask the good people of the state of Florida or will they just take it on themselves to make this kind of decision? Have they done any research?

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2007/04/hindsight-can-be-very-expensive.html

In the coming weeks the Florida Legislature must decide whether to allocate funds for the purchase of Tamiflu for use in the event of an influenza pandemic. Most states around the country have opted in to a federally subsidized program that allows them to buy this potentially lifesaving drug at nearly 1/10th the retail cost.
Amazingly, it’s looking like Florida will not follow suit.

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/20/news_pf/State/State_ignores_federal.shtml

If state and federal officials are right, the next influenza pandemic could kill 128,000 people in Florida and send 640,000 to hospitals.
Despite that, Florida is the only state in the country considering taking a pass on federal help to get ready.
Last week the federal government sent a letter to Florida's Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, warning it faced a Friday deadline to purchase $36.7-million worth of discounted antiviral drugs to develop a state stockpile.
Gov. Charlie Crist has put that money in his Department of Health budget request and considers it essential, said Health Department spokeswoman Wendy Riemann.
But the chairman of the House committee in charge of that budget said the five-year shelf life of the drugs leaves him skeptical. "It just doesn't rank as one of my priorities," Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach said last week.

(hat tip flutrackers/florida1)

indigo girl · Apr 10, 2007

Update on two recent cases of avian flu from the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, and the World Health Organization:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=75845&postcount=18

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_04_10/en/index.html

The 2 year old is from the more southern area where the mild cases have been occurring. The 15 year old girl is a Coptic Christian, and is from Cairo.

The cases in the northern area of Egypt have been associated with greater virulence, and a high mortality rate. Despite earlier press reports indicating that she was stable, this child is in critical condition.

indigo girl · Apr 10, 2007

Statins lower respiratory death risk according to this article. I am not sure that I would want to use statins but, some might this information useful because there will be no vaccine available should pandemic occur for some 6 to 10 months into the event.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=75861&postcount=5

Statins might buy some time, Frost's team wrote.
"Even if statins are not able to significantly reduce the risk of death from avian influenza, their use could significantly extend the time between disease onset and death," they wrote.
"This additional survival time could increase the effectiveness of anti-influenza drugs, providing a longer time to reduce mortality risks."
Last July, Dr. David Fedson, a retired corporate expert on vaccination, cited studies that suggested statins might calm down immune response. The drugs are known to affect the insides of blood vessels, but their full mechanism of action is not fully understood.

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2007/04/statins-revisited.html

indigo girl · Apr 10, 2007

Studies find clues in warding off pandemics:

(hat tip fluwiki)

http://nsnlb.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070410/NEWS03/204100332/-1/entertainment

Researchers reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in two analyses have found that in cities where health officials imposed stringent containment measures, the population fared better than in cities where plans were helter-skelter or were cobbled together too late to make a difference.
An estimated 600,000 people in the United States and up to 50 million worldwide died in the pandemic. The fierce wave of illnesses struck at the close of World War I just when people thought they could breathe a sigh of relief.
More U.S. troops died of influenza - sometimes called the Spanish flu - than in the war.
In an era when even the best medical minds had no idea that the globe-circling pandemic was caused by a virus, some cities were able to limit infections through common sense methods, scientists say. They also theorize that lessons from the past can have relevance today should another pandemic strike.