Pandemic News/Awareness - Thread 3

Ban on the Sale of Chickens and Eggs in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, is Failing

The Times of India referred to the ban as "no more than a joke"

A full 48 hours after the state announced a blanket ban on the sale of chicken and eggs all over Bengal to stop the spread of bird flu, omelettes and chicken rolls are making brisk business across the length and breadth of the city. Forget remote rural areas, the government has failed to enforce the ban in its own backyard. . . .

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata/Bird_flu_ban_no_more_than_a_joke/articleshow/2765652.cms

Suspected Human Avian Influenza Case in Thailand

China View is reporting that a 32 year old man from Phichit Province in Thailand, who is showing flu symptoms, may have contracted bird flu after finding some dead chickens and taking them home to feed his dogs. Phichit Province has confirmed cases of H5N1 in poultry.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/08/content_7582065.htm

The CDC has just released an Influenza Update - Audio Webcast

http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/2008/a080208.htm

Henry Niman has posted key statistics from this webcast:

8.1% of US H1N1 is Tamiflu resistant.

87% of H3N2 is Brisbane (not covered in vaccine).

93% of influenza B is B/Yamagota (not covered by vaccine).

6 childhood deaths (5 of the 6 not yet verified).

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=132345#post132345

Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza: What Pharamcists Need to Know

by Stephan L. Foster, PharmD, FAPhA

University of Tenessee Advanced Studies in Pharmacy.

pdf file at: http://www.utasip.com/files/articlefiles/pdf/ASP_4_12p347_367.pdf

ABSTRACT

Seasonal influenza is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, measured in terms of illness, loss of days from school or work, hospitalizations, and death. The best means to limit that impact is prevention through vaccination and prophylactic treatment with antiviral medications. Healthcare workers (HCW) with influenza that are symptomatic or asymptomatic can become a vector for transmission of infection to others, yet vaccine acceptance nationwide among HCWs is only 42%, thus efforts to prevent nosocomial transmission of seasonal influenza in hospitals are essential.Oseltamivir and zanamivir are effective in preventing influenza infection and in reducing the duration of symptoms and secondary disease transmission in families when administered within 48 hours of symptom onset. During the "Spanish Flu" pandemic of 1918 to 1919, as many as 500 000 individuals in the United States became infected, and between 50 and 100 million individuals died worldwide. Most of the 322 reported cases of H5N1 influenza among people since 1997 have been teenagers or young adults. If H5N1 influenza mutates so that it is easily spread from person to person, and if it drives a pandemic that is the equivalent of the 1918 pandemic in terms of morbidity and mortality, meeting the needs of pandemic influenza patients in the United States would require twice the numbers of hospital beds and ventilators, and nearly 5 times the intensive care unit capacity, than are currently available. Guidelines for pandemic planning describe the components of a comprehensive plan to manage influenza, should a pandemic develop. (Adv Stud Pharm. 2007;4(12):347-366)

Indonesia: Tangerang To Open Bird Flu Crisis Center

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2008/02/indonesia-tangerang-to-open-bird-flu.html

The area in and around Jakarta has become a hotbed of avian flu infections over the past year, with Tangerang being one of the hardest hit areas.

Out of 16 residents of that regency to be diagnosed with bird flu, 14 have died.

Now Tangerang will open a bird flu crisis center to, hopefully, better coordinate the fight against the virus.

Actually, more than 20 WHO confirmed cases lived or worked in or around Tangerang in Baten Province in Indonesia. In fact, the very first confirmed (retrospectively) human bird flu case from Indonesia was Sabrina Nurul Aisyah, a young girl from Serpong. She was 8 years old when she died on July 14, 2005. Each statistic is a real person with a name, a family, concerned relatives, friends, and neighbors.

Question:

Doesn't the WHO have the authority to start preparations and standard operations to avvoid or become prepared for H5N1?

Thanks.

CDC says influenza B strain doesn't match vaccine

Lisa Schnirring Staff Writer

Feb 8, 2008 (CIDRAP News) - The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that most circulating influenza B viruses tested so far this season don't match this year's vaccine, signaling that two of the three vaccine components are off-target. . . . .

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/general/news/feb0808flu.html

The CDC has just released an Influenza Update - Audio Webcast

http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/2008/a080208.htm

Henry Niman has posted key statistics from this webcast:

8.1% of US H1N1 is Tamiflu resistant.

87% of H3N2 is Brisbane (not covered in vaccine).

93% of influenza B is B/Yamagota (not covered by vaccine).

6 childhood deaths (5 of the 6 not yet verified).

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=132345#post132345

Question:

Doesn't the WHO have the authority to start preparations and standard operations to avvoid or become prepared for H5N1?

Thanks.

WHO is the acronym for the World Health Organization, the public health division of the United Nations.

Link to main WHO site: http://www.who.int/en/

From its own web site here is the role of WHO:

WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.

and

WHO fulfils its objectives through its core functions:

providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed;

• shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge;
  
• setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation;
  
• articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;
  
• providing technical support, catalysing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity; and
  
• monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.

Reading through these functions you can see that WHO has no coercive authority for any kind of pandemic preparations.

WHO is simply an international agency with a primary role of monitoring and reporting on public health around the world. It is not an "action" agency and only participates in on-the-ground activity when there is a request by the host governments. WHO will not be taking any active lead in public health around the world once a pandemic starts. Right now it can only offer guidance and advice to countries around the world.

Setting norms and standards sound to me that they have some authority in actions during an event. Thank you for your post. I am very aware what WHO stands for.

this thread is really not useful for me- totally links elsewhere.

Could we have a conversation and not a link war?

Canoehead,

Not sure what you mean. I think the discussion on a possible pandemic and the agencies involved are very important and placed here for a great cause in learning of this flu.