Bird flu

[PJKru]

Bird flu has reached Romania. People in the affected area are being given anti flu virus jabs because their are fears that if h5f1 strain mixes with human flu it could mutate into a bug that couuld kill thousands of people. Maybe i should take an anti flu virus? What are you thoughts on the bird flu?

[Europa]

I don't think you need Tamiflu (or oseltamivir) jabs just yet, when you're so far away in the UK and H5N1 has only been detected at the Eastern borders of the EU...

Plus, there is a serious shortage of Tamiflu globally, so why make things worse for those who might need it more in affected areas?

[Zeroth]

i don't think its readily available to the public as well.

[Europa]

For more information, Scientific American just published a special report on H5N1 for its November edition of its magazine on its website.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=000DCB5A-9CC7-134E-9CC783414B7F0000

It has practically all the information that you would want to know about brid flu, from new drugs and vaccines in development or testing, outbreak modelling and current state of affairs (including the recent outbreak in Indonesia but not the detection in the UK).

[__earth]

wow, the bird flu might be more globalized than we thought. The parrot that died in Britain was from Suriname. (http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/10/22/birdflu.main/)

[Europa]

Uh, it was suspected that the parrot got it from another bird from Taiwan in the quarantine facility, not from Brazil.

But its irrelevant in the big picture, unless there is an accidental release at the facility. According to news I read somewhere (NewScientist I think) H5N1 is poised to spread west and south of Europe towards France, UK and Africa from Romania and Russia with the mirgating birds. Then, over the coming year, when there is an overlap of birds from different regions, the virus may jump over to North America! 8O So, my guess is that in 18 mths H5N1 will be distributed globally.

[PJKru]

Ignorance, filthy conditions and lack of water risk making traditional Indonesian markets breeding grounds for bird flu in people and poultry, the World Health Organization said.

so it seems there are some habitatual/environmental conditions that cause these birds to have flu.

The exposure to poultry by market stall owners, slaughterers, poultry workers and the customer in the wet marketplace demonstrated that awareness of avian influenza, transmission routes and methods of preventing transmission is limited,"
Indonesia perhaps needs some financial help to spread the message of how bird flu is transmitted. After all the country has just dealt with a tsunami but the bird flu could be tsunami for the whole world therefore i suggest financial aid from the richer nations goest towards improving the conditions of the birds in south east asia.

Millions of Indonesians shop at traditional markets where fruit, vegetables and meat are often sold on the ground in the midst of slush and dirt.

Sanitation in many traditional markets is poor, with dirty or drainage water used to wash produce and stalls.

The WHO has already called for preventive measures, including limited contact between humans and poultry in markets, as well as better access to water and improved waste management.
It would take a hell of a lot of finance to improve conditions in every market in indonesia but what other choice do we have? no matter how many birds are slaughtered the disease will keep coming back because the conditions are there for the disease to flurish.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/01/28/birdflu.indonesia.reut/index.html