The Bird Flu Cometh Again

[Birch Run Farm]

China is once again seeing a surge in Avian Influenza. This makes the US Government nervous and causes bad thoughts like NAIS.

 

[EweSheep]

Not again! NO NAIS!

I dont think China has taken all the precautions about handling Bird Flu....wild birds are the culprit and so are the carriers.

 

[Birch Run Farm]

Fresh warning on China bird flu

A Chinese health expert has said that the country is likely to experience an upsurge in the number of human bird flu cases in the next month or two.

Shu Yuelong, from the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said China needed to work harder at preventing bird flu outbreaks.

The warning came after the health ministry said a 16-year-old boy had died in central Hunan province.

The human form of bird flu has now claimed three lives this year.

An earlier BBC report said Mr Shu had suggested that China risked an epidemic in the next few months, but it later became clear that he was referring to an increased risk of an epidemic occurring.

New Year exodus

The BBC's Beijing correspondent Quentin Sommerville reports that winter and spring are prime bird flu seasons, when more than 70% of cases occur.


Millions of Chinese people are heading home for Chinese New Year, increasing the chances of infection, he says, and in spring, migratory birds carry the virus over great distances.
On Monday, the authorities announced that a woman in eastern Shandong province had died from bird flu.

And two weeks ago, a 19-year-old woman died in Beijing after handling ducks.

Meanwhile, a two-year-old toddler reported to have been in critical condition with the H5N1 virus has now recovered and is described as "stable".

Chinese and Hong Kong media have been reporting that the toddler's mother had died this month after exhibiting symptoms similar to bird flu, but her death has not been officially blamed on bird flu.

Neighbourly concern

The upsurge in bird flu deaths on the mainland is causing concern in Hong Kong, where consumers have been told not to eat poultry brought in from the Chinese mainland.


China's ministry of agriculture said on Sunday that no bird flu epidemics were detected in Shanxi and Henan provinces after the two-year-old's infection was confirmed.
Hong Kong's secretary for food and health, Dr York Chow, said this was a cause for concern.

"There are two main areas we are concerned about: one is that if there is no avian flu outbreak in poultry and yet there are human cases, does this mean the virus has changed?

"Secondly, we are worried about whether there are more so-called 'slightly infected' chickens that actually might be carrying the virus and transmitting the disease, and yet do not show any symptoms or die from those illnesses," Dr Chow said.

The ministry said China now faces "a grim situation" in bird flu prevention, threatened by frequent outbreaks in neighbouring countries, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

China has the world's biggest poultry population and is seen as critical in the fight to contain the H5N1 strain of the virus, which resurfaced in Asia in 2003, killing at least 247 people.

H5N1 does not transmit easily to humans but experts fear it could mutate and cause a worldwide pandemic.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7839099.stm

Published: 2009/01/20 16:51:55 GMT

 

[menageriemama]

Bird flu makes me feel so

 

[English Chick]

oHHH NOOOOO not again!!! ....... time to hang the onions again in my sheds......just a precaution....you never know...prevention is better than cure......and the migratory birds will be back soon.....

 

[spook]

Its horrible with the Asian Bird flu*, but keep in mind that we haven't had it in US and unfortunately its in our personal best interest in testing.
I disagree with NAIS but how many people would come forward with a "test me" attitude when it comes to their back yard flock.
Due to the last scare of AI, this is where the state of Maine found that almost all flocks of poultry carry MG, MS and some mutated strains of ILT.
Personally I will fight NAIS tooth and nail, but we small flock owners need to hold up our end of the bargain.

*not all AI are deadly like the Asian Bird Flu

(if you find wild birds dead turn them into the state diagnostic lab- not dead from cat or hitting windows)

 

[kstaven]

On a per capita basis more people die from the measles every year than than the so called bird flu. There are more cases in China due to the overpopulation, crowding, and number of people in general. take the number of people and divide by the number of deaths and you find H5N1 is the least of their worries death toll wise.

 

[Birch Run Farm]

That's the big problem. The overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. This is how viruses are able to make that bridge from animal to human killers.

Once the killer strain develops it can be very difficult to stop it. Also, keep in mind how easy it is nowadays for people to hop on an airplane and travel anywhere in the world in just a matter of hours.

 

[kstaven]

IF it ever makes the jump the clearest path to humans is going to be through pork and not chickens.

Water fowl. to chicken, to pork, to human, or water fowl, to pork, to human. Both far easier routes than those promoted by a sensationalist media. By going through pork it makes it far easier to have human to human transmission.

The sad reality is that as a species we are overpopulated and sooner or later something will develop to resolve that. History is full of examples both in humans and animals.

And you can't develop an anti viral solution until it does mutate into something of concern.

All in all a very good immune system is the best current defense.