Bird Flu Spreads

The New York Times reports that two boys from different provinces of thailand have become infected with the bird flu, and six more people are suspected of having it. A Thai government's spokesman also admitted that the outbreak had been concealed for "a few weeks" to avoid panic.

Vietnam has already confirmed that the disease has killed five people near Hanoi, two more confirmed cases are reported in Ho Chi Minh City, and seven additional suspected cases are being tested in the country.

Chickens from South Korea and Japan, to Vietnam and Thailand, have been dying from the same disease.

According to the Times:

So far, the human cases have resulted from contact with live chickens or their waste. But the World Health Organization, a United Nations agency, has warned repeatedly that if someone becomes infected with the bird flu and the human flu at the same time, the viruses could swap genetic material, creating a new strain that could spread quickly among people.

[. . .]

The three largest influenza epidemics of the 20th century are believed to have started in birds. The A(H5N1) strain now killing chickens across East Asia and infecting humans in Southeast Asia appears to be especially lethal.

[. . .]

The A(H5N1) virus was first documented to have jumped to people in 1997, when sick chickens infected 18 people in Hong Kong, including previously healthy adults, killing 6. All 1.5 million chickens there were slaughtered within three days, a step some influenza experts have credited as preventing a global epidemic.

Two residents fell sick with the disease after visiting their nearby hometown in the main part of China last year, and one of them died. Again, flocks were destroyed.

Cambodia confirmed Friday that bird flu had been killing chickens there. Laos said earlier this week that it was investigating chicken deaths but believed them to be bird cholera. Agence France-Presse reported from the Indonesian island of Bali on Friday that a provincial official had acknowledged the death of thousands of chickens, but blamed it on the Newcastle virus.

There have been unconfirmed reports of chicken deaths in Myanmar as well; Mr. Penkair said that infected chickens had been found in "three or four" western provinces of Thailand, toward the Myanmar border.

China has continued to deny, most recently on Thursday, that it has any cases of bird flu. But Hong Kong officials said on Wednesday that they had found a dead peregrine falcon near the border with the rest of China that was infected with the disease.

There is some concern that because this strain of the bird flu is so adaptable it could combine with a human flu creating a dangerous mutant flu. World Health Organization officials, while calling for humans infected with the flu virus to be quarantined, caution that we need to keep the out break in perspective.

The Associated Press reports:

Scientists have reached no firm conclusions on why the flu is so contagious, but a leading theory is its adaptability. The WHO fears bird flu could combine with a human flu to create a dangerous mutant form.

Dr. Klaus Stohr, head of the U.N. agency's influenza program, recommended Friday that people with bird flu be quarantined to avoid contact with people with regular influenza.

Stohr said, however, that he sees no need for the kind of travel warnings WHO issued during last year's outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, a flu-like illness that killed nearly 800 people worldwide.

"We have to put things into perspective. There is a chance that something can go wrong but it looks if we act decisively now, then there still is a window of opportunity here to control the disease before it takes on global proportions."

Killing chickens in affected countries is "the key to the solution of the whole problem," Stohr added. "We do not have a problem of international spread by infected humans. We may have a problem of international spread by birds."

Cross-posted at The Command Post

Comments

[toronto tenants]

This new virulent strain of avian flu is scary.

The very short lived SARS epidemic continues to have severe economic effects on cities like Toronto.

If this new bird flu makes its way to North America it could have long term devestating effects on the economy.