H1N1 Flu Pandemic Danger Is Over ... For Now

Image Credit: US Army, Ft. Bliss

H1N1 Flu Pandemic Danger Is Over ... For Now

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the intensity of outbreaks has been reduced and H1N1 virus is no longer as dominant as it once was. The end of the H1N1 influenza pandemic is now in sight. Fear of H1N1 has now receded to the point that the WHO is expecting to declare the pandemic over in the next week or so.

We, at MAXINE, however, believe that after seeing how the Obama Administration responded to the BP oil rig failure in the Gulf of Mexico ... keep the filtration breathing masks that you bought and make sure to get you flu shots early ... and often!

Image Credit: World Health Organization

This excerpted and edited from the Globe and Mail (Canada) -

WHO to declare H1N1 pandemic over
By Joe Friesen - From Monday's Globe and Mail Published on Sunday, Aug. 08, 2010 11:17AM EDT Last updated on Sunday, Aug. 08, 2010 9:48PM EDT

For a few weeks last autumn, fear of pandemic influenza stalked the land. Death seemed to lurk around every corner. A sneeze in public could draw a reproachful glance, and every handshake sent the anxious fumbling for their hand sanitizer. Gradually, the panic subsided, to be replaced by confusion over all the fuss made by governments and public-health agencies.
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Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, said the panel of experts that advises the WHO is feeling increasingly confident H1N1, which has killed more than 18,000 people around the world, has taken on the characteristics of a typical seasonal flu.

“All in all, people feel that the overall picture looks like we are ready to declare post-pandemic globally very soon,” Dr. Chan said.

Every pandemic eventually becomes a seasonal flu strain. This fall, when flu season arrives again, H1N1 will still be one of the major variants floating around, but the population has shown sufficient resistance to it that there have been very few new deaths or flu activity in Canada since February, according to Dr. Perry Kendall, British Columbia’s provincial health officer.
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“We were planning with [avian flu] and 1918 in mind, and that meant you had to develop a vaccine as quickly as possible. The lesson learned from this is that unless we get some radical new technologies we’re not going to get an influenza vaccine within the first six months. That means for the first wave of the virus, there’s going to be no vaccine to protect people.” [Kendall]
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The pandemic’s end will be declared as it takes its second tour of winter in the Southern Hemisphere. So far there has been evidence the intensity of outbreaks has been reduced and the virus is no longer as dominant as it once was.
Reference Here>>

Best takeaway? ... "The lesson learned from this is that unless we get some radical new technologies we’re not going to get an influenza vaccine within the first six months" ... make sure to get you flu shots early, and often, and stock up on the breathing masks now before people start dropping.

Image Credit: US Army, Ft. Bliss

Any combination of these symptoms should be enough of a concern to seek medical advice. Fever above 100.5 F - Cough - Sore Throat - Headache - Nausea - Vomiting.

Recommended actions to prevent spread of H1N1 infection:

-Hand washing with soap and warm water. Cold water is not as effective for killing germs. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

-Use a tissue to cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze, or cough or sneeze into your elbow/sleeve rather than your hand.

-Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

-Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

-Those with flu-like symptoms should stay home from work, school and social gatherings.

Financial Awareness To Avian Flu Threats Still Key

Dr. Daniel Miller, John Lange and Kent Hill address journalists at avian flu workshop in New Delhi. Image Credit: Cheryl Pellerin/State Dept.

Financial Awareness To Avian Flu Threats Still Key

Over the last four years, cases of Avian flu infection have been reported from sixty countries. Through the processes of improved detection and containment these reported threats had been kept in check, but the risk of a global pandemic affecting humans remains a real potential catastrophe.

Of 335 humans infected since 2003, some 205 have died, in twelve nations, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

A ministerial conference that started today in India has assembled hundreds of health officials from over 100 nations representing health and mobilization groups to discuss effective strategies and structures to combat this continuing threat. Money and the management of cost effective options to counteract this pandemic threat are expected to dominate the main topics of discussion.

This excerpted from EARTHtimes.org -

Bird flu still a global threat, say experts
Posted : Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:14:00 GMT - Author : IANS - Earthtimes.org

New Delhi, Dec 4 - Developing countries need to look at low-cost options to fight pandemics like avian influenza, India's Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said at the three-day International Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza in the capital Tuesday.

Addressing over 600 health professionals from 105 nations and 20 international and intergovernmental organizations, Ramadoss urged them to focus on empowering communities as the most powerful tool to combat epidemics.

The conference, which is from Dec 4-6, is the fifth in a row of similar conferences organized across the world to discuss issues of geographical spread of avian influenza - and the health challenges that come with it - and threaten the global community at large.

Jacques Diouf, director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said that avian influenza could still cause a global pandemic and requires continued vigilance and control efforts, particularly in animals.

Diouf warned in his speech that the spread of avian influenza typifies the potential emergence of major health crises with an increased risk of pathogens traveling over large distances in very short time periods, favored by globalization and climate change.
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Most of the human deaths from the disease have been reported from Asia, the latest from China on Sunday.

'The World Bank has projected that for a reasonable level of preparedness for avian and human influenza, developing countries would need to spend at least $ 2.2 billion over two to three years period,' Ramadoss said at the inaugural session of the meet.

He said that the current gap for mobilizing resources for the country programs is $960 million, or over 40 percent of the identified needs. From earlier conferences, $649 million is available to help fill this gap.

'But these resources are in the form of loans, while grants would be a more appropriate form for financing this global public good.

'While this gap must be minimized, I would urge that we need to look at low cost options also,' Ramadoss said.

With avian influenza prevention and control programs being in place for almost four years, many countries have been able to contain or even eradicate the disease.
Reference Here>>

Grants may be called for in favor over loans at this conference, but it strikes us here, at MAXINE, that the loan path keeps all of the parties responsible to how the money is spent while health officials keep their eyes on the pandemic threat.

And this from the U. S Department of State -

The United States, which has contributed $434 million to its international effort against avian flu, hopes to mobilize more resources during the New Delhi ministerial.

“On Thursday [December 6],” Ambassador John Lange, head of the U.S. delegation, and special representative for avian and pandemic influenza at the State Department said, “I will announce a new U.S. government pledge to this effort in terms of our international assistance.”

This would make the United States the major contributor to Avain Flu mobilization resources. Of the $649,000,000 of funds from previous conferences, the United States has already contributed $434,000,000 or over two-thirds of these available mobilization resource funds.

Tick, Tick, Tick – Bird Flu Brings Bali "Low"

The Bali Starling lives only on Bali. As few as six may exist in the wild. Image Credit: Adrian Pingstone in January 2005

Tick, Tick, Tick – Bird Flu Brings Bali "Low"

Indonesia has become the country to watch as it relates to bird flu crossover deaths. Human infection and deaths attributed to Avian Flu virus contracted directly from the raising of birds for food have now claimed 82 victims … the most of any country in the world.

If this virus mutates to where it can be transferred from human to human, the health of the world will be in jeopardy through a pandemic that will have little in the way of vaccines and other tools to counter this threat from the world health community.

If this virus is able to make the crossover from bird - human transmission to human - human transmission, forget the war on terror created by radical Muslim Islamists … a pandemic will become the greatest threat to human life and stability in this world as we know it.

Funny how this threat, Avian Flu crossover, happens to be at its worse in a primarily Muslim believing country (Bali is managed as part of Indonesia while primarily believing in Hindi traditions in religion). One has to ask – What is wrong with these societies and infrastructures that would allow this threat to world health to approach a tipping point? It may be just a coincidence but the world needs answers and a clear counter strategy to combat this potential pandemic.

Excerpts from Forbes via The Sydney Morning Herald -

Bali bird flu deaths spark tourism fears
By Kate Benson and Mark Forbes in Jakarta - August 14, 2007

AUSTRALIAN health officials are on alert after a deadly outbreak of bird flu on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali.

The finding is another blow to Indonesia's tourism industry, still struggling to recover from the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings.

Ni Luh Putu Sri Windiani, from north-western Bali, became the island's first human victim of bird flu after she died of multiple organ failure on Sunday.

Doctors at the Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar confirmed last night that the 29-year-old Indonesian woman had tested positive to the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

Ms Windiani's daughter, Dian, 5, died suffering from similar symptoms at the same hospital 11 days ago after playing with sick chickens outside their house, but experts are unable to determine if she had bird flu.

It is also unclear whether Ms Windiani contracted bird flu from the chickens or from her daughter. She started showing symptoms more than a week ago, but was admitted to hospital six days later. She was transferred to Denpasar on Friday and treated in the isolation unit.

Australian officials said they were closely monitoring the investigation into the deaths.
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Australia's travel advisory already warns of the risk of bird flu in Indonesia, but states the danger to short-term visitors is relatively low.

A spokesman from the Bird Flu Information Centre in Jakarta, Joko Suyono, said many chickens around Ms Windiani's house had died suddenly in recent weeks.

"The villagers didn't burn the carcasses. Instead, they buried them or fed them to pigs," he said.

The deputy director of the World Health Organisation's Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Ian Barr, said yesterday there was no need to panic.

"Most of these cases occur in villages, not in downtown Kuta or Denpasar, so I'm not sure that travellers should be too concerned."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Ageing, Kay McNiece, said travellers to any bird flu-affected country should steer clear of birds and should practise good hygiene.
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Indonesia reported its first human bird flu case in July 2005.
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Twenty-one Indonesians diagnosed with the disease have survived.
Reference Here>>

We, at MAXINE, become very concerned when officials are "unclear whether Ms Windiani contracted bird flu from the chickens or from her daughter".

We think it is high time that officials in Bali (and Indonesia) become CLEAR as to the source of this latest death due to Avian flu infection and not be so worried about how this might effect tourism.

Tick, Tick, Tick - The 'Bloody' H5n1 Virus Has Hit Britain

On farms, Turkeys are raised and kept where each bird is given approximately 3 square feet of space. Image Credit: Farm Sanctuary

Tick, Tick, Tick - The 'Bloody' H5n1 Virus Has Hit Britain

In a first time ever attack, the H5n1 virus has found its way to England.

This infection has health experts confused as to how the virus arrived on this island land mass. It is too early for the wild birds to be migrating this far north, however, the strain seems similar to the strains found in Hungary last month and France about one year ago.

Also yesterday, the World Health Organization has confirmed the first human infection and death to be attributed to the H5N1 virus in Nigeria. Nigeria has confirmed that several other people are now sick with the virus and officials are watching to see what else develops.

Excerpts from The Washington Times –

Britons strive to contain bird flu
Washington Times - February 4, 2007 - From combined dispatches

HOLTON, England -- Britain scrambled to contain its first outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu in domestic poultry yesterday after the virus was found at a farm run by Europe's biggest turkey producer.

About 2,500 turkeys have died since Thursday at the Bernard Matthews farm near Lowestoft in eastern England. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said all 159,000 turkeys on the farm would be culled.

"We're in new territory," National Farmers' Union Poultry Board Chairman Charles Bourns said. "We've every confidence in DEFRA, but until we know how this disease arrived, this is a very apprehensive time for all poultry farmers."

The virus strain was identified as the highly pathogenic Asian strain, similar to a virus found in Hungary in January, DEFRA said.

It was the first time the deadly H5N1 strain was found on a British farm.

The entrance to the Bernard Mathews food processing factory being disinfected yesterday against the transmission of avian flu at Holton in Suffolk. Image Credit: Gulf Times - Doha, Qatar
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The strain tends to be transmitted to poultry by infected migrating wildfowl.

The disease has killed at least 164 persons worldwide since 2003, most of them in Asia, and more than 200 million birds have died from it, or been killed to prevent its spread.

But it has not yet fulfilled scientists' worst fears by mutating into a form that can be easily transmitted between humans and possibly cause a global pandemic.

Avian-flu specialist Colin Butter of the Institute of Animal Health said the British outbreak was surprising as it had happened outside the main bird-migration period.

"The next thing we need to know is if this is a primary or secondary case. If this is a secondary case, it is much more serious. If this is the first case, or 'reference case,' and we can stamp it out, the outbreak will be controlled," he said.

A protection zone was established with a radius of 2 miles and a surveillance zone of 6 miles around the infected farm. Bird-related gatherings, such as bird shows and pigeon racing, were suspended nationwide.
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Britain's poultry industry is worth $6.7 billion, with 800 million birds produced each year.

In May [2006], 50,000 chickens at three farms in Norfolk, also in eastern England and home to some of Europe's biggest poultry farms, were culled after another strain, H7N3, was detected.

A wild swan found dead in Scotland in March [2006] had the H5N1 version of the virus. It was thought to have caught the disease elsewhere, died at sea and been washed ashore in Scotland.
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Experts stressed the situation did not pose a public health threat, and that eating well-cooked poultry products posed no risk. However, close contact with sick birds, such as in slaughtering or plucking, could lead to transmission of the disease.
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UPDATE (2-12-2007):

British officials believe they have found the source of this outbreak of H5N1 in turkeys and further find that they are powerless to do anything about it.

Excerpts from Telegraph Media Group Limited (UK) -

Britain is powerless to stop turkey imports
By David Derbyshire, Consumer Affairs Editor and Charles Clover, Environment Editor, Telegraph - Last Updated: 2:31am GMT 12/02/2007

The Government was yesterday forced to defend its decision not to ban imports of turkey from Hungary as farmers' leaders demanded an urgent review of the movement of meat into Britain.

David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, said Britain was powerless to block imports under European law, despite concerns that the infection could have reached the UK from Eastern Europe.

His comments came as Bernard Matthews, the company at the centre of the scare, admitted that it had imported meat from a supplier just a few miles from a restricted area where the lethal disease was found in farmed geese last month.

The geese farm in Hungary that was hit by the H5N1 strain of bird flu and has been linked to the outbreak in Britain. Image Credit: Reuters

Last night it was claimed that six lorry-loads of turkey meat from inside the restriction zone in Britain had left for Europe in the last few days. Channel 4 News said the consignment had left with the full knowledge of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Meanwhile, the National Farmers Union heaped pressure on the Government, calling on it to review the laws on banning meat imports.

Government scientists are continuing to investigate the cause of the outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu at a Bernard Matthews plant in Holton, Suffolk, two weeks ago.

They are concerned that the outbreak was linked to turkey meat brought to Britain from Hungary — a country badly hit by bird flu.
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Yesterday, there were reports that the Bernard Matthews company was still importing turkey meat from Hungary three days after the bird flu outbreak in Suffolk was confirmed.

Defra said the importation of 20 tons of meat was "perfectly legal" as it came from outside a restriction zone around the infected site in Hungary. "To ban imports would be illegal, unnecessary and vastly disproportionate," a spokesman said.

"It would invite retaliation from other member states, which would have a devastating impact on the UK's food and farming industry."

Last night Bernard Matthews defended sending turkey meat from the Holton plant to Hungary, after the restriction zone was imposed.

"Bernard Matthews can confirm that it imports meat from Hungary and exports it to Hungary as well," the company said in a statement. "All these imports and exports are regulated and Bernard Matthews adheres strictly to all the regulations."

Mr Miliband said import bans would breach European Union rules.

He added that it was now clear that there had been "a bio-security lapse" at the Suffolk factory farm that allowed contamination to get from a processing plant into the sheds housing live birds.

Mr Miliband told BBC1's Sunday AM that he would have imposed a ban on imports from Hungary if vets had told him that this was a "sensible" step to protect public health.
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Bart Dalla Mura, the firm's commercial director, said Saga Foods, the company's Hungarian subsidiary, sent meat to Britain from third-party suppliers all over Hungary, including an abattoir and processing plant in -Kecskemet in the south owned by Galfood.

This plant is near to the area where there was an outbreak of H5N1 last month in domestic geese. Mr Dalla Mura said: "Bernard Matthews can confirm that it uses the certified and regulated site in Kecskemet owned by Galfood. "Our information is that Galfood in Kecskemet is a turkey abattoir and processing site, and it does not slaughter or process geese at that site."

Mr Dalla Mura said the Suffolk plant imported about 38 tons of meat a week from Hungary but this would have to have been documented and registered as from outside the regulated area. He added that there were still no reports of the disease being found in Hungarian turkeys.

Peter Ainsworth, the Conservative spokesman for rural affairs, said the Government should have got a voluntary ban from Bernard Matthews on imports "much earlier than happened". Farmers renewed their calls for a review of import rules. Kevin Pearce, of the National Farmers Union, said: "At the moment it would be illegal to ban them, but if there was shown to be a risk to animal or human health, we need to act."

There are signs of a consumer backlash against turkey. Sainsbury's said sales of poultry were down 10 per cent. Somerfield reported a small dip.
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