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Some slightly related from Technorati and Google.
[Effectmeasure.blogspot.com] Effect Measure: Preparedness is now "damage control"?: Indonesia, an impoverished country with a rudimentary public health system (2002 allocation 0.72% of gross domestic product) has bird flu in poultry and now likely in humans (via Dow Jones Newswires, no link). After pigs were discovered infected with H5N1 on Java island, blood samples from 63 local poultry workers found at least one with evidence of prior infection (antibodies to the virus in his blood). Confirmation of the result is underway, but it is likely there has been much unrecognized infection here and elsewhere.
[Effect Measure] US News on bird flu: The doctors are alarmed not because of the number of people that "bird flu" has killed but because the H5N1 virus displays an ominous adaptability and persistence. About 70 percent of those infected so far have died. Since 1997, when the new virus first showed up in chickens and killed six people in Hong Kong, it has spread to birds in eight countries in the region despite repeated efforts to halt it by slaughtering millions of chickens.
[Effect Measure] US News on bird flu: The doctors are alarmed not because of the number of people that "bird flu" has killed but because the H5N1..., 17 countries are stockpiling Tamiflu, but lagging countries could end up with too little, too late... adviser in the National Vaccine Program. Among his concerns is Tamiflu's five-year shelf life: "If we
[Effectmeasure.blogspot.com] Effect Measure: How oseltamivir (Tamiflu) works (and does it?): But the only other preventative is the use of antiviral medications. There are four currently effective against influenza A, but it appears that the two oldest, of the adamantine class, are ineffective against H5N1. That leaves two neuraminidase inhibitors, oseltamivir (Tamiflu)_and zanamivir (Relenza). The latter cannot be taken orally so it must either be given i.v.
[Effectmeasure.blogspot.com] Effect Measure: <i>The New England Journal's</i> bird flu articles: We know that the neuraminidase inhibitor oseltamivir inhibits the type A (H5N1) viruses. It might be possible to achieve local control of an incipient outbreak among humans by using oseltamivir for prophylaxis in the contacts of patients as well as for treatment in the infected persons themselves. Treatment of patients alone would not prevent further spread, but it might reduce the shedding of the virus and would, in any event, be required for ethical reasons. All these actions rely on early recognition through good surveillance and the ability to deliver the antiviral drug at a time when transmission might still be inefficient.
[Nature.com] Avian flu special The flu pandemic: were we ready? : Nature: Here's the transcript: "At this hour, the World Health Organization has declared a full-scale pandemic influenza alert, with person-to-person spread lasting more than two weeks in Cambodia and Vietnam. During previous influenza pandemics in the United States, large numbers of people were ill, sought medical care, were hospitalized and died. On my orders, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services have today implemented the nation's draft Pandemic Influenza Response and Preparedness Plan. It will serve as our road map, on how we as a nation, and as a member of the global health community, respond to the pandemic.
[Topix.net] Tamiflu, Oseltamivir (generic) News: BETHESDA, MD, 13 April 2005 a " The official death toll from avian influenza now stands at 50, after the World Health Organization confirmed yesterday that an eight-year-old Cambodian girl who died last week .
Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, H5n1, Bird Flu Monitor
