WALLACE: Mary, did you take a swine flu shot?

MARY TYLER MOORE: No, I did not.

WALLACE: Did you give them permission to use your name saying that you had or were going to?

MOORE: Absolutely not. Never did.

WALLACE: Did you ask your own doctor about taking the swine flu shot?

MOORE: Yes, and at the time he thought it might be a good idea. But I resisted it, because I was leery of having the symptoms that sometimes go with that kind of inoculation.

WALLACE: So you didn't?

MOORE: No, I didn't.

WALLACE: Have you spoken to your doctor since?

MOORE: Yes.

WALLACE: And?

MOORE: He's delighted that I didn't take that shot.

WALLACE: You're in charge. Somebody's in charge.

DR SENCER: There are -

WALLACE: This is your advertising strategy that I have a copy of here.

DR SENCER: Who's it signed by?

WALLACE: This one is unsigned. But you--you'll acknowledge that it was your baby so to speak?

DR SENCER: It could have been from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. It could be from CDC. I don't know. I'll be happy to take responsibility for it.

WALLACE: It's been three years now since you fell ill by GBS right?

ROBERTS: Right.

WALLACE: Has the federal government, in your estimation, played fair with you about your claim?

ROBERTS: No, I don't think so. It seems to be dragging on and on and on, and really no end in sight that I can see at this point.

JOSEPH CALIFANO: With respect to the cases of Guillain Barre...

WALLACE: Former Secretary of HEW Joseph Caifano, too was disturbed that there was no end in sight. So a year and a half ago, he proposed that Uncle Sam would cut the bureaucratic red tape for victims suffering from GBS and would pay up quickly.

CALIFANO: We shouldn't hold them to an impossible or too difficult standard of proving that they were hurt. Even if we pay a few people a few thousand dollars that might not have deserved it, I think justice requires that we promptly pay those people who do deserve it.

WALLACE: Who's making the decision to be so hard-nosed about settling?

CALIFANO: Well, I assume the Justice Department is.

WALLACE: Griffin Bell, before he left?

CALIFANO: Well, the Justice Department agreed to the statement I made. It was cleared word for word with the lawyers in the Justice Department by my HEW lawyers.

CALIFANO: That-that statement said that we should pay Guillain Barre claims without regard to whether the federal government was negligent, if they - if they resulted from the swine flu shot.

GENE ROBERTS: I think the government knows its wrong.

JUDY ROBERTS: If it drags out long enough, that people will just give up, let it go.

GENE ROBERTS: I—I am a little more adament in my thoughts than my wife is, because I asked - told Judy to take the shot. She wasn't going to take it, and she never had had shots. And I'm mad with my government because they knew the fact, but they didn't realise those facts because they - if they had released them, the people wouldn't have taken it. And they can come out tomorrow and tell me there's going to be an epidemic, and they can drop off like flies to - next to me, I will not take another shot that my government tells me to take.

WALLACE: Meantime, Judy Roberts and some 4,000 others like her are still waiting for their day in court.

 

 

Kerala - Thrissur    

Pigs' death: swine fever confirmed Staff Reporter

THRISSUR: Tests conducted at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, have confirmed that swine fever was the cause of the large-scale death of pigs at the farm of the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (CoVAS), Mannuthy, near here, in recent weeks.

College Dean E Nanu told The Hindu here that the test results were received from the IVRI authorities by fax on Tuesday afternoon. The samples collected from the dead pigs were taken to the IVRI by an expert veterinarian from the CoVAS last week by air.

Tests conducted at the CoVAS and at Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University earlier also indicated that `swine fever' caused the death of the pigs at the CoVAS farm.

Now, with the arrival of the test results from the IVRI, which has advanced test facilities, the college authorities have formed a conclusive diagnosis that swine fever led to death of the pigs, Dr. Nanu said.

With this, the fear that the administration of the vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease caused the death of the pigs has been proved unfounded.

Dr. Nanu said the CoVAS farm had about 1,115 pigs. Of them, around 135 had died in the recent weeks, while another 25 were in a critical condition.

About the measures to be adopted in view of the latest findings, Dr. Nanu said the normal practice would be to cull the pigs affected by swine fever. But this could be done only after getting the consent of the authorities concerned.

He said he had convened a meeting of the heads of the departments at CoVAS on Wednesday to chalk out follow-up action.

He said swine fever could spread through air, food or physical contact.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/04/stories/2006100412890300.htm

 

DEC 2005

 

 

 

 

Excerpt- 

 

H5N1 has high affinity for
a specific amino acid linkage on avian
RNA but does not readily establish
this same linkage on human RNA,
thus, it is very difficult for humans to
become infected. (was?)

 

The possibility of a
new H5N1 subtype that can lead to
highly efficient human-to-human
transmission is very real.10

 

There are a few ways a new human subtype can
evolve:

 

1) the virus can infect humans
and undergo adaptive mutations that
allow it to recognize the linkage on
human RNA, or it could obtain genes
from a human influenza virus that
would allow it to replicate effectively
in humans, or

 

2) both an avian flu
virus and human virus are present in a
third host and then “mix” together. Ito
and coworkers11 suggest that pigs
have both linkages, so they can be
infected by both avian and human
influenza A virus at the same time.

 

It is
theoretically possible for the avian flu
virus to adapt the human linkage or
acquire genes from the human virus
while residing in the pig.12 This
mutation could result in a new virus
subtype that would be able to have
efficient human-to-human
transmission while retaining the
virulence of the avian influenza.

 

 

Pigs test positive for bird flu

Unconfirmed report suggests fatal strain of virus has managed to infect swine.

by Helen Pilcher
news@nature.com

Excerpt-

 

Caloocan steps up campaign on ‘double dead’ meat

By WILLIE L. CATAPAT The Caloocan City government intensified yesterday its drive against the so-called "double-dead" meat which might find their way in the public markets. Mayor Enrico Echiverri ordered an intensified documentation and inspection of hogs in the city’s slaughterhouse to prevent the possible selling of such meat which could pose hazards to the health of the people. He added that the City Veterinary Office (CVO) is monitoring the operation of the slaughterhouse to ensure the quality of meat being sold in public markets. From September 18 to 24 alone, the CVO inspected 3,121 hogs in the slaughterhouse. Echiverri said representatives from the veterinary office also conducted an inspection of chicken and poultry products being sold in the markets in Caloocan. The veterinary office has also been conducting free consultations for animals of "walk-in" pet owners in Caloocan. He explained that pet owners should be aware of the proper methods on how to take good care of their animals. Meanwhile, Echiverri said the city government, through the CVO, has also been conducting an orientation campaign on the Avian Influenza Protection Program for the barangay officials for their subsequent dissemination to their constituents. The program includes the distribution of flyers, posters and other information materials on proper measures to avoid the spread of bird flu. http://www.mb.com.ph/archive_pages.php?url=http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/09/28/MTNN2006092875739.html

 

 

 

Miscellaneous: "Swine High Fever Disease" in pigs in China
EU - Report by OIE on the swine disease in China.

 
  See also: 3 August 2006, 29 June 2006, 15 June 2006, 8 June 2006, 1 June 2006, 27 April 2006, 2 February 2006

Information received on 14 September 2006 from Mr Jia Youling, Director General, Veterinary Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing:

Report date: 12 September 2006.

Since the end of June, pigs have died of a disease characterised by rising body temperature, redness of the skin and rapid breathing in some parts of 6 provinces of China, namely Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hubei. Immediately after the occurrence of the disease, the Ministry of Agriculture took appropriate prevention and control measures and the unnatural deaths of pigs have come to a stop. By epidemiological investigation and laboratory testing of 582 samples of pathogenic material, we have discovered that this disease is closely related to the mixed infection of classical swine fever, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome and porcine circovirus. Of all the pathogenic samples, 263 samples (i.e. 45%) were positive for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS); 167 samples (i.e. 29.2%) were positive for classical swine fever (CSF); 130 samples (i.e. 22.3%) were positive for porcine circovirus (PCV-2); 17 samples were positive for Aujeszky's disease; 6 samples were positive for Streptococcus suis; one sample was positive for pasteurellosis infection, and 47 samples were positive for porcine contagious pleuropneumonia infection. Samples that tested positive for PRRS, CFS, or PCV-2 account for 96.5% of the total of the samples tested. We also tested 80 samples from sick pigs for African swine fever with polymerase chain reaction as recommended by the Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals. All of the results were negative and the possibility of African swine fever can therefore be ruled out.

A similar swine disease was also found in some southern provinces of China in hot summers during the last few years. It was also called “swine high fever disease” in some places. Several features concerning the occurrence of the disease have been identified. Firstly, it is very seasonal. It is found mainly from June to September. Secondly, it only affects certain areas along the Yangtze River, mainly in the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jangxi, Anhui and Jiagsu. The morbidity and mortality rate of the disease have not shown a sudden or unexpected increase so far. We are currently arranging for a microbiologist to conduct further research. If there is any new detection of the disease, it will be notified to the OIE immediately. The status of classical swine fever and other animal diseases will continue to be notified to the OIE.

Note by the OIE Animal Health Information Department: this is the reply received from the Chinese veterinary authorities in response to a request based on information that has been circulating regarding high mortality observed in pigs in some parts of the People's Republic of China.

 

 

 

 

 

Quebec's pork producers are asking for help after a disease killed more than 200,000 pigs in the province last year.

Pork farmer Lyse Grenier says post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome started hitting Quebec farms a year ago. It is already affecting half of them.

 

 

"The first day it's not too serious. But after a week, you begin to remove dead animals," Grenier says. "It gets pretty depressing."

The syndrom is also hurting bottom lines. Every dead pig costs producers hundreds of dollars in feed and maintenance, disposal of the carcass and in lost revenue.

The Quebec Federation of Porc producers has just asked the federal government to help those who have been affected.

"The syndrome does not have an impact on consumer products," says Claude Corbeil, the Federation's president. "It began in Europe, and Quebec producers are learning from that experience."

There is currently no cure for the syndrome on the market.

 

Apr 2006: New Pig-People Disease
SciDev recently reported on the emergence of a new pig disease that can infect and kill people. According to new research published in PLoS Medicine on 11 April, a bacterium that rarely infected people is now likely to have mutated into a more deadly form. Last year it was responsible for killing 38 people in China. According to the article, the microbe Streptococcus suis is found in pigs worldwide, and usually only causes disease in piglets. Occasionally it infects farm workers who come into close contact. However, last year, more than 200 people were infected in a major outbreak in Sichuan province, and nearly one in five of them died.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/cia05/sudan_sm05.gif

The Council of Agriculture (COA) called yesterday for chicken and pig farms to set up bird-proofing nets as soon as possible in an attempt to keep wild birds separated from poultry and pigs and prevent outbreaks of avian flu.

COA officials said the nets should be set up by the end of this year and warned that farmers who fail to comply will face fines of NT$10,000-NT$50,000.

Migratory birds are considered an avian flu virus-carrying media and Taiwan is a stopover site for various species of migratory birds.

The officials said the government will offer subsidies for poultry and pig farmers who set up nets before the end of this year.

There are a number of diseases in pigs - alot of them have the same or similar symptoms.  The question is:  are they (China in this case) investigating to determine the cause?  It's worrisome when you hear of extreme numbers of "mysterious" deaths in animals and no further report or follow-up.  It begs the question:  is this a fairly recent phenomena due to more concentrated human/animal populations, and what will/can happen if this trend continues?

 

 

Muriel - A little info on PED (it appears that piglets do have a high mortality rate from this, so the article you posted seems consistent with that):

 

Porcine epidemic diarrhoea is caused by a coronavirus somewhat similar to that which causes TGE. This virus is widespread in Europe.

 

Acute outbreaks of diarrhoea occur when the virus is first introduced into a susceptible population. In such cases up to 100% of sows may be affected, showing a mild to very watery diarrhoea. Two clinical pictures are recognised: PED Type I only affects growing pigs whereas PED Type II affects all ages including sucking pigs and mature sows. The incubation period is approximately 2 days and diarrhoea lasts for 7 to 14 days. In sucking pigs the disease can be mild or severe with mortalities up to 40%.

 

 http://www.thepigsite.com/diseaseinfo/83/porcine-epidemic-diarrhoea-ped

Prosecutors made the indictment following a year of investigations into a scam in which Wang Chia-yu, Lin Shih-ping and Chen Hua allegedly purchased sick pigs or dead pigs with diseases from pig farmers in southern Taiwan, illegally slaughtered the pigs and then sold the porks to two downstream processors Tang Fen-nan and Cheng Chin-long.

Tang and Cheng processed the pork products into sausages for sales to consumers, with a monthly sales volume of 1,000 kilograms.

Prosecutors recommended a jail term of seven years against both Lin Shih-ping and Tang Fen-nan, plus a fine of NT%8 million each; a jail term of six years against Wang Chia-yu, plus a fine of NT$5 million; five years in prison and a fine of NT$7 million for Cheng Chin-long and three years in ail for Chen Hua, wife of Lin Shih-ping.

Prosecutors said in the indictment that the five were typical "black-hearted" businessmen, trying hard to make money regardless of other people's "life or death."

 

 

Date: 5 Sep 2006
From: Dan Silver<dgsilver@yahoo.com>
Source: Suizhou Daily News [translated by sender, edited]
<http://61.184.255.22/news/2006/200609035.htm>


Yesterday, the provincial government held an urgent, province-wide
videoteleconference [the province in question is Hubei; see URL for
map below] on prevention and control of serious animal diseases,
demanding fast action from all parts of the province, paying special
attention to prevention and control work against the unknown pig high
fever illness, to ensure increased agricultural efficacy and
increased farmer receipts.

Since the middle of July 2006, an unknown pig disease has occurred in
the neighboring provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hunan and
Henan, and other areas. Already 40 percent of pigs have died from
infection.  As of mid-August this disease had already spread to parts
of Hubei.  Conditions are relatively serious.  According to reports,
the pig disease is characterized by high fever, sudden onset, rapid
transmission, and high mortality rate.

Municipal Government Secretary Yan Xinguo participated in the
conference.  He requested all districts of the city to heighten
awareness, formulate vigorous measures, organize with utmost care,
strengthen monitoring, and pay attention to disease trends at all
times.  Relevant departments must carry out legal inspections of pig
transports and conscientiously strengthen the intensity of
inspections at border inspection spots.  Animal husbandry and other
relevant departments must strengthen market supervision, firmly deal
with disease, and strengthen oversight against disease during
production, slaughter and sale.  Once high fever pig illness of
unknown origin is discovered, immediately file reports, quickly
undertake safe disposal, strictly disinfect, work hard against the
sale of dead diseased pigs and pigs that have died of unknown causes,
and ensure the safety of meat on the market.  Relevant departments
must suspend purchase of pigs from disease-affected areas to prevent
the spread of pig disease. While prevention and control of unknown
high fever pig disease is being accomplished, strictly watch for
other animal diseases and thoroughly plan prevention and control work
for other serious animal diseases. Organize specialized teams to
supervise disease inspection to ensure substantial progress on
disease prevention in the fall.

******
[3]
Date: 4 Sep 2006
From: Dan Silver<dgsilver@yahoo.com>
Source: Jiangshan Television [translated by sender, edited]
<http://www.21js.com/Program/News/ShowNews.Asp?NewsID=14230>


Recently, the circumstances of pig "high fever illness" have been
relatively severe.  In response, Jiangshan is adopting measures to
actively implement prevention and treatment. [Jiangshan -- a common
city name, occurring in several Chinese provinces -- is in this case
a municipality within the larger Quzhou City, situated in the western
part of Zhejiang Province. - CopyEd.PG]

Pig "high fever illness" is appearing in all areas in our province
[Zhejiang] other than Zhoushan City.  There are more than 66 000 ill
pigs and already more than 11 000 have died.  Since July, pig "high
fever illness" has appeared in one village after the other in
Jiangshan. Symptoms are elevated body temperature, redness on the
body surface, and cough.  Ears turn light blue in a minority of pigs.
The mortality rate among sucklings and weaned pigs is especially
high.  To effectively carry out prevention of pig "high fever
illness", the municipal agriculture department strengthens disease
inspection and safe disposal of deceased ill pigs, and guides
pig-raising households to lower temperatures in pigsties, reducing
the occurrence of disease.

On the morning of 4 Sep 2006, Jiangshan held a pig "high fever
illness" prevention meeting.  Vice mayor Xu Daqing demanded
heightened attention to pig "high fever illness" and thorough
implementation of all prevention and control measures, including
sealing off and isolating disease sites, strengthening hygiene and
disinfection, and reducing movement of pigs.  At this time, traders
are prohibited from importing breeding pigs from other provinces and
cities to strictly prevent disease from entering Jiangshan and to
ensure the efficacy of disease prevention work.

[Byline: Yu Chunzhou]

--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[Our first posting referred to Anhui, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan,
Hubei, Jiangsu, and other provinces.  Today's reports additionally
mention Jiangshan City in Zheijiang province and Henan province (see
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/China_administrative.png>).

Given the reports of over a million dead pigs, many of which appear
to be in village settings, the disease is clearly widespread.
Secondly, death is reported to occur in  over 40 percent of pigs,
definitely making this a high-mortality event.

The big question is what disease is causing such widespread mortality
in swine?  Clearly, "high fever" or "blue ear" disease is not a
diagnosis, rather they are signs of an undiagnosed and seemingly
systemic disease.  "Blue ear" was used by Europeans as a slang name
early on for the recently emerged Porcine Respiratory and
Reproductive Disease, but this does not generally cause such
widespread mortality among all age groups.  Discoloration of the skin
can be seen in several swine diseases including erysipelas and
salmonellosis.

Such high mortality and the widespread nature of this outbreak -- as
well as the control measures instituted -- prompts one to think of
epidemic swine diseases such as Hog Cholera (as known as Classical
Swine Fever) or African Swine Fever. However, I hope that the Chinese
authorities are carefully considering the possibility of Swine
Influenza usually caused by H1N1, H1N2, or H3N2 in Asia.  Although
Swine Influenza does not normally cause very high mortality (i.e.
only 2-3 percent die when the disease is endemic), a new influenza
strain could cause high mortality in swine, just as it would in
humans. Therefore, it is important we find out exactly what is
causing this undefined, undiagnosed disease over large areas of
China. - Mod.PC]

[see also:
Undiagnosed disease, porcine - China (South), RFI 20060903.2508
Undiagnosed die-off, porcine - China (Jiangsu): RFI 20060412.1087]
..............pc/pg/lm

 

 

I think the 1918 stain did not mix in the pig first, but that's not to say H5N1 won't or hasn't. We've already seen H5N1's ability to cause infection in a whole host of different mammals.

 

These pig deaths could be H5N1 and a cover up by China. They've already shown they will cover up H5 infection.

 

Medclinician - do you have contacts in China? We need you for this.

 

                  

 

Statement on Influenza Vaccination for the 2005-2006 Season - CCDR ...

A select number of isolates reported to be A/Fujian/ 411/2002-like prior to February ... The vaccines to be marketed in Canada for the 2005-2006 flu season ... www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/ccdr-rmtc/05vol31/asc-dcc-6/index.html - 118k - Cached - Similar pages

 

Mystery Swine Death in Eastern China    , just a few threads down  .

 

 

                Hi wondering if you could read the above thread and view Taxonomy on just two of the virus in the Pigs in China .

 

              Influenza A virus                        Influenza A virus

 

           From Cruiser's Post .....  saw somewhere here Fujian also for another virus we were posting . so swine flu  no mystery like getting ready would say . as quoted .