Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
"Puzzling" latest WHO Flu Fact Sheet |
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Posted: February 06 2006 at 8:15am |
The Reporter (Addis Ababa)
February 4, 2006 Posted to the web February 6, 2006 "The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a new fact sheet on avian influenza, the first since the disease moved out of Asia into Europe. The document summarizes the course of bird flu in its two-year spread across Eurasia. In regard to the human cases that have appeared in six nations, the fact sheet points out some puzzling unknown factors. Human cases of disease have not appeared in commercial poultry enterprises or culling operations, as might be expected. Instead, the majority of cases have stricken previously healthy children and young adults exposed to small flocks kept indomestic settings. Other bird species, including domestic poultry, develop disease when infected with avian influenza viruses. In poultry, the viruses cause two distinctly different form of disease one common and mild, the other rare and highly lethal. In the mild form, signs of illness may be expressed only as ruffled feathers, reduced egg production, or mild effects on the respiratory system. Outbreaks can be so mild they escape detection unless regular testing for viruses is in place. In contrast, the second and far less common highly pathogenic form is difficult to miss. First identified in Italy in 1878, highly pathogenic avian influenza is characterized by sudden onset of severe disease, rapid contagion, and a mortality rate that can approach 100% within 48 hours. In this form of the disease, the virus not only affects the respiratory tract, as in the mild form, but also invades multiple organs and tissues. The resulting massive internal haemorrhaging has earned it the lay name of "chicken Ebola". For example, the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus can survive in bird faeces for at least 35 days at low temperature (4 C). At a much higher temperature (37 C), H5N1 viruses have been shown to survive, in faecal samples, for six days. The use of poor quality vaccines or vaccines that poorly match the circulating virus strain may accelerate mutation of the virus. Poor quality animal vaccines may also pose a risk for human health, as they may allow infected birds to shed virus while still appearing to be disease-free." ">http://allafrica.com/stories/200602060166.html"> Edited by Rick |
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