Bird Flu Scares "Are A Conspiracy To Make Money"

The former chairman of the Pakistan Poultry Association, Khalil Abbasi, isn't buying any of the talk about bird flu becoming a pandemic that could devastate humanity.

He has his own theories about what is going on :

“The bird flu hype is part of the media campaign of a US-based commercial enterprise, which has former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld as president. All of this is being done merely to boost the sales of its product ‘tami-flu’,” Abbasi alleged.

He said that the H5N1 (bird flu) virus was first detected in Scotland in 1960 and it still exists in Great Lakes area of the USA, but it was “overplayed” when it hit Thailand and other Asian countries. “Why are we assuming that the virus would turn ‘vicious?’ This is a fallacy because no human transmission has been reported so far in the world,” Abbasi said.

PPA chairman, Abdul Basit, said that since 2004, bird flu fears had caused losses worth billions of rupees to the poultry industry. This, he said, had resulted in the closure of 40 percent of farms. “Hundreds of thousands of workers have lost their jobs only due to ‘sensational news’ because no human infection has been found so far in Pakistan,” Basit said.

There are around 25,000 poultry farms in the country, employing over 1.5 million people with an investment of around Rs 200 billion. Approximately Rs 45 billion to Rs 50 billion worth of agricultural products and by-products are being used in poultry feed, the PPA chairman said, adding that the poultry crisis would ultimately compound the agricultural crisis.

A vaccine is available to effectively control the virus in birds, and effective use of this vaccine in Pindi, Islamabad and Abbotabad has controlled the disease in those areas. Karachi will follow suite soon, Basit said.

Basit read out a statement issued by Bernard Vallet, director-general of the Paris-based Animal Health Organization. Vallet said that the risks of bird flu were “over-estimated and fears of an imminent pandemic were non-scientific assumptions.”

One of the speakers at the press conference blamed the media for “over-emphasizing” the fears of bird flu. This led to a heated exchange between poultry and health officials and journalists present there.

Before Donald Rumsfeld became US Secretary of Defense, he brought shares in an American pharmaceutical company that helped in the development of Tamiflu. Rumsfeld still held those shares when the US government began talking up the threat of bird flu, primarily, in 2005.

Increased sales of Tamiflu in the United States, and around the world, saw Rumsfeld's shares generate millions of dollars in returns.

Confirmed : Human To Human Bird Flu Spread In Pakistan

The World Health Organisation has now officially confirmed that the H5N1 virus was passed from one person to another in Pakistan. However, they are calling this human transmission of one of the world's most deadliest viruses "limited" :

World Health Organization, WHO, officials say there has been limited human transmission of bird flu in Pakistan - with no new cases reported recently.

WHO's top bird flu official David Heymann Friday, said there appears to be no threat of the further spread of the H5N1 virus, with the last human case reported December 6.

At least eight people were infected in Pakistan's northwest in recent weeks - in the country's first human cases of bird flu.

One man who worked on poultry farm in North West Frontier Province has died. His brother also died recently, but was not tested for the virus.

Heymann says the cases appear to be part of a small chain of human-to-human transmission.

A WHO team is investigating the outbreak and results from initial laboratory tests are expected in the next few days.

Pakistan : H5N1 Virus Spreads Through Family

Pakistan Officials Waited 13 Days After Bird Flu Positive Test Results To Alert World Health Organisation
The Pakistan human transmissions reports grows only more confused and contradictory, but this story appears to lay out a few firm facts :

Authorities in Pakistan announced the country's first reported human cases of H5N1 avian flu Saturday in a cluster of family members which may have involved person-to-person transmission.

There was some confusion Saturday about how many people had tested positive for the virus, with Pakistan announcing six cases but the World Health Organization saying eight suspected cases had been identified.

The WHO said confirmatory testing must still be done. And a spokesperson for the agency said investigations are underway to try to determine how the various people became infected, but noted some human-to-human spread may have occurred.

"We can't rule it out," Gregory Hartl said from Geneva.

"There are other plausible explanations.... We don't know enough at this point. And in some of these cases, one never will know enough."

The cluster of cases involved four brothers and two cousins living in the country's North-West Frontier Province. Two of the brothers died, one without having been tested.

While the brothers who died are believed to have had at least some exposure to infected poultry, they were also known to have nursed the first case in the family, a brother who worked as a livestock official.

A doctor who treated members of the family also has tested positive for H5N1, but with a non-standard diagnostic test, Hartl said. He cautioned that further testing is needed to determine if she is indeed a case, noting she hadn't shown signs of infection.

Three people who are unrelated to the family but who were involved in culling H5N1-infected poultry in the same area have also tested positive; all are still alive. At least one of the cullers worked on the same farm as the livestock official.

The initial infection in this family dates back to late October, when the livestock official became sick. It appears that it was only after two of the man's brothers fell ill and died that testing was done looking for H5N1 infection. It is believed the first positive test was received in late November.

The WHO was officially alerted Dec. 12, Hartl said.

"We feel that the Pakistanis have done everything right in terms of their response," he said, noting the country has done a "huge" amount of work to strengthen infection control and increase surveillance.

"(But) yes, they could have alerted us earlier."

There was also a mild scare in the United States relating to the Pakistan outbreak. It's remarkable to see how fast the CDC can move when it needs to :

Meanwhile, U.S. public health authorities have confirmed they conducted H5N1 testing on a man who had recently visited Pakistan and was complaining of mild respiratory symptoms. The man, who officials will only identify as having a link to the cluster, is said to have been concerned he might have been infected.

"The individual went to his private physician after returning from Pakistan, and discussed this with his physician," said Claire Pospisil, a spokesperson for the New York State department of health.

Pospisil said the doctor contacted the local health department in Nassau County, where the man lives, and they collected samples for testing. The tests came back negative.

David Daigle, a spokesperson for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, said the CDC sent its plane to Albany on Dec. 8 to collect specimens for confirmatory testing. Within hours a CDC lab verified the state lab's findings.

"He was negative. There was no doubt about it," Daigle said from Atlanta on Saturday.

And more on other recent human infections :

On Friday, the WHO announced that Myanmar had reported its first human case in a seven-year-old girl who fell ill in late November. She has since recovered.

Earlier this month, China reported infections in a son and father from Jiangsu province; the son died. And in recent weeks Indonesia, the country hardest hit by H5N1, has reported several human cases.

China and Indonesia are warning there may be more human infections in the weeks ahead.

Pakistan : Two Brothers Attending H5N1 Infected Veterinarian In Hospital Caught Virus and Died

Amongst the conflicting reports coming out of Pakistan, comes this extraordinary story, which
claims that a veterinarian who fell ill with H5N1 then infected his two brothers with the virus, while in hospital, and both brothers died. The veterinarian, however, recovered.

There are many details in this story that are not reaching the wire reports from Reuters and Associated Press, including the claim that this is the first case of human transmission of the virus in Pakistan :

The deaths of two brothers of a veterinarian, who acquired the deadly H5N1 Avian Influenza virus after coming into contact with infected poultry at a farm in Abbottabad late-October, and the recent hospitalisation of a Mansehra-based poultry handler who has also tested positive for the disease, provide sufficient evidence for the government to institute concrete measures for interruption of human transmission of the disease from birds to poultry handlers and their close contacts.

Of the 40 suspected human samples collected from Peshawar and Abbottabad in the wake of the first-ever confirmed human transmission of H5N1 in Pakistan, 36 have tested negative, while four are positive, investigations conducted by ‘The News’ have revealed.

This is the first time that human cases have been reported in Pakistan, placing an onerous responsibility on the government and its partners to eradicate some of the dangerous trends in the poultry industry that could spell disaster for the country.

It is learnt that both the veterinarian, Dr. Ishtiaq Durrani, who is working as livestock production officer at the Department of Livestock and Dairy Development, NWFP, as well as the poultry handler from Mansehra, did not follow the recommended protective measures while handling infected birds. They may either have come into contact with the saliva, nasal excretions and faeces of the infected birds, or the feed and water that are given to them.

Dr. Ishtiaq was involved in culling of 3,000 birds following the October 21 outbreak of bird flu at a poultry farm in Abbottabad. The other victim from Mansehra happens to be a daily wage labourer who was commissioned for culling without being advised on how he should protect himself. The labourer’s daughter, along with another male, is also under observation at a hospital in Abbottabad.

While Dr. Ishtiaq himself is on the path to recovery, his brothers Mohammad Ilyas Durrani and Mohammad Owais Durrani — both of who were attending him at the Khyber Teaching Hospital during his illness — died on November 19 and November 29, respectively.

Ilyas has been confirmed as being the first casualty of H5N1 in Pakistan. Even though his brother’s blood sample could not be collected, health experts talking to ‘The News’ said clinical evidence suggests that he too succumbed to the deadly virus. The blood samples of two of the three brothers were received by the National Institute of Health on October 28.

This Bloomberg wire report is vastly different to the above story, claiming that no samples were collected from the two dead brothers and that the most recent outbreak of H5N1 occurred in late November, instead of October.

Pakistan : H5N1 Kills One, Six Infected

Reuters is now reporting that there is only one person dead from the H5N1 virus in Islamabad, and not the two brothers as previously reported. The two brothers don't even get a mention in this report :

Pakistan has recorded its first human death from bird flu and six other people have been infected with the deadly H5N1 virus over the last two months, a senior Health Ministry official said on Saturday.

"Seven in total. One died and six other people were infected with the H5N1 virus," Federal Health Secretary Khushnood Akhtar Lashari told Reuters. "It was confirmed by blood tests."

The cases were reported in the North West Frontier Province, Lashari said.

Two people have recovered and four are in quarantine.

While Pakistan has registered cases of bird flu in poultry this is the first time it has been reported in humans, Lashari said. The first poultry case appeared in early 2006.

There is a number of confusing, conflicting reports coming out of Pakistan about how many have died, how long ago the first human death actually occurred, and how many are now in quarantine.

Bird Flu Returns To Asia, Deaths In Three Countries

This report in the Jakarta Post supplies a fairly comprehensive round-up of recent events, and makes for a concerning 'big picture' view of the H5N1 spread :

Bird flu has resurfaced in parts of Asia, with human deaths reported in Indonesia and China and fresh poultry outbreaks plaguing other countries during the winter months when the virus typically flares.

Indonesia, the nation hardest hit by the H5N1 virus, announced its 93rd death on Friday after a 47-year-old man died a day earlier in a Jakarta hospital, said Health Ministry spokesman Joko Suyono. He fell ill on Dec. 2 and was admitted with flu-like symptoms, becoming Indonesia's 115th person infected with the disease.

In China, the military in eastern Nanjing banned the sale of poultry this week after a father and son were sickened by the disease earlier this month. Health officials confirmed the 24-year-old man died from the virus a day before his father, 52, became sick. It was the country's 17th bird flu death.The two were believed to have eaten a traditional dish known as "beggar's chicken," in which the bird is wrapped in lotus leaves and baked. However, the cause of infection remained unclear. The father is recovering after taking the antiviral Tamiflu, said Hans Troedsson, World Health Organization representative in China. More than 80 people who had contact with the family were being monitored for symptoms.

Local animal health officials said last week no H5N1 outbreaks had been detected among the province's poultry, but Troedsson said sick birds typically are not reported prior to human deaths in China...

That's startling news. Mass deaths of poultry birds aren't officially logged unless their human deaths?

Officials in Pakistan were investigating the country's first suspected bird flu cases Friday after two poultry farm workers died this week after being hospitalized with flu-like symptoms in Peshawar, said Khushdil Khan, medical superintendent of the Khyber Teaching Hospital.

Meanwhile, the disease has resurfaced in several provinces across Vietnam in recent months, killing or forcing the slaughter of thousands of birds. So far, 46 people have died from the virus nationwide.

Hong Kong closed its famed Mai Po bird sanctuary to the public for three weeks starting Friday after a wild gray heron discovered nearby tested positive for the virus.

Russia and Poland also have experienced recent outbreaks among poultry, but neither have detected human cases.

Pakistan : Claim That Two Brothers Died From Bird Flu

I'm treating this report with a bit of skepticism because I haven't found it reported elsewhere, as yet.

If it's indeed true, then these are the first two human deaths related to bird flu reported in Pakistan. The story claims the two brothers were working on a farm where bird flu has been detected :

For the first time in the history of Pakistan, Bird Flu influenza has been confirmed among human beings after two brothers died at a local hospital in Peshawar.

According to spokesman of Health Ministry, two brothers Muhammad Ilyas and Tariq working in a poultry farm in Mansera suffered flu, few days back that later turned to be critical in the form of Bird Flu influenza (H5N1).

They were admitted to a local hospital in Peshawar where on Monday they died.

After the blood samples of both the brothers were sent for formal testing in Laboratory, it was found that both brothers died due to Bird Flu virus (H5N1).

...spokesman of Health Ministry confirmed the death due to Bird Flu adding both the brothers were working in a Poultry farm in Mansera and had direct link with the chickens that resulted in the transformation of the virus (H5N1).

A report here, from November, claims Pakistan has had 76 outbreaks of the bird flu virus amongst poultry and birds in 2007.

Pakistan : 14,000 Chickens Die From H5N1, Massive Cull Follows

More than 14,000 chickens have died from a bird flu outbreak in a town 90km from Pakistan's capital Islamabad. 35,000 chickens have been culled.

The H5N1 virus first appeared in Pakistan in early 2006.