India, Tibet, Indonesia Hit By Bird Flu Deaths, Virus Spread

Three people have died from the H5N1 virus in Indonesia in the past four days. In India, at least three districts are now be infected by the virus, but some experts estimate the virus may be in many more districts and already have reached Calcutta. Birds are dying in greater and greater numbers in Tibet, from the virus and from culling.

The spread of bird flu picks up speed across Asia :

The death of the 32-year-old man raised Indonesia's human toll to 101 — accounting for nearly half the worldwide total. The man died in the capital Tuesday, three days after being hospitalized.

In southwestern Tibet, a poultry farm was quarantined after an outbreak of the disease killed 1,000 birds, agriculture officials reported Wednesday. More than 13,000 other poultry were killed to prevent its spread.

In India, the virus spread in three districts of West Bengal state, where culling was under way and more than 129,000 poultry birds have died, said Animal Resource Development Minister Anisur Rahaman.

Health workers have killed nearly 2.5 million at-risk birds and were clearing areas within 3 miles of infection sites, said Rahaman. No human infections have been recorded.

Skittish officials in neighboring Bangladesh ordered the halt of all egg and poultry imports from India.

Bird flu typically flares during the winter months, and a number of Asian nations have recently reported fresh outbreaks in poultry, from India to China to Thailand. Health officials said it was essential that governments step up surveillance to prevent its spread, especially ahead of next week's Lunar New Year, when massive numbers of people and poultry will be on the move.

"The more you see it in poultry, the more chance there is that we will see human cases," said Gregory Hartl, World Health Organization spokesman in Geneva.

Ten Years Later, Scientists Still Baffled By Bird Flu

Despite a decade of testing and research, the H5N1 virus remains, mostly, a complete mystery to scientists, even as it becomes part of daily life for hundreds of millions of people around the world :

Baffled scientists first watched a mysterious virus called H5N1 jump from birds to humans a decade ago in Hong Kong, killing six people and forcing the territory to slaughter its entire poultry population. It quieted for a while, but resurfaced in 2003 with even more questions.

Bird flu has since spread to more than 60 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, killing at least 211 people along with hundreds of millions of birds. Pakistan and Myanmar reported their first human infections earlier this month. Indonesia, the world's hardest-hit country, reported its 94th death Wednesday while Vietnam and Egypt also logged a death each the same day.

In stricken places like Vietnam, people have learned to live with the disease. Children are taught about bird flu in elementary school, and the nation's poultry is vaccinated twice a year.

But much about the H5N1 virus remains unknown. Experts are still puzzled by its ability to spread and kill. They also do not understand why it infects only a few people, and fear it could morph into a new form that spreads easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic that kills millions and cripples national economies.

"It doesn't cease to amaze me that every week or every day we learn something new about this virus," said Juan Lubroth, an animal health expert at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. "From the very beginning we've been saying that no poultry producing country is safe from this disease."

The World Health Organization is currently working to determine whether limited human-to-human transmission could have occurred in Pakistan where up to nine suspect cases were detected, including several relatives. The last infection was reported Dec. 6, and experts say there appears to be no threat of further spread.

A number of other countries have recently detected poultry outbreaks during the winter months when the virus typically flares. The reason why remains unclear, though some experts suspect a pattern that may be similar to seasonal human influenza, which surfaces every year as temperatures drop.

Another mystery is how the virus spreads internationally. How much of a role do migrating wild birds play in transmitting it compared to the trade and movement of poultry, which often crosses borders illegally?

"There are so many questions that are unanswered, and so many things have to come together to cause a pandemic, that nobody can predict it," said Dr. David Heymann, the WHO's top flu official in Geneva. "We don't know all the risk factors."

Most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds. Scientists believe human-to-human transmission has occurred a few times, but only among relatives in close contact.

WHO is watching other strains of bird flu, including H7 and H9, that are circulating among poultry and have also infected humans.

Still, H5N1 continues to be the virus experts worry most about, because it has spread so far, so fast. More than 60 percent of people infected by it have died.

"We just don't understand it, and what you don't understand is what's dangerous," Heymann said. "So, you have to be dramatic and take the most severe precautions."

Bird Flu Still Spreading Through Asia, Africa

From VOA News :

Nations in Asia and Africa have had much success in stopping the spread of bird flu, but experts meeting in Bangkok this week say the H5N1 virus continues to spread in a number of countries.

Experts with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization say bird flu is still considered an animal disease, affecting only a small number of humans so far. But they say the threat of a human pandemic, in which millions could die, is still very real.

Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nations' senior Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, told reporters in Bangkok Wednesday that while most nations have made progress in containing the virus' spread, there remain some problem areas.

"We've seen during the last three years that countries have invested a lot of resources in vaccination of poultry, in improving veterinary services, and also in what we call bio-security, in order to try to reduce the risk of...avian influenza continuing to circulate in poultry or in wild birds," he said. "We've seen in many countries, extraordinary success in getting this under control: (but) not everywhere. There's some problems in the region."

He says the virus continues to spread in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam in Asia, and Egypt and Nigeria in Africa.

Experts say nations that have yet to develop an export-oriented poultry industry are finding it more difficult to contain the disease.

They say Thailand, as one example, has had greater success in controlling bird flu, because it already had a veterinary system in place to support its sizable poultry exports.

Another challenge that could hinder efforts to contain the spread of H5N1 is the reluctance by some countries to hand over tissue samples of bird flu cases. China is one of them. Dr. Nabarro says negotiations continue in efforts to get Beijing to disclose more data and materials that could help scientists develop a vaccine.

"There are some situations in which countries have asked for clarification on the benefits that they're likely to get as a result of sharing samples, and there is some international negotiation under way at the moment to try to establish a satisfactory basis for sample-sharing by seeing whether or not it will be possible to ensure that those who do provide samples are able to benefit from products that are produced with the help of those samples," he said.

More Human Victims In Nigeria, Egypt

World Braces For Rise In Bird Flu Infections

The World Health Organisation has confirmed that a 17 year old girl has died of H5N1 in Egypt, after she is believed to have come into contact with infected poultry. The WHO said the girl was believed to have been infected with a strain of the virus that has shown "moderate" resistance to Tamiflu. She was the 12th person confirmed to have died of the virus in Egypt.

A 22 year old woman died in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 17 of H5N1. She, too, is believed to have come into contact with infected poultry. But curiously, the woman is thought to have survived some two weeks after the initial infection before she died. An unusually long survival time between infection and death for a bird flu victim. Her mother also died, but WTO says tests have so far proved negative.

The 22 year old woman was the first confirmed victim of bird flu in Nigeria.

The avian influenza virus continues to spread across the world as it mutates, showing up for the first time in some countries, while mounting a strong return to Indonesia and also Vietnam, a country held up in 2005 as having successfully eliminated the virus from its poultry and wild birds.

From the UK Observer :

The number of cases of the deadly bird flu virus is increasing around the world as scientists struggle to combat the disease that is now threatening to jump species and infect humans

Japan and Nigeria have reported a series of cases of the lethal virus, and China, Egypt, Russia, South Korea and Vietnam have also revealed outbreaks in birds and in humans in the past two months.

Indonesia began a mass bird cull in the capital city of Jakarta last Wednesday.

At least 164 people are now known to have been killed by the disease across the globe.

The rapid spread of avian flu can be traced to the fact that the H5N1 virus is mutating as it spreads through birds and a variety of mammals including cats, tigers and pigs, said Robert Webster, a researcher at St Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tennessee.

It was revealed last night that five people in Indonesia have died from the virus since the beginning of the year while Japan yesterday confirmed its fourth outbreak of H5N1 bird flu this year and Thailand has reported three outbreaks during the past month.

Ireland, Russia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Korea, Japan Ban Poultry Imports From The UK

Japan Runs Drills To Test Reactions, Responses To Human Pandemic Bird Flu Victims

Bird Flu Now Endemic In Indonesian Poultry

How Far Bird Flu Has Spread

How The US Is Preparing For A Pandemic



By Darryl Mason

The WHO Map above clearly shows the spread of the avian influenza virus in poultry and wild birds is far greater than the confirmed human cases of infection, which are relatively small and confined in comparison.

Below is a WHO chart tracking the human infections and deaths related to avian influenza since the start of 2003.

You can see that while Vietnam was suffering near record cases of human infections and deaths, the strict quarantine measures around poultry farms, the mass culls of infected birds and the isolation and fast treatment of the human infections worked remarkably well.

Although you don't hear much about it, Vietnam is heralded within the WHO as being the poster child for how a country can fight avian influenza outbreaks and win.

In Vietnam, after a death toll of 19 in the early part of 2005, there were no officially reported cases of bird flu infection in humans for the last half of 2005 and the first quarter of 2006.

Indonesia, meanwhile, is currently the country causing most concern for the WHO and the 'flu watchers'.

For 2005, in total, there were 17 cases of human infection and 11 deaths resulting.

In the first quarter of 2006, there were 13 confirmed cases of human infections with 12 deaths resulting.

The major cause for concern with Indonesia is that the infection and death tolls for Jan-April 5 this year are almost evenly matched, meaning those who were officially diagnosed with the virus almost certainly died in the weeks following.

The sameness of these comparative figures has led the WHO and many other agencies to believe that not all human infections are being reported in Indonesia.

	2003		2004		2005		2006		Total
	cases	deaths	cases	deaths	cases	deaths	cases	deaths	cases	deaths
Azerbaijan	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	5	7	5
Cambodia	0	0	0	0	4	4	1	1	5	5
China	0	0	0	0	8	5	8	6	16	11
Egypt	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	4	2
Indonesia	0	0	0	0	17	11	13	12	30	23
Iraq	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2
Thailand	0	0	17	12	5	2	0	0	22	14
Turkey	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	4	12	4
Viet Nam	3	3	29	20	61	19	0	0	93	42
Total	3	3	46	32	95	41	47	32	191	108

Overall, the WHO chart clearly shows that the mortality rate for human infections is above 50% overall, but it has risen to more than 70% for the first quarter of 2006.

Again, officials expect there to be many more cases of human infection than are actually reported and confirmed, and the same might be said for the resulting deaths as well.

It is impossible for every country and every region to closely monitor all of its people, and WHO has stated before there may be many more cases that simply go unreported, and thereby unconfirmed, due to the isolation of so many towns and cities across the Rusisan states, South East Asia and territories within Europe.

Go here to reach the United States government's PandemicFlu.gov site, which links through to the WHO map and charts.

You will also notice on PandemicFlu.gov that dozens of state conferences focusing around Pandemic Preparedness have been held across the US in the last eight weeks.

Through these conferences such key decisions as to how cities and towns will continue to function during a 6 to 8 week pandemic flu outbreak have been reached, or at least discussed in depth. Some states have decided that schools will be transformed into hospitals for the millions of infections expected, as most hospitals in the US are already full or near capacity.

Methods to distribute food, water and medicine to people quarantined or isolated within their homes has also been decided on, and Americans will be encouraged in the coming weeks and months to build food, water and medicine stockpiles in their homes, as during the course of a pandemic delivery systems will break down and people will need to fend for themselves for one to two months until the main pandemic 'storm' has passed.

While the US President is yet to say "You're On Your Own", there has been a growing stream of health department officials and state senators giving interviews where they are clearly getting Americans used to the idea that they cannot rely on their government for help if, or when, pandemic flu breaks out.

This is how the PandemicFlu.gov site defines the three main categories of Flu Infection :

Seasonal (or common) flu is a respiratory illness that can be transmitted person to person. Most people have some immunity, and a vaccine is available.

Avian (or bird) flu is caused by influenza viruses that occur naturally among wild birds. The H5N1 variant is deadly to domestic fowl and can be transmitted from birds to humans. There is no human immunity and no vaccine is available.

Pandemic flu is virulent human flu that causes a global outbreak, or pandemic, of serious illness. Because there is little natural immunity, the disease can spread easily from person to person. Currently, there is no pandemic flu.

Currently.

More Updates On Bird Flu Spread Across The Planet

AFGHANISTAN : 3 Deaths Investigated For Bird Flu Link

VOLGOGRAD : Village Quarantined After Virus Outbreak

INDIA : Another Bird Flu Outbreak Rattles Poultry Industry

CAMEROON : New Case Of Virus Discovered

RUSSIA : 9.5 Million Birds Inoculated Amid Bird Flu Fears

VIETNAM : 6 Million Fowls Vacinnated Against Bird Flu

NORTHERN IRELAND : Essential Services May Break Down During Pandemic

JERUSALEM : Bird Flu Detected

BAGHDAD : Virus Found In Poultry

CZECH REPUBLIC : Bird Flu Discovered

UGANDA : Birds Tested For Avian Influenza

TANZANIA : Researcher Sounds Alarm On Virus

RUSSIA : 140 Million Birds Now Being Slaughtered

INDIA : Chickens Culled To Contain Third Outbreak

ISRAEL : More Chickens Culled As Fears Of Spread Grows

Bird Flu Spreads Fast Across The Planet

The BAD News And The GOOD News

CAMBODIA : 3 Year Old Girl Dies From Bird Flu In Cambodia

CHINA : 11 Now Confirmed Dead From Bird

JORDAN : First Cases Of Bird Flu Found In Turkeys

BERLIN : First Human Case Of Bird Flu Reported

MEXICO : Authorities Deny Bird Flu Outbreak On US Border

RUSSIA : 7.5 Million Birds Now Vaccinated Against Bird Flu

SOUTHERN RUSSIA : Claims Bird Flu Outbreaks Contained

INDIA : More Cases Of Infected Bird, Culls Of 75,000 Birds Reported

SHANGHAI : Bird Flu Suspected As Cause Of Woman's Death

INDONESIA : Eight People Tested, Under Surveillance For Bird Flu Infection

GREECE : More Cases Of Bird Flu Infections Reported

ROMANIA : More Bird Flu Infections Confirmed

ALBANIA : More Bird Flu Cases In Poulty Confirmed

JORDAN VALLEY : Birds Died Of Avian Flu Claims

CANADA : Banks, Insurance Companies Now Planning For Pandemic

WALL STREET, NYC : Contigency Plans In Place For Bird Flu Outbreaks

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION CONFIRMS 100th HUMAN BIRD FLU DEATH

SLOVENIA : First Poultry Infections Suspected

PALESTINE : Virus Spreads To Gaza Strip

PAKISTAN : 'Red Alert' Raised After UK Confirms Test Results

AFGHANISTAN : Poultry Cull Begins To Fight Spread Of Virus

UKRAINE : Claims Virus Spread Now Contained, Quarantines Lifted

UNITED STATES : Fearing Bird Flu Virus Migration, Defences Are Readied

UNITED STATES : Government Orders Schools To Prepare For Pandemic

AZERBAIJAN : Five Young People Confirmed As Infected With Virus

EGYPT : Four Human Infections Reported

PAKISTAN : First Outbreak Of Bird Flu Now Spreading

RUSSIA : General Bird Flu Situation Worsening, 1.3 Million Birds Culled In Past Three Months

POLAND : Virus Confirmed In Wild Swans

SWITZERLAND : Virus Found In Central Stockholm

DENMARK : More Wild Ducks Found Infected

CAMEROON : Bird Flu Has Now Crossed Border

MYNANMAR : Rumoured Outbreaks

UNITED STATES : Health Secretary Tells Americans Not To Rely On Government For Help

KAZAKHSTAN : Bird Flu Cases Confirmed

ISRAEL : Virus Confirmed Found In Two Locations

MALAYSIA (NORTH) : Virus Outbreak Detected

Sorry, not as much GOOD News as I thought there was going to be. But the BAD News headline alone was far too alarming, and hopefully unnecessarily so.

The above stories are a major round up from the past few weeks of bird flu related stories. It was compiled this way to give an indication of the monumental spread of the virus across the planet, a perspective not readily clear in daily updates of new outbreaks in different countries. A listing of countries infected, as above, are few and far between in the media.

The above stories have been listed in date order of the stories' appearances in the world's media, starting with the most recent stories at the top of the page.

(Links have been checked, but some do drop out due to regional sites access availability, apologies if dead links have not been removed or updated)

The Worldwide Spread Of Bird Flu - February 21, 2006

THE SUDDEN AND MYSTERIOUSLY RAPID SPREAD OF THE VIRUS HAS EXPERTS CONFUSED AND WORRIED FROM THE EU TO INDIA

Bird flu is spreading rapidly across the EU and the experts are baffled. Why does it appear here? they ask, and yet not there.

The H5N1 virus rose up out of China almost five five years ago, but then barely moved beyond Asia. In recent weeks, the virus has sparked massive bird slaughters and crippling fear across six EU countries and more than a dozen other countries surrounding the EU.

And then there's India. With so many chickens kept in such close proximity to humans, and with so many migratory birds crossing the continent, India should have been one of the first countries infected when H5N1 took flight a few years ago. But it has only shown itself in the last week in India, sparking slaughters of 50,000 plus birds.

From the Sydney Morning Herald :

"The most perplexing report was that of a single case in France, a wild duck found dead in Lyons, because migratory birds from Asia that carry the virus do not normally go there at this time of year.

"'After several years in one place, why is it now moving so rapidly?" the director of the Animal Production and Health Division at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, Samuel Jutzi, wondered. "There is a lot about this that we just don't know."

EUROPEAN BIRD FLU ALREADY RAVAGING CONTINENT

VILLAGES QUARANTINED AS MILLIONS OF BIRDS DIE

Reports on CNN yesterday confirmed the following :

Germany confirms first case of avian influenza in birds

Dagestan reports deaths of 350,000 birds from the virus

Slovenia confirms first case of avian influenza in birds

From Romania to Leichtenstein villages are being quarantined and all poultry has been
ordered indoors

The EU will quarantine farms and villages out to a 6.5-mile radius with a surveillance zone where bird flu is confirmed, or suspected.

Two Iraqis have died from avian influenza infections

Dead swans found on a Baltic Sea island confirmed to have died from bird flu.

Slovenia confirms a dead swan found near the border with Austria as having died of the virus 35 dead birds are being tested in Denmark for the infection

In Leichtenstein, Austria, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland all poultry, farm and domestic, have been ordered to be kept inside to avoid contact with wild birds possibly infected with the virus

It remains a mystery how the avian influenza virus managed to make a "nearly simultaneous appearance" in Austria, Germany, Slovenia and Italy.

BIRD FLU SPREADING RAPIDLY THROUGH EUROPE, ASIA

A breathtaking sample of headlines from around the world from February 15, 16 and 17, 2006, showing the rapid spread of the avian influenza virus in both bird and human populations. A steady stream of bird deaths, human infections, fears of outbreaks, confusion and growing terror.

Reading through a selection of the hundreds of daily articles posted on bird flu spread, deaths and infections, it is impossible not to wonder if the World Health Organisation has already lost control of this virus.

Bird flu vaccine impossible until after pandemic appears reports UN

China Reports Eighth Flu Death; Says Dead Poultry Might Spread Virus

Two more suspected bird flu patients die in Indonesia

Millions of birds locked indoors as flu spreads in Europe

Hungary confirms bird flu outbreak

Denmark investigates nine dead swans

Norway on full alert following report of bird flu case on German island

Bird Flu Nears Sweden - EU Experts Warn of More Outbreaks

Germany probably had bird flu for months says minister

Bird flu pandemic would spark global downturn

EU holds crisis talks as bird flu spreads across Europe

Deadly Bird Flu Outbreak Confirmed in Russia’s Dagestan Republic

New Nigerian bird flu cases, panic selling blamed

Nigeria Didn't Make Bird Flu Cases Public For Up To 19 Days

Iran says swans in Caspian Sea died of bird flu

Massive chicken die-off in India, Government Denies Bird Flu

Iraqi health minister declares bird flu alert

More suspected cases of bird flu found in Germany

Discovery of dead ducks heightens bird flu fears in Belgium

Nigeria bird flu plan 'failing' warns UN