This is typical for the Chineese Govt.  it is the same with crime and AIDS.  They choose to pretend it doesn't exist so they can tell the people that Communism works, not Capitalism.

Trillin

http://www.mnleftyliberal.blogspot.com

Deadly bird flu comes to Tibet

Tibet Justice Center[Tuesday, July 19, 2005 22:01]

TRIN-GYI-PHO-NYA, Vol. 3, No. 3

By Minnie Wood*

At least 5,000 migratory birds have died from avian influenza at Tso-Ngon (Lake Kokonor) in the Amdo region of Tibet since early May 2005, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). These deaths include several species of migratory birds, including bar-headed geese, great black-headed gulls, brown-headed gulls, ruddy shelducks, and great cormorants. This is the first instance of widespread deaths from avian influenza in migratory birds--rather than domestic birds--indicating that the avian influenza virus may have become more dangerous. The Chinese government has not reported any cases of avian influenza in humans in the region.

Avian influenza, or bird flu, is a naturally occurring virus among birds. Wild birds are carriers of the virus but usually do not become ill from it. But avian influenza is extremely contagious and can cause domesticated birds like chickens and ducks to become sick and die. The particular subtype of bird flu that is currently circulating, H5N1, is deadly. Outbreaks of the disease have occurred in poultry in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos and South Korea. More than 100 million birds in these countries have died from the disease or have been killed ("culled") in order to prevent its spread. In addition, there have been 108 cases of bird flu in humans and a total of 54 deaths. It is believed that humans become infected through contact with diseased birds and contaminated surfaces, including ingestion of raw or undercooked poultry. But much remains to be learned about specific modes of transmission,

Flu viruses can change rapidly and there is growing concern that a human infection with a bird and a human flu at the same time can give rise to a new type of influenza to which people will have no natural immunity. Such a disease could be devastating to human beings, resulting in a worldwide pandemic. From 1918 to 1919, a different subtype of flu killed approximately 50 million people around the world.

The WHO has expressed concern about the possibility of the spread of bird flu outside of the Amdo region and about the Chinese government's efforts to test migratory birds and people in the area. Approximately 100,000 birds from 189 different species congregate at Tso-Ngon each year. Despite those numbers, and more than 5,000 bird deaths from the disease, only 12 birds and 2 humans have been tested for avian influenza. In addition, little is known about the specific migratory patterns of the different species, making early warning of other areas of Tibet, China and Asia, a difficult prospect. WHO officials have insisted that China step up efforts to tag and test birds, and to make laboratory findings from analyzed samples available to international organizations. Because the birds will resume their migratory pattern in August or September, flying south and west, attempts at tagging, tracking and testing birds must begin immediately.

China has also been the target of a recent WHO inquiry regarding its avian influenza prevention strategies. The Washington Post recently reported that the Chinese government condoned and encouraged the widespread use of the human antiviral medication, amantadine, in domestic poultry. The drug, which was fed to poultry, may have caused the H5N1 virus to adapt and become resistant to amantadine, rendering the medication useless to combat bird flu infection in humans. Researchers have already determined that the flu circulating in Vietnam and Thailand is resistant to amantadine.

Chinese officials have cordoned off Tso-Ngon, limiting access to the public. According to Chinese news agencies, vaccination of birds in the area is underway, but no migratory birds have been culled due to their protected status. Another outbreak of avian influenza has been reported in Tacheng city, in Xinjiang province; however international agencies have not yet been granted permission to visit.

bit more

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=10252&article=Deadly+Bird+Flu+Comes+to+Tibet

By Jeffrey Simpson

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Warning: This column will frighten you. Keep away from young children.

Think terrorism is the world's biggest threat? It's a nasty one, all right. A nightmare scenario would see nuclear capabilities falling into terrorists' hands.

But, short of the nuclear/terrorist nexus, the world's biggest threat isn't terrorism. It's flu. Yes, flu.

Occasionally, a newspaper article appears about some Chinese or Vietnamese village getting hit by bird flu, or what scientists call the H5N1 virus. We read the article. Our eyes pass on to something nearer to home.

Take a look at the current issue of Foreign Affairs, where four articles describe the worldwide threat of a flu pandemic. Or a recent issue of Nature. Your hair might stand on end.

About two weeks ago, it was reported that wild birds were dropping dead in a remote area of northwestern China. So what? Well, the birds in that area migrate thousands of miles. Early tests show that the dead birds suffered from the same H5N1 flu strain that forced the slaughter of millions of chickens and killed 54 people in Southeast Asia.

That's the thing about flu. It can travel fast, and it can be virulent. By the time a vaccine is produced, many people in infected areas can die.

SARS showed how fast diseases can travel. Once SARS appeared in China, people in five countries were infected within 24 hours, and in 30 countries within several months; 43 people died in Canada. The Canadian Tourism Commission estimated that SARS cost the economy $419-million. The cost to Ontario's health-care system exceeded $700-million.

more:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050712/COSIMP12/Columnists/Columnis
t?author=Jeffrey+Simpson

This bike race is being held here with a million spectators. Makes you wonder if any of the teams were warned.

BB thread

http://discuss.agonist.org/yabbse/index.php?board=6;action=display;threadid=22358

Will we be ready?

Most Americans consider bird flu a distant threat, but U.S. health officials are preparing for a potential pandemic.

By Melissa Healy, Times Staff Writer

In the perennial conflict between germs and humans, the influenza virus has a distinguished roster of battlefield victories. But now, far from America's shores, a new round of hostilities is brewing. For the first time, scientists and public health officials are preparing to fight back.

Across East Asia, an influenza virus known by the scientific designation H5N1 has killed at least 55 people and tens of millions of birds. As potential aggressors go, this one's about as insidious as they get -- fast-moving, deadly and extremely unpredictable. Before it can mount an all-out offensive, this "bird flu" virus must change its genetic makeup so that it can jump easily from human to human. Once it has done so, the resulting germ could spread quickly, inflicting heavy casualties among a global population with no natural immunity against it.

That final shift might never happen -- or it could happen next week. But scientists think that roughly three times each century nature creates an influenza virus capable of global devastation, and a "pandemic" flu sweeps the world. The prospects increase when a virus long out of circulation extends its geographic range, its hold on different animal species and its contact with humans. By those measures, H5N1 is a virus on the march.

So can it be stopped? With a few more years to prepare, American public health experts say they may be able to prevail over an outbreak of pandemic flu. But its timing absolutely defies prediction. If the attack comes this year or next, experts acknowledge they can at best slow its march, and the death toll will be grievous.

Among officials and experts tracking the building force of the H5N1 virus, the anxiety is palpable. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who directs the National Institutes of Health office that oversees preparations for pandemic flu, says the sense of urgency is intense. "I feel it every day, and my staff feels it every day."

Fauci calls pandemic flu "the mother of all emerging infections" and warns that the world is behind in building its defenses.

There is, however, a scramble to get ready. The United Nation's World Health Organization has stepped up its monitoring of H5N1 throughout East Asia. It has brokered cooperation among countries to help stem the spread of the virus -- usually by killing flocks of infected birds. And it has exhorted countries to arm themselves with vaccine and antiviral medication.

In Washington, D.C., and across the United States, officials are racing to prepare for and counter the virus before it becomes efficient at jumping from human to human and is transported to America by a passenger aboard a plane.

They know how quickly the scenario could unfold. When a novel respiratory syndrome called SARS emerged in rural China in 2003, it spread to five countries in 24 hours; within several months, it had reached 30 countries on six continents. The East Asian countries most affected by bird flu so far -- Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand -- are ill-equipped to track the spread of bird flu in animals and humans. Containing it, say experts, is beyond their powers.

more

http://www.latimes.com/news/health/la-he-birdflu25jul25,0,4494435.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Reply #5 is a map showing deaths as of 7/15

Reply #11 shows recent outbreaks, note that the red & orange dots show the area expanding

China's migratory birds carry a more deadly avian flu strain  

By :  

Date : 13 July 2005 1718 hrs (SST)  

URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/health/view/157741/1/.html  

BEIJING : Wild birds in northwest China carry a more deadly strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus and pose a global threat as they begin their summer migrations, state media has quoted scientists as saying.

So far, some 6,000 birds in Qinghai province's "bird island" - a sanctuary with some 100,000 migratory birds - have died from an outbreak of avian influenza discovered in May.

Chinese scientists who recently tested the virus samples and completed gene sequencing said the strain in the outbreak appeared different and more pathogenic than strains in previous outbreaks, the Wenhuibao newspaper said.

The virus killed chicken within 20 hours and mice within three days during laboratory experiments, the report quoted scientists as saying.

"The results show that this new strain of H5N1 is very harmful," said Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Academy of Science's microbiology research institute.

"The deadliness of the virus far exceeds that of the virus strains previously found in water fowl in northern China."

World Health Organization (WHO) officials had said last month they also believed the virus to be more lethal than previous strains as it had infected the largest flock of migratory birds ever.

Species of wild birds previously not affected fell sick this time.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the WHO had asked China to share the virus samples so they could be tested in an international laboratory, but UN officials said Wednesday they had not received the samples.

The Chinese scientists' findings were not surprising, they said.

"It would seem to indicate what we've known all along, that this is a highly pathogenic strain that has killed many wild birds, so it's not surprising that it would kill mice," said WHO spokesman Roy Wadia.

The article cited a recent report by Chinese scientists in Science magazine.

It is feared that the birds still alive may carry the virus without showing symptoms, which would enable them to fly to other areas and infect both wild and domesticated birds.

The migratory patterns of the birds are not entirely clear, but it is believed they come to China's Qinghai province from May for the mating season and start leaving in late July and August, flying south and west to countries including India, Pakistan and Thailand.

As some have begun their migration, they could be passing through several Chinese provinces before reaching other countries in the two- to three-month long migration.

"For sure, in all the provinces located on their routes, there should be public awareness of the possibility of more infections," said FAO's China representative Noureddin Mona.

No human cases have been reported in the Qinghai outbreak.

The H5N1 strain has so far been mainly transmitted between animals, but it has also killed more than 50 people in Southeast Asia since 2003.

Experts fear it could mutate into a highly infectious strain that can be easily transmitted from animals to humans or from humans to humans, unleashing a pandemic that would kill tens of millions of people. - AFP/de