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Biotech / Medical : SARS and Avian Flu -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Henry Niman who wrote (2260)	8/28/2005 7:41:44 AM
From: William H Huebl	Respond to of 4232

news.yahoo.com Vietnam capital warned of renewed bird flu threat Sat Aug 27, 5:03 PM ET Vietnam's capital has been warned that 50 percent of water fowl transported into the city and 10 percent of those being raised there have tested positive for bird flu, state press reported. Dao Minh Tam, deputy director of Hanoi's agriculture and rural development service, was quoting tests carried out a week ago, according to the army daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan. Last year, all of Vietnam's 64 provinces and cities were hit by bird flu but the number of areas with fresh outbreaks has gradually reduced this year. Forty-two people have died of the disease in the world's worst-hit country. Tam urged authorities to take strict measures to check avian flu in Hanoi, adding that up to 70 percent of the capital's poultry was brought in from outside. The new warning comes a day after it was revealed that three rare palm civets raised in a national park in the northern province of Ninh Binh had died of the virus in the first such case. A mother and two young of the endangered Owston's palm civets died in the same cage in June with H5N1 infection confirmed by a laboratory in Hong Kong, it was revealed Friday. The agriculture and rural development service has asked city authorities to vaccinate all poultry and water fowl in Hanoi, totalling some 4.2 million. Vietnam launched a trial vaccination programme for poultry on July 30 in a southern province and on August 4 in a province in the north. The government, which earlier planned to begin vaccinating 80 percent of its more than 200 million chickens and ducks in October, decided to bring the start forward to September. Experts say the new campaign's success or failure will determine whether Vietnam can halt the spread of bird flu. Vietnam wants to complete the mass vaccination before winter, widely feared to be the prime time for the virus to spread in the country. Bird flu has killed 61 people across Asia, 42 of them in Vietnam since late 2003, and ravaged poultry stocks in the region as well as in parts of Russia and Kazakhstan. Health experts have warned the bird flu virus could spark a global pandemic if it develops the ability to spread quickly among humans.

To: Henry Niman who wrote (2260)	8/28/2005 7:44:25 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4232

Will it do um any good though? Britain's elite get pills to survive bird flu timesonline.co.uk Sarah-Kate Templeton and Jonathan Calvert MEMBERS of Britain’s elite have been selected as priority cases to receive scarce pills and vaccinations at the taxpayers’ expense if the country is hit by a deadly bird flu outbreak. Workers at the BBC and prominent politicians — such as cabinet ministers — would be offered protection from the virus. Ken Livingstone, the London mayor, has already spent £1m to make sure his personal office and employees have their own emergency supplies of 100,000 antiviral tablets. If there is an avian flu pandemic in the coming months there would be enough drugs to protect less than 2% of the British population for a week. The Department of Health has drawn up a priority list of those who would be first to receive lifesaving drugs. Top of the list are health workers followed by those in key public sector jobs. Although senior government ministers would be among the high-priority cases, the department said this weekend that it had not decided whether to include opposition politicians. BBC employees would be protected because the corporation is required to broadcast vital information during a national disaster. Politicians and the media have been placed before sick patients, heavily pregnant women and elderly people by government planners. Yesterday, leading BBC presenters were surprised to learn that they would be given preferential treatment. Jeff Randall, the BBC’s business editor, said: “Are you really telling me that I am on a priority list for bird flu jabs? Marvellous. I always knew there would be an advantage from working at the BBC.” John Humphrys, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, said: “I think if I were offered the jab I would probably pass it on to someone 40 years younger than me.” Nick Clarke, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s World at One, said: “I’m sure I wouldn’t qualify. My programme has news and comment and the one thing you can do without in a pandemic is comment . . . They would want to have Huw Edwards and reassuring newsreaders on radio.” Fears that a “doomsday” virus may sweep the world have been heightened by the recent spread of the lethal strain of avian flu, H5N1. The death toll, estimated at 120, has been of people whose work brought them into close contact with infected birds. Scientists have warned that millions could die if H5N1 mutates. The Department of Health would not currently be able to cope with such an onslaught. Although it has ordered 14.6m doses of Tamiflu, an antiviral drug thought to be effective against the H5N1 strain, only 900,000 doses are in stock so far. The full supply will not be delivered until March 2007, at a total cost of about £100m. Besides the NHS and BBC, firemen, police and the armed forces are among those listed in the two top-priority groups to receive the vaccine.