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

To: DewDiligence_on_SI who wrote (2648)	10/14/2005 3:32:43 AM
From: maceng2	Respond to of 4232

At the moment, the concern here is for our chickens. news.bbc.co.uk EU holds bird flu crisis meeting Thousands of birds have already been culled in Turkey and Romania EU veterinary officers are to hold an emergency meeting to discuss new measures to prevent bird flu spreading. Results of tests are also due showing whether a strain detected in Romania is the same type discovered in poultry in Turkey - the lethal H5N1 strain. The World Health Organization said there was a high probability that the Romanian birds did carry the strain. The European Commission has banned imports of live birds from both Turkey and Romania. In both countries, the poultry that have been infected with bird flu have been close to sites favoured by migratory birds. At a meeting in Brussels, the EU will be looking at measures to try to reduce the chance of contact between wild birds and poultry in high-risk areas, which could include requiring some poultry to be kept inside. Drugs A separate EU meeting of experts on bird flu is expected to issue advice on the potential risk for humans who come into contact with migratory birds. EU countries are being urged to stockpile anti-viral drugs after it was confirmed that avian influenza found in Turkey was the H5N1 type that is fatal to humans. In the Turkish and Romanian capitals, some pharmacists said they had run out of anti-flu medicines because of heavy demand. "At the start of October we put about 1,000 vaccines on sale," said Mirela Radu, manager of a pharmacy in Bucharest. "Today we are out of stock. We have never seen such demand for flu vaccine." Turkey's Agriculture Minister, Mehdi Eker, insisted that measures were in place to contain the bird flu found in Kiziksa, 120km (80 miles) south-west of Istanbul. He said more than 5,000 birds had been slaughtered and a safety cordon in the area would remain in place for three weeks unless more cases were reported. Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou has warned that the EU should be ready for a potential pandemic. The H5N1 strain has killed more than 60 people in South East Asia since 2003. However, of those only one is suspected to have died after catching the virus from another human.