Are We Ready For Next Asia Bird Flu?

The global health community is simmering in discontent. They are in a dilemma. They are unable to find a proper medication for a simple disease like bird flu. They crossed the moon. They intend to beat the stars. But the simple-looking disease, the bird-flu is causing them much concern. The survival chances of a person afflicted with this disease are less than 50%.

Next to terrorists, it is the hotly debated and discussed topic in the USA administration. There is a rare unanimity among the contending forces world over as to the damaging consequences this pandemic is likely to cause. In the Asian continent, about ten countries have experienced the bitter results of the attack of this disease in minor and major proportions.

From the position of anonymity, it is assuming a status of world importance. The deaths due to the attack of this disease have been relatively small so far. But the coming events, they say cast the shadows before.

Even the apolitical officials of the World Health Organization are the greatly worried. It is estimated by them that the world has to go through the bad influence of pandemic flu once in 30-40 years and the time is ripe now.

They are aware that something tangible needs to be done but how to do it and what to do, they are not aware about.

Many Asian countries including China and India have had the initial taste of the bird flu. Hong Kong had a few deaths on account of this bird flu but they answered it by culling the bird population ruthlessly. The last influenza pandemic that originated in Hong Kong in 1969 took the toll of 34,000 lives in the United States. In the Asian Region, this influenza did the worst job.

The viral sub type of the disease is still in circulation. The most recent beating influenza pandemics wave was felt in 1968 and its influence continued unabated for over a year. It is known as Hong Kong Flu and it was initially detected in China. It worked with full fury in Hong Kong. Put together, it claimed between one to four million lives. It then reached Canada, United Kingdom and United States, particularly California.

The nature, movements and the working of this virus is mysterious. So far, human beings suffered on account of the direct contact with the infected animals and their secretion. But the virus evolves constantly and mutates to inflict punishments on the birds, animals and human beings from different types of attacks.

So, where lies the solution? No one knows for certain. It is darkness of the cave!

Many Bird Flu articles are available at Asia Bird Flu & http://www.isitbirdflu.com/

Many Bird Flu articles are available at http://www.isitbirdflu.com/ for Asia Bird Flu.

Symptoms Of Bird Flu

Whether man is on the nature-conquering spree or the nature is on the spree of subduing the humanity? Who is the master and who's whose servant? Technology or man? Can the push-button comforts provide relief to all your miseries? Have you conquered all the diseases, identified all the viruses so that you can ravel in a state of perfect health? Then why do you have these symptoms, which your doctor has identified as bird flu?

You have been giving something to the dear birds, in the form of cruelty, since time immemorial. Now it is the turn of birds to repay you in the same coin, with compound interest! Air space is free for the birds and migration from one part of the globe to another part, is their birth right. They don't require visa.

The virus is found in the bird's intestines. Even in the birds,the symptoms are not severe as such. Buy you see in poultry farms the way in which the birds are handled?they are packed closely together with chicken and turkeys?thus man helps the cause of rapid spread of the latest disease called bird flu?to give it a more trendy name, avian influenza!

A general alert was sounded in health circles all over the world, when the mutated variety of the bird flu virus, H5N1 showed its teeth. That was in the year 2003. The infected poultry led to several human infections. About 50% of the affected died. The other 50%, turned temporary vegetarians, and inspired many others to follow suit!

The mode of infection, is simple. Come into contact with the bird's saliva, faces or nasal secretions?and you certainly have it instantly. The other birds which come into similar contacts have no chance of survival. As for human beings, if protective measure are not taken, become susceptible to the disease.

Some of the symptoms are identified. As regards the other symptoms the usual guess work is going on. In birds, the virus H5N1 causes diarrhea,, excessive shedding, a swollen head and difficulty in breathing. How will you take note of these symptoms unless you are a bird expert? --so far you have been the expert in eating the flesh and drinking the blood(soup) of the birds only.

Some more symptoms are, fever sore throat, muscle ache, chest pain, lethargy, cough and headache. If the infection has taken a serious turn in you, the following symptoms would indicate that state: eye infections, acute respiratory problems, pneumonia, inflammation of the heart and inflammation in the brain.

Immediate hospitalization in the case of severe symptoms is not only advisable but absolutely necessary. Human to human help is most welcome, but not at this time when your H5N1 virus is waiting for the opportune moment to take hold of the person who is coming to help you. So, avoid all contacts and let a trained health worker handle the precious cargo!

I told you several times, about the necessary to have clean habits, and not to eat non-vegetarian food in all those joints. Hope you come out of this phase of suffering successfully!

http://www.isitbirdflu.com/ & Bird Flu Symptoms provides detailed information on bird flu, bird flu prevention, bird flu symptoms and more.

Don't ignore the threat of bird flu!

 

In the midst of all the commotion that is being created in the world today, yet another bolt of lightning has struck man kind recently. And this time, it has fallen straight from the sky. Thanks to our feathered friends, bird flu or avian influenza is slowly and steadily claiming human lives. According to statistics, bird flu has spread its wings all across the globe and is soaring fast, subtly preying on poultry and humans alike.

Though bird flu has not reached an epidemic level, it should not be shunned as a timely phenomenon. Everyday, across continents, people are falling victim to it and succumbing to death. Especially, in countries where there are no advance mechanisms and the resources to effectively counter the disease in case of an outbreak, the time to layout immediate action plans and precautionary measures is now.

There is no such thing as a 'possible threat' when millions of lives are at stake. Nobody knows for a fact whether the avian influenza virus is or is not a potential catastrophe waiting to unleash itself. Therefore, at this time, there is no room for complacency. No matter what the experts say, it is best to get into the defensive mode and do everything possible to fight back in this battle to stay alive.

The logic is simple. Why wait for something bad to happen and then get into the safety drive? Instead, why not start now and stay ahead of the threat? Hence, the only saving grace right now is vaccination and drugs like Tamiflu, which fortunately has the ability to control or even cure the raging flu that is hovering close.

It is an open canvas. And the catch is what you want the picture to be. It could either be a gory painting of death everywhere or a painting with happy smiling faces, as it should be. The choice is definitely yours and the truth, however blatant, is that there can only be one result when this is all over, you have either won or you have either lost the battle.

As a conclusion, let us believe that the bird flu is a deadly threat. Because if it is, it is not going to be pretty and the only thing protecting us from being infected would be our preparedness that instigated us to stack life saving drugs like Tamiflu. So, why take chances?

Hayley Stubbs an associated editor to eupharma.co.uk, is a contributing author to the http://www.eupharma.co.uk for distinct article sites/journals. Please feel free to visit http://www.eupharma.co.uk for more information on General Health related issues. Or write to him AT hayley.stubbs@gmail.com. Any comments and /or suggestions will be highly appreciated. Please note that this article is not a substitute for medical advice

Bird Flu True to Form? A Pandemic Scenario

Lee tried to stifle a sneeze but couldn???t. Invisible to the naked eye, a cloud of almost five thousand virus-filled droplets launched into the air at some 150 km/ hour or roughly 100 mph. Some passengers in the wide-body Airbus frowned. The Hong Kong to London flight was long and no one wanted to catch a cold.

Lee planned to fill every waking moment of his stay in London. A concert at the Millennium Dome, dinners at some of the finest hotels, shopping in crowded malls ??? ???What a chance,??? Lee thought. All he had to concentrate on was a few hours in front of the International Board. It was his job to present sales trends in China to the bosses who were also winging it towards Heathrow, one of the world???s busiest airports. ???The global executives will get only good news from me,??? figured Lee. ???Pity I don???t feel better ??????

The Diagnosis

Lee was exhausted. He had a cough, scratchy throat, runny nose and muscle aches. A fever started but it wasn???t until Lee began having difficulties breathing that he decided to get help.

Doctors huddled in subdued discussion. Experts were rushed in. It was finally determined that Lee???s body was fighting strenuously against two viruses. Lee had caught a highly infectious Influenza A virus ??? a flu bug. However, at much the same time he had also picked up a second virus called H5N1. The two viruses had mixed their genes and formed a hybrid. Since this was now a radically new pathogen, Lee had no immunity to it.

Lee was not the only one in this fight. Infected passengers from Lee???s plane from Hong Kong had connecting flights to major cities in most continents. The global executives Lee had addressed at the office had also flown home diseased. Sadly, some of the medical staff where Lee was diagnosed had also caught it not to mention the crowds Lee had interacted with at concerts, restaurants and on shopping sprees. The so-called Bird Flu or Avian Influenza had indeed spread its wings. It was the start of the first flu pandemic of the 21st century.

The News

Had Lee or any of the others known in time, they would have taken anti-viral drugs hoping to block or at least slow down the replication of the virus. At least the severity of some symptoms might have been eased not to mention a reduction in the duration of sickness. But time had run out - anti-viral medication needed to be taken within 48 hours of the first stages of the disease.

It wasn???t long before Lee was put on a respirator in quarantine. It also wasn???t long before the media found out Lee had Bird Flu. The public became nervous. The number of flu patients ??? real or imaginary ??? multiplied dramatically but nurses and hospital staff were strangely missing ??? using overdue holiday time or just not showing up for work at all. It was announced that schools, restaurants, and non-essential businesses would be closed. No deadline was given ??? no one knew for sure how long the measures would have to be in place.

The Public Announcement

Wisely, the public was advised to stock up on food and water. Newspapers advised people to stock up on toothpaste, toilet paper and treasure (cash). People were told to shop at off-peak hours and public transport was ordered to run 24 hours per day. But despite warnings to the contrary, doctor???s offices, hospitals and clinics were overrun. Faces masked in paper waited for hours in front of pharmacies in hope of getting relief. Despite clear instructions from health officials, panic broke out as folk finally fathomed that at best only one third of the population had access to anti-viral drugs. In rural areas and smaller towns, there wasn???t any chance at all.

The Short-term Havoc

Rumors and half-truths began to circulate causing public outcry and protests. Because the protests only helped spread the flu, quarantines were set in place. The public was told to stay at home indefinitely. Vibrant cities screeched to a halt as public transport shut down. Streets stank as garbage piled up. Shops were looted and in some cases those caught coughing were stoned. Safety services (fire, police, ambulance) were disrupted, fires burned out of control. Cross-border travel was curtailed killing tourism and all international sports events were cancelled. Food imports were banned creating shortages of meat, vegetables and wheat. Folk with chronic medical illnesses couldn???t get their medications. Soap and disinfectants ??? perhaps the simplest and most effective fight against the spread of disease ??? were in short supply; no one had thought to stock-pile soap.

The Controversy

Local governments and health organizations began to squabble over who had the power to do what. The question was of legalities: who would control distribution of anti-viral drugs and who would receive those drugs? Army barracks received attention but prisoners were ignored. Families with pets were labeled as ???higher risk??? groups but no-one knew if these families should receive more help or less. As in-fighting became more severe, decision processing became more difficult. Who should give the daily press briefings? Who would organize mass cremation? Who would facilitate conferences for global medical meetings? The list grew rapidly.

The Waves

The first wave of the pandemic was over in three months time but not the shock. Bacterial disease such as cholera multiplied rapidly with catastrophic results across Africa and Asia. The longer-term, global recession began with the realization that supply-lines, manufacturing and food-production chains were desperately weakened through labor loss. Medical facilities were terribly understaffed. As usual, the poor had little chance of aid at all. And then came the second wave of Avian flu. It took over a year before the waves of sickness and death became controllable.

Lee actually survived it all. Although he ???started??? the pandemic, he also helped ???end??? it. Doctors used his blood to find the initial vaccine. Since Lee was also now immune, he not only volunteered to help where he could and also founded the World Association of Sensible Hygiene (WASH). More importantly, Lee and others like him helped disrupted societies regain their faith and hope and love. Since this was pandemic number 11 in the last 300 years, history had taught that it was inevitable that individuals and communities and countries would bounce back fairly quickly. But a bitter question remained. Would Lee and the rest of the world be better prepared for the next pandemic? Lee wondered that too as he bordered the wide-body Airbus destined for Mexico City.
 

Bird Flu: Diagnosis

Central to the problem of dealing with bird flu is diagnosis. A number of upper respiratory infections have similar symptoms?at least at the onset of the illness, including the common cold, seasonal influenza, and bird flu. Seasonal flu and bird flu have almost identical symptoms?including fever, cough, malaise (feeling unwell), nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is, needless to say, a gigantic problem in accurately diagnosing bird flu?which is critical to beginning appropriate treatment as well as initiating infection control procedures and public health measures.

Currently, accurate testing for bird flu and other vial infections that can cause similar symptoms is difficult and requires specialized testing. This testing is time consuming and only available in specialized reference laboratories, which are few and far between. Fortunately, this may change in the near future.

According to Richard Janeczko, Ph.D., executive vice-president and chief scientific officer, Tm Bioscience, located In Toronto, Canada, is feverishly working to complete the final stage of development of an amazing test?not only for bird flu, but for more than 15 other viral infections (including severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS), many of which can mimic the symptoms of bird flu (personal communication). (Tm Bioscience is a DNA-based diagnostics company developing a suite of genetic tests. Tm Bioscience?s product pipeline includes tests for genetic disorders, drug metabolism, and infectious diseases.

The test, called the Multiplexed Respiratory Test, discriminates influenza A from influenza B and identifies the H5-subtype of influenza A (bird flu is ?H5N1?) from all other H subtypes. In addition, it can identify almost all the other common?and some uncommon?viruses that cause influenza-like illnesses. This is extremely important in managing patients, communities and economic issues. Other tests have lower clinical sensitivities and specificities which can lead to both false positives and false negatives.

By incorrectly identifying an outbreak as due to H5N1, patients could be treated with anti-virals unnecessarily (thus raising the chances of selecting for drug-resistant strains), unneeded vaccination programs in asymptomatic individuals could be initiated, and damage to local and national economies?through such measures as culling of commercial poultry operations?could occur. Conversely a false-negative test result could lead to catastrophic outcomes, including a pandemic.

The assay utilizes swab specimens taken from the nose and takes less than 5 hours to perform. It was developed for use as a diagnostic tool and for infection control in hospitals. The assay has been slated for expedited review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and TM Bioscience is hoping to have an FDA-cleared test available by the end of January 2006. If this assay delivers what it claims, it will have huge applicability on a global basis and save many lives.

Bradford Frank, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A. The Frank Group. P.O. Box 138 Lakewood, NY 14750 http://www.AvoidBirdFlu.com