Bird flu human to human ….

[wit]

…this is not good news, not least in that there’s not much most can do about it other than become hermits.

from the SCMP

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><br>Bird flu was spread directly between members of an Indonesian family, in the first laboratory-confirmed case of human-to-human transmission of the lethal H5N1 virus, a World Health Organisation official said.

The findings also provide the first evidence of a person catching the virus from someone and then passing it to another, said Tim Uyeki, an epidemiologist from the US Centres for Disease Control……

Clarifying earlier news reports based on a WHO document, Maria Cheng, a spokesman for the UN agency, confirmed that the virus identified in the case – in which seven family members in northern Sumatra died – had mutated.

The WHO’s investigation found that H5N1 appeared first to have mutated in a 10-year-old boy who was infected by an aunt. He then passed the virus to his father.

"The mutation that was found in the samples from the [the boy and his father] provides the first laboratory evidence that human-to-human transmission occurred," she said.

<br><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

http://www.scmp.com

(tho you need a subscription to get beyond the front page)

<br>best regards

wit

(Edited by wit at 12:57 pm on June 24, 2006)

[insomniac]

Thanks for that Wit. I won’t worry too much though, knowing that our Government / DEFRA will have an adequate response to the threat. :nailbiting:

[gamble]

<br> :sad:

Melanie Griffith’s mother<br> struck a gnarled bony hand at the crow(d)<br> failing to understand the mutation or its deverlopment<br> as dark winged clouds gathered again over Bodega Bay<br> but with a different edge..<br> Jaws on legs,<br> but no queues pressed at the cinema,<br> and desparate cupped hands mimmicked Monch to create<br> an altogether darker shadow.

Hitch walked up to the man who invented tomorrow

" Forget the time machine and remember this – I wrote the book "

Wells… " What book ? "

Hatch…  ‘ Doomsday – when tme ended "

Wells…  " You were always the man <br>                  – you must take a part "<br>             <br> <br> <br> flatcapgamble… oh dear the socceroos<br>

[sberry]

there are many potential worries in the world and that’s all this is for the general population, just a possible worry.  If it becomes widespread and incurable and becomes as dangerous as the flu epidemics last century I might think again but at the moment, there’s plenty else to put on my radar screen and this don’t come close.

This in no way implies it isn’t devastating for those few it has affected so far though, I just wish the media wouldn’t create scare stories where they are not needed, imo.  more chance of being hit by a car or attacked on the streets

[Drone]

Seem to recall the media feeding the anxiety culture with warnings of global epidemics of SARS and CJD in recent years; bird flu the latest in the line.

Because they are seen as a potential threat to us cocooned in the comfort of the ‘developed’ world we blow it out of all proportion.

It MAY prove to be a major problem, meanwhile…

Millions in the ‘developing’ world ARE dying from quinine-resistant Malaria and resurgent Tuberculosis.

Nimby so that’s okay then…or will the ‘bad air’ creep north hand in hand with global warming.

(Edited by Drone at 10:37 pm on June 28, 2006)

[wit]

malaria, measles, diarrhoeal diseases, TB, and pneumonia are known and curable.  

the problem with them is not what they are but where they are.

tackling them is not significantly a medical issue.    

nor IMO is the answer to them the "Irish rockstar / Blair / Brown approach" which seems to be more about chucking money and creating feel-good in the givers.  

i’m more with Bill Gates:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/africa/overview22.shtml

<br>but those diseases are a very different issue to an unknown, incurable disease – with a 50% mortality rate within days of contraction –  that is still trundling towards potential pandemic status, even if it drops from summer  headlines.    its not as if africa or india would be immune from it either, even if they have other problems.

nor is this a question of not eating cows or civets.  

while it would be a comfort of sorts if H5N1 was just the invention of a few papers/ politicians, or even medics looking to keep their research grants, i’m not sure that’s a safe analysis to make at this point.

best regards

wit

[sberry]

UK drugs firm GlaxoSmithKline believes it has developed a vaccine for the H5N1 deadly strain of avian flu that may be capable of being mass produced by 2007. <br>The vaccine has proved effective at two doses of 3.8 micrograms during clinical trials in Belgium, the BBC’s business editor Robert Peston has learned.

It is the size of the dose that is highly significant, Glaxo explained.

Firms want the smallest effective dose so that they can get the maximum number of shots out of a quantity of vaccine.

Glaxo said that governments could order the vaccine for delivery and stockpiling in early 2007.

Phew, thank christ for that, I was struggling to save up the dough for the private flight on the next space shuttle to take me away from this next impending plague that would make this planet uninhabitable – looks like we might all make it after all

[Shadow Leader]

Dontcha just love the tabloids and their scaremongering?! :biggrin:

[dave jay]

I was really worried about the bird-flu thing, Glaxo-Kline have saved us all from something that might never happen .. oh, and the Red Mercury Trial collapsed yesterday, due to the fact that nobody had done anything !!

.. I love an’appy endin me ..

:biggrin:

(Edited by dave jay at 8:26 pm on July 26, 2006)

[baggie321]

JUST IN ON SKY NEWS

BIG BIRD OFF SESAMIE STREET

HAS CONTRACTED THE BIRD FLU VIRUS

IM DISTRAUGHT

I HOPE HE PULLS THROUGH

[sberry]

bloke goes to the doctor’s and says "doc, i’m worried i might have this bird flu thing", doc says "why, what’s wrong with you ?", bloke says "i’m having trouble parking my car and i can’t throw things"

[gamble]

  :old:

  The disease is one thing<br>   but birds these days are <br>   far too big for their boots

[gamble]

“This is not good news in that there’s not much most can do about it other than become hermits.”

Quite prophetic opening words from Wit.🧐

[Author]

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