Bird flu headed for East Africa !!!

[dhagdhag]

Fears rise that bird flu is headed for East Africa
Countries there don't have the means to control outbreaks, U.N. officials say

Elisabeth Rosenthal, New York Times

Thursday, October 20, 2005


Rome -- As bird culls to control probable new outbreaks of avian flu started on farms in Russia and Macedonia, U.N. officials here warned that their far larger concern is that the virus is on its way to East Africa, where the disease could be nearly impossible to control.

As bird flu has jumped this year from Southeast Asia to China, Russia, Kazakhstan and more recently into the Balkans region of Europe, scientists have become convinced that wild migratory birds are one of the main carriers of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

Although there is widespread anxiety about the arrival of bird flu in Europe -- European Union health ministers will convene a special session today to discuss the problem -- the next stops on bird migratory pathways are not in western Europe, but in the Middle East, North Africa and East Africa, U.N. officials here say.

'Ideal breeding ground'

Countries and farmers in these parts of the world, particularly in East Africa, are completely unprepared, lacking both the money and scientific infrastructure to control outbreaks of the virus, the U.N. officials said.

Also, poorer African nations, where people and animals live close to each other, provide a dangerous crucible for the mixing of bird and human viruses, increasing the risk that the avian virus could spread among humans.

"The close proximity between people and animals and insufficient surveillance and disease control capability in eastern African countries create an ideal breeding ground for the virus," said Dr. Joseph Domenech, chief veterinary officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, which monitors the spread of the disease in animals.

In Russia, authorities detected a deadly strain of bird flu south of Moscow on Wednesday. China reported a fresh outbreak in its northern grasslands. Both are indications that the deadly virus is spreading across Siberia to the Mediterranean along the pathways of migratory birds.

In Asia -- the crucible of the virus -- China's official Xinhua news agency said about 2,600 birds in the northern grasslands have died of the disease. It did not give details on when the birds were found, and sought to reassure the public that the outbreak was contained.

The EU was trying to assess whether the H5N1 strain of bird flu had spread into Macedonia and Greece. H5N1 has been confirmed in two villages in Romania and in Turkey.

The EU also announced plans for an exercise simulating a human flu pandemic to improve readiness in case the bird virus mutates to form a strain transmissible among people.

Aggressive action

In developed nations, bird flu outbreaks are controlled by aggressive public health measures. Once the virus is suspected -- usually signaled by unusual bird deaths -- it is fought with a combination of preventive slaughter and quarantines, even before its presence is confirmed.

In Macedonia, for example, health authorities were killing 10,000 birds in a small southern village on Wednesday as they waited for tests to be performed in England, to confirm that the H5N1 strain was involved.

In the first large-scale bird flu outbreak, in Hong Kong in 1997, 1 million birds were killed in a day to stop the disease.

But compliance with culls has been sometimes difficult in poorer parts of the world. Poor farmers may choose not to report deaths for fear of losing their birds. Worse still, they may simply slaughter sick birds before health authorities confiscate them, to eat them or to sell them at local markets.

The United Nations will help countries in Africa strengthen surveillance, Domenech said. If the disease borne by wild birds is established in Africa, he said, it is likely to come to Europe next spring as the birds return north for the summer.
CHINA: About 2,600 birds infected with H5N1 flu strain found dead in northern grasslands

THAILAND: Nation starts testing its own generic version of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu

RUSSIA: H5N1 strain found in hundreds of birds that died south of Moscow

MACEDONIA: Bird flu suspected in small southern village; 10,000 birds to be killed

MIDEAST: Israeli and Jordanian veterinary experts to meet at border to plan flu prevention

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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source:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... FB8S51.DTL

[Basra-]

u know the east africans probably dont care.They are so poor--i think this flu maybe a blessing in disguise.

[muslim-man]

[quote="Basra-"]u know the east africans probably dont care.They are so poor--i think this flu maybe a blessing in disguise. [/quote]

subxanallah!

[Basra-]

Muslim man am I missing something?

[muslim-man]

what did u mean by "i think the flu is a blessing in disguise" basra??

[Basra-]

Muslim have i told you lately that I ........ YOU??

[muslim-man]

[Basra-]

muslim man-- You know Something about you that is Irish & charming.

[Dhaga Bacayl]

[quote="Basra-"]u know the east africans probably dont care.They are so poor--i think this flu maybe a blessing in disguise. [/quote]


Nacas..

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

There is no point in preparing. If Allah wants the bird flu to kill off East Africans, then nothing can change that.

[Dhaga Bacayl]

[quote="MAD MAC"]There is no point in preparing. If Allah wants the bird flu to kill off East Africans, then nothing can change that.[/quote]


This time I agree with you...but only this time.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

That's because your nuts.

[Samatr]

Its all about hilib adhi!!!

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Yeah, it's all about Hilib Adhi, yep, that's right.

Anyone ever tell you people you aren't right in the head? If not, consider it done now.

[Samatr]

[quote="MAD MAC"]Yeah, it's all about Hilib Adhi, yep, that's right.

Anyone ever tell you people you aren't right in the head? If not, consider it done now.[/quote]



Why eat chicken when you have goat meat, I never once ate chicken as a child in Somalia.