Background Noise

 

 

# 2788

 

 

Every day I read, or at least skim, dozens (it seems like hundreds) of news reports from all over the world that might have something to do with public health, pandemic influenza, or other emerging infectious diseases. 

 

Many are repeats of previously published information, or of dubious reliability, or perhaps not terribly newsworthy, and so in the end I may end up blogging on only a small handful of them.  

 

My litmus test for what I blog about is, admittedly, arbitrary.

 

If it interests me, I figure it will interest my readers.

 

This means, of course, that a lot `little' stories get ignored.  At least until they aggregate into a big enough pile that I think them worthy of a blog.

 

Over the past couple of weeks, I've noted a rise in the level of background noise in several bird flu hot spot countries; Vietnam, Egypt, and Indonesia.   

 

Mostly media reports of poultry die offs, suspected (but not confirmed) human infections, and warnings to the public to be alert.

 

A bit worrisome, perhaps, but not really worthy of their own blog. After all, these sorts of events are fairly common, even if we don't read about them every day in the news.

 

 

Here, I need to point out that 90%+ of these reports are found, translated, and posted on the flu forums by the dedicated and seemingly indefatigable army of volunteer newshounds, who spend  countless hours each day scouring the Internet for news.

 

I couldn't begin to do what I do without their able, and generous, assistance.

 

So, today a whirl-wind tour of some of the media reports coming out of a few hot-zone countries.

 

Egypt:

 

Bird flu is endemic in Egypt's poultry, and they've recorded well over 1,000 outbreaks since it was first detected in 2006.   This year, they have also detected 4 human cases, bringing that nation's total to 55, with 23 fatalities.

 

Egypt continues to identify, hospitalize, and test suspected human cases.  Medical authorities have tested literally thousands of suspect cases, and most of these turn out to have something other than bird flu.

 

Today, Dutchy at Flutrackers brings us this report of 3 such suspect cases.

 

Avian influenza attack Monoufia

3 cases of detention of infected
Monoufia Office tonight:

Detained hospital fevers dead Mervat Mohamed Khalaf housewife and resident Ptla driver Mahmoud Badr Mahmoud Alrmali village resident and supervised the past 18 years a resident called village Opinhs Quesna on suspicion of having bird flu.

D said. Atta, Hisham Youssef, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health Menoufia had been sampling the blood of the wounded and sent to labs central Ministry of Health and clearing houses.

He pointed out that the flu vaccination campaigns household continues.

 

 

Vietnam:

 

Vietnam's bird flu woes continue to mount, with 7 provinces currently reporting outbreaks in poultry.  In addition, they have a confirmed human case in critical condition in Quang Ninh province.

 

Vietnam declares bird flu emergency

Published: Feb. 11, 2009 at 11:12 AM

HANOI, Vietnam, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- The government of Vietnam has announced emergency measures to prevent the spread of a bird flu epidemic from poultry to humans.

 

Thousands of infected birds have been culled since Type A bird flu was discovered in seven provinces, the Vietnam news service VNS reported Wednesday.

 

The latest province to suffer an outbreak is Bach Ninh where more than 100 ducks found dead on two farms tested positive for the H5N1 virus.

 

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ordered all government offices and relevant agencies to see that strict prevention measures are implemented to keep the disease from being transmitted to humans.

 

He also asked that research into development of a vaccine against the H5N1 strain of the virus be accelerated.

 

 

Indonesia:

 

We're seeing a remarkable amount of local media coverage of outbreaks in poultry around that nation.   I've lost count of the number of reports of dead or dying birds over the past couple of weeks.

 

There are also reports that some areas have run short of poultry  vaccine.

 

The Bird Flu Information Corner has posted several of these accounts in the past couple of days.

 

 

Suara Merdeka, 12 February 2009.

Hundreds of chickens killed, AI tested positive.

Bantul, CyberNews. Chicken farmers of Kabupaten Bantul disturbed since their chickens died without any significant symptoms. Those dead chickens were tested positive Avian Influenza (AI) after investigation by marine, Fishery and Livestock Service, Bantul regional government.

Outbreaks were spotted at 8 areas around Kecamatan Bambanglipuro, Jetis, Piyungan dan Kecamatan Bantul Kota.

 

 

Officials cull chickens at East Jakarta

Metrotvnews.com, Cipayung: Livestock service destroyed number of poultries belong to residents of Jalan Bambu Apus, Cipayung, East Jakarta, Kamis (12/2). This action was done to anticipate bird flu virus spreading.

 

Poultry sweeping was done in 5 rukun warga and 65 rukun tetangga at Keluarahan Bambu Apus. Officers also demolished poultry cages and flocks.

 

 

I could have just as easily chosen any of dozens of other similar stories that have appeared in the Indonesian press over the past couple weeks. 

 

Frankly, these are the sorts of stories we hear every year at this time.  A flurry of activity when the weather cools, and the virus is more active.  

 

This is actually the `new normal'.  So, I'm not particularly alarmed by them. 

 

The point of all of this being, while it doesn't make the news often, the battle against the H5N1 virus goes on every day in countries all around the world.

 

And that's always worthy of mention.