Human To Human Bird Flu Transmission Possible But Limited, Says WHO
Featured ArticleMain Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Article Date: 23 Dec 2007 - 0:00 PDT
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A human may have infected another human(s) during the last cluster of H5N1 bird flu infections in Pakistan, but only to a small degree, the World Health Organization (WHO) believes. Some of the international test results have not come back yet.
The WHO believes that this could be an instance of close contact human-to-human transmission in a very restricted area and non-sustained, as was the case in Thailand and Indonesia.
The good news is that it seems the bird flu outbreak has not spread - there have been no new reports of human infection or suspected human infection with bird flu since December 6th, when eight people had became ill. A veterinarian died, as did two of his brothers. Bird flu infection cannot be specified for one of the brothers because samples were never taken. The veterinarian had been involved in the culling of sick birds.
Some experts believe that a sick person is more likely to pass the infection on to a blood relative rather than an in law if both are in close and continuous physical contact with him/her.
Experts fear that the H5N1 bird flu virus strain, the one everybody is worried about, could eventually mutate and become more easily human transmissible (pass more easily from human to human). At the moment it is not a disease humans catch easily, not even from birds. Although tens of millions of birds around the world have died as a result of bird flu infection, so far 140 humans have officially died. It is extremely rare for one human to infect another human.
WHO - Avian Influenza
Written by - Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
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Visitor Opinions In Chronological Order (2)
Human-to-Human Transmitted Avian Flu – We Have To Move From A Cure Strategy To A Prevention Strategy Before It Is Too Late
posted by dr david hill on 28 Dec 2007 at 12:06 pmThe strategy to prevent hundreds of millions of people dying across the globe from the Avian Flu pandemic is totally flawed. This reliance that governments around the world have placed on predominantly vaccination (cure) only is a decision that history will record as one of the most insane and insidious decisions that has ever been taken by our political leaders.
This assertion is based upon the facts that the eventual human-to-human killer virus that will emerge will be a new strain due to the fact that viruses constantly mutate and that owing to the initial incubation period for bird flu to show its ugly face, the virus will have spread like wildfire across the world through millions travelling internationally on a daily basis.
Indeed, the avian flu strain is 20 times more virulent than the 1917 Spanish flu that killed between 50 million and 100 million people, but where this time, literally hundreds of millions will literally perish with this ill thought out strategy by our political leaders and governments. What should have been undertaken is that this highly contagious disease should have been addressed at its source (prevention) and where history again will confirm this eventual conclusion.
Unfortunately by then, this terrible event will have taken place. Governments should rethink therefore before it is too late and adopt predominantly a ‘field’ strategy, for this is the only strategy that will work and stop the unimaginable happening. Governments have been warned continuously, but where they do not wish to listen due to the powerful overtones delivered to our political leaders by the giant pharmaceuticals in their quest for profits (or selfish greed dependant on which point-of-view one wishes to take). One has to remember also that since 2003 the human mortality rate through the bird flu virus has been 62% and where only 38 people on average out of every hundred has survived. Overall therefore it has to be said that these vast profit-orientated pharmaceutical companies have not stopped any of these deaths through their highly expensive drugs and where things will be no different when the eventual pandemic arrives. It is hoped therefore that for the sake of humankind, that a major sea change takes place within the thinking of our political leaders in 2008, from one of cure to prevention, and before time literally runs out on us all. These are not fear factors but factors derived from pure logic and facts determined by some of the leading authoritive thinkers on the subject.
Dr David Hill
World Innovation Foundation
Bern, Switzerland
UK Postal Address: P O Box A60, Huddersfield,
HD1 1XJ, United Kingdom
UK Tel:0044(0)1484 537181
28th December 2007
Blind, Deaf And Ignorant
posted by Mrs. S Vandort on 29 Dec 2007 at 5:41 amI totally agree with Dr. David Hill,
Here from another angle I fight in the Netherlands and Europe for preventive vaccination of all industrial poultry, the most vunerable spieces to H5N1 and due to trade movements most likely to become infected as we've seen many times last Winter, Spring and also this Winter again.
The most offending event was the outbreak at the turkey plant of Bernard Matthews Lowestoft UK, February 2007. Everybody acted delayed, the workers on the plant walked around in the infected area for at least 3 days before warning the authorities, Defra too slow, even the papers for the protection zone where not there and the 'signature' person was not to find. THAT's how governments act when there is an emergency. Afterwards the guilty person was on the graveyard and everybody denying being responsible. Ostrich politics. Meanwhile Matthews could touch a good sum of money for compensation from the EU pot.
Why is trade and industry more important than human lives?
The first who are endangered during an 'ordinairy' outbreak of H5N1 are the workers in poultry industry and their families and related persons like villege inhabitants. Not the mutated so called pre-pandemic virus is the threat now, that can only emerge when pigs become infected with H5N1 too, which isn't unlikely it will be the mixing vessel for a for humans dangerous virus when the virus is endemic in Europe as it shows to become more and more.
The health of those people are unimportant to trade, export, ministery of economy, agriculture etc. Vaccination of industrial poultry will cause problems in export with Third Countries (i.e. outside Europe), costing billions, so governments will keep out vaccination as long as possible for their tax income! Money over Health, the clock (time bomb) continues ticking and ticking...
Go deeper down to the lowest level: the small holders of poultry and water fowl. They are the keepers of unique genes, unsubsidized they protect the biodiversity and biological cultural inheritence. What happens to them during an outbreak in industry? When the protection zones are set? They loose all their civil rights and constitution isn't there anymore, there are no rights and justice. Troups break into gardens, force themselves into sheds, barns and coops and kill every bird that's looking like poultry. NONE of those backyard chickens, ducks or geese were infected. Not in Holland in 2003, not in Germany when the 'soldiers' forced themselves into the privacy of families to kill their pets or carefully preserved true bred stock of rare domesticated poultry.
No protection for those families, it is everytime WW2 in small. Those small holders are traumatized, some commit suicide which are mostly the elderly who have nothing left except for their pets or their life long work on a rare breed, or... like a goose of 22 years old which was the friend of an old woman when her husband died years ago. She hang herself when the soldiers left her house and sprayed some desinfectant around her garden (useless).
Little children crying when their pet duck, a wild mallard, was catched from the community pond because it was a tame one, killed with an injection before the eyes of the girls, and the other ducks left in piece 'because they were wild ducks'.
Beaks, feathers, blood on the walls of a childrens farm near a school, the geese and ducks beaten to death with spades and sticks, because there was no veterinarian so the 'soldiers' started to kill the farm animals their 'own' way. A large rubber boot was planted into a nest full of eggs at the point of hatching. The breeding goose was killed by an injection. The owner of the goose left behind with the horrible remains of the demolished nest with the nearly ready to hatch gosslings made their last movements in their blood and remains of egg shells.
THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED IN HOLLAND 2003 during an outbreak of H7N7.
What will happen when H5N1 is hitting the poultry dense areas? Civil war! All victims of these detestfull governmental actions did not forget a single detail. Networks are still there, email goes fast and it is not to predict what will happen when the soldiers are coming again.
H7N7 was not harmfull to people, infection of the eyes. One vet. died because he had had pneumonia a few weeks before and he did not take anti virals.
And all soldiers spread the virus every day again. Killers were attracted from Belgium, to help murdering the massive stables and they took the virus with them, causing outbrakes in Belgium too, 2 weeks later.
What will happen amongst the people when H5N1 is causing a massive outbreak like in the poultry dense areas in Holland 2003? Neighbours will betray eachother. Oh yes another nasty detail of 2003 in Holland. Goverment installed a betrayal phone number so you could secretly and anonymously betray small holders who hided their pets.
We are here allowed to vaccinate our poultry as small holders against H5N1. It won't help you when there is an outbreak because within the protection zone government will also kill the vaccinated animals. They refused to give a guarentee to leave your vaccinated poultry in peace or at least allow you to create quarantaine. So it's a costly airbubble that vaccination against H5N1 because the country is so small that an outbreak will always lead to mass cullings over 3/4 of the country.
Free ranging poultry farms may vaccinate too. BUT industry boycots eggs from vaccinated hens. It's their own sector, poultry industry, who jeaopedizes responsible acting farmers!
Everybody has his mouth full of responsibility, we are allowed to take it in our own hands, but... the costs are both in euros and in consequences very very high.
Now there are discussions about the Blue Tongue virus, causing thousands of dead cattle last year. Vaccination isn't a problem in Europe. Only costs have to be discussed. Why is vaccination agains bird flu such a problem!
Here it's forbidden to vaccinate agains Mouth and Foot disease, but M&F vaccinated meat is imported from Brazil, Argentina etc.
It's the world upside down.
The first ones who have to take responsiblity is poultry industry: vaccination of all poultry, these animals get over 15 jabs in their short lives, what's the problem for another? Because it has to be repeated 2 weeks later for full immunization?
No, Germany says: the vaccins are not reliable because vaccinated animals can shed the virus. For how much? According to Intervet 0,07%.
Or is it the Friedrich Löffler Institute that's subsidized by the German government that wants to make the vaccin? Millions are pumped into the FLI, with their 'own' vaccins and their 'own' tests.
Yes it was such a shame that the first tests of the FLI (2005) gave positive reaction on animals that were suspected for H5N1 but did not have it but DID have Mycoplasmosis.
Therefore in Dresden area lots of small holders had their beloved poultry culled by the 'soldiers' of the ministery of agriculture. Because the FLI refused to admit their test gave positive results on Mycoplasmosis infection as if it was H5N1. This is a well kept secret, but a worker from the FLI told this to a journalist of the WDR (German television). It was kept silent, perhaps orders from Government?
The European laboratory of Weybridge is never used by Germany. Shouldn't a 'second opinion' be the least thing small holders have the right for when it's about the lives of their animals?
This bird flu and pandemic flu is much larger than anybody would suspect and aready affecting the lives of only in Holland 180.000 families who's lives were violated and their poultry for hobby and preservation was killed for nothing!
If you need additional information on bird flu issues and social consequences and the way we communicate with government and try to differentiate the actions for small holders versus industrial poultry, you can contact me, I give you more addresses and names because the network of responsible people is large:
Mrs. S. Vandort or Dr. J. Ringnalda
tcellphone: +31 6 24910788 (call for email)
PS I have a report of a specialist in drinking water systems all over Germany who warns for infection of population via the drinking water system. He did research for 5 years about infectious diseases and epidemics that are showing the same figures as the temperature of the drinking water and intake of surface water. The report is full of statistics about influenza and norovirus outbreak figures and neglected by government etc.
He fears H5N1 can polute the surface water when wild birds will die in large numbers or poluted stable materials will be dumped into areas where drinking water is collected, tecause the filter installations can't take out virus and virus' best temp to stay alive is 4-5C (40F). So drinking water is the carrier of infectious diseases in lots of regions in Germany where population density does not point on spreading flu. Contact me for these reports when you are interested, I give you the name of this specialist in Germany plus telephone. He speaks and writes fluently English.
Thank you for taking time reading all this.
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