Pandemic warning thread

[festus]

This will be one to watch develop. Avian bird flue isn't so bad compared to this. If this mutates towards humans we are sunk.

Manila reports Ebola virus in pigs
By Roel Landingin in Manila

Published: December 11 2008 20:24 | Last updated: December 11 2008 20:24

Philippine officials tucked into servings of lechon, the popular dish of roasted whole pig, in front of television cameras on Thursday to reassure the public of the safety of the national staple meat after the discovery among hogs near Manila of a strain of the Ebola virus.

Arthur Yap, agriculture secretary, and Francisco Duque, health secretary, said the Ebola Reston virus, which had never been found in pigs before, presented a low health risk for humans and was different from the deadly African variety.

The World Health Organisation was reported to be looking into whether there was any chance humans could have become infected.

The outbreak could deal a blow to Philippine plans to build a pork export industry. The government halted an inaugural shipment of frozen pork to Singapore and quarantined three swine farms.

Pork vendors in public markets in Manila sought to assure buyers that their products had passed government inspection and met safety standards.

“December is the month when we sell the most pork at relatively higher price,” said Evelyn Reyes, who operates a small pork stall in Quezon City. “I really hope the government does a good work of calming people’s fears about the Ebola virus.”

Pork accounts for more than half of the average 61g of meat consumed daily by each Filipino.

The virus was first discovered in 1989 in macaque monkeys imported from the Philippines by a laboratory in Reston, Virginia. Scientists are trying to determine how the virus spread to pigs.

[festus]

Health scare in Indian state as bird flu spreads

India is having quite a time dealing with this one.

look at the typical personal hygiene in these places....or lack there of. they will have a much tougher time dealing with this due to that, not that we wont have problems here as well. I just dont think to the same scale. If people are conscious of proper nutrition, keeping thier immune systems at peak.......etc

[festus]

Originally Posted by boyzoi

look at the typical personal hygiene in these places....or lack there of. they will have a much tougher time dealing with this due to that, not that we wont have problems here as well. I just dont think to the same scale. If people are conscious of proper nutrition, keeping thier immune systems at peak.......etc

In most of the world there is a serious lack of sanitation. If enough people become infected the airplane will bring it to us in droves. (curse you Orville and Wilbur)

Once they start coming to more civilized countries for treatment etc. it will rapidly run out of control.

[HK4U]

Is this a natural occuring one or another one we concocted in a laboratory?

lol...now dont go startin up one of those damn conspiracy theories HK...

[HK4U]

Originally Posted by boyzoi

lol...now dont go startin up one of those damn conspiracy theories HK...

I know. I will have to be more careful next time.

[festus]

China warns of "grim" fight against deadly bird flu 21 Jan 2009 00:29:01 GMT
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, Jan 21 (Reuters) - China faces a "grim" situation in preventing and controlling human cases of bird flu, the health minister said, after announcing four human infections in the last two weeks and three deaths.

Health Minister Chen Zhu called for hospitals to spare more resources in diagnosing and treating bird flu and more cooperation between agriculture authorities and his ministry, Xinhua news agency said.

A Chinese newspaper reported that the mother of a toddler diagnosed with bird flu had died of severe pneumonia earlier this month, but no samples had been taken to see if she had bird flu. She had been in contact with poultry before her death.

The toddler, and the three recent fatalities, have all fallen ill in areas where there have been no known cases of bird flu in birds. China vaccinates heavily for bird flu, raising concerns among some experts that the vaccines could be masking the presence of the virus.

"The current cases are separate cases. There's no connection," Shu Yuelong, vice director of virus control and prevention with the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

"But these cases warn us to improve prevention and supervision over the epidemic and ensure early detection and diagnosis when new cases are found."

The H5N1 strain of flu remains largely a virus among birds, but experts fear it could change into a form that is easily transmitted among humans and could spark a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide.

Since the H5N1 virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003, it has infected 391 people, killing 247 of them, according to WHO figures released in mid-December.

At least 34 people have been infected in China and 23 have died.

(Reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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[HK4U]

Check out the following site.

Dr. Horowitz - Aids, Ebola, Vaccines, Tetrahedron.com

[Boomboy007]

You know, humans and pigs are not that far apart genetically. In fact, we use heart valves from pigs for transplant into humans, insulin from pig pancreas, and even a new experimental treatment utilizing fetal cells from pigs to treat Parkinson's.

Unfortunately, common (porcine-homo sapien) retroviruses have pretty guaranteed that, if a virus has made the jump to swine, then we are the "other other white meat". Pigs are kind of like our viral "mine canaries".

Too bad they taste so good.