Saturday, July 30, 2005

Bird flu kills again; Vietnam readies vaccine

July 30, 2005
The Associated Press


HANOI, Vietnam - Bird flu has killed two more people in Vietnam days before the country is to begin mass vaccinations of poultry, an official said Friday.

A 24-year-old man from Tra Vinh province died on Monday and a 26-year-old woman from Ho Chi Minh City died Wednesday, said Phan Van Tu, chief virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City.

He said both tested positive for the bird flu virus on Thursday, bringing the regional human death toll to 60.

The World Health Organization has officially reported 38 deaths in Vietnam. However, Vietnamese health officials have said a 72-year-old man from Hanoi died June 28. That death, along with the two others reported this week, have not yet been recorded by WHO. The organization does not update tolls until new deaths are officially confirmed by the Ministry of Health, a process that often takes weeks.

Next week, Vietnam is to begin a mass vaccination of chickens and ducks in two provinces to try to slow the spread of the virus, which has killed 41 people in the communist country since late 2003.

Vietnam hopes to extend the program to most other provinces by the end of the year.

Bird flu strain that can infect humans found in Russia

Canadian Press


July 30, 2005

MOSCOW (AP) - Investigators have determined that a strain of avian flu virus infecting fowl in Russia is the type that can infect humans, the Agriculture Ministry said Friday.

The virus caused the deaths of hundreds of birds in a section of Siberia this month, but no human infections have been reported.

In a brief statement, the ministry identified the virus as avian flu type A H5N1.

"That raises the need for undertaking quarantine measures of the widest scope," the statement said. Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for elaboration.

Strains of bird flu have been hitting flocks throughout Asia and some human cases have been reported there. Since 2003, avian flu has killed at least 57 people in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia, which reported its first three human deaths this month.

The outbreak in Russia's Novosibirsk region apparently started about two weeks ago when large numbers of chicken, geese, ducks and turkeys began dying. Officials say all dead or infected birds were incinerated. But it is unclear whether that would effectively stop the virus from spreading.

Earlier this week, Russia's chief government epidemiologist, Gennady Onishchenko, said the appearance of the virus in Russia could be due to migrating birds that rest on the Siberian region's lakes.

A recent report released by the journal Science said the finding of the H5N1 infection in migrant birds at Qinghai Lake in western China "indicates that this virus has the potential to be a global threat."

The reports echo concerns voiced by the World Health Organization, which urged China to step up its testing of wild geese and gulls. A WHO official estimated that the flu had killed more than 5,000 wild birds in western China.

The outbreak was first detected about two months ago in bar-headed geese at China's remote saltwater lake, which is a key breeding location for migratory birds that overwinter in southeast Asia, Tibet and India. The virus has hit that species the hardest, but also affects brown-headed gulls and great black-headed gulls.

Friday, July 29, 2005

Two more bird flu deaths in Vietnam

Health authorities in Vietnam have reported the deaths of two more people from bird flu.

A total of 41 people have now died from the deadly H5N1 strain of virus in Vietnam since the epidemic began in 2003.

A 24-year-old man is said to have died on Monday in a hospital in Tra Vinh province, while a 26-year-old woman from Ho Chi Minh City died on Wednesday in one of the southern city's main hospitals.

Doctors say both had tested positive to the H5N1 virus.

Humans can catch bird flu through close contact with live birds who are themselves infected.

To combat the virus, the Vietnamese government has decided to vaccinate its poultry nationwide.

It has already bought 20 million out of 414 million doses of vaccine to begin inoculating poultry early next month.

The virus has also spread to other parts of Asia, killing 12 Thais, four Cambodians and three Indonesians since December 2003.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Russia: Outbreak Of Bird Flu Confirmed In Siberia

Russia has confirmed that a bird flu outbreak has hit Siberia. The authorities say the virus was probably brought to Russia by migratory birds from Asia, but poses little risk to humans. Other experts are not so confident.

LINK

Bird Flu Quarantine in Altai Territory in Russia

July 27, 2005

Russia's Altai territory imposed a quarantine after the information about the bird flu outbreak in the Novosibirsk region was confirmed.

"The information about the bird flu outbreak in the neighboring Novosibirsk region has been confirmed, so we are sending cables to mayors and district heads today," first deputy head of the regional veterinary department Anatoly Lapin told Itar-Tass.


LINK

U.S. working up new birdflu plan, official says

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, July 27 (Reuters) - U.S. health experts are putting together a plan for dealing with a pandemic of avian influenza should one break out, a Health and Human Services Department official said on Wednesday.

The plan includes deciding who should be vaccinated and who should get antiviral drugs first, said Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, an HHS vaccine adviser.

"We know that an influenza pandemic will occur," Schwartz told a news conference organized by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.


LINK to story

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Bird flu resurfaces in Japan

Japanese authorities say they have discovered a fresh outbreak of bird flu on a chicken farm in the east of the country.

The farm is close to where several cases of the disease have been detected since late June.

Officials say tests are under way to confirm the sub-type of the virus.

All recent bird flu outbreaks in the region have so far been confirmed as less virulent than the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease, found in Japan early last year.

The H5N1 strain first surfaced in poultry in Hong Kong and China eight years ago and is known to have killed more than 50 people in South-East Asia.

- Reuters

China withholds vital information for tackling deadly bird flu virus

The Chinese government has failed to provide global health agencies with vital information on recent bird flu outbreaks - caused by a lethal mutating virus that experts say could rapidly spread around the world and potentially kill tens of millions of people.

LINK to story

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

New outbreak of bird flu in Japan, Russia

Japan has found a new case of bird flu in an area that has already been hit by the disease, leading authorities to prohibit the movement of more chickens.

A farm in Ibaraki, some 100 kilometres north of Tokyo, declared free of the disease in previous tests, was found to be infected.

Authorities immediately banned movement of chickens and their eggs within five kilometres
of the poultry farm.

The farm is near another chicken farm where a flu outbreak was detected in June.

Ibaraki officials had been on the verge of lifting confinement orders for chickens and eggs from that farm.

Ibaraki prefecture has already killed 158,550 birds.

Japan has been relatively spared from bird flu with only four outbreaks last year which were the first cases in the archipelago since 1925.

The first case in Ibaraki was found to be H5N2, a weaker strain of bird flu than H5N1 which has killed more than 50 people in Southeast Asia since 2003.

Meanwhile, Russia thinks a bird flu outbreak in a Siberian region is a strain that has never been known to affect humans but has taken emergency precautions just in case.

Russia's top epidemiologist Gennady Onishchenko says the outbreak in the Novosibirsk region announced last week was Russia's first, which has killed 1,135 farm birds.

He says the initial assessment has identified the outbreaks as the H5N2 strain.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Signs point to global influenza outbreak--WHO warning

From SOTT
25-07-2005

Indonesia's first human bird flu case, coupled with more birds dying elsewhere including Russia, are signs a long-dreaded global influenza pandemic may be approaching, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

Health officials fear the virus will mutate and mix with human influenza, creating a deadly pandemic strain that becomes easily transmissible and could kill millions of people.

Margaret Chan, WHO's new director for pandemic influenza preparedness, said there had been no known sustained human-to-human transmission of the deadly virus, but called for stepping up disease surveillance among poultry and humans worldwide.

Indonesia this week confirmed its first death from the virus, which has so far killed more than 50 people since late 2003 in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, roughly half of the known cases.

An Indonesian government official was confirmed as having died of the H5N1 bird flu virus, but results of laboratory tests on his two young daughters who also died are still awaited.

"This is more evidence for us to be concerned about developments in the region," Chan told a news briefing.

"This is perhaps the only time since 1968, which was the last pandemic, that we are getting signs, symptoms and warnings from nature...More and more birds are dying in different parts of the world -- these are the kind of signals and early warnings that we are referring to."

Russia this week said it had discovered a disease in poultry in a remote village in Siberia, its first suspected case of bird flu. Around 300 birds died and specimens are being analysed.

RISK LEVEL THREE OF SIX

Chan, a former health director of Hong Kong who helped contain its bird flu and SARS outbreaks of 1997, said the WHO's risk assessment of a global pandemic still stood at three on a scale of six.

"We need to be very vigilant and look for early signals or signs of sustained human to human transmission," she said. "We need to advise people from farm to table on what actions they can take or can advise communities to take to reduce that risk."

Mixed poultry trading -- where ducks, geese, chickens and sometimes pigeons are sold side-by-side at market -- can be an "enabling environment for the virus to mutate," Chan said.

Recommended measures include separating poultry, vaccination of poultry, and other biosecurity measures on farms. "Our experience is that if you are prepared for a pandemic you get less impact in terms of mortality and morbidity and social and economic disruption," she said.

Chan also added that the WHO, a United Nations agency, was still pressing China to allow international laboratories to examine specimens from birds in Qinghai, where the H5N1 virus has killed more than 5,000 birds from five species.

The WHO is urging China to test the other 184 species in the area, fearing birds that appear healthy could also spread the disease. This would help understand the evolution of the virus and inform public health decisions, according to Chan.

Disease Outbreak in China

They say it's not bird flu, but it sounds like bird flu.


17 people have succumbed to a mystery disease in China recently. So far all they are saying is that it isn't SARS or Bird flu, etc, but they still don't know what it is.

"A mystery illness that has killed 17 farmers in western China is neither bird flu nor Sars, officials have said.
The indications are that the disease is a bacterial infection spread by contact with dead pigs, and not a virus, officials in Sichuan province said.

At least 58 people showed symptoms, which include high fever, nausea and vomiting, during June and July. "..more at BBC link

Bird Flu Outbreak Spreads to More Siberian Regions

Created: 25.07.2005 13:30 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:30 MSK, 9 hours 19 minutes ago

MosNews

The deadly bird flu virus has broken out in four rural districts of Siberia according to preliminary evidence, the head of Russia’s veterinary surveillance service was cited by Interfax as saying.

Following the discovery of the initial outbreak last week in the village of Suzdalka, new evidence suggests outbreaks have occurred in three more districts of the western Siberian region of Novosibirsk — Dovolnoe, Kupino and Chistozernoe, the surveillance service’s head, Sergei Dankvert, said.

“The flu virus... is circulating among bird stocks” in the three districts, Dankvert said.

Authorities in neighboring Kazakhstan have been informed, as the three districts lie close to the Kazakh border, Dankvert said.

The discovery of avian influenza follows measures by Russia to prevent the virus entering the country, including a ban on poultry imports from many Asian countries.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has so far been mainly transmitted between animals. But it has killed at least 58 people in Southeast Asia since 2003 — 39 Vietnamese, 12 Thais, four Cambodians and three Indonesians, AFP reports.

Experts fear it could mutate into a highly infectious strain that could be transmitted from animals to humans, or from humans to humans.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Fatalities in Sichuan Linked to H5N1 Bird Flu Migration?

Recombinomics Commentary
July 24, 2005

The Chinese news Web site Sina.com reported Saturday the people infected had symptoms like fever, lack of energy, vomiting, bleeding from blood vessels beneath the skin, and shock.....

Animal viruses are also being scrutinized because of bird flu fears.

The above comments are from an AP story on the mysterious deaths of farmers in several villages near Ziyang in Sichuan province southeast of Chengdu. The wire report describes 20 patients with symptoms. Nine have died and 6 more are in critical condition. Only one patient ahs been discharged. The patients had been admitted between June 24 and July 21, so the delay in a diagnosis is cause for concern. Earlier reports also describe patients as being dizzy which lead to coma in some cases. These descriptions sound similar to a t least one death in Thailand after slaughtering a wild boar in May. There was no diagnosis in that cluster of cases either.

The proximity of both sets of cases to H5N1 outbreaks is cause for heightened concern. The 1918 pandemic had many mis-diagnosed cases, including those with neurological complications. H5N1 has been shown to be neurotropic in the lab, and variants with the PB2 polymorphism E627K have been isolated from mouse brains from isolates in Hong Kong as well as duck meat imported to Japan from Shandiong.

The E627K polymorphism is found in all human influenza A isolates, but is rarely detected in avian influenza. However, all H5N1 isolates from Qinghai Lake had E627K, signally possible neurological complications in humans infected with H5N1 with this polymorphisms. The polymorphism has been found in H5N1 isolates infected in 1997 in Hong Kong as well as 2004 in Vietnam and Thailand. Most of the isolates from tigers at the Sri Racha tiger zoo also had the change and the tigers had neurological symptoms before they died. Many H5N1 isolates from swine also have the E627K polymorphism.

Ziyang is just southeast of Chengdu which is about 400 miles southeast of Qinghai Lake. Some boxun reports have indicated bird flu is widespread in Qinghai province which is adjacent to Sichuan Province. Hong Kong radio reports indicate villagers in Sichuan say the deaths are being under-reprted. Boxun reports have also indicated China has isolated 10 distinct H5N1 variants and most can infect humans.

The sequence of H5N1 from Qingahi has been released and analysis indicates that several of the H5N1 polymorphisms that had previously been found only in isolates from Vietnam and Thailand are also in the isolates from Qinghai. Qinghai isolates have also acquired other polymorphisms normally found in mammalian isolates, such as the E627K polymorphism described above. The Qingahi isolates also has polymorhisms commonly found in migratory birds including polymorphisms linked to European isolates. Similar European polymorphisms have been found in isolates form Primorie and Chany Lake reserves in Russia, where over 500 bird have died recently.

As birds at Qingahi Lake and nature reserves in Russia begin to migrate to the south, west, and east, there is concern that such a migration might lead to a catastrophic spread of H5N1.

Human deaths in the adjacent province of Sichuan may indicate that such spread has already begun.

Bird flu drug rationed for victims only

The UK is working on the basis that 25 percent of its populations would be infected.

The goverment has given an estimate that there would be 53,000 deaths in Britian from a pandemic, but the number could be as high as 300,000.


Jo Revill, health editor
Sunday July 24, 2005
The Observer

The anti-viral drug being stockpiled to combat bird flu will not be used to prevent the disease spreading. Ministers have decided it will be given only to people who are already infected and whose health is in serious danger.

The move has surprised experts working on plans to combat the anticipated pandemic of the disease. They had expected it would be given out in the early stages of any outbreak to prevent the disease from spreading.

Article continues

First pigs slaughtered in bird flu scare

24/07/2005 - 12:22:45 PM

Indonesia today became the first known country to destroy pigs in its efforts to contain the rapid spread of bird flu, which has killed at least 57 people across Asia and devastated poultry stocks.

But plans to slaughter 200 swine were sharply reduced as authorities wrangled over the best way to combat the deadly disease.

Eighteen pigs that tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus were killed on two farms on the outskirts of Jakarta, the capital. After being injected with drugs that rendered them unconscious, they were loaded on trucks, taken to a field and thrown into a fire.

Healthy animals escaped the culls, despite Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono’s earlier pledge to kill all birds and pigs on farms hit by the deadly avian influenza.

“If we kill all, healthy and sick, it guarantees nothing because the virus can be spread in the air,” he said at an event that appeared to be orchestrated largely for television cameras. “We only want to kill those that are infected.”

The farms targeted today were nine miles from the home of three family members who earlier this month became the first people in Indonesia to die of bird flu, a 38-year-old foreign ministry worker and his two daughters, aged nine and one.

Authorities still do not know where they contracted the disease – they had no known contact with birds – but decided to start with the closest point of infection, Tangerang.

Apriyantono said farmers who lost pigs to the government’s culling campaign would be compensated, most of them with cows.

Bird flu has swept through poultry populations in large swaths of Asia since 2003, killing or forcing the slaughter of hundreds of millions of ducks and chickens. It also jumped to humans, killing 57 regionwide, most of them in Vietnam and Thailand.

In May, an Indonesian scientist said he found H5N1 in blood samples taken from pigs, which are genetically similar to people and often carry the human influenza virus, findings that were somewhat controversial.

Experts worry that pigs infected with both bird flu and its human equivalent could act as a “mixing bowl,” resulting in a more dangerous, mutant virus that might spread to people more easily – and then from person to person.

They fear that could fuel a devastating flu outbreak, vastly exceeding the current annual death toll from human influenza, which kills 500,000 to one million people around the world each year.

Preparing for the worst, Indonesia’s health ministry warned last week that 44 hospitals nationwide had been put on alert to receive and treat bird flu patients.

Unknown Illness Kills Nine Chinese Farmers

Deaths Could Be Linked to Outbreaks of Bird Flu in Nine Asian Countries
By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, July 24, 2005; Page A18

BEIJING, July 23 -- An unidentified disease has killed nine farmers and sickened 11 others in a rural part of China's western Sichuan province, prompting the government to dispatch an emergency team of researchers to investigate whether the deaths are related to bird flu, a Health Ministry spokesman said Saturday.

State media said the illnesses occurred between June 24 and July 21 in about 15 villages surrounding the city of Ziyang, 945 miles southwest of Beijing. All of the farmers had recently slaughtered sick pigs or sheep, and researchers from the health and agriculture ministries are investigating a possible link, the official New China News Agency said.


LINK

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Massive flu outbreak likely, warns WHO

Web posted at: 7/23/2005 2:3:51
Source ::: AFP

GENEVA: The world could at any time be faced with a massive flu outbreak like those in 1918 or 1968 that killed tens of millions of people, the World Health Organisation warned yesterday, urging countries to be prepared.

“History has told us that no one can stop a pandemic. The question is: when is it going to happen?” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Chan told reporters.

“I don’t think anybody has the answer to it. We have to be on the lookout for any time, any day,” she added. Deadly avian flu, has the potential to become a major human pandemic if the virus were to mutate and allow human-to-human transmission, Chan said.


LINK

Flu pandemic could cost 67 million American lives

If a flu pandemic were to hit the United States, a report by the Trust for America's Health found 67 million Americans could die from the virus, and 2.3 million more could be hospitalized if better preparations are not made to fight the flu, reports MyDNA.com. If you enjoy this article, you may also be interested in an article entitled 'Why the world isn't ready for the coming influenza pandemic, World Health Organization warns.'

LINK

Friday, July 22, 2005

Thailand Detects 2nd Bird-Flu Outbreak in Less Than Two Weeks

July 22 (Bloomberg)

-- Thailand found a strain of bird flu deadly to humans, the nation's second outbreak in less than two weeks, after the government this month confirmed a resurgence of the illness among poultry.

Chicken in Kamphaeng Phet province, 360 kilometers (217 miles) north of Bangkok, tested positive for the H5N1 virus on July 21, the Livestock Department said on its Web site. The agency on July 11 reported bird flu in Suphan Buri province, about 100 kilometers west of Bangkok, its first finding of the virus since April.

LINK


Bird flu pandemic a real danger, Autralian Government Prepares

Bird flu pandemic a real danger
Jul 22 16:35
AAP

The federal government will spend almost $5 million to speed up development of a bird flu vaccine for Australia, Health Minister Tony Abbott said today.

Bird flu, which arrived in Asia in late 2003, has killed 56 people there and Indonesia confirmed its first three deaths from the virus on Wednesday.

Public health experts fear the avian flu virus is mutating and could develop the ability to spread easily between humans, with the potential to kill millions in a flu pandemic.


LINK

Bird-flu officials get fines, jail time

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Staff Writer

Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

BANGOR -- Four former top Maine Biological Laboratories executives received 1-year jail sentences, and fines ranging from $5,000 to $30,000, for a string of crimes that included smuggling a bird influenza virus from Saudi Arabia and covering up systemic abuses of U.S. health policy.

LINK

Signs point to global flu outbreak, WHO says

Recent events stir growing concerns among health officials tracking virus

Updated: 12:17 p.m. ET July 22, 2005

GENEVA - Indonesia’s first human bird flu case, coupled with more birds dying elsewhere including Russia, are signs a long-dreaded global influenza pandemic may be approaching, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Health officials fear the virus will mutate and mix with human influenza, creating a deadly pandemic strain that becomes easily transmissible and could kill millions of people.

Margaret Chan, WHO’s new director for pandemic influenza preparedness, said there had been no known sustained human to human transmission of the deadly virus, but called for stepping up disease surveillance among poultry and humans worldwide.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Bird flu found in 21 Indonesian provinces: offical

www.chinaview.cn 2005-07-21 18:56:57

JAKARTA, July 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Bird flu outbreak has affected 21 out of 30 provinces in Indonesia with the number of chickens killed by the virus totaling 9.53 million, a government official said here Thursday.

Bird flu cases have been found in at least 132 regencies and cities across Indonesia, said Mathur Riyadi, director general of veterinary with the Ministry of Agriculture.

Further investigation also indicated preliminary attack of birdflu in four other provinces, namely South Sulawesi, Jambi, East Kalimantan and North Sumatra, he said on the sidelines of a hearing with legislators at the parliament compound.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health confirmed that three people of the same family in the town of Tangerang have died recently from bird flu, becoming the country's first human death caused by the virus.

Indonesia to slaughter chickens, pigs in bird flu affected areas

www.chinaview.cn 2005-07-21 15:32:56

JAKARTA, July 21 (Xinhuanet) -- The Indonesian government will slaughter all chickens and pigs in areas affected by bird flu outbreaks in the next three days, including two provinces of North Sumatra and Jambi in Sumatra island which have been affected since one month ago, a minister said here Thursday.

Link to full story

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Bird flu found in meat shipped from China to Japan

This is the first report I have seen that finds the virus in processed meat. How many people have eaten duck from China? This article tell us not to worry, if you cook it properly you should suffer no ill side effects. Just be sure there is no blood anywhere. That should make us all feel much better. Right.

HANOI (AP) — The bird flu virus was found in processed frozen duck meat shipped for human consumption from China to Japan two years ago — another reminder of how easily the disease can cross borders and how hard it is to kill, health officials said Wednesday.

In a recent study published online in the journal Virology, a team of Japanese researchers reported a form of the H5N1 virus was found in duck meat exported from China's Shandong province into Japan in 2003.

The World Health Organization said this was not the first time the virus has been found in processed meat, but it stressed the findings illustrate the virus' strength and presence in Asian poultry stocks.

However, WHO said processed poultry meat poses no risk to consumers as long as precautions are taken during preparation, such as frequently washing hands and countertops and making sure all meat is thoroughly cooked and no blood remains.

"This is an indicator that H5N1 viruses are widespread in Asia in many different kinds of fowl," said Bob Dietz, a spokesman for WHO's Western Pacific Region.

"We know this virus to be a persistent, aggressive survivor. This study is another indicator of that."

The findings come as China is under pressure to provide more information about the virus found in wild birds. The country has not responded to WHO requests for information about 6,000 migratory bird deaths in the western province of Qinghai or to let experts visit the site of a reported bird flu outbreak near the border with Kazakhstan, said Roy Wadia, a spokesman for WHO's Beijing office.

WHO said the Japanese research suggests the H5N1 virus was circulating among poultry stocks in China when the ducks were processed.

"It is another way in which the virus can spread across boundaries," Dietz said. "It's an indicator that by the time the ducks were slaughtered there is very good reason to believe they had been exposed to the H5N1 virus."

A Hong Kong researcher also published a study this month saying 1,000 geese that recently died in Qinghai province likely contracted the virus from poultry. Chinese health officials have not responded to requests for comment.

Since 2003, bird flu has killed at least 57 people in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia, which reported its first three human deaths Wednesday. A father and his two young daughters from a Jakarta suburb died earlier this month, and tests confirmed they were infected with the H5N1 virus, said Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari.

The disease has also devastated poultry stocks in the region, where millions of sick birds have died or been slaughtered.

The Japanese study also found the virus discovered in the duck meat was also slightly genetically different from other bird flu viruses, raising questions about different types of avian influenza circulating among Asian poultry.

After exposing mice to the virus, they found it was not as pathogenic as the H5N1 virus found in humans, but that it could have the potential to become more virulent.

"This data revealed that multiple H5N1 genotypes have (been) circulating in China," said Masaji Mase, one of the study's authors from the National Institute of Animal Health in Japan, who added more research was needed in China.

International health experts have repeatedly warned the bird flu virus could evolve into a highly contagious form passed easily from person to person, sparking a global pandemic. So far, most cases have been traced to contact with sick birds.



And we also have this report


How to warn the public about bird flu

Experts believe that the bird flu virus circulating in Asia could trigger a human flu pandemic killing up to 100 million people. Public health authorities' reaction to this threat demands a delicate balancing act: they must prepare the public without needlessly frightening them.

LINK

China Witholding Bird Flu Information From World Health Organization

By ALEXA OLESEN
The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 20, 2005; 2:50 AM

BEIJING -- China hasn't responded to urgent appeals by the World Health Organization to share data about wild birds killed by avian flu, an official said Wednesday, as fears mounted that other birds might spread the disease when they migrate to other countries.

Authorities also haven't responded to a WHO request to be allowed to visit the Xinjiang region in China's northwest, where there have been reports of a bird flu outbreak along the border with Kazakhstan, said Roy Wadia, a spokesman for WHO's Beijing office.


Chinese authorities have yet to release samples gathered in the western province of Qinghai, where at least 6,000 migratory birds have died, Wadia said.

"It would be useful if information on the virus was shared with the international agencies concerning bird flu, or if it were deposited at gene banks as per the usual procedures in these cases," Wadia said.

China's Ministry of Agriculture didn't immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment.

China's failure to respond to foreign appeals for cooperation has prompted fears that the outbreak might be bigger and more dangerous than reported.

Wadia said the sequencing of the virus' DNA was "very important" because it could help experts confirm whether the strain affecting birds in Qinghai was new or an old one with minor mutations. Chinese tests have confirmed that it is a strain of H5N1.

Over the last two years, hundreds of millions of birds, including poultry and wild birds, have died or been slaughtered across Asia because of the H5N1 bird flu virus, which also has infected some humans, killing more than 55 people in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia, which reported three new human deaths from bird flu Wednesday.

Health experts have warned that migratory geese and gulls in Qinghai could be poised to spread the virus to India, Australia, New Zealand and eventually Europe when they fly south this summer.

"We believe some birds may have already started migrating," Wadia said. He said large-scale migrations are expected in August.

Wadia said WHO has raised these and other concerns during monthly meetings with Chinese officials but there has been no response yet from the Chinese side.

Migratory birds have not been susceptible to bird flu in the past, and the outbreak of H5N1 among a huge population of wild birds has raised fears that a new more virulent form of the virus has emerged.

The outbreak was first detected about two months ago in bar-headed geese at a saltwater lake in Qinghai, a breeding site for birds that spend the winter in Southeast Asia, Tibet and India. The virus also infected brown-headed gulls and great black-headed gulls.

The H5N1 virus has been entrenched in poultry in Southeast Asia since 2003 and has infected people who come in contact with sick chickens.

Experts fear that the virus will mutate into a strain that can jump directly from person to person, unleashing a deadly pandemic.

Indonesia confirms bird flu deaths

Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari confirmed the three died of H5N1

Test results have confirmed that three people in Indonesia have died from bird flu, Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari has said.

The victims - a man and his two young daughters - are the country's first human fatalities from the disease.

Because they had no known contact with poultry, their cases have raised fears of human-to-human transmission.

But the WHO downplayed the concerns, stressing that more investigation was needed.

Since January 2004, more than 50 people are known to have died of the bird flu virus in Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Millions of birds have died across Asia in the last few years, many of them culled in an effort to stem the disease.

The Indonesian health minister announced on Friday that scientists suspected a deadly strain of bird flu had led to the deaths of a 38-year-old man and his two daughters, aged one and nine.

Principally an avian disease, first seen in humans in Hong Kong, 1997

Almost all human cases thought to be contracted from birds

Isolated cases of human-to-human transmission in Hong Kong and Vietnam, but none confirmed

On Wednesday she confirmed this. "Test results from a Hong Kong laboratory which I received this morning confirmed they were positive for the H5N1 virus," she told reporters.

Ms Supari has said that she is concerned the victims could have contracted the disease via human-to-human transmission, because they are not known to have been in contact with poultry.

But World Health Organization representative Georg Petersen said he was not too concerned yet that the three victims had no known contact with sick birds.

He said a more in-depth investigation was needed, adding that in other countries the source of infection was often not known straight away.

The three victims had lived in Tangerang on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta.

More than 300 people who had been in close contact with the family have been placed under medical surveillance.

Indonesia has reported cases of bird flu in poultry in several provinces this year and recently confirmed that a farm worker had tested positive for the virus.

But until now there have been no human fatalities from bird flu in the country.

So far humans have only contracted bird flu after coming into contact with infected animals.

But the real fear is that the virus might develop into a form which can be transmitted from person to person, raising the possibility of a global pandemic.





Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Doctor tests positive for bird flu in Vietnam

Chinese website xinhuanet.com reports that a doctor who has never handled bird flu samples has nevertheless tested positive for the virus, though he remains healthy and shows no symptoms.

LINK

Bird flu jabs on way for Viet ducks, chickens

July 20, 2005


Vietnam will use more than 400 million batches of vaccine to inoculate its chickens and ducks against the deadly bird flu that has killed 40 people in the country, half of them since December.

The deputy minister of agriculture, Bui Ba Bong, says authorities will use 415 million doses of Chinese and Dutch vaccines in a program starting in two provinces August 1. Other provinces at high risk of infection follow between October 1 and November 10 - before winter, when the virus seems to thrive.

LINK

Monday, July 18, 2005

Ducks may silently pass along bird flu

19.07.05 10.20am


WASHINGTON - The bird flu virus that experts fear will jump from birds to humans seems to be mutating yet again, and may be able to hide in healthy-looking ducks, thus putting both other birds and people at risk, experts said on Monday.

They said the H5N1 virus could kill some ducks after causing only mild symptoms -- which means it could lurk, undetected, in flocks while spreading silently.

"There is a real possibility that if these H5N1 viruses continue to circulate, further human infection will occur, increasing the potential for human-to-human transmission," the researchers write in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The H5N1 strain has killed more than 50 people in Asia since 2003. More than 140 million chickens have been slaughtered in the region in a bid to halt the disease.

Public health experts say the avian flu virus is mutating and fear it could develop the ability to spread easily from person to person and kill millions in a flu pandemic.

Dr Robert Webster of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and colleagues found more evidence of the virus mutating.

"Wild waterfowl, including ducks, are natural hosts of influenza A viruses," they wrote.

"These viruses rarely caused disease in ducks until 2002, when some H5N1 strains became highly pathogenic," they said, adding that their study showed the viruses were again becoming harmless to ducks.

Webster's team tested the newer strains of the H5N1 virus, including some taken from human patients in Vietnam.

They infected four-week-old mallard ducks, dripping various strains of the virus into the throat, eyes and elsewhere. Then they put uninfected ducks into the same cages.

All the various strains of H5N1 infected the new ducks, including samples taken from human patients.

So then they tested each individual strain in more ducks.

"Viruses that caused the death of at least one duck could cause very mild symptoms, such as cloudy eyes with no neurological signs," the researchers wrote.

Health officials need to take note, the researchers said, because since the virus began making ducks as well as chickens sick in 2002, they had been looking for sick birds in checking for outbreaks of avian influenza.

Not only that, but the ducks that survived infection also spread the virus for weeks afterward, both in their droppings and from the respiratory tract.

"Therefore, the duck may be resuming its role as a reservoir of H5N1 viruses, transmitting them to other bird species and potentially to mammals," the researchers concluded.

"There may be many more ducks infected with low-pathogenicity viruses than are currently detected."

They recommended that health authorities start a survey to see if the virus is infecting even healthy-looking birds across the entire region.

Earlier this month researchers reported that H5N1 was infecting and killing wild geese in a Chinese park -- wild geese that migrate as far afield as Siberia and New Zealand.

The researchers said in a separate report on Monday that Roche's influenza drug Tamiflu can help laboratory animals and, it is hoped, people, survive the newest strain of H5N1 virus.

Government officials are buying up stocks of Tamiflu and are also working to develop and stockpile a vaccine that works against avian flu in case it does begin to infect people.

- REUTERS

SBY wants swift bird flu investigation

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari on Sunday to determine as soon as possible whether the recent deaths of three people in Tangerang, Banten, were caused by the bird flu virus.

LINK

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Thailand reinforces control of bird flu

In a bid to contain bird flu in the country, Thai Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Newin Chidchob has announced that if bird flu is found in any cock- fighting ring, it will then be immediately closed.

The stiff action came after the indigenous chickens in Thailand 's central province of Suphanburi were confirmed last week to have contracted with the deadly disease.


LINK to full story

Saturday, July 16, 2005

Fatal H5N1 Bird Flu Transmission in Suburban Jakarta Family

Here is anothe update on the Jakarta Family.

Recombinomics Commentary
July 15, 2005

The victims, a 38-year-old man and his two girls, ages nine and one, would be the country's first human fatalities linked to the virus. They lived in a suburb of Jakarta and all died in the last week and a half, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said.

The deaths of three family members from a Jakarta suburb are cause for concern. The nine year old daughter was hospitalized last month, while her father and one year old sisted were hospitalized on July 7. The gap between admission dates strongly suggests that the index case infected two of her family. members


LINK to full story

Bird flu a national security issue, Rudd says

In this article we see that they have no stagety to deal with human to human transmission.


Last Update: Saturday, July 16, 2005. 6:22pm
(AEST)

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd says avian influenza represents a national security challenge.

He says he agrees with world health experts who say the bird flu will cause a pandemic if it mutates, allowing human to human transmission.

Mr Rudd has called on the Federal Government to develop a comprehensive strategy to deal with such an eventuality.

"We don't have such a strategy at present, there are gaps in the way in which the region can handle this challenge, there are gaps in terms of the early identification of avian flu where it breaks out and on top of that there are also problems when it comes to what you do in the eventuality that human to human transmission occurs," he said.


LINK



This article seems to indicate that they are brewing up a nice little bird flu vaccine.

PLANNING TO TACKLE KILLER FLU

10:30 - 16 July 2005
Nhs organisations in Lincolnshire are formulating plans for action if a flu pandemic hits Britain.

Plans are in place to set up immunisation offices in village halls and public buildings if the virus, which has killed many people in Asia, hits the country.

Lincolnshire Ambulance Trust's flu pandemic contingency planning lays out how they will cope with an outbreak, taking into account that it could mean they could be under-staffed at a critical time when demand is high as staff may also be affected.

They, along with other NHS organisations, are putting together a mass vaccination plan for if and when a vaccine should become available for the flu strain and are deciding on 30 vaccination centres that could be used in the county to ensure everyone can obtain help.

LINK

Friday, July 15, 2005

State Investigating Mysterious Deaths Of Brunswick Geese

There may not be a connection, but I found it interesting enough to note.

POSTED: 10:38 am EDT July 14, 2005

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- Geese droppings make a mess, but geese dropping dead make a mystery. The Department of Natural Resources is investigating the mysterious deaths of at least 16 geese at one Brunswick subdivision.


This Article published 7-7-05
Wild geese catch bird flu, raising fears that disease will spread fast

Farm Worker Is Country's First Human Infected by Virus

By Alan Sipress
Washingotn Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, June 15, 2005; 8:54 AM

JAKARTA, Indonesia, June 15 -- A farm worker in eastern Indonesia has tested positive for bird flu, marking the country's first human case of the virus that has already killed at least 54 people elsewhere in Southeast Asia, health officials in Indonesia said Wednesday.

The worker from southern Sulawesi island is healthy and currently shows no symptoms of the illness but two tests at a Hong Kong laboratory confirmed that he had been infected by avian influenza, health officials said.


Link to full story

Bird flu suspected in three deaths in Indonesia

This article follows up on the article posted July 13th.
Notice in this article that there was no evidence of the people being in contact with poultry.


Indonesia suspects three recent deaths in a single family were caused by bird flu, Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said.

The deaths of a father and two young daughters in Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta, if confirmed, would be the first from avian influenza.

"We suspect it was caused by bird flu," Ms Supari said.

She said the first girl had died several days ago and was already buried, but tests on the other girl and the father had been conducted.

"The second test showed there are signs this may be caused by avian influenza," Ms Supari said.

She said authorities were concerned of possible human-to-human transmission as there was no evidence of contact with poultry.

"The first test showed negative for the H5N1 virus, then we conducted a second test, which showed signs of the H5N1 virus," Ms Supari said.

She said more samples were being sent to a laboratory in Hong Kong for testing and results should be known within a week.

The two girls were aged one and eight.

-Reuters

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Vietnam reports new bird flu fatality

HANOI, July 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Two Vietnamese have died from respiratory illness, one of whom was infected with bird flu, local newspaper Pioneer Thursday quoted Vietnam's Preventive Medicine Department as saying.

The two people died at the Institute of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi capital city last week. Specimens from a patient were tested positive to the bird flu virus strain H5, and the testing on the other patient gave unclear results.

The institute is now treating 18 local people, three of whom have been confirmed to contract H5, and the rest are suspected to be infected with the disease. A patient is in need of respiratory assistance.


LINK

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

World Health Organization Says Bird Flu Mutating, Poses Greater Threat

July 13, 2005 2:39 a.m. EST


William J Brown - News Room Administrators Staff

W.J. Brown - All Headline News

Hong Kong, China (AHN) - The World Health Organization is concerned that a deadly strain of bird flu, that has already killed more than 50 people in Asian countries might mutate into a form that can be passed from one person to another and create a global pandemic.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley says so far there is no conclusive proof of human-to-human transmission. "We have found a couple of cases that were very suspicious, but we couldn't actually hammer that nail home."

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has jumped from chickens to humans elsewhere in Southeast Asia, killing 36 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in Cambodia.


LINK

2 Indonesians die from suspected bird flu

JAKARTA, July 13 (Xinhuanet) -- A father and his little daughter have died at a hospital in the western Java town of Tangerang from suspected avian influenza, local media reports said Wednesday.

Iwan Siswara Rafei, a staff with the Supreme Audit Body (BPK), died at the Siloam Gleneagles Hospital Tuesday afternoon after showing bird flu symptoms, reported the Detikcom online news service.

His daughter Thalita Nurul Azizah died earlier Saturday with similar symptoms, it said. Another daughter Sabrina Nurul Aisyah, who was first detected with the symptoms, is still under intensive treatment at the same hospital, around 20 km south of Jakarta.

She suffers high fever and respiratory problems.

The reports were first released by Metro TV, which reported that the family suffered the disease after their trip to Hong Kong and India.

The Indonesian government has confirmed bird flu outbreak among chickens and only one person, a poultry worker in South Sulawesi province, was tested positive of the disease. Enditem


LINK

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Bird flu becomes endemic in Thailand: official

BANGKOK, July 12 (Xinhuanet)

The latest outbreak of avian influenza found in central Thailand showed the disease had become endemic in the region, said an official from Public Health Ministry. The H5N1 virus was detected in the central province of Suphan Buri in every round of X-ray surveillance, newspaper Nation on Tuesday quoted Thawat Suntrajarn, director-general of the Disease Control Department, as saying.

Fresh bird flu cases have been found in the province and hundreds of fowls have been culled, the Agriculture Ministry said on Sunday.

LINK

Monday, July 11, 2005

Killer bird flue virus erupts again in Thailand

BANGKOK, July 11 (Reuters) -

The deadly bird flu virus which has killed 55 Asians has erupted again in Thailand despite a major campaign to eradicate it, the government said on Monday.

Infected fowl were found this month in five places of three districts in Suphanburi province, 100 km (60 miles) north of Bangkok, during follow-up inspections of previously affected areas, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said.

The discoveries reinforced warnings by international health bodies about how difficult it will be to eliminate the H5N1 virus now it has become endemic in parts of Asia.


LINK

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Bird flu could spread to Europe, say scientists

A virulent outbreak of avian flu among migrating geese at a wildlife refuge in China has raised fears that the disease could spread to India and Europe, according to studies published this week by the journals Science and Nature.

Researchers say that evidence of bird flu in the geese is of great concern because of the migratory birds' ability to fly vast distances
.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Scientists fear bird flu pandemic

Thursday, July 07, 2005
Malcolm RitterAssociated Press

New York - An outbreak of bird flu among migratory waterfowl in China suggests the disease - which could trigger a dangerous flu among people - may be poised to spread to India, Australia, New Zealand and eventually Europe, scientists warn.

If the migrating birds carry the H5N1 flu virus beyond its current stronghold in southeast Asia, it could devastate poultry farms and raise the risk of a deadly flu pandemic in people, experts said.

"They're going to spread this thing further and further across central Asia and Europe and who knows where," said Robert Webster of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., an author of a report released online Wednesday by the journal Nature. Another report, released by the journal Science, said the finding of the H5N1 infection in migrant birds at Qinghai Lake in western China "indicates that this virus has the potential to be a global threat."

Link

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Bird Flu May Pose Threat to Humans

Thursday, July 07, 2005

An outbreak of bird flu (search) among migratory waterfowl in China suggests the disease — which could trigger a dangerous flu among people — may be poised to spread to India, Australia, New Zealand and eventually Europe, scientists warn.

LINK

Bird flu pandemic 'just a matter of time'; nations must be better prepared-WHO

07.06.2005, 12:52 AM

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX) - A World Health Organization (WHO) scientist said it is 'probably just a matter of time' before a bird flu pandemic breaks out among humans.

LINK

Wild geese catch bird flu, raising fears that disease will spread fast

By Charles Piller Los Angeles Times

An outbreak of bird flu among migrating geese in western China has opened a potential pathway for the disease to spread into India and Europe, according to studies published online Wednesday by the journals Science and Nature. The sick birds were first detected April 30 at Qinghai Lake, a breeding hub for bar-headed geese that migrate to Siberia, Myanmar, Australia, New Zealand and over the Himalayas into India - a possible jumping off point for transmission of the virus into Europe.

LINK

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

UN pleads for increase in cash for bird-flu program

AP , KUALA LUMPUR Wednesday, Jul 06, 2005

Asian countries struggling with bird flu need US$102 million from international donors as soon as possible to bring the disease under control and stave off the threat of a human pandemic, UN officials said yesterday.

LINK




China must fight ignorance in battle on bird flu

06 Jul 2005 08:54:17 GMT
Source: Reuters By Barani Krishnan

KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 (Reuters) - UN experts are counting on China's cooperation to help wipe out avian flu but ignorance among its peasants and communication problems could derail those hopes, a Chinese official said.

The health experts who met in Malaysia's capital this week said Beijing's assistance and openness were key to fighting the bird flu epidemic, which some fear could last a decade in Asia.

LINK

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Bird flu: World is on the edge

SEAN YOONG
IN KUALA LUMPUR

ASIA'S bird flu outbreak is at a critical stage where it could easily become a human pandemic, health experts warned yesterday, urging mass poultry vaccinations to prevent a crisis.

Dr Shigeru Omi, of the World Health Organisation, said at the opening of a three-day United Nations conference on bird flu that the virus has "tightened its grip" on the region and is capable of springing major surprises.

Cases of human infection have been reported in Vietnam, with others likely in Cambodia and Indonesia, while fears are growing that infected migratory birds in China could spread the virus to India and Pakistan.

"We believe we are at the tipping point. Either we ... reverse this trend or things will get out of hand," Dr Omi said. "We must have an all-out war against this virus."

The flu, which has killed 54 people in Asia, currently appears to spread to people only when they come into close contact with sick poultry.

But medical experts fear that the H5N1 bird flu strain could mutate into a form that easily passes between people and trigger a global pandemic because people have developed no resistance to the strain.

"The virus has behaved in ways that suggest it remains as unstable, unpredictable and versatile as ever," Dr Omi said.

The pandemic threat has been enforced by its re-emergence in China's Qinghai province, where it killed 6,000 wild migratory birds last month.

Mr Omi said China must investigate outbreaks in Qinghai more rigorously and show more transparency about the reported misuse of an anti-viral drug on poultry.

Officials there must determine whether apparently healthy birds might have been infected without showing symptoms, Mr Omi said.

China has said it would conduct such testing, but needs international help.

Health experts have warned that migratory geese and gulls in Qinghai could spread the virus when they fly south this summer, possibly to places such as India and Pakistan.

Full
Story

YOU LIED

I found this on Song on Signs of The Times. It's the best song I have heard in a long time, I invite everyone to check this out. It's worth hearing. These are the same folks who came out with the Pentagon Strike Video.

Happy Birthday, America

SOTT Protest Music Department

The other day Bob Geldolf announced that artists participating in the Live8 concerts should stay away from criticizing President Bush.

Hmmm.

In a moment of fantasy, we wondered what kind of song we'd want to sing in those circumstances, the gauntlet having been thrown down as it were. They're a few things we'd like to say to Mr. Bush and his colleagues in Washington, not that he'd listen to us -- the Washington Post article about our Pentagon Strike flash didn't change anything and we're certain it caught the eye of the White House -- and to Mr. Geldolf who seems to be living in a lala land where mass demonstrations have an effect on the Bush administration. Didn't the millions of people in the streets prior to the illegal invasion of Iraq demonstrate clearly enough that Bush gets his orders elsewhere?

Well, the news today shows there ain't no hope for Geldolf's wishful thinking as Bush has declared he's going to put the US first, but we have never been enamoured with wishful thinking, preferring to look the world in the face and see it as objectively as possible.

Hence, this song:

You lied words & music by Signs of the Times

You told the world Saddam had chemical bombsTo kill us in our homes, and on our farmsYou said he sent his men into the heavensbig planes crashing down, September 11

You lied, You lied,People died,
When Bush lied

I've got some questions, wipe that smirk off your faceBetraying your people, that's a real disgraceSee I'm having a hard time finding that planethat you said hit the Pentagon, bursting into flamesVapourising the aircraft, didn't leave no remainsBut the bodies appear not to burn quite the same

More lies Yeah, yeah,
more liesAmerica died, When Bush lied

And talk about mir'cles, did you see how they fell,the three towers in New York, those charges worked wellFlattened out in a straight line, just like it was plannedDid you think we were so stupid that we wouldn't understandAnd it's a pity about the folks there on Flight 93,Just as they took back control, you blew them to smithereens

You lied, You lied
Heroes died, when Bush lied

You say Osama is living in a place you have tracedBut you don't go and get him, it seems such a wasteCould it be it's because he's still one of your menA C-I-A asset just like he was thenHe endorsed your campaign in a last minute pitchIs he just one more man who has gotten quite rich

From your lies, Your liesFreedom died, from your lies
How about those Israelis dancing to their success,On the rooftops of Jersey, they created a messSo you sent them back home with a slap on the wristTold the cops not to bother, 'cause they don't exist

It's a lie, You lied
Justice died, when you lied

Now people are dying through your crimes in IraqYou've killed more than Saddam, though you don't care to keep trackCause they're only some Arabs in a faraway landThat Yahweh has promised to his chosen bandWhile Sharon and his cronies pull on your stringsWhen he opens his mouth your whole government sings

His lies, His lies
Palestinians die, With Bush lies

Next time you talk to your God, I've got a question for himWhat side is he on or does it change on a whim'There's a whole lot of people, suff'rin here in his nameWhat kind of pyscho is he that he's playing this gameIt sounds more like the devil is guiding your handDestruction and death are the plagues of the land
of your lies, your lies

Children die,
When Bush lies

You see, Mr President, there's something amissTwo elections you lost, but you overcame thisBy rigging the vote, not counting the blacksYou've ensured two full terms, the dry drunk is backAnd now they're changing the laws to get you a thirdThe brown shirts are charging at the front of the herd

of your lies, your lies
Democracy dies, When Bush lies

The question remains what can we do about thisMost people refuse to consider this listThey're lost in illusion, can't recognise proofso we offer this song to all who stand for the truth


No more lies, No more liesMust we all die, Because of your lies
No more lies, No more liesMust we all die, Because of your lies
Your lies...

copyright 2005 Signs of the Times

to listen to the song go to Signs of TheTimes

Friday, July 01, 2005

94 die in torrential rains, flash floods in India's Gujarat state

AFP
July 1, 2005
AHMEDABAD, India - At least 94 people have died and some 200,000 have been evacuated due to heavy rains and flash floods in India's western coastal state of Gujarat, officials said amid warnings of worse to come.

"The flood situation is likely to worsen in Gujarat. We have to be prepared for the worst floods," Science Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters in New Delhi on Friday. "Only after July 4 or 5 will there be a substantial fall in rainfall."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, meanwhile, has offered "all help for flood relief," his office said, as Home Minister Shivraj Patil headed for Gujarat to assess the situation.

The floods in Gujarat, which began six days ago, have inundated scores of villages and water has overwhelmed residential suburbs of many towns, including worst-affected Vadodra, state government officials said.

Most of the 94 deaths occurred when people, both adults and children, were washed away by strong currents after dams overflowed, while others were crushed when buildings collapsed or were buried in mudslides, officials said.

They added that around 200,000 people in the affected areas of the state had been moved to higher ground by Friday.

Dozens of train services were delayed due to water-logged tracks while some had to be cancelled, marooning hundreds of passengers on railway platforms.

The rains have also disrupted flights and left vehicles stranded on water-logged highways, while all schools in the state were closed until Monday, education officials said.

Army and paramilitary personnel have been deployed to reach those trapped but bad weather prevented rescue helicopters from lifting those stranded in many places. [...]

http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/signs20050701.htm