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Draadje vogelgriep

1. [verwijderd] 17 december 2005 12:20

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   ja , ook mijn koersdoel is 26€ en dan erop en erover!!...wat een toeval allemaal weer...;-)))
   
   mvg ivet
2. [verwijderd] 17 december 2005 17:33

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   Malawi hit by avian flu scare
   
   December 17 2005 at 02:27PM
   
   By Raphael Tenthani
   
   Malawi has sent blood and tissue samples of birds to a laboratory in South Africa after thousands of migratory birds dropped dead in the central district of Ntchisi, some 200 kilometres east of the capital, Lilongwe, a senior agriculture official has confirmed.
   
   "Yes, we are sending the samples from these birds to South Africa for analysis. South Africa is the only country in the SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) region that has labs to detect avian flu," said Wilfred Lipita, director of livestock and animal health in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
   
   Lipita said several thousands of the Fork-tailed Drongo or Dicrurus adsimilis, known locally as Namzenze, started dropping dead in the Mwera Hills district earlier this week. He said locals in the area started scooping them up to eat.
   www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&...
   **********************************
   Ukraine considers full Crimea quarantine to halt bird flu
   17 Dec 2005 13:41:36 GMT
   
   Source: Reuters
   
   KIEV, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Ukrainian officials on Saturday considered imposing a quarantine throughout the Crimea peninsula to contain an outbreak of the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu affecting more than a dozen villages.
   
   Agriculture Ministry spokesman Oleksander Horobets said a specialised laboratory in Britain had confirmed results provided by Russian academics -- that the virus detected in Crimea was H5N1, which is potentially dangerous to humans.
   www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L17...
   
   
   
3. harvester 19 december 2005 00:18

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   "Tamiflu Useless against avain flu"
   by: grapesharvester
   Long-Term Sentiment: Strong Buy 12/18/05 06:15 pm
   Msg: 22352 of 22352
   
   Outbreak! Tamiflu "useless"
   by: ownspot50 12/04/05 09:42 pm
   Msg: 17193 of 17211
   
   WorldNetDaily
   Sunday, 12/4/05
   
   Tamiflu Useless against avain flu, doctor who has treated 41 victims of virus says "we place no importance on this drug."
   
   After treating 41 victims of H5N1, the deadly form of the bird flu virus, a Vietnamese doctor has concluded Tamiflu, the drug most widely stockpiled around the world to combat a feared pandemic, is "useless."
   
   Dr. Nguyen Tuong Van, who runs the intensive care unit of the Center for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, followed World Health Organization guide lines in her treatment of patients but concluded it had no effect on the disease.
   
   We place no importance on using this drug on our patients, she said. "Tamiflu is really only meant for treating ordinary type A flu. It was not designed to combat H5N1.. (Tamiflu) is useless.
   
   The picture of the dump truck loaded down with dead birds can be viewed at WorldNetDaily.
   
   Everyone Needs Their Own Spot~ME
   
   ===taken from Chiron board on Yahoo
   
   
4. [verwijderd] 19 december 2005 13:49

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   De helft van het plan Bush ivm vogelgriep is goedgekeurd:
   
   House approves $3.8 billion for avian flu
   
   Mon Dec 19, 2005 5:55 AM ET
   
   
   WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Monday approved $3.78 billion to begin preparing for a possible avian flu epidemic, including stockpiling potential vaccines, training emergency officials and increasing international surveillance.
   
   The money is about half of what the Bush administration requested earlier this year.
   
   Following hours of late-night negotiations between top Republicans in the Senate and House, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee succeeded in including a provision to protect vaccine, drug and medical device makers against lawsuits in a public health or bioterror emergency.
   
   The avian flu funding was attached to an unrelated defense spending bill passed by the House by a vote of 308-106 that faces an uncertain future in the Senate later this week.
   
   Consumer and health groups opposed the vaccine liability provisions, which were sought by pharmaceuticals, saying it would protect companies from "gross negligence."
   
   Some lawmakers said the measure could make medical personnel and other emergency workers reluctant to get vaccinated if there was a chance they could suffer negative reactions and not get compensated.
   
   The language "gives carte blanche to the vaccine companies, but doesn't provide a mechanism" for people if they are injured by a vaccination, said Rep. Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican.
   
   Avian flu has been sweeping through poultry flocks in Asia and more recently into eastern Europe. The deadly animal disease has killed at least 139 people.
   
   Scientists fear that if the disease becomes more easily transmitted to humans, a pandemic could unfold, killing millions.
   
   Earlier this year, the Senate passed legislation calling for $8 billion in funds to prepare for an avian flu pandemic. But conservative Republicans in Congress opposed the higher spending, citing concerns about the huge U.S. budget deficit.
   
   
5. [verwijderd] 19 december 2005 13:51

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   Kirin develops antibody that may work for bird flu
   
   Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:38 AM ET
   
   
   TOKYO (Reuters) - Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd., Japan's second-largest brewer, said on Monday that its U.S. subsidiary has developed an antibody that may be effective against bird flu, sending its share price higher.
   
   A company spokesman said the subsidiary, Gemini Science Inc., is planning to develop a drug through a partnership, but added that it would take time to commercialize any such product.
   
   "It's hard to say how long, but I can say that it's not going to be in two or three years," he said.
   
   Kirin Brewery shares rose 7.1 percent to 1,412 yen after earlier climbing as high as to 1,471 yen, a level last seen in 1999.
   
   The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has killed 71 people since late 2003, spreading through flocks of poultry across Asia and into Europe. Anti-bird flu measures are a closely watched topic in the stock market.
   
   Last Thursday, textile maker Nisshinbo Industries Inc. surged after the company said it and a Japanese university had jointly developed a new fabric that destroys the bird flu virus. It can be used for masks and clothing as well as for materials for chicken coops, the company said.
   
   
6. [verwijderd] 21 december 2005 17:39

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   Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Begins Pandemic Flu (H5N1) Vaccine Clinical Trials
   PR Newswire - December 21, 2005 10:08
   
   BEIJING, China, Dec 21, 2005 /Xinhua-PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (Sinovac) (AMEX: SVA - News) announced today it has initiated human clinical trials for its pandemic flu (H5N1) vaccine Panflu(TM). The vaccine was administered to the first 6 volunteers at the Beijing Sino-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, China.
   
   Due to this vaccine's mature technology, China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) earlier approved modification to "fast-track" the clinical trial process from 3 phases to only 2 stages. Stage I includes 120 healthy volunteers, ages 18 - 60 years and is expected to take nine-months. However, preliminary results should be available by the end of March, 2006.
   
   Sinovac CEO and Director, Mr. Weidong Yin commented, "This is a great day for us as we simultaneously advance China's National Pandemic Preparedness Plan and our corporate growth strategy. In addition to our successful R&D program, Sinovac has introduced two new vaccines into the market this year. Our national and international name recognition is expanding, and I expect tremendous revenue growth in 2006."
   
   Sinovac partnered with Beijing Sino-Japan Friendship Hospital for the successful Phase I SARS clinical trials in 2004. Protocols for clinical trials are strictly regulated and include compliance with SFDA's National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products (NICPBP), World Health Organization (WHO) "Guidelines on Clinical Evaluation of Vaccines," and other relevant regulations. The trials will be compliant with Good Clinical Practices (GCP) procedures, including ethical guidelines.
   
   Sinovac's Deputy General Manager, Mr. Zhang Jiansan stated, "we have established an excellent reputation at Sinovac and maintain disciplined, safe procedures during all of our R&D and production functions." These trials will use Sinovac's proprietary pandemic vaccine, Panflu(TM), which is an al adjuvant, whole virion type. Sinovac has produced sufficient vaccines to complete human clinical trials. If clinical trials are successful, the Company estimates production capacity may be as high as 20 million doses per year using its current manufacturing facilities.
   
   About Sinovac
   
   Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is a world leader in the research, development, manufacture and commercialization of vaccines for endemic and pandemic viruses such as hepatitis and influenza, and for fast emerging viruses such as SARS and avian influenza (bird flu). The Company's objective is to provide Chinese children with the best vaccines in the world, and let children in the world use vaccines made in China.
   
   Additional information about Sinovac is available on the Company website, www.sinovac.com
   
   For additional information, investor newsletters and corporate updates, please email your request to: info@sinovac.com
   
   
   
7. [verwijderd] 21 december 2005 21:57

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   vraagje aan flosz: kan je mij mailtje sturen via invoorentegenspoed@hotmail.com ?
   
   mvg ivet
8. [verwijderd] 22 december 2005 09:35

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   Bird flu study shows virus evolution in action
   
   Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:13 PM ET
   
   By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
   
   WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At first it looked like the 13-year-old girl was lucky. She only had a little pneumonia in one lung and doctors had treated her early with Tamiflu, a drug known to be effective against avian influenza.
   She "presented to a hospital in Dong Thap Province on January 22, 2005, with a one-day history of fever and cough," wrote Dr. Menno de Jong of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh city and colleagues.
   And for several days, the drug seemed to be working. But then the girl began struggling to breathe and needed more and more oxygen.
   The pneumonia worsened and she died six days after being admitted.
   Tests done in Hong Kong showed the virus infecting her had mutated in a way known to make it immune to Tamiflu. She had a "H274Y substitution in the neuraminidase gene, which confers high-level resistance to oseltamivir (Tamiflu)," the researchers wrote in a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
   The same thing happened with another patient treated by the same group. And four of eight patients they treated with Tamiflu, made by Roche AG under the generic name oseltamivir, died despite treatment with the drug.
   No one is surprised -- viruses often develop resistance to drugs. For this reason, AIDS infections are treated with a cocktail of drugs.
   "The best prevention of resistance is to suppress replication as completely and as early in the infection as possible. The paradigm 'Hit hard and Hit early' which has been used in the past for HIV/AIDS therapy is most likely true for influenza and undoubtedly many other viral infections," De Jong said in a statement.
   NATURAL SELECTION IN ACTION
   "Anything that you throw at a virus, a virus can evolve to evade it," said Dr. Anne Moscona, an expert in pediatric viral diseases at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, in a telephone interview. "You can't attack a virus with just one compound."
   Tamiflu is one of two influenza drugs in a class called neuraminidase inhibitors. These drugs target a protein on the surface of cells called sialic acid. Influenza viruses use an enzyme called neuraminidase -- the "N" in H5N1 -- to attach to the cells it infects.
   Tamiflu and the other neuraminidase inhibitor, Relenza, block the neuraminidase enzyme used by the virus and keep the virus from hooking onto the sialic acid "doorway" on the cell.
   But influenza viruses are mistake-prone -- they constantly evolve and change, and the neuraminidase structure can change, too.
   Tamiflu does not block neuraminidase perfectly and has to make it stretch a little, Moscona said. "The structure of Tamiflu is such that several mutations are possible that allow for the neuraminidase molecule to still work and the virus to remain viable," Moscona said.
   "The structure of Relenza is somewhat different, so that it seems to be somewhat less likely to allow for the development of resistance."
   But Relenza, known generically as zanamivir, has its own drawbacks -- it must be inhaled, making it inappropriate for some patients, and it may only treat the lungs, while H5N1 attacks other organs, too. Maker GlaxoSmithKline is working on an injectable version.
   Moscona said the report clearly illustrates why governments but not individuals should stockpile Tamiflu.
   "One thing about stockpiling -- people are going to tend to share. They'll try to make a small amount go farther because there is a shortage," she said.
   That will make resistance evolve even more quickly.
   
   
9. [verwijderd] 22 december 2005 10:27

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   Vogelgriep virus nieuws op RTL-Z.
10. [verwijderd] 22 december 2005 10:41

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    Bird flu strain develops resistance to drug stockpiled by Britain
    
    By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
    Published: 22 December 2005
    
    The only drug available against a threatened pandemic of avian flu may be useless for many of those infected and could make the pandemic worse, scientists fear.
    
    The warning came after a study of 13 Vietnamese patients infected with avian flu (H5N1) who were treated with the anti-viral drug, Tamiflu, found two developed a resistant virus strain which contributed to their deaths. In all, seven of the 13 patients died. The New England Journal of Medicine, which publishes the findings today, describes them as frightening.
    
    Governments around the world, including the UK, are stockpiling Tamiflu to be used as the first line of defence against a flu pandemic.
    
    But indiscriminate use of the drug in the event of a pandemic could fuel the growth of a resistant virus strain, triggering a second wave of infection against which there would be no defence, researchers say. Yesterday, Sir John Skehel, director of the National Institute for Medical Research in London, and one of the world's leading virologists, said: "The fear is that all the virus that comes here might be resistant."
    
    Sir John said Tamiflu was better at preventing infection with flu than treating it. "It's a prophylactic not a therapeutic."
    
    He urged the Government to broaden the UK's defence. Relenza, an inhaled drug which works in a similar way to Tamiflu, has not shown signs of triggering resistance but it has been ignored because it is harder to take. "We should be stockpiling other drugs. Some of these mutations are only resistant to Tamiflu. But I am not aware how much Relenza is available," Sir John said.
    
    The H5N1 virus has infected 138 people in the Far East and killed 71 but the fear is it could mutate to become transmissible among humans.
    
    In the Vietnamese study, one of the patients, a 13-year-old girl whose mother had died of avian flu, was treated with a high dose of Tamiflu within 24 hours of developing a cough and fever, when "the greatest clinical benefit could have been expected". But although her condition improved at first, it later worsened and she died eight days after starting treatment. A resistant virus strain was isolated and at the time of her death the amount of virus in her throat had increased.
    
    The second patient died after 14 days, also showing signs of an increase in the amount of virus.
    
    The two cases follow an earlier report of partial resistance in a Vietnamese patient infected with avian flu last February, who was given preventive treatment with the drug at a lower dose. In that case, the patient survived.
    
    Professor Anne Moscona of Cornell University says in the journal that the Vietnamese cases "raise the worrisome prospect that even with therapeutic doses", resistance to Tamiflu may emerge.
    
    Dosages may need to be raised and treatments combining several different drugs used, Professor Moscona says. Personal stockpiling of Tamiflu could lead to sharing of drugs, leading to under-dosing of infections, which could in turn fuel the pandemic.
    
    The only drug available against a threatened pandemic of avian flu may be useless for many of those infected and could make the pandemic worse, scientists fear.
    
    The warning came after a study of 13 Vietnamese patients infected with avian flu (H5N1) who were treated with the anti-viral drug, Tamiflu, found two developed a resistant virus strain which contributed to their deaths. In all, seven of the 13 patients died. The New England Journal of Medicine, which publishes the findings today, describes them as frightening.
    
    Governments around the world, including the UK, are stockpiling Tamiflu to be used as the first line of defence against a flu pandemic.
    
    But indiscriminate use of the drug in the event of a pandemic could fuel the growth of a resistant virus strain, triggering a second wave of infection against which there would be no defence, researchers say. Yesterday, Sir John Skehel, director of the National Institute for Medical Research in London, and one of the world's leading virologists, said: "The fear is that all the virus that comes here might be resistant."
    
    Sir John said Tamiflu was better at preventing infection with flu than treating it. "It's a prophylactic not a therapeutic."
    
    He urged the Government to broaden the UK's defence. Relenza, an inhaled drug which works in a similar way to Tamiflu, has not shown signs of triggering resistance but it has been ignored because it is harder to take. "We should be stockpiling other drugs. Some of these mutations are only resistant to Tamiflu. But I am not aware how much Relenza is available," Sir John said.
    The H5N1 virus has infected 138 people in the Far East and killed 71 but the fear is it could mutate to become transmissible among humans.
    
    In the Vietnamese study, one of the patients, a 13-year-old girl whose mother had died of avian flu, was treated with a high dose of Tamiflu within 24 hours of developing a cough and fever, when "the greatest clinical benefit could have been expected". But although her condition improved at first, it later worsened and she died eight days after starting treatment. A resistant virus strain was isolated and at the time of her death the amount of virus in her throat had increased.
    
    The second patient died after 14 days, also showing signs of an increase in the amount of virus.
    
    The two cases follow an earlier report of partial resistance in a Vietnamese patient infected with avian flu last February, who was given preventive treatment with the drug at a lower dose. In that case, the patient survived.
    
    Professor Anne Moscona of Cornell University says in the journal that the Vietnamese cases "raise the worrisome prospect that even with therapeutic doses", resistance to Tamiflu may emerge.
    
    Dosages may need to be raised and treatments combining several different drugs used, Professor Moscona says. Personal stockpiling of Tamiflu could lead to sharing of drugs, leading to under-dosing of infections, which could in turn fuel the pandemic.
    
12. [verwijderd] 22 december 2005 10:43

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    quote:

    bidul schreef:

    Vogelgriep virus nieuws op RTL-Z.
    

    RTL Z:
    
    laatst gewijzigd: 22-12-2005 10:09
    WHO bevestigt twee doden door vogelgriep Indonesië
    De Wereldgezondheidsorganisatie (WHO) bevestigt dat twee onlangs in Indonesië overleden mensen, zijn bezweken aan vogelgriep.
    
    Jakarta
    Daardoor is het aantal officieel bevestigde sterfgevallen door vogelgriep in de archipel op elf gekomen, meldden de autoriteiten. Het gaat om een 39-jarige man die op 13 december overleed en om een 8-jarige jongen die twee dagen later stierf. Beiden kwamen uit Jakarta.
    
    Vastgesteld
    Onderzoek in Indonesië had in beide gevallen al aangetoond dat vogelgriep de doodsoorzaak was. De WHO bevestigt de sterfgevallen nu omdat ook in haar eigen laboratorium in Hongkong is vastgesteld dat het om de gevreesde ziekte gaat.
    
    
13. [verwijderd] 22 december 2005 15:56

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    Signs of Tamiflu resistance no cause for alarm: WHO
    
    Thu Dec 22, 2005 9:02 AM ET
    
    By Stephanie Nebehay
    GENEVA (Reuters) - Signs that the H5N1 bird flu virus may be developing resistance to the frontline drug Tamiflu in some patients are not necessarily a cause for alarm, a senior World Health Organization official said on Thursday.
    
    "It just points out the need for more information... What really is critical is understanding whether the way we are using the drugs contributes to that (resistance)," Keiji Fukuda, an expert at the WHO's global influenza programme, told Reuters.
    
    Two more human deaths from bird flu in Indonesia were confirmed on Thursday, taking the known global total to 73, all in Asia.
    
    Experts fear the virus will mutate into one that can be passed from human to human, rather than from bird to people, and that such a mutation might spark a pandemic killing millions.
    
    Fukuda said some resistance was inevitable with any kind of drug, and Tamiflu remained the best treatment.
    
    "Whenever you use any kind of drugs, antivirals or antibiotics, you expect to see resistance develop in organs. Finding some resistance in and of itself is not surprising and is not necessarily alarming," Fukuda said.
    
    But more research was needed on optimal doses and length of treatment for people infected with the deadly virus, to limit the chances of resistance becoming more widespread, he added.
    
    Findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that four of eight patients treated in Vietnam for bird flu infections had died despite the use of Tamiflu.
    
    According to the study, tests showed that in two of the patients, the virus had developed resistance to Tamiflu, which is made by Swiss drugs firm Roche. For the other two, treatment may simply have started too late.
    
    Roche shares were down 0.96 percent at 1315 GMT.
    Tran Tinh Hien, a member of the research group and deputy director of the Hospital for Tropical Disease in Ho Chi Minh City, told Reuters: "We still recommend the use of Tamiflu for bird flu cases as soon as possible and at higher doses as there is no replacement yet. More in-depth research is needed to determine the effectiveness of Tamiflu against the H5N1 virus."
    
    Hien said Vietnam's Ministry of Health had increased the treatment period for Tamiflu to 7 days from 5 days previously. Most of the Tamiflu-treated patients who died had used the drug too late and their infection had become too severe, he added.
    
    Using doses that are too small, or for too short a time, can contribute to resistance developing, according to Fukuda, who noted that the Vietnam study had been very small.
    
    "We have to monitor the situation to see whether resistance becomes a big problem or not," Fukuda said.
    
    Tamiflu, in a class of drugs known as neuraminidase inhibitors, remained an "excellent choice" among a limited number of antivirals available, he said.
    
    GlaxoSmithKline and Biota's Relenza, known generically as zanamivir, is an alternative to Tamiflu and has been shown to be active against Tamiflu-resistant virus.
    
    But Relenza must be inhaled, making it problematic for patients with respiratory conditions such as asthma.
    
    Glaxo hopes eventually to develop an injectable form of the medicine to overcome this limitation, but a spokeswoman in London said it was unlikely to be ready for at least two years.
    
    (With additional reporting by Ngyuen Nhat Lam in Hanoi and Ben Hirschler in London)
    
    © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
    
    
14. [verwijderd] 28 december 2005 12:02

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    Bird flu could be linked to fish farming
    
    28.12.05 1.00pm
    By Michael McCarthy
    
    
    Bird flu may be spread by using chicken dung as feed in fish farms, a practice now routine in Asia, the world's leading bird conservation organisation believes.
    
    Fertilising fish ponds with poultry faeces, which can dramatically improve fish growth, may in fact set up major new reservoirs of avian influenza infection if the chickens providing the manure are infected themselves, according to BirdLife International, the Cambridge-based umbrella body for bird protection groups in more than 100 countries.
    
    The suggestion, which has echoes of the BSE problem in Britain, in which cattle were infected by organic feed, is an explosive one, on an international scale.
    
    It puts a serious question mark over a technique firmly backed by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as a primary means of providing protein for mushrooming populations in the developing countries - suggesting that millions of people, instead of being helped by it, might ultimately die because of it, in a global pandemic.
    
    Known as integrated livestock-fish farming, the technique involves transferring the wastes from raising pigs, ducks or chickens directly to fish farms, with chicken or duck sheds sometimes sited directly over the fish ponds themselves.
    
    At the right dosage, the nutrients in the manure give an enormous boost to the growth of plankton in the ponds, which are the main food of fish such as carp and tilapia.
    
    This is taking place on an enormous scale. According to an FAO report from two years ago, it is now the main basis for aquaculture in China and neighbouring countries.
    
    "Livestock wastes purposely used in ponds, or draining into them, support the production of most cultured fish in Asia," the report said.
    
    "Much of the vast increase in China's recent inland aquaculture production is linked to organic fertilisation, provided by the equally dramatic growth of poultry and pig production."
    
    BirdLife International is now calling for an investigation into the possibility that these thousands of manure-fed ponds across Asia may be the means by which the new, potentially deadly strain of avian influenza, H5N1, is being spread.
    
    BirdLife points out that outbreaks of H5N1 have occurred this year at locations in China, Romania and Croatia where there are fish farms.
    
    The Chinese outbreak, which involved a big die-off of 6000 wild birds, mainly bar-headed geese, took place in May this year at Qinghai Lake, a location where the FAO helped establish an integrated livestock-fish farm in the early 1990s, BirdLife said.
    
    www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?...
15. [verwijderd] 28 december 2005 13:04

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    Lekker zo'n visje.
16. [verwijderd] 29 december 2005 12:06

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    UN vet dismisses fish farming as bird flu risk
    Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:42 PM ET
    
    ROME (Reuters) - The widespread use of poultry excrement to fertilize fish farms does not greatly increase the risk of bird flu, a senior United Nations expert said on Wednesday.
    
    Joseph Domenech, chief veterinary officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, dismissed a wildlife group's claim that using animal feces to boost fish farming was a serious danger.
    
    Global environmental group Birdlife International said wild birds have been unfairly blamed for the virus.
    
    It says human practices like the trade in poultry and wild birds, and modern agricultural methods, probably play a major role in spreading the virus.
    
    The FAO, which is monitoring the global spread of bird flu, supports the practice whereby feces from farm animals are used to boost fish production.
    
    The excrement is used to boost nutrients in water for the organisms the fish feed on.
    
    Domenech told Reuters there was a theoretical risk of fish farms becoming a source of infection if excrement from infected poultry were poured into the ponds.
    
    It could create "an infection outbreak in the environment, in the water, which can be the source of contamination of other birds which come to drink there".
    
    He added, however, that as long as the correct surveillance was in place, infection should not happen, or could be dealt with quickly if it did.
    
    "To ban these systems of raising livestock which are extremely efficient and irreplaceable to feed the populations in those countries, would be like banning the raising of ducks because ducks are considered one of the main sources."
    
    The FAO, which has warned Europe could be at risk of bird flu when migratory bird return from the south in spring, is tracking outbreaks of the flu to determine how it is spread.
    
    "Today it's impossible to say that wild birds are not playing a role," said Domenech. "We hope in three to four months, at the end of this migration period, we will see better."
    
    © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
    
    
17. [verwijderd] 29 december 2005 12:09

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    Bad vaccines may trigger China bird flu: expert
    Thu Dec 29, 2005 5:46 AM ET
    
    By Tan Ee Lyn
    HONG KONG (Reuters) - China is most likely using substandard poultry vaccine or not enough good vaccine, which would explain recent outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in poultry, a prominent virologist said on Thursday.
    
    Thirty-one counties in China have reported outbreaks of the H5N1 in poultry this year, although only one county remains under isolation and there have been no new outbreaks for three weeks, according to Chinese state media.
    
    But the fear among experts is that the virus could mutate from a disease that largely affects birds to one that can pass easily between people, leading to a human pandemic.
    
    Dr Robert Webster, of St Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, said the problem of substandard vaccines was not exclusive to China.
    
    "If you use a good vaccine you can prevent the transmission within poultry and to humans. But if they have been using vaccines now (in China) for several years, why is there so much bird flu?" Webster told Reuters in Hong Kong.
    
    "There is bad vaccine that stops the disease in the bird but the bird goes on pooping out virus and maintaining it and changing it. And I think this is what is going on in China.
    
    "It has to be. Either there is not enough vaccine being used or there is substandard vaccine being used. Probably both."
    
    Webster praised China's ambitious plan to vaccinate all its chickens, but also called for agricultural vaccines to be standardized.
    
    "It's not just China. We cant blame China for substandard vaccines. I think there are substandard vaccines for influenza in poultry all over the world," he added.
    
    Since late 2003, there have been 141 confirmed human cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, all of them in Asia, including six in China. Two people have died from bird flu in China, out of 73 known fatalities in Asia.
    Webster warned against underestimating the virus, which he said has exhibited some of the worrying characteristics of the Spanish flu virus of 1918-1919, which killed an estimated 50 million people.
    
    "If you go back to 1918, it showed that there are about 10 critical amino acids in that virus that seemed to be necessary (for the virus) to be pathogenic," Webster said.
    
    "Many of those changes have been seen in the H5N1, but not all together. Individually, these have been out there.
    
    "If you get all of these 10 all in together in one (H5N1) virus, to get 10 amino acids all lined up in the right order, yes the chances are very, very small that it could happen, but it could happen you see," he said.
    
    Webster said it was not surprising that some strains of the H5N1 have been found to be resistant to Tamiflu, Roche AG's drug that is believed to be capable of reducing the symptoms and chances of complications caused by the virus.
    
    "That's the nature of the beast, there is nothing special about this one. Flu viruses change every time they multiply, they make mistakes, these mutations occur naturally," he said.
    
    It was now crucial to find the cure -- the right doses, duration of treatments and combining Tamiflu with a few other anti-viral drugs, such as amantadine and rimantadine.
    
    "It is important to realize that the H5N1 cases in China recently are also sensitive to the old-fashioned drugs amantadine and rimantadine. So we need to be thinking more about combinations of these drugs, combinations of amantadine, rimantadine and Tamiflu," Webster said.
    
    © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
    
    
18. [verwijderd] 29 december 2005 12:19

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    Human Bird Flu Vaccine Can Meet Demands of Large Quantity Production
    
    2005-12-29 0:00:16
    
    A Chinese vaccine expert said on Wednesday that China has established a store of NIBRG-14 virus strain to vaccinate against H5N1 which can meet the demands of large quantities of vaccine production.
    
    Yin Weidong, a leading expert for China's huamn bird flu vaccine project, said the research group has made preparations to produce human-use bird flu vaccine in massive quantities.
    
    Yin's research shows that the biological properties of the virus strain remain the same as the original even after developing a tenth generation which displays a steady inheriting process, indicating that the virus strain can be used in large quantity vaccine production.
    
    The Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Co Ltd. led by Yin started cooperation with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2004 and successfully developed a human bird flu vaccine in November 2005 which is currently under clinical tests that will last about 12 months.
    
    Yin said the group adopted a researching concept earlier proposed by the European Union that is to research the immunity, security and effectiveness of the dangerous "prototype" H5N1, H9N2 and H7N2.
    
    If the virus mutates, new vaccines can be easily developed on the basis of those prototypes.
    
    "We are capable of producing vaccines against other types of influenza if the virus develops into other forms," said Yin, who is also the managing director of Sinovac. "We can modify the virus strain within 48 days and update the human bird flu vaccine in four months after the virus mutates."
    
    en.chinabroadcast.cn/2238/2005-12-29/...
    
19. [verwijderd] 29 december 2005 12:29

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    quote:

    flosz schreef:

    Human Bird Flu Vaccine Can Meet Demands of Large Quantity Production
    
    2005-12-29 0:00:16
    
    A Chinese vaccine expert said on Wednesday that China has established a store of NIBRG-14 virus strain to vaccinate against H5N1 which can meet the demands of large quantities of vaccine production.
    
    Yin Weidong, a leading expert for China's huamn bird flu vaccine project, said the research group has made preparations to produce human-use bird flu vaccine in massive quantities.
    
    Yin's research shows that the biological properties of the virus strain remain the same as the original even after developing a tenth generation which displays a steady inheriting process, indicating that the virus strain can be used in large quantity vaccine production.
    
    The Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Co Ltd. led by Yin started cooperation with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2004 and successfully developed a human bird flu vaccine in November 2005 which is currently under clinical tests that will last about 12 months.
    
    Yin said the group adopted a researching concept earlier proposed by the European Union that is to research the immunity, security and effectiveness of the dangerous "prototype" H5N1, H9N2 and H7N2.
    
    If the virus mutates, new vaccines can be easily developed on the basis of those prototypes.
    
    "We are capable of producing vaccines against other types of influenza if the virus develops into other forms," said Yin, who is also the managing director of Sinovac. "We can modify the virus strain within 48 days and update the human bird flu vaccine in four months after the virus mutates."
    
    en.chinabroadcast.cn/2238/2005-12-29/...
    
    

    French and Chinese pharmaceutical giants plan to conduct H5N1 vaccination trials on health care workers, poultry farmers and kids in Thailand, considered to be at-risk groups for bird flu infection, the Public Health Ministry's Medical Sciences Department revealed yesterday. France's Sanofi Pasteur and China's Sinovac Biotech were interested in jointly conducting the bird flu vaccine experiments on humans with the ministry.
    The companies also disclosed plans to establish avian influenza production factories here, said chief of Medical Sciences Paijit Warachit.
    
    www.ift2004.org/othernews/Pandemicflu...
20. [verwijderd] 29 december 2005 23:27

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    Biotechconcern Quidel werd bijna een kwart meer waard nadat het van de Food and Drug Administration (FDA) toestemming heeft gekregen om zijn '10-minuten-vogelgriep-testkit' te promoten. Volgens de FDA is de kit zeer goed te gebruiken als opsporingsmiddel tegen vogelgriep. Quidel sloot 24,2% hoger.
    
    Copyright (c) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
    
    
21. [verwijderd] 30 december 2005 15:48

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    Zo, dit is nog eens nieuws:
    
    Bird Flu Threat Tops Health News for '05
    
    By E.J. Mundell
    HealthDay Reporter
    
    THURSDAY, Dec. 29 (HealthDay News) -- It has yet to sicken a single American, but the potential for a bird flu virus pandemic riveted the attention of health officials and ordinary people in 2005, making it the year's top health news story.
    
    news.yahoo.com
    
    gr.(Was me nog niet opgevallen...)