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Avian Influenza Daily Digest
August 21, 2008 14:00 GMT
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Article Summaries ...
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AI Digest Today
The Digest is a little short this morning due to some connectivity issues with the server. I will send out an update later this afternoon if necessary. Claudinne...
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Quid Novi
Indonesia: Reported (suspected) human case of AI in East Java
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Goldman Sachs Buying Up Poultry Farms in China
8/21/08 Natural News--Corporate ownership of world food sources may be shifting into high gear. Goldman Sachs, the private equity investment bank of the ultra wealthy and powerful, has announced that it's in the race to scoop up assets related to food production. Its latest investment is $300 million in Chinese chicken farms.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Science and Technology
Bird Flu In Indonesia: Prevalence, Mortality, And Action
8/21/08 Medical news Today--In order to help Indonesia improve its high human mortality due to bird flu (H5N1 influenza), more effective diagnostic methods must be used and improved case management must be implemented to achieve faster treatment with antivirals, according to the authors of an article released on August 14, 2008 in The Lancet.
Science and Technology
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AI Digest Today
The Digest is a little short this morning due to some connectivity issues with the server. I will send out an update later this afternoon if necessary. Claudinne
Science and Technology
Bird Flu In Indonesia: Prevalence, Mortality, And Action
8/21/08 Medical news Today--In order to help Indonesia improve its high human mortality due to bird flu (H5N1 influenza), more effective diagnostic methods must be used and improved case management must be implemented to achieve faster treatment with antivirals, according to the authors of an article released on August 14, 2008 in The Lancet.
Most of us are familiar with the flu, which seasonally affects many populations. Because it is an RNA virus, it will undergo genetic shifts relatively rapidly, providing challenges for scientists in creating vaccines. Avian influenza, also known as bird flu or H5N1 has achieved notoriety recently as it has transmitted from birds to humans with often fatal outcomes.
Internationally, the most human cases of bird flu have been found in Indonesia, which also has one of the highest case-fatality rates. While surveillance systems have been implemented to increase awareness to potential outbreaks, there are still significant risk factors that exist in this country.
To investigate the factors that contribute to the fatality of bird flu in Indonesia, Dr Toni Wandra, Directorate General of Disease Control and Environmental Health, Ministry of Health, Jakarta, and colleagues analyzed all 127 bird flu cases manifesting between June 2005 and February 2008. Each case was investigated by teams for epidemiological and clinical data from both case investigation reports and interviews with patients, family members and other individuals associated with the case.
In the first two days after onset, most patients had non-specific symptoms. That is, of the 122 patients with complete data, 25% had both fever and cough, and 7% had fever with breathing problems. The symptoms upon reaching the hospital were as follows: 99% had fever (121 cases), 88% had cough (107 cases), and 84% (103 cases) had breathing problems.
The median time from onset to treatment with oseltamivir was seven days. Survival frequency when compared to treatment time, the following was found, indicating a significant difference in treatment outcome between treatment in two days or less and five days or more:
* The one patient who received treatment within 2 days survived.
* Of patients receiving treatment within 2-4 days, 36% (4 of 11) survived.
* Of patients receiving treatment within 5-6 days, 38% (6 of 16) survived.
* Of patients receiving treatment in 7 or more days, 19% (10 of 44) survived.
Examining mortality in total, 81% of all infected patients (103 cases) died. The median hospitalization time for these patients was six days. Mortality was lower in cases that were clustered together rather than primary, stand-alone cases. For secondary cases, due to clusters, the median treatment time was five days instead of seven. Mortality was higher in cases that resided in urban areas or from indirect exposure to infected poultry through an intermediate.
The authors conclude that improving treatment times can help improve outcomes for bird flu cases. "Early case identification and treatment with oseltamivir is key to addressing the high case-fatality rate in Indonesian cases. There is a clear need to identify definite causes for high-case fatality...While additional research is done we propose the following strategies to provide early diagnosis and prompt treatment to improve quality of case management. Poultry surveillance is being stepped up, and active human case finding by local health centres and village officials is being instituted in areas of poultry deaths." Additionally, they point out, investigations in the surveillance system should include any history of contact with poultry, especially dead and sick poultry, for all illness similar to influenza. They add: ""This strategy will promote earlier and targeted detection of patients that have clear exposure to diseased birds, which should then prompt earlier treatment and reduced case fatality. Finally, all health-care workers should be trained in case management of early H5N1 influenza, and should be equipped with oseltamivir to enable timely administration."
Prof. Sheila Bird, Medical Research Council (MRC) Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge, UK, and Jeremy Farrar, Professor of Tropical Medicine, Oxford University, contributed an accompanying comment in which they emphasize the importance of early preventative action. "Consideration needs to be given now - not in the teeth of a pandemic, and not deflected by either proprietary defensiveness or opportunistic profiteering - to gauging the comprehensiveness of national surveillance for human H5N1 cases. And to ensuring the analysability of a minimum dataset on the exposures and clinical course of every confirmed case of human H5N1. The world also needs to find a more equitable way to ensure that all share in the benefits of such important research. Indonesia could give the lead here."
Factors associated with case fatality of human H5N1 virus infections in Indonesia: a case series
I Nyoman Kandun, Erna Tresnaningsih, Wilfried H Purba, Vernon Lee, Gina Samaan, Syahrial Harun, Eka Soni, Chita Septiawati, Tetty Setiawati, Elvieda Sariwati, Toni Wandra
highest case-fatality rates worldwide. We described the factors associated with H5N1 case-fatality in Indonesia.
Lancet Online August 14, 2008
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61125-3
Click Here For Journal
Minimum dataset needed for confirmed human H5N1 cases
Sheila M Bird, Jeremy Farrar
Lancet Online, August 14, 2008
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61126-5
Click Here For Journal
Written by Anna Sophia McKennety
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
Quid Novi
Indonesia: Reported (suspected) human case of AI in East Java
8/21/08 ARGUS--A national source reported a suspected human case of avian influenza in Kebongbang village (Wonosari district, Malang city, East Java province). The victim is a 16-year-old male who is currently being treated in RSUP Syaiful Anwar Hospital in Malang (an avian influenza designated hospital). He started to develop high fever and breathing difficulty since last Monday [ambiguous, but likely 18 August] but was only brought to a local community health center yesterday [20 August]. Reportedly, he had a direct contact with 3 chickens that died suddenly. Avian influenza has not been confirmed as the cause for the poultry die-off. The hospital has formed a team of doctors to investigate this case. There was no information about laboratory testing.
Article URL(s)
http://www.korantempo.com/korantempo/koran/2008/02/21/Nusa/krn.20080221.123589.id.html
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Goldman Sachs Buying Up Poultry Farms in China
8/21/08 Natural News--Corporate ownership of world food sources may be shifting into high gear. Goldman Sachs, the private equity investment bank of the ultra wealthy and powerful, has announced that it's in the race to scoop up assets related to food production. Its latest investment is $300 million in Chinese chicken farms.
U.S. based Goldman recently announced it has acquired full ownership of 10 poultry farms on the mainland of China for $300 million, according to Frederick Yeung, reporter for South China Morning Post. The farms are in the Hunan and Fuijan provinces. This move helps fortify Goldman's position in the mainland livestock industry.
Although Goldman bought the farms outright, they will not be involved in their daily operations which are to be outsourced to third parties. According to Yeung, the investment bank will maintain control of the livestock prices.
The purchase is seen by many as yet another rapacious move by big money to take control of the assets of the underprivileged. It comes on the heels of the collapse of World Trade Organization talks aimed at leveling the trading field and taking steps to protect the trade interests of the third world countries who seek to trade their agricultural products to the first world countries in return for other goods. The talks fell apart when the wealthier countries refused to compromise their agricultural subsidies.
The Chinese are showing themselves to be respectful of their farmers. The People's Bank of China has recently raised its commercial bank loan allocations to support small farmers and their workers.
In 2006, Goldman won a bid to purchase a 100 percent stake in meat and poultry group Henan Shuanghui but the deal later ran into trouble with the Chinese government who want to maintain tight control over foreign investment in the assets of the country. Goldman already holds a 13 percent stake in China Yurun Food Group, the country's second meat and poultry processor whose profits are surging.
The entrance of the investment banking company into commodity ownership comes at a time when investors' enthusiasm for commodities is cooling. Many commodity indices are experiencing corrections of 15 percent or more from their all time highs earlier this summer. The commodity price correction has most notably shown itself in lower gasoline prices. Goldman's latest purchase suggests that this correction could be short lived.
Goldman Sachs provides a range of investment banking, securities, and investment management services to corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. It is considered the premier investment house on Wall Street and the representative of the 'smart money'. Goldman Sachs is a public company whose shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
Investment guru and former hedge fund manager Jim Rogers says the most valuable investments on the mainland of China are its agricultural products. Rogers was one of the first to predict the bull market in commodities that began at the turn of the century. He sees commodity investments by the super rich as continuing for many years to come. Rogers has a history as a knowledgeable citizen of the world. He and has his family have become recent ex-patriots to mainland China, since that's where he sees the action for the foreseeable future. His books on investing in commodities are available from Amazon and others.
